Bronchitis. 



179 



especiall}^ so in young animals when newly stabled or put in 

 training. 



Ca2cses. These are the same as thos2of catarrh and sore throat. 

 It is but the continuation of the same mucous membrane which 

 is affected in all alike, and the same atmospheric changes, hot 

 stables, noxious inhalations and exposures to cold and wet will in- 

 duce this disease rather than the others when the bronchial mucous 

 membrane is more predisposed. Bronchitis often supervenes 

 upon sore throat, by the extension of the inflammation down- 

 ward into the chest. Chilling of the surface by exposure to cold, 

 drenching rains, is a frequent cause, by reason of the intimate 

 .sympathy existing between the skin and the mucous membrane. 

 For the same reason certain conditions of the skin will predispose, 

 thus a long, thick coat which keeps the animal constantly 

 drenched with sweat and the skin relaxed and sensitive. Will- 

 iams draws attention to the frequency and severity of bronchitis 

 in both horses and cattle conveyed by sea during .stormy weather, 

 and especially when the hatches had to be fastened down. Such 

 an experience combines in one the evils of an overheated stall, a 

 sudden transition often to extreme cold, a lowering of the vitality 

 of the whole system by the circulation of non-aerated blood, a 

 systemic poisoning by the retention of the waste organic pro- 

 ducts that would otherwise have been eliminated, and the special 

 weakening of the lung tissue by congestion of the whole pulmonic 

 circulation. 



But the development of bronchitis and broncho-pneumonia is 

 the least fatal result. The statistics of our European cattle traf- 

 fic are rich in the examples of absolute .suffocation of cargoes in 

 transit to Europe. The following from Report of U. S. Treasury 

 Cattle Commission is illustrative : 



' ' Dr. Thayer reports the case of a steamer from Boston to Liv- 

 erpool, with 400 cattle on board, which encountered a storm and 

 came through it with only one animal surviving. Mr. Toffey, of 

 Jersey City, lost 30 head out of a cargo of 300 by suffocation in 

 1880. This happened, he informs us, on a calm sea on a south- 

 ern route with a temperature about 90° F. , and the wind astern 

 and light so as just to keep pace with the ship. The air on board 

 the ship became perfectly stagnant, and there was no means of es- 

 tablishing an artificial current. A still more disastrous experience 



