On the estimation of sugar in diabetic urine by the loss of density after fermentation / by William Roberts.

  • Roberts, William, Sir, 1830-1899.
Date:
[1860]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the estimation of sugar in diabetic urine by the loss of density after fermentation / by William Roberts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    3/12
    XIII. — On the Estimation of Sugar in Diabetic Urine by the loss of Density after Fermentation. By William Roberts, M.D. Lond., Physician to the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Read October i6th, i860. When saccharine urine is fermented with yeast its specific gravity, previously ranging from 1030 to 1050, falls to 1009 or 1002, or even below 1000. This result is chiefly due to the destruction of the sugar it contained, but partly also to the generation of alcohol, and its presence in the fermented product. As the diminution of density must be proportional to the quantity of sugar broken up by the ferment, the amount of this diminution evidently supplies a means of calculating how much sugar any urine contains, always pro- vided that the remaining ingredients of the urine continue unchanged, or become changed in some uniform ratio. In order to ascertain the exact relation subsisting be- tween the density lost on fermentation and the sugar destroyed, experiments were made on the fresh urine of several diabetic patients in the Royal Infirmary. The following procedure was adopted : 1. The amount of sugar per 100 parts was first accu- rately determined by the volumetrical method, with Fehling's test solution. 2. Next the density was taken by the specific gravity bottle.