402 VARIETIES OF GOITRE. 



Thyroiditis or inflammatory goitre, has been observed by Lucet 

 in calves from six to eighteen months old. The symptoms appear 

 rapidly, and include more or less considerable enlargement of one 

 or both glands. Very prominent, and painful to pressure, the glands 

 compress the upper part of the trachea, causing noisy respiration 

 or even roaring. The head is held extended on the neck, swallowing 

 is difficult, appetite and rumination are suspended, and there may 

 be a sudden accession of fever, which, however, soon subsides. 

 Usually these symptoms disappear in a few days, though some- 

 times they persist, and the affection following a septic course may 

 terminate by death. Treatment consists in application of iodine 

 tincture or warm antiseptic compresses, and the administration of 

 potassium iodide. If the gland suppurate it should be punctured 

 without delay. Tracheotomy may have to be performed to relieve 

 the dyspnoea. 



The causes of goitre are just as little known as those of other 

 tumours. French veterinarians have insisted that in regions where 

 goitre frequently occurs in men, it is also common in animals. That 

 locality has some predisposing effect seems undeniable, but complete 

 uncertainty exists as to the immediate cause of the disease. 

 Whether the existence of magnesia or the absence of iodine and 

 bromine in the soil exercises any influence, as has been asserted, 

 is at present undecided. 



In animals, and especially in carnivora, goitre appears most 

 frequently during the earlier years of life. Lydtin related the case 

 of a stallion which transmitted goitre to five of his offspring. 

 Johne saw a case of inherited goitre in the dromedary. According 

 to Haubner, the lambs of one flock were attacked enzootically in 

 certain years. In one season six, and in the following, ten new- 

 born lambs were affected, and the disease, it was believed, was 

 transmitted by the ram. Similar observations have been made 

 by Gurlt in goats. It should, however, be noted that the size of 

 the thyroid varies considerably in certain animals, especially in 

 horses. Not infrequently its lobes, normally the size of a chestnut 

 in the horse and ox, become as large as a duck's egg, whilst the 

 commissure remains little affected. This liability to variation is 

 widely observed in particular families, and appears, to a certain 

 degree, to be inherited. Such conditions cannot consistently be 

 described as goitre, for the gland, although abnormal, does not 

 continue to grow larger. Many references to inheritance and 

 enzootic outbreaks of goitre in animals are clearly to be referred to 

 this condition. 



