34 



equal quantity of liniment of aconite, will be found valuable. In the later 

 stages, if the joint affections show little improvement, stimulating liniments 

 of ammonia and camphor with turpentine may be applied, and in some 

 cases even blisters may be required to reduce the inflammation. 



Chronic 7'hcumatisni may follow the acute variety, or it may occur as an 

 independent affection. It is not usually attended by much fever, and the 

 inflammation has less tendency to shift from one place to another than in 

 the preceding affection. The inflammation of the joints has a more lasting 

 character, and more frequently leads to ulceration of the ends of the bones, 

 on which excrescences may form. The joints may or may not be enlarged^ 

 and in some instances they may become fixed or anchylosed. When this 

 disease is chronic from the first, laxatives should be given occasionally, and 

 bicarbonate of potassium in half ounce doses, with one or two drachms of 

 iodide of potassium may be given three times daily in the drinking water or 

 as a draught. Tonics, such as iron with cinchona bark or nux vomica, are 

 also required ; but this treatment as a rule is not very successful in chronic 

 rheumatism. Locally, stimulating liniments are useful, and sometimes still 

 more active treatment, as the application of the firing iron is necessary. 



Muscular 7'Jieiiiuatisin is a very painful form, generally due to cold, 

 damp, and fatigue. It mostly affects the muscles of the loins and buttocks,, 

 but may also involve the muscles of the neck, chest, and shoulders. Sometimes 

 the affection is attended with slight fever. The back is elevated, and the 

 affected muscles are tender and painful. The same remedies may be given 

 as in the acute form, but for the salicylate of sodium, unless the fever be 

 high, we may substitute two drachms of bromide of potassium. Locally, 

 belladonna liniment is very useful in assuaging the pain, and hot 

 fomentations also prove valuable. The animal should be kept warm in a. 

 loose, well-ventilated, but not draughty box. 



RABIES, OR HYDROPHOBIA. 



Rabies, or hydrophobia, is fortunately a somewhat rare disease in the 

 horse. This malady is an effective febrile disorder originating in the 

 canine and less frequently in the feline tribe, and occurring in the horse as 

 the result of a bite of some rabid animal. It has been shown by M. Pasteur,, 

 to be due to a living vegetable germ or fungus, and the "virus," as it is 

 termed, is transmitted through the saliva of the rabid creature. The disease 

 itself is characterised by pain in the part bitten, great excitement,, 

 irritability, a disposition to bite, spasmodic seizures of the muscles 

 prostration, and death. The disease generally manifests itself in the horse 

 in from fourteen to forty days after being bitten, and it begins with great 

 restlessness, excitability, and distress. The excitability increases, the animal 

 becomes frantic, and attempts in his fury to destroy everything, and in some 

 instances he bites savagely at the seat of injury. Febrile symptoms are also 

 present. A flash of light or sudden noise, a disturbance of any kind, will 

 bring on a paroxysm of fury. He has difficulty in swallowing, a characteristic 



