42 ALBUMINOUS URINE. 



light-coloured, but very thick in its consistence; in fact ; 

 when poured into a glass, it resembled so much melted 

 calf's-foot jelly. I lost no time in consulting some of 

 our best works on human medicine on the subject, and soon 

 learned that the case must be one of ' serous or albuminous 

 urine/ a conclusion in which I became afterwards confirmed 

 by the application to the fluid of the usual tests. Since this 

 I have noticed two other cases. 



" The symptoms observed in one slight case were, a con- 

 tinual desire in the horse to stretch himself out in his stall, 

 and in this position to continue, with his fore legs extended 

 under the manger and his hind ones backwards, unless dis- 

 turbed, all day long; not for the purpose of staling, but 

 apparently because that posture seemed an easy or a com- 

 fortable one to him. In another case, the horse stood in his 

 stall ' all of a heap/ with his back roached and his hind legs 

 advanced underneath his body. Led out, the animal in his 

 gait evinces stiffness in the back and loins, which is most 

 manifest in turning round. There is some fever attendant; 

 but this, in a slight case, will but amount to some heat of 

 mouth and acceleration of pulse, without materially affecting, 

 perhaps, either the spirits or the appetite. In a severe 

 attack, however, there will be rigors, and a great deal of 

 irritation, manifested by accelerated respiration, by loud 

 blowing or puffing at the nostrils, by anxious countenance, 

 and small quick pulse; combined with extreme disinclination 

 to move, and great pain and difficulty in progressing and 

 turning the hind parts. The bowels are commonly confined. 



"The state of the urine, however, must constitute our 

 diagnosis. The groom must seize the earliest opportunity to 

 collect some. Should it prove albuminous, it will assume a 

 deep or dead straw-colour, and be found of the consistence of 

 a thick solution of gum. Submitted to the test of bichloride 



