DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 



417 



By pleurisy we understand an inflammation of the serous lining 

 of the chest walls and of the serous lining of the lungs 

 themselves. This lining membrane is termed the pleura. 

 Pleurisy seldom occurs alone in the ox, for it is nearly 

 always accompanied by inflammation of the lungs in greater or 

 less degree. 



Inflammation of the lining of the chest is in most cases due 

 to cold and damp, but it may result from injury, and not 



Fig. 50. — Acute Pleurisy. 

 This picture represents an ox sufiFering from acute pleurisy. 



uncommonly it, with pulmonary collapse, is a complication of 

 cases of acute rheumatism, as may also be the case in man. 

 (See remarks on Felon.) 



The disease sets in with the manifestation of febrile symptoms, 

 the pulse is felt to be small in calibre but firm in character, 

 and in number it reaches sixty to seventy per minute. The 

 breathing in animals suffering from pleurisy is characteristic. 

 The chest walls move but little, the inspirations are shallow 

 and short, while the expirations are accomplished with greater 

 ease, and are more prolonged. 



The whole chest is kept, as it were, fixed, and the walls of the 

 belly are observed to move more in breathing ; in this way the 

 animal compensates for the shallow motions of the chest walls. 

 The sides of the chest are very tender to the touch, and the 

 animal manifests great pain, if he be pressed upon between the 

 ribs. If the ear be applied to the affected side, or sides, for 



