THE DISEASES OF CATTLE. 211 



food are notorious causes, in explanation of augmented and 

 discolored urinary secretion. 



Discoloration of the urine, which some of our Western 

 farmers term " red water," is usually occasioned by derange- 

 ment of the liver, and other parts of the digestive apparatus ; 

 the urine, however, is more likely to have a tinge of brown or 

 yellow than rec?, and therefore several writers, Mr. Youatt in- 

 cluded, have termed such cases " chronic red water," and they 

 all agree that such an affection is not primarily, one of the 

 kidneys, but of the liver, and I presume that the " red water," 

 which prevails among cattle in the West, owes its origin to the 

 same causes as above ; for example : A friend informs me that 

 he lost a valuable cow, " which died of red water," and that 

 the urine was of a " yellow-brown color," indicating very 

 clearly that the animal labored under an affection of the liver, 

 and in view of dispelling all doubt on the subject, I here intro- 

 duce a short paragraph from my correspondent's letter : — 



" On skinning the animal I found that the parts beneath 

 (subcellular tissues) had a yellow appearance. On cutting 

 open the abdomen, I noticed that the liver was of a very dark 

 color, and appeared to be filled with black blood ; the gall blad- 

 der was very large and appeared darker than usual ; the many- 

 plies (manyplus) was full of caked food, and there were no 

 appearances of disease in any other parts." 



Of course it will be perceived that my correspondent was 

 far from being an adept in the art of autopsy, however, the 

 appearances which he has described, lead us to the necessary 

 conclusion that the so-called red water (which he contends 

 caused the death of his cow) was the result of functional^ per- 

 haps organic, disease of the liver. 



Mr. Youatt, when discussing the theory of the pathology of 

 chronic red water, offers the following : " Chronic red water is 

 more prevalent than that which is acute, and in its first stage 

 is far more a disease of the digestive organs and especially of 

 the liver than of the kidney. 



** The urine is observed to be of a brown color, or brown 



