GENERAL SYMPTOMS OF DISEASE. 27 



Lloocl, as in bronchitis and pulmonary congestion; a slate-coloured 

 appearance, a condition of tlie blood due to the poison of glanders, 

 or a state of the system predisposing to that disease ; rusty 

 colour, some forms of epizootic diseases ; loinh, or pink-eye, 

 epizootic cellulitis ; pallidity, angemia and general debility, or, if 

 occurring suddenly, hsemorrhage. Mere fulness of the, capil- 

 laries of these membranes, with increased redness, is not always 

 dependent on an increased circulation, for in many diseases, 

 where the powers of the circulatory organs are much diminished, 

 the colour and vascularity may be greatly augmented. In several 

 cases, where death was approaching from a degenerate condition 

 of the structure of the heart, I have noticed that the visible mem- 

 branes became very greatly congested, and their colour increased ; 

 but the shading of the colour has been different to that seen 

 in inflammatory diseases ; the circulation in the vessels has been 

 sluggish; the power of the heart — vis a tergo — has been insufficient 

 to propel the blood through the minute capillaries ; hence the 

 congestion. The purplish line mentioned by some writers as being 

 indicative, when not dependent upon an altered condition of the 

 blood, of debihty, has not been present in these cases; indeed the 

 difference, except in the shading of the colour, from the appear- 

 ance in many inflammatory diseases has been very slight; whilst 

 the state of the heart itself has been recognised by violent pal- 

 pitations, great irregularity of its action, and almost impercepti- 

 bility of the pulse at the jaw and arm. A foul appearance of 

 the mouth and tongue, so valuable an aid to diagnosis in human 

 medical practice, is rarely observable in the horse and ox, but 

 is commonly seen in the dog. However, in some forms of dys- 

 pepsia, a slightly foul and soapy condition of the buccal membrane 

 is seen even in the horse and ox, with an acid condition of the 

 salivary secretions, wliich smell sour and even foetid. Dryness 

 of the mouth is often indicative of inflammatory diseases, more 

 particularly those affecting the organs of digestion. A moist 

 state of the mouth, from excessive secretion of saliva, is symp- 

 tomatic of disease of the teeth, of catarrhal disease, tetanus, or of 

 the presence of a foreign body, such as a pin or thorn, in some 

 of the oral structures. 



