On the solvent treatment of urinary calculi : an experimental and clinical inquiry / by William Roberts, M.D. ; communicated by Henry Bence Jones, M.D.

  • Roberts, William, Sir, 1830-1899.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the solvent treatment of urinary calculi : an experimental and clinical inquiry / by William Roberts, M.D. ; communicated by Henry Bence Jones, 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.

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    be resolutely tried before having recourse to the more dangerous methods of lithotomy and lithotrity. It may be stated at the outset that the inquiry has not led to the discovery of any new solvent for the stone^ but rather to a better application of a treatment which has long been known in principle, but which has forfeited the con- fidence of the profession by the faulty manner in which it has been carried out, and its employment in cases where it was sure to fail. Eor the present purpose urinary concretions may. be con- sidered as consisting of vric acid, oxalate of lime, and the eartlnj plios'phates. Of the rarer varieties, cystin and the urates fall into the same category with uric acid, and carbo- nate of lime into the same category with the phosphates. The first part of this paper is devoted to experiments and observations relating to the solvent treatment of nrie acid, by alkalizing the urine, through the internal administration of medicines. The second part is devoted to experiments relating to the solvent treatment of uric acid by injections into the bladder, and to experiments on the solvent treat- ment of oxalate-of-lime and phosphatie concretions. With regard to uric acid the inquir}'^ is tolerably complete in the directions taken. Oxalate of lime gave results which did not promise any useful application. Sir B. Brodie^s method of dissolving phosphatie calculi by injecting acid solutions into the bladder was imitated in one experiment Avith results highly favorable to further trial in the same direction.