INFLUENZA IN HOESES. 213 



an entire recovery may follow upon the absorption of all morbid pro- 

 ducts. 



The pericardium or heart-sac is often involved in cases of pleurisy. 

 All this is characterized by extreme tenderness of the chest behind the 

 left elboTv, a friction sound heard at the same point until effusion takes 

 place, after which the heart-sounds appear more distant and indistinct. 

 The action of the heart is often irregular throughout. 



In other cases the lining membrane of the heart and its valves are 

 the seat of disease, though usually as a complication of the rheumatic 

 form of the affection. In this case there is irregularity of the force 

 and intervals of the heart-beats, and the healthy heart-sounds are modi- 

 fied by sighing, hissing, or purring murmurs, coincident with the first or 

 second sound of the heart-beat according to the particular valve dis- 

 eased. There is breathlessness and tendency to dropsical eff'usions, 

 coldness and weakness of the limbs, and a liability to faint on slight ex- 

 ertion. Clots of blood sometimes form on the diseased valves, or even 

 independently of their disease in very impure conditions of the circu- 

 lating fiuid and weakness of the circulation, and give rise to the same 

 class of symptoms or aggravate those already in existence. In all such 

 cases there is great liability to sudden death, and this liability may last 

 indefinitely even after apiiarent recovery. 



With abdominal complications. — There is almost always some implica- 

 tion of the digestive organs, as evinced by the coated appearance of 

 the dung, the yellowness of the mucous membranes, and the danger- 

 ous susceptibility to purgatives. So small a dose as two drachms of 

 Barbados aloes has been known to prove fatal to the horse in influenza. 

 Many cases diuing the recent epizootic merged into a mnco-entej:itis 

 after the nasal catarrh had been already established, and in some visita- 

 tions this implication of the digestive organs has been rather the rule 

 than the exception, and the disease has been accordingly termed bilious 

 fever, typhoid fever, gastric fever, &c. 



In such cases, however, the disease usually' makes its appearance as 

 the simple catarrhal affection, and it is only after the discharge from 

 the nose has been established that the muco-enteritis sets in, and by 

 the violence of its manifestations virtually supersedes the original 

 disease. 



There is great torpor and stupor, and tension of the abdominal walls,, 

 which are generally tender to the touch, but especially at points occu- 

 pied by the organs particularly implicated. Thus with derangement 

 of the liver, and the more purely bilious symptoms, the tenderness is 

 mainly over the short ribs on the right side, while with intestinal dis- 

 ease it is more uniformly distributed over the abdomen. The loins are 

 insensible to pinching ; there are colicky pains, with frequent looking 

 round to the flank, or uneasy movements of the hind limbs, ardent 

 thirst, clammy, slimy mouth, a coated or furred condition of the tongue, 

 and unusual yellowness of the visible mucous membranes and of the 

 urine. The urine is sometimes reddish or bloody, and passed with con- 

 siderable effort. The pulse is small and weak, but with a quick beat 

 and variable in number ; the breathing is often quick and catching, as 

 in pleurisy ; the cough is weak and painful ; the bowels show a tendency 

 to constipation ; the pellets of dung are thickly coated with mucus ; 

 and the membrane of the gut exposed in i^assing it of a dull red color. 

 The anus will sometimes remain constantly open, air being alternately 

 drawn into the gut and expelled. The animal strains frequently, but 

 passes only a few pellets of dung at a time. 



Improvement is often manifested in connection with a fever action of 



