184 The Farmer's Veterinary Adviser. 



pasture, and tlie subject liberally fed on dry fodder thaa 

 that nourislied on succulent green food. Then the deni- 

 zen of the warm latitude and damp miasmatic soil is more 

 liable than others. 



SACCHTLBINE UEINE, DIABETES MELUTUS. 



Very rare in the lower animals but has been seen in 

 carnivora (dogs), omnivora (monkeys), cattle and even in 

 the horse. Temporary sweetness of the urine is not dis- 

 ease, but if permanent it may be referred to excessive 

 production of glycogen in the Hver which is probably 

 always enlarged (Bernard) ; or less frequently to the fail- 

 ure of the liver to transform the sugar of the food into 

 glycogen ; or it may be from disease of the meduUa oblon- 

 gata (apoplexy) or of some part which exerts an irritant 

 reflex action on the base of the brain. It has been pro- 

 duced experimentally by giving alcohol, ether, chloroform, 

 quinia, ammonia, arsenic, phosphoric acid, and tcoorcdi. 



Symptoms. Rapid loss of condition, scurfy, unthrifty 

 skin, costive bowels, indigestion, ardent thirst, and exces- 

 sive secretion of urine of a high specific gravity — horse 

 and ox, 1060; pig, goat and sheep, 1030 and upward. 

 The tests for sugar are : 1. taste ; 2. fermentation when 

 yeast is added and the whole allowed to stand ia a warm 

 temperature ; 3. the addition to a little of the urine in 

 a test-tube of a few drops of solution of blue vitriol, and 

 a considerable excess of potassa, and boiling the liquid for 

 a moment when if sugar* is present there is a deposit of the 

 yellowish-brown suboxide of copper. 



Treatment. Earely successful. The best results are to 

 be expected in cases in which an active cause, such as di8» 

 ease of the liver, lungs or brain, can be recognized and 

 kept in check or cured. Thus with liver disease, laxittives, 

 alkalies, pure air and water, green or otherwise laxative 

 food, and cupping, mild blistering or even leeching over 

 the spare-ribs, may be beneficial. In lung disease the 

 treatment must correspond to its nature, whether iuflam- 



