BLADDER OF A HORSE CONTAINING CALCAREOUS DEPOSIT. 195 
acid might be resorted to, leaving it for some little time in 
the bladder before withdrawing it. 
te In the horse, from the lengthened and peculiar course of 
the urethral canal, together with its comparatively small dia- 
it would be far more difficult to effect our object than in the 
meter, female; nevertheless it might be tried. 
‘ f On all occasions I think the diluted acid should be given 
by the mouth as well as injected into the bladder; the 
attendant success in the two instances above alluded to cer¬ 
tainly will warrant us in so doing. Moreover, it is fair to 
infer that both the pelvis of the kidneys and the ureters 
would contain some of the same deposit, which would be 
acted upon by the acid when given by the mouth; while, at 
the same time, from its well-known tonic influence, a healthy 
state of the constitution would be induced.” 
[The bladder was filled almost to distension with sabulous 
matter, only a small space near its neck existing for the 
reception of the urinary secretion; consequently, the animal 
must have laboured under incontinence of urine. 
It weighed twenty-five pounds avoirdupois, the contents 
being yet moist, possessing a highly urinous smell, and a 
brown colour. 
Analysis showed the deposit to consist principally of the 
carbonate of lime, as it underwent solution with active 
effervescence in dilute hydrochloric acid, and oxalate of 
ammonia threw down an abundant precipitate from it. 
Traces of magnesia, and of the phosphates, were also met 
with. 
Although carbonate of lime is a normal constituent of the 
urine of the horse, existing in it to the amount of one per 
cent., or more, and oftentimes large quantities of it are 
voided by this animal, giving to the secretion much tur¬ 
bidity, and that without the manifestation of any consti¬ 
tutional disturbance; nevertheless, when met with in such 
an accumulated quantity as this, it must have been the result 
of diseased action in the urinary apparatus. 
Its source is to be traced to an excess of lime salts in the 
blood. The function of the kidneys, it is well known, is to 
separate from this fluid those matters which, if retained in 
it, would prove prejudicial to health; hence we meet with in 
the urine the soluble constituents of the effete constituents of 
the frame. From disease being set up, we find that urea— 
the nitrogenized principle which gives to urine its charac¬ 
teristic properties—becomes decomposed through catalytic 
action induced by the epithelial scales of the mucous mem- 
