DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 487 



INFLAMIVIATION. 



[Synonyms: Inflammatio, Latin, from inflavimare, to flame, to burn; phlegmasia 

 (pXsyuadia, Greek; inflammation, French; inflammazione, Italian; Inflamacion, Span- 

 ish; Eidzilndung, German.] 



Inflammation is a hypernutrition of a tissue. It is described by Dr. 

 Agnew, the surgeon, as "a double-edged sword, cutting either way for 

 good or for evil. " The increased nutrition may be moderate and cause 

 a growth of new tissue, a simple increase of quantity at first; or it may 

 produce a new growth difl:ering in qualit}'; or it may be so great tha.t, 

 like luxuriant, overgrown weeds, the elements die from their very 

 haste of growth, and we have immediate destruction of the part. 

 According to the rapidity and intensity of the process of structural 

 changes which takes place in an inflamed tissue, inflammation is de- 

 scribed as acute or chronic^ with a vast numl^er of intermediate forms. 

 When the phenomena are marked it is termed stltcnic; when less dis- 

 tinct, as the result of a broken-down and feeble constitution in the ani- 

 mal, it is called asthenic. Certain inflammations are specific, as in 

 strangles, the horsepox, glanders, etc., where a characteristic or spe- 

 cific cause or condition is added to the origin, character of phenomena, 

 or alterations which residt from an ordinary inflammation. An inflam- 

 mation may be circumscribed or limited, as in the abscess on the neck 

 caused by the pressure of a collar, in pneumonia, in glanders, in the 

 small tumors of a splint or a jack; or it may be diffuse, as in severe 

 fistulas of the withers, in an extensive lung fever, in the legs in a case 

 of grease, or in the spavins which affect horses with poorly nourished 

 bones. The causes of inflammation are practically the same as those 

 of congestion, which is the initial step of all inflammation. 



The temperament of a horse predisposes the animal to inflammation 

 of certain organs. A full-blooded animal, whose veins show on the 

 surface of the body, and which has a strong, bounding heart pumping 

 large quantities of blood into the vascular organs like the lungs, the 

 intestines, and the lamina3 of the feet, is more apt to have pneumonia, 

 congestive colics, and founder, than lymphatic, cold-blooded animals 

 which have pleurisies, inflammation of the bones, spavins, ringbones, 

 inflammation of the glands of the less vascular skin of the extremities, 

 greasy heels, thrush, etc. 



Young horses have inflammation of the membranes lining the air 

 passages and digestive tract, while older animals are more subject to 

 troubles in the closed serous sacs and in the bones. 



The work to which a horse is put (saddle or harness, spee.d or draft) 

 will influence the predisposition of an animal to inflammatory diseases. 

 As in congestion, the functional activity of a part is an important 

 factor in localizing this form of disease. Given a group of horses 

 exposed to the same draft of cold air or other exciting cause of inflam- 

 mation, the one which has just been eating will be attacked with an 



