489 



latter condition usuall}' indicates great weakness on the part of the 

 circulatory sj'stem. It is of the greatest importance as an aid in 

 diagnosing the gravity of an attack of fever and as an indication 

 in the selection of its mode of treatment, to recognize the exact cause 

 of a febrile condition in the horse. In certain cases, in very ner^'ous 

 animals in which fever is the result of nerve influence, a simple ano- 

 djnie, or even only quiet with continued care and nursing, will some- 

 times be sufficient to diminish it. When fever is the result of local 

 injury the cure of the cause produces a cessation in the constitutional 

 symptoms; when fever is the result of a pneumonia or other severe 

 parenchymatous inflammation, it usually lasts for a definite time, and 

 subsides Avith the first improvement of the local trouble, but in these 

 cases Ave constantly have exaccerbations of fever due to secondary 

 infiammatory processes, such as the formation of small abscesses, the 

 development of secondary bronchitis, or the death of a limited amount 

 of tissue (gangrene). 



In specific cases, such as influenza, strangles, and septicaemia, there 

 is a definite poison contained in the blood-vessel system, and carried 

 to the heart and to the nervous system, which produces a peculiar 

 irritation, usually lasting for a specific period, during which the 

 temperature can be but slightly diminished by any remedy. 

 . In cases attended with complications, the diagnosis becomes at times 

 still more difficult, as' at the end of a case of influenza which becomes 

 complicated AAith pneumonia. The high temperature of the simple 

 inflammatory disease may be grafted on that of the specific trouble, 

 and the line of causation of the fever between the two, frequently a 

 narrow is yet an important one, as upon it depends the mode of 

 treatment. 



Any animal suffering from fever, from any cause, is much more sus- 

 ceptible to attacks of local inflammation, which become complications 

 of the original disease, than are animals in sound health. In fever 

 we have the tissues and the walls of the blood vessels weakened, we 

 have an increased current of more or less altered blood, flowing through 

 the vessels and stagnating in the capillaries, which need but an excit- 

 ing cause to transform the passive congestion of fever into an active 

 congestion and acute inflammation. These conditions become still 

 more distinct when the fever is accompanied by a decided deteriora- 

 tion in the blood itself, as is seen in influenza, septicaemia, and at the 

 termination of severe pneumonias. 



Fever, with its symptoms of increased temperature, acceleratioh of ' 

 the pulse, acceleration of respiraticm, dry skin, diminished secretions, 

 etc. , must be considered as a symptom of organic disturbance. 



This organic disturbance may be the result of local inflammation or 

 other irritants acting through the nerves on nerve centers; altercdions 

 of the blood, in which a poison is carried to the nerve centers, or direct 

 5961— HOR- 10* 



