DIABETES MELLITUS 91 



skinned"; wherever the harness rubs, abrasions occur. 

 The points of the hips and the sides of the elbow, the 

 sides of the carpus, hock and head are bruised from the 

 slightest contact with parts of the stall in lying down 

 and rising. 



At this stage of the disease a very common manifesta- 

 tion is a suppurative coronitis, frequently affecting aU 

 four feet. We have not noticed in our patients the de- 

 velopment of ocular lesions described by some authors. 

 During the entire course of this disease there is polyuria. 

 The degree of polyuria is not always equal ; at times the 

 urinary output only slightly exceeds the normal, while 

 at other times great amounts of urine are passed every 

 hour or two. The urine is clear in color and has usually 

 a sweet-sour odor. If voided on wooden floors it leaves 

 the soiled area covered with a whitewash-like film after 

 evaporation. Most cases of diabetes mellitus do not come 

 to an end in death as a result of the disease itself. In 

 most cases the horse dies from complications which do 

 not show a very clear connection with it. Cases that 

 run to fatal termination as a result of the progress 

 of the disease terminate in marasmus, decubitus and 

 death. 



Diagnosis is made positive by urinalysis, demonstrat- 

 ing abnormal presence of grape sugar. 



Treatment. Up to the present time the results from 

 treatments generally resorted to have been of no avail. 

 The disease is apparently incurable. In human beings 

 fine results have recently been reported with what is 

 known as the starvation treatment. Having noticed that 

 the sugar content of the urine decreased when abstinence 

 was enforced, Allen began to treat his cases of diabetes 

 in human beings by starving them for variable periods 

 of time. The results were good. A modification of the 

 starvation treatment might be tried in horses. Feed 



