EPIZOOTIC CATAKRII. 225 



by many that the liver is very prone, at such times, to be 

 primarily affected~an opinion with which I by no means coin- 

 cide. 



" The Distemper, or Influenza, as it is sometimes called," 

 eays Mr. Blaine, " is singularly prevalent in some seasons, and 

 rages more under some circumstances than others ; and although 

 it exhibits general characters in common, yet the epidemic of 

 one year will be marked with some particular symptoms which 

 may not appear in the epidemic of the next. Horses of large 

 cities and crowded towns are more prone to it than those of 

 the country, and than those less confined. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, although the liability to its attack is almost universal 

 among all varieties, yet the young, and such as have been lately 

 brought under stable management, are in general observed to 

 be more liable to it than the older and worked horses. The 

 spring months appear particularly favourable to its production ; 

 and the prevalence, as already observed, is materially increased 

 by a variable state of the atmosphere, as great and sudden 

 changes from dry to wet, and from heat to cold, and still more 

 certainly if accompanied with a long-continued easterly wind. 

 Now and then it is found to occiu^ in wet autumns also. It 

 has been disputed whether it is contagious or not ; and both 

 the negative and affirmative may be maintained. In some sea- 

 sons it exhibits little or no contagious characters ; in others it 

 is highly so, particularly among young horses." 



Symptoms. — It is stated that Epidemic Catarrh generally 

 commences with the animal having a shivering fit. This, 

 although common at the outset of the disease, does not inva- 

 riably occur. The disease frequently commences in a very 

 insidious manner. The animal coughs ; the respiration becomes 

 hurried ; the pulse is feeble, irritable, and easily compressed — 

 beating from 60 to 70, or from 70 to 80 times per minute ; 



p 



