DISEASES OF THE UEINARY ORGANS. 123 



albumin. A precipitate thrown down by boiling and redissolved by 

 nitric acid is probably phosphate of lime. 



Treatment. — Treatment will usually be directed to the disease on 

 which it is dependent. In the absence of any other recognizable dis- 

 ease, mucilaginous drinks of boiled flaxseed, slippery elm, or gum 

 may be given, tannic acid, one-half dram twice daily, and fomenta- 

 tions or even mustard poultices over the loins. AYlien the disease is 

 chronic and there is no attendant fever (elevation of temperature), 

 tonics (hydrochloric acid, G drops in a pint of water; phosphate of 

 iron, 2 drams, or sulphate of quinia, 2 drams, repeated twice daily) 

 may be used. In all cases the patient should be kept carefully from 

 cold and wet; a warm, dr\^ shed, or in vrarm weather a dry, sunny 

 yard or f)asture, being especially desirable. 



SUGAR IX URINE (DIABETES MELLITUS). 



This is a frequent condition of the urine in parturition fever, but 

 is practically unknown in cattle as a specific disease, associated with 

 deranged liver or brain. As a mere attendant on another disease it 

 will demand no special notice here. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS (nEPHRITIS). 



This has been divided according as it affects the different parts of 

 the kidneys, as: (1) Its fibrous covering (perinephritis); (2) the 

 secreting tissue of its outer portion (parenchymatous) ; (3) the con- 

 nective tissue (interstitial) ; (4) the lining mem.brane of its ducts 

 (catarrhal) ; and (5) its pelvis or sac receiving the urine (jDyelitis). 

 It has also been distinguished according to the changes that take 

 place in the kidney, especially as seen after death, according to the 

 amount of albumin present in the urine, and according as the affec- 

 tion is acute or chronic. For the purposes of this work it will be con- 

 venient to consider these as one inflammatory disease, making a 

 distinction merely between those that are acute and those that are 

 chronic or of long standing. 



The causes are in the main like those causing bloody urine, such 

 as irritant and diuretic plants, Spanish flies applied as a blister or 

 otherwise, exposure to cold and wet, the presence of stone or gravel 

 in the kidneys, injuries to the back or loins, as by riding each other, 

 the drinking of alkaline or selenitious water, the use of putrid, stag- 

 nant water, of that containing bacteria and their products, the 

 consumption of musty fodder, etc. (See " Hematuria," p. 119.) 



The length of the loins in cattle predisposes thest» to mechanical 

 injury, and in the lean and especially in the thin working ox the kid- 

 ney is very liable to suffer. In the absence of an abundance of loose 



