On the excretion of reduction products of haematin in disease / by C.A. MacMunn.

  • MacMunn, Charles Alexander, 1852-1911.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the excretion of reduction products of haematin in disease / by C.A. MacMunn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    [Koprintcd lor the Author from the British Medical Journal, Julj- 21,1888.J ON THE EXCRETION OF REDUCTION PRO- DUCTS OF H^MATIN IN DISEASE.^ By C. a. MACMUNN, M.A., M.D.Dub., Wolverhampton. I MUST apologise for having brought a subject under your notice which may appear to be more of interest to pathological chemists than to medical men. I should not have presumed to do so vy'ere it not that some of the facts to which I wish to call attention have such an obvious bearing on pathogenesis, that they may be considered really more of medical than of chemical interest. The subject is a difficult one, and to many may appear very dry, but that is not the fault of the subject, but is due to the fact that very few care to make themselves acquainted with the methods of spectrum analysis, and are not, therefore, in a position to under- stand the results. For twelve years I have devoted much of my leisure time to the application of the spectroscope to biology in general, and, when I have had material to work upon, to that special branch of biology with which we are all concerned. During that time many new and interesting facts have presented themselves which, when their full significance is understood, must help to throw light on many now difficult problems. In the present paper 1 wish to direct attention to the occasional presence of reduction products of hcematin in pathological urine. In order to make this subject clearly understood it will be neces- sary to go somewhat into detail, and to refer incidentally to other kindred subjects. Every medical man is more or less interested in the chemistry of urine, and most of us would like to know the cause of the increase of colour which that fluid undergoes in disease, or the actual change of colour from pale yellow to brown and black, which it often shows under certain conditions. It is easy enough to detect bile-colouring matter or blood-colouring matter by our rougher chemical tests; but there are other colouring matters present which cannot be detected by any other method but the spectro- scopic one. It may be asked, And if you find out that a certain colouring matter is present, of what use is that knowledge? So far, Read before the Staffordshire Branch.