120 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



blood and the elements of blood escape into the urine, albumin is 

 always present, so that there is albuminuria with blood-('olorin<r mat- 

 ter superadded. If due to stone or gravel, gritty particles are usually 

 passed, and may be detected in the bottom of a dish in which the 

 liquid is caught. If due to fracture or severe spmin of the loins, it 

 is likely to be associated not only with some loss of control over the 

 hind limbs and with staggering behind but also with a more or less 

 perfect paralysis of the tail. The blood-stained urine without red 

 globules results from specific diseases — Texas fever (PI. XLVII, 

 fig. 3), anthrax, spirillosis, and from eating irritant plants (broom, 

 savin, mercury, hellebore, ranunculus, convolvulus, colchicum, oak 

 shoots, ash privet, hazel, hornbeam, and other astringent, acrid, or 

 resinous plants, etc.). The maybug or Spanish fly taken with the 

 food or spread over a grent extent of skin as a blister has a similar 

 action. Frosted turnips or other roots will bring on the affection in 

 some subjects. Among conditions which act by the direct destruc- 

 tion of the globules in the circulating blood may be named an excess 

 of water in that fluid ; the use of water from soils rich in de^-om- 

 posing vegetable matter and containing alkaline salts, particularly 

 nitrites; and the presence in the water and food of the ptomaines of 

 bacteria growth. Hence the prevalence of " red water " in marshy 

 districts and on clayey and other impervious soils. Hence, too, the 

 occurrence of bloody urine in the advanced stages of several conta- 

 gious diseases. Some mineral poisons — such as iodin, arsenic, and 

 phosphorus taken to excess — may cause hematuria, and finally the 

 symptoms may be the mere result of a constitutional predisposition 

 of the individual or family to bleeding. Exposure of the body to 

 cold or wet will cause the aifection in some predisposed subjects. 



The specific symptom of bloody or smoky water is a very patent 

 one. It may or may not be associated with fever, with the presence 

 or absence of abdominal tenderness on pressure, with a very fi-othy 

 state of the milk or even a reddish tinge, with or without marked 

 paleness of the mucous membranes, and general weakness. When 

 direct injury to the kidneys is the immediate cause of the disease the 

 urine will be passed often, in small quantity at a time, and with mncli 

 straining. T\Tien there is bloodlessness (a watery blood) from in- 

 sufficient nourishment, fever is absent and the red water is at first 

 the only symptom. V^Tien the active cause has been irritant plants, 

 abdominal tenderness, colics, and other signs of bowel inflammation 

 are marked features. 



Treatment. — Treatment will vary according as the cause has been 

 a direct irritant operating on a subject in \dgorous health or a micro- 

 bian poison acting on an animal deficient in blood and vigor. In the 

 first form of red water a smart purgative (1 pound to H pounds 

 Glauber's salt) will clear away the irritants from the bowels and 



