IMMODERATE THIRST. 479 



appearance of the coat ; dispiritedness ; inability to bear 

 fatigue ; loss of flesh ; debility and its consequences. 



Mr. Stewart, of Glasgow, in a paper on this subject, 

 in 'The Veterinarian' for 1839, describes two kinds of 

 this disorder : one with, the other without, fever and 

 bronchitis ; the symptoms in the latter case being that of 

 fever with bronchitis superadded. He also avers that he 

 has seen the disease occur when no cause for it was dis- 

 coverable in the food. 



The quantity of urine voided in some of these cases is 

 so great as to be quite incredible.^ The stall is deluged 

 with the flow. In an account of the disorder as it occurred 

 at one time in France, M. Lassange informs us, "the horses 

 attacked voided five or six pints of perfectly clear urine 

 every hour.'' 



The Quality of the Urine is that of urina potus. It is 

 thin and aqueous, and perfectly transparent. According to 

 Lassange, 100 parts of it contain — of water, 98*0; of urea, 

 of benzoate, and acetate of potash, of acetate of lime, of 

 chloride of sodium, and of free acetic acid, 1*5 ; of mucus 

 and sulphate of lime, 0*5 ; making it to diff'er from healthy 

 urine, 1st, in containing a larger quantity of water (for 

 healthy urine has but seven eighths of water^); 2d, in the 

 presence of acetic acid, which is in part free; 3d, in the 

 absence of any earthy carbonate, which in healthy urine 

 abounds. No saccharine matter was detected. 



The Treatment of these cases appears, in the majority, 

 to be rather dietetic than medical. Strict inquiry ought to 

 be immediately set on foot into the nature and quality of 

 the food the horse is eating, as well as into the kind of 

 water he is drinking ; one or both of which — unless any 

 other cause can be shown for the origin of his complaint — 

 had better be immediately changed. Should the horse be 



' Mr. Charles's case, and that of my father, furnish proofs. 



2 This proportion of water accords with Professor Brande's analysis of horse's 

 urine. lie found carbonate of lime, sulphate of soda, muriate of soda, benzoate 

 of soda, and phosphate of lime, amounting altogether to one eighth of the fluid 

 analysed. 



