384 



HORSES, CATARRIIAL EPIDEMIC AMONG. 



as high as 108 Fahr., the respiration was more 

 frequent and labored ; the horse drooped, was 

 languid, and his flesh all over the body seemed 

 to be sore ; the discharge from the nostrils 

 increased ; the air-passages became involved, 

 and the animal grew weaker and weaker, with 

 all the symptoms of capillary bronchitis, or as 

 frequently pneumonia, and sometimes both 

 combined. The general prostration became 

 more noticeable, dysentery often followed, and 

 eventually the horse sank. It was peculiarly 

 noticeable that in good horses, which had not 

 been subjected to any violent exercise, and 

 that had been properly cared for, the disease 

 did not prove fatal. The majority of deaths 

 occurred among very old and worn-out horses, 

 which had not been in sound condition for a 

 long time. The post-mortem, examinations re- 

 vealed evidences not unfrequently of bronchitis 

 and pneumonia in the same lung ; the larynx 

 and trachea seemed congested, inflamed, and, 

 together with the bronchial tubes, contained a 

 muco-purnlent discharge ; in fact, the whole mu- 

 cous membrane seemed involved in the various 

 changes. The spleen was in many instances 

 found enlarged. The various reports circu- 

 lated as to the contagious character of the dis- 

 ease, and its appearance in some instances 

 among human beings who had the care of 

 the suifering horses, occasioned some alarm, 

 but on careful investigation they proved not 

 to be well authenticated. In regard to the 

 causes and origin of this epidemic, there was 

 great conflict of opinion. Some eminent vet- 

 erinarians, and among them Dr. McEuchran, 

 of Montreal, regarded it as dependent upon 

 vegetable fungi or spores in the air which were 

 inhaled by the animals and brought on the 

 disease ; but, in reply to this, it was very rea- 

 sonably asked, why horses alone should be 

 affected ; and why the disease should skip over 

 extensive districts, and later return to them. 

 Others regarded it as due to atmospheric in- 

 fluences affecting a wide extent of country, 

 and which, through the terrible heat of the 

 summer, and the electrical disturbances of the 

 autumn, had developed an unusual amount of 

 malarial poison to which it was alleged the 

 horse was unusually sensitive. Other veteri- 

 nary surgeons have entered into very learned 

 disquisitions as to the neoplastic cells, and the 

 possible effect of the excessively electrical con- 

 dition of the air upon them. The presence of 

 some atmospheric influence, acting most readily 

 and fatally on unsound and overworked horses, 

 and those kept in foul and ill-ventilated sta- 

 bles, though occasionally attacking apparently 

 healthy and vigorous animals, seems to have 

 been very generally conceded, and, whatever 

 was their mode of action, the fact was certain 

 that a free use of powerful disinfectants like 

 carbolic acid, bromo-chloralnm, and bichloride 

 of iron, did greatly facilitate the recovery of 

 the animals attacked. Considerable appre- 

 hension was felt at first of its contagious char- 

 acter. Facts did not seem to justify this ap- 



prehension. There was no positive evidence 

 of its contagiousness, but it was wisely directed 

 that the straw on which the horses were bed- 

 ded should be burned, because the secretions 

 of diseased animals are never healthful, and 

 might have .imparted other diseases, though 

 probably not this specific one. 



In the treatment of the disease there was a 

 great diversity of views, and the usual amount 

 of empiricism and quackery. Veterinary 

 medicine is at a very low ebb in this country, 

 and too many practitioners have but their 

 stereotyped formulae for all diseases of animals. 

 The evident analogy of the disease to the in- 

 fluenzas or epidemic catarrhal fevers which 

 have attacked the human subject four or five 

 times during the present century, and the simi- 

 larity of the respiratory organs of the horse to 

 those of man, would naturally have suggested 

 a treatment corresponding to that which was 

 so generally successful in those epidemics. 

 But comparatively few of the practitioners 

 seemed to have any reasonable theory of treat- 

 ment. Fortunately, the disease was not very 

 fatal even without treatment, though its sec- 

 ondary stage was more dangerous than the 

 first, and hence, under all forms of prescrip- 

 tions, or without any, a majority of the horses 

 recovered. The treatment which proved most 

 effectual in restoring the horses to perfect 

 health, though somewhat slower than the 

 more heroic methods, was attended with bet- 

 ter ultimate success. It was as follows: In 

 the first stage (the chill) the horse was cov- 

 ered with two or three blankets, his legs and 

 head swathed or bandaged, and hot washes, 

 infusions of ginger, and capsicum, and linseed 

 decoction, administered, together with a steam- 

 bath if practicable. Absolute rest was insisted 

 upon. When the cough and discharge from 

 the nostrils indicated that the second stage 

 had come on, and, as was almost always the 

 case, the throat was so sore and painful that 

 the horse was reluctant to take his food 

 cause of the pain of deglutition, the whol 

 throat and neck were to be rubbed briskly, 

 several times a day, with a highly-stimulating 

 liniment, such as the ammonia-liniment, wit! 

 the addition of one-third or one-half oil of 

 origanum, or spirits of turpentine, and some 

 advised even the addition of croton-oil and 

 tincture of cantharides; internally the warm 

 bran mash was continued and one or two tea- 

 spoonfuls of chlorate of potash mixed with it. 

 Some gave also from a bottle two ounces^of 

 liquor of acetate of ammonia (spirit of rain- 

 dererus) and half an ounce of spirits of nitrous 

 ether, repeating the dose every two hours, 

 until free perspiration was induced. The ani- 

 mal was allowed to drink frequently, but in 

 small quantities, of cold water. All his food 

 was to be cooked and soft till he recovered. 

 If the weather was fair he was allowed to l:o 

 taken out for moderate exercise with his 

 blankets on, but not to be trotted, or put lo a 

 load, until the cure was complete. The stable 



