118 THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 



PROFUSE STALING. — (Diabetes insipidus.) 



Profuse staling — when there is an immoderate flow of urine 

 of its usual color and odor — is technically named diabetes 

 insipidus ; but we doubt very much if it can with propriety be 

 considered as a disease, for mere augmentation of urine can be 

 brought about at pleasure ; we have only to give the animal a 

 dose of gin, juniper, or sweet spirits of nitre, or let him drink 

 large quantities of water, as animals sometimes will when thirsty, 

 and then let the subject stand in a cold place ; an immoderate 

 flow of urine generally follows. 



On p. 345 of Hippopathology, we read that "simple aug- 

 mentation of urinary discharges, without any material change in 

 the composition of the urine, is the effect of a multitude of causes, 

 some of an alimentary, others of a medicinal, and others again of 

 a nervous nature, and, when but temporary, cannot be viewed in 

 the light of disease. Every horseman knows how very often 

 certain kinds of hay and corn cause horses to stale more than 

 they ought to do, and that drinking a large quantity even of plain 

 water will produce the same result. Medicines called urine balls, 

 or diuretics, are given for the especial purpose of increasing the 

 urine. But nervousness will likewise do it ; fright, or anxiety 

 of almost any kind, will make a horse stale inordinately ; how 

 frequently do we see hunters at the covert side, when the hounds 

 are about "finding" staling or continually stretching themselves 

 out to do so ; and I have seen horses having wounds commence 

 staling the moment the twitch was put on, from the remembrance 

 that it was the prelude to some painful cutting or dressing they 

 had undergone before." 



The horse has four depuratory surfaces, viz., the skin, lungs, 

 digestive surface, and kidneys ; in health, and under favorable 

 circumstances, there is an equilibrium of action in these parts, 

 that is, a constant exercise of function, eliminating from the com- 

 mon mass of the fluids, such as would be injurious if retained. 

 But exposed as horses are to sudden atmospheric changes, the 

 harmony between the abov£ functions is disturbed so as to pro- 

 duce essential changes in quality as well as quantity of the fluid 



