TREATMENT OF FEVERISH HORSES 295 



contact with an affected animal, it is called "in- 

 fectious," as in the case of strangles. The time 

 which elapses between the intake of the organism 

 and the time when the horse begins to show feverish 

 symptoms is called the "period of incubation," which 

 in the case of glanders varies from three to nine 

 days. To diagnose the particular fever, it is 

 sometimes necessary to examine the blood or affected 

 part microscopically in order to identify the specific 

 organism. External symptoms, such as nose dis- 

 charges (catarrh), superficial swellings or abscesses, 

 mode of breathing, condition of pulse-beats, etc., 

 would all be taken into account, and are very 

 characteristic. 



The part affected may help very considerably in 

 diagnosing a fever ; e.g., glanders affects the chest 

 (lungs and air-passages), while farcy chiefly affects the 

 tissues immediately under the skin, more especially 

 the hind leg, where there are generally hard, 

 painful, beaded lymphatic vessels, and unhealthy 

 spreading ulcers. These details are more or less for 

 the expert ; but the farmer can easily ascertain with a 

 clinical thermometer whether his ailing horse is feverish 

 or not, and if so, he should at once adopt the following 

 general treatment: 



(a) Isolate the affected animal into a warm, well- 

 ventilated box. 



() Disinfect any farm buildings in which the horse 

 has been kept. 



(c) Give the horse a laxative diet, and something 

 very easily digested, such as a warm " bran and 

 linseed " mash. (For preparation of mashes, see 

 p. 298.) 



