272 TUE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF 



RHEUMmSM, ACUTE AND CHRONIC. 



ACUTE RHEUMATISM. 



Animals that are unnecessarily exposed to the influences of 

 tempestuous weather, particularly after calving, or those located 

 in a cold, damp, or swampy region, provided they are the sub- 

 jects of a rheumatic predisposition, are very apt to suffer from 

 an attack of this painful malady. Therefore it may be truly said 

 that the same causes which are operative in the system of the 

 human subject to produce an inflammatory affection of this 

 character, act precisely the same in all animals. 



In plain language, rheumatism is rheumatism, in whatever 

 specimen of animality it may be found : it is usually accom- 

 panied by pain, heat, and tumefaction in the region of joints ; 

 sometimes it is located in muscles ; then, again, we find it affect- 

 ing the fibrous tissues of joints, covering of muscles, tendons, 

 valves of the heart, joints, back, loins, and the fibrous tissues 

 of the body. It is always characterized by a strong, full, and 

 unyielding pulse. It always leaves the purts affected in a 

 condition predisposed to subsequent attacks, and, according to 

 the testimony of eminent pathologists, this pathological condi- 

 tion is reproduced in offspring, and constitutes in them the 

 inherent tendency to the disease. 



It occurs among men and animals at all seasons of the year; 

 yet, at the period of sudden transition from heat to cold, it is 

 most prevalent. Animals that are heated by exercise and then 

 suffered to " cool off" without ordinary care, are very apt to 

 become the subjects of this malady ; so that prevention, to a 

 certain extent, is within the province of all rational beings ; 

 and in the exercise of preventive measures, we may, in com- 

 mon parlance, "stave off," for a time, an acute disease, although 

 it be hereditary. Rheumatism, like gout, is hereditary ; no edu- 

 cated physician ever opposes this proposition; it developes 

 itself in the predisposed. The indirect cause is obstructed 

 perspiration. Keep the animal comfortably warm and avoid 



