178 
W. L. WILLIAMS. 
I 
development of the disease, some turn to the kidneys, others 
to the liver and others again to the spinal cord, but the his¬ 
tory, symptoms and morbid anatomy of azoturia do not cor¬ 
respond with the phenomena we would expect to find in dis¬ 
eases of any of these organs, and so we must continue our 
study of the changes in the blood. 
Parallel and in inverse ratio to the variation of albuminoids 
in the blood, we find changes in its water, so that after a com¬ 
paratively brief rest, under the same conditions producing 
hyperalbuminosis, we find a well marked diminution of the 
amount of water in the blood ; while on the other hand, poor 
feeding with prolonged labor, or a period of rest extending 
beyond the attainment of the maximum amount of the albu¬ 
minoids in the blood, the water again increases, so that up to 
the moment of an attack of azoturia we find that the animal 
has been subjected to such conditions as to produce the maxi¬ 
mum amount of albuminoids and the minimum of water in 
the blood and tissues, compatible with health, and that any 
augmentation of either of these strained physiological states 
produces at once a pathological condition. 
We must next inquire what changes are brought about in 
the blood by the final chapter in the production of azoturia— 
the sudden and more or less severe muscular exertion—and we 
find according to experiments that the most notable change 
for a brief time, is a well marked further diminution in the 
water and increase in the solid constituents—owing mainly 
to the sudden accumulation of large quantities of tissue waste, 
the result of muscular exertion—before additional water can 
be drawn from other organs to restore the normal humidity, 
leaving the blood too concentrated to properly perform its 
functions, the red globules in part even perishing. 
Thus a study of the histor} 7 of azoturia suggests as to its 
etiology three essential factors. 
ist. An increase of the solid constituents of the blood, 
principally albumen, to the maximum physiological limit. 
2d. A corresponding decrease in the water of the blood 
and other tissues to the minimum amount compatible with 
health—a real quantitative and qualitative plethora. 
