OF FARRIERY. 



»79 



appear to some to exhibit all the characters 

 ol contagion. 



Many Coreign writers liave not only fallen 

 into the same error with some of our Eno-lish 

 veterinarians, and confounded this disease 

 with others, such as percemonia, and other 

 diseases of the chest. Nor is the mistake to 

 be wondered at in those of moderate experi- 

 ence, from the circumstance of these diseases 

 owning some symptoms in common, and in 

 fact from its frequently terminating in that 

 complaint ; but this I attribute more from un- 

 skilful treatment than from a disposition of the 

 disease to such a termination ; for, in my 

 practice, I never lost a patient, and in refer- 

 ring to my book, I can count in the year 

 ) 835-6, more than three hundred cases, and 

 on the sea-coast too, where they would be 

 more likely to become affected than at any- 

 other place. 



The first indication of the disease is a loss 

 of appetite ; the Horse looks dull and heavy, 

 legs cold, ears cold, the mouth warm and 

 dry ; he frequently attempts to blow his nose, 

 from which is a purulent discharge, breathing 

 rather hard. His parotid glands under his 

 ear, and extending to the angle of the jaw, are 

 much swollen. Sometimes the submaxillary 

 gland, between the jaws, becomes swollen, 

 but not frequently. His ears are cold, and he 

 coughs dreadfully ; the violence would almost 

 lead you to believe some important organ 

 would be ruptured. This continues some- 

 times for three or four minutes, and with 

 equally distressing violence to the Horse, as 

 well as to the observer. Sore throat is always 

 an attendant on inflammation of the tonsils ; 

 the Horse cannot swallow his water but with 

 difficulty, more like sucking than swallowing; 

 if he be inclined to eat, the hay is quidded, 



and then put out again, not being able to pass 

 it over the glottis. Sometimes the inflamma- 

 tion will proceed down the windpipe, and 

 then the cough is extreme ; it is also sore to 

 the touch outside the throat, that in some 

 cases the Horse evinces great restiveness on 

 laying your hand on his throat, or on the 

 enlarged glands, or the windpipe. The Horse 

 being in such pain, he will stamp and appear 

 in the greatest irritation. In some cases the 

 discharge from the nostrils becomes of a 

 mucous character, and this bear in mind is a 

 favourable omen. Having enlarged on the 

 symptoms, I shall now endeavour to speak of 

 the causes. 



The causes, as I have before described, are 

 principally dependent on a variable atmos- 

 phere, acting upon a peculiar liabilility of 

 aptitude in the constitution to become afl'ected. 

 In some years, this liability is more general 

 than in others ; and if to these be added, an 

 unusually variable temperature, with atmos- 

 pheric moisture, the disease assumes a more 

 epidemic type. 



For the treatment of distemper, or as it is 

 sometimes called epidemic fever, you have one 

 thing in particular to pay great attention to, 

 and that is never to bleed ; for if you bleed, 

 you will assuredly lose your patient. For I 

 would ask what is this distemper ? nothing 

 more than sore throat, which may extend as 

 before described ; but then bleeding is bad, 

 because no vital organ is affected. Remove 

 the pain and soreness from the throat, and the 

 animal gets well. The very fact of the Horse 

 having a difficulty of swallowing, proves it 

 extends little or no farther than the rima 

 and epiglolis, whose membranes are of that 

 delicate nature, that certain atmospherical 

 changes will affect these delicate organs; also 



