AZOTURIA. 
257 
off from the muscular system. And we learn that the waste to 
the muscular system is not thrown off till the muscle is contract¬ 
ed ; and right here is where we find the phenomenon of appro¬ 
priation take place, and combustion is supported, and when the 
muscular system is in a state of quietude the waste products accu¬ 
mulate in the muscular system in an abundance; and also the 
blood becomes overloaded with nutritive material from the food 
which furnishes the life of the animal. Now as we look a little 
further, we see a set of vessels called lymphatic vessels, and they 
originate in the local parts of the body and extremities and ter¬ 
minate in the right and left subclavian vein. Another peculiarity 
of this system is that they pass from without inwards, and. the 
movement of the fluid within this system is carried on partly by 
the endosmosis of the fluid into the interior of the vessels, and 
partly by the contraction of the muscles pressing upon their 
walls. 
Here it is that we learn one of the phenomena : that exercise 
plays an important part in the pathology of this disease. We 
know that when the horse is first attacked with this disease, if 
stopped and the muscular system is brought into a state of quiet¬ 
ude, the symptoms will pass off, and in the course of an hour or 
two the horse can be moved on without any serious results in 
most cases. Now, if it was due to the liver failing to transform 
the albuminoids into urea, we would, upon an analysis of the 
urine, find that the urine contained less urea than in health. 
But on the contrary, we find an excess of urea, and all diseases 
.of the liver manifest themselves by more or less premonitory 
symptoms. In azoturia we have no such premonitory symptoms 
that are visible, and in fact the horse seems, when taken out of 
the stable, in better health than usual; for the first thing we gen¬ 
erally hear, when called to see a case of azoturia, is: “I never 
saw my horse in better spirits than when I first started out with 
him; I could scarcely hold it, for it seemed so spirited.” In 
some cases, before the horse is driven a half mile it is attacked 
with the disease and falls, and seems a total wreck to the driver. 
Then, can it be that the liver will take on such a change in so 
short a period of time, and be so functionless and deranged that 
