VALERIANIC ACID IN PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 617 
the tushes, and alongside the molar teeth, and also on the 
inner and superior part of the upper lip, and inner and in¬ 
ferior, part of the lower lip, and likewise under the tongue. 
The last-named seemed to produce the greatest amount of 
irritation. So firmly fixed were these pieces in the mem¬ 
brane, that bleeding in many cases followed their withdrawal, 
and in every case they had caused a considerable amount of 
inflammation. 
Upon examining them with a pocket lens, I ascertained 
that they were the awns of the Hordeum pi'atense (meadow- 
barley), which grass I found existed in great abundance in 
a load of hay that had been received on the premises a few 
days before. These awns are thickly set with a double row 
of minute spines, which upon the slightest friction propel 
them rapidly along. 
(To be continued .) 
ON THE USE OF VALERIANIC ACID IN PLEURO¬ 
PNEUMONIA. 
By P. Smale, V.S., Leamington. 
From analysis of the urine of several cases I have had 
lately of cows affected with pleuro-pneumonia, I found a total 
absence of hippuric acid, and instead thereof a large quantity 
of glucose and oxalic acid: the one proved by the addition of 
lime to the urine, which caused the formation of the character¬ 
istic crystals, viz; octohedra of oxalate of lime; the other, 
by Trommer’s Cupreo-Potassaic Test, and by crystallization 
after evaporation. 1 therefore thought that the most likely 
means for effecting a cure would be to administer some 
organic acid which would possibly unite with the glucose, and 
form some compound easily eliminated by the kidneys, thereby 
preventing the formation of oxalic acid, and also relieving the 
lungs from the onus of oxidising the glucose. 1 fixed upon 
the valerianic acid, on account of its formula, and also because 
it is formed from leucine, which with tyrocine are the prox¬ 
imate substances resulting from the disintegration of fibrin 
and albumen. I therefore administered it in combination 
with spanoemics daily, and at the expiration of five or six days 
I found the urine restored to its natural character, with the 
usual amount of hippuric acid, and without any of the other 
abnormalities, while the pleuritic symptoms disappeared, 
especially the characteristic grunt when the animals were 
