micro-crystalline powder, devoid of smell or taste, soluble in 1800 parts of boiling and in 14,000 parts of cold water, but insoluble in alcohol and in ether. For its detection in urine, the urine is mixed with excess of hydrochloric acid, and allowed to stand, when the uric acid separates out, generally coloured reddish by impurities. The precipitate is dissolved in a few drops of nitric acid and the solution cautiously evaporated to dryness. The residue when exposed to ammonia gas assumes the intense purple colour of murexide.
The acid, which was discovered by C. Scheele in 1776 in urinary calculi, was afterwards investigated by Liebig and Wöhler. The determination of its constitution, and its relation to other vegetable and animal products, followed from the researches of A. von Baeyer and E. Fischer (see Purin).
URICONIUM (more correctly Viroconium), a large Romano-British
country town, chef-lieu of the Cornovii, now Wroxeter
on the Severn, 5 m. E. of Shrewsbury. At first perhaps
(A.D. 45–55) a Roman legionary fortress, held by Legio
XIV. Gemina against the Welsh hill tribes, its garrison
soon removed and it became a flourishing town with stately
town hall, baths and other appurtenances of a thoroughly
civilized and Romanized city. It was larger and probably
richer than—for example—Silchester. The lines of its walls
can still be traced, enclosing an area of 170 acres, and parts
of the town hall and baths have been uncovered. Its originally
Celtic name seems to have survive in the names of Wroxeter and
the neighbouring hill, Wrekin.
See Victoria History of Shropshire, i. 215–56.
(F. J. H.)
URIM AND THUMMIM, in the Bible. 'These descriptive
terms are applied to one of the methods of divination employed
by the ancient Hebrews, which, it is now generally agreed,
consisted in a species of sacred lot. Together with “ dreams ”
and the prophetic oracle it formed the recognized channel by
which divine communications were given (Cf. 1 Sam. xxviii. 6).
That some method of casting lots is denoted by the terms
is evident from 1 Sam. xiv. 41 f. The Hebrew text in this
passage, as emended by the LXX and in this form generally
accepted, runs as follows: “ And Saul said: 'O Jehovah,
God of Israel, why dost Thou not answer Thy servant to-day?
If this fault be in me or in Jonathan my son, give Urim, and
And the lot
escaped. And
Jonathan my
the lot to fall
if it be in Thy people Israel, give Thummim. fell upon Saul and Jonathan, and the people Saul said: ' Cast (the lot) between me and son, and on whomsoever Tehovah shall cause let him die.' So they cast (the lot) between him and Jonathan his son, and Jonathan was taken.”
From this illuminating passage it is clear (a) that by means of the Urim and Thummim the guilt or innocence of the suspected parties was determined; (Zz) that this was effected by a series of categorical questions implying the simple alternative of “yes” or “ no, ” or something positive or negative. A further inference (0) from a comparison of 1 Sam. xiv. 41 f. with ver. 36 (Greek text) is that this method of casting the sacred lot was closely connected with divination by the ephod (q.v.), and was the prerogative of the priests. This last point appears explicitly in the “ Blessing of Moses ” (Deut. xxxiii.), where the opening words of the Benediction on Levi run thus (text as emended by Ball, following LXX; P.S.B.A. 1896, 118 f.):- “ Give to Levi Thy Thummim,
And Thy Urim to the man of Thy favour."
Similar modes of divination were practised, it would seem, among the pre-Islamic Arabs. The following custom is cited by Professor G. F. Moore,1 on the testimony of Moslem writers, as having been invogue: “ Two arrow shafts (without heads or feathers), on one of which was written ' Command, ' on the other 'Prohibitionf or words of similar purport, were placed in a receptacle, and according as one or the other of them was drawn out it was known whether the proposed enterprise was in accordance with the will of the god and destined to succeed or not " (cf. Prov. xvi. 33; Acts i. 26).
Regarding the form and material of the Urim and Thummim
- Encycl. Biblica, iv. (col. 5236), where further details are given.
no details are given in the Old Testament. They seem to have fallen into desuetude at a comparatively early period. No mention is made of their use in the historical books after the time of David and Solomon, though it is probable that such use is implied in passages where the ephod is mentioned (e.g. Hosea iii. 4). In the post-exilic Priestly Code (i.e. the bulk of the Levitical legislation of the Pentateuch), however, the Urim and T humrnim hgure as part of the equipment of the high priest (cf. Ex. xxviii. 30; Lev. viii. 8; Num. xxvii. 21). Here it is stated that they are kept in a square pouch which is worn upon the high priest's breast (“ the breastplate of judgment ”), and attached to the ephod. Thus the association of the Urim and Thummim with the ephod, which appears in the oldest narratives, is retained in the Priestly Code (P). It is doubtful, however, Whether P had any clear notion as to what exactly the Urim and Thummim were. The priestly writer gives no directions as to how they were to be made. They were retained in his ideal legislation, apparently, because their use was already invested with the mystery of a long-vanished past, and they were regarded as having formed one of the most venerable adjuncts of the priesthood. That this method of divination was not in actual use after the Exile is shown by Neh. vii. 65 (Ezra ii. 63; r Esdras v. 40) where an important point affecting the priestly families is reserved “ till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.” Later references (Ecclus. xlv. ro; in Josephus and the Talmud) prove that no real tradition survived on the subject. The identification of them with the jewels of the breastplate and on the shoulders of the high priest (which apparently has the authority of Josephus) is unwarranted; other ancient guesses are equally baseless. Nor has any satisfactory explanation of the names Urim and Thummim been proposed. As vocalized in the Massoretic Hebrew text the names = “ Lights and perfection.” But the Greek translators read the former '0rim and connected it with lorah, “ decision ”; it would thus=“ doctrine ”; so Symmachus, cf. r Esd. v. 40, where “a high priest wearing Urim and Thummim ” (R.V.) is given as “ a high priest clothed in doctrine and truth ” in A.V. Nor can the attempt of the American scholar Muss-Arnolt to explain them as cognate with the Babylonian Tablets of Destiny be pronounced successful. Perhaps the conjecture least open to objection is that which regards the terms Urim and Thummim as the. names of two 1ots2 (perhaps actually written on them) of opposite import. In this case the former of the two names might be derived from the root 'arar, “ to curse ”; the other from a root meaning “ to be without fault.” The one would thus signify “ that a proposed action was satisfactory to God, the other that it provoked His wrath ” (Professor G. F. Moore). But all such explanations are highly precarious.
Bibliography.—For the older views, see Spencer, De leg. Hebr. rit. Diss. VII.; and a useful summary by Plumptre in Smith's Bib. Dict. For modern discussions, see the articles “ Urim and Thummim ” in the Bible dictionaries; the relevant sections in the treatises on archaeology; and W. Muss-Arnolt, The Urim and Thummim (reprinted from the American Journal of Semitic Languages, July 1900). (G. H. Bo.)
URINARY SYSTEM. The urinary system in the fully developed human being consists of (r) the kidneys, (2) the
ureters, (3) the urinary bladder, and (4) the urethra.
As the greater part of the male urethra is a generative as well as a urinary canal, its description will be found in the article on the Reproductive System.
The kidneys are two bean-shaped granular masses, firm in consistence and reddish brown in colour, about 4% in. long, and placed obliquely behind the other abdominal viscera-one on each side of the last thoracic and three upper lumbar vertebrae. Each is imperfectly covered on its ventral surface by peritoneum and is moulded to some extent by the viscera which press on it. Around them there is usually a considerable amount of fat and areolar tissue, by which, as well as by the peritoneum and b the presence of the surrounding viscera, the kidneys are retainecl, in their place. In rare cases the kidney may slip from its usual place in the loins to a lower position (movable kidney), and may even be movable
2 The lots may have been small pebbles, or small tablets of wood or bone.
