DISEASES OF THE URINARY ORGANS. 137 



pelvis and two or more projections that have been molded into the 

 corresponding branches or channels which lead to corresponding 

 lobes of the kidney. In winter and spring small concretions in the 

 form of plates are often met with in the branches of the pelvis, hav- 

 ing been formed and molded in the confined space between the pro- 

 jecting papilla and the surroimding cuplike branch of the pelvis. 

 Finally, the pulplike deposits in the sheath and elsewhere are made 

 up of globular masses, individually so small as to be often practically 

 microscopic. 



STONE IN THE KIDNEY (RENAL CALCULI). 



[PI. XI, fig. 1.] 



In an animal leading the quiet, uneventful life of the ox, stones of 

 large size may be present in the kidney Avithout producing any dis- 

 order appreciable to the people about him. In cattle fattened on dry 

 feed in winter, on the magnesian limestone of New York, it is excep- 

 tional to find the substance of the kidney free from calculi about the 

 size of a grain of wheat or less, and standing out as white objects in 

 the general red of the cut surface of the organ. Similarly around 

 the papillae in the cuplike arms of the pelvis we find minute, flat- 

 tened or more or less rounded, yellowish-white concretions. Even 

 the large concretions may prove apparently harmless. I have a 

 calculus several ounces in weight which filled the entire pelvis of the 

 kidney, that was found by accident in a fat carcass Avhile being 

 dressed. In work oxen, however, such concretions may give rise to 

 symptoms of kidney disease, such as stiffness of the loins, shown 

 especially in the acts of rising or turning, weakness of the hind parts 

 when set to pull a heavy load, an irritability of the kidneys, shown 

 by the frequent passage of urine in small quantity, tenderness of the 

 loins, shown when they are pinched or lightly struck, and it may be 

 the passage of blood or minute gritty masses with the urine. If the 

 attack is severe, what is called "renal colic" (kidney colic) may be 

 shown by frequent uneasj' shifting of the hind limbs, shaking or 

 twisting of the tail, looking around at the flanks, and lying down and 

 rising again at short intervals without apparent cause. The fre- 

 quent passage of urine, the blood or gritty masses contained in it, 

 and perhaps the hard, stony cylinders around the tufts of hair of the 

 sheath, show that the source of the suffering is the urinary organs. 

 In bad cases active inflammation of the kidneys may set in. (See 

 " Nephritis," p. 121.) 



URETERAL CALCULI. 



These are small stones which have passed from the pelvis of the 

 tidney into the canal (ureter) leading from the kidney to the blad- 

 der, but, being too large to pass on easily, have blocked that canal and 



