DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND LUNGS. 301 



attempt to eat any thing ; nor is it at all desirable, even if it 

 were not useless, to coax him to do so. 



"When the patient is so much better that he can be turned 

 out, give him the run of a good pasture, if possible ; or, if 

 too feeble for this, keep him warm in the stable, until he 

 gains strength. In any case, great care must be taken to 

 prevent a relapse. The condition of the lungs will hardly be 

 that of sound health for a long time afterward, even if the 

 animal can be carried through without becoming broken- 

 winded. l!^ot unfrequently an attack of pneumonia seems to 

 pernaanently enfeeble the constitution and shorten life. After 

 a good interval of rest, (^Idom less than two months, when 

 the attack has been an acute one), the horse may be put to 

 light work, which may be gradually increased in severity, as 

 he is found capable of it. 



CONSUMPTION. 



Consumption in the horse is oftener than otherwise the 

 successor of pneumonia. It is generally but the finishing 

 stroke, the final winding up of the long train of evils follow- 

 ing exposure and neglect. Those were the cause; this is the 

 result. Inflammation in the lungs has produced rupture of 

 the air-cells, and the mucus and blood has mingled together 

 in lumps or knots, and, under the influence of the prevailing 

 local fever, these masses have become coagulated and consti- 

 tute what are called tuhercles. These are of a pale yellow 

 color, varying greatl}' in size, and still more in number, the 

 latter being dependent upon the number of the air-cells de- 

 stroyed by the inflammation. If pneumonia leaves behind 

 it but a few of these tubercles, and not much irritation re- 

 mains in the lungs, they may pass to a state of induration — 

 that is, hardness and dryness — without occasioning any harm. 

 But in these bodies there is always a strong predisposition to 

 growth, and the formation of tubercular matter, a kind of 

 yellowish white pus, of a creamy appearance, and coagulable 

 by the action of heat, acids, and alcohol. 



Tubercles are frequently found in the lungs, and some- 



