PECULIAE TO H0ESE3. 65 



when the horse becomes the subject of a paniful disease in the hind 

 foot, he neither advances nor rotates the limb any more than he can 

 possibly help — but holds the foot up. On examination, the atrophy 

 or wasting is confined to the muscles which perform these two ac- 

 tions ; and in case of lameness or pain in ono of the fore-feet, the 

 same faulty action is observable, and the same class of muscles 

 (whose action is almost identical with that of the hind parts) are the 

 ones atfected. 



I deem it of great importance that husbandmen should fully un- 

 derstand this subject, for it will enable them to perceive that — while 

 inflating horses' shoulders with a quill, or practicing any other ab- 

 surd treatment in the vicinity of the wasted or sweenied shoulder — 

 they are overlooking the real malady (in the foot), and at best are 

 only treating symptoms. On careful examination, however, should 

 it appear that the patient is free from any disorder of the foot or 

 feet, and on the other hand it is clearly evident that myositis, or 

 myalgia, of the muscles exist, then the treatment must be directed 

 to the affected parts — the facta in either case can only be determined 

 by a competent practitioner. 



In view of sustaining the proposition that Sweeney is a syinptoonatic 

 affection, I might introduce a great number of cases that have come 

 under ray own observation ; but I do not wish to bore the reader, 

 nor inflict a long article on him; therefore I submit the preceding 

 cases as a sample of all the rest which I might offer. The malady 

 may be of a different grade or character, but the primary disease, of 

 which Sweeney is the result, originates often in foot lameness. 



I now propose to show that sweeney is not always a symptomatic 

 affection. 



I have often noticed that when horses have been over-driven, or 

 over-worked, they become stiff and lame in those parts of the body 

 most susceptible to the ordinary influences; for example, one horse 

 may perform a long journey with a weighty man on his back, and the 

 next day the animal shows symptoms of lameness in the lumbar 

 region; his back is arched; the limbs are brought under the centre 

 of the body, and every movement indicates that the animal suffers 

 tormenting pains which are located in the muscles of the back ; this 

 is myositis, or inflammation of muscular fibre; sometimes, however, 

 the malady constitutes myalgia — muscular pain and spasm unaccom- 

 panied by inflammatory action. 



Another horse may be put to a similar kind of work, and in a few 

 hours afterwards he is found very stiff and lame; but the symptoms 

 are not the same as those just recorded ; the pathology is probably 

 identical; it is the same disease, only it has a different locality — it is 

 myositis of the pectoral muscles, involving also the muscles of the 

 shoulder blades. And the intelligent owner of the afilicted animal 

 will notice that his fore extremities are unnaturally advanced ; the 

 foreparts of the body are unnaturally hot and tender; the fore-feet 

 are feverish, and the hoofs are hotter than xasual; the advanced posi- 

 tion of the fore extremities and shoulders, gives a very marked hol- 

 lowness to the forepart of the chest, and many men, on seeing such 

 a case, would declare that the animal was chest foundered, this being 

 the name which is sometimes given to such a condition; but really it 

 is owing to myalgia — muscular pain and stiffness. 

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