DISEASES OP THE OX AND SHEEP. 575 



Again, NaudiD's experiments on mirabilis are especially 

 interesting, for when he fertilised a flower with three grains of 

 pollen he succeeded in obtaining perfect seed ; but when he used 

 only two grains, and finally a single grain, in a series of 

 seventeen experiments, he only succeeded in getting two seeds 

 formed, and the plants produced from these seeds never reached 

 the ordinary dimensions, and their flowers were remarkably small. 

 Our readers will, then, observe that it is unwise to bring ewes 

 from the hills of Scotland, or from any other far-distant place, 

 just before the time of mating. Every breeding animal should be 

 acclimatised before being impregnated ; and, moreover, it is a" very 

 grievous mistake to run too many ewes with one ram under any 

 circumstances, and especially in the case of abrupt crosses, as, 

 for instance, betwixt Scotch and English breeds. 



URAEMIA. 



Uraemia is a most serious disease, occasioned by the more or 

 less complete cessation of the excretion of the waste products 

 of the body which the kidneys ought to separate from the blood. 

 It supervenes in cases of inflammation of the kidneys, espe- 

 cially when both those organs are involved. When these excre- 

 tory organs are out of working order, the function ordinarily 

 performed by them is in a large measure thrown upon the skin, 

 bowels, and liver ; but these structures cannot do the necessary 

 work, and indeed the renal mischief is frequently due to their 

 functions heing checked, and the result is the condition known 

 as uraemia, in which the blood contains an excess of waste pro- 

 ducts. The blood always, even in healthy animals, contains 

 some urea. 



HEMATURIA, OR BLOOD IN THE URINE. 



This disorder may be due to injuries, such as may be pro- 

 duced by straining, falling into ditches, or by oxen leaping on 

 one another; also to acute congestion or ulceration of the kid- 

 neys or urinary passages, administration of too much of a 

 diuretic drug or drugs, the eating of acrid plants, some forms 

 of general blood disease, the presence of calculi, or, according 

 to Mr. John Brett, M.R.C.V.S., as a sequel to tuberculosis of 

 the kidney.* This writer records that he was called to a case 



* Vide The Veterinarian for October 1887. 



