A quantitative study of glucuronic acid excretion.

Since the discovery by Wiedemann in 1876 of a peculiar acid in the urine of dogs following camphor feeding, and the subsequent identification of this acid by Schmiedeberg in 1879, much interest has centred sporadically about the nature and physiological activity of glucuronic acid. Early investigations were concerned for the greater part with the chemical nature of this substance, and with methods for its determination and quantitative estimation. Only in the last fifteen years has interest swung to the physiological significance of glucuronic acid in the animal organism. Methods for the quantitative estimation of glucuronic acid have been many and diverse, indicating that no simple and entirely satisfactory technique has yet been devised. Methods proposed have always been prolonged, tedious, and not completely accurate procedures. [...