Note 672 — BOOK I.—OF THE EPIDEMICS.

In this case, as Galen remarks, the characters of the urine from the first were such as to indicate a fatal and speedy result. On the second day the urine was turbid, and without any sediment; on the third day the same, and consequently confirming the anticipation of the disease proving mortal; on the fourth, oily urine, with epistaxis, so that it was not to be wondered at that the patient died on the sixth. Indeed, when we further take into account the state of the breathing, the coldness of the extremities, the meteorism of the hypochondriac region, and the subsultus tendinum, it is difficult to imagine a more hopeless case of fever. Having mentioned “oily urine,” it may be well to state its characters, as fully given by one of the later authorities on urology, namely Theophilus. He says, when the urine in fevers assumes the color of oil, it indicates that the fat of the body is melting down; when the appearance of the urine still more resembles oil, it shows a still greater melting; and when the urine in consistence and color exactly resembles oil of a dark color, it prognosticates a fatal collapse. (De Urinis, 17; ed. Ideler.) On this subject, see further some very interesting observations by Foës, in his annotations on this passage (p. 988). With regard to the respiration in this case, see also the remarks of Galen in the Third Book of his work On Difficulty of Breathing (tom. vii., p. 932; ed. Kühn). As Galen here remarks, Hippocrates explains the meaning of this passage in one of his Aphorisms, where he writes thus: “In fevers, when the respiration stops, it is a bad symptom, for it prognosticates convulsion.”