KHEUMATIC ARTHRITIS 285 



and exhibited considerable pain when caused to move. The stifle-joint then 

 began to swell owing to distension of the capsule with fluid; there was 

 also considerable heat and tenderness to pressure. The swelling continued, 

 but the lameness almost entirely disappeared in a week, only, however, to 

 return with increased severity a fortnight later. This subsidence and 

 return of the acute symptoms was repeated on three or four occasions, each 

 time leaving the joint larger and the lameness more severe. Ultimately 

 the colt was destroyed, and three loose cartilages (fig. 362), one being an 

 inch and a half long and three-quarters of an inch wide, were removed from 

 the joint capsule. 



The two smaller ones consisted of fibre-cartilage, and the largest of 

 cartilage interspersed with bony matter. The joint contained a large 



Fig. 362. Loose Cartilages removed from the Capsule of a Stitte-joint 



quantity of dark, straw-coloured fluid, and the synovial membrane was 

 considerably inflamed and thickened. 



Treatment. Nothing short of the removal of the offending bodies 

 by a surgical operation can be of service in these cases, but the difficulty 

 interposed to an accurate diagnosis by the thickness of the skin, the 

 ligaments, and parts about the joint, renders such a course as unreliable as 

 it is dangerous. 



The remedy, indeed, may prove even worse than the disease. 



RHEUMATIC ARTHRITIS 



In this disease we recognize a local expression of a constitutional 

 disorder arising out of some as yet undefined noxious principle in the 

 blood. 



Aged animals are more especially its victims, but it sometimes also 

 affects the young. 



In the former it assumes a chronic type, while in the latter the attack 

 is more frequently of the acute variety. 



