Urine

“ Concentrated urine, when it cools, deposits a pinkish (brick-dust) precipitate. Gentle heat clears it up. When highly concentrated the crystals are red. When they collect and adhere together they become stones; if all precipitate on heating it is normal urine.
Alkaline urine throws down phosphates that are held in solution and clears up on addition of any acid; if urine is cold and acid in reaction, sediment, if present, may be urates, but is not phosphates; if urine is alkaline, they are normal phosphates. ”

“ Something of the value of the urine in medical diagnosis had been recognized in the Middle Ages, and then, as practically always happens in medicine, little-minded men had pretended to be able to learn much more from it than could possibly be revealed by it. Every disease came to have its specific urine and diagnosis and prognosis came to be largely dependent on changes in the color and character of the urine that were in themselves quite insignificant. ”

“ As a free discharge of urine not only prevents but actually cures many diseases, it ought by all means to be promoted; and every thing that may obstruct it should be carefully avoided. Both the secretion and discharge of urine are lessened by a sedentary life, sleeping on beds that are too soft and warm, food of a dry and heating quality, liquors which are astringent and heating, as red port, claret, and such like. ”

“ But if the urine is in great quantity in the bladder, and it has acquired by remaining in it a long time that deep colour which indicates the concentration of its principles, then the irritation that it produces on the organ brings powerfully into action the sensible organic contractility; the bladder contracts, and in spite of the animal, there is an evacuation of urine. ”

“ Of the Urine in Disease and after Death—Urinary Calculi.—To the chemist, the indications of disease of the urinary and digestive organs, formed by changes in the composition of urine, are most valuable. The majority of the substances which are taken into the circulation, but are incapable of assimilation to our organs, are thrown off by this secretion, and hence a variety of medicinal substances may be traced to it after having been ingested, sometimes quite unaltered, [Pg 121] at others modified in their natures. ”

“ The urine has been the subject not only of numerous theories with authors, but of various religious observances as well, its properties being classified under several distinctive heads; thus, for instance, the urine of eunuchs, they say, is highly beneficial as a promoter of fruitfulness in females.” He mentions the urine of children as a sovereign remedy for the poisonous secretion of the asp, which “spits its venom into the eyes of human beings.” ”

“ Actual retention of urine, that is, urinary secretion passed into the bladder, but retention in the latter viscus by inanition, stricture, or other obstruction, naturally cannot continue any great length of time without mechanically rupturing the vesical walls; but suppression of urine or absolute anuria may last an astonishingly extended period. Of the cases of retention of urine, Fereol mentions that of a man of forty-nine who suffered absolute retention of urine for eight days, caused by the obstruction of a uric acid calculus. ”

“ I have known such a man use his own urine as an eye-wash for sore eyes, and the use of children's urine for such purposes is much commoner than might be thought. After all, it is only a generation since physicians used to taste urine in order to determine whether it contained sugar or not, and I have seen a country doctor even take between his finger and his thumb a little of the excrement of a child and apply his tongue to it, pretending of course that he obtained very valuable information this way. ”

“ The urinary apparatus (consisting of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra) is known to be the principal emunctory for eliminating and voiding the detritus formed by the continual decay of the parts comprising the animal economy. The urine is this detritus in a state of solution. The components of urine are chemically similar to those of calculi, and as the components of the one vary according to the disintegration occurring at the time in the vital alembic, so do those of the other. ”

“ During the period of active congestion the quantity of urine secreted is increased. The scant secretion of urine, dark in color and thick or turbid, is suggestive of an inflammation of the kidneys. The animal moves stiffly, the back may be arched, urination is painful and the urine is passed in very small amounts. The appetite is irregular or suppressed, the pulse strong at first but later small and weak, and the body temperature is elevated. On making a rectal examination we find the bladder empty and the kidneys enlarged and sensitive. ”

“ The quintessence of urine was distilled from the urine of a strong, healthy, chaste man of thirty years, who had drunk heavily of wine for the occasion; by another authority it is recommended that this happen while the sun and Jupiter may be in “Piscibus.” This was used in calculi of the kidneys and bladder and in all ulcerations of those parts; externally, as a lotion in gonorrhæa and external ulcers of the private parts, for wounds and lesions of all sorts, urinary troubles, worms, putrid fevers, and as a preservative against the plague, for hard tumors, etc. ”

“ Alkaline urine is unable to hold the phosphates of ammonia and magnesia in solution, so they are deposited in abundance either in the kidney or bladder. If the voided urine is allowed to stand in a tall glass they sink to the bottom with pus and mucus in a cloudy deposit. ”

“ To test its escape in the urine, pass off your water in a clear glass pint bottle and let it stand twenty-four hours in a warm place; then hold up the bottle between yourself and the light, and if you discover a sediment of a white, fleecy nature, resembling cotton, in the bottom, you are suffering from hidden spermatorrhœa, from which all your present ailments come. Where this fluid passes off with the urine, it is just as injurious to the system as full emissions, as it is a continual drain day after day, as well as taking that part of the vitality which goes to supply the brain and nerves. ”

“ If the thinness and whiteness of the urine, and the other symptoms indicate a cold intemperament, hot wine and prepared wines will be proper; also diuretic food and medicines, and hot hip-baths. When, in conjunction with the whiteness, the urine appears thicker than natural, we are to suspect a pituitous humour obstructing the neck of the bladder, and must use oxymel, and the compositions from hyssop and pennyroyal, or marjoram, or thyme, or laserwort, boiled in honied water, and the hotter embrocations. ”

“ Urine was drunk as a remedy for long-continued constipation (idem) ; for falling of the womb stale urine was applied as a fomentation (idem) ; for hysteria human ordure and stale urine were applied to the nostrils (idem) ; the urine of the patient was drunk as a cure for worms (idem) ; urine was used as a wash for chapped hands, also for all cutaneous disorders (idem) ; also for “ficus ani” (p. 67) . For gout [302] in the feet the patient should bathe them in his own urine, also for travel sores, as he would then be able to resume his journey next day (idem) . ”

“ Mechanical contrivances are to be had to collect the escape of urine, whereby the offensive odor arising from the continually soiled bed-linen may be avoided, and oftentimes the fretting consequences of the urine passing over the person, which induce excoriations and troublesome sores. There are contrivances for both sexes. Where the disease prevails in mid-life, it is generally traceable to early improvident habits, and of course is the result of irritability and debility of the bladder. ”

“ In urine we recognize what the bile has done with the food; the urine is the fluid nutritive system, and consequently the fluid organism "in toto;" the sexual blood, or sexual bile.
2340. The urine is the purest mirror or reflex of the bodily condition, and hence ourology or the doctrine of urine is of the most universal importance in semeiotics or symptomatic pathology: the ureters correspond to the tracheal branches or bronchi; thus, the urinary cyst to the trachea; the urethra to the larynx.
2341. In many animals the ureters open directly into the cloaca, as in many Fishes, Reptiles. ”

“ In some diseases the lustre of the eye increases, as in consumption. But if it decreases with the attack of violent disease, it indicates great debility and prostration.
Examination of the Urine. All medical authors and physicians of education, freely admit and even insist upon the importance of critically examining the patient's urine, in all cases in which there is reason to suspect disease of the kidneys or bladder. In chronic affections it is particularly serviceable, especially in derangements of the liver, blood, kidneys, bladder, prostate gland, and nervous system. ”

“ The urine is pale and in small quantity in the cold fit from deficient secretion of it, and from deficient absorption of its aqueous parts; it is high coloured, and sometimes deposits a sediment, in the hot fit from the greater secretion of it in the kidneys, and the greater absorption of its aqueous and saline part in the bladder. The dryness and scurf on the tongue and nostrils is owing to the increased heat of the air expired from the lungs, and consequent greater evaporation of the aqueous part of the mucus. ”

“ On introducing the catheter sometimes part of the urine will come away and not the whole, which is difficult to explain; but may arise from the weakness of the muscular fibres of the bladder; which are not liable suddenly to contract themselves so far as to exclude the whole of the urine. In some old people, who have experienced a long retention of urine, the bladder never regains the power of completely emptying itself; and many who are beginning to be weak from age can make water a second time, a few minutes after they supposed they had emptied the bladder. ”

“ In more unpromising cases the urine is scanty, and in the last stage of life it becomes of a very dark colour, as was mentioned before. A plentiful secretion of urine 441 is a very favourable circumstance, and seems to be one of nature’s methods of curing the disease ”

“ It may, I think, be said that water urinals are never sweet except in those rare instances in which they are constantly wiped perfectly clean by an attendant. The decomposition of urine is due to micro-organisms, and it is well-known that if urine be passed into an impure vessel, its decomposition takes place with great rapidity, especially if the temperature be moderately high. All vessels intended for the reception of urine require a thorough washing and cleansing every day. ”

“ The urine was dark and slimy, reddish, slightly acid, and had at the bottom of the bottle brick-dust settlings. Heat did not show albumen, but by heating it the dark urine became clearer, and contained also salts of uric acid. I ex [Pg 336] amined the kidneys of the patient, found them sensitive against pressure, and the diagnosis pointed to chronic catarrh of the kidneys. Sleeplessness, pain in the back and the tired feeling in the upper parts of the thigh were additional symptoms of this malady, and I determined to use Virga-aurea. ”

“ But in every case disease-germs are the cause of the trouble, and they may be found in the urine. The first effect of inflammation is to render the bladder irritable, so that as soon as a few drops of urine have collected, the individual has intense or uncontrollable desire to micturate. ”

“ Local disorders of the urinary organs are more frequent causes of the trouble, as inflammation of any part of the urinary tract, diabetes, nephritis, stone in the bladder, tumors, and malformations. The involuntary passage of urine may arise from irritability of bladder—the most frequent cause—or from weakness of the muscles which restrain the escape of urine, or from obstruction to flow of urine from the bladder, with overflow when it becomes distended. ”

“ However speedily soap and lime-water may dissolve the greatest part of urinary stones out of the body, yet [215] being mixed with the aliment and humours of the stomach and guts, and afterwards with the whole mass of blood, it is impossible but their force must be greatly impaired before they arrive with the urine at the bladder. ”

“ Unless a specialist of experience be consulted, the bladder will most probably be examined, and medicine will be prescribed only to excite the kidneys to secrete more urine, which does harm instead of good; the disease slowly, but surely progressing. Patients often write us that they have had something wrong with the bladder for a number of years, having to urinate more frequently than they ought ”

“ A large number of cases came under my observation at Brussels and at Antwerp, and many had already died. Persons rarely recover in whom urine has found its way into the general cavity of the abdomen. They generally die of inflammation in from three to six days.
When the bladder is wounded where it is covered by the peritoneum, and the opening or openings do not by some accident permit the urine to flow into the cavity of the abdomen, the patient may be free from immediate danger for a short time, although very anxious and greatly depressed in countenance and manner, and even sick to vomiting. ”

“ The kidneys are the chief emunctories of water; and mineral substances which are soluble in water tend for this reason to pass out into the urine. Many of these, as the salts of Iron, Silver, Lead, and Copper, are Astringents, and tend to diminish rather than to increase the amount of urine. But the urine is so necessary and so constant a secretion, that it is very difficult to diminish it in quantity. Saline medicines act as Diuretics under certain conditions. So also do acids and alkalies, and many vegetable substances, which will be presently spoken of. ”