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A MANUAL OF VETERINARY PHYSIOLOGY 



amount of urea may be 4 per cent., while on one of oat straw 

 and beans, it may fall to less than 1 per cent. When the urea 

 is high, the hippuric acid is low, and vice versa. The largest 

 amount of hippuric acid is produced by feeding on the straw of 

 cereals, the smallest is furnished by feeding on leguminous straw, 

 whilst a medium amount is produced by feeding on hay. It 

 was stated many years ago by Faas that the urine of the working 

 ox is turbid, and contains so much hippuric acid that a pound 

 of this substance could be obtained by precipitation with hydro- 

 chloric acid. The amount of urine from which it was extracted 

 is not given. The urine of ruminants contains less aromatic 

 sulphur compounds than that of the horse, and more of the in- 

 organic sulphur ; like the horse, the phosphates are either absent 

 or only occur in small amounts. 



The following table by Tereg shows the composition of the 

 urine of the ox on different diets ; the observations extended over 

 four months : 



On a diet of 8-45 kilogrammes of meadow hay, the urine gave 

 the following composition : 



Quantity - 

 Specific gravity 

 Hippuric acid 

 Urea - 



7-57 kilogrammes. 

 1042 



98-0 grammes. 

 131*0 



Calves still suckling excrete an acid urine which is rich in 

 phosphates, uric acid, kreatinine, and a peculiar substance 

 known as allantoin. It is poor in urea, and, according to 

 Moeller, contains hardly 1 per cent, of solids. 



The Urine of the Sheep. 



This has an alkaline reaction, a specific gravity of 1006 to 

 1015, and the amount excreted varies from 0-3 to 0-9 litre 

 (0-5 pint to 1-5 pints). Tereg gives the following percentage 

 composition of a sample : 



Water 



Organic matter - 



Inorganic matter 



86-48 

 7-96 

 5-56 



