n grass or hay; new oats
still imperfectly cured; an excess of roots or other very watery feed; a
full allowance of salt to animals that have become inordinately fond of
it; but, above all, feeding on hay, grain, or bran which has not been
properly dried and has become musty and permeated by fungi. Thus hay,
straw, or oats obtained in wet seasons and heating in the rick or stack
is especially injurious. Hence this malady, like coma somnolentum
(sleepy staggers), is widespread in wet seasons, and especially in rainy
districts.

_Symptoms._--The horse drinks deep at every opportunity and passes urine
on every occasion when stopped, the discharge being pale, watery, of a
low density, and inodorous; in short, it contains a great excess of
water and a deficiency of the solid excretions. So great is the quantity
passed, however, that the small amount of solids in any given specimen
amounts in 24 hours to far more than the normal--a fact in keeping with
the rapid wasting of the tissues and extreme emaciation. The flanks
become tucked up, the fat disappears, the bones and muscles stand out
prominently, the skin becomes tense and hidebound, and the hair erect,
scurfy, and deficient in luster. The eye becomes dull and sunken, the
spirits are depressed, the animal is weak and sluggish, sweats on the
slightest exertion, and can endure little. The subject may survive for
months, or may die early of exhaustion. In the slighter cases, or when
the cause ceases to operate, a somewhat tardy recovery may be made.

_Treatment_ consists in stopping the ingestion of the faulty drugs,
poisons, or feed, and supplying sound hay and grain free from all taint
of heating or mustiness. A liberal supply of boiled flaxseed in the
drinking water at once serves to eliminate the poison and to sheathe and
protect the irritated kidneys. Tonics like sulphate or phosphate of iron
(2 drams morning and evening) and powdered gentian or Peruvian bark (4
drams) help greatly by bracing the system and hastening repair. To these
may be added agents calculated to destroy the fungus and eliminate its
poisonous products. In that form which depends on musty food nothing
acts better than large doses of iodid of potassium (2 drams), while in
other cases creosote, carbolic acid (1 dram), or oil of turpentine (4
drams), properly diluted, may be resorted to.

SACCHARINE DIABETES (DIABETES MELLITUS, GLYCOSURIA, OR INOSURIA).

This is primarily a disease of the nervous s