THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 81 



pain when pressure was made on the intercostal spaces. "We 

 had him backed out of the stall, but found he moved with great 

 difficulty, and showed evident signs of pain. He grew rapidly 

 worse, and at the end of four days died. The medical treat- 

 ment was little else than palliative, but it had no sort of effect on 

 him ; effusion had already taken place ; two days before he died, 

 the breath became so offensive that it was impossible to en- 

 dure it. 



We find, on reference to Percivall's Hippopatliology, the fol- 

 lowing passage referring to the forms of pleurisy : " The kinds 

 or forms of pleurisy are two — acute and chronic : one may 

 follow the other ; or the chronic kind, as well as the acute, may 

 exist by itself. Although consisting, as far as we know, both in 

 inflammation, they appear quite opposite diseases ; one is full of 

 activity and expression of pain and irritation ; the other compara- 

 tively painless, tardy in its progress, and apt to continue many 

 weeks before it will come to any issue." 



CONSUMPTION. — {Phthisis.) 



Horses and the human subject are alike liable to this awful 

 malady ; in fact, it may be said to spare neither age, sex, pro- 

 fession, nor species ; yet there are certain periods in the life of both 

 man and animals when the disease is more likely to make its 

 appearance. A colt may be the offspring of a mare classed as 

 one of the consumptive diathesis ; the germs of tubercles may ex- 

 ist in the system of the former at birth, yet may not develop such 

 a disease as phthisis, nor unfit the animal for the ordinary busi- 

 ness of a working horse for many years. Such an animal, if 

 used at work in the country, where he has the advantage of pure 

 air, and simple, yet nutritious diet, and being the property of an 

 individual who practises a judicious system of management, may 

 live to the average age of such description of property. There 

 are locations, however, that may be said to be favorable for the 

 development of consumption, such as low, wet lands, where the 

 humid atmosphere * prevents a full and free evaporation of the 



* " It has been ascertained by experiment, that when a warm atmosphere, 



