48 The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



surrounded and pressed upon by an atmosphere which 

 is in this peculiar state, the rapidity and intensity of 

 the attack will depend upon the state of the skin and 

 coat of such animal. As to its acting as a good conduc- 

 tor or non-conductor if the animal has a thick coat or is 

 clothed too much, inducing a damp state of the coat, and 

 whilst in this state permitted to stand in a cold stable, or 

 outside in the open air, that is the precise time the 

 mischief is done. 



There is no process of incubation in this affection. 

 If all the conditions are favourable to radiation, the 

 system can contract the infection suddenly, and be- 

 come affected to a degree entitling it to the term of 

 influenza in five minutes ; but if the conditions are 

 not so favourable, it will require twenty or thirty 

 minutes' exposure to the same trying circumstances to 

 produce the same effect, and in some less susceptible 

 animals they may tolerate the same influence for 

 several days before becoming affected. I am decidedly 

 of opinion that some horses are not susceptible to its 

 influence, and even those that are, after they have 

 passed through it, with very rare exceptions, enjoy an 

 immunity from it. It would appear that the con- 

 stitution had become inured or accommodated to it, 

 for they enjoy perfect health after, and this, too, in the 

 same atmosphere. Horses occupying the most healthy 

 and best ventilated stables are equally liable to contract 

 the complaint, but there is this difference, it is less 

 malignant and less fatal. It is a fact that at other times 

 the animals may experience a chill, and have a check 

 of perspiration, and the result will be an ordinary 



