As soon as the animal is able to rise it should be assisted and moved to the nearest shelter. All the cold water it will drink should be allowed. The ammonia or spirits of nitrous ether drench should be administered every three hours so long as there is much failure of strength. The diet should be limited for several days—bran slops and a little grass. When signs of returning strength are presented, 12 ounces of Epsom salt dissolved in a quart of warm water may be given in those cases which have been down and unconscious, but do not give it while much weakness remains, which may be for several days after the attack. The flesh of an animal that is suffering from heat stroke should not be prepared for use as food. On account of the fever with which the animal suffers, the flesh contains toxins that may render it poisonous to the consumer.

INJURIES TO THE SPINAL CORD.

The spinal cord is liable to concussion from blows and falls, and paralysis, to a greater or less extent, may be the result. Fracture, with displacement of the bones (vertebrae) which form the spinal column, by compressing the spinal cord, produces paralysis, which varies in its effect according to the part of the cord that is compressed. If the fracture is above the middle of the neck, death soon follows, as communication between the brain and diaphragm (the essential muscle of inspiration) is stopped. When the fracture is farther down in the neck, posterior to the origin of the phrenic nerve, the breathing continues, but there is paralysis in all parts posterior to the fracture, including the fore and hind legs. When the fracture is in the region of the loins the hind legs are paralyzed, but the fore legs are not. If the fracture is in the sacrum (the division of the spinal column between the loins and the tail), the tail alone is paralyzed.

As a matter of course, when the back is broken there is no remedy; the animal should be killed at once.

PARALYSIS.

Paralysis, or loss of motion in a part, may be due to a lesion of the brain, of the spinal cord, or of a nerve. It may also be caused by reflex irritation. When the paralysis affects both sides of the body, posterior to a point, it is further designated by the name paraplegia. When one side of the body (a lateral half) is paralyzed, the term hemiplegia is applied to the affection. When paralysis is caused by a lesion of a nerve, the paralysis is confined to the particular part supplied by the affected nerve.

As already pointed out, paralysis may be due to concussion of the spine, fracture of a bone of the spinal column with consequent compression of the spinal cord, concussion of the brain, or compression of the brain. An injury to one side of the brain may produce paralysis of the same side of the head and of the opposite side of the body (hemiplegia). Paralysis may occur in connection with parturient apoplexy, lead poisoning, ergotism, etc.

CONGESTION OF THE SPINAL CORD.

Paraplegia, or paralysis of the rear part of the body, is the dominant symptom in congestion or inflammation of the spinal cord. The cause is not known, but the disease is probably due to chilling. It is thought by some that some toxic influence (poison) may be responsible for its development.

Symptoms.—The symptoms usually appear suddenly and consist in inability to stand. Sometimes this is preceded by a period of excitement. The animal usually lies quietly, but sometimes it groans and tosses its head about in a way that indicates pain. Cows heavy with calf are sometimes affected with a form of paraplegia, which usually attacks them from about a month to a few days before calving. Apparently they are in good health in every respect except the inability to stand up on account of the paralysis of the hind quarters. This form is generally attributed to feeding on feeds containing insufficient protein and ash. It is most likely to occur in cows that are weak and thin. With good care and feed recovery usually occurs.

Treatment.—The animal must be given a soft, dry bed under shelter and in a quiet, airy place. It is well to apply mustard along the spine. The action of the mustard may be intensified by rubbing the skin with ammonia or turpentine. Internally give a purge of Glauber's salt. Nux vomica or strychnia (1 to 2 grain doses) may be given. Turn the cow two to four times daily and rub the legs well each time.

There are instances when cows will persist in lying down (in spite of all efforts that are made to compel them to stand up), when it can not really be said that they are paralyzed. They have sensation in all parts; they can move all their feet; they can change their position; and in fact every function seems to be normally performed, but they obstinately refuse to rise or even make an effort to do so. Cases of this kind have been killed, as it was an utter impossibility to get the animal on its feet. However, there are instances when a cow, after refusing to rise when all other means had been tried, quickly jumped to her feet and showed fright upon the appearance of a dog or other terrifying object.

RABIES (HYDROPHOBIA).

[See discussion of this disease in chapter on "Infectious diseases," p. 358.]

LIGHTNING STROKE (ASPHYXIA ELECTRICA).

When an animal is struck by lightning the shock is instantaneously expended on the nervous system, and as a rule death occurs immediately; but when the shock is not fatal animation is suspended to a greater or less extent, as evidenced by prostration, unconsciousness, and paralysis.

Symptoms.—When not fatal, the symptoms vary much, according to the severity of the shock. The animal usually falls, as from an apoplectic attack, and, as a matter of course, the symptoms are such as are generally manifested in connection with concussion of the brain. The muscular system may be completely relaxed; the legs limber; the muscles flabby and soft to the touch; or there may be convulsions, spasms, and twitching of the muscles. The breathing is generally labored, irregular, or interrupted, and slower than normal. In most instances the electrical fluid leaves its mark by singeing the hair, or by inflicting wounds, burns, or blisters.

Treatment.—So long as the beating of the heart is perceptible the endeavor to resuscitate the animal should be continued. Dash cold water over the head and body; rub the body and legs; smartly whip the body with wet towels or switches. Mustard, mixed with water, should be well rubbed over the legs and back of the head on each side of the neck. Inject into the rectum 4 drams of stronger liquor ammonia, or 1-1/2 ounces of hartshorn diluted with a quart of warm water. Cautiously hold an uncorked bottle of hartshorn to the nostrils, so that some of it is inhaled, but care should be taken that too much is not suddenly inhaled. If the animal is unconscious, hypodermic injections of stimulants are indicated, such as 6 drams of camphorated oil in one dose, subcutaneously, or 20 grains of caffein or 1/2 grain of strychnin, also subcutaneously.

When the animal revives sufficiently to be able to swallow, 4 drams of the stronger liquor ammonia, diluted with a quart of cold water, should be given as a drench, and the dose should be repeated in an hour. One and one-half ounces of ordinary hartshorn may be used instead of the stronger liquor ammonia, but, like the latter, it should be diluted with a quart or more of water, and even then care should be exercised in drenching.

In cases where the shock has not caused complete insensibility recovery may be hastened by the ammonia and water drench, or 4 ounces of brandy diluted with a quart of water, or 8 ounces of whisky diluted with a quart of water. These doses may be given every three or four hours if necessary. After recovery from the more serious symptoms 2 drams of sulphate of quinin should be given twice a day until health is restored. If any paralysis remains 1-1/2 drams of pulverized nux vomica should be given twice a day with the quinin.

The foregoing treatment is also applicable when the electrical shock is given by telephone, electric car, or electric-light wires, etc. The wounds, burns, or blisters should be treated according to the antiseptic method of treating wounds.

TUMORS IN THE BRAIN, ETC.

Tumors of different kinds have been found within the cranial cavity, and in many cases there have been no well-marked symptoms exhibited during the life of the animal to lead one to suspect their existence. Cases are recorded where bony tumors have been found in the brain of cattle that died suddenly, but during life no signs of disease were manifested. Post-mortem examinations have disclosed tubercles in the membranes of the brain. (See "Tuberculosis," p. 407.) Abscesses, usually the result of inflammation of the brain, have been found post-mortem. For the description of hydrocephalus, or dropsy of the brain, of calves the reader is referred to the section on parturition. (See "Water in the head," p. 179.)

Chorea, constant twitching and irregular spasmodic movements of the muscles, has been noticed in connection with or as a sequel to other affections, as, for example, parturient apoplexy.

Various diseases, the description of which will be found in other sections of this work, affect the nervous system to a greater or less extent—for example, ergotism, lead poisoning, uremia, parturient apoplexy, colic, and other affections associated with cramps, or spasms, etc. Disease of the ovaries or of the spinal cord, by reflex irritation, may cause estromania (see "Excess of venereal desire," p. 148, constant desire for the bull).



DISEASES OF THE URINARY ORGANS.

By JAMES LAW, F. R. C. V. S.,

Formerly Professor of Veterinary Science, etc., in Cornell University.

Of the materials that have served their purpose in building up the animal body or in sustaining the body temperature, and that are now to be thrown out as waste, the greater part is expelled from the system through the lungs and the kidneys, but the agents that pass out by either of these two channels differ in the main from those passing by the other. Thus from the lungs in the form of dioxid of carbon—the same gas that comes from burning of coal or oil—there escapes most of the waste material resulting from the destruction in the system of fats, sugars, starch, and such other foods as are wanting in the element nitrogen, and do not form fibrous tissues, but go mainly to support animal heat or maintain functional activity. From the kidneys, on the other hand, are thrown out the waste products resulting from the destruction of the foods and tissues containing nitrogen—of, for instance, albumin, fibrin, gluten, casein, gelatin, woody tissue, etc. While much of the waste material containing nitrogen leaves the body by the bowels, this is virtually only such of the albuminoid food as has failed to be fully digested and absorbed; this has never formed a true constituent part of the body itself or of the blood, but is so much waste food, like that which has come to the table and again carried away unused. If the albuminoid food element has entered the blood, whether or not it has been built up into a constituent part of the structure of the body, its waste products, which contain nitrogen, are in the main expelled through the kidneys, so that the latter become the principal channels for the expulsion of all nitrogen-containing waste.

It would be an error, however, to infer that all nitrogenous food, when once digested and absorbed into the blood, must necessarily leave the system in the urine. On the contrary, in the young and growing animal, all increase of the fibrous structures of the body is gained through the building up of those flesh-forming constituents into their substance; in the pregnant animal the growth of the offspring and its envelopes has a similar origin, and in the dairy cow the casein or curd of the milk is a means of constant elimination of these nitrogen-containing agents. Thus, in the breeding cow and, above all, in the milking cow, the womb or udder carries on a work in one sense equivalent to that otherwise performed by the kidneys. Not only are these organs alike channels for the excretion of albuminous products, but they are also related to each other structurally and by nervous sympathy, so that suffering in the one is liable to induce some measure of disorder in the other.

As in the case of other mammals, this nitrogenous waste matter is mainly present in the urine of cattle in the form of urea, but also, to some extent, as hippuric acid, a derivative of vegetable food which, in the herbivora, replaces the uric acid found in the urine of man and carnivora. Uric acid is, however, found in the urine of sucking calves which have practically an animal diet, and it may also appear in the adult in case of absolute, prolonged starvation, and in diseases attended with complete loss of appetite and rapid wasting of the body. In such cases the animal lives on its own substance, and the product is that of the wasting flesh.

The other products containing nitrogen are present in only small quantities and need not be specially referred to. The urine of cattle contains much less of carbonates than that of the horse, and effervesces less on the addition of an acid. As the carbonates form a large proportion of the solid deposits (gravel, stone) from the horse's urine, the ox may thus be held less liable, yet even in the ox the carbonates become abundant or scanty, according to the nature of the feed, and therefore gravel, formed by carbonate of lime, is not infrequent in cattle. When fed on beets, clover hay, or bean straw carbonates are present in large quantities, these aliments being rich in organic acids and alkaline carbonates; whereas upon oat straw, barley straw, and, above all, wheat straw, they are in small amount. In calves fed on milk alone no carbonates are found in the urine.

Phosphates, usually in combination with lime, are, as a rule, present only in traces in the urine of cattle; however, on a dietary of wheat, bran, or other aliment rich in phosphates, these may be present in large amount, so that they render the liquid cloudy or are deposited in solid crystals. The liquid is rendered transparent by nitric acid.

The cow's urine, on a diet of hay and potatoes, contained:

Parts. Urea 18.5 Potassic hippurate 16.5 Alkaline lactates 17.2 Potassium bicarbonate 16.1 Magnesium carbonate 4.7 Lime carbonate 0.6 Potassium sulphate 3.6 Common salt 1.5 Silica Trace Phosphates 0.0 Water and undetermined substances 921.3 Total 1,000.0

The following table after Tereg[1] gives the different conditions of the urine, and especially the amount of urea and hippuric acid under different rations. The subjects were two oxen, weighing, respectively, 1,260 pounds and 1,060 pounds:

- - - - - - - Food per day. Water. (pounds) Urine Passed. Density. Solids in urine. Hippuric acid. Urea. Nitrogen in hippuric acid and urea. Total nitrogen. Urea per day. Hip- puric acid per week - - - - - - - - - Lbs. Lbs Pct Pct Pct Pct Pct Ozs Ozs 16.90 wheat straw, and 46.46 7.40 1,036 8.41 2.66 1.33 0.83 0.94 1.63 3.23 1.30 bean meal 14.70 oat straw, and 61.10 15.26 1,039 6.93 2.09 0.84 0.55 0.49 2.2 5.3 2.30 bean meal 10.4 wheat straw, 10.4 71.76 12.36 1,043 8.05 0.95 1.85 0.93 0.94 3.83 1.96 clover hay, 0.6 bean meal, and 2.6 starch 10.4 wheat straw, 10.4 80.54 12.46 1,044 8.29 8.07 2.41 1.19 1.11 5.8 2.1 clover hay, 2.7 bean meal, 1.4 starch, and 0.8 sugar 10.4 wheat straw, 10.4 78.96 17.62 1,043 8.41 0.74 3.12 1.45 1.24 9.17 2.17 clover hay, 5 bean meal, and 0.8 sugar 10 wheat straw, 10 110.12 25.86 1,038 7.00 0.31 2.49 1.19 1.25 10.9 1.33 clover hay, 6.4 bean meal, 1.7 starch, 4 sugar, and 0.4 rape oil 10 wheat straw, 10 101.80 27.04 1,037 7.14 0.20 2.95 1.39 1.58 13.3 0.9 clover hay, 9.4 bean meal, 3.1 sugar, and 0.4 rape oil 10 wheat straw, 10 119.00 23.20 1,038 7.74 0.21 4.06 1.91 1.69 15.4 0.8 clover hay, 11.7 bean meal, 2.8 starch, and 0.5 rape oil 17.86 bean straw, and 54.84 12.60 1,043 7.06 0.40 2.53 1.21 1.15 5.3 0.83 1.6 bean meal 14.88 bean straw 55.76 16.34 1,036 5.45 0.11 1.41 0.67 0.64 3.83 0.3 16.90 meadow hay 36.26 15.14 1,042 7.91 1.30 1.73 0.91 0.92 4.37 3.3 - - - - - - - - -

The varying quantity of urea (from 1.6 to 15.4 ounces) is most suggestive as to the action of the more or less nitrogenous feed and the resulting concentration of the urine and blood. Hippuric acid, on the other hand, is most abundant when the animal is fed on hay and straw.

The specific gravity of the urine of cattle varies from 1,030 to 1,060 in health, water being 1,000. It is transparent, with a yellowish tinge, and has a characteristic, musky smell. The chemical reaction is alkaline, turning red litmus paper blue. The quantity passed in twenty-four hours varies greatly, increasing not only with the water drunk, but with the albuminoids taken in with the feed and the urea produced. If a solution of urea is injected into the veins the secretion of urine is greatly augmented. Similarly the excess of salts like carbonate of potash in the feed, or of sugar, increases the action of the kidneys. Only about 20 per cent of the water swallowed escapes in the urine, the remaining 80 per cent passing mostly from the lungs, and to a slight extent by the bowels. The skin of the ox does not perspire so readily nor so freely as that of the horse; hence the kidneys and lungs are called upon for extra work. The influence of an excess of water in the feed is most remarkable in swill-fed distillery cattle, which urinate profusely and frequently, yet thrive and fatten rapidly.

Among the other conditions that increase the flow of urine is overfilling of (internal pressure in) the blood vessels of the kidneys; hence the contraction of the blood vessels of the skin by cold drives the blood inward, tends to dilate the blood vessels of the kidneys, and to increase the secretion of urine. Nervous disorders, such as excitement, fear, congestions, or structural injuries to the back part of the base of the brain, have a similar result, hence, doubtless, the action of certain fungi growing in musty hay or oats in producing profuse flow of urine, whereas other forms of musty fodder cause stupor, delirium, or paralysis. Bacteria and their products are mainly expelled by the kidneys, and become sources of local infection, irritation, and disease.

The quantity of urine passed daily by an ox on dry feeding averages 7 to 12 pints, but this may be increased enormously on a watery diet.

The mutual influence of the kidneys and other important organs tends to explain the way in which disease in one part supervenes on preexisting disorder in another. The introduction of albuminoids in excess into the blood means the formation of an excess of urea, and a more profuse secretion of urine, of a higher specific gravity, and with a greater tendency to deposit its solid constituents, as gravel, in the kidneys or bladder. A torpid action of the liver, leaving the albuminoids in transition forms, less soluble than the urea into which they should have been changed, favors the onset of rheumatism or of nervous disorder, the deposit of such albuminoid products in the kidneys, the formation of a deep-brown or reddish urine, and congestion of the kidneys. Any abnormal activity of the liver in the production of sugar—more than can be burned up in the circulation—overstimulates the kidneys and produces increased flow of a heavy urine with a sweetish taste. This increased production of sugar may be primarily due to disease of the brain, which, in its turn, determines the disorder of the liver. Disease of the right side of the heart or of the lungs, by obstructing the onward flow of blood from the veins, increases the blood pressure in the kidneys and produces disorder and excessive secretion. Inactivity of the kidneys determines an increase in the blood of waste products, which become irritating to different parts, producing skin eruptions, itching, dropsies, and nervous disorders. Sprains of the loins produce bleeding from the kidneys and disease of the spinal cord, and sometimes determine albuminous or milky looking urine.

The kidney of the ox (Pl. IX, fig. 1) is a compound organ made up of 15 to 25 separate lobules like so many separate kidneys, but all pouring their secretion into one common pouch (pelvis) situated in an excavation in the center of the lower surface. While the ox is the only domesticated quadruped which maintains this divided condition of the kidney after birth, this condition is common to all while at an early stage of development in the womb. The cluster of lobules making up a single kidney forms an ovoid mass flattened from above downward, and extending from the last rib backward beneath the loins and to one side of the solid chain of the backbone. The right is more firmly attached to the loins and extends farther backward than the left. Deeply covered in a mass of suet, each kidney has a strong outer, white, fibrous covering, and inside this two successive layers of kidney substance, of which the outer is that in which the urine is mainly separated from the blood and poured into the fine, microscopic urinary ducts. (Pl. X, fig. 1) These latter, together with blood vessels, lymph vessels, and nerves, make up the second, or internal, layer. The outer layer is mainly composed of minute globular clusters of microscopic, intercommunicating blood vessels (Malpighian bodies), each of which is furnished with a fibrous capsule that is nothing else than the dilated commencement of a urine tube. These practically microscopic tubes follow at first a winding course through the outer layer (Ferrein's tubes), then form a long loop (doubling on itself) in the inner layer (Henle's loop), and finally pass back through the inner layer (Bellini's tubes) to open through a conical process into the common pouch (pelvis) on the lower surface of the organ. (Pl. X, figs. 1, 2, 3.)

The tube that conveys the urine from the kidney to the bladder is like a white, round cord, about the size of a goose quill, prolonged from the pouch on the lower surface of the kidney backward beneath the loins, then inward, supported by a fold of thin membrane, to open into the bladder just in front of its neck. The canal passes first through the middle (muscular) coat of the bladder, and then advances perceptibly between that and the internal (mucous) coat, through which it finally opens. By this arrangement in overfilling the bladder this opening is closed like a valve by the pressure of the urine, and the return of liquid to the kidney is prevented. The bladder (Pl. IX, fig. 2) is a dilatable, egg-shaped pouch, closed behind by a strong ring of muscular fibers encircling its neck, and enveloped by looped, muscular fibers extending on all sides around its body and closed anterior end. Stimulated by the presence of urine, these last contract and expel contents through the neck into the urethra. This last is the tube leading backward along the floor of the pelvic bones and downward through the penis. In the bull this canal of the urethra is remarkable for its small caliber and for the S-shaped bend which it describes in the space between the thighs and just above the scrotum. This bend is attributable to the fact that the retractor muscles are attached to the penis at this point, and in withdrawing that organ within its sheath they double it upon itself. The small size of the canal and this S-shaped bend are serious obstacles to the passing of a catheter to draw the urine, yet by extending the penis out of its sheath the bend is effaced, and a small, gum-elastic catheter, not more than one-fourth of an inch in diameter, may with care be passed into the bladder. In the cow the urethra is very short, opening in the median line on the floor of the vulva about 4 inches in front of its external orifice. Even in her, however, the passing of a catheter is a matter of no little difficulty, the opening of the urethra being very narrow and encircled by the projecting membranous and rigid margins, and on each side of the opening is a blind pouch (canal of Gaertner) into which the catheter will almost invariably find its way. In both male and female, therefore, the passing of a catheter is an operation which demands special skill.

General symptoms of urinary disorders.—These are not so prominent in cattle as in horses, yet they are of a similar kind. There is a stiff or straddling gait with the hind legs and some difficulty in turning or in lying down and rising, the act causing a groan. The frequent passage of urine in driblets, its continuous escape in drops, the sudden arrest of the flow when in full stream, the rhythmic contraction of the muscles under the anus without any flow resulting, the swelling of the sheath, the collection of hard, gritty masses on the hair surrounding the orifice of the sheath, the occurrence of dropsies in the limbs under the chest or belly, or in either of these cavities, and finally the appearance of nervous stupor, may indicate serious disorder of the urinary organs. The condition of the urine passed may likewise lead to suspicion. It may be white, from crystallized carbonate of lime; brown, red, or even black, from the presence of blood or blood-coloring matter; yellow, from biliary coloring matter; frothy, from contained albumin; cloudy, from phosphates; glairy, from pus; it may also show gritty masses from gravel. In many cases of urinary disorder in the ox, however, the symptoms are by no means prominent, and unless special examination is made of the loins, the bladder, and the urine the true nature of the malady may be overlooked.

DIURESIS (POLYURIA, DIABETES INSIPIDUS, EXCESSIVE SECRETION OF URINE).

A secretion of urine in excess of the normal amount may be looked on as disease, even if the result does not lead to immediate loss of condition. Cattle fed on distillery swill are striking examples of such excess caused by the enormous consumption of a liquid feed, which nourishes and fattens in spite of the diuresis; the condition is unwholesome, and cattle that have passed four or five months in a swill stable have fatty livers and kidneys, and never again do well on ordinary feed. Diuresis may further occur from increase of blood pressure in the kidneys (diseases of the heart or lungs which hinder the onward passage of the blood, the eating of digitalis, English broom, the contraction of the blood vessels on the surface of the body in cold weather, etc.); also from acrid or diuretic plants taken with the feed (dandelion, burdock, colchicum, digitalis, savin, resinous shoots, etc.); from excess of sugar in the feed (beets, turnips, ripe sorghum); also from the use of frozen feed (frosted turnip tops and other vegetables), and from the growths of certain molds in fodder (musty hay, mow-burnt hay, moldy oats, moldy bread, etc.). Finally, alkaline waters and alkaline incrustations on the soil may be active causes. In some of these cases the result is beneficial rather than injurious, as when cattle affected with gravel in the kidneys are entirely freed from this condition by a run at grass, or by an exclusive diet of roots or swill. In other cases, however, the health and condition suffer, and even inflammation of the kidneys may occur.

Treatment.—The treatment is mainly in the change of diet to a more solid aliment destitute of the special, offensive ingredient. Boiled flaxseed is often the best diet or addition to the wholesome dry food, and, by way of medicine, doses of 2 drams each of sulphate of iron and iodid of potassium may be given twice daily. In obstinate cases 2 drams ergot of rye or of catechu may be added.

BLOODY URINE (RED WATER, MOOR ILL, WOOD ILL, HEMATURIA, HEMAGLOBINURIA).

This is a common affection among cattle in certain localities, above all on damp, undrained lands and under a backward agriculture. It is simply bloody urine or hematuria when the blood is found in clots, or when under the microscope the blood globules can be detected as distinctly rounded, flattened disks. It is smoky urine—hemaglobinuria—when neither such distinct clots nor blood disks can be found, but merely a general browning, reddening, or blackening of the urine by the presence of dissolved, blood-coloring matter. The bloody urine is the more direct result of structural disease of the kidneys or urinary passages (inflammation, stone, gravel, tumors, hydatids, kidney worms, sprains of the loins), while the stained urine (hemaglobinuria) is usually the result of some general or more distinct disorder in which the globules are destroyed in the circulating blood and the coloring matter dissolved in and diffused through the whole mass of the blood and of the urine secreted from it. As in the two forms, blood and the elements of blood escape into the urine, albumin is always present, so that there is albuminuria with blood-coloring matter superadded. If from stone or gravel, gritty particles are usually passed, and may be detected in the bottom of a dish in which the liquid is caught. If from fracture or severe sprain of the loins, it is liable to be associated not only with some loss of control of the hind limbs and with staggering behind but also with a more or less perfect paralysis of the tail. The bloodstained urine without red globules results from specific diseases—Texas fever (Pl. XLVII, fig. 3), anthrax, spirillosis, and from eating irritant plants (broom, savin, mercury, hellebore, ranunculus, convolvulus, colchicum, oak shoots, ash privet, hazel, hornbeam, and other astringent, acrid, or resinous plants, etc.). The Maybug or Spanish fly taken with the feed or spread over a great extent of skin as a blister has a similar action. Frosted turnips or other roots will bring on the affection in some subjects. Among conditions which act by the direct destruction of the globules in the circulating blood may be named an excess of water in that fluid; the use of water from soils rich in decomposing vegetable matter and containing alkaline salts, particularly nitrites; and the presence in the water and feed of the ptomaines of bacteria growth; hence the prevalence of "red water" in marshy districts and on clayey and other impervious soils, and the occurrence of bloody urine in the advanced stages of several contagious diseases. Some mineral poisons—such as iodin, arsenic, and phosphorus taken to excess—may cause hematuria, and finally the symptoms may be merely the result of a constitutional predisposition of the individual or family to bleeding. In some predisposed subjects, exposure of the body to cold or wet will cause the affection.

The specific symptom of bloody or smoky water is a very patent one. It may or may not be associated with fever, with the presence or absence of abdominal tenderness on pressure, with a very frothy state of the milk or even a reddish tinge, with or without marked paleness of the mucous membranes, and general weakness. When direct injury to the kidneys is the immediate cause of the disease the urine will be passed often, in small quantity at a time, and with much straining. When there is bloodlessness (a watery blood) from insufficient nourishment, fever is absent and the red water is at first the only symptom. When the active cause has been irritant plants, abdominal tenderness, colics, and other signs of bowel inflammation are marked features.

Treatment.—Treatment varies according as the cause has been a direct irritant operating on a subject in vigorous health or a microbian poison acting on an animal deficient in blood and vigor. In the first form of red water a smart purgative (1 pound to 1-1/2 pounds Glauber's salt) will clear away the irritants from the bowels and allay the coexistent high fever. It will also serve to divert to the bowels much of the irritant products already absorbed into the blood and will thus protect the kidneys. In many such cases a liberal supply of wholesome, easily digestible feed will be all the additional treatment required. In this connection demulcent feed (boiled flaxseed, wheat bran) is especially good. If much blood has been lost, bitters (gentian, one-half ounce) and iron (sulphate of iron, 2 drams) should be given for a week.

For cases in which excess of diuretic plants has been taken, it may be well to replace the salts by 1 to 2 pints of olive oil, adding 1 ounce of laudanum and 2 drams of gum camphor; also to apply fomentations or a fresh sheepskin over the loins. Buttermilk or vinegar, one-half pint, or sulphuric acid, 60 drops in a pint of water, may also be used frequently as injections. In cases caused by sprained or fractured loins, inflamed kidneys, stone or gravel, the treatment will be as for the particular disease in question.

In hematuria from anemia (watery blood), whether from insufficient or badly adjusted rations or from the poisonous products of fermentations in impervious or marshy soils, the treatment must be essentially tonic and stimulating. Rich, abundant, and easily digestible feed must be furnished. The different grains (oats, barley, wheat, bran, rye) and seeds (rape, linseed, cotton seed) are especially called for and may be given either ground or boiled. As a bitter, sulphate of quinin, one-half dram, and tincture of chlorid of iron, 2 drams, may be given in a pint of water thrice a day. In some cases 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of oil of turpentine twice daily in milk will act favorably.

In this anemic variety prevention is the great need. The drainage and cultivation of the dangerous soils is the main object. Until this can be accomplished young and newly purchased cattle not yet inured to the poisons must be kept from the dangerous fields and turned on only those which are already drained naturally or artificially. Further, they should have an abundant ration in which the local product of grass, hay, etc., is supplemented by grain or other seeds. Another point to be guarded against is the supply of water that has drained from marshes or impervious soils, rich in organic matter, as such water is charged with nitrites, ptomaines, etc., which directly conduce to the disorder. Fence out from all such waters and supply from living springs or deep wells only.

ALBUMIN IN THE URINE (ALBUMINURIA).

In bloody urine albumin is always present as an important constituent of the blood, and in congested and inflamed kidneys it is present as a part of the inflammatory exudate. Apart from these, albumin in the urine represents in different cases a variety of diseased conditions of the kidneys or of distant organs. Among the additional causes of albuminuria may be named: (1) An excess of albumin in the blood (after easy calving with little loss of blood and before the secretion of milk has been established, or in cases of sudden suppression of the secretion of milk); (2) under increase of blood pressure (after deep drinking, after doses of digitalis or broom, after transfusion of blood from one animal to another, or in disease of the heart or lungs causing obstruction to the flow of blood from the veins); (3) after cutting (or disease) of the motor nerves of the vessels going to the kidneys, causing congestion of these organs; (4) violent exertion, hence long drives; the same happens with violent, muscular spasms, as from strychnia poisoning, lockjaw, epilepsy, and convulsions; (5) in most fevers and extensive inflammations of important organs, like the lungs or liver, the escape of the albumin being variously attributed to the high temperature of the body and disorder of the nerves, and to resulting congestion and disorder of the secreting cells of the kidneys; (6) in burns and some other congested states of the skin; (7) under the action of certain poisons (strong acids, phosphorous, arsenic, Spanish flies, carbolic acid, and those inducing bloody urine); (8) in certain conditions of weakness or congestion of the secreting cells of the kidneys, so that they allow this element of the blood to escape; (9) when the feed is entirely wanting in common salt, albumin may appear in the urine temporarily after a full meal containing an excess of albumin. It can also be produced experimentally by puncturing the back part of the base of the brain (the floor of the fourth ventricle close to the point the injury to which causes sugary urine). In abscess, tumor, or inflammation of the bladder, ureter, or urethra the urine is albuminous.

It follows, therefore, that albumin in the urine does not indicate the existence of any one specific disease, and except when from weakness or loss of function of the kidney cells, it must be looked on as an attendant on another disease, the true nature of which we must try to find out. These affections we must exclude one by one until we are left to assume the noninflammatory disorder of the secreting cells of the kidney. It is especially important to exclude inflammation of the kidney, and to do this may require a microscopic examination of the sediment of the urine and the demonstration of the entire absence of casts of the uriniferous tubes. (See "Nephritis," p. 123.)

To detect albumin in the urine, the suspected and frothy liquid must be rendered sour by adding a few drops of nitric acid and then boiled in a test tube. If a solid precipitate forms, then a few more drops of nitric acid should be added, and if the liquid does not clear it up it is albumin. A precipitate thrown down by boiling and redissolved by nitric acid is probably phosphate of lime.

Treatment.—Treatment is usually directed to the disease on which it is dependent. In the absence of any other recognizable disease, mucilaginous drinks of boiled flaxseed, slippery elm, or gum may be given, tannic acid, one-half dram twice daily, and fomentations or even mustard poultices over the loins. When the disease is chronic and there is no attendant fever (elevation of temperature), tonics (hydrochloric acid, 6 drops in a pint of water; phosphate of iron, 2 drams, or sulphate of quinin, 2 drams, repeated twice daily) may be used. In all cases the patient should be kept carefully from cold and wet, a warm, dry shed, or in warm weather a dry, sunny yard or pasture being especially desirable.

SUGAR IN URINE (DIABETES MELLITUS).

This is a frequent condition of the urine in parturition fever, but as a specific disease, associated with deranged liver or brain, it is practically unknown in cattle. As a mere attendant on another disease it demands no special notice here.

INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS (NEPHRITIS).

This has been divided according as it affects the different parts of the kidneys, as: (1) Its fibrous covering (perinephritis); (2) the secreting tissue of its outer portion (parenchymatous); (3) the connective tissue (interstitial); (4) the lining membrane of its ducts (catarrhal); and (5) its pelvis or sac receiving the urine (pyelitis). It has also been distinguished according to the changes that take place in the kidney, especially as seen after death, according to the quantity of albumin in the urine, and according as the affection is acute or chronic. For the purpose of this work it will be convenient to consider these as one inflammatory disease, making a distinction merely between the acute and the chronic or of long standing.

The causes are in the main like those causing bloody urine, such as irritant and diuretic plants, Spanish flies applied as a blister or otherwise, exposure to cold and wet, the presence of stone or gravel in the kidneys, injuries to the back or loins, as by riding one another, the drinking of alkaline or selenitic water, the use of putrid, stagnant water, of that containing bacteria and their products, the consumption of musty fodder, etc. (See "Hematuria," p. 119.)

The length of the loins in cattle predisposes these parts to mechanical injury, and in the lean and especially in the thin, working ox the kidney is very liable to suffer. In the absence of an abundance of loose, connective tissue and of fat, the kidneys lie in close contact with the muscles of the loins, and any injury to them may tend to stretch the kidney and its vessels, or to cause its inflammation by direct extension of the disease from the injured muscle to the adjacent kidney. Thus, under unusually heavy draft, under slips or falls on slippery ground, under sudden unexpected drooping or twisting of the loins from missteps or from the feet sinking into holes, under the loading and jarring of the loins when animals ride one another in cases of "heat," the kidneys are subject to injury and inflammation. A hard run, as when chased by a dog, may be the occasion of such an attack. A fodder rich in nitrogenous or flesh-forming elements (beans, peas, vetches (Vicia sativa), and other leguminous plants) has been charged with irritating the kidneys through the excess of urea, hippuric acid, and allied products eliminated through these organs and the tendency to the formation of gravel. It seems, however, that these feeds are most dangerous when partially ripened and yet not fully matured, a stage of growth at which they are liable to contain ingredients irritating to the stomach and poisonous to the brain, as seen in their inducing so-called "stomach staggers." Even in the poisoning by the seeds of ripened but only partially cured rye grass (Lolium perenne), and darnel (Lolium temulentum), the kidneys are found violently congested with black blood; also, in the indigestions that result from the eating of partially ripened corn or millet some congestion of the kidneys is an attendant phenomenon.

Cruzel says that the disease as occurring locally is usually not alone from the acrid and resinous plants charged with inducing hematuria, but also from stinking camomile (Anthemis cotula) and field poppy when used in the fresh, succulent condition; also from the great prevalence of dead caterpillars on the pasture, or from dead Spanish flies in the stagnant pools of water. The fresh plants are believed to be injurious only by reason of a volatile oil which is dissipated in drying. In the case of the stagnant water it may be questioned whether the chemical products of the contained ferments (bacteria) are not more frequently the cause of the evil than the alleged Spanish flies, though the latter are hurtful enough when present.

Inflammation of the kidneys may further be a form or an extension of a specific contagious disease, such as erysipelas, rinderpest, septicemia, or even of poisoning by the spores of fungi. Rivolta reports the case of a cow with spots of local congestion and blood staining in the kidney, the affected parts being loaded with bacteria. Unfortunately he neither cultivated the bacteria nor inoculated them, and thus the case stands without positive demonstration that they were the cause of disease.

In certain cases the symptoms of nephritis are very manifest, and in others so hidden that the existence of the affection can be certainly recognized only by a microscopic examination of the urine. In violent cases there is high fever, increase of the body temperature to 103 deg. F. and upward; hurried breathing, with a catching inspiration; accelerated pulse; dry, hot muzzle; burning of the roots of the horns and ears; loss of appetite; suspended rumination; and indications of extreme sensitiveness in the loins. The patient stands with back arched and hind legs extended backward and outward, and passes water frequently, in driblets, of a high color and specific gravity, containing albumin and microscopic casts. (Pl. XI, fig. 5.) When made to move, the patient does so with hesitation and groaning, especially if turned in a narrow circle; when pinched on the flank just beneath the lateral bony processes of the loins, especially on that side on which the disease predominates, it flinches and groans. If the examination is made with oiled hand introduced through the last gut (rectum), the pressure upward on the kidneys gives rise to great pain and to efforts to escape by moving away and by active contractions of the rectum for the expulsion of the hand. Sometimes there is a distinct swelling over the loins or quarter on one or both sides. In uncastrated males the testicle on the affected side is drawn up, or is alternately raised and dropped. In all there is a liability to tremors of the thigh on the side affected.

In some severe cases colicky pains are as violent as in the worst forms of indigestion and spasms of the bowels. The animal frequently shifts from one hind foot to the other, stamps, kicks at the belly, frequently looks anxiously at its flank, moans plaintively, lies down and quickly gets up again, grinds its teeth, twists its tail, and keeps the back habitually arched and rigid and the hind feet advanced under the belly. The bowels may be costive and the feces glistening with a coat of mucus, or they may be loose and irritable, and the paunch or even the bowels may become distended with gas (bloating) as the result of indigestion and fermentation. In some animals, male and female alike, the rigid, arched condition of the back will give way to such undulating movements as are sometimes seen in the act of coition.

The disease does not always appear in its full severity; for a day, or even two, however, there may be merely loss of appetite, impaired rumination, a disposition to remain lying down, yet when the patient is raised it manifests suffering by anxiously looking at the flanks, shifting or stamping of the hind feet, shaking of the tail, and attempts to urinate, which are either fruitless or lead to the discharge of a small quantity of high-colored or perhaps bloody urine.

In some recent slight cases, and in many chronic ones, these symptoms may be absent or unobserved, and an examination of the urine is necessary to reach a safe conclusion. The urine may contain blood, or it may be cloudy from contained albumin, which coagulates on heating with nitric acid (see "Albuminuria," p. 121); it may be slightly glairy from pus, or gritty particles may be detected in it. In seeking for casts of the uriniferous tubes, a drop may be taken with a fine tube from the bottom of the liquid after standing, and examined under a power magnifying 50 diameters. If the fine, cylindroid filaments are seen they may then be examined with a power of 200 or 250 diameters. (Pl. XI, fig. 5.) The appearance of the casts gives some clue to the condition of the kidneys. If made up of large, rounded or slightly columnar cells, with a single nucleus in each cell (epithelial), they imply comparatively slight and recent disease of the kidney tubes, the detachment of the epithelium being like what is seen in any inflamed mucous surface. If made up largely of the small, disk-shaped and nonnucleated red blood globules, they imply escape of blood, and usually a recent injury or congestion of the kidney—it may be from sprains, blows, or the ingestion of acrid or diuretic poisons. If the casts are made of a clear, waxy, homogeneous substance (hyaline), without any admixture of opaque particles, they imply an inflammation of longer standing, in which the inflamed kidney tubules have been already stripped of their cellular (epithelial) lining. If the casts are rendered opaque by the presence of minute, spherical granular cells, like white blood globules, it betokens active suppuration of the kidney tubes. In other cases the casts are rendered opaque by entangled earthy granules (carbonate of lime), or crystals of some other urinary salts. In still other cases the casts entangle clear, refrangent globules of oil or fat, which may imply fatty degeneration of the kidneys or injury to the spinal cord. The presence of free pus giving a glairy, flocculent appearance to the urine is suggestive of inflammation of the urinary pouch at the commencement of the excretory duct (pelvis of kidney) (Pl. IX, fig. 1), especially if complicated with gritty particles of earthy salts. This condition is known as pyelitis. In the chronic cases swelling of the legs or along the lower surface of chest or abdomen, or within these respective cavities, is a common symptom. So, also, stupor or coma, or even convulsions, may supervene from the poisonous action of urea and other waste or morbid products retained in the blood.

Treatment.—In the treatment of acute nephritis the first consideration is the removal of the cause. Acrid or diuretic plants in the feed must be removed, and what of this kind is present in the stomach or bowels may be cleared away by a moderate dose of castor or olive oil; extensive surfaces of inflammation that have been blistered by Spanish flies must be washed clean with soapsuds; sprains of the back or loins must be treated by soothing fomentations or poultices or by a fresh sheepskin with its fleshy side applied on the loins, and the patient must be kept in a narrow stall in which it can not turn even its head. The patient must be kept in a warm, dry building, so that the skin may be kept active rather than the kidneys. Warm blanketing is equally important, or even mustard poultices over the loins will be useful. Blisters of Spanish flies, turpentine, or other agent which may be absorbed and irritate the kidneys must be avoided. The active fever may be checked by 15 drops tincture of aconite every four hours or by one-third ounce of acetanilid. If pain is very acute, 1 ounce of laudanum or 2 drams of solid extract of belladonna will serve to relieve. When the severity of the disease has passed, a course of tonics (quinin, 2 drams, or gentian powder, 4 drams, daily) may be given. Diuretics, too, may be given cautiously at this advanced stage to relieve dropsy and give tone to the kidneys and general system (oil of turpentine, 2 teaspoonfuls; bicarbonate of soda, 1 teaspoonful, repeated twice a day). Pure water is essential, and it should not be given chilled; warm drinks are preferable.

In the chronic forms of kidney inflammation the same protection against cold and similar general treatment are demanded. Tonics, however, are important to improve the general health (phosphate of iron, 2 drams; powdered nux vomica, 20 grains; powdered gentian root, 4 drams, daily). In some instances the mineral acids (nitric acid, 60 drops, or nitrohydrochloric acid, 60 drops, daily) may be used with the bitters. Mustard applied to the loins in the form of a thin pulp made with water and covered for an hour with paper or other impervious envelope, or water hotter than the hand can bear, or cupping, may be resorted to as a counterirritant. In cupping, shave the loins, smear them with lard, then take a narrow-mouthed glass, expand the air within by smearing its interior with a few drops of alcohol, setting it on fire and instantly pressing the mouth of the vessel to the oiled portion of the skin. As the air within the vessel cools it contracts, tending to form a partial vacuum, and the skin, charged with blood, is strongly drawn up within it. Several of these being applied at once, a strong derivation from the affected kidneys is obtained. In no case of inflamed or irritable kidney should Spanish flies or oil of turpentine be used upon the skin.

PARASITES OF THE KIDNEY.

As the kidney is the visual channel by which the bacteria leave the system, this organ is liable to be implicated when microphytes exist in the blood, and congestions and blood extravasions are produced. In anthrax, southern cattle fever (Texas fever), and other such affections bloody urine is the consequence. Of the larger parasites attacking the kidney may be specially named the cystic form of the echinococcus tapeworm of the dog, the cystic form of the unarmed or beef tapeworm of man, the diving bladderworm—the cystic form of the marginate tapeworm of the dog, and the giant strongyle— the largest of the roundworms. These give rise to general symptoms of kidney disease, but the true source of the trouble is likely to be detected only if the heads or hooklets of the tapeworm or the eggs of the roundworm are found on microscopical examination of the urine.

TUMORS OF THE KIDNEY (HYPERTROPHY OR ATROPHY).

The kidney may be the seat of cancerous or simple tumors, and it may be unnaturally enlarged or reduced in size, but though there may be signs of urinary disorder the true nature of the disease is seldom manifest until after death. The passing of blood and of large multi-nucleated cells in the urine (to be detected under the microscope) may betray the existence of an ulcerated cancer of the kidney. The presence of cancerous enlargement of (superficial) lymphatic glands may further assist and confirm the decision.

RETENTION OF URINE.

Inability to pass urine may come from any one of three conditions—first, spasm of the neck of the bladder; second, paralysis of the body of the bladder; third, obstruction of the channel of outlet by a stone (calculus) (see Pl. XI) or other obstacle.

In spasm of the neck of the bladder the male animal may stand with the tail slightly raised and making rhythmical contractions of the muscle beneath the anus (accelerator urinae) (see Pl. IX, fig. 2), but without passing a drop of liquid. In the female the hind legs are extended, widely parted, and the back is arched as if to urinate, but the effort is vain. If the oiled hand is introduced into the rectum or vagina in the early stages of the affection, the bladder may be felt beneath partially filled, but not overdistended with liquid, and its neck or mouth firm and rigid. In the more advanced stages of the affection the organ is felt as a great, tense, elastic bag, extending forward into the abdomen. In this condition the overdistended muscular coat of the bladder has lost its power of contraction, so that true paralysis has set in, the muscle closing the mouth of the sac alone retaining its contractile power.

In paralysis of the body of the bladder attention is rarely drawn to the urinary disorder until the bladder has been distended to full repletion and is almost ready to give way by rupture and to allow the escape of the contained liquid into the abdomen. Overdistention is the most common cause of the paralysis, yet it may occur from inflammation of the muscular wall of the bladder, or even from injury to the terminal part of the spinal marrow. In this last condition, however, the tail is liable to be powerless, and the neck of the bladder may also be paralyzed, so that the urine dribbles away continuously.

Causes.—Among the causes of spasm of the neck of the bladder may be named the lodgment of small stones or gravel, the feeding on irritant diuretics (see "Bloody urine," p. 119, or "Nephritis," p. 123), the enforced retention of urine while at work or during a painful or difficult parturition. The irritation attendant on inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bladder may be a further cause of spasms of the neck, as may also be inflammation of the channel (urethra) back of the neck. Extensive applications of Spanish flies to the skin, the abuse of diuretics, and the occurrence of indigestion and spasms of the bowels are further causes. So long as spasmodic colic is unrelieved, retention of water from spasm of the neck of the bladder usually persists.

Treatment.—Treatment depends largely on the cause. In indigestion the irritant contents of the bowels must be got rid of by laxatives and injections of warm water; Spanish-fly blisters must be washed from the surface; a prolonged and too active exertion must be intermitted. The spasm may be relaxed by injecting one-half ounce of solid extract of belladonna in water into the rectum or by a solution of tobacco. Chloroform or ether may be given by inhalation, or chloral hydrate (1 ounce) may be given in water by the mouth. Fomentations of warm water may be made over the loins and between the thighs, and the oiled hand inserted into the rectum may press moderately on the anterior part of the bladder, which can be felt as an elastic fluctuating bag of an oval shape just beneath.

All other measures failing, the liquid must be drawn off through a tube (catheter). This is, however, exceedingly difficult, alike in male and female, and we can not expect an amateur to succeed in accomplishing it. In the cow the opening into the bladder is found in the median line of the floor of the generative entrance, about 4 inches in front of the external opening, but it is flanked on either side by a blind pouch, into which the catheter will pass, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, in the hands of any but the most skilled operator. In the bull or steer the penis, when retracted into its sheath, is bent upon itself like the letter S, just above the scrotum and testicles (see Pl. IX, fig. 2), and unless this bend is effaced by extending the organ forward out of its sheath it is quite impossible to pass a catheter beyond this point. When, however, by the presentation of a female, the animal can be tempted to protrude the penis, so that it can be seized and extended, or when it can be manipulated forward out of the sheath, it becomes possible to pass a catheter of small caliber (one-third inch or under) onward into the bladder. Youatt advised laying open the sheath so as to reach and extend the penis, and others have advocated opening the urethra in the space between the thighs or just beneath the anus, but such formidable operations are beyond the stock owner. The incision of the narrow urethra through the great thickness of muscular and erectile bleeding tissue just beneath the anus is especially an operation of extreme delicacy and difficulty. Drawing the liquid through the tube of an aspirator is another possible resort for the professional man. The delicate needle of the aspirator is inserted in such cases through the floor of the vagina and upper wall of the bladder in the female, or through the floor of the rectum (last gut) and roof of the bladder in the male, or finally through the lower and back part of the abdominal wall, just in front of the bones of the pelvis (pubic bones), thence through the lower and anterior part of the bladder near its blind anterior end. After relief has been obtained the administration of belladonna in 2-dram doses daily for several days will tend to prevent a recurrence of the retention.

When the body of the bladder has become benumbed or paralyzed by overdistention, we may seek to restore its tone by doses of one-half a dram of powdered nux vomica repeated daily, and by mustard plaster applied over the loins, on the back part of the belly inferiorly, or between the thighs. Small doses (2 drams) of balsam of copaiba are sometimes useful in imparting tone to the partly paralyzed organ.

INCONTINENCE OF URINE (PALSY OF THE NECK OF THE BLADDER).

This may occur from disease or injury to the posterior part of the spinal cord or from broken back, and in these cases the tail, and perhaps the hind limbs, are liable to be paralyzed. In this case the urine dribbles away constantly, and the oiled hand in the vagina or rectum will feel the half-filled and flaccid bladder beneath and may easily empty it by pressure.

Treatment.—Treatment is only successful when the cause of the trouble can be remedied. After these (sprains of the back, etc.) have recovered, blisters (mustard) on the loins, the lower part of the abdomen, or between the thighs may be resorted to with success. Two drams of copaiba or of solid extract of belladonna or 2 grains Spanish flies daily may serve to restore the lost tone. These failing, the use of electric currents may still prove successful.

URINARY CALCULI (STONE OR GRAVEL).

Stone or gravel consists of hard bodies mainly made up of the solid earthy constituents of the urine which have crystallized out of that liquid at some part of the urinary passage, and have remained as small particles (gravel), or have concreted into large masses (stone, calculus). (See Pl. XI, figs. 1, 2, 3.) In cattle it is no uncommon thing to find them distending the practically microscopic tubes in the red substance of the kidney, having been deposited from the urine in the solid form almost as soon as that liquid has been separated from the blood. These stones appear as white objects on the red ground formed by cutting sections of the kidney, and are essentially products of the dry feed of winter, and are most common in working oxen, which are called upon to exhale more water from the lungs and skin than are the slop-fed and inactive cows. Little water being introduced into the body with the feed and considerable being expelled with the breath and perspiration in connection with the active life, the urine becomes small in amount, but having to carry out all waste material from the tissues and the tissue-forming feed it becomes so charged with solids that it is ready to deposit them on the slightest disturbance. If, therefore, a little of the water of such concentrated urine is reabsorbed at any point of the urinary passages the remainder is no longer able to hold the solids in solution, and they are at once precipitated in the solid form as gravel or commencing stone. In cattle, on the other hand, which are kept at pasture in summer, or which are fed liberally on roots, potatoes, pumpkins, apples, or ensilage in winter, this concentrated condition of the urine is not induced, and under such circumstances, therefore, the formation of stone is practically unknown. Nothing more need be said to show the controlling influence of dry feeding in producing gravel and of a watery ration in preventing it. Calculus in cattle is essentially a disease of winter and of such cattle as are denied succulent feed and are confined to dry fodder as their exclusive ration. While there are exceptions, they are so rare that they do not invalidate this general rule. It is true that stone in the kidney or bladder is often found in the summer or in animals feeding at the time on a more or less succulent ration, yet such masses usually date back to a former period when the animals were restricted to a dry ration.

In this connection is should be noted that a great drain of water from the system by any other channel than the kidneys predisposes to the production of gravel or stone. In case of profuse diarrhea, for example, or of excessive secretion of milk, there is a corresponding diminution of the water of the blood, and as the whole quantity of the blood is thus decreased and as the urine secreted is largely influenced by the fullness of the blood vessels and the pressure exerted upon their walls from within, it follows that with this decrease of the mass of the blood and the lessening of its pressure outward there will be a corresponding decrease of urine. The waste of the tissues, however, goes on as before, and if the waste matter is passed out through the kidneys it must be in a more concentrated solution, and the more concentrated the urine the greater the danger that the solids will be deposited as small crystals or calculi.

Again, the concentrated condition of the urine which predisposes to such deposits is favored by the quantity of lime salts that may be present in the water drunk by the animal. Water that contains 20 or 30 grains of carbonate or sulphate of lime to the gallon must contribute a large addition of solids to the blood and urine as compared with soft waters from which lime is absent. In this connection it is a remarkable fact that stone and gravel in the domesticated herbivora are notoriously prevalent on many limestone soils, as on the limestone formations of central and western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan; on the calcareous formations of Norfolk, Suffolk, Derbyshire, Shropshire, and Gloucestershire, in England; in Landes in France, and around Munich in Bavaria. It does not follow that the abundance of lime in the water and fodder is the main cause of the calculi, as other poisons which are operative in the same districts in causing goiter in both man and animal probably contribute to the trouble, yet the excess of earthy salts in the drinking water can hardly fail to add to the saturation of both blood and urine, and thereby to favor the precipitation of the urinary solids from their state of solution.

The known results of feeding cattle a generous or forcing ration in which phosphate of lime is present to excess adds additional force to the view just advanced. In the writer's experience, the Second Duke of Oneida, a magnificent product of his world-famed family, died as the result of a too liberal allowance of wheat bran, fed with the view of still further improving the bone and general form of the Duchess strain of Shorthorns. Lithotomy was performed and a number of stones removed from the bladder and urethra, but the patient succumbed to an inflammation of the bowels, induced by the violent purgatives given before the writer arrived, under the mistaken idea that the straining had been caused by intestinal impaction. In this case not only the Second Duke of Oneida, but the other males of the herd as well, had the tufts of hairs at the outlet of the sheath encased in hard, cylindroid sheaths of urinary salts, precipitated from the liquid as it ran over them. The tufts were in reality resolved into a series of hard, rollerlike bodies, more or less constricted at intervals, as if beaded.

When it is stated that the ash of the whole grain of wheat is but 3 per cent, while the ash of wheat bran is 7.3 per cent, and that in the case of the former 46.38 per cent of the ash is phosphoric acid, and in that of the latter 50 per cent, it can easily be understood how a too liberal use of wheat bran should prove dangerous if fed dry. The following table shows the relative proportion of ash and phosphoric acid in wheat bran and in some common farm seeds:

Ash and phosphoric acid in bran and some common farm seeds.

+ + -+ - Kind of grain. Ash. Phosphoric Phosphoric acid in ash. acid in the entire feed. + + -+ - Per cent Per cent Per cent Wheat bran 7.3 50 3.65 Wheat, grain 3 46.38 1.3914 Oats, grain 2.50 26.5 .6625 Barley, grain 3.10 39.6 1.2276 Bean, grain 3.10 31.9 .9864 Peas, grain 2.75 34.8 .957 Tare, grain 3 36.2 1.086 Indian corn, grain. 1.5 Rye, grain 1.6 39.9 .6384 + + -+ -

Wheat bran, it will be observed, contains three times as much phosphoric acid as is found in any of the other grains, and four times as much as oats, beans, peas, or rye; so that if fed in excess it will readily overcharge the urine with phosphates.

There is another point to be considered, however, in estimating this danger. Wheat bran contains a far greater quantity of albuminoids and other nitrogen-containing constituents than the common grains (these being made up mainly of starch, which contains no nitrogen); and, all nitrogen-bearing products contained in the blood and tissues being expelled from the body mainly through the kidneys in the form of urea and (in cattle) hippuric acid, it follows that the excess of urea formed when such feed is consumed must load the urine with solids and bring it constantly nearer to the point of saturation, when such solids (or the least soluble of them) must be deposited.

The following table will show the relative amounts of the nitrogen-bearing products in wheat bran and some of our common grains:

Nitrogenous matter in wheat bran and some common farm grains.

-+ -+ + Kind of grain. Albuminoids Woody fiber Total nitrogenous- (nitrogenous). (nitrogenous.) bearing constituents. -+ -+ + Per cent Per cent Per cent Wheat bran. 16.1 8 24.1 Wheat, grain 12.5 1.8 14.3 Barley, grain 12.4 2.7 15.1 Oats, grain 11.8 9.5 21.3 Rye, grain 10.6 1.7 12.3 Indian corn 10.1 1.7 11.8 -+ -+ +

It will be observed that, with the exception of oats, none of the grains contain more than two-thirds of the nitrogenous material present in the wheat bran, while in the case of rye and maize there is practically but one-half. Even in the case of oats the albuminoids, which are the more digestible principles, and therefore those that are the most easily and speedily converted into urea, are present only to the amount of two-thirds of that which exists in the wheat bran. With such an excess of ash, of phosphates, and of nitrogenous (urea-forming) constituents in wheat bran, its tendency to favor the formation of calculi is fully explained. It must not, however, be inferred that wheat bran is not a valuable feedstuff. The inference is only that it should be fed with an abundance of water, as a sloppy mash, or in combination with an abundance of roots, potatoes, pumpkins, or other succulent aliment.

In this connection the presence of magnesia in the feed or water must be named as favoring calculous formations in the urinary passages. The explanation is that while the phosphate of magnesia thrown out in the urine is soluble in water, the compound phosphate of ammonia and magnesia is insoluble, and, accordingly, if at any time ammonia is introduced into urine containing the phosphate of magnesia there is instantly formed the ammonio-magnesium phosphate, which is as promptly deposited in the solid form. The common source of ammonia in such cases is from decomposition of the urea in fermenting urine. In order to produce this a ferment is necessary, however, and therefore, as an additional prerequisite, the presence of bacteria, or fungi, in the urine is essential. These ferments may make their way from without along the urinary passage (urethra), and their propagation in the bladder is greatly favored by the prolonged retention of urine, as in case of spasm of the neck of the bladder or obstruction by an already existing stone. Another mode of entrance of the ferment is an unclean catheter used to draw the urine. Still another is the elimination through the kidneys of the bacteria of infectious diseases, or of such as, without producing a general infection, yet determine fermentation in the urine. The precipitation is favored not only by the production of ammonia, but also by the formation of viscid (colloid) products of fermentation. In this sense bacteria are most important factors in causing gritty deposits in the urine.

Another insoluble salt which enters largely into the composition of many urinary calculi of the ox is carbonate of lime. This is derived mainly from the lime in the feed and water and from the carbon dioxid formed by the oxidation of the organic acids in the fodder. These organic acids, being composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen (without nitrogen), are resolved by the addition of oxygen into carbon dioxid (CO{2}) and water (H{2}O). The carbon dioxid unites with the lime in the blood to form carbonate of lime, and in this state passes into the urine. Now, carbonate of lime is soluble in water containing free or uncombined carbon dioxid, but is precipitated whenever the latter is withdrawn. It is only necessary, therefore, to have in the urine sufficient lime or other available base to unite with all the free carbon dioxid in order to bring about the precipitation of the dissolved carbonate of lime in the solid, crystallized form; hence it is that, of all sediments in the urine of herbivora, this is the most frequent and usually the most abundant.

A less common constituent of urinary calculi is the insoluble oxalate of lime. In this case the lime is derived as before from the feed or water, or both, while the oxalic acid is a product of the oxidation of organic acids of the feed, less oxygen having been used than in the formation of carbon dioxid. The final product of the complete oxidation of these acids is carbon dioxid, but when less oxygen is furnished, owing to some disease of the lungs or a disease of the nerve centers, which lessens the activity of the breathing, then oxalic acid may be produced. If this oxalic acid comes into contact with lime, it is instantly precipitated as crystals of oxalate of lime.

Another inorganic substance at times found in urinary calculi is silica (SiO_{2}). This contributes largely to giving stiffness to the stems of growing plants, and in most of our cereals and grasses makes up a large proportion of the ashes of the burned plant. It is found in the soluble form in combination as silicate of potash, but at times is displaced by oxalic or other acid and then appears as gritty, sandy particles in the stem. This gritty, insoluble silica is especially noticeable among the horsetails (_Equisetacaeceae_), bamboos, and sedges. The per cent of silica in the ash of several common fodder plants is given below:

Silica in ash of various fodder plants.

Ash of— Silica. Per cent.

Wheat straw 67.6 Oats and husk 38.6 Oat straw 35.4 Barley straw 73.1 Rye straw 64.4 Rye-grass hay 64.57 Wheat chaff 81.2 Oat chaff 59.9 Barley awn 70.7

It is only soluble silica that is taken up into the system, and it is in this form (usually as silicate of potash or soda) that it enters the urine, but all that is wanted to precipitate it in crystalline form as a gritty sand is the presence of oxalic or other acid having a stronger affinity for its base (potash or soda).

Other conditions, however, enter largely into the causation of stone, or gravel. A high density of urine resulting from a highly saturated condition is often present for a length of time without any precipitation of solid materials. Urea and carbonates may be present in excess, the feed may be given dry, and drinking water may be deficient in quantity without any deposition of stone or gravel. In such cases, the presence of noncrystalline organic matter in the urine becomes an exciting cause. Rainey and Ord have shown experimentally that colloid (noncrystallizable) bodies like mucus, epithelial cells, albumin, pus, blood, hyaline casts of the kidney tubes, etc., not only determine the precipitation of crystallizable salts from a strong solution, but they determine the precipitation in the form of globular masses, or minute spheres, which, by further similar accessions, become stones, or calculi, of various sizes. The salts that are deposited by mere chemical reaction without the intervention of colloids appear in the form of sharply defined angular crystals, and hence the rough, jagged crystals of oxalate of lime or ammonia-magnesium phosphate. Heat intensifies the action of the colloids in causing precipitation of the dissolved salts, so that the temperatures of the kidneys and bladder constitute favorable conditions. Colloids that are undergoing decomposition are also specially powerful, so that the presence of bacteria or fungi causing fermentation is an important factor.

In looking, therefore, for the immediate causes of urinary calculi we must accord a high place to all those conditions which determine the presence of excess of mucus, albumin, pus, blood, kidney casts, blood-coloring matter, etc., in the urine. A catarrhal inflammation of the pelvis of the kidney, of the ureter, or of the bladder, generating excess of mucus or pus; inflammation of the kidneys, causing the discharge of blood, albumin, or hyaline casts into the urinary passages; inflammation of the liver, lungs, or other distant organ, resulting in the escape of albumin in the urine; disorders of the liver or of the blood-forming functions, resulting in hematuria or hemoglobinuria; sprains or other injuries to the back, or disease of the spinal marrow, which cause the escape of blood with the urine; the presence in the bladder of a bacterial ferment, which determines the decomposition of the mucus and urea, the evolution of ammonia and the consequent destruction of the protecting cellular (epithelia) lining of the bladder, or the irritation caused by the presence of an already formed calculus, may produce the colloid or uncrystallizable body that proves so effective in the precipitation of stone or gravel. It has long been known that calculi almost invariably form around any foreign body introduced into the kidney or bladder, and I have seen a large, calculous mass surrounding a splinter of an arrow that had penetrated and broken off in the body of a deer. The explanation is now satisfactory—the foreign body carries in with it bacteria, which act as ferments upon the urine and mucus in addition to the mechanical injury caused by its presence. If such a body has been introduced through the solid tissues, there is, in addition, the presence of the blood and lymph derived from the wounded structures.

CLASSIFICATION OF URINARY CALCULI.

Urinary calculi are most conveniently divided according to the locality in which they are found. Thus we find first renal calculi, formed in the kidney (Pl. XI, fig. 1), and which for cattle must be again divided into calculi of the uriniferous tubes and calculi of the pelvis. The second class are named ureteral calculi because they are found in the duct leading from the kidney to the bladder (ureter). The third class are the vesical calculi, from the bladder or vesicle in which they are found. The fourth class are the urethral calculi, and are found in the duct leading outward from the bladder through the penis (urethra). The fifth and last class are the preputial calculi, since they are found within the sheath of the penis (prepuce).

Calculi may also be classed according to their chemical composition and this has the advantage of suggesting the special cause of each as found in the feed, water, soil, or general conditions of health. This classification affords no guide to their location or symptoms, as calculi of the same chemical composition may be formed at any part of the urinary passages, as those formed in the kidney may pass on through all the various passages outward, unless it is found at any point of their progress that they have grown so large that the passage will not admit them. The following are among the concretions found in the various parts:

(1) Coralline calculi.—These are of a dull-white color and irregular surface, like coral. They are made up of hard and resistant layers evenly deposited around a central nucleus. (Pl. XI, fig. 3.) Their specific gravity is 1,760, water being 1,000, and they contain 74 per cent of carbonate of lime with some carbonate of magnesia, organic matter, and a trace of carbonate of iron. Yellowish-white, smooth, round calculi of the same chemical composition are met with.

(2) Pearly calculi.—These are more frequent than the first-named variety. They are very hard and smooth on the surface, reflecting a play of various colors after the fashion of a pearl. This peculiarity appears to be caused by the thinness and semitransparency of the supposed layers. They have a specific gravity of 2,109 to 2,351, and nearly the same chemical composition as the coralline variety. Golding Bird found a specimen of this kind formed of carbonate of lime and organic matter only.

(3) Green calculi (metalloid calculi).—These are usually small and numerous, as they are exceedingly common. They are of a very hard consistency, and have a clear-polished, greenish surface of almost metallic brilliancy. They have a specific gravity of 2.301 and a composition almost identical with the second variety.

(4) White calculi.—Pure white, smooth, lustrous calculi are rare. They have a specific gravity of 2.307, and contain as much as 92 per cent of carbonate of lime with carbonate of magnesia and organic matter.

(5) Ammonio-magnesium calculi.—These are of a grayish color and a very rough, crystalline surface, which proves very irritating to the mucous membrane. They have a specific gravity of 1.109 to 1.637, and are composed chiefly of ammonio-magnesium phosphate, oxalate of lime, and organic matter, with a little carbonate of lime and magnesia.

(6) Siliceous calculi.—These are clear, smooth, and hard, and usually spherical. They have a specific gravity of 1.265 to 1.376, and contain 57 per cent of silica with carbonates of iron and magnesia, organic matter, and traces of iron. In other specimens of siliceous calculi there was a specific gravity of 3.122, and there was 79 to 85 per cent of carbonate of lime together with carbonate of magnesia, and iron, silica, and organic matter. Others are almost exclusively made of silica.

(7) Oxalate of lime calculi (mulberry calculi) (Pl. XI, fig. 2).— These are characterized by their extremely rough, angular surface, formed by the octahedral crystals of oxalate of lime. Their specific gravity may be 3.441, and they contain oxalate of lime to the extent of 81 per cent, together with carbonates of lime and magnesia and organic matter.

(8) Gravel (pultaceous deposits).—Simple crystals may be met with at any point from the kidneys to the external opening at the end of the prepuce (sheath), and they may appear singly, as crystals, or they may accumulate in masses of fine spherical crystals almost like dirty powdered chalk suspended in water. In the ox this is especially common as a collection in the sheath, distending that into a soft, doughy swelling.

FORMS OF CALCULI IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS.

Apart from the rough crystalline surfaces of the calculi of oxalate of lime and ammonio-magnesium phosphate, the general tendency is to a smooth, round outline. At times, however, they show more or less flattening with rounded angular edges, caused by the contact and mutual friction of two calculi. Sometimes two or more stones lying together become united into one by a new external deposit, and the resulting mass then shows rounded swellings on opposite sides. The large calculi occupying the pelvis of the kidneys usually show a central part having the outline of the main cavity of the pelvis and two or more projections that have been molded into the corresponding branches or channels which lead to corresponding lobes of the kidney. In winter and spring small concretions in the form of plates are often met with in the branches of the pelvis, having been formed and molded in the confined space between the projecting papilla and the surrounding cuplike branch of the pelvis. Finally, the pulplike deposits in the sheath and elsewhere are made up of globular masses, individually so small as to be often practically microscopic.

STONE IN THE KIDNEY (RENAL CALCULI).

[Pl. XI, fig. 1.]

In an animal leading the quiet, uneventful life of the ox, stones of large size may be present in the kidney without producing any disorder appreciable to the people about him. In cattle fattened on dry feed in winter, on the magnesian limestone of New York, it is exceptional to find the substance of the kidney free from calculi about the size of a grain of wheat or less, and standing out as white objects in the general red of the cut surface of the organ. Similarly around the papillae in the cuplike arms of the pelvis we find minute, flattened or more or less rounded, yellowish-white concretions. Even the large concretions may prove apparently harmless. I have a calculus several ounces in weight which filled the entire pelvis of the kidney, that was found by accident in a fat carcass while being dressed. In work oxen, however, such concretions may give rise to symptoms of kidney disease, such as stiffness of the loins, shown especially in the acts of rising or turning, weakness of the hind parts when set to pull a heavy load, an irritability of the kidneys, shown by the frequent passage of urine in small quantity, tenderness of the loins, shown when they are pinched or lightly struck, and it may be the passage of blood or minute gritty masses with the urine. If the attack is severe, what is called "renal colic" (kidney colic) may be shown by frequent uneasy shifting of the hind limbs, shaking or twisting of the tail, looking around at the flanks, and lying down and rising again at short intervals without apparent cause. The frequent passage of urine, the blood or gritty masses contained in it, and perhaps the hard, stony cylinders around the tufts of hair of the sheath, show that the source of the suffering is the urinary organs. In bad cases active inflammation of the kidneys may set in. (See "Nephritis," p. 123.)

URETERAL CALCULI.

These are small stones which have passed from the pelvis of the kidney into the canal (ureter) leading from the kidney to the bladder, but, being too large to pass on easily, have blocked that canal and forced the urine back upon the kidney. The result is the production of symptoms more violent than in renal calculi, though not varying, save in intensity, from those of renal colic. In case of complete and unrelieved obstruction, the secretion of the kidney on that side is entirely abolished, and it becomes the seat of passive congestion, and it may even be absorbed in greater part or as a whole, leaving only a fibrous sac containing fluid with a urinous odor. In small cattle, in which the oiled hand introduced into the last gut may reach the affected part, the distended ureter may be felt as a tense, elastic cord, extending forward from the point of obstruction on the lateral wall of the pelvis and beneath the loins toward the kidney. If relief is obtained by the onward passage of the stone a free flow of urine usually follows, in the midst of which may often be found gritty masses. If the outlets from both kidneys are similarly blocked the animal becomes poisoned by the retention in the blood of the elements of the urine, and by their reabsorption after secretion.

Treatment of renal and ureteral calculi.—Treatment is not very successful, as only the smallest calculi can pass through the ureter and enter the bladder, and even if they should do so they are liable to a progressive increase there, so that later they may cause the symptoms of stone in the bladder. Fortunately, ordinary dairy, growing, or fattening cattle rarely show evident symptoms of illness, and even though they do so they can usually be fattened and slaughtered before the health is seriously impaired. In work oxen the case is different, and acute symptoms may develop, but even then the animal may often be fitted for the butcher. When treatment is demanded it is primarily soothing and antispasmodic. Fomentations with warm water over the loins should be persisted in without intermission until relief has been secured. The soothing effect on the kidney will often relieve inflammation and irritation, should the stone be in that situation, while if in the ureter the warm fomentations will at once soothe irritation, relax spasm of the muscular coat of the canal, and favor an abundant secretion from the kidney, which, pressing on the obstructing stone, may slowly push it on into the bladder. Large doses of laudanum (2 ounces) or of solid extract of belladonna (2 drams) will not only soothe the pain but relax the spasm and favor the onward passage of the calculus. The animal should be encouraged to drink large quantities of cool water to favor the free secretion of a very watery urine, which will not only serve to obviate irritation and continued deposit caused by a highly concentrated urine, but will press the stone onward toward the bladder, and even in certain cases will tend to disintegrate it by solution of some of its elements, and thus to favor its crumbling and expulsion. This is a principle which must never be lost sight of in the treatment of calculi. The immersion of the stone in a liquid of a lower specific gravity than that in which it has formed and grown tends to dissolve out the more soluble of its component parts, and thus to destroy its density and cohesion at all points, and thereby to favor its complete disintegration and expulsion. This explains why cattle taken from a herd on magnesian limestone in spring, after the long, dry feeding of winter, usually have renal calculi, while cattle from the same herd in the fall, after a summer's run on a succulent pasture, are almost always free from concretions. The abundance of liquid taken in the green feed and expelled through the kidneys and the low density or watery nature of the urine have so opened the texture and destroyed the density of the smaller stones and gravel that they have all been disintegrated and removed. This, too, is the main reason why benefit is derived from a prolonged stay at mineral springs by the human victims of gravel. If they had swallowed the same number of quarts of pure water at home and distributed it at suitable times each day, they would have benefited largely without a visit to the springs.

It follows from what has been just said that a succulent diet, including a large quantity of water (gruels, sloppy mashes, turnips, beets, potatoes, apples, pumpkins, ensilage, succulent grasses), is an important factor in the relief of the milder forms of stone and gravel.

Prevention.—Prevention of calculus especially demands this supply of water and watery rations on all soils and in all conditions in which there is a predisposition to the disease. It must also be sought by attempts to obviate all those conditions mentioned above as causative of the malady. Sometimes good rain water can be furnished in limestone districts, but putrid or bad-smelling rain water is to be avoided as probably more injurious than that from the limestone. Unsuccessful attempts have been made to dissolve calculi by alkaline salts and mineral acids, respectively, but their failure as a remedy does not necessarily condemn them as preventives. One dram of caustic potash or of hydrochloric acid may be given daily in the drinking water. In diametrically opposite ways these attack and decompose the less soluble salts and form new ones which are more soluble and therefore little disposed to precipitate in the solid form. Both are beneficial as increasing the secretion of urine. In cases in which the diet has been too highly charged with phosphates (wheat bran, etc.), these aliments must be restricted and water allowed ad libitum. If the crystals passed with the urine are the sharp angular (octahedral) ones of oxalate of lime, then the breathing should be made more active by exercise, and any disease of the lungs subjected to appropriate treatment. If the crystals are triangular prisms of ammonia-magnesium phosphate or starlike forms with feathery rays, the indications are to withhold the feed or water that abounds in magnesia and check the fermentation in the urine by attempts to destroy its bacteria. In the latter direction plenty of pure-water diuretics, and a daily dose of oil of turpentine in milk, or a dose thrice a day of a solution containing one-tenth grain each of biniodid of mercury and iodid of potassium would be indicated.