DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 123 



on the printed label. This will stimulate the action of 

 the liver-cells, and cause the bile to flow more freely. 



DISEASE OF THE URINARY ORGANS. 



HERE again it is rare to find horses affected with dis- 

 ease of those organs. A few years ago I was much in- 

 terested in the special study of kidney diseases, and I 

 embraced the opportunity of making examinations of 

 the kidneys of all the worn out horses that were killed 

 to be used as food by the animals in the Central Park 

 menagerie. Although I made over 70 post-mortems 

 and a detailed microscopic examination of stained sec- 

 tions of the kidney in each case, I failed to find any 

 with serious kidney disease, the same as is seen so fre- 

 quently in man. I found one animal that had a cyst 

 that contained over a pint of water, but its physical 

 condition seemed to be fair. The tubules and glomer- 

 uli of the kidney in all cases were in fairly good condi- 

 tion. However, we do occasionally have inflammation 

 of the kidneys, as also the condition known as diabetes 

 (sugar in the urine), but although I have made numer- 

 ous chemical examinations of horse urine, I have never 

 yet been able to find sugar present. I know that the 

 common opinion among horsemen is that horses are fre- 

 quently the subjects of kidney troubles. I think this 

 is due to the fact that in many cases of disease the urine 

 is only scantily voided ; but this is because absorption 

 from the bowels is not going on, or only very slowly, 

 and the condition of the blood is such that excretion by 

 the kidneys is partly or wholly suspended, and not be- 

 cause the kidneys themselves are diseased, 



