446 DISEASES OF URINARY ORGANS. 



largely composed of carbonate of lime, which is always to be 

 found in the urine; hence, the presence of stone in the positions 

 just mentioned, and the danger of keeping horses from staling 

 for prolonged periods. For the same reason, when a horse is in 

 his stall, with the bedding " up," he should always have some 

 straw under him, on which to stale; and when he is kept for a 

 long time at work, as when out hunting, or on a journey, he 

 should be given full opportunities to do so, especially, on grass, 

 so that he may not splash his legs, the fear of doing which, often 

 causes him to refrain from micturating longer than he ought to do. 

 These calculi vary in bulk from fine sand to a mass the size of a 

 man's fist, or even larger; and may be of a hard nature, or of the 

 consistence of soft mortar, which, if remedial means be not used, 

 may almost entirely fill the bladder. The calculus, when of a 

 solid consistence, is generally grey in colour, smooth, more or less 

 round, easily broken, and arranged in concentric layers or strata 

 (Fig. 145), which appear respectively to have been deposited from 

 the urine round a nucleus during certain well-defined periods of 

 activity. 



The SYMPTOMS are severe colicky pains which recur more or 

 less frequently ; straining and repeated efforts to stale ; inability 

 to retain urine; interruption to the flow of urine; presence of 

 blood in the urine; stiffness of gait of the hind limbs and whisking 

 of the tail. The presence of stone may be discovered by an 

 examination per rectum. 



TREATMENT. — ^The only effective treatment is removal of the 

 stone or deposit. For doing this in the horse, there are two ways, 

 which differ slightly from each other. According to the French 

 method, described in Peuch and Toussaint's book on "Veterinary 

 Surgery," the patient is secured, while standing up, by placing 

 a short pair of hobbles on his hind pasterns, passing a rope from 

 the hobbles, between his fore legs, across his breast, over his 

 withers, down his side, and round itself to the hand of an assistant. 

 The animal will now be unable to kick anyone standing imme- 

 diately behind him. A twitch may also be applied for obtaining 

 ircrcased control. An assistant, standing on the near side of the 

 horse, will introduce his hand into the sheath, seize the penis, draw 

 it out, and insert into the urethra the nozzle of a large syringe 

 filled with tepid (say, about 95° F.) water, which a second assistant 

 will inject into that canal, so as to make it stand out to about 

 the thickness of a finger directly below the anus. A vertical in- 

 cision of about IJ inches is made into the urethra, just belo^w 

 the prominence of the anus, at the point where the urethra makeg 



