186 NON-INFLAMMATORY DISEASES OF BONES. 



nation, tenderness would be evinced, with inordinate heat, and 

 in a few days visible enlargement would be observed to exist. 

 In the course of a week, or thereabouts, another of the limbs 

 would become affected in the same way, when the acute symp- 

 toms of the first attacked would perhaps have partially passed 

 off. In this way all the four extremities, one after the other, 

 eventually became diseased. The appetite was generally good, 

 and for a time the animals did not lose flesh very fast ; but after 

 a while, from the great constitutional disturbance set up, they 

 fell off in their appetites, and began to waste very rapidly. The 

 pulse seldom rose much above the natural standard, and the 

 excretions appeared to be natural." 



It appears that these horses had been, all but one, bred on the 

 same farm, and were the offspring of different mares and different 

 sires. The facts gained by Professor Varnell are very interest- 

 ing, and may be briefly stated as follows : — 



They had been fed on the same food as other horses on the 

 farm which had never shown any symptoms of the disease. 

 The owner had been in the habit of feeding his horses in the 

 same way for years without any previous ill effects. Bran or 

 pollard, along with the ordinary produce of the farm, formed 

 the greater part of their diet. They all drank the same kind 

 of water as the other stock. Professor Varnell examined the 

 food they were getting, and pronounced it good. It appears 

 that male animals only were attacked ; none of the fillies had 

 ever been affected with the disease. Another fact that Professor 

 Varnell mentions is most interesting, namely, that the gentleman 

 had another farm a short distance only from when the disease 

 existed. On that farm not a single instance occurred, although 

 the horses were bred from the same parents, and partook of the 

 same kind of food. I will detail the symptoms in the two 

 animals that were suffering at the time of his visit in Professor 

 Varnell's own words. He says : — " I was first shown a brown 

 cart-horse, five years old. He was standing in the cart-horse 

 stable with other horses ; was in very fair condition, and at first 

 sight appeared as if nothing were the matter with him ; the 

 pulse was only a little above the ordinary standard, and the 

 excretions, as far as I could see or learn, were natural. I 

 ordered him to be led out of the stable, when I observed that 

 Jie stepped short, flexed his limbs with difficulty, and apparently 



