Experiments on kiesteine : with remarks on its application to the diagnosis of pregnancy : an inaugural dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine / by Elisha K. Kane ; published by the recommendation of the Medical Faculty of the University of Pennsylvania.

  • Elisha Kent Kane
Date:
[1842]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experiments on kiesteine : with remarks on its application to the diagnosis of pregnancy : an inaugural dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine / by Elisha K. Kane ; published by the recommendation of the Medical Faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    EXPERIMENTS ON KIESTEINE; ■WITH REMARKS ON ITS APPLICATION TO THE DIAGNOSIS OF PREGNANCY. AN INAUGURAL DISSERTATION FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OP MEDICINE. BY ELISHA K. KANE, M.D. OP PHILADELPHIA. Published by the recommendation of the Medical Faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1831, M. Nauche communicated to the Society of Practical Medicine of Paris, some observations on a gelatino-albuminous product found in the urine of pregnant females subsequent to the first month of gestation, and which is separated from the other elements of that fluid by rest alone. To this product he gave the name of Kiesteine. If the urine, he says, be exposed for a few days in a glass, the kiesteine shows itself at the surface, in the form of specks [points) and oblong fila- ments, which unite in a pellicle or scum of a line in thickness. A portion of this sinks to the bottom of the vessel, and forms there a whitish deposite of a milky appearance; the rest remains on the surface, adheres to the sides of the glass, and is converted into a solid membraniform substance. The pellicle thus formed, he regards as furnishing a certain test of preg- nancy almost from its commencement, if the woman is in health; and he asserts that he has frequently determined by reference to it the existence of that condition, when it would not otherwise have been suspected. He admits that in diseases in which there is a secretion of pus, in dropsy, in diabetes, and in children having worms, the urine is often covered with an albuminous, fatty, or saline scum, resembling somewhat that observed during pregnancy; but he affirms that after a little practice, these are dis- tinguishable at a glance. M. Nauche was followed by M. Eguisier, of the Sainte Genevieve Dis- pensary of Paris, who, in February, 1839, published an article in the Lan- cette Frangaise, in which he described the pellicle as observed by himself.