Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/890

* URIM AND THXIMMIM. 762 URINE. cision' (used chiefly of oracular decisions), and tamitu, 'oracle,' which occur in the religious literature of Babylonia. The two words would thus be almost synonymous, and this view is sup- ported by the consideration that they are so used in the Old Testament (e.g. Deut. xxxiii. 8, ac- cording to the Septuagint text), and that Urim at times is used without Thummim (e.g. Num. xxvii. 21 and I. Sam. xxviii. 0), which shows that the one word conveyed the idea without the help of the other. The early explanations, such as 'light and perfection' or 'light and truth' (Luther's view), are generally rejected as purely fanciful by critical scholars, who hold that the use of the Urim and Thummim belongs to the realm of primitive religious rites, and that its persistence to so late a period as that of the com- pilation of the Priestly Code (Ex. xxviii. 30) is due to the strong hold that it had taken upon the Hebrews. It should be added, however, that the notice in the Priestly Code, where the Urim and Thummim are described as a part of the high priest's costume, without reference to their practical use, marks the transition to the sym- bolical view taken in the later Jewish theology of their significance as tokens of the revelation and guidance granted to Israel through its repre- sentative, Aaron. Consult the articles in the Hastings Bible Dictionary and the Encyclopedia Biblica, and Muss-Arnolt, "The Urim and Thum- mim," in the American Journal of Semitic Languages, vol. xvi. (Chicago, 1900). TJRINE (Lat. vrina, urine; connected with Gk. ovpov, ouron. urine, Skt. vdri, rar, water, Av. vara. rain. Icel. fir, drizzling rain, AS. wer, sea). The fluid which is secreted by the kid- neys, stored in the bladder, and evacuated through the urethra in the act of micturition. The epithelium lining the tubules of the kidneys elaborates from the blood iirca and other products of retrograde metamorphosis, and a transudation or osmosis of water occurs from the interior of the convoluted blood vessels into the cavity of the tubules. In a healthy human being, urine is a clear yellowish or amber fluid of a salty taste and a peculiar aromatic odor, normally acid, and with a specific gravity of about 1.020, and generally containing some mucus. In 24 hours such a person discharges abovit 50 fluid ounces, or 1,500 cubic centimeters, of urine. The amount of the several urinary constituents passed in 24 hours are as follows, according to Parkes : Grams WatPr 1500.000 Total solids 72.000 trea 33. ISO T'ric acid O.-'iSS Hippuric acid 0.400 Kreatinin 0.910 l^ijrment and other substances 10.000 Sulphuric acid 2.012 Phosphoric acid S.164 Chlorine 7.000 Ammonia 0.770 Potassium 2.500 Sodium 11090 Oalcium 0.260 Uagnesium 0.207 These constituents, other than water, appear in the urine as : ( 1 ) inorganic salts, including sodium chloride; calcium chloride; potassium and sodium sulphates; sodium, calcium, and mag- nesium phosphates; traces of silicates; alkaline carbonates; nitrates in small quantity; traces of iron. (2) Nitrogenous crystalline !)0<lies, in- cluding urea, uric acid, kreatinin, xanthin, hypo- xanthin, and occasionally allantoin ; hippuric acid, ammonium oxalate; and rarely taurin, cystin, leucin. and tyrosin. (3) Non-nitrogenous bodies, including lactic, succinic, formic, oxalic, and phenylic acids; and rarely sugar in minute amount. (4) Pigments, including urobilin, pur- purin, and indican. (5) Other bodies, including ferments from the various digestive fluids of the body. (0) Gases, rarely, in very small quan- tities, chiefly nitrogen and carbonic acid. The acidity of normal urine is due to the pres- ence of the acid sodium biphosphate. At times the urine of digestion is alkaline, and frequently urine decomposes rapidly and becomes alkaline. Upon standing and cooling, it frequently becomes cloudy from the urates, and a sediment of pink urates occurs; or in other cases an increase of oxalate of ammonium, together with mucus, forms a thick precipitate or deposit. This occurrence by no means indicates disease of the kidneys, as is claimed by ignorant quacks. Among the ab- normal constituents of urine are blood, pus, epithelium from bladder, kidney, ureter or vagina, spermatozoa, albumin, fibrin in the form of 'easts,' fats, sugar, etc., during various con- ditions or diseases. In Bright's disease (q.v. ) albumin and casts are generall.v found. ITrea is determined most easily by a test with hypobromate of potassium. The total excretion per day should be between 300 and 600 grains. Uric acid generally precipitates in a few days if the urine be allowed to stand. It may be de- termined by a hydrochloric acid procedure. Sugar is generally detected by using a solution of sul- phate copper, which is reduced and precipitated in the form of the orange-colored oxide in the presence of glucose. Albumin responds to boiling or the nitric acid test, either of which causes a permanent cloud in the urine if albumin be present. Phosphates cause a white cloud on boiling the urine, which is dissolved and cleared away by adding a drop of acetic acid. Chlorides, ammonia, and urates have their special chemical tests. The Urinary Deposits are of rare beauty and interest under the microscope. Besides blood, pus, and epithelial cells occurring during grave illness, several crystals are found in ordinary urine with slight variations in health. After standing for a time at a moderate temperature, amorphous granular matter precipitates in most urine, soluble by heat, and composed of the urates of calcium and magnesium with the acid urates of potassium, sodium, and ammonium. These de- posits are probably caused by the excess of phos- phoric acid furnished by the acid sodium biphos- phate, which decomposes the alkaline urates. After a longer period, of a few days to two weeks, alkaline fermentation supervenes, due to the presence of yeast fungus and mucus. During this process urea is converted into carbonate of ammonium. As this fermentation begins, the uric acid crystals, occurring as red .pepper dust in the receptacle, begin to dissolve, while adhering to their fragments we find prismatic crystals of urate of sodium and spheroids of urate of am- monium. When the alkalinity of the urine is established amorphous granules of phosphate of lime appear, together with triangular prisms of