516 BUHEAU OV ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



has constantly been confounded with other diseases, and which has 

 not been separated from them in our English text-books. As this dis- 

 ease has received no proper name in English, I shall use for it the 

 name given bj^ Professor Dieckerhoff, of Berlin, Avho first described it 

 in the Adams Wochenschrift, XXIX, in 1885. 



Etymology. — The term "scalma" is derived from the old German 

 word sccdmo., scelmo, schelm., which indicates roguishness, or knavish- 

 ness, as great nervous irritability, especialh^ of the temper, is one of 

 the characteristic, almost diagnostic, symptoms of this disease. The 

 term '''■HeimtucMsche Krankheit.:'' signifying malicious, treacherous, 

 or mischievous, is also employed in German for the same trouble. 1 

 am not aware of any name in English or French which has been applied 

 to it. 



As I am opposed to employing in veterinary medicine anj^ of the 

 nomenclature of human medicine, except for identical, simple, and 

 inflammatory diseases, or for intercommunicable contagious diseases, 

 I will not offer the term " whooping cough" as a name, but I will sug- 

 gest a certain similarity between the latter disease in man and scalma 

 in the horse. 



Definition. — Scalma is a contagious and infectious febrile disease of 

 the horse, with local lesions of the bronchi, trachea, and larynx, which 

 is evidenced by cough. It is further characterized by great irritability 

 of temper. It occurs as a stable plague; that is, in enzootic form, 

 with, however, great variations in the susceptibility of the animals to 

 contract it. It is rarely fatal except from complications. 



Incubation. — The period of incubation is from six to seven days, but 

 the disease may develop in two days after exposure or it may delay its 

 appearance for ten AajB. It spreads through a stable slowly, develop- 

 ing at times in a horse placed in a stall where the previously sick one 

 had stood, or it ma}^ ])ass next to an animal several stalls away. One 

 attack is usually protective. 



Symjytoins. — The symptoms are ushered in b}" fever, in which the 

 acceleration of the pulse and respiration is in no way in accord with 

 the great elevation of temperature. With the appearance of the fever 

 is developed a diffuse bronchitis, which is, however, subacute both in 

 its character and in its course. At times the trouble of the bronchi 

 may extend to the trachea, larynx, pharynx, or even to the nasal fosste. 



In two or three days a trifling grayish albuminous discharge from 

 the nostrils occurs, which continues, variable in quantity, for eight to 

 fourteen days, or may even last for three weeks. The cough is short, 

 rough, and painful, spasmodic in its occurrence and in character. The 

 slight watery or slimy discharge may become more profuse, purulent, 

 or even "rusty," if the bronchitis has extended to the neighboring 

 structures. Pharyngeal discharge may take place. The respiration is 

 moderate and affected only during an excess of coughing, or in com- 



