STONE IN THE KIDNEYS AND THE URETERS. 877 



much more blood passes through this organ, that the useless oi 

 excrementitious parts of it may be expelled, the supposition is rea- 

 sonable that a greater portion of the substances of which urinary 

 calculi are composed will be found. The food of cattle may have 

 much to do with it ; and the greater proportion of earthy matter 

 which they swallow, in the first rude cropping of the herbage, and 

 the carelessness with which they often tear it up by the root, » the 

 earth which they sometimes voluntarily take to prevent the develop- 

 ment of acidity in the stomach, or to remove it. 



The urinary calculi that have been examined have been found to 

 be composed of nearly the same materials, and hi proportions not 

 often varying. They have chiefly yielded carbonate of lime, a small 

 quantity of carbonate of magnesia, some traces of phosphate of hme, 

 and a certain quantity of mucus, which has served as cement between 

 the diflferent layers. The form of the calculus has considerably dif- 

 fered. When there has been but one central nucleus, the form has 

 been more or less circular; but in a majority, the stone has acquired 

 magnitude by the union of various small distinct calculi. The form 

 of the mass has consequently been difierent in different specimens. 



The floor of the cow-house, and sometimes bare places in the field, 

 will show where a considerable quantity of gritty matter has been 

 discharged. This indicates a diseased state of the urine at the time, 

 not perhaps sufficiently serious to interfere materially with the general 

 health, but which may eventually lead to the formation of stone in 

 the bladder or kidney, or to other serious maladies. The sandy 

 matter is either white, approaching to gray or yellow ; or it is brown, 

 with varying shades of red or yellow. 



Chemists have now satisfactorily ascertained the nature and causes 

 of these discharges, and the means of remedying them. The light- 

 colored granules show deficiency, and the dark-colored prove excess, 

 of acid in the urine. In the one there is a deposite of earthy matter 

 from deficiency of acid, and in the other there is a crystallization of 

 the acid itself. In the one, cream of tartar, or dilute sulphuric acid 

 might be administered with advantage ; and in the other, earth, or a 

 portion of chalk mixed with common loam, may be placed before the 

 beast, or doses of carbonate of soda may be given. Danger is most 

 to be apprehended from the white deposit, which is frequently the 

 precursor or the accompaniment of gravel — a deposition in the blad- 

 der to which cattle are far more subject than farmers or agriculturists 

 are usually aware. 



STONE IN THE KIDNEYS AND THE URETERS. 



There can be no doubt that many calculi descend from the cavity 

 or pelvis of the kindey through the ureters mto the bladder ; yet 

 there is but one case of each on record. 



