708 



SPORADIC DISEASES. 



10000 



From the above analysis it would be seen that the calculi 

 contained some animal matters ; in fact the earthy materials are 

 glued together by mucus, &c. 



Their occurrence is accounted for as follows by Professor 

 Morton : — " In the cereal plants, certain of the phosphates 

 are met with, and in considerable quantities. It is then to 

 tills food that we are to look for their origin, coupled with a 

 morbid state of the digestive functions, by which it does not 

 undergo the necessary change, probably from the gastric juice 

 not being sufficiently powerful to dissolve these phosphates. A 

 foreign body being accidentally taken into the stomach, which 

 may be a nail, or anything else, as a piece of stone, serves as a 

 common centre, the phosphates arrange themselves in their 

 turn, and in doing so they blunt that which by its sharpness 

 would wound the lining membrane of the organ. If from its 

 magnitude the calculus is unable to pass through the pylorus, 

 the stomach becomes its residence. They will give rise to 

 colicky pains, depravity of appetite, perhaps to wind-sucking 

 or crib-biting, and in the end will invariably, by accumulation, 

 destroy the life of the horse. 



2d. Oat-hair calculi, generally found in the caecum or colon, 

 consist almost entirely of the beard of oats, barley, or other grain. 

 They sometimes attain a large size, but are light in comparison 

 with the first-named. They, however, assume the same shape, 

 and are occasionally mixed with phosphatic salts. 



Zd. The mixed calculi are composed of phosphatic salts, 

 faecal matters, oat-hair, or any indigestible matter which may 

 accumulate in the intestine. 



In addition to these, food may adhere to the mucous mem- 

 biane, constituting what is termed a stercoral concretion, coa- 



