It is ne^•ertheless usually more pre\-alent at spring time and autumn than at 

 other seasons, though it may appear at any time of the year, and already 

 during the month of Februar)', 1886, the writer has had under treatment many 

 horses attacked by a ver)^ severe though not fatal form of the disease. 



There is no doubt that defective sanitary arrangements predispose the 

 horse to attacks of this disease, or render the system a more fit receptacle 

 for the growth of the germs of influenza, and no doubt also enhance the 

 severity of the symptoms which are manifested. We would specially draw 

 attention to insufficient ventilation and bad drainage. A due supply of pure 

 air is of paramount importance to the well-being of the horse, while on the 

 other hand small, dark, stuffy, badlj^-drained stables predispose him to all 

 forms of disease. It has been observed that horses are, as a rule, affected 

 with a more severe form of influenza in large towns than in country districts,, 

 and this is doubtless largely due to the smaller size of the stables and the 

 bad ventilation. Indeed, defective drainage and ventilation are sufficient of 

 themselves to produce fatal disease, by causing the animal to breathe air 

 contaminated by poisonous effluvia and emanations. Furthermore, neglect 

 of any description, as well as insufficient food and excessive work, predispose 

 the horse to severe attacks of influenza. 



Many of our readers are doubtless acquainted with the more usual 

 S)-mptoms of influenza. The dry staring coat, the coldness of the extremities, 

 and the redness of the lining membranes of the nose, are early manifestations.. 

 The temperature, which should reach but 100 .5 F. in health, is raised three 

 degrees or more ; and the number of the beats of the pulse, which should 

 number but 36 in a healthy horse, rises to 50 or 60 beats or more per minute. 

 There is sneezing and hacking cough, and from the nostrils there runs at 

 first a thin glairy fluid, which, as the disease is established in two or three 

 days, becomes thicker and more abundant. The temperature often rises a 

 degree or two higher, and the cough also becomes more severe and 

 distressing, while the pulse is still quicker and more feeble. 



The breathing of the animal is also increased, the appetite is impaired, 

 and sometimes almost totally lost. Soreness and swelling of the throat 

 cause pain and difficulty in swallowing, and the excreta become more 

 scanty. After about three to six days the symptoms usually abate, leaving 

 the horse much enfeebled, but the strength usually returns in about a 

 fortnight from the first onset of the attack. 



Influenza does not by any means always thus speedily terminate in 

 recovery, for in some instances "bronchitis," or inflammation of the bronchial 

 tubes, which are the continuations of the windpipe, may super\ene, more 

 especially in weakly and debilitated animals. In these cases the danger is 

 seriously increased — the breathing becomes \ery difficult, the nostrils are 

 widely opened, and the lining membrane of the nose becomes of a livid 

 purplish hue, owing to the fact that the blood is no longer properl)^ aerated 

 in the lungs. Such cases as these are attended with great risk, and may 

 prove fatal in a week or so. They require all the care of the scientific ^eterinaiy 

 surgeor, and their treatment cannot be undertaken by amateurs. Again,. 



