ia and other irritants must also be
named. In elimination of bacteria through the kidney, the latter is
liable to infection with consequent inflammation. The advance of
bacteria upward from the bladder to the kidneys is another cause. The
consumption in hay or other fodder of acrid or irritant plants,
including fungi, the absorption of cantharidine from a surface blistered
by Spanish flies, the reckless administration of diuretics, the presence
of stones in the kidney, exposure of the surface to cold and wet, and
the infliction of blows or sprains on the loins, may contribute to its
production. Liver disorders which throw on the kidneys the work of
excreting irritant products, diseases of the lungs and heart from which
clots are carried, to be arrested in the small blood vessels of the
kidney, and injuries and paralysis of the spinal cord, are additional
causes.

_Symptoms._--The symptoms are more or less fever, manifest stiffness of
the back and straddling gait with the hind limbs, difficulty in lying
down and rising, or in walking in a circle, the animal sometimes
groaning under the effort, arching of the loins and tucking up of the
flank, looking back at the abdomen as if from colicky pain, and
tenderness of the loins to pinching, especially just beneath the bony
processes 6 inches to one side of the median line. Urine is passed
frequently, a small quantity at a time, of a high color, and sometimes
mixed with blood or even pus. Under the microscope it shows the
microscopic casts referred to under general symptoms. If treated by
acetic acid, boiling and subsequent addition of strong nitric acid, the
resulting and persistent precipitate indicates the amount of albumen.
The legs tend to swell from the foot up, also the dependent parts
beneath the belly and chest, and effusions of liquid may occur within
the chest or abdomen. In the male the alternate drawing up and
relaxation of the testicles in the scrotum are suggestive, and in small
horses the oiled hand introduced into the rectum may reach the kidney
and ascertain its sensitiveness.

_Treatment_ demands, first, the removal of any recognized cause. Then,
if the suffering and fever are high, 2 to 4 quarts of blood may be
abstracted from the jugular vein; in weak subjects or unless in high
fever this should be omitted. Next relieve the kidneys so far as
possible by throwing their work on the bowels and skin. A pint of castor
oil is less likely than either aloes or sa