Thursday, November 13, 2014

What Are those Ants Sniffing?



Tell me, do those laboratory technicians wince when they have to handle my urine sample?  Who could refrain?   Do you know that the shade and density of the urine is then noted on the laboratory results?   I pity the person whose job it is to determine that!  Do they hold it up against a paint swatch nabbed from a local hardware store?

But it could be worse. 

Another lesson in history here:  Long before any of our modern urine tests were developed, physicians actually tasted the urine (yuck!) of their patients, employing their own taste buds to see if it indicated signs of sweetness which meant that the patient would be diagnosed with what they then called the “Sugar Sickness” (now known as diabetes.)   In fact, the discovery of Type One Diabetes (an autoimmune disease) dates back to 1500 B.C.E. in Egypt.  Physicians in India at around the same time discovered that the urine in certain sick individuals would attract ants.  Yes, ants!

I suppose I'm thankful 
it didn't attract mice. . .