INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 325 



ever little the latter may be acquainted with veterinary 

 practice, he will be entirely competent to decide, in a great 

 majority of cases, what organ is the seat of a mortal malady:* 

 and it will be far safer to rely on his general directions, 

 founded on established principles and on a knowledge of the 

 properties of remedial agents, than to make experiments at 

 random, or what is equally dangerous, call in the aid of an 

 ignorant quack. 



PNEUMONIA, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. Pneu- 

 monia, or inflammation of the lungs, is not a common disease 

 in the Northern States, but undoubted cases of it sometimes 

 occur, after sheep have been exposed to sudden cold 

 particularly when recently shorn. The adhesions occasionally 

 witnessed between the lungs and pleura of slaughtered sheep, 

 betray the former existence of this disease though in many 

 instances it was so slight as to be mistaken, in the time of it, for 

 a hard cold. The sheep laboring under pneumonia is dull, 

 ceases to ruminate, neglects its food, drinks frequently and 

 largely, and its breathing is rapid and laborious. The eye is 

 clouded the nose discharges a tenacious, fetid matter the 

 teeth are ground frequently, so that the sound is audible to 

 some distance. The pulse is at first hard and rapid some- 

 times intermittent; but before death it becomes weak. During 

 the height of the fever, the flanks heave violently. There is a 

 hard, painful cough during the first . stages of the disease. 

 This becomes weaker, and seems to be accompanied with 

 more pain as death approaches. 



After death, the lungs are found more or less hepatized, 

 i. e., permanently condensed, and engorged with blood, so 

 that their structure resembles that of the hepar, or liver 

 and they have so far lost their integrity that they are torn 

 asunder by the slightest force. 



It may be well in this place to remark that when sheep 

 die from any cause with their blood in them, the lungs have a 

 dark hepatized appearance. But it can be readily decided 

 whether they are actually hepatized or not, by compressing 



* A healthy situation of the lungs, bronchial tubes, &c., would at once show the 

 absence of pneumonia, consumption, bronchitis, etc. The healthy condition of the 

 liver would show the absence of rot the healthy condition of the intestines, the 

 absence of braxy, etc. Were any of those organs found diseased, it might not be so 

 easy in all instances to decide on the precise character of the malady, but enough at 

 least would be learned to furnish a guide to the general treatment in subsequent cases; 

 and at all events, to avoid exasperating the disease by entirely improper remedies. It 

 is much to be hoped that a professional body of educated and learned veterinarians 

 will soon be spread throughout our country. 



