PHTHISIS, OR CONSUMPTION. 273 



acter. lliat veterinary surgeon is ignorant of his profession, who 

 does not at once, and at a distance, -recognize the cough which, 

 although it may not precisely indicate pfcthisis, betrays a state of the 

 lungs pregnant with danger. # 



If the cough be sonorous and clear, the lung is not yet fatally 

 injured. That cough, however, must not be neglected long. It is 

 the product of intlaramation, that may be silently, but rapidly, 

 disorganizing the lungs. The prudent man will not suffer such a 

 cough to continue many days, without giving a mash, or a dose of 

 physic ; or, perchance, bleeding, and inserting a seton. This is one 

 of the points to which we cannot too often recur. It is new practice 

 — new doctrine ; the interests of the agriculturist are peculiarly con- 

 nected with it. 



By-and-by, this cough becomes altered. It is no longer loud, and 

 clear, and careless ; it is lower in ite tone — feeble — hoarse. Mischief 

 has now been done, and perhaps of an irreparable kind. The farmer 

 will not always be able to point out the precise nature of the affection 

 of the chest from the sound of the cough ; but he will soon learn to 

 do it much oftener, and much more cerlainly. than he has hitherto 

 thought it possible. In simple catarrh there is an unchecked effort 

 of the lungs to force on the cough r> yet some hoarseness may attend 

 that cough, plainly referable to the upper air-passages. In bronchitis 

 there will also be a forcible effort ; the mucus is viscid ; and the 

 membrane of the tubes is thickened ; and the passage is diminished ; 

 and considerable force must be used to urge on a volume of air, and 

 to carry the mucus before it ; but it is a force which acts slowly, and 

 by pressure, for the membrane being inflamed is tender. The cough 

 shows pain ; it is no longer full and perfect ; it is slowly performed, 

 and at the same time husky and wheezing, and the mucus rattles in 

 the passage as it is forced along. In pneumonia the cough is fre- 

 quent — sore ; but it is not so sore as in bronchitis, for it has not the 

 same inflamed membrane to pass over ; it is, however, painful, for 

 the substance of the lung is inflamed, and therefore it is low, and, to 

 a certain degree, suppressed. In pleurisy, the cough is sharper, 

 spasmodic, yet not loud. Hitherto the pain has been confined to the 

 lungs ; here the lining membrane of the chest is affected, and intense 

 pain felt at every rising and faUing of the chest ; therefore the cough 

 k short — it is cut short — it is somewhat spasmodic, and yet no louder 

 than can be helped. 



The cough of incipient consumption \» an inward, feeble, painful, 

 hoarse, rattling, gurgling one. It reveals fearful disorganization, 

 which can seldom be repaired. The j)rocess of disorganization is not 

 rapid. Weeks and months, or, under favorable circumstances, years, 

 may pass on, and few other symptoms be added to this peculiar 

 cough. 



Here is disorganizarion of the lungs — disorganization which may 

 12* 



