24 
JOHN R. HART. 
AZOTURIA. 
By John R. Hart, V.M.D., Philadelphia, Pa. 
A SYNOPSIS OF A PAPER READ IN 1 883, WITH SUCH MODIFICA¬ 
TIONS AS CIRCUMSTANCES AND THE LAPSE OF TIME 
WOULD SEEM TO WARRANT. 
That paper contained the expression of an opinion much 
criticised at that time that azoturia was purely a liver and kid¬ 
ney disease, and the careful investigations of the subsequent 
fourteen years but confirmed the opinion that azoturia is prima¬ 
rily due to a diseased liver. 
IvivER. —Pathology teaches us that the function of the liver 
is to secrete and excrete. Any disease that may retard this 
work or any derangement of this organ lessens the secretion of 
bile, and bile is one of the most important factors in the ani¬ 
mal economy. The other functions, notably the one that con¬ 
trols the effect upon the blood during its transit through the he¬ 
patic circulation, admirably fit the blood is for its subsequent 
purposes in the animal economy. From autopsies I have made 
I am led to believe that there is more derangement to the sys¬ 
tem through an inactive liver than we are aware of. Any alter¬ 
ation of this organ has a tendency at all times to cause or bring 
on indigestion through its inaction. As one of the chief func¬ 
tions of the liver is the secretion of bile, which means purification 
of the blood by ultimate excretion of effete matter, as you all 
know that bile is not discharged through an excretory duct or 
from a reservoir in the horse, but passes directly into the intestinal 
canal, where it mingles with the chyme directly after it leaves the 
stomach. This shows the relation it has with the food with 
which it is mixed. We know it is alkaline in its reaction. Any 
alteration from its natural constituents would have a deleterious 
effect upon the general system. 
Pathology teaches us that the liver arrests or transforms 
toxic substances, which originate in the intestinal canai. If 
you have an inactive or diseased liver it will not arrest or trans¬ 
form the toxic substance, which passes into the blood. The 
