90 The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



or undiscovered cause ? Is it idiosyncrasy or some 

 peculiar element in the system of the patient ? Is it 

 cachexia or a bad habit of the body ? and when ru- 

 minating upon this subject, I have frequently had 

 brought to my recollection the remark of Professor 

 Spooner upon this form of disease, which was to the 

 effect that laminitis to all intents and purposes 

 belongs to the rheumatic class ; and more lately, on 

 perusing a paper by Mr. Greaves, I find two right words 

 used in the right place in reference to the active causes 

 of this disease, viz., igneous element. I feel quite 

 satisfied that the words " igneous element " are the 

 very essence of this lamentable disease of the horse, 

 lurking as it does in the system, waiting only for some 

 exciting circumstances to bring it into activity. Nor 

 is it possible for the man attending upon the animals 

 to prevent this complaint, any more than he can 

 prevent himself from an attack of rheumatic fever — a 

 case in the human subject analogous to laminitis in 

 the horse. Here we have the symptoms somewhat 

 similar to those we see in the laminitic acute pain — 

 extreme tenderness attended with great constitutional 

 disturbance, extreme restlessness, intense thirst, and 

 loss of appetite, the pulse often up to 120, and full, 

 hard, and jerking; the bowels obstinately costive, the 

 urine scanty and high coloured, with a strong acid 

 reaction ; the skin is often bathed in a profuse sweat, 

 which, however, affords no relief, and it is an established 

 fact with the medical profession that rheumatism is 

 essentially a blood disease, and that the poison which 

 is accumulated in it appears to be lactic acid. It also 



