IXFLAMMATION. 97 



Inflammation mny be either external or Internal, local or 

 difFused. The skin, or the muscles, or sinews, may be affected 

 unattended with danger ; or the Important internal viscera, such 

 as the lungs, the bowels, or t'.ie brain, may become the seat of 

 Inflammation, and may threaten the destruction of these parts, 

 and the life of the animal Itself. 



The inflammation may be confined to a small locality, such as 

 a sinew or a joint, or It may extend to various parts, and indeed 

 involve the whole system. Strictly speaking, however. Inflam- 

 mation is always local. One or more parts bear the principal 

 brunt of the disease, although from the local inflammation 

 general Irritation Is produced, and the circulation is disturbed 

 and hurried. These latter symptoms are denominated Fever, 

 and may exist either with local Inflammation, or without it ; but 

 this we must consider presently. 



Inflammation may thus be confined to a particular part, and 

 produce no constitutional disturbance, or it may produce a 

 general fever through the system. 



These effects de})end partly on the degree of inflammation 

 existing, and partly on the irritability of the part affected. A 

 sinew or joint moderately inflamed, produces no constitutional 

 irritation, but when severely afi'ected the symptoms of general 

 fever ai'c excited. This effect takes place more easily in horses of 

 an Irritable tem])erament than in others, and is produced through 

 the medium of the nervous system. The nerves of the inflamed 

 part are painfully affected ; this irritation is conveyed to the 

 brain, whence it is diffused throughout the system, affecting some 

 parts, however, more than others, and producing different effects 

 in different animals. The heart is quickly affected by this 

 nervous irritation, and It becomes excited to quicker and more 

 forcible action, and thus we have the quick, hard, inflammatory 

 jnilse. The stomach is generally (not always) affected, and we 

 have consequently nausea or want of appetite, one of the most 

 important symptoms we have to assist us in the treatment of 

 disease In the horse. When the action of the heart is thus 

 injuriously excited, the circulation becomes disturbed, and we 

 have a redundancy of blood in some parts, and a diminution in 

 others, and thus we frequently find the extremities cold, and the 

 mouth hot. 



In thlc^ way local inflammation may, and frequently does, 

 produce general fever, and it is also the fact that general fever 

 sometimes excites local inflammation. 



Inflammation, although generally regarded as a disease, and 

 correctly too, is yet an effort of nature to relieve hei-self from 

 some Irritating substance, and is a much greater benefit than 

 bane to the animal system. For instance, a severe wound Is 

 inflicted in the flesh of an animal, to repair which a quantity of 



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