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PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE URINE. G75
and the sum of the acid equivalents is greater than the sum of the basic
equivalents. This depends upon the fact that in the physiological
combustion of neutral substances (proteins and others) within the
organism, acids are produced, chiefly sulphuric acid, hut also phosphoric
and organic acids, such as hippuric, uric, and oxalic acids, aromatic
oxyacids, oxyproteic acids and others. From this it follows that the
acid reaction is not due to one acid alone. The various acids take part
in the acid reaction in proportion to their dissociation, since, according
to the ion theory, the acid reaction of a mixture is dependent upon the
number of hydrogen ions present. Hence the theory that the acidity
is due entirely to dihydrogen phosphate is incorrect although this salt
takes such a great part in the acid reaction that its quantity is often
taken as a measure of the degree of acidity of the urine. 1
The composition of the food is not the only influence which affects the degree
of acidity of human urine. For example, after taking food at the beginning of
digestion, when a larger amount of gastric juice containing hydrochloric acid
is secreted, the urine may be neutral or even alkaline. 2
As to the time of the
appearance of the maximum and minimum of acidity, the various investigators
do not agree, which may in part be explained by the varying individuality and
conditions of life of the persons investigated. It has not infrequently been
observed that perfectly healthy persons in the morning void a neutral or alkaline
urine which is cloudy from earthy phosphates. The effect of muscular activity
on the acidity of urine has not been positively determined. According to Hoff-
mann, Ringstedt, Oddi, and Tarulli and Vozarik muscular work raises the
degree of acidity, but Aducco 3
claims that it decreases it. Abundant perspira-
tion reduces the acidity (Hoffmann).
In man and especially in carnivora it seems that the degree of acidity
of the urine cannot be increased above a certain point, even though
mineral acids or organic acids which are burned up with difficulty are
ingested in large quantities. Under such conditions a different behavior
has been repeatedly observed between carnivora and herbivora. In the
first (and also in man) it has been found that the acids are in part neu-
tralized by the alkalies and alkaline earths of the body, but that the
excess of acid is combined with ammonia, split off from the proteins or
their cleavage products, and eliminated in the urine as ammonium salt.
In herbivora such a combination of the excess of acid with ammonia
1
In regard to the acidity of the urine see the recent works of Ringer, Zeitschr. f.
physiol. Chem. 60; Henderson, Bioch. Zeitschr. 24, with Spiro, ibid., 15; De Jager,
Maly’s Jahresb. 39 and Bioch. Zeitschr. 38; v. Skramlik, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem.
71; Klein and Moritz, Deutsch. Arch. f. klin. Med. 99; Quagliariello, Chem. Cen-
tralbl. 1912, 1, 506.
2
Contradictory statements are found in Linossier, Maly’s Jahresber., 27.
3
Hoffmann, see Maly’s Jahresber., 14; Ringstedt, ibid., 20; Oddi and Tarulli,
ibid., 24; Aducco, ibid., 17; Vozarik, Pfliiger’s Arch., 111.
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