Amatus Lusitanus, Bartholinus, and the Ephemerides speak of black
urine after eating grapes or damson plums. The Ephemerides speaks
of black urine being a precursor of death, but Piso, Rhodius, and
Schenck say it is anomalous and seldom a sign of death. White
urine, commonly known as chyluria, is frequently seen, and
sometimes results from purulent cystitis. Though containing
sediment, the urine looks as if full of milk. A case of this kind
was seen in 1895 at the Jefferson Medical College Hospital,
Philadelphia, in which the chyluria was due to a communication
between the bladder and the thoracic duct.
Ackerman has spoken of metastasis of the tears, and Dixon gives
an instance in which crying was not attended by the visible
shedding of tears. Salomon reports a case of congenital
deficiency of tears. Blood-stained tears were frequently
mentioned by the older writers. Recently Cross has written an
article on this subject, and its analogy is seen in the next
chapter under hemorrhages from the eyes through the lacrimal
duct.
The Semen.--The older writers spoke of metastasis of the seminal
flow, the issue being by the skin (perspiration) and other
routes. This was especially supposed to be the case in
satyriasis, in which the preternatural exit was due to
superabundance of semen, which could be recognized by its odor.
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