On intermittent hæmaturia : with remarks upon its pathology and treatment / by George Harley, M.D.

  • Harley, George, 1829-1896.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On intermittent hæmaturia : with remarks upon its pathology and treatment / by George Harley, M.D. 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.

    11/20 (page 7)
    At page 756, vol. i (third edition), of Dr. Watson's ' Lectures/ it is mentioned that Avhen quinine, given alone, fails to cure an ague, a few grains of calomel, followed up with quinine, will often entirely check the disease, a fact which rather goes to support the view that even the second case might be due to a modified form of malarial poisoning. These notes might almost be allowed to end here; but as I consider that the pathology of such cases as have just been described is of great clinical value, I shall say a few words more regarding the condition of the urine, as by so doing it will not only be seen on what grounds I founded my dia- gnosis, but perhaps aid the labours of some future inquirer, who may have the good fortune to throw more light upon the nature of these cases than the data I have at present at command enable me to do. The man was ordered to preserve all the urine he passed during the forty-eight hours after I first saw him, and to put what was passed at each micturition into separate bottles. On examination it was found that the specimen passed at 8.30 a.m. was normal in colour, devoid of any sediment, six and a half ounces in quantity, acid in reaction, and of a spe- cific gravity of 1010; it contained 175 per cent, of urea, traces of sugar, but no albumen. That passed at 2 p.m. was dark red, almost black-looking, six ounces in quantity, acid in reaction, of a specific gravity of 1017, and on standing deposited a copious precipitate of dark-coloured urate of soda, leaving the supernatant liquid quite clear, and of a fine rich port-wine colour. This urine contained 2*5 per cent, of urea, was highly coagulable by heat and nitric acid, and gave evidences of traces of sugar. On examining the deposit from it under the microscope, al- though scarcely a single blood-corpuscle was to be found, it contained a great abundance of granular tube-casts (Fig. i>, 1), large granular cells (2), free granular matter of a haema- tine colour (4), and among the urates a few octahedral crystals of oxalate of lime (5). It will be seen that this urine pre- sents a striking resemblance, both in its chemical and micro- »