ELEMENTS OF HIPPOLOGY. 41 



CHAPTER III, 



INFLAMMATION.* 



In all the higher animals the tissues (bones, muscles, cap- 

 sules, ligaments, tendons, glands, etc., — in brief, all parts of 

 the body) are nourished and kept alive by the circulation of the 

 blood. Blood consists of a pale-yellow fluid, carrying in it 

 myriads of white and red semi-solid bodies called corpuscles. 



The red corpuscles, under conditions of health, very largely 

 outnumber the white ones. They are without volition and float 

 along, charged with oxygen to support life in the cells composing 

 the tissues. 



The white corpuscles have a volition of their own; they act 

 as the scavengers of the tissues. They have the power of ab- 

 sorbing and of digesting other micro-organisms, and thus protect 

 the body from disease germs. 



Blood, leaving the heart through the aorta, is carried by 

 the arteries, branching and rebranching, to arterioles, which 

 terminate in capillaries. The arteries and arterioles have im- 

 pervious walls, but the capillaries, subdividing into a veritable 

 lace-work, so as to reach the neighborhood of every element, 

 have cellular walls, which permit the passage through them of 

 the fluid and solid parts of the blood. In the capillaries the flow 

 of blood is uniform, when in a state of health, towards the vein- 



*This subject is introduced at this point because it is an absolute 

 necessity to understand, in a way, what inflammation is, what pro- 

 duces it, and how to reduce it, in order to properly understand what 

 follows. 



This chapter is adapted from the discussions of the subject, pp. 

 487-493, in the chapter on General Diseases in the work of the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry on the " Diseases of the Horse." The cuts are 

 copied from cuts in that work. This is a work that should be in the 

 hands of every horse-owner. 



