236 CHAPTER 24. 



When a case is about to terminate fatally, the pulse will be found to 

 falter and sink, and as a finale cold sweats will break out. Death 

 generally occurs about the 6th day, but the case may be protracted to 

 about the 14th day. 



Throughout the attack it must not be forgotten that the inaction of 

 the bowels is often mainly dependent on want of sufficient nervous tone 

 and energy. There is often no undue hardness of the faeces, but rather 

 the contrary. The proper action of the bowels will best be restored by 

 increasing the vital action by the administration of enemata. 



There is sometimes a strong disposition to gangrene in wounds in 

 horses suffering from influenza of a low type. Ulcerous sores or simple 

 wounds take on an unhealthy action from no apparent cause, and this 

 action extends to neighbouring parts, and gangrenous sloughs may 

 result. Great caution should therefore be used in applying strong 

 blisters or setons in influenza, even if for other reasons they were not 

 objectionable. 



473 a. Pink eye. 



The term " Pink Eye " has of late years been applied to a particular 

 form of Influenza manifested by symptoms of a peculiarly marked nature, 

 notably that of a remarkably clear pink coloured condition of the con- 

 junctival membrane, accompanied by a swollen or oedematous state of 

 the conjunctivse. From the fact of these features being of so striking a 

 character, the disease has frequently been described as a special affec- 

 tion, but it is now generally recognised as being merely a modification 

 of the catarrhal form of Influenza. 



In addition to the conjunctical peculiarities, we find as a rule a con- 

 siderable amount of general oedema present. The limbs will be swollen 

 from effusion into the connective tissue, and this dropsical condition will 

 frequently be found extending along the course of the abdomen. The 

 violence of the febrile symptoms of course depends upon circumstances, 

 but as a rule the fever runs high, the pulse will range from 60 to 100, 

 though generally less feeble and of a better tone than it is in the ordi- 

 nary catarrhal or pneumonic form of the disease. The temperature is 

 generally considerably elevated, often as high as 105 F., and the respira- 

 tions are accelerated. A marked stiffness of gait is generally present 

 together with the ordinary catarrhal symptoms in a greater or lesser 

 degree, such as nasal defluxion, cough, &c., which have already been 

 described. 



It may be remarked that in this particular form of Influenza there is 

 a remarkable tendency towards the formation of fibrinous clots or 

 thrombi in the cavities of the heart and in the larger arteries, especially 

 in the pulmonary system. This peculiarity is probably due to either 

 the excess of fibrinogenous matter in the blood, or to the weak action of 

 the heart, or both combined. From this disposition to the formation of 

 thrombi it is not difficult to account for the occasional sudden termina- 

 tion of the disease by death, which frequently occurs in a marked and 

 unexpected manner. 



