66 OBSERVATIONS ON URINE AND URINARY DEPOSITS. 
which is injurious from the system, as well as the restoration of 
deranged function. It would also point out the kind of food 
best calculated to facilitate recovery and the preservation of 
health. In human practice the examination of urine, as a help 
to diagnosis, has long been made a study. Even before it was 
scientifically investigated, the charlatan worked upon the cre¬ 
dulity of the public by pretending to know the nature of their 
maladies simply by looking at a small quantity of their urine. 
Eor many years the study of the urine, both in health and dis¬ 
ease, has been considered of the greatest importance by the 
physician, and, no doubt, many valuable practical results are 
the fruits of such investigation. Now, if uroscopia is important 
in the practice of human medicine, surely it ought to be of 
some value in comparative pathology ; yet how rarely do we 
find that the veterinary surgeon takes any special notice of the 
character of the urine of the horse when treating his diseases. 
Whether the animal urinates or not may be asked, and per¬ 
haps the quantity voided, as also the frequency of the evacua¬ 
tion during the day or night, may be inquired into, but the 
quality of the urine seldom, I am inclined to think, enters 
the mind of the practitioner. Even the groom, coachman, 
or the carter seems to attach more importance to the renal 
secretion than the veterinary surgeon; for whatever is wrong, 
either real or imaginary, with the horse he has the care of, he 
will tell you, “ his water is bad; that his kidneys are wrong, 
&c.; and that he wants something to make him stale well.” 
Of course such a one does not pretend to know the w r hy 
and the wherefore, nevertheless there is often some truth 
in his remarks, although they may seem to be more the 
result of instinct than observation. These people often 
raise an alarm about the horse’s urine when, in reality, no¬ 
thing whatever is the matter, and many a half dozen diuretic 
balls have been supplied at their request to correct the sup¬ 
posed ailment. Nevertheless some heed should be paid to 
their statements, for valuable deductions are often to be 
drawn from remarks made by attendants on sick animals; in 
fact, as our patients cannot speak, we are obliged to depend 
very much on the statements of those under whose care they 
are placed, but then the veterinary surgeon must be on his 
guard against deception. 
Like many others of my professional brethren, I have been 
only a superficial observer of the characters of the urine of 
the horse when labouring under disease; and not having 
studied the chemical character of this secretion under dif¬ 
ferent circumstances, so as to be enabled to turn such know¬ 
ledge to an account in forming either a diagnosis or prognosis. 
