DISEASES OF THE UEINABY ORGANS. 137 



obtained by the onward passage of the stone a free flow of urine 

 usually follows, in the midst of which may often be found gritty 

 masses. If the outlets from both kidneys are similarly blocked, the 

 animal becomes poisoned by the retention in the blood of the elements 

 of the urine, and by their reabsorption after secretion. 



Treatment of renal and ureteral calculi. — Treatment is not very suc- 

 cessful, as only the smallest calculi can pass through the ureter and 

 enter the bladder, and even if they should do so they are liable to a 

 progressive increase there, so that later they may cause the symptoms 

 of stone in the bladder. Fortunately, ordinary dairy, growing, or 

 fattening cattle rarely show evident symptoms of illness, and though 

 they should do so they can usually be fattened and slaughtered before 

 the health is seriously impaired. In work oxen the case is different, and 

 acute symptoms may develop, but even then the animal may often be 

 fitted for the butcher. When treatment is demanded it is primarily 

 soothing and antispasmodic. Fomentations with warm water over the 

 loins should be persisted in without intermission until relief has been 

 secured. The soothing effect on the kidney will often relieve inflam- 

 mation and irritation, should the stone be in that situation, while if in 

 the ureter the warm fomentations will at once soothe irritation, relax 

 spasm of the muscular coat of the canal, and favor an abundant secre- 

 tion from the kidney, which, pressing on the obstructing stone, may 

 slowly push it on into the bladder. Large doses of laudanum (2 

 ounces) or of solid extract of belladonna (2 drams) will not only soothe 

 the pain but relax the spasm and favor the onward passage of the 

 calculus. The animal should be encouraged to drink large quantities 

 of cool water to favor the free secretion of a very watery urine, which 

 will not only serve to obviate irritation and continued deposit caused 

 by a highly concentrated urine, but will press the stone onward toward 

 the bladder, and even in certain cases will tend to disintegrate it by 

 solution of some of its elements, and thus to favor its crumbling and 

 expulsion. This is a principle which must never be lost sight of in 

 the treatment of calculi. The immersion of the stone in a liquid of a 

 lower specific gravity than that in which it has formed and grown tends 

 to dissolve out the more soluble of its component parts, and thus to 

 destroy its density and cohesion at all points, and thereby to favor its 

 complete disintegration and expulsion. This explains why cattle 

 taken from a herd on our magnesian limestone in spring, after the 

 long dry feeding of winter, Usually furnish renal calculi, while cattle 

 from the same herd in the fall, after a summer's run on a succulent 

 pasture, are almost always free from concretions. The abundance of 

 liquid taken in the green food and expelled through the kidneys and 

 the low density or watery nature of the urine have so opened the 

 texture and destroyed the density of the smaller stones and gravel 

 that they have all been disintegrated and removed. This, too, is the 

 main reason why benefit is derived from a prolonged stay at mineral 



