The use of the blowpipe, in the qualitative and quantitative examination of minerals, ores, furnace products and other metallic combinations / Edited, with emendations, by Dr. Sheridan Muspratt. With a preface by Baron Liebig.
- Plattner, Carl Friedrich, 1800-1858.
- Date:
- 1850
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The use of the blowpipe, in the qualitative and quantitative examination of minerals, ores, furnace products and other metallic combinations / Edited, with emendations, by Dr. Sheridan Muspratt. With a preface by Baron Liebig. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![BEHAVIOR OF URINARY CALCULI BEFORE THE BLOWPIPE. It is liighly important to medical men to be able to deter¬ mine the nature of the urinary calculi of patients who apply to them for relief in such cases. Their composition is more readily ascertained than is generally supposed, since the Blowpipe gives very simple and sufl&ciently accurate results, and the use of this instrument does not require a greater degree of chemical know¬ ledge than every physician ought to possess. I will, therefore, describe the following varieties of calculi. ]. Uric Acid Calculi. Per se on charcoal or on platinum foil they become carbonized, fume, and emit an organic smell; in the exterior flame they gra¬ dually diminish in size, and towards the end of the operation they burn with increased light. When the blast is discontinued, they still continue to glow, and at last leave a very slight trace of a white ash, which is strongly alkaline. Since other combustible substances may easily be mistaken for uric acid, the operation must be performed in the moist way, as follows: — a small quantity of the calculus, say To ^ grain, must be placed on a small strip of glass or platina foil, moistened with a few drops of nitric acid, and heated over the flame of the spirit lamp. The uric acid dissolves with effervescence, and the mass must then be carefully dried so as not to become burnt, and then heated for an instant, when the mass acquires a fine red 25](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29333714_0409.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
