Page:Love and its hidden history.djvu/84

 If it dissolves it is either urate of soda or ammonia. If it does not dissolve, try another portion, and add five drops of acetic acid, and if it dissolves, rest assured that the sediment consists of earthy phosphates. But if it proves refractory, try another portion in the same way, with pure hydrochloric acid; if it dissolves you have oxalate of lime before you. But it may not dissolve yet, in which case a portion must be dried on a slip of glass, and then treated with a drop or two of nitric acid, and if it now dissolves, it must again be dried to a powder, and allowed to stand till cold; then apply two drops of ammonia, which, if the deposit be uric acid, will change its color to a fine purple-red.

Thus is clearly seen the chemical tests for uric acid, the earthy phosphates, oxalate of lime and soda, and the urate of ammonia, — all of which are prolific sources of trouble, and affect both mind, body, and disposition to a very abnormal degree. But, in addition to the above four or five, and semen, blood, pus, and mucus in the urine, it may be heavily charged with fatty matter, indicating a very dangerous condition, — fatty degeneration of the kidneys; or chylous matter, — the presence of actual chyle in the urine, showing a fearful condition of the entire alimentary and absorbent systems; or it may contain cystine, cystic oxide, one of the principal elements of urinary calculi, gravel or stone, which may occasion uncounted trouble, and inexpressible agony. When blood is in the urine its color will detect it. It is insoluble when heated, and if warmed in a test-tube will coagulate upon the addition of two drops of nitric acid. Test for chyle and fat: Put equal bulks of urine and ether in a test-tube, and shake it well, then let the ether evaporate; after which put clear water in the tube, and the fat will float upon the surface. If, when shaken up with ether, the contents of the tube become milky and opaque, it demonstrates the presence of chyle. The test for cystine is to add a little ammonia to the deposit, and if it is cystine it will dissolve. Then dry the solution over a flame and magnify the crystals. If they are clearly hexagonal — six-sided — the cystine hypothesis is demonstrated to be true. These chemical tests are here given, because it not seldom happens that a deal of trouble in this life, especially in the love relations and organs, have no deeper seat than magnetic, chemical, and electric aberrations; and these self-same disturbances are often also directly caused by