Strangles ; its Symptoms. 21 1 



the colt may escape until it is four or five years 

 old ; in some few cases old horses will have it, 

 when it is very difficult to cure. High-fed colts 

 generally have it sooner than those which are fed 

 upon a lower diet. Neither the remote nor the 

 approximate cause of this complaint is known. 

 It appears to be in some degree analogous to the 

 small-pox in the human being, and the colt having 

 passed through it, the constitution seems to have 

 undergone a purification and improvement. In 

 some instances it has affected the animal in so 

 mild a form that it has passed through its various 

 stages, and gone off without much inconvenience 

 to it, or any remedial means being employed. 

 Contagion seems to have nothing to do with this 

 disorder: every horse has this complaint once 

 in its life and only once. This, like many more 

 complaints, commences with the animal cough- 

 ing, and differs but little from a common cough, 

 and is often mistaken for it in its early stages. 

 It, however, differs from common catarrh by a 

 more abundant discharge from the nostrils, which 

 is of a yellowish colour, and unaccompanied by 

 any disagreeable smell ; it is also in most cases 

 mixed with matter. There is, besides, a profuse 

 discharge of slimy stringy fluid from the mouth. 

 The membrane lining of the nose is intensely 

 red. It will be found that a considerable swell- 

 ing has taken place between the jaws, accom- 

 panied by fever, which is distinguished by want 

 of appetite, a quick pulse, and a hot mouth, 

 with a general weakness of the whole frame, pro- 

 ducing a dejected appearance. There is likewise 



