INFLAMMATIONS.] MODERN VETERINAHT PRACTICE. [inflammations. 



the pnu'titioner from mislakiiij^ tlii'in for those 

 of i-al.-inh, or of the imu'oua iiuMnbraiu's in 

 coiitimiitv, with which thi-y may be coii- 

 fouinii'd ; tliough tho experieiiciHl votcrinarian 

 will readily distinguish between the two. In 

 the catarrlial epidemic, the extremities do not 

 continue invariably cold, but are sometimes 

 cold and sometimes warm. The distress of 

 countenance is uot so great ; sore throat is 

 commoidy present; breathing is less laborious, 

 and the [)uLse seldom oppressed. 



The cough in catarrh is generally deep, 

 and very painful ; a weakness, not correspond- 

 ing with the violence of the symptoms, is very 

 early seen in the complaint; and, though the 

 lining of the nostrils may be inflamed in catarrh, 

 it is seldom so much so, '\'( pneumonia be coming 

 on, as to present a purple hue. The principal 

 necessity which exists for making a careful dis- 

 tinction between the two diseases, arises from 

 its not being found prudent, in the catarrhal 

 affection, to push the bleeding, and other parts 

 of the depleting system, so far as in the pneu- 

 monic ; and also from the greater necessity of 

 placing the horse in a cool temperature in the 

 latter, to what exists in the former. Inflam- 

 mation of the lungs has, also, by the inex- 

 perienced, been occasionally mistaken for colic; 

 because the animal sometimes exhibits consi- 

 derable uneasiness, and often looks round to 

 his sides; in which mistaken cases, the treat- 

 ment generally pursued has been such as to 

 increase the disease. But, in colic, acute pain 

 is shown to be felt. By turns the horse lies 

 down and rolls, and then suddenly rises, 

 stamping with his fore feet, or kicking at his 

 belly with his hind legs ; while, in peripneumonia 

 he never lies down, but stands stupidly quiet, 

 exce[)t now and then, when he may look at his 

 flanks, but without any of the indications of 

 pain to which he is forced by colic. It may be 

 added, also, that the nasal membrane, in colic, 

 remains unaltered in colour, unless inflam- 

 mation of ihe lungs be at hand. 



CAUSES. 



The alternation of heat, with cold, is pro- 



bably the most usual cause of this complaint. 



It was formerly considered that it could only 



be produced by removal from a warm to a 



flammation of tho lunga, it is necessary to guard the Budden access of a warmer medium pro- 

 duces it also, though certaiidy not to an eipial 

 extent. Exposure to Kimple cold has been 

 said never to produce this disease; and, though 

 turning horses to grass without preparation 

 may emaciate them, it never produces peri- 

 pneumony: but this appears not to be; borne out 

 by experience, and has occasioned ill conse- 

 quences. Human subjects, horses, cows, sheep, 

 and dogs, are all more liable to coughs, cold^, 

 and pneumonic affections, in cold than in warm 

 climates. The persons wlio slaughter horses in 

 London, are accustomed to expect a great 

 number in the winter, especially if it is severe 

 and frosty, from the fatal effects of inflamed 

 lungs. Hunting on a cold scent, with frequent 

 checks, or travelling with a cold wind blowing 

 against the chest ; washing the legs and body 

 with cold water while the animal is hot; a 

 sudden removal from a warm stable to a cold 

 one — any of these may cause inflammation of 

 the lungs, if great care is not taken ; and, as 

 has been remarked, the removal from a cold 

 stable to a warmer one, or from grass to a warm 

 housing, without preparation, may also produce 

 it. In i'act, so liable are horses to afiections ot 

 the chest from a change of temperature — whe- 

 ther it be from a warmer to a colder medium ; 

 or otherwise, from a colder to a warmer — that 

 it is very seldom a horse is brought from a 

 dealer's stable, that does not, in a day or two, 

 exhibit some cough. When he is removed 

 from a cold temperature into a hot one, it is 

 evident that the hot medium immediately at- 

 tacks the seat of inflammation ; and as hot air 

 must tend to accelerate the circulation, it is 

 not difficult to give a reason why it produces the 

 disease, and this more certainly if the heated 

 air is less pure than that which the animal was 

 removed from. "When, on the contrary, the 

 removal takes place from a warm to a colder 

 situation, perhaps a similar eftect also takes 

 place. The cold air immediately aflects the 

 lungs, which may, by its sedative properties, 

 particularly if the change is very great, be sud- 

 denly weakened. But it is not only by appli- 

 cation to the immediate cellular substance of 

 the lungs, through the medium of respira- 

 tion, that cold acts injuriously on them. It 

 oftener exerts its baneful influence through the 

 medium of the skin, with which these organs 



colder temperature; but it is now known that | are connected by a sympathetic and peculiar 



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