" Now, bearing in mind that the use of alkaline citrate ((filbert Blaney, of neutral paratartrate of potp.ss, bi-tartrate of potass, tartarised soda, acetates of potass and soda, and tartarised borax, renders the urine alkaline by creating in it an amount of carbonated alkali ; and that, likewise, after the eating of fruit, such as cherries, strawberries, &c., the urine is of an alkaline nature, inasmuch as these fruits contain alkalies combined with vegetable acids, it is obvious that the acid re action of healthy urine is purely accidental, and that urine of an alkaline or neutral re action cannot be considered as a symptom of a diseased condition of the body. All vege table aliments, without exception,— tubers, roots and leaves, potatoes, turnips, greens, &c.,—contain alkalies in combination with ve getable acids; potatoes, for instance, contain alkaline citrates ; turnips, alkaline racemates and oxalates, &c. All these plants yield, upon incineration, more or less strongly alka line ashes, the bases of which were contained in the living plants, as salts of vegetable acids.
" It is obvious that by adding these vege tables to a meat diet, to bread and to other aliments prepared from flour, the nature of the urine must become thoroughly altered ; for the alkalies which these vegetables con tain in combination with vegetable acids, enter the urine in the form of carbonated alkalies, and neutralise the acids, of whatever kind, which may be present. When partaken of in a certain proportion, they render the urine neutral ; when partaken of in a larger pro portion, they impart to it an alkaline reaction.
" The urine of all animals feeding upon vegetables, such as grass, herbs, roots, &c., has an alkaline reaction. The urine of the horse, of the cow, of the sheep, of the camel, of the rabbit, of the guinea-pig, of the ass, &c. is alkaline ; it contains alkaline carbonates, and acids produce in it a lively effervescence. "The acid, neutral, or alkaline reaction of the urine of healthy individuals does not depend upon any difference in the processes of di gestion, respiration, or secretion, in the various classes of animals, but upon the constitution of the aliments, and upon the alkaline bases which enter the organism through the medium of these aliments. If the amount of these bases is sufficiently large to neutralise the acids formed in the organism, or supplied by the aliments, the urine is neutral ; whilst it manifests an alkaline reaction when the amount of alkaline bases thus supplied to the organism is more than sufficient to neutralise the acids ; but in all these cases the urine accords with the nature of the aliments taken.
" The inorganic bases and acids contained in the urine were, with the exception of sul phuric acid, which joins them in the organism, constituents of the aliments. The amount of inorganic bases and acids emitted through the urine in twenty-four hours must, in adult individuals, be equal to that of these bases and acids supplied to the organism, during the same period, through the medium of the aliments.
"From these data it follows necessarily, first, that the analysis of urine when made without respect to the inorganic salts, acids, and bases, supplied by the aliments, teaches nothing whatever, and by no means justifies us in drawing therefrom any physiological or pathological inference ; secondly, that from the nature of the ashes of the aliments we are able to determine, positively, the con stituents of the urine emitted ; and thirdly, that only when these latter have been dis tinctly ascertained, can we expect to derive, from the analysis of the urine, any correct information with respect to the inorganic matters which have come to be present in it through processes of disease ; this, at least, is the chemical method of quantitative investiga tion.
"Bearing in mind that the urine contains the soluble constituents of the ashes of the aliments, whilst the fiaces contain the insolu ble part of these constituents, we may form an accurate knowledge of both, at once de termine in which urine soluble alkaline phos phates must be present, and in which they cannot exist. The ashes of all seeds, and of flesh and blood, contain a certain amount of soluble and insoluble phosphates, whilst the ashes of vegetables contain no free alkaline phosphate, but only insoluble phosphates. These vegetable ashes contain far more lime and magnesia than is required for the neutral isation of the phosphoric acid present. Hence, upon incinerating a plant, together with its seed, and lixiviating the ashes, we find no alkaline phosphate in the fluid obtained, although the lixivium of the ashes of the seeds, when incinerated and lixiviated by themselves, yields a considerable amount of these phosphates : the excess of lime and magnesia contained in the leaves and the straw enter here into combination with the phosphoric acid of the soluble alkaline phos phates, forming an insoluble compound.
" It will now be understood why the alka line phosphates are generally absent from the urine of herbivorous animals, and also why, in certain cases, they may be found in the urine of these animals. If the nutriment of these animals contains no soluble phosphates, their urine cannot contain any; whilst, if we add a certain proportion of grain to their food, the alkaline phosphates may be detected in their urine. Thus it is obvious, likewise, that the soluble phosphates in the urine of man are merely accidental constituents, and that by simply adding lime or magnesia to the aliments, and thus assimilating the constitution of these aliments to that of the food of herbi vorous animals, the urine must become altered in its nature and properties. The knowledge of the influence which alkalies, magnesia, and lime, or acids, exercise upon the properties of the urine, or, in other words, upon the secre tory process of the kidneys, in the healthy organism, is of the highest importance for the curing of diseases.