On a new substance occurring in the urine of a patient with mollities ossium

Abstract

The chemical analysis of this substance showed it to be the hy­drated deutoxide of albumen, of which 66*97 parts were contained in every 1000 parts of urine, an amount equal to the proportion of albumen in healthy blood; so that every ounce of urine secreted was equivalent to the loss of an equal quantity of blood. The peculiar characteristic of this substance was its solubility in water, and its being precipitated by nitric acid; the precipitate being dissolved by heat, and again thrown down by cold. The urine which contained it was reddened by the addition of nitric acid; a phenomenon, the occurrence of which might, in future cases, lead to its re-discovery. A letter was read from William A. Norton, Esq., addressed to the President and Fellows of the Royal Society, and communicated by Lieut.-Colonel Sabine, R. A., For. Sec. R. S., containing the notice of some results which the author states he has obtained from a mathematical investigation founded on a new theory of Terrestrial Magnetism, and which he intends, at an early period, to communi­cate to the Society.