ABSTRACT
During the second half of the nineteenth century, numerous books on urine analysis and chemical diagnosis began to appear in England, Germany, France, and the United States, and were frequently revised. Very little is to be found in arterial blood and it was believed that minute amounts of sugar are present in normal urine. Purdy included an interesting chapter on "Examination of Urine for Life-Insurance," which provides a detailed protocol of testing for albumin, sugar, and an estimate of urea, in addition to questions to ask the applicant. Highly sensitive methods demonstrated a wide margin for safe levels of albumin and changed the attitude of the life insurance companies toward albuminuria. In Georges Hubert Esbach procedure, the urinary protein is precipitated by a reagent containing picric and citric acids in the Esbach albuminometer, a specially calibrated test tube with a "U" mark at the 10 cc level for the urine and an "R" at 20 cc for the added reagent.
