HEMOKRHAGE FROM THE NOSE. 69 



to the headj or as the consequence of general plethora of 

 the system. The injected reddened condition of the con- 

 junctiva and Schneiderian membranes will go far to confirm 

 this view of the case; added to which, there may be 

 observable some unusual action of the carotid and temporal 

 arteries ; also, the subjects themselves will be found to be 

 in high condition or loaded with fat, and in insufficient or 

 irregular work. Troop-horses, brewers' horses, and horses 

 kept for pleasure, are most liable to spontaneous hemorrhage. 

 We hardly see it in very young horses, or in such as are 

 poor and hard worked. The other form, traumatic hemor- 

 rhage, that which arises from injury, wound or lesion, 

 occurs, perhaps, the oftenest. A blow upon the nasal bones, 

 from a stick or the but-end of a whip, from any contusion, 

 iu fact, will be very likely to excite hemorrhage, and should 

 a vessel of any magnitude become ruptured or wounded, the 

 flux may be such as to endanger life; though I never myself 

 saw a case of the kind. D'Arboval says, it may be occasioned 

 by the pressure of the collar in laborious draught. We have 

 often seen bleedings from the nostrils in the latter stages of 

 glanders, but never to an extent to occasion alarm. 



Does epistaxis ever prove fatal } — I never witnessed, 

 nor do I know of any report of, such a case myself: 

 D'Arboval, however, informs us that, should the animal die, 

 on exploring the chambers of the nose we shall find more 

 or less blood collected, and some of the clots so changed in 

 appearance as to resemble pus. 



Diagnosis. — When we see hemorrhage from the nose, 

 our first inquiry should be into its source: whether it come 

 from the nose simply, or from those important organs, the 

 lungs. In hsemoptysis, the blood commonly ' issues from 

 both nostrils, and comes away frothy, and in some cases 

 mingled with mucus. Again, bleeding from the lungs is 

 apt to create a great deal more irritation: the horse will be 

 uneasy, breathe hard, and quick perhaps, and sometimes 

 cough violently; and when he coughs, will throw blood up 

 into his mouth: the more the head is depended, the readier 

 the blood flowing out. 



