2S6 COMBINATION OF CAUSES I [BOOK II. 



kidneys in more or less degree. Those causes all 

 together combine to affect these parts more fre- 

 quently than is generally supposed, the reason for 

 which misconceit is nevertheless most apparent to 

 us: it is owing to the neglect of all the milder 

 symptoms ; some persons imagine that unless bloody 

 urine be produced, the defective staling is caused 

 by something less remote than the kidneys, though 

 in all obstructions of the liver, as we have seen 

 above (page 281), the quantity of blood these send 

 to the kidneys leaves some of its colouring pro- 

 perty to the water. This class of unreflecting 

 people generally fix upon the bladder as the seat 

 of disorders that so affect the quantity of water. 

 They almost invariably give stimulating medicines, 

 that do but increase the disorder, and confirm the 

 ruin it is their duty to prevent. 



Symptoms. — The most evident of these has been 

 just now alluded to, and was formerly treated as a 

 distinct disease, under the coarse title of " Bloody 

 Urine :" it is, however, considered as happening 

 more frequently to horned cattle (as " Red Water") 

 than horses, and to the female rather than the male. 



When this symptom appears, it is accompanied 

 by a corresponding symptom, viz. great tension and 

 soreness of the part ; which may be ascertained by 

 passing your hand along the back, over the kidneys, 

 [at F, 27 — 29, in Plate 1.] whereupon the animal 

 will shrink from the touch. No doubt can then 

 exist that this bloody urine indicates genuine inflam- 

 mation of the kidneys ; and of course that we should 



