492 THE HORSE. 
skin of the parts uncovered does not become warm, and show evidences 
of sweating coming on, another rug must be dipped in the same way, and 
substituted quickly for the first. Usually, however, the desired effect is 
produced within twenty minutes, and then great care and some little tact 
are required to manage the operation. If the sweating is allowed to gu 
on beyond a certain point exhaustion is produced, attended by almost as 
much danger as inflammation ; while on the other hand, in attempting to 
moderate the action of the skin, risk is incurred of a chill, and thus 
upsetting all the benefit which might otherwise have been derived. But 
by throwing open the doors to the external air, which may freely be 
admitted as soon as the skin acts, and by reducing the number of 
additional rugs, the amount of sweat given off may be kept within due 
bounds, and in the course of two or three hours the previously wetted 
rug or blanket may be removed, and a dry, warm one substituted for it, 
but the assistants must be quick and handy in effecting the change. 
Many a case of inflammation of the lungs, kidneys, or bowels might be 
stopped in diamine by the adoption of this plan; but the misfortune is 
that it requires all the skill and tact of the veterinary surgeon, first of all 
to diagnose the case, and afterwards to manage its treatment. Still, if a 
master will undertake the superintendence of the operation himself, and 
is accustomed to disease, there is little risk of failure. 
THE SYMPTOMS OF ACUTE PNEUMONIA are a quick and distressed respira- 
tion, averaging about sixty inspirations in the minute. Pulse quick (from 
seventy to eighty-five ; hard, often small, but always compressible. Nostrils 
distended, and the lining membrane red (except in the last stage, when 
suffocation is imminent). Cough short, and evidently giving pain, which 
occasions it to be checked as much as possible. Legs and ears generally 
cold, often icy. Feet wide apart ; evidently with an instinctive desire to 
dilate the chest as much as possible. On putting the ear to the chest, if 
the attack is very recent, there will be merely a greatly increased respira- 
tory murmur ; but when fully developed there may be heard a crepitant 
rattling, which is compared to the crackling of a dried bladder; but I 
confess that I could never make out the similarity between the two 
sounds. In the later stages, this is succeeded by an absence of all sound. 
owing to the consolidation of the lungs, or by mucous rattles depending 
upon the secretion of mucus. On tapping the exterior of the chest with 
the ends of the fingers (percussion), the sound given out is dull in pro- 
portion to the extent of mischief, the effect of pneumonia being to convert 
the spongy texture of the lungs into a solid substance like liver. The 
treatment will greatly depend upon the stage of the disease, the age and 
constitution of the horse, and the nature of the prevailing epidemic, if 
there is one. In modern days bleeding is very badly borne, either by 
man or horse, nevertheless few cases of genuine pneumonia will be saved 
without it. Sufficient blood must be taken to make a decided impression 
on the circulation, without which the inflammation will not be mastered. 
The quantity necessary for this cannot be fixed, because the effect will 
vary so materially, that the abstraction of three or four quarts of blood 
in one case will do more than double or treble that quantity in another. 
A large orifice must be made in the vein, and it must not be closed until 
the lining membrane of the nose or the white of the eye is seen to have 
become considerably paler. It may possibly even then be necessary to - 
repeat the operation six hours afterwards, or next day, according to the 
symptoms. The rule should be followed of taking enough but not a drop 
too much, for blood removed from the circulation takes a long time to 
