AZOTURIA^ 453 



into harness upon a very hot day, and driven slowly for a dis- 

 tance of five miles, and was seized on the road. The second 

 case also occurred after the mare had rested a week or a little 

 more, w^heri it was taken out of the stable on a very sultry 

 afternoon, and galloped severely, and shortly afterwards was 

 seized. The subject of the third case rested from Saturday 

 morning to Monday morning, at which time it was put to its 

 usual labour, and driven slowly for about a mile, and was seized 

 ere it had got to the end of the journey, short as it was." The 

 above corroborates my experience of every case of this malady in 

 a most remarkable manner. Varying periods of rest were suc- 

 ceeded by an attack on the first journey, the animals always 

 leaving their stables in higher spirits than usual, and giving rise 

 to the remark, " He never looked better than when he first turned 

 out ; in fact we could scarcely hold him, he was so spirited." I 

 never met with a case that was attacked in the stable prior to 

 some amount of exercise. It seems necessary that some degree 

 of muscular exertion be j)erformed, and the only way in which I 

 can account for this is, that the blood before exercise contains 

 a superabundant quantity of albumen unappropriated by the 

 tissues, and that the exercise, by increasing the rapidity of the 

 circulation and of the respiratory movements, induces a rapid 

 oxidation of such superabundant albumen, whereby it is trans- 

 formed into urea, hippuric acid, &c., with which the blood becomes 

 over-loaded, and the kidneys stimulated to excrete what is 

 proving deleterious. Albumen is occasionally present in the 

 urine, but this is by no means constant ; its presence, however, 

 points to an aggravated form of the disease, and is often prog- 

 nostic of a fatal termination. 



The presence of such effete material in the circulation pro- 

 vokes tonic spasms of the muscles, loss of motor power in the 

 posterior, and sometimes, but rarely, in the anterior extremities, 

 tetanic convulsions, and, finally, death, by extreme muscular 

 prostration, simulating motor paralysis. In every fatal case that 

 I have observed, the spasms and convulsions have been succeeded 

 by extreme muscular debility, the muscles contracting but feebly 

 on the application of a stimulus, the heart and diaphragm par- 

 taking of this prostration, and the animal dying from asthenia 

 and apnoea. In other cases the animal has overcome the primary 

 and violent symptoms, but has remained partly paralyzed in 

 one hind extremity. 



