487 



pulliilation of the ferments of influenza in the blood whieli destroy 

 the red blood corpuscles; or the presence of irritating material, either 

 in the form of living organisms or of their products, as in glanders or 

 tuberculosis, the general train of symptoms are the same, only vary- 

 ing as the amount of the irritant differs in quantity, or when some 

 special quality in them has a specific action on one or another tissue. 

 There is in fever at first a relaxation of the small blood vessels, 

 which may have been preceded by a contraction of the same if there 

 was a chill, and as a consequence there is an acceleration of the cur- 

 rent of the blood. There is then an elevation of the peripheral tem- 

 perature, foUowed by a lowering of tension in the arteries and an 

 acceleration in the movement of the heart. These conditions may be 

 produced by a primary irritation of the nerve centers, or the brain 

 from the effects of heat, as is seen in thermic fever or sunstroke, in 

 which trouble the extremes of symptoius may sometimes be seen alter- 

 nating with a very short period, to be counted scarcely by hours. 



There are times when it is difficult to distinguish between the exist- 

 ence of fever as a disease and a temporary feverish condition which 

 is the result of excessive work. Like the condition of congestion of 

 the lungs, Avhich is normal up to a certain degree in the lungs of a 

 race horse after a severe race, and morbid when it produces inore than 

 temporary phenomena or when it causes distinct lesions, fever, or as 

 It IS better termed a feverish condition, may follow any work or other 

 employment of enei-gy in which excessive tissue change has taken 

 place, but if the consequences are ephemeral, and no recognizable 

 lesion is apparent, it is not considered morbid. This condition, how- 

 ever, may predispose to severe organic disturbance and local inflam- 

 mations which will cause disease, as an animal in this condition is 

 liable to take cold, develop a lung fever or a severe enteritis, if chilled 

 or otherwise exx^osed. 



Fever in all animals is characterized by the same general phenom- 

 ena, but we find the intensity of the symptoms modified bv the species 

 of animals affected, by the races which subdivide tlie species, by the 

 families which form groups of the races, and by certain conditions in 

 individuals themselves. For example, a pricked foot in a thorough- 

 bred may cause intense fever, while the same injury in the foot of a 

 Clydesdale may scarcely cause a visible general svmptom. In tlie 

 horse, fever produces the following symptoms : 



The normal body temperatu];e, which varies from 98° to 100° F the 

 latter being usually the result of some temporary cause, is elevated 

 from 1 to 9 degrees. At emperature of 102° or 103° F. is moderate 

 104° to 105° F. is high, and 10G° F. ^nd over is excessive. 



This elevation of temperature can readily be felt bv tlie hand placed 

 m the mouth of tlie animal, or in the rectum, and in the folds between 

 the hind legs; it is usually appreciable at any point over the surface 

 ot the body and in the expired air emitted from the nostrils. The ears 



