Alkalies, or organic salts
of alkaline metals, when taken as medicine render the urine alkaline,
and the indication is then not of much moment; but if none of these
causes exist, the condition is of serious diagnostic import. Where it
is desired to determine the degree of acidity of the urine voided,
say, by a gouty patient, a dilute volumetric solution of caustic soda
should be employed, using a few drops of an alcoholic solution of
phenolphthalein as an indicator, and reporting in terms of oxalic
acid. The soda solution may conveniently contain the equivalent of one
milligramme of recrystallized oxalic acid (H_{2}C_{2}O_{4}.2H_{2}O) in
each cubic centimeter.
UREA.
Carbamide, as it is called by systematic chemists, or _urea_, is next
to water the largest constituent of urine, and forms about one-third
of its total solids. Derived from ammonic carbonate by abstracting two
molecules of the elements of water, it is readily converted by
putrefaction into that salt, and the urine under these circumstances
becomes strongly alkaline in reaction.
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