8 4 



HORSE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



Pulse quick (from seventy to eighty-five), 

 hard, often small, but always compressi- 

 ble. Nostrils distended, and the lining 

 membrane red (except in the last stage, 

 when suffocation is imminent). Cough 

 short, and evidently giving pain, which 

 occasions it to be checked as much as 

 possible. Legs and ears generally cold, 

 often icy. Feet wide apart, evidently 

 with an instinctive desire to dilate the 

 chest as much as possible. On putting 

 the ear to the chest, if the attack is very 

 recent, there will be merely a greatly in- 

 creased respiratory murmur; but when 

 fully developed there may be heard a 

 crepitant rattling, which is compared to 

 the crackling of a dried bladder; but we 

 confess that we could never make out the 

 similarity between the two sounds. In 

 the latter stages, this is succeeded by an 

 absence of all sound, owing to the con- 

 solidation of the lungs, or by mucous rat- 

 tles depending upon the secretion of mu- 

 cus. On tapping the exterior of the 

 chest with the ends of the fingers (percus- 

 sion), the sound given out is dull in propor- 

 tion to the extent of mischief, the effect of 

 pneumonia being to convert the spongy 

 texture of the lungs into a solid substance 

 like liver. The treatment will greatly de- 

 pend upon the stage of the disease, the 

 age and constitution of the horse, and the 

 nature of the prevailing epidemic, if there 

 is one. In modern days bleeding is very 

 badly borne, either by man or horse, nev- 

 ertheless, few cases of genuine pneumo- 

 nia will be saved without it. Sufficient 

 blood must be taken to make a decided 

 impression on the circulation, without 

 which the inflammation will not be mas- 

 tered. The quantity necessary for this 

 cannot be fixed, because the effect will 

 vary so materially that the abstraction of 

 three or four quarts of blood in one case 

 will do no more than double or treble 

 that quantity in another. A large orifice 

 must be made in the vein, and it must not 

 be closed until the lining membrane of 

 the nose or the white of the eye is seen 

 to have become considerably paler. It 

 may [possibly even then be necessary to 

 repeat the operation six hours afterwards, 

 or next day, according to the symptoms. 

 The rule should be followed of taking 

 enough, but not a drop too much, for 

 blood removed from the circulation takes 

 a long time to replace. With regard to 



medicine, tartar emetic is the only drug 

 which seems to have much influence over 

 pneumonia, and it must be given every 

 six hours in drachm doses, with from half 

 a drachm to a drachm of powdered digi- 

 italis, or white hellebore, to keep down 

 the pulse, and two or three drachms of 

 nitre, to increase the action of the kid- 

 neys. Unless the bowels are confined no 

 aperient should be given, and if necessa- 

 ry only the mildest dose should be used. 

 The diet should consist of bran mashes,, 

 gruel, and a little hay, or green food if 

 the season of the year allows. A cool, 

 airy stable and warm clothing are indis- 

 pensable in this disease. When the first 

 violence of the attack has subsided, a 

 large blister on the side of the chest will! 

 afford great relief, and when it ceases to 

 act, if the disease is not entirely cured, a 

 second may be put on the other side. 



Sub-acute pneumonia differs in no res- 

 pect from the acute form, excepting in 

 degree, and the symptoms and treatment 

 will vary only in proportion. 



The terminations of pneumonia may 

 be death, or resolution (by which is to be 

 understood a disappearance of the symp- 

 toms without leaving any mischief be- 

 hind), or hepatization, or abscess. The 

 last named sequel may be very serious in 

 extent, but if an opening is made by nature 

 for the discharge of its contents into the 

 bronchial tubes the horse may recover, and 

 his wind may be sufficiently good for any 

 purposes but the race course or the hunt- 

 ing field. Hepatization is always attend- 

 ed with thick wind, but in other respects; 

 the health may be good, and the horse 

 may be suited to ordinary work. In pro- 

 cess of time some of the lymph is ab- 

 sorbed, and a considerable improvement 

 takes place, but it never entirely disap- 

 pears, and a horse which has once suf- 

 fered from pneumonia, attended; by hepa- 

 tization, remains permanently unsound., 



HORSE, Pleurisy in. — This disease is. 

 characterized by a very peculiar respira- 

 tion, the expirations being much longer 

 than the inspirations, owing to the paini 

 which is given by the action of the mus- 

 cles necessary for the latter, while the for- 

 mer, if the chest is allowed quietly to fall,, 

 is almost painless. Nevertheless, the 

 breathing is quicker on the whole than 

 natural, being from forty to fifty per min- 

 ute. The pulse is quick, small and. in- 



