STUDIES ON SULPHUR METABOLISM. I. THE URINARY SULPHUR PARTITION IN VARIOUS DISEASES

I. INTRODUCTION  As is well known, the urinary sulphur is made up of the sulphates, both inorganic and ethereal, and certain less highly oxidized compounds, which are called, following Salkowski's¹ suggestion, "neutral sulphur." The neutral sulphur compounds are many and include the following: uroferric acid,² uroproteic acid,³ oxyproteic acid,⁴ urochrome,⁵ thiocyanic acid and its salts,⁶ cystin and similar substances,⁷ taurin and taurincarbamic acid,¹ methyl mercaptan,⁸ ethyl sulphid,⁹ thiosulphuric acid¹⁰ and sulphurous acid.¹¹Many of the above mentioned substances contain nitrogen in a form which would be included under the term colloidal nitrogen, and on that account one would expect in those cases in which the urine contains an increased amount of colloidal nitrogen, there would also be an increase in the neutral sulphur of the urine.It has been known for some time that the colloidal nitrogen