Introduction to chemical methods of clinical diagnosis / by H. Tappeiner.

  • Tappeiner, H. von (Hermann von), 1847-1927.
Date:
1898
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introduction to chemical methods of clinical diagnosis / by H. Tappeiner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a wide test-tube or beaker, and covering with the watch-glass. The vapours of ammonia evolved on addition of the alkali are detected by the change of colour of the test-paper. § 36. Fceces Kesults of diagnostic value are yielded by the physical and microscopical characters of the faeces rather than by Chemical investigations which are for the most part too complicated. 1. EXAMINATION FOR BILE-PIGMENTS Normal faeces do not contain any unaltered bile- pigment, but chiefly hydrobilirubin (urobilin), which does not react to Gmelin’s test; in catarrh of the small intestine, on the other hand, they contain bilirubin and biliverdin, and are therefore frequently green in colour. According as the faeces are acid or alkaline, the pigment is suspended or in solution, and Gmelin’s test is responded to either by the residue or the filtrate. The faeces may also be extracted on the water-bath with alcohol together with a few drops of acetic acid, and the faintly reddish-brown solution yields the characteristic absorption bands of urobilin. On adding a couple of drops of tincture of iodine and some chloride of zinc and subsequent excess of ammonia, magnificent fluorescence is obtained together with the absorption bands of urobilin and cholecyanin. 2. EXAMINATION FOR ALBÜMEN The faeces are diluted or stirred up with 1-per- cent. solution of common salt (obtained by diluting the saturated solution with twenty volumes of water),