TRANSIENT PHOSPHATIC URINE.
In this class the urine does not contain phosphates in excess. Its normal quantum of amorphous phosphate of lime (bone earth) is merely thrown down by reason of an increased alkalinity of the urine.
It may appear in patients in complete health, who have indulged in sweet or sub-acid fruits, or in sparkling beverages, or it occurs in those who are suffering from the depressing effects of sexual indul gence or habitual masturbation. Those whose urine has been ren dered alkaline by medicines, such as the carbonates, the acetates, and the citrates of the alkalies also pass heavy deposits of earthy phos phates. The urine may be turbid only once and during the rest of the day it may be quite clear. At other times the turbidity may last for several days, but it is not constant, nor does it produce any marked symptoms beyond a slight listlessness and loss of spirits.
Catarrhal conditions of the prostate and bladder, the result of gonorrhoea, may or may not cause the transient deposition of earthy phosphates.
It is certain that phosphatic urine is often met with in patients suffering from posterior urethritis, mild cystitis, or pyelitis, and that these two and independent troubles react upon and accentuate each other; thus the furred, spongy surface of the inflamed mucous membrane resents the alkalinity of the urine and favors the deposi tion of phosphates by further depressing the acidity of the secretion. This reaction is carried out without the formation of mucus or the intervention of the micrococcus urea+, so that the triple phosphates are not discovered in the urine, but appear in a later stage or severer grade.