AzoTuniA. 455 



Take a given quantity of serum, and percipitate the albumen 

 by boiling, filter and evaporate the liquid to dryness over a water 

 bath. Treat the residue with alcohol, which dissolves urea 

 readily, evaporate the alcoholic extract to dryness, and add a 

 little water, so as to make a syrupy mass, which should be 

 plunged into a freezing mixture, and a few drops of pure nitric 

 acid added to it, when crystals of nitrate of urea will soon be 

 found in it. 



There is no doubt that this malady attacks mares more 

 particularly during the period of oestrum. This can be ac- 

 counted for in two ways, independently of any association 

 with hysteria, namely — (1.) Because mares whilst in this state 

 are very often kept off work for a few days ; and (2.) They 

 are in a highly excitable nervous condition, and more apt to 

 suffer from spasmodic diseases, the causes of which may be 

 very trivial. 



In the spring of 1870 I was called to see a horse in a dying 

 state from this disease. I found that four had already died from 

 it. They were farm horses, which in consequence of the frost 

 liad not been worked or exercised for some time. As long as 

 they were kept in the stable they seemed all right, and imme- 

 diately on the frost giving way they were put to work. They 

 were all attacked, and succumbed in a few days ; some of tlieni 

 dying early in the disease, others living for some days ; and, 

 what was very remarkable in those which struggled longest, 

 the muscles lost all power of contractility, and in the one I saw 

 tliere w^as no rigor mortis after death. 



Treatment. — The therapeutics of this disease maybe summed up 

 in a few words, namely, — keep the various excretory organs acting 

 freely, in order to assist nature in expelling the degraded products 

 from the circulation. For this purpose a cathartic or oleaginous 

 aperient ought to be administered without delay. Tlie kidneys 

 generally act freely enough, and need no stimulus ; but should 

 they cease to perform their functions, diuretics, and more parti- 

 cularly colchicum, are to be used. The animal should always be 

 placed in a large, well-bedded, dry, loose box, with plenty of 

 short straw or chaff around it, which is to be removed as soon 

 as it becomes damp or wet. If unable to rise, it is to be turned 

 from side to side two or three times a day, or more frequently if 

 it becomes uneasy. Enemas are to be administered until purga- 

 tion commences, and plenty of diluents allowed. Generally the 



