RHEUMATIC LAMENESS. 251 



ing, disinclination to move, and pain on manipulation; tlie 

 pulse is hard and quick. The tendency of the disease is to 

 localise itself in the joints, attacking one or more at first, dis- 

 appearing from there, and appearing in others. 



Treatment. — Put the patient in a dry warm place, and ad- 

 minister an aperient. Great relief will be obtained by immer- 

 sion in warm baths ; care being taken to prevent chill afterwards. 

 The affected joints are to be stimulated with soap liniment; 

 alkalies, diuretics, and nourishing but easily digested food, are to 

 be given ; and wheD the more acute symptoms have passed off, 

 citrate of quinine and iron. 



The terms rheumatism and rheumatic lameness are often mis- 

 applied. For example, scrofulous disease of the joints in horned 

 cattle is commonly thought to be rheumatic in its character, and 

 due to external causes, such as cold, damp, &c. ; whereas, in 

 reality, it is an intrinsic disease, and due in the great majority 

 of instances, more especially when it occurs amongst high-bred 

 stock, to a system of in-and-in breeding persisted in for too long 

 a period. Again, a disease — osteo-malacia — often terminating in 

 spontaneous fracture of the bones, which prevails amongst horned 

 cattle pastured on poor land, and occurring mostly during dry 

 summers, is supposed to be of rheumatic origin, whilst in reality 

 the stiffness of the joints and lameness are symptomatic of mal- 

 condition of the body generally, and of the osseous system parti- 

 cularly, due to the want of proper food in sufficient abundance, 

 or to something deleterious in it. In Wales this disease is sup- 

 posed to be caused by the animals eating the purging or mountain 

 llax {Linum Catharticum), which is found growing amongst the 

 pastures in such situations. I cannot endorse the popular idea 

 that this plant is the cause, for cattle refuse to eat, indeed, turn 

 away from it. I look upon it more as an evidence that the land 

 is poor, and the pastures, particularly in very dry seasons, defec- 

 tive in nutritious elements. 



The symptoms are depravity of the appetite, rapid emaciation, 

 venous murmurs ; stiffness of the limbs, swelling of the joints, 

 and difficulty, or even inability, in rising from the recumbent 

 position. 



The post mortem appearances are remarkable. The whole 

 body is wasted, the muscles anaemic and flabby, the blood is thin 

 and watery, and the tissues are oedematous and softened. 



