248 OXALATE OF LIME IN THE URINE OF THE IIORSE. 
different languages. The editor of such a journal must of 
necessity, at the close of each successive year, have a most 
accurate and comprehensive knowledge of the progress of 
veterinary science.” 
The comprehensive part of such an editor’s knowledge I 
am willing to concede, but its accuracy must depend upon 
the strict veracity of the authors he reads in the six different 
languages. 
Medical authors are not free from the very common error 
of quoting from the writings of others, without examining for 
themselves whether what they quote is true, and in this way 
innumerable errors are continued. In the present instance 
it is not my intention to assert that any of the gentlemen 
whose names are included in Mr. Gamgee’s paper are in 
error in what they write, but this I do assert, that what one 
of them in particular states as the result of his observation 
is so directly opposed to my own, that it appears to me only 
due to Mr.Garngee’s class, that they should become acquainted 
W'ith this contradiction, as it may induce them to examine 
into facts for themselves, and trust to facts as they are found 
rather than to the opinions of others unsupported by facts. 
My attention to Mr. Gamgee’s paper was particularly 
arrested by the announcement on the wrapper of the journal, 
“Analysis of Urine.” 1 turned to page 662, where I found 
it stated, “ Professor Fraas has made numerous observations 
and experiments on this subject, that have led him to draw 
the follow ing conclusions, &c. : Oxalate of lime is rarely met 
with in fresh urine (horse’s), but frequently when it is old, 
or in a morbid state, or decomposing.’” 
This observation concerning the existence of oxalate of 
lime is exactly that w T ith which I was impressed when quite 
a tyro in the use of the microscope ; for some two years ago 
I failed constantly in finding crystals of this salt. A short 
'time after that, however, I had a severe case of “ oxaluria,” 
when sometimes scarcely a crystal of any kind was visible 
except the oxalate. Since then I have strictly sought for 
this salt, for the sole purpose of deciding in my own mind 
whether or no it is to be considered a normal constituent of 
horse’s urine when the animal is in perfect health, and I am 
satisfied that it is so in India , whatever may be the case else- 
where; for since the 1st of February, 1856, up to the 4th of 
January, 1857, I have a recorded history of the microscopic 
examinations of five hundred and twenty-five specimens of 
healthy urine, in w T hich two hundred and eighty possessed 
the octohedral crystals of the oxalate of lime. 
These examinations have been pursued in the most 
