A Wee History Lesson on Uroscopy 

Marshall Miller: 
I'm Marshall Miller. Welcome to another whiz-bang episode of Rub Some Dirt In It. And one thing is for sure, if you're streaming this episode, you already have something in common with it. Uroscopy, or the examination of urine, was used to diagnose medical conditions all the way back to ancient Roman Greece. And by the time we hit middle-ages, we were seeing it with greater frequency. I certainly did when I hit middle age. For the most modest patients, examining urine was far less intrusive than poking and prodding, and so a chart was developed to diagnose illness based on the color of one's…number one. They called it Wheel of Urine. Match the color of the wee to the color on the wheel, and for that matter, a little smell and taste test went a long way towards a particular finding. Seventeenth century English physician, Thomas Willis, described one patient's urine taste as sweet like honey or sugar, and coined the term mellitus. Of course, diabetes mellitus is now the formal name for the condition but for a great while it was called Willis's disease. Probably the most famous case of urine analysis was King George III, whose purplish-blue output could have been a sign he was suffering from a nervous system disorder, which may have caused the madness he was noted for. 

Good thing for you HCPs that by the end of the 19th century, the whole look, smell, and taste deal gave way to chemical analysis. I'm Marshall Miller reminding you that if you're in trouble with a medical issue that's difficult to sniff out, or if you are at least unclear, you can always rub some dirt in it.

Thanks for listening.