494 



of a cleej) saffron, oclier, or violet-red color. This -latter is esi^ecially 

 noticeable on tlie rim of the gums and is a condition not found in any- 

 other disease, so that it is an almost diagnostic symptom. If the ani- 

 mal is bled at this iDcriod tlie blood is found more coagulable tlian 

 normal, but at a later period it becomes of a dark color and less 

 coagulable. There is great diminution or total loss of appetite, witli 

 an excessive thirst, but in manj' cases in cold-blooded liorses the ani- 

 mal may retain a certain amount of appetite, eating slowly at its haj^, 

 oats, or other feed. 



"We have, following the fever, a tumefaction or oedema of the sub- 

 cutaneous tissues at the fetlocks, of the under surface of the belly, 

 and of the sheath of the penis, Avhich may be excessive. This infiltra- 

 tion is uon-inflammatory in character and produces an insensibility 

 of the skin like the excessive stocking which we see in debilitated 

 animals after exposure to cold. In ordinary' cases the temperature 

 has reached its maximum of 105° or lOG" F. in from twenty-four to 

 forty-eight hours from the origin of the fever. It remains stationary 

 for a period of from three to four days without the variation between 

 morning and evening temperature which we have in pneumonia or 

 other serious diseases of the lungs. At the termination of the specific 

 course of the disease, which is generally close to eightj'-six hours, 

 the fevej.' abates almost as rapidly as it commenced, the swelling of 

 legs and under surface of bell}^ diminishes, the appetite returns, the 

 strength is rapidly regained, the mucous membranes lose their jellow- 

 ish color, which they attain so rapidly at the commencement of the 

 disease, and the animal convalesces promjitly to its ordinary good 

 condition and health, and rapidl}" regains the large amount of weight 

 which it lost in the early part of the disease, a loss which frequentlj^ 

 reaches 30, 50, or even 75 pounds each twenty-four hours. For the 

 first three days of the high temperature there is a great tendency to 

 constiiDation, which should be avoided if possible, for, if it has been 

 marked, it may be followed bj' a troublesome diarrhea. 



Terminations. — The termination of simple influenza may be death 

 by extreme fever, with failure of the heart's action; from excessive 

 coma, due generally to a rapid congestion of the brain; to the poison- 

 ous effects of the debris of the disintegrated blood corpuscles; to an 

 asphyxia, following congestion of the lungs; or the disease terminates 

 by subsidence of the fever, return of the api^etite and nutritive func- 

 tions of the organs, and rapid convalescence; or, in an unfortunately 

 large number of cases, the course of the disease is complicated by 

 local inflammatory troubles,, whose gravity is greater in iufluen2;a than 

 it is when, they occur as sporadic diseases. 



Complications. — The complications are congestions, followed by 

 inflammatory phenomena in the various organs of the body, but they 

 are most commonly located in the lungs, intestines, brain, or vascu- 

 lar laminai of the feet. Atmospheric influence or other surrounding 



