212 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



a member of the College ; and in several Instances where horses 

 have been treated by the owners, although the case was not 

 dangerous, they recovered but slowly, and with great loss of 

 condition. 



" General Remarks. — I have found in the present epidemic 

 a greater disposition to oedematous swelling of the extremities 

 and sheath than in that of 1836 ; and so obstinate, occasionally, 

 were these enlargements, that they were reduced with much 

 difHculty, and only after the frequent and continued employ- 

 ment of diuretics, and the insertion of setons in the thighs. 

 There likewise appeared to be throughout the attack a capa- 

 bility of taking large and repeated doses of diuretic agents with- 

 out exciting the kidneys in any great degree. At least double 

 the quantity could be given, and with no greater action than 

 half the quantity in a state of health. 



" In one place where I attended, the prevailing epizootic was 

 raging amongst sheep, and at another place amongst cattle ; 

 but the owners requii'cd no professional assistance, as they in- 

 formed me they readily cured the affection, both of the feet and 

 the mouth, by the application of salt and tar. Are these dis- 

 eases to be attributed to the same cause as that producing 

 influenza in horses ? And is it not probable that the influenza 

 will appear amongst mankind during the approaching winter 

 or spring, as it succeeded the disease in horses in the year 

 1836?* 



" As I find at this, the eleventh hour, that it is impossible to 

 be personally present when this paper is submitted to the con- 

 sideration of the members of the Association, I think that I can- 

 not do better than atone for my absence by instituting a few 

 questions naturally springing out of the foregoing account ; not, 

 however, with the expectation of being enabled satisfactorily to 

 solve them, but in order to elicit profitable discussion. 



" 1st. To what cause must we attribute the injluenza ? 



" On this point I must refer to the theory of Professor Sewell. 

 I can go so far with him as to believe that, in common with 

 the epizootic amongst cattle, it is derived from some pecu- 

 liar atmospheric poison, the nature and the source of Avhich I 

 do not profess to know. I am not inclined to consider that it 

 can be assigned to the influence or fluctuation of the weather, 

 although I believe that these changes will considerably modify 

 the symptoms ; for it is a fact worthy of especial attention, that 

 the disease made its appearance, and continued to prevail. In 

 this neighbourhood, during the prevalence of remarkably fine 

 genial weather. 



* This prognosis was verified by the appearance of the human influenza 

 in the following spring. 



