63 



in wet seasons and heating in tlie rick or stack is especially injurious. 

 Hence this malady, like coma somnoleyitum (sleepy staggers), is wide- 

 spread in wet seasons, and especially in rainy districts. 



Symptoms. — The horse drinks deep at every opportunity and passes 

 urine on every occasion when stopped, the discharge beiug pale, watery, 

 of a low density, and inodorous ; in short, it contains a great excess of 

 water and a deficiency of the solid excretions. So great is the quantity 

 passed, however, that the small amount of solids in any given specimen 

 amounts in twenty-four hours to far more than the normal, a fact in 

 keeping with the rapid wasting of the tissues and extreme emaciation. 

 The flanks become tucked up, the fat disappears, the bones and muscles 

 stand out prominently, the skin becomes tense and hidebound, and the 

 hair erect, scurfy, and deficient in luster. The eye becomes dull and 

 sunken, the spirits are depressed, the animal is weak and sluggish, 

 sweats on the slightest exertion, and can endure little. The subject 

 may survive for months, or he may die early of exhaustion. In the 

 slighter cases, or when the cause ceases to operate, he may make a 

 somewhat tardy recovery. 



Treatment.— Hhi^ consists in stopping the ingestion of the faulty 

 drugs, poisons or food, and supplying sound hay and grain free Irom all 

 taint of heating or mustiness. A liberal supply of boiled flaxseed 

 in the drinking water at once serves to eliminate the poison and to sheath 

 and protect the irritated kidneys. Tonics like sulphate or phosphate 

 of iron (2 drams morning and evening) and powdered gentian or 

 Peruvian bark (4 drams) help greatly by bracing the system and hasten- 

 ing repair. To these may be added agents calculated to destroy the fun- 

 gus and eliminate its poisonous products. In that form which depends 

 on musty food nothing acts better than large doses of iodide of potas- 

 sium (2 drams), while in other cases creosote, carbolic acid (1 dram), 

 or oil of turpeutiue (4 drams) properly diluted, may be resorted to. 



SACCHARINE DIABETES — DIABETES MELLITUS — GLYCOSUKIA— INOSU- 



RIA. 



This is primarily a disease of the nervous system or liver rather than 

 of the kidneys, yet, as the most prominent symptom is the sweet urine, 

 it may be treated here. Its causes are varied, but resolve themselves 

 largely into disorder of the liver or disorder of the brain. One of the 

 most prominent functions of the liver is the formation of glycogeu, a 

 principle allied to grape-sugar, and passing into it by further oxidation 

 in the blood. This is a constant function of the liver, but in health the 

 resulting sugar is burned up in the circulation and does not appear in 

 the urine. On the contrary, when the supply of oxygen is defective, as 

 in certain diseases of the lungs, the whole of the sugar does not undergo 

 combustion and the excess is excreted by the kidneys. Also in certain 

 forms of enlarged liver the amount of sugar produced is more than can 

 be disposed of in the natural way, and it appears in the urine. A tern- 



