BIG-HEAD. 169 



West. What I shall be able to present with regard to it or 

 the result of my own observation and experience on the disease 

 since in the West, and what I have gathered from my inter- 

 views with a veterinary surgeon of skill, who has practiced 

 many years in the West, and the light thrown on the subject 

 by Mason, in his small work. 



SipniJtoms. — The first symptoms that will be observed are 

 debility, loss of appetite, and indisposition to move about. In 

 this stage of the case, the true character of the disease may 

 not be suspected. A slight weeping, either of one or both eyes, 

 according as the disease is going to manifest itself on one or 

 both sides of the face, will be observed early in the attack. 

 Pretty soon a swelling, small at first, but gradually increasing 

 in size, and quite hard, will be observed on the face, on a line 

 from the eye to the nostril, and about half way between them. 

 If this tumor be pressed hard, it causes the horse to wince, 

 showing that it is tender and painful, but if rubbed gently with 

 the hand it appears to give ease. The lower jaw-bone will next 

 be observed to be becoming enlarged, or apparently thickened 

 near the union of the two sides, that is, under the chin. The 

 appetite continues poor, a great degree of stiffness is present, 

 and the horse loses flesh quite rapidly. If the disease continues, 

 the head becomes enormously swollen; the joints swell, or be- 

 come putfed, as if blown with wind, but, in a short time, this 

 pufiiness is replaced by matter, or pus, which breaks through 

 the skin, and discharges as it gathers. The horse becomes 

 unable to stand, and falls, to rise no more without help. There 

 is but little or no fever, at least of an active character, during 

 the progress of the disease. 



Causes. — As to this, nothing is really known. It is supposed 

 to be infectious, in the last stage of the disease, after abscesses 

 about the joints have formed and broken. It is the bone of 

 the nose which first becomes afibcted, or, at least, its perios- 

 teum. 



