238 
C. E. HADCOCK. 
should be considered as a part of the natural history of the 
disease which, so far as known, have never yet been so given 
in the books. Besides which, I have certain ideas as to the 
management and medical treatment of the animals, concern¬ 
ing which I should like to have your opinions and criticisms. 
CONDITIONS OF ITS APPEARANCE. 
It is said that azoturia always follows a more or less ex¬ 
tended period of idleness with full grain feed, and in horses 
having a blocky conformation ; but the circumstances under 
which it sometimes undoubtedly occurs in my practice leads 
me to doubt this, as I have witnessed it in horses that have 
been kept on grain allowances of grain feed while standing 
idle. In two positive instances horses (they were both mares) 
that had worked for a long time every day were taken on the 
road, one completely helpless in all four legs, the other in the 
two hind extremities only. * 
There are numerous instances to which horses that have 
been laid off from regular work, for some reason or other, 
have still been exercised for as much as two miles a day, then 
put to work and developed the disease in the usual way. 
Cases of undoubted azoturia have been shown me in 
horses that were absolutely thin in flesh and not of the blocky 
conformation—which we have been told is an absolutely neces¬ 
sary foundation for an attack. And it is not a particularly 
uncommon thing to have horses taken as if with spasmodic 
colic while away from home treated for that, apparently re¬ 
cover, put in their own stall, and two hours afterwards fall 
completely helpless, sometimes in all four extremities. Even 
with a clear case of azoturia I desire to be plainly understood 
to mean, when I say a horse has azoturia, that the diagnosis 
has been confirmed in each instance by examination of the 
urine. 
The symptoms vary, of course, with the severity of the at¬ 
tack, and to some considerable extent with the habit of the 
horse. But I must not detain you with any description of 
them ; you are all familiar with them as shown by the horses 
and as printed in the books. 
