A new look at the role of urinalysis in the history of diagnostic medicine

Abstract

Before this century, urine was the predominant body fluid used by the physician for diagnosis and prognosis. Uroscopy, or urinalysis by the senses, has usually been treated disparagingly in historical accounts of diagnostic medicine. Although uroscopy was at times used fraudulently, the thoughtful use of urinalysis was probably an important part of diagnosis for the physician, even before the chemical analysis of urine.