43« 



On the Horse Sickness. 



Graaff-Reinet, 22d July, 1830. 



In the last article of the Instructions for District Surgeons, 

 it is commanded that the} shall, from time to time, report to 

 Government touching" Epizootic Diseases, and other medical 

 busines- of their District : «nd as a large portion oi the Horses 

 of this District have died this year, of a Disease not generally 

 known, I think it my duty to convey to you, for the informa- 

 tion of His Excellency the Governor, and for the public good, 

 the result of nine years' experience of the disease in question. 



In the year 1819, the Horse Sickness, as it is usually called 

 by way of eminence, on account of its great fatality, raged in 

 this District to such a degree as to occasion much apprehen- 

 sion to those persons who turned their attention to the breed- 

 ing of Horses ; and on my arrival in this District, in the year 

 1821, I was requested by the then Landdrost, Capt. Stocken- 

 strom, to observe the disease whenever it should appear ; but 

 no opportunity occurred till the year 1824, when the disease 

 again appeared, but not to the same extent as on the last 

 occasion. I then took the earliest opportunity of observing 

 the disease while life continued, and of dissecting the body 

 after death. 



The first symptoms of the disease, as it has hitherto appear- 

 ed in this District, are, general torpor in the animal ; he 

 coughs and hangs his head ; shows a great disinclination to 

 motion ; and refuses his food : there is generally some swelling 

 and perspiration about the eyes, and occasionally of the whole 

 head ; the veins of the neck are distended, and the breathing 

 is invariably quick and oppressed. These symptoms continue 

 to increase till death ensues, which is seldom protracted to the 

 fourth day, unless some remedy is used. Motion invariably 

 accelerates the termination of the disease, and persons 

 occasionally ride the animal in its earliest stages, sometimes 

 under the impression that a little exertion will prove useful, 

 but generally from not suspecting that any thing is wrong; 

 for in the beginning of the disease the mildness of the symp- 

 toms does not lead to suspicion, which is to be attributed to 

 the insensible nature of the part affected. 



If the animal is rode during the sickness, or urged by driving 

 or otherwise, to any degree of speed, he falls at once, literally 

 suffocated by the quantity of frothy matter which fills his 

 trachea and issues in abundance from his nostrils ; this was 



