t$4 ^^^E FARM DOCTOR. 



pasture, and the subject liberally fed on dry fodder than thai 

 nourished on succulent green food. Then the denizen of the 

 warm latitude and damp miasmatic soil is more liable than 

 others. 



SACCHARINE URINE, DIABETES MELLITUS. 



Very rare in the lower animals, but has been seen in carnivora 

 (dogs), omnivora (monkeys), cattle, and even in the horse. 

 Temporary sweetness of the urine is not disease, but if per- 

 manent it may be referred to excessive production of glycogen 

 in the liver, which is probably always enlarged (Bernard) ; or 

 less frequently to the failure of the liver to transform the sugar 

 of the food into glycogen ; or it may be from disease of the 

 medulla oblongata (apoplexy), or of some part which exerts an 

 irritant reflex action on the base of the brain. It has been 

 produced experimentally by giving alcohol, ether, chloroform, 

 quinia, ammonia, arsenic, phosphoric acid, and zvoorali. 



Symptoms. — Rapid loss of condition, scurfy, unthrifty skin, 

 costive bowels, indigestion, ardent thirst, and excessive secretion 

 of urine of a high specific gravity — horse and ox, 1060 ; pig, 

 goat, and sheep, 1030 and upward. Tlie tests for sugar are: 

 I. Taste; 2. Fermentation when yeast is added and the whole 

 allowed to stand in a warm temperature ; 3. The addition to 

 a little of the urine in a test-tube of a few drops of solution of 

 blue vitriol, and a considerable excess of potassa, and boiling 

 the liquid for a moment when, if sugar is present, there is a 

 a deposit of the yellowish-brown sub-oxide of copper. 



Treatment. — Rarely successful. The best results are to be 

 expected in cases in which an active cause, such as disease of 

 the liver, lungs or brain, can be recognised and kept in check 

 or cured. Thus with liver disease, laxatives, alkalies, pure air 

 and water, green or otherwise laxative food, and cupping, mikl 

 blistering or even leeching over the spare -ribs, may be bene- 

 ficial. In lung disease tne treatment must correspond to its 



