710 
FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
and that they all had sold her because “they knew she would 
die suddenly some day or other.” I believe this opinion was 
based on the fact that she very often suffered from acute 
abdominal pain, which doubtless depended on the tumour 
pressing upon the intestines, and causing transient obstruction. 
To me this case is very interesting, not only from the 
existence of the tumour, but from the time it must have 
been forming without causing obstruction of the intes¬ 
tine. I have recorded the case briefly, but I hope sufficiently 
exact, and I send it to your most valuable medium of veteri¬ 
nary science—the Veterinarian —hoping you will give it a place 
in its pages. 
Facts and Observations, 
Mortality among Army Horses in America. —The 
report of Dr. Turner, late chief veterinary surgeon of the 
army, gives some interesting facts in relation to the mortality 
among the horses of the army. In the Eastern department 
alone the mortality is 3000 per month, and an equally large 
number is condemned. The 72,000 horses per year cost the 
Government nine millions of dollars. Add the losses in 
other departments and the number killed in battle, and we 
have some insight into the vast expenditure involved in the 
present struggle. 
Formation of Nitre in the Soil. —According to M. 
Boussingault, nitre is formed by the slow combustion of 
azotized organic matters in the earth, analogous to humus, 
and the oxidation of a small amount of nitrogen from the 
atmosphere, these furnishing the acid; the detritus of crys¬ 
talline rocks yield the alkali. 
Test for Sugar in Urine. —M. Cailliau states that 
when urine containing sugar is violently shaken with half its 
bulk of chloroform, the mixture becomes milky, and separates 
into two layers; the upper one being clear and almost 
colourless, the lower one white, thick, and gelatinous. If the 
upper layer be removed and left to evaporate in a porcelain 
dish, the liquid becomes syrupy as it evaporates, and after 
some days the sides of the dish become covered with masses 
of sugar of the form of warts. 
