DISEASES OP THE URINARY ORGANS. 



133 



water containing free or uncombined carbon dioxid.biit is precipitated 

 whenever the latter is withdrawn. It is only necessary, therefore, 

 to have in the urine sufficient lime or other available base to unite 

 with all the free carbon dioxid in order to bring about the precipi- 

 tation of the dissolved carbonate of lime in the solid, crystallized 

 form'; hence it is that, of all sediments in the urine of herbivora, 

 this is the most frequent and usually the most abundant. 



A less common constituent of urinary calculi is the insoluble oxalate 

 of lime. In this case the lime is derived as before from the feed or 

 water, or both, while the oxalic acid is a product of the oxidation of 

 organic acids of the feed, less oxygen having been used than in the 

 formation of carbon dioxid. The final product of the complete 

 oxidation of these acids is carbon dioxid, but when less oxygen is 

 furnished, owing to some disease of the lungs or a disease of the nerve 

 centers, which lessens the activity of the breathing, then oxalic acid 

 may be produced. If this oxalic acid comes into contact with lime, 

 it is instantly precipitated as crystals of oxalate of lime. 



Another inorganic substance at times found in urinary calculi is 

 silica (SiO,). This contributes largely to giving stiffness to the 

 stems of growing plants, and in most of our cereals and grasses makes 

 up a large proportion of the ashes of the burned plant. It is found in 

 the soluble form in combination as silicate of potash, but at times is 

 displaced by oxalic or other acid and then appears as gritty, sandy 

 particles in the stem. This gritty, insoluble silica is especially notice- 

 able among the horsetails {E quisetcecmi) , bamboos, and sedges. The 

 l^er cent of silica in the ash of several common fodder plants is given 

 below : 



iSilica in ash of various fodder plants. 



Ash of— 



Wheat straw. . 

 Oats and husk 



Oat straw 



Barley straw. . 

 Rye straw 



Silica. 



Per cent. 

 67.6 

 38.6 

 35.4 

 73.1 

 64.4 



Rye-grass hay 

 Wheat cha3.. 



Oat chaff 



Barley a^^^l. . . 



SiUca. 



Per cent. 

 64,57 

 81.2 

 59.9 

 70.7 



It is only soluble silica that is taken up into the system, and it 

 is in this form (usually as silicate of potash or soda) that it enters 

 the urine, but all that is wanted to precipitate it in crystalline form 

 as a gritty sand is the presence of oxalic or other acid having a 

 stronger affinity for its base (potash or soda). 



Other conditions, however, enter largely into the causation of 

 stone, or gravel. A high density of urine resulting from a highly 

 saturated condition is often present for a length of time without 



