596 THE DISEASES OF THE HORSE 



catch it up with so violent a jerk as to raise fears lest lie will fall down. 

 There is generally a clearly-defined portion of the limb afTected, above which 

 the patient is not sensitive. It has the appearance of having a cord drawn 

 round, at or near the gaskin, or in a front-leg just below the elbow. Its 

 sudden and acutely i)ain{ul nature serves to distinguish it from farcy or the 

 simple (edematous swelling of dcbilit}-. 



Treatment. — A dose of physic, as juuch as seven or eight drachms to a 

 shire or dray-horse. Frequent fomentations with warm water, to which 

 Goulard's extract and glycerine has been added. As the pain is in the 

 distended skin, relief may be expected from anything that relieves the tension, 

 hence oily applications and ointments made from colt's foot or " grasshoppers " 

 have that efltect, the benefit being derived from the ointment base and not 

 the ingredients. As soon as the physic has excited the absorbents to renewed 

 activity the acute symptoms may be expected to abate, and not until then 

 should exercise be prescribed, as the acute pain caused in moving the limb 

 more than counteracts any possible benefit from it. 



Diuretic medicines, as resin and nitre, are both curative and preventive, 

 and their use can hardly be objected to where horses are habitually fed with 

 too much corn in order to make them round and big. It is the price of 

 plethora. 



In the country this disease is sometimes met with in under-fed and old 

 animals, and bears the relationship of " poor man's gout " to the " pains 

 arthritic that infest the toe of libertine excess." Tonics, as sulphate of iron 

 and copper, nux vomica and gentian, with a more liberal diet, may in such 

 cases prove helpful. 



PURPURA HiEMORRHAGICA 



This is a disease of the blood, wdiich appears to undergo some sort of 

 decomposition, either as the result of bad sanitation or following upon 

 some exhausting disease, as strangles and influenza. It is not considered 

 infectious. 



Symptoms. — Sudden swellings about the head and face, neck, breast, or 

 belly, with more or less fever and great debility, while constipation is gener- 

 ally present. Small purple spots the size of a flea-bite may be seen on the 

 membrane inside the nostrils. The urine is very dark-coloured. The swell- 

 ings may suddenly disappear, and others come up on different parts of the 

 body, and the animal die when to all appearance he is convalescent. 



Treatment. — To arrest the rupture of the red blood corpuscles and assist 

 the emunctories in getting rid of effete matter is our object. Until quite 

 recently the treatment generally recognized as the most successful was fre- 

 quent dosing with perchloride of iron and turpentine, but this has been 

 almost superseded by iodine in some form or other. Injection into the 

 trachea was first recommended, but has given place to the administration of 

 iodide of potassium in solution, in doses of about half-an-ounce every four 

 hours. The bowels should be kept open with clysters, and if the appetite 

 is retained a laxative diet consisting of bran, carrots, linseed, and cut 

 grass. 



