332 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



ranee in relation to a subject which, at any rate, is of no 

 practical moment to the farmer. Youatt says the spleen 

 " has been ruptured," but to brin^ this about must certainly 

 require the most extraordinary violence. 



INFLAMMATION OF THB KIDNEYS, OR NEPHRITIS. 



The kidneys are frequently the seat of disease, one of 

 whose most acute manifestations is that of their inflamma- 

 tion, technically denominated nephritis. The causes of this 

 condition are various. Perhaps as common as any is ex- 

 posure of the loins to wet when the animal stands still for a 

 long time, especially if the atmosphere is raw and chilly, as 

 well as damp. We know that when certain substances also 

 are introduced into the stomach and subjected to the di- 

 gestive process, that their absorption results in great irrita- 

 tion and disturbance of renal action (renal being a word 

 that signifies " relating to the kidneys," which were anciently 

 called the reins). Thus, moldy feed of every kind is found 

 to have a strong tendency to bring on urinary diseases. 

 Many strong diuretics, of which ignorant practitioners are so 

 extremely fond, possess the same hurtful properties in such 

 degree as should condemn their use entirely, except, perhaps, 

 in the hands of a man of known experience and caution. 

 To this class belong all such mineral poisons as saltpeter, nux 

 vomica, blue stone, and copperas. 



Severe strains, and other injuries of the loins and hips, 

 seem often to cause inflammation of the kidneys, though the 

 connection between the two circumstances is not very ob- 

 vious; and it has been supposed that the disease, in such 

 cases, is developed by exposure to cold while in a state of 

 exhaustion, or that some branch of the venal artery or vein 

 has been ruptured by the violence of the preceding exertion. 



We believe that bad treatment of every kind predisposes 

 to venal affections as one of the effects of constitutional de- 

 bility, and its tendency to functional derangement. For this 

 reason, therefore, if the many stronger ones were all lacking, 

 low, damp situations should always be avoided, and the foul 



