On the nature and treatment of stomach and renal diseases : being an inquiry into the connexion of diabetes, calculus, and other affections of the kidney and bladder, with indigestion / by William Prout.

  • Prout, William, 1785-1850.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nature and treatment of stomach and renal diseases : being an inquiry into the connexion of diabetes, calculus, and other affections of the kidney and bladder, with indigestion / by William Prout. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    succession, several well-marked cases of oxalic acid disease from a district notoriously malarious. Having been thus accidentally led to observe the circumstance, a number of corroborative in- stances soon occurred to me; when, shortly after I had begun to consider the point as established, the Asiatic cholera made its ap- pearance in this country. The effects produced by this remark- able disease on the animal economy; and the temporary revolution in particular, which it occasioned in urinary diseases, may not be uninteresting to the reader. Every one is acquainted with the familiar fact, that the most fre- quent and striking morbid appearances presented by the urine from slight causes, (such as a cold, indigestion, &c.,) are the common lateritious sediments. Now, the first circumstance that attracted my notice after the prevalence of the Asiatic cholera, was the dis- appearance of these sediments from the urine. The absence of these sediments was at first considered to be accidental; but when, day after day, the same occurrence took place, 1 was induced to inquire attentively into the circumstance, with the view, if possible, of ascertaining the reason. On closer inspection, it was found that the urine of every individual examined, whether in apparent health or otherwise, not only presented the same absence of sediment; but also assumed that peculiar appearance, which 1 had been accustomed to consider as characteristic of the presence of oxalic acid. As I had always previously found the oxalic acid diathesis of unusual occurrence in London, I was much struck with the phe- nomenon; and on reflection it occurred to me, that it might be referable to the same unknown cause which was then producing cholera. I was led to this notion from the analogous effects above mentioned produced in the urine by malaria; and also by another curious fact, noticed below,* which likewise took place about the * For some years before the Asiatic cholera appeared in this country, I had been occupied with investigations regarding the atmosphere; and for more than six weeks previously to the actual breaking out of this disease, had almost every day been en- dcavouring to determine, with the utmost possible accuracy, the weight of a given quantity of air, under precisely the same circumstances of temperature and of pres- sure. On a particular day, the 9th of February, 1832, the positive weight of the air suddenly appeared to rise above the usual standard. As the rise, at the time, was supposed to be the result of some accidental error, or of some derangement in the apparatus employed, in order to discover its cause, the succeeding observations were made with the most rigid scrutiny. But no error or derangement whatever could be detected. On the days immediately following, the weight of the air still continued above the standard, though not quite so high as on the 9th of February, when the change was first noticed. The air retained its augmented weight during the whole time the experiments were carried onv namely, about six weeks longer.. The increase of the weight of the air was small, but still decided and real. The method of con- ducting the experiments was such as not to allow of an error, at least to an amount so great as the additional weight, without the cause of the error having become apparent. About the 9th of February, the wind in London, which had previously been west, veered round to the east, and remained pretty steadily in that quarter till