Gout and its relation to diseases of the liver and kidneys / by Robson Roose.

  • Roose, Robson, 1848-1905.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gout and its relation to diseases of the liver and kidneys / by Robson Roose. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    increased, but according to Dr. G. Harley* it is diminished in fatal permanent jaundice. In various forms of indigestion, and in cases of diminished cuta- neous activity, sediments of urates are of common occur- rence in the urine on cooling, but their precipitation must not be regarded as necessarily indicative of the presence of an unusual amount of uric acid. There is, moreover, as pointed out by Dr. Bence Jones, no relation between the acidity of the urine and the absolute amount of uric acid which it may contain; for in the urine which is most acid, and which deposits the largest uric acid sedi- ment, very little uric acid may really exist; whilst that which contains most uric acid may hold it in perfect solution, and may have but a feeble acid reaction.” The presence of some other acid is doubtless the main cause of the deposit of uric acid sediments, for the addition of any acid to the healthy secretion passed soon after food is always sufficient to produce it. The temperature of the fluid also influences the precipitation; if this be hiffh, a laroer amount of uric acid is held in solution than under opposite conditions. Concentration of the liquid, on the other hand, favours the deposition of the uric acid sediment, for it augments the proportion * “ Diseases of the Liver,” p. 761.