URINARY CALCULUS. 491 



taste of diabetic urine ; and Cruikshank and others sub- 

 sequently demonstated the saccharine principle on which that 

 property depends. That sugar exists in the blood of dia- 

 betic patients has been proved by Abrosiani and Messrs. 

 Maitland and M'^Grigor — especially by the latter. By co- 

 agulating the albumen, Mr. M^Grigor had no difficulty in pro- 

 curing sugar from the serum. And he then found that the 

 sugar was formed in the stomach during digestion. And 

 M. Bouchardat has since shown that " the fixed proportion 

 of sugar in the urine is in constant relation with the fecula 

 in saccharine matter in the food.^^ 



In man, some startling and very curious observations have 

 been recorded concerning it. One verj^ remarkable symptom 

 — and one which Dr. Elliotson says he never found to be ab- 

 sent — is the loss of sexual power and desire. Another is, 

 that the quantity of urine voided has been known to amount 

 to double that of the fluid drunk : indeed, some cases are 

 on record in which every day forty pints — in some days fifty 

 — were discharged. A third is, the urine has a sweet taste, 

 and by evaporation yields about an eighth of thick residue, 

 from which sugar is extractible to the amount of about two- 

 thirds of the weight of the residue. And in consequence of 

 this saccharine impregnation the urine has been found, by 

 the addition of yeast, to be susceptible both of the vinous 



and acetous fermentations. 



? 



URINARY CALCULUS. 



The comparative rarity of the occurrence of calculi among 

 horses is well demonstrated by the meagre state of our litera- 

 ture in regard to them, though the mention of '' Stone '^ 

 among veterinarians of the present day does not amount to 

 what it did, as a vara avis, some years ago. I shall, from 

 the scattered cases of such occurrences on record, and from 

 the accounts furnished by our continental brethren, endeavour 

 to frame such a connected hi5>tory as will enable my reader 

 to recognise and properly treat such a case, should one haj)pcn 

 to cross his path in practice. 



