SCROFULOUS ABSCESSES IN TI1E KIDNEYS. 
131 
To my communication Mr. Crowhurst wrote as follows: 
Amersham; February 3rd, 1864. 
My dear Sir,—I am pleased to have the opportunity at last of re¬ 
plying to your request. The delay has been occasioned by the person 
■who attended the cow being away ; but as he was daily expected back, 
I thought it best to wait. Immediately on his return I made every in¬ 
quiry respecting the case, and I am informed that soon after parturition 
they were very anxious respecting the well-doing of the cow, as it was 
noticed that she was unable to pass any water. Shortly after this, a 
quantity of matter, so called, was seen to come away from the vagina, 
when it was found that, although she passed more water, it was only in a 
dribbling way. The same thing occurred two or three times in succes¬ 
sion ; and since then her water has run from her in small" quantities, 
and been rather thicker than natural. I am also informed that she was 
pulled round and round the cow-house in taking the calf away, which 
probably laid the foundation for the disease. The matter said to have 
come away, I should suppose, depended upon the bursting of an.abscess 
in one or other of the kidneys, but I wait your opinion on this point, and 
also on others connected with the nature of the disease. 
I am, dear Sir, 
Yours obediently, 
E. G. Crowhurst. 
To Professor Yarn ell. 
Before making any comments on the nature and probable 
cause of this disease, I will briefly state the appearances which 
the organs presented to the unassisted vision, and then, as 
briefly, allude to the morbid changes that had taken place in 
their structure. I have before stated that both the kidneys 
were of an enormous size. One of them measured as much 
as seventeen inches in length, and about ten in width. The 
other was about fifteen inches long and nine inches wide. 
The lobules of each, as might be supposed, were very large, 
and the sulci between them comparatively shallow. The 
surface of the lobules presented different characters; in some 
it appeared to be smooth, but when examined with a 
common pocket lens only, it was found to be very uneven. 
Other of the lobules were uneven in a marked degree, having 
somewhat the appearance of a very rough-skinned orange. 
At the extremity of each kidney a few of these lobules had lost 
a portion of their cortical and tubular structures, while in 
three or four of them these parts had disappeared altogether, 
leaving simply the outer thin capsule, with the much thick¬ 
ened inner lining membrane. 
A very small portion of the ureter was attached to each 
kidney, the lining membrane of which I first traced into 
the pelvis of each organ and throughout their several calices, 
in all of which I found it to be much thickened. Both 
