na, may be given
and repeated as it may be necessary, the relief of the pain being a fair
criterion of the abating of the spasm. To the same end use warm
fomentations across the loins, and these should be kept up persistently
until relief is obtained. These act not only by soothing and relieving
the spasm and inflammation, but they also favor the freer secretion of a
more watery urine, and thus tend to carry off the smaller calculi. To
accomplish this object further give cool water freely, and let the feed
be only such as contains a large proportion of liquid, gruels, mashes,
turnips, beets, apples, pumpkins, ensilage, succulent grasses, etc. If
the acute stage has passed and the presence of the calculus is
manifested only by the frequent passage of urine with gritty particles,
by stiffness of the loins and hind limbs, and by tenderness to pressure,
the most promising resort is a long run at pasture where the grasses are
fresh and succulent. The long-continued secretion of a watery urine will
sometimes cause the breaking down of a calculus, as the imbibition of
the less dense fluid by the organic, spongelike framework of the
calculus causes it to swell and thus lessens its cohesion. The same end
is sought by the long-continued use of alkalies (carbonate of
potassium), and of acids (muriatic), each acting in a different way to
alter the density and cohesion of the stone. It is only exceptionally,
however, that any one of these methods is entirely satisfactory. If
inflammation of the kidneys develops, treat as advised under that head.

_Stone in the bladder (vesical calculus, or cystic calculus)._--These
may be of any size up to over a pound in weight. One variety is rough
and crystalline and has a yellowish-white or deep-brown color. These
contain about 87 per cent carbonate of lime, the remainder being
carbonate of magnesia, oxalate of lime, and organic matter. The
phosphatic calculi are smooth, white and formed of thin, concentric
layers of great hardness extending from the nucleus outward. Besides the
phosphate of lime they contain the carbonates of lime and magnesia and
organic matter. In some cases the bladder contains and may be even
distended by a soft, pultaceous mass made up of minute, round granules
of carbonates of lime and magnesia. This, when removed and dried, makes
a firm, white, and stony mass. Sometimes this magma is condensed into a
solid mass in the bladder by reason of the binding action of the mucus