380 



DISEASES OF THE URINABY APPARATUS, 



Infectious hemoglobinemia described by a few authors is expressed 

 by symptoms which are similar to those of mycotic enteritis or cer- 

 tain poisonings. It seems to us to be related to these latter affections» 



Hemoglobinemia of the Ox and Other Ruminants. 



HEMATURIA, PASSING OF RED URINE, PASSING OF BLOOD. 



The disease of the ox described under the name of hematuria, 

 red water y red urine, red passage, May disease, pasture disease, red 

 disease, etc., is one of the most obscure of veterinary pathology^ 

 The indications given by authors upon its causes and manifesta- 

 tions differ considerably and are even contradictory. We have 

 done our best to make a clinical and anatomical study of it, and 

 to make it as exact as possible. We must first separate from the 

 collective expression " hematuria/' enzootic g astro-enteritis and its 

 complication, the hemorrhagic nephritis accompanied by hematuria. 

 Of this we have already spoken in the article upon Poisonings. 

 We have decided to use the term hemoglobinemia," after a thor- 

 ough examination of the bibliography of the subject, combined 

 with our personal observations ; we have found positive proof that 

 the passing of blood with urine is not hematuria, but hemoglobin- 

 uria. Hemoglobinuria of the ox must be related to the hemoglo- 

 binemia of the horse ; numerous other facts confirm the similarity 

 existing between them. We consider this morbid state to be 

 complex, and to consist essentially either in a decomposition of the 

 blood 23roduced by toxic and infectious agents (toxic and infectious 

 hemoglobinemia), or in a myogenic (that is to say, rheumatismal) 

 hemoglobinemia. 



Affected animals. Hemoglobinuria is most frequently ob- 

 served in an epizootic found in oxen which live in freedom in pas- 

 tures ; more rarely in a sporadic state in animals which are kept in 

 the stable. The sheep and goat are also affected. This trouble, 

 which was known by the Greeks and Romans, has been found in 

 all the countries in Europe ; but with the progress of agriculture it 

 has become much less frequent, and has a tendency to disappear. 

 Nowadays it is on\y found in the region of the Alps and in other 

 mountainous countries, but also in some of the plains of northern 

 Europe. Like the licking-disease," it exists permanently in some 

 localities ; some red- water farms " are known ; they are generally 

 located in valleys which are surrounded by alder (elecampane) forests. 



