DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 51 T 



plicated cases. The pulse undergoes but little quickening. The 

 temperature rises rapidly to 102.2°, 104°, and in some cases even to 

 107.5° F. The latter temperature usuall}^, but not alwaj^s, indicates 

 complication by pleurisy. In ordinary cases the temperature drops 

 in two or three daj's after the appearance of the cough. The skin is 

 dry and rough, with the hairs on end, but the horse appears as an ani- 

 mal out of condition rather than as a sick one. Emaciation may be 

 rapid. The mucous membranes are moderatel}' reddened. The appe- 

 tite is diminished, but the animal chews constantly. Deglutition, 

 either of food or water, is frequently the cause of spasms of coughing, 

 and these in turn seem to warn the animal against attempts at swal- 

 lowing. On percussion no alteration of resonance is to be detected. 

 On auscultation of the lungs mucous rales are heard, with at times 

 tubular breathing; the latter, however, we will study under the com- 

 plications, as also the friction warning of pleurisy. Throughout the 

 course of the disease we have still one constant and characteristic 

 83-mptom — nervous irritability. With temperature of 101° to 107° F., 

 the horse still flinches to the touch on the loins; it stands frequently 

 with the head up, and is on the alert for the entrance of any one to 

 the stall. The previously good-tempered and quiet horse will turn 

 and bite, will strike with the hind legs, or at the first touch to the 

 side, head, or throat will half rear and back into the corner of the box, 

 or, breaking the halter, turn backward out of the stall.* 



The course of the disease is from five to eight days, but the cough 

 may continue for two or three weeks with variable elevation of tem- 

 perature. As a stable plague the course is from two to three months, 

 as the contagion is much more uncertain than in strangles or influenza. 

 The termination is hy resolution and recovery or hj complications. 

 In resolution the temperature drops, the cough becomes less frequent 

 and less spasmodic in character, the appetite returns, and no sign is 

 left of the disease except the fever mark on the hoof. 



Complications. — The complications are excessive spasms and pleurisy. 

 In the former the cough may be so violent as to convulse the whole 

 animal, the legs are spread and fixed, with the hind ones drawn slightly 

 under the body. The head and neck are extended, with the muscles 

 tense. The cough comes out b}^ rapidly succeeding efforts, or with the 

 first sound the larjmx seems to close for a moment before the rest can 

 follow. In two cases of my own the spasm has been so great that the 

 animal has fallen to the ground. During these accesses the respira- 

 tion becomes accelerated, and on auscultation of the trachea and lungs 

 the tubular murmur of an apparent pneumonia can be heard. This 

 false murmur, however, disappears at the end of the attack. In the 

 case which fell to the ground the horse would lie for a moment or two 

 absolutely motionless. (In the first I believed that he had broken his 

 neck.) The rapid respiration was then followed by a long inspiration, 



