166 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



will be made successively upon the two flanks, for it is sometimes 

 accomplished better on the one side than on the other. The purely 

 anatomical explanation which has been given for this is not sufficiently 

 satisfactory to arrest our attention here. 



It will be possible, with the aid of these precautions, to determine 

 "the modifications of number and rhythm of the movements without 

 much difficulty. However, it is necessary to have a certain amount of 

 practice and possess some knowledge of the different diseases which may 

 aifect this region, for it is a question of slight variations, sometimes 

 scarcely apparent, the appreciation of which requires the co-operation 

 of an expert. 



Among the most common alterations of the flank there is one which 

 is quite compatible with all the apparent signs of health, and which 

 frequently escapes detection up to the moment of sale ; it is that due 

 to pulmonary emphysema, an alteration which produces characteristic 

 lesions in the lungs, consisting of an infiltration of air into the paren- 

 chyma of those organs. This lesion, clearly proved, is redhibitory, and 

 nullifies the contract of sale or exchange, according to the terms of 

 Article 2 of the law of August 2, 1884. 



The expiratory movement in the emphysematous horse is double, 

 and is separated by a short interval of time (hence called double time), 

 during which the flank suddenly expands, and stops for an instant, to 

 continue again its former expiratory movement. 



This double expiratory effort is more or less apparent according to 

 the stage of the disease. However this may be, as soon as the disease 

 has been detected, the animal should be made to cough by compressing 

 the origin of the trachea. If the cough is dry, slight, abortive, and 

 several times repeated ; if the nostrils are much dilated after exercise ; 

 if they are both covered in cold weather with a grayish discharge 

 adhering to the ala ; if the chest has an abnormal resonance on per- 

 cussion ; if the movements of the flanks cause the entire body to move, 

 particularly the anus; if labore dbreathing is rapidly developed in 

 warm weather, the respiration loud, the anxiety extreme, etc., the exist- 

 ence of a very advanced case of emphysema may be positively affirmed. 



Unfortunately, these characteristics are far from being always 

 evident at the time of the sale, and they very often pass unperceived 

 by inexperienced persons. By placing such animals in special con- 

 ditions of alimentation, by submitting them to a particular mode of 

 treatment in which arsenious acid plays an important part, merchants 

 can sometimes conceal the disease, or, at least, mitigate it in a notable 

 degree. The purchaser cannot be too exacting as to the integrity of 



