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
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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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    Grs. 1 Uric acid - - 4.5 Animal matter - - 2.5 7.0 This is the largest proportion' of animal matter which I have met with. A small calculus from the kidney, weighing 3.7 grains, afforded by a like treatment 3.5 grains of uric acid, so that it was nearly a pure specimen of that substance. The largest calculus of this kind which I have examined weighed seventeen grains; much larger ones have been found, but there is no evidence of their not having remained in the urinary passages for some considerable time. Thus Dr. Heberden mentions one weighing twenty-eight grains.* It often happens that the ingredients are not united toge¬ ther so as to form a calculus, but are voided in the state of a fine powder, commonly termed sand. This consists either of uric acid, or of the ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate, alone, or with the phosphate of lime. I am induced to believe that the last mentioned substances, although the production of the kidnies, and held in solution, are never met with in a separate state till the urine has been at rest, and therefore, calculi from the kidnies are never com¬ posed of the phosphates. In a few instances, calculi from the kidnies, composed of oxalate of lime, are voided ; but this is a very rare occurrence : of three preserved in the Hunterian Collection, two are * - y * Comment, on the Hist, and Cure of Diseases, 3d. edit, p. 88. B I