PNEUMONIA — INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 207 



clothing;; a neglect even of some little comforis ; riding far and fast against a cold 

 wind, especially in snowy weather ; loitering about when unusual perspiration has 

 been excited; loitering tediously by the side of a covert on a chilly blowing morning. 



It has not unfrecjuently happened that when horses have been turned out too early 

 to grass, or without gradual preparation, pneumonia has supervened. Few are, under 

 any management, so subject to pneumonia as those who, in poor condition and with- 

 out preparation, are turned into a salt-marsh. 



On the other hand, a sudden and considerable change from cold to heat may be 

 followed by inflammation of the lungs. Many horses perish in the dealers' stables 

 from this cause. The circulation is considerably quickened ; more blood, and that 

 with more than natural rapidity, is driven through the lungs, previously disposed to 

 take on inflammatory action. The sudden removal from a heated stable to the cold 

 air, for the purpose of examination, has also much to do with the production of 

 disease. 



Whether it is the consequence of previous disease of the respiratory passages, or 

 that intlammalion first appears in the cellular texture of the lungs, pneumonia is 

 usually ushered in by a shivering fit. The horse is cold all over ; this, however, 

 soon passes oft', and we have general warmth, or heat of the skin above the usual 

 temperature, but accompanied by coldness of the extremities — intense deathy cold- 

 ness. This is a perfectly diagnostic symptom. It will never deceive. It is an early 

 symptom. It is found when there is little or no constitutional disturbance ; when 

 the pulse is scarcely affected, and the flanks heave not at all, but the horse is merely 

 supposed to be dull and off his feed. It is that by which the progress of the disease 

 may be unhesitatingly marked, when many scarcely suspect its existence. 



The pulse is not always at first much increased in rapidity, and but rarely or never 

 hard ; bat it is obscure, oppressed. The heart is labouring to accomplish its object; 

 the circulation through the lungs is impeded ; the vessels are engorged — they are 

 often ruptured ; blood is extravasated into the air-cells ; it accumulates in the right 

 side of the heart and in the larger vessels ; and in the venous circulation generally 

 there is a mechanical obstruction which the heart has not power to overcome. Hence 

 the obscure, oppressed pulse ; the ineffectual attempt to urge on the blood ; and 

 hence, too, the remarkable result of bleeding in inflammation of the lungs, for the 

 pulse becomes rounder, fuller, quicker. When blood is abstracted, a portion of the 

 opposing force is removed, and the heart being enabled to accomplish its object, the 

 pulse is developed. 



It is only, however, in the early insidious stage that the flanks are occasionally 

 quiet. If the compressibility of the lungs is diminished by the thickening of the 

 membrane, or the engorgement of the vessels, or the filling of the cells, it will be 

 harder work to force the air out ; there must be a stronger effort, and that pressure 

 which cannot be accomplished by one effort is attempted over and over again. The 

 respiration is quickened — laborious ; the inspiration is lengthened ; the expiration is 

 rapid ; and when, after all, the lungs cannot be compressed by the usual means, every 

 muscle that can be brought to bear upon the part is called into action. Hence the 

 horse will not lie down, for he can use the muscles of the spine and the shoulder 

 with most advantage as he stands ; hence, loo, the very peculiar stiffness of position 

 — the disinclination to move. The horse with decided pneumonia can scarcely be 

 induced to move at all ; he cannot spare for a moment the assistance wiiich he derives 

 from certain muscles, and he will continue obstinately to stand until he falls exhausted 

 or dying. How eagerly does the veterinarian ask when he goes into the stable — 

 "Was he down last night]" And he concludes, that much progress has not been 

 made towards amendment in the case when the answer is in the negative. When 

 the patient, wearied out, lies down, it is only for a moment ; for if the inflammation 

 is not subdued, he cannot dispense with the auxiliarj^ muscles. He frecjuently, and 

 with doleful expression, looks at his sides — at one side or at both, accordingly as one 

 or both are involved. There is not, however, the decidedly haggard countenance of 

 bronchitis; and in bronchitis the horse rarely or never gazes at his flanks. His is a 

 dread of suffocation more than a feeling of pain. The head is protruded, and the 

 nostrils distended, and the mouth and the breath intensely hot. The nose is injected 

 from tne earliest period ; and soon afterwards there is not merely injection, but the 

 membrane is uniformly and intensely red. The variation in this intensity is anxiously 



