Descriptions of urine in the hippocratic collection

Abstract

(Purpose) I studied mentions of urine in the Hippocratic Collection. (Materials and Methods) I collected mentions of urine in the Hippocratic Collection (Roeb, Otsuki and Kon editions) to compare descriptions between the Kos and Knidos schools. (Results) Urine was mentioned in 396 passages. Descriptions by Kos, Knidos, and unspecified schools accounted for 355 (90%), 24 (6%), and 17 (4%), respectively. Of the 396, 386 (98%) referred to urinary findings, 9 (2%) to significance of urine in diagnosis, 3 to treatment according to urinary findings, and 4 to vapor baths with urine used by the Knidos school. Findings in urine were mentioned in 39 categories in total as thick or thin, clear or turbid, "concocted" or "unconcocted", watery, colorless or "good colored", bloody, clotted, purulent, and others. Colors of urine were mentioned in 27. Black (Greek characters) and white (Greek characters) were observed frequently, followed by red (Greek characters) and yellow or yellowish (Greek characters), and others. Urinary sediment was mentioned in 30 as smooth, uniform, cloudy, branny, or others. White urine tended to be thick, and black urine to be thin. Urine was "good" when white (Greek characters) or yellow (Greek characters), and the sediment was white, smooth and uniform; it was "bad" when black and thin, fetid, watery, or with branny. (Conclusions) Urinary findings were mentioned in the Hippocratic Collection, most frequently by the Kos school, and findings varied. Color descriptions by Hippocrates differed from those in present-day Japanese. White (Greek characters) urine may be pale yellow, since (Greek characters) actually means neither white nor colorless, but pale-yellow as white (Greek characters) port-wine. Thick white (Greek characters) and thick yellow (Greek characters) urine may represent yellow and yellow-brown concentrated urine of healthy persons. Black (Greek characters) urine may indicate gross hematuria, as red (Greek characters) port-wine and thin blackish (Greek characters) urine may indicate hematuria together with dilute urine, presumably as in renal failure.