70 Managemeftt and Treatment of the Horse. 



there is the same soft, flabby, pulpy state of the 

 fleshj which is of a pale clay colour, exactly the 

 same as found in influenza subjects. To call the 

 particular condition of the muscular structures 

 disease, is, I maintain, a fallacy. I contend, and 

 in this I am supported by many eminent veteri- 

 nary surgeons, that being struck down by light- 

 ning and being attacked by influenza is precisely 

 the same thing in nature ; the same vital element 

 is abstracted in the one case as is abstracted in 

 the other. There is no doubt whatever that in 

 those cases struck by lightning, they are instanta- 

 neously and completely deprived of animal elec- 

 tricity, and the function of vitality ceases at once. 

 Influenza is only a modified form of this very 

 phenomenon ; the one is instantaneous and com- 

 plete, the other gradual, imperceptible, and in- 

 complete, fortunately affording an opportunity 

 at this important and critical juncture for the 

 prudent surgeon to step in, and by the employ- 

 ment of wise and well-considered treatment, to 

 fan the flickering flame of life imtil Nature rallies, 

 reaction is established, and life saved. I now 

 approach the most important part of my subject, 

 the treatment of complicated and simple influenza. 

 In all cases it is advisable to obtain the services 

 of a practical veterinary surgeon, but the mode 

 of treatment given in these pages has been fre- 

 quently and successfully tried by the author, as 

 well as by many veterinary surgeons. We will 

 take complicated influenza first. This, in a prac- 

 tical point of view, is a question that demands a 

 more careful consideration than any other, as the- 



