326 ON FOUL, RED, OR BLACK WATER. 
be almost said to have died bloodless, and the flesh had a blanched 
appearance. 
Case II. — On August the 31st, 1840, I saw a cow that had 
been passing red water four days. The owner had opened her 
bowels with Glauber’s salts, and had likewise dressed her water — 
a practice among many ignorant persons in this part of the 
country, to mix sulphuric acid with the cow’s urine and bury it 
under ground. 
The urine at the time when I saw her was of a muddy ale 
colour — her eyes sinking in their orbits, — continual grating of the 
teeth, and the coat staring. Although she was well clothed, yet 
she frequently shivered violently. The pulse was 110, and there 
was, occasionally, that palpitation of the heart which was men- 
tioned in the last case. The breathing was much accelerated, 
and the appetite gone. The milk that she yielded was almost 
of the colour of her urine, and of a somewhat ropy consistence. 
I commenced by giving her half an ounce each of alum, sul- 
phate of iron, cascarilla and madder powder dissolved in warm 
water, and, in order to keep her bowels in a somewhat relaxed 
state, she had four ounces each of sulphate of magnesia and 
tartarized soda. 
Sept. IsL — She is somewhat better — the pulse is 102 and she 
eats a little. Her urine, however, remains the same. Repeat 
the medicine. 
Sept. 2d . — She is evidently improving. The urine is nearly 
clear. Give of gentian and ginger half an ounce each. 
Sept. 4th . — Discharged convalescent. 
During the last year 11 cases came under treatment for red- 
water. Six of them had been neglected or maltreated, and one 
was very ill, but they all recovered under this management. 
Red or black-water in cattle is not a very fatal disease, or we 
should hear of more deaths from it considering the absurd treat- 
ment which is often adopted. 
You may suppose from what I have written that I never use 
diuretics in red-water. They form a class of medicines little less 
than poisonous in such a case. 
There is one fact connected with this disease, which has not 
been noticed by any writer — the extra-secretion of urine — the 
diuresis. A cow with black or red-water will void three times as 
much urine as she usually does in health, and by means of this 
it is that the vital system is occasionally so frequently and rapidly 
exhausted. 
Many practitioners trace this disease to some affection of the 
liver or kidneys. In my opinion it is caused by the animal 
eating of some herb or herbs that cause derangement of the di- 
