ink

Evidence

"urine is often compared to everyday foodstuffs such as cabbage stalks, apples and milk and to everyday substances such as ink and lead."

Remarks

Ink is cited as a common, everyday substance used in Middle English uroscopy texts as a simile for identify urine color and appearance (p. 174). The text discusses how Middle English figurative images served as glosses for Latin medical terminology to aid vernacular readers. These descriptions derive from classical Greek and early medieval Latin sources (p. 174).