4H VETERINARY LECTURES 



of laudanum, should be given at once, and to relieve the kidneys of 

 some of their work, the skin should be excited by a large hot 

 poultice, made of maize or oatmeal, put into a flannel bag and laid 

 over the loins ; or by a blanket, six or eight ply thick, wrung out of 

 hot water and laid over the back, with dry woollen rugs on the top 

 and a waterproof covering over the whole ; whilst a good mustard 

 poultice over the loins may also prove beneficial. A newly-flayed 

 sheep-skin may also be tried. Warm water injections should be 

 given every four or six hours, and the legs be well bandaged ; while 

 hypodermic injections of pilocarpine and physostigmine are also very 

 useful. Fly blisters, however, must not be used on any account, as 

 the cantharides and turpentine which enter into their composition 

 act strongly on the kidneys ; nor should aloes balls be given for the 

 same reason. When the active symptoms have been relieved, easily 

 digested food cf a simple character should be offered, such as lin- 

 seed jelly and milk, or milk and water, and well-boiled barley and 

 bran. 



718. Hypertrophy, or enlargement, of one or both kidneys is 

 sometimes met with on making post-mortem examinations, no in- 

 dications of such having been observed during life. Some cases are 

 recorded where the kidney has weighed from 50 to 112 pounds. 

 When one kidney is abnormally enlarged, the other is generally 

 atrophied, or much smaller than it should be ; enlarged kidneys 

 are, as a rule, very soft and flabby. 



719. Calculi, or Stones, are sometimes found in the basin of the 

 kidneys on making dissections after death (par. 725). Melanotic 

 tumours are also occasionally met with, more particularly in the 

 kidneys of grey horses. Haemorrhage sometimes occurs when a 

 quantity of clotted blood is passed with the urine ; but this may 

 result from injury or disease of any part of the urinary system. 

 The symptoms of the foregoing diseases of the urinary organs are, 

 however, not well pronounced, and cases have therefore to be 

 diagnosed from negative points. 



720. Polyuria, Diuresis, Diabetes Insipidus, or Profuse 

 Staling. — In the horse this complaint — considered a dietetic disease 



