316 EEPORT ON THE DISEASES OF FARM HORSES. 



to be dreaded, as possibly abscesses may form in the chest, 

 abdomen, or in the groin, front of the shoulders, and, in the two 

 former conditions, always productive of death. 



Treatment. — Encourage the maturation of all abscesses, and 

 have them opened as soon as possible, after which protect them 

 from cold by having the patient placed in a cool loose box, 

 which is well ventilated and sheltered from cold winds. Make 

 use of warm clothing, give hay or linseed tea, and offer food of 

 the most nutritious and digestible character, as malt mashes, 

 boiled oats, grass, clover (green), swedes, carrots, or parsnips. 

 Steam the nostrils by means of a nose-bag, with hay chaff or 

 sawdust at the bottom, en which boiling water has been poured. 

 Hasten the abscess by the use of a hood, or apply a square of 

 flannel, three or four thicknesses, to the under side of the jaw, 

 which, promoting warmth, has a beneficial effect. Spongio-piliine, 

 dry, has been used in my practice with great success for this 

 purpose, and has very beneficially superseded blisters, which 

 would irritate far more than do absolute good in weak and 

 exhausted cases. Poultices to the abscesses are useless ; they 

 cannot be closely approximated ; hang from the parts, and allow 

 cold to enter ; besides this, there is a difficulty in maintaining 

 an equal temperature. 



Stimulants will be needed in some debilitated and tardy 

 cases. For this purpose, ale and brandy, nitric ether, and 

 ammonia, with gentian, will be needed. Bleeding, purgatives, 

 sedatives, and irritating applications, are mostly haneful. 



Influenza. — This is a peculiar low typhoid affection of a 

 catarrhal character. It assumes a variety of forms, in propor- 

 tion to the organs which are involved. At times it prevails 

 among horses as an epizootic, attacking animals over a vast 

 tract of country, and from which numbers often die. 



The causes, which are difficult to understand, have been 

 pronounced to be atmospheric ; nevertheless, I have found the 

 disease most prevalent in badly ventilated and crowded stables, 

 and particularly if the animals are exposed to rough weather 

 during the day, and badly fed. 



Symptoms. — Dullness, weakness, hanging of the head, occa- 

 sional shivers come on ; the pulse becomes quick, small, and 

 weak ; the mouth is hot ; membranes injected, but of a dirty pink 

 colour. The animal staggers and reels when made to walk, the 

 respiration becomes quicker, appetite lost, throat is sore, cough 

 is present, and torpidity of the bowels exists, which ultimately 

 gives way to diarrhoea. In some cases effusion of a watery fluid 

 takes place beneath the skin, under the chest and abdomen, 

 and probably in one or more legs, giving them an appearance of 

 being double their usual size. The liver is sometimes the 

 principal organ affected, when, in addition to the usual signs of 



