The methods commonly described for the determination of the chlorids in the urine are, with the exception of those of Mohr and Volhard, either too long and complicated for the busy clinician or too inaccurate for anything approaching scientific work.
The method described by Mohr,1 in which the chlorids are precipitated by a standardized solution of silver nitrate, using potassium chromate as an indicator, is a rapid and convenient process. It uniformly gives too high results,2 however, as the silver also precipitates the uric acid, purin bases, urinary pigments, etc., and therefore is not satisfactory for accurate work in the urine.
The Volhard method3 as modified by Drechsel4 and applied to the urine by Falck and Arnold consists briefly in the precipitation of the chlorids by an excess of a standardized solution of silver nitrate, the removal of the silver chlorid by filtration and