DISEASE OF THE URINARY ORGANS OF A COW. 
765 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE CASE BY PROFESSOR VARNELL. 
As will be seen by the communication, some morbid 
parts were sent to me for an opinion. The case, however, 
belongs more especially to Professor Simonds* department; 
and into his hands I should have placed it, had he not been 
so fully engaged in the west of England in investigating 
sheep affected with smallpox. I, therefore, under these 
circumstances, have undertaken to make a few remarks on 
this, to me, unusual case. 
Since receiving the above letter I have seen Mr. Rose, 
who informed me that the disease has awakened much in¬ 
terest in the minds of the medical men of his town, who have 
taken some trouble in investigating the morbid parts, with a 
view of understanding the character of the disease. What 
are the views these gentlemen have taken of the case I have 
not been favoured with, but it must have been gratifying to 
Mr. Rose and his young partner (it certainly is so to me) to 
find the members of the medical profession devoting a part 
of their valuable time in investigating the diseases of the 
lower animals. I have no doubt, however, that the prac¬ 
titioners of human medicine can obtain much valuable in¬ 
formation by studying comparative pathology; and I am also 
confident that we, as comparative pathologists, may also 
receive many valuable hints on this subject from medical 
men. Whatever may be the feelings of my professional 
brethren on this point, I for one am bound to acknowledge 
the assistance I have from time to time received from such 
sources. 
The history received with this case is very brief; never¬ 
theless it forms a basis upon which to form an opinion—at 
any rate, a hypothetical one. 
Examination of the Specimen which accompanied the Letter. 
It consisted of what a casual observer would have taken 
for a urinary bladder, with the urethral canal and about one 
half of one of the ureters. The shortness of the urethra 
would have suggested that it was taken from a female. At 
the anterior fundus of the specimen an irregular opening 
existed, which is stated in the letter to have been made for 
the purpose of obtaining a portion for microscopic examina¬ 
tion. Its external surface throughout was rough, as was also 
the inner; but in this respect they differed materially from 
each other. The appearance of the former was that of a false 
