516 GENERAL DISEASES. 



ferments or other morbid material, the presence of which in the 

 blood may also distm'b the nerves that supply the vessels of the 

 kidneys. Or, the agencies at work, whatever they may be, may 

 effect their purpose by causing the watery portion of the blood 

 to escape with undue rapidity from the arteries of the kidneys. 

 The tendency to dropsy often met with in this disease, seems to 

 favour the view that the fault, at least in some instances, lies in 

 the state of the blood. 



This disease, as a rule, is of a mild type. 



CAUSES. — Improper forage, such as musty hay and corn ; 

 feeding on boiled food for a considerable time (Williams) ; de- 

 bilit}^; exposure. It may accompany indigestion, tuberculosis, 

 and other disorders. 



SYMPTOMS.— Both the thirst and the amount staled are 

 excessive; the urine is watery and of low specific gravity; the 

 pulse weak; coat, rough; gums, jDale; breath, sour-smelling; appe- 

 tite, depraved, and often voracious ; bowels, costive ; dung, usually, 

 dark in colour and of a bad smell; and the animal is prone to 

 sweat after slight exertion. There is rapid loss of condition, and 

 general debility. Sometimes, there are dropsical swellings. 



TREATMENT. — Give a mild dose of aloes; change the nature 

 of the food ; instead of water, allow the animal a copious supply of 

 linseed tea to drink; mix in the food 2 oz, of bicarbonate of 

 soda daily. If these simple measures do not succeed, give daily 

 in a ball, soon after feeding, 2 drachms of iodine for six or seven 

 days, exercising judgment in diminishing the iodine as the thirst 

 and amount staled decrease, and mix in the food or water, daily, 

 1 oz. of the hyposulphite of soda. Owing to the irritating effect 

 of iodine, it should not be administered when the stomach is in 

 an empty condition. The animal's drink should on no account 

 be curtailed in this disease. 



Evans advocates the use of clay water, which is made by 

 mixing yellow clay with water, and after the sediment has been 

 deposited, giving the solution to the animal to drink, instead of 

 plain water. The bicarbonate of soda, however, seems to act 

 equally well, and is the cleaner and more manageable agent of 

 the two. 



Iodine appears to act, here, as a powerful diffusible antiseptic 

 in checking the development, in the blood, of morbid material; 

 and, also, as an eliminative. Its almost specific (if I may use 

 the term) action, in this disease, was first discovered by Dick. 

 Bicarbonate of soda and linseed act as sedatives. Hyposulphite 



