III. A contribution to the study of the yellow colouring matter of the urine

Abstract

The uncertainty which still surrounds the origin of a phenomenon so familiar as the yellow coloration of the urine bears eloquent testimony to the difficulties which beset the investigation, by ordinary chemical methods, of such substances as the urinary pigments, and to the importance of the part which the spectroscope has played in the acquisition of such knowledge of them as we possess. Indeed, our acquaintance with the individual pigments is proportional to the distinctive character of their absorption spectra, rather than to the time which has elapsed since they first attracted attention; and in not a few modern works doubt is thrown upon the very existence of a distinct yellow pigment, having negative spectroscopic properties, but to which normal urine owes its characteristic tint, the chief part in the coloration of the excretion being assigned to urobilin.