THEIR CAUSES, NATURE, AND PREVENTION. 177 



the liver — and especially, I think, small in the sheep as com- 

 pared with those of other animals — are, nevertheless, of vast 

 importance in relation to health. Unlike the liver, pancreas, 

 &c., they are not lyroducing organs, i.e., nothing that is formed 

 in them is ever sent back and used up in the system, with the 

 exception of water, which, in the case of deficiency of that fluid 

 in the body, and in dry w^eather, is supposed to be reabsorbed 

 from the kidneys. They are essentially excretory organs, serving 

 to get rid of excess of water, of salts and of waste matter; as 

 also of the poisonous products of cells (leucomaines) which, if 

 left in the blood, would act as poisons. Any interference with or 

 arrest of their function is followed by grave consequences, and 

 no disease is more dreaded by the physician than kidney-disease 

 because he knows full well that it means in the long run death 

 by the action of such deleterious matters as the products 

 of oxidation which are allowed to accumulate in the 

 system. Arrest of the function of the kidneys is to some 

 extent compensated for by increased activity of the skin and 

 the bowels; hence, if by any means the functions of these 

 organs is interfered with the disease of the kidneys is rendered 

 more grave. 



To illustrate the rapidity wdth which certain matters are 

 passed out of the system I may direct attention to the fact, that 

 if one puts his feet into a solution of potash or soda those salts 

 can be detected in a short time in the urine ; or if turpentine be 

 rubbed into the skin, even the skin of the hands, it is detected 

 in the urine in a very short time by the odour of the " sweet- 

 scented violet " which it imparts to that fluid. 



One important thing I would particularly direct attention to 

 here and that is that wdienever the albumen in the blood 

 becomes so degraded, as it too often does, as to be unfit for use it 

 is passed out by the urine, in which it can be detected by glazing 

 or varnishing the skin of the hand when it is allowed to flow 

 over it, or by subjecting it to heat, when it coagulates. Not 

 only the albumen but the colouring matter of the blood, when 

 it is dissolved out of the cells, is passed off in the water; and 

 this is the explanation of the colour of the urine in the disease 

 known as " red water " in cattle, a condition not usually seen in 

 the sheep because in this animal the coloured water of the 

 blood is, curiously enough, thrown into the cavity of the ab- 

 domen, causing "bloody dropsy of the belly" (sanguineous 

 ascites). 



Under certain circumstances, the kidneys excrete enormous 

 quantities of clear water, constituting diabetes; but this is not 

 noticed so much — except by observant shepherds — in the sheep 

 as in the horse. In the latter animal it is frequently caused by 

 mouldy bad foods, by mow-burnt hay and grass, or hay grown 



VOL. XX. M 



