NEPHRITIS. 205 
ill. It is true that such a dose of a powerful diuretic is four times the 
strength which science would, under any circumstances, approve; but 
certain people in remote parts are happy in the conviction that an ounce 
of “sweet niter” can possibly do no harm. 
The urinary organs of the horse must be little disposed to disease ; 
they must be capable of surmounting a vast quantity of ill treatment. 
Were not ignorance thereby protected from the consequences which it 
provokes, half the horses in England would be disabled; inflammation of 
the kidneys would become the most common of equine disorders. 
The horse has small need of diuretic medicine; it is much exposed in 
that direction. Every purge, should it not act as intended, passes out 
of the body by stimulating the kidneys; the ordinary provender of the 
animal may operate in the same manner. Foxy oats, kiln-dried oats, 
new oats; musty hay, mow-burnt hay, new hay; beans in particular con- 
ditions; grasses, when first in season, and water of any novel kind, will 
all operate energetically upon the renal glands; therefore the horse, in 
its ordinary food, will possibly imbibe more than a sufficiency of a most 
debilitating medicine; and the knowledge of such a liability may induce 
some men to withhold “sweet niter” from the future diet of the creature. 
It may be necessary to inform men and masters that a horse needs rest 
when under the operation of diuretic, quite as much as when subject to 
the action of purgative medicine. It is never safe to take the horse 
from the stable while the animal is passing any unusual amount of water. 
Excess of secretion proves the eliminating organs are excited. Before 
any part can exhibit excitement, an extra quantity of blood must circu- 
late within it, or it must be in a condition bordering upon inflammation. 
The urine is secreted from the blood by the kidneys; therefore before a 
greater bulk of water can be passed, of course more blood must flow 
through the glands. 
The animal in such a state is not fit for work; every step taken brings 
into action muscles which pass directly under the kidneys, and which 
must, therefore, when contracted, compress those organs. During labor, 
in proportion to the force required must be the power of the contraction 
exerted by the organs of motion; in a healthy state, such exertion is not 
always free from danger. Excitement is, however, far from a healthy 
state. Then the glands are gorged with blood; being squeezed for an 
hour or two while thus swollen or plethoric, they are very likely to be 
bruised; inflammation may thereby be engendered, or renal abscess may 
possibly ensue. 
Agriculturists are entreated to pause over the above statement. Such 
persons often possess a well-bred and promising colt. The farmer, how- 
ever, is mostly uneasy until he has, according to his own notions, “tried 
