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A Practical Treatise on Urinary and Renal Diseases
A Practical Treatise on Urinary and Renal Diseases Author:William Roberts Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Certain medicinal and poisonous substances administered internally produce peculiar alterations of colour in the urine. Creasote, and the external application of... more » tar ointment, have been known to produce a very dark, almost black urine. In some cases of this kind which occurred in Guy's Hospital, Dr. Odling identified the dark colouring matter with indigo-blue, and he pointed out the close chemical relations between indigo and creasote." Marcet, Prout, and Bulk have also described cases in which a black colouring matter existed in the urine. In patients taking gallic acid a dusky hue is communicated to the urine. Vogel records an instance of black discolouration of the urine after poisoning by arseniuretted hydrogen (see Hkatinueia.) Rhubarb given internally colours the urine a deep gamboge- yellow, which is changed to red by the addition of ammonia ; Senna communicates a brownish, and logwood a reddish tinge to the urine when administered as infusions. Santonin imparts a conspicuous red colour to the urine if it be alkaline. III.—DENSITY OR SPECIFIC GRAVITY. The specific gravity of the urine is estimated by means of the urinometer. This instrument indicates whether the urine is concentrated or dilute : and as the range of health is very great, the density does not yield direct indications of disease ; nevertheless the information thus furnished is in some cases of great importance, and indicates at once the path of further research. The usual range of density in healthy urine extends from 1015 to 1025 ; but it frequently mounts above or sinks below these limits. After abundant potation on an empty stomach the urine is profuse in quantity, clear, and dilute as water. Under such circumstances the density may fall as low as 1000'6, and numbers varying from 1002 to 1008 ar...« less