CALCCMTi 



.M.I curs. 



4. nw-hate of hW, or bon. rth calculus. 



1. The fusibU calculus, eoabhsation of UM UM two species; so 



called (run iu fusibility under the blow-pipe. 



6. The mixed oaloolui; compond of several of the other kinds con- 

 fusedly mixed. 



, . ..' :. 



. Ctrboncte of life*. 



. , -.-. , 



10. Xanthic oxide. 



Tb three last are extremely nr. The phosphatic varieties gene- 

 rally include nucleus of the fir.t or second species, and are found 

 chiefly in advanced life, or in eases of Inng standing. 



The substance called uric acid, of which probably three-fourths of 

 the concretion* iu question eonsiit wholly or in part, is sparingly 

 soluble in water unless an alkali be present in a quantity more than 

 a^rt to neutralise it ; and from such a solution, of which healthy 

 urine is an example, the addition of almost any other acid will preci- 

 pitate either the urste of the alkali r the uric acid itself in the form 

 nl powder. To this peculiarity is probably due the formation of 

 chalkton consisting, as we bare seen, of urate of soda in those 

 who are subject to gout, as well as the proverbial liability of such 

 ptinjw to gravel and other calculous disorders ; for in this complaint 

 acetic acid is so abundantly generated as to be observable in the perspi- 

 ration. Children also, in whom the food is so apt to turn sour upon 

 the stomach, are much more liable to stone than the middle-aged, and 

 their calculi almost invariably consist of uric acid. In such cases the 

 alkalies and absorbent earth < are of eminent service, by preventing the 

 admixture of free acid in the urine, which is thus rendered more 

 capable of retaining the unites in solution. These medicines, on the 

 other hand, are extremely injurious if the phosphates happen to 

 prevail, when acids should take their place, for reasons somewhat 

 analogous. These considerations may have their use in pointing out 

 the propriety of attending to the diet and the digestive functions, with 

 a view to prevent or correct the formation of urinary concretions ; and 

 they no less forcibly illustrate the necessity of a knowledge of chemis- 

 try on the part of those who are intrusted with the treatment of such 

 disorders, that the different kinds may be justly -discriminated. This 

 can only be done by a careful analysis of the urine and its sediment* ; 

 a process which will be explained in the article on UIIIM:. 



Calculi in Inferior Anima/i. Biliary Calfuli are rare in the horse 

 and the deer, for these animals have no gall-bladder, and the hepatic 

 duct is Urge and straight, and the bile flows through it as fast as it is 

 secreted. They are often found in the gall-bladder of the ox, sheep, 

 and dog. There is scarcely a stall-fed ox slaughtered from Michaelmas 

 to Lady-day in which they do not exist of Urge sue or in great 

 numbers ; sometimes there is only one concretion, but that of con- 

 siderable magnitude. In an ox that died of jaundice a gall-stone was 

 found which weighed 15 oz. when first removed from the bladder. 

 If ore frequently there are numerous calculi of a small size, scarcely 

 larger than grains of sand, or many of them agglomerated together, 

 forming a rounded or irregular body, from the size of a pin's head to 

 that of a millet seed. More than 800 have been counted in the gall- 

 bladder of one beast. Occasionally there is found an irregular crystal- 

 Used body of a green or azure blue colour, glistening and polished. 

 This forms a valuable pigment The cause of these concretions is not 

 well understood, but it depends greatly on want of exercise and 

 impaired digestion. In the grass-fed ox they are seldom found. These 

 calculi may exist in the gall-bladder without apparent injury to the 

 health, but occasionally they press upon and close the passage through 

 which the gall should be conveyed to the intestinal canal ; or they 

 enter into the hepatic duct and obstruct it, and prevent the flow of the 

 bile through it ; or, being numerous and large, they may by their pre- 

 sence and weight and friction irritate the mucous membrane of the 

 cyst, and produce disease. [BiLE, and DIOF.STIO.V, NAT. HIST. Div. ; 

 J A fstDirr. ] If the existence of inspissated bile, or biliary calculi, in the 

 gall-bladder were indicated by a certain train of symptoms, the expe- 

 rience of the farmer would supply a ready and almost certain cure. 

 The null-fed ox has the gall-bladder partially filled with minute or 

 larger concretions. The grass-fed beast in June will rarely furnish one. 

 The former was idle and over-fed ; the Utter was compelled to exert 

 himself a little in order to obtain his food, and he was kept under the 

 mJuUry aperient influence of the newly-sjfrung grass. 



KUsiy calculi have been observed in the gall-bUdder of almost every 

 dommtii- oiudruped, and very often in poultry. They differ mate- 



ially in their composition, but agree in being crystallised bodies, 

 formed of Uyer upon layer, and containing margaritic acid, animal 

 mucus, a yellow colouring matter, and salts, principally phosphate of 

 linv and magnesia. 



Central CalnJi have been found more frequently in the horse than 

 any other quadruped. They are contained in the ventricles of the 

 cerebrum or the cerebellum, and attached to or enveloped by the 

 pleros chorokW They are usually white, variously formed, of a 

 hardness, and consist nearly of pure phosphate of lime. No 

 peculiar symptom indicates the existence of the calculus, but the horse 

 U soddenly attacked by inflammation of the brain and dies ; upon 



the ventricles are found distended with fluid, and these 

 s attached V, the plexus of vessels. Afterwards, perhaps, it is 

 recollected that the animal had been somewhat dull and stupid, sleepy, 



and self -willed, and had frequently hung his head ; that, in fact, there 

 had been something wrong about the head. The irritation produced 

 by the foreign body had bean long existing and increasing. 



Oattrie Calculi are rarely or never found in the stomach of the 

 horse; but they are of frequent occurrence in ruminants. Concre- 

 tions varying from the weight of a few ounces to seven or eight pounds 

 have been found in the paunch of cattle. There are traces of con- 

 oeutrio layers in all of them, but they are far from being regular. 

 There is usually some central nucleus, such as a small bit of nail or 

 stone, around which has been collected a mass of earth and fond and 

 hair, cemented by the mucus of the stomach. When loose in the 

 rumen, they acquire a globular form, but, having been confined in one 

 ..I' the compartments of that viscus, they are occasionally flattened, and 

 in a few cases angular. The symptoms by which their presence is 

 indicated are not well known, nor the effects which they produce ; but 

 one thing of some importance is certain, namely, that they are seldom 

 found in healthy and thriving aattle. They may be either the cause 

 or the consequence of disease, and much may be said on both sides. 

 The method by which they may be dissolved or otherwise got rid of is 

 unknown. A different kind of concretion in found in the abomasum 

 or fourth stomach of cattle, and particularly of calves. It is composed 

 almost entirely of hair, agglutinated by the mucus of the stomach. 

 Cattle are frequently observed to spend a considerable time in the 

 friendly office of licking each other : a portion of the hair mixed with 

 the saliva is occasionally swallowed ; and, not possessing sufficient 

 solidity or weight to break through the roof of the paunch and enter 

 that stomach, it passes along the ccsophagean canal to the fourth 

 stomach, where, by the peristaltic motion of that stomach, it is formed 

 into a ball. There are no symptoms which clearly indicate the 

 presence of these balls, nor is it plain by what means they could be 

 expelled ; but it is very evident that they have an injurious effect, 

 producing distension of the paunch and loss of digestive power in the 

 fourth stomach ; the first by sympathy, and the latter by their direct 

 presence. The animals in which these hair-balls are found after death 

 were never well conditioned or healthy, and those that have expelled a 

 hair-ball by stool have immediately begun to thrive. 



Similar balls, but composed of felted wool, with portions of different 

 kinds of food and various earthy and saline matters, mixed up with 

 the mucus of the stomach, and having undergone a process of crystal- 

 lisation, are found in the fourth stomach of the cheep, the goat, the 

 chamois, the antelope, and the deer. They have usually a small 

 nucleus, but the structure of the surrounding mass and the form of 

 the whole admit of much variety. [BEZOARS.] 



Intettinal Calculi are often found in the horse. They have almost 

 invariably gome central nucleus, as a seed, a small stone, or a bit of 

 nail, around which particles of food and saline matters have accumu- 

 lated and crystallised. They differ from the gastric calculi in the 

 greater portion of earthy and saline matter of which they are composed, 

 and scarcely a trace of food is detected in many of them. The concen- 

 tric layers are well defined, and the ball, when dried, will bear a 

 beautiful polish. They assume different forms, according to the 

 portion of intestine which they occupy. In the colon they adapt 

 themselves to the shape of the cells of that viscus, and represent a kind 

 of four-sided prism ; at the fund us, or base of the caecum, they are 

 globular. Twenty or thirty of the cells of the colon will sometimes be 

 occupied by them, varying in weight from half an ounce to three- 

 quarters of a pound. In the cascum, a single concretion has occasion- 

 ally weighed eight or ten pounds. 



They are oftenest found in heavy horses of slow work. Mill-horses 

 are also subject to them, and horses that are fed on much dry bran. 

 The symptoms of their existence are obscure, and can scarcely be dis- 

 tinguished from those of colic. They have occasionally been expelled 

 in the act of purging, but it would generally be a fruitless and a 

 dangerous attempt to dislodge them, for they are embedded in the 

 cells of the colon or the blind pouch of the otecura. They destroy the 

 horse by the irritation which they occasion, and by their weight, and 

 especially in the concussion of rapid action they rupture the parietes 

 of the intestine. It would seem almost incredible that they should 

 remain so long as those of larger size must necessarily do. Many 

 months or years must have passed away in the formation of a calculua 

 that ultimately weighs eight pounds. There is scarcely a case in which 

 they have occasioned the death of the animal, where careful inquiry 

 will not elucidate the fact, that during a very long time the animal had 

 experienced occasional attacks of apparent colio. 



,svi//v,in/ tMnili are oftener found in the herbivorous animal than in 

 the human being, because there is a greater expenditure of saliva in 

 mastication, and the salivary gUnds are larger and more susceptible of 

 inflammation. They mostly exist in the parotid duct. They are of a 

 dead-white colour, usually of an oblong form, of considerable density 

 and specific gravity, and the surfaces highly polished or capable of 

 being so. They are only injurious when they completely obstruct the 

 duct : then the salivary fluid, continuing to be secreted, accumulates 

 behind the calculus, and the canal becomes distended, and will burst, 

 unless an incision is made upon the calculus, and the obstructing body 

 removed. 



The salivary calculus of the horse consists of 86 parts of carbonate 

 of lime, 6 of animal matter, 4 of water, 8 of phosphate of lime and 

 other salts, and 1 of mucous matter. 



