ACUTE AND CHRONIC RHEUMATISM. 205 



is not noticed by English writers, but has lately been described 

 by foreign authorities; M. Lecoq* having written an elaborate 

 paper on the disease, and M. Del wort of Brussels described it 

 more briefly. The latter says, " Colts, while at the teat, are 

 subject to inflammation of the tissues concerned in the formation 

 of the joints. It is first announced by an unwillingness to 

 move, and the indication of slight pain when the articulations 

 are pressed upon. The articulations that are generally attacked 

 are the knees, the hocks, and the fetlocks. In proportion as 

 the disease gains ground, the colt loses his spirits ; he seldom 

 goes to the udder, and he sucks with difficulty. The articu- 

 lations become more tender and painful ; the surrounding cellu- 

 lar tissue is infiltrated with a serous fluid, and an oedematous 

 enlargement is formed. The disease assumes a more aggravated 

 form ; the little subject can scarcely raise himself from the 

 ground, and he can stand but a Httle while. He is only able 

 to suck by being held up to the udder. As soon as he is no 

 longer able to rise, he refuses every kind of food ; he is gene- 

 rally constipated, although there is sometimes diarrhoea, and 

 death occurs in from six to ten days. 



" The principal lesions that are observed are found in the 

 region of the joints. The tissues are infiltrated with a yellow 

 serosity ; the quantity of synovia is increased, and the articula- 

 tions are more or less enlarged. Sometimes there are spots of 

 inflammation on both the small and large intestines. 



*' So far as our observations have extended, we have traced 

 its principal causes to the state of the motlier; whether her 

 food has been of too exciting a nature, or she has been placed 

 in moist or ill-ventilated situations. 



" The remedy consists in submitting the mare to an antiphlo- 

 gistic treatment, and giving gruel and straw, or but a small 

 portion of hay. The little patient should be placed on fresh 

 litter, and friction with camphorated spirits of turpentine or 

 ammonia applied to his limbs. If the animal cannot get up 

 without much difficulty or pain, it must be brought many times 

 in the day to the mother, and held to the teat as long as it will 

 suck. If these measures appear to have little effect, vesication 

 must be applied to the diseased parts. Costiveness must be 

 obviated by emollient injections. If it will not suck, or has not 

 learned to suck, the milk should be drawn from the mother, and 

 he should be plentifully supplied with it." — Ed.] 



* Vet. vol. xiii. 



