138 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



ing cow the womb or udder carries on a work in one sense equivalent 

 to that otherwise performed by the kidneys. Kot only are these organs 

 alike channels for the excretion of albuminous products, but they are 

 also related to each other structurally and by nervous sympathy, so 

 that suffering in the one is liable to induce some measure of disorder in 

 the other. 



This nitrogenous waste matter is mainly present in the urine of cat- 

 tle, as of other mammals, in the form of urea, but also, to some extent, 

 as hippuric acid, a derivative of vegetable food which, in the herbivora, 

 replaces the uric acid found in the urine of man and carnivora. Uric 

 acid is, however, found in the urine of sucking calves which have 

 practically an animal diet, and it may also appear in the adult in case 

 of absolute and prolonged starvation, and in diseases attended by com- 

 plete loss of appetite and rapid wasting of the body. In such cases the 

 animal lives on its own substance, and the product is that of the wast- 

 ing flesh. 



The other products containing nitrogen are only present in small 

 amount, and need not be specially referred to. The urine of cattle 

 contains mnch less of carbonates than does that of the horse, and effer- 

 vesces less on the addition of an acid. As the carbonates form a large 

 proportion of the solid deposits (gravel, stone) from the horse's urine, 

 the ox may thus be held less liable; yet even in the ox the carbonates 

 become abundant or scanty, according to the nature of the food, and 

 therefore gravel, formed by carbonate of lime, is not infrequent in cat- 

 tle. When fed on beets, clover hay, or bean straw, carbonates are 

 present in large amount, these aliments being rich in organic acids and 

 alkaline carbonates; whereas upon oat straw, barley straw, and, above 

 all, wheat straw, they are in small amount. In calves fed. on milk alone 

 no carbonates are found in the urine. 



Phosphates, usually in combination with lime, are, as a rule, present 

 only in traces in the urine of cattle; yet, on a dietary of wheat, bran, 

 or other aliment rich in phosphates, these may be present in large 

 amount, so that they render the liquid cloudy or are deposited in solid 

 crystals. The liquid is rendered transparent by nitric acid. 



The cow's urine, on a diet of hay and potatoes, contained : 



Parts. 



Urea 18. 5 



Potassic hippurate 16. 5 



Alkaline lactates 17. 2 



Potassium bicarbonate 16. 1 



Magnesium carbonate 4.7 



Lime carbonate 0. 6 



Potass, sulphate 3. G 



Common salt 1.5 



Silica Trace. 



Phosphates 0. 



Water and undetermined substances 921. 3 



Tota?. 1,000.0 



