A letter on the differences in the structure of calculi, which arise from their being formed in different parts of the urinary passages; and on the effects that are produced upon them by the internal use of solvent medicines / from William Brande to Everard Home.

  • Brande, William Thomas, 1788-1866
Date:
1808
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter on the differences in the structure of calculi, which arise from their being formed in different parts of the urinary passages; and on the effects that are produced upon them by the internal use of solvent medicines / from William Brande to Everard Home. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    \ monia, I am induced to believe that the evolution of ammonia, depends in all instances upon the decomposition of the am- moniacal salts contained in the calculus, more especially of the ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate, and that no substance which can be called urate of ammonia, exists in calculi. The mulberry calculus (oxalate of lime) I have but rarely met with. In those preserved in the Hunterian Collection, there is a large relative proportion of phosphate of lime, and * of uric acid. The purest of them afforded Oxalate of lime Grains. 65. Uric acid ib. Phosphate of lime 15- Loss in animal matter .4* 100. When calculi of the urinary bladder increase to a very large size, they are generally composed of two or even three of the above mentioned varieties, the ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate being situated externally, and in the greatest abun¬ dance. The largest calculus which I have seen, weighed, when re¬ cently removed from the bladder, twenty-three ounces and twenty-six grains. It consisted of a large mulberry or oxa¬ late of lime calculus, the nucleus of which was uric acid, sur¬ rounded by a considerable quantity of the ammoniaco-mag¬ nesian phosphate in a very pure state. Another very large calculus, weighing fifteen ounces and a half, consisted of a nucleus of uric acid, enveloped in the ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate, not however pure, but in¬ tersected by several laminae of uric acid.