The Urine Wheel and Uroscopy: What Your Wee Could Tell a Medieval Doctor

In modern medicine, urine samples are routinely examined in laboratories to obtain clinical information about a patient. This procedure, known as urinalysis, developed from an older medical process called uroscopy. Although mostly discredited today, doctors used to use a urine wheel to diagnose illnesses up until the middle of the 19th century.

Uroscopy History

The history of uroscopy may be traced back all the way to the ancient Greek and Roman periods. One of the most renowned physicians of the Classical period was Hippocrates, and instructions for the examination of urine can be found in the Corpus Hippocraticum . This is a compilation of medical texts made by various authors belonging to the so-called School of Hippocrates.

‘The Medical Alchemist’ by Franz Cristoph Janneck. ( Public Domain )

In the text entitled Prognostics, the different colors and consistencies of urine are mentioned. These two features of a person’s urine may then be used to make prognoses on the course of the disease. However, the physicians of the Classical world did not place too much importance on uroscopy.

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It was only during the Middle Ages that uroscopy became a significant method of medical examination. One possible reason for this is the fact that during that time, it was considered socially unacceptable to directly examine a patient, or even to disrobe him or her. Therefore, through the observation of a person’s urine, a physician would hope to be able to diagnose his or her illness.