216 PHTHISIS PULMONALIS, OR CONSUMPTION. 



been ovei worked in supplying the quantity of arterial blood expended in th3 vaviciu 

 purposes of life, and particularly that which has Hen required under unusual and 

 violent exertion. Inflammation of the lungs has consequently ensued, and that 

 inflammatory action has acquired an intense charactei, under circumstances by which 

 another horse would be scarcely affected. 



When this disease has been properly treated, and apparently subdued, this horse 

 sannot be quickly and summarily dismissed to his work. He is sadly emaciated 

 tie long continues so his coat stares his skin clings to his ribs his belly is 

 tucked up, notwithstanding that he may have plenty of mashes, and carrots, and 

 green meat, and medicine his former gaiety and spirit do not return, or if he is 

 willing to work he is easily tired, sweating on the least exertion, and the sweat most 

 profuse about the chest and sides his appetite is not restored, or, perhaps, never 

 aas been good, and the slightest exertion puts him completely off his feed. 



We observe him more attentively, and, even as he stands quiet in his stall, the 

 flanks heave a little more laboriously than they should do, and that heaving is pain- 

 fully quickened when sudden exertion is required. He coughs sorely, and discharges 

 p rom the nose a mucus tinged with blood, or a fluid decidedly purulent the breath 

 becomes offensive the pulse is always above 40, and strangely increased by the 

 dig}. test ex3rtion. 



\*S her* many of these symptoms are developed, the animal will exhibit considerable 

 pain on being gently struck on some part of the chest ; the cough then becomes more 

 freqaent and painful; the discharge from the nose more abundant and fetid, and the 

 emaciation and consequent debility more rapid, until death closes the scene. 



The lesions that are presented after death are very uncertain. Generally there are 

 tubercles ; sometimes very minute, at other times large in size. They are in different 

 states of softening, and some of them have burst into the bronchial passages, and 

 exhibit abscesses of enormous bulk. Other portions of the lungs are shrunk, flaccid, 

 indurated or hepatized, and of a pale or red-brown colour; and there are occasional 

 iidhesions between the lungs and the sides of the chest. 



Is this an hereditary disease 1 There is some difficulty in deciding the point. It 

 tas been scarcely mooted among the horsemen. One thing only is known, that the 

 6ide has been flat, and the belly tucked up, and the animal has had much more ardour 

 and willingness than physical strength. These conformations, and this disposition, 

 we know to be hereditary, and thus far phthisis may be said to be so too. Low and 

 damp situations, or a variable and ungenial climate, may render horses peculiarly 

 susceptible of chest affections. All the absurd, or cruel, or accidental causes of 

 pneumonia lay the foundation for phthisis ; and, particularly, those causes which tend 

 to debilitate the frame generally, render the horse more liable to chest affections, and 

 less able to ward off their fatal consequences. The most numerous instances of 

 phthisis occur in those poor persecuted animals that are worn out before their time, 

 and they are frequent enousrh among cavalry horses after the deprivations and fatigues 

 of a long campaign. 



W T hat is the medical treatment of confirmed phthisis 1 The practitioner must be 

 guided by circumstances. If the horse is not very bad, and it is the spring of the 

 year, a run at grass may be tried. It will generally seem to renovate the animal, 

 bat the apparent amelioration is too often treacherous. It should always be tried, 

 for it is the best foundation for other treatment. The summer, however, having set 

 in, the medicinal effect of the grass ceases, and the flies tease and irritate the animal. 



The medical treatment, if any is tried, will depend on two simple and unerring 

 guides, the pulse and the membrane of the nose. If the first is quick and hard, and 

 the second streaked with red, venesection should be resorted to. Small bleedings of 

 one or two quarts, omitted when the pulse is quieted and the nostril is pale, may he 

 effected. Counter-irritants will rarely do harm. They should be applied in the form 

 of blisters, extending over the sides, and thus brought as near as possible to th 

 affected part. Sedative, medicines should be perseveringly administered : and here, as 

 in acute inflammation, the chief dependence will be placed on digitalis. It should 

 be given in small doses until a slightly intermittent pulse is produced, and that state 

 D** the constitution should be maintained by a continued exhibition of the medicine, 

 Nitre may be added as a diuretic, and puJvis antimonialis as a diaphoretic. 



Anv tonics here 1 Yes, the tonic effect of mild and nutritious food green meat of 

 uraosi every k'*nd, carrots particularly, mashes, and now and then a malt maab 



