STRANGLES. 153 



Peculiarities of Strangles. — The disease is said to 

 resemble measles, being an eruptive fever, and one that 

 occurs but once in the lifetime. But there is another 

 question for consideration. Does strangles, in any form, 

 occur in all horses ? I should answer. No ! Many escape. 



Contagiousness. — Were it not that I feel desirous to 

 express my disbelief in the contagiousness of strangles, I would 

 omit this paragraph. My experience has confirmed me in 

 this opinion. The notion of contagion seems to" have taken 

 its rise in the epidemic or the epizootic character, which 

 form strangles certainly does now and then assume ; every 

 practitioner has known the disorder to be very preva- 

 lent at one particular place or season, and where located it 

 commonly appears in more than ordinarily violence. 



man's stud with strangles, and there was scarcely a case that had not some 

 anomaly about it ; such as secondary abscesses forming about the throat and 

 parotid glands, in the flank, upon the shoulder, &c. Shortly after this, the 

 groom of Sir W. W. Wynne (who keeps his yoimg stock in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of the gentleman alluded to) told me that he had got the strangles 

 showing itself amongst his young horses and colts. I remarked that he was 

 likely to have a troublesome job of it, for I had attended several cases in his 

 neighbourhood, and every one had been of an irregular kind : and pretty well has 

 my prediction been verified ; for out of at least twenty cases that have occurred 

 in this stud, not more than four or five have run their course in the regular way. 

 In several, after the tumour between the jaws had suppurated, and the disease 

 was apparently going off, sudden enlargements took place in the parotid glands, 

 and about the throat ; in some cases rapidly suppurating, while others, being of 

 an indolent character, required repeated applications of liquid blister and linseed 

 poultices to bring the abscesses to maturity. We also had cases in which ab- 

 scesses formed in the flank and upon different parts of the body; and although 

 these circumstances created a great deal of trouble, yet we only lost two; the 

 one a pony previously broken winded, in which the secondary disorder attacked 

 the chest : the other a case perhaps worth detailing." A curious case of ab- 

 scesses in the mesentery, which (being too long for insertion here) I must refer 

 to 'The Veterinarian,' vol. vi, pp. 598-600. "In another case, after the usual 

 symptoms and course of strangles were apparently got through, the colt sud- 

 denly began to reel and stagger in its gait, and shortly lost all control over the 

 muscles of voluntary motion, and could not stand. It ate a moderate allowance 

 of food, and did not appear to be suffering much pain. After continuing in this 

 state for a few days, the colt died, and an abscess ivas found in the centre of the 

 cerebrum, containing a considerable quantity of pus." These are curious facts ; 

 and, I consider Mr. Hales entitled to our best thanks for his communication. 



