i:nflammation of bladdek. 443 



also causes of bloody urine, which we must be careful to distinguish 

 from the condition of the blood in haemoglobinuria (p. 520). 



TREATMENT.— Put the horse on cooling food. Give linseed 

 mashes, and substitute linseed tea for water as his drink. Give a 

 mild dose of aloes and one drachm of strong tincture of iron 

 (p. 613) in water twice a day for a fortnight. In India, a decoction 

 of the leaves of the sissoo or seesum tree is a favourite native 

 remedy. About half a bucketful of the leaves is taken, water is 

 poured over them, they are mashed up between the hands, and 

 are allowed to soak in the water for nine or ten hours; the fluid 

 should be then strained off and given to the horse to drink. The 

 mixture of a couple of handfuls of unrefined sugar (termed goor in 

 Hindustanee) will make this drink palatable to him. This 

 mucilaginous fluid acts as an emollient in soothing irritation. 



The rationale of the foregoing treatment is as follows : ■ — The 

 })urgative is given to draw the blood away from the inflamed 

 urinary passages ; the strong tincture of the perchloride of iron acts 

 as an astringent in causing contraction of the congested blood- 

 vessels of the affected part, and thereby checks the flow of blood ; 

 and the linseed and sissoo are soothing agents. 



If the urine be very dark-coloured without the presence of blood, 

 we may generally conclude that this condition is due to too high 

 feeding. The treatment should be a full dose of physio (aloes) ; 

 cooling diet in very small quantities; and f oz. of nitre daily in 

 the food or water. As the injurious substances which accumulate 

 in the blood from too high feeding, are gradually got rid of along 

 with the urine; we give nitre in order to stimulate the kidneys to 

 remove them as quickly as possible out of the system. 



Inflammation of the Bladder. 



It is probable that the only causes of this disease are the 

 absorption into the system — by internal administration or external 

 application — of irritating poisons, such as cantharides or croton ; 

 the excretion of noxious matters from the blood ; and injury. Fatal 

 consequences have, sometimes, occurred from blistering " all 

 round." In Avarm weather, the urinary organs are more liable to 

 become affected by blisters than when the temperature of the air 

 is low. The chief reason for this is, I think, that in summer, 

 owing to the increased action of the skin, less urine is secreted, 

 and, consequently, the irritating matter, being less diluted, cannot 

 be removed from the bladder as quickly as when the amount of 

 urine is abundant, as in cold weather. Besides, the higher the 

 temperature of the air, the more rapidly do the absorbents take up 

 the active principle of the blister. 



