Note 16 — Chapter VIII · FORMATION AND DESTRUCTION OF URIC ACID

Experimenting on a Dalmatian coach-hound, Gideon Wells was able to confirm Benedict’s observation that it excretes large quantities of uric acid. But inasmuch as the liver of this same dog was able to destroy uric acid in vitro, the inference is that the presence of uric acid in the urine of the Dalmatian is not attributable to the absence of uricase in its tissues. “The kidney did not exhibit uricolytic activity. Neither the liver nor spleen converted xanthine into uric acid, but the liver deaminised both guanine and adenine.”—Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1918.