SPECIFIC INFECTIVE DISEASES 147 



in rural districts, is the police-inspector. In a small work 

 of this kind all the writer can do is to indicate a few of 

 the principal features of some of the diseases, and if the 

 reader wishes for other information upon the subject he 

 must consult some larger manual relating to this matter. 



Catarrh 



This is one of the commonest diseases affecting the 

 horse, and it is prevalent during all seasons of the year, 

 but more so during the spring and the autumn. Although 

 catarrh is a comparatively mild complaint its existence 

 should never be overlooked amongst a stud of horses, 

 because an animal that is affected should, for the time 

 being, be kept from work. During the recent Great War 

 this affection was very prevalent amongst the horses, 

 and it was responsible for the inefficiency of a large 

 percentage of animals, both at home and abroad. More- 

 over, there is a predisposition for catarrhal symptoms 

 to develop into a much more serious trouble, viz. pneu- 

 monia ; hence the advisability in all cases of catarrh, 

 amongst a small stud of horses, to take the temperature 

 of each affected animal daily. The clinical thermometer 

 is an invaluable instrument for this purpose. In all 

 ordinary cases of catarrh the temperature seldom exceeds 

 104°, in fact, it is usually below 103° Fahr., the normal 

 temperature of a horse being 100°, or at any rate not 

 more than 101°. Any rise of temperature beyond 103° 

 should be looked upon with suspicion and the tempera- 

 ture taken, not once, but twice a day, morning and 

 evening. It is wonderful how rapidly catarrh will extend 

 throughout a stud of horses, and how very persistent it 

 is whenever it appears in any particular district. There 

 is a disease known as strangles, and this is usually accom- 

 panied by a catarrhal discharge from the nostrils, conse- 

 quently the owner may think that the animal has got an 

 ordinary attack of catarrh, whereas in reality it is the 



