title: The concept of the urine test and specific reaction of the urine in various diseases according to Enrico Cauchi - member of the medical council of Malta (1933).
abstract: The Study of urine from the outset has always aroused the interest of scientists and physicians all over the world, from ancient Greeks and Romans to Hindus , Hulcos in Mexico, Australian native etc. The urine in such case was considered not only as a waste product but also as a therapeutic product. In the late XIX century scientific knowledge had already identified the function of substances that favor the increase of urinary output, and physicians over the centuries have always tried to analyze urine in various ways. In Cauchis work in 1933 all chemistry and pathophysiological knowledge of the time was condensed. Cauchi signed the preface as Member of the medical council of Malta. He was a medical doctor of the early20thcentury, He wrote about the physiopathology of urine ranging from chemical and physical behavior, to the analysis of sediments and the special reactions of the urine in various pathologies. In particular Cauchi emphasizes the main diseases of the time combines the behavior of the reaction of urine as a diagnostic and prognostic instrument, stressing the importance of the urine test and describing the method used for analysis at the time. The analyses of the text in the issue seems to belong to archaic medicine, and it is difficult to think today, that what was presented as very up-to-date- science at that time, took place only 80 years ago. Reading the full original text with today experience we are led to consider the increasing importance that scientific community gave in the past, and still gives to urine test.
authors.forename: Carlo Alberto
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Visconti
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lacquaniti
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Savica
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Santoro
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buemi
authors.forename: Biagio
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
mesh_terms: D049673:History, 20th Century; D008319:Malta; D012014:Reference Books, Medical; D016482:Urinalysis / Q000266:history*