374 
ON CALCULI^ AND THE MODE OF 
siderable degree of danger that, from this cause, some of the 
urine, as it escapes after the opening is made, will flow into the 
cellular membrane, and produce a troublesome if not a dangerous 
degree of inflammation and infiltration of the tissue. 
After the bladder has completely emptied itself of urine, the 
parts may be allowed to resume their natural situation. The 
skin having been drawn to one side before the operation was 
performed, will now be drawn over the opening in the urethra, 
and thus the wound in it will be closed. After the bladder has 
been emptied, the urine will not again pass along the canal for 
a short time, and thus the parts will have so far reinstated them¬ 
selves by adhesion, and a deposition of coagulum, that the urine 
will at next evacuation flow along the natural passage, and the 
animal feel but little the effects of the operation. 
I have in my possession several calculi removed from oxen, 
by Mr. Laing, veterinary surgeon at Banchory ; and Mr. Pope 
has also several times performed this operation. 
Where the disease exists in herbivorous animals, the small 
calculi which are found passing along the urethra, indicate a 
tendency in the constitution of the animal to favour their pro¬ 
duction ; and as it happens that where one makes its appearance, 
others generally follow, it is a matter of some importance to 
know how they are to be easiest removed. Now, from the com- 
position of the calculi in these animals, they may be dissolved 
in the bladder, and discharged in a fluid state. 
This may be done by employing muriatic acid, which, hav¬ 
ing a strong affinity for lime, will, by the administration of a 
sufficient proportion of it, dissolve the calculi, and discharge 
them with the fluid. And this would in some cases be the more 
readily effected, as it sometimes happens that the calcular depo- 
site remains in a semi-fluid state for a considerable time in the 
bladder, of which I once met with a remarkable instance. A 
bladder was sent to me for examination from Fife, which, with 
its appendages, contained the enormous weight of about 14 lbs. 
of a mass of nearly the consistence of lime in a state of mortar. 
Wherever, therefore, a case occurs in which circumstances may 
render such an operation as above detailed inexpedient, or where, 
for example, the calculus is situated in the pelvis of the kidneys, 
muriatic acid should at once be employed ; and if the calculi in 
our herbivorous animals are always composed of the same mate¬ 
rials as given in the above analysis, the operation itself may be 
entirely dispensed with. A weak solution of muriatic acid might 
even be injected into the bladder, either in the male or female, 
by which the substances would be dissolved with great rapidity. 
I was recently shewn by Mr. Jerdon junior, of Bonjedward, 
