PREVENTIVE MEDICINE 329 



of red corpuscles occurs almost immediately, with the result that the 

 haemoglobin cannot be got rid of quickly enough in the usual way 

 and the excretion therefore falls upon the kidneys. The lesions 

 in the muscles result from embolism of certain vessels produced 

 by the liberated haemoglobin. The course of the disease is variable. 

 M'Fadyean estimates the mortality at about 50 per cent. It appears 

 to be more common in winter, but M'Fadyean states that this is 

 probably solely because horses are given short rests more frequently 

 in the winter than in the summer. Cases are said to be more 

 often observed in the heavier types of horses. 



The disease can certainly be prevented by avoiding the circum- 

 stances in which horses are attacked. Work should, if possible, 

 be regular. If idleness is enforced a certain amount of exercise 

 should be given, and the diet should be restricted to maintenance 

 requirements. If there is need to increase or improve the condition 

 of a horse that is resting the addition to the maintenance diet should 

 be in the form of carbohydrates and not of proteins. A sufficiency 

 of protein for the repair of wasted muscles, which repair it is desir- 

 able to effect during the resting period, may be brought about with- 

 out fear of overloading the comparatively resting muscles on a ration 

 having a nitrogenous ratio not narrower than 1 to 8. 



Whether the non-protein nitrogenous substances have the same 

 pathological effect when given in abundance, as is the case with 

 true proteins, is, we believe, not yet known. 



LYMPHANGITIS. 



The so-called " lymphangitis " of plethora, as distinguished 

 from the specific lymphangitis due to cryptococci, &c., is a disease 

 commonly met with in heavy cart horses of a dull phlegmatic 

 temperament. The onset of the disease usually occurs after a 

 few days' rest in the stable and, it is alleged, is then due to excessive 

 feeding during this idle period, and especially upon foods containing 

 a high proportion of protein. Few will deny that lymphangitis 

 does usually occur after a rest following on a period of bodily 

 exertion but that the disease is always associated with heavy feeding 

 the author, for one, does not agree, having seen it occur repeatedly 

 among city dray horses which were light in weight for their size 

 and were not fed on an excessive diet with a narrow nitrogenous 

 ratio. Even when one took into consideration the intermittent 

 character of the work the food given was not excessive, neither was 

 it unbalanced. Too much food, and especially food of a nitro- 

 genous character, during a period of rest when the horse should 



