History of Urinary Cytology

Abstract

Even today the “matula”, a flask for inspection of the urine, is depicted in the official emblems of the American Urological Association, the German Society for Urology, and the Professional Association of German Urologists. It symbolizes the central importance of urinalysis as a medical and especially a urologic method of investigation. The color and odor of urine were of keen diagnostic interest to the physicians of the Middle Ages (Figs. 1.1, 1.2). But due to lack of alternative diagnostic methods, uroscopy soon evolved into a mystical uromancy in which the color of a urine specimen was subject to fantastic interpretations (Fig. 1.3). Urinalysis was not taken seriously as a diagnostic tool until the nineteenth century, when chemical and microscopic techniques were applied scientifically to the examination of the urine.