The Concentration of the Blood and of the Urine in Diabetic Toxemia

The marked concentration of the blood that is found in the severe diabetic state has been pointed out in a previous article.¹Here we wish to show the striking changes in the concentration of the urine that are associated with this condition and to indicate the rapid alterations that accompany successful therapy. Urinary nitrogen was determined by the usual Kjeldahl method; sugar by a modification of Benedict and Osterberg's micro method²in the earlier studies and later by the Shaffer and Hartmann method.³Urinary phosphate was estimated by the method of Bell and Doisy as modified by Briggs,⁴and chlorid by Volhard-Harvey titration. The Austin and Van Slyke⁵method for plasma chlorid was used in earlier studies; later Van Slyke's⁶new method was substituted. Plasma phosphate was determined at first by Brigg's⁴modification of the Bell and Doisy method and later by the procedure proposed by Benedict and Theis.⁷The