THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 55 



tain seasons of the year, in stables, at remote points, prevailing 

 more in some than in others. When once it breaks out in a 

 stable, it is sure to effect all the susceptible subjects ; sometimes 

 it creeps from stall to stall in a slow and gradual manner; at 

 others, three or four horses will be attacked all at once, and in 

 the course of a few days all the new comers are on the sick list. 

 Yet if the stable be well ventilated, and the horses properly man- 

 aged, both as regards diet and exercise, the evil day may be put 

 off in some, and others may have so light an attack as not to 

 occasion any alarm. Many thus managed are known to run 

 clear for years, and then, on coming in contact with the infection, 

 become its victims. 



Symptoms. — There is no disease that assumes so great a 

 variety of symptoms at its commencing as this ; still there are 

 some features always present that convince us of the nature of 

 the disease we have to treat. The first symptom the stabler 

 notices is, that the horse is dumpish, as he calls it, which signifies 

 debility. This is a remarkable feature, and one that seldom, if 

 ever, presents itself in any other form of disease so early. To a 

 casual observer the horse looks as if he had been sick for months. 

 If you urge him to move, he does so after the fashion of an over- 

 grown elephant. The eye is indicative also of the disease ; its 

 vessels are turgid, have an arterial red appearance, (this has 

 perhaps led to the term pink eye,) the lids become swollen, and 

 the animal shrinks from the light as if its rays caused pain ; the 

 tears trickle over, and now and then a particle of purulent or 

 lymphy matter can be seen in the angles of the eye. The animal 

 seems unable to support the weight of his head ; it either remains 

 in a drooping position, or he rests it in the crib. First one hind 

 limb and then the other swell, become infiltrated with fluid, which 

 constitutes anasarca; or they may both commence to swell at 

 once ; in fact, other parts of the body become dropsical, so that 

 the patient sometimes more resembles an elephant than a horse. 

 This swelling of the legs, let it be more or less, is considered, in 

 connection with the other features, the diagnostic symptoms. It 

 is very different from that tumefaction which we observe in the 

 limbs of many horses, occasioned by want of exercise, &c. It 

 comes on suddenly, affects the whole limb, groin, and sheath ; 



