502 



intestinal tract, causing constipation and consecutive diarrhea. Spe- 

 cial care must be taken for some weeks not to expose the animal to 



cold. 



SEQUELAE OF INFLUENZA. ■ 



Anasarca. — A previous attack of influenza is the most common pre- 

 disposing cause of a serious disease of the nervous system; paralysis 

 of the vaso-motor nerves which govern the circulation in the smaller 

 blood vessels and capillaries. This trouble, which is also known as pur- 

 j)ura hemorrhagcia and as scarlatina, appears most frequently a few 

 weeks after convalescence is established. It occurs more frequentl}^ 

 in those animals which have made a rapid convalescence and are 

 apparently perfectlj^ well, and in those vdiich have evidently perfectly 

 regained their health, than it does in those which have made a sloAver 

 recovery. The exciting cause of this trouble is usually exposure to 

 cold; and again, exposure to cold draughts of air on the heated but 

 not necessarily^ sweating animal is more aj)t to cause the trouble than 

 exposure to rain or wet. This latter will more f requentlj' cause com- 

 plication of the internal organs, such as pneumonia, pleurisj', etc. 



Anasarca commences by sj'mptoms which are excessively variable. 

 The local lesions may be confined to a small portion of the animal's 

 body and the constitutional phenomena be nul. The appearance and 

 gravity of the local lesions may be so unlike, from difference of loca- 

 tion, that they seem to belong to a separate disease, and complications 

 may completely mask the original trouble. 



In the simplest form the first symptom noticed is a swelling, or 

 several swellings, occurring on the surface of the body, on the forearm, 

 the leg, the under surface of the belly, or on the side of the head. 

 The tumefaction is at first the size of a hen's egg; not hot, little sensi- 

 tive, and distincl}^ circumscribed by a marked line from the surround- 

 ing healthy tissue. These tumors gradually extend until they coalesce, 

 and in a few hours we have swelling up of the legs, legs and belly, or 

 the head, to an enormous size; they have alwaj^s the characteristic 

 constricted border, which looks as if it had been tied with a cord. In 

 the nostrils are found small reddish spots or petechia, which gradu- 

 ally assume a brownish and frequentl}^ a black color. Examination 

 of the mouth will frequently reveal similar lesions on the surface of 

 the tongue, along the lingual gutter and on the frsenum. If the 

 external swelling lias been on the head the petechia of the mucous 

 membranes are apt to be more numerous and to coalesce into patches 

 of larger size than when the dropsy is confined to the legs. Tlie ani- 

 mals may be rendered stiff by the swelling of the legs, or be annoyed 

 by the awkward swollen head, which at times ma}^ be so enormous as 

 to resemble that of a hippopotamus rather than that of a horse. Dur- 

 ing this period the temperature remains normal; the pulse, if altered 

 at all, is only a little weaker; the respiration is only hurried if the 

 swelling of the head infringes on the caliber of the nostrils. The 



