DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 519 



Quinine and salicj^lic acid uiay 1x3 used during the elevation of tem- 

 perature. Professor Dieckerhoff recommends tracheal injections in 

 1-ouncc doses of the following solution: Acetate of aluminum, 1 per 

 cent; alum, one-half of 1 to 1 per cent; bromide of potash, 1 to 2 per 

 cent; water, 100 per cent. 



EDEMATOUS rNEUMOlvIA. 



[Synonyms: Contagious pneumonia; adynamic iineumonia; hospital, or stable, 

 pneumonia; equine pleuropneumonia; influenza; pedoralla cquorum; pleuropneu- 

 monia; contagiosa equorum; hriistsmche, German.] 



Definition. — This disease is the adynamic pneumonia of the older 

 veterinarians who did not recognize any essential difference in its 

 nature from an ordinary inflammation of the lungs, except in the pro- 

 found sedation of the force of the animal affected with it, which is a 

 prominent symptom from the outset of the disease. Again, this same 

 prostration of the vital force of the animal, combined with the stag- 

 gering movement and want of coordination of the muscles of the ani- 

 mal caused it for a long time to be confounded with influenza, with 

 which at certain periods it certainly has a strong analogy of symptoms, 

 but from which, as from sporadic pneumonia, it can b.e separated very 

 readily if the case can be followed throughout its whole course. 



Edematous pneumonia is a specific inflammation of the lungs, accom- 

 panied by interstitial edema and inflammation of the tissues of these 

 organs and a constitutional disturbance and fever. It causes a pro- 

 found sedation of the nervous system, which may be so great as to 

 cause death. It is sometimes attended b}' pleurisy, inflammation of 

 the heart, or septic complications which also prove fatal. 



Etiology. — "While, as an infectious disease, its original cause is due 

 to a specific virus, there are many predisposing causes which act as 

 important factors in aiding in its development. Such causes are any 

 influences that lessen the general vigor. 



Old, cold, damp, foul, unclean, and badlj^ drained and ventilated 

 stables allow rapid dissemination of the disease to other horses in the 

 same stable and act as rich reservoirs for preserving the contagion, 

 which may be retained for over a year. 



The virus is but moderately volatile, and in a stable seems rather to 

 follov»' the lines of the walls and irregular courses than the direct cur- 

 rents of air and the tracts of ventilation. Professor Dieckerhoff found 

 that the contagion of influenza was readily diffusible throughout an 

 entire stable and through any opening to other buildings, but he also 

 found that the contagion of edematous pneumonia is not transmissi- 

 ble at any great distance, nor is it very diffusible in the atmosphere. 

 A brick wall 8 feet in height served, in one instance, to prevent the 

 infection of other animals placed on the opposite side from a horse ill 

 with the disease, while others placed on the same side and separated 



