513 



neighboring- structures. Pharyngeal discharge may take place. Tho 

 respiration is moderate and only affected during an excess of cough- 

 ing, or in complicated cases. The pulse undergoes but little quicken- 

 ing. The temperature rises rapidly to 39°, 40°, and in some cases even 

 to 41. 5° C. (107|° F. ). The latter temperature usually, but not always, 

 indicates complication by pleurisy. In ordinary cases the temperature 

 drops in two or three days after the appearance of the cough. The 

 hide is dry and rough, with the hairs on end, but the horse appears 

 rather as an animal out of condition than a sick one. Emaciation may 

 be rapid. The mucous membranes are moderately reddened. The 

 appetite is diminished, but the animal chews constantly. Deglutition, 

 either of food or water, is frequently the cause of spasms of c*otighing, 

 and these in turn seem to warn the animal against attempts at swal- 

 lowing. On percussion no alteration of resonance is to be detected. 

 On auscultation of the lungs mucous rales are heard, with at times 

 tubular breathing; the latter, however, we will study under the com- 

 plications, as also the friction warning of pleurisy. Throughout the 

 course of the disease we have still one constant and characteristic 

 symptom— nervous irritability. With temperature of 104° to 107° F., 

 the horse still flinches to the touch on the loins; it stands frequently 

 with the head up, and it is on the alert for the entrance of any one to 

 the stall. The previously good-tempered and quiet horse will turn and 

 bite, will strike with the hind legs, or at the first touch to the side, 

 head, or throat will half rear and back into the corner of the box, or 

 breaking the halter turn backAvard out of the stall. 



The course of the disease is from five to eight days, but the cough 

 may continue for two or three weeks with variable elevation of tem- 

 perature. As a stable plague the course is from two to three months, 

 as the contagion is much more uncertain than in strangles or influ- 

 enza. The termination is by resolution and recovery, or by compli- 

 cations. In resolution the temperature drops, the cough becomes less 

 frequent and less spasmodic in character, the appetite returns, and 

 lu) sign is left of the disease except the fever mark on the hoof. 



The complications are excessive spasms and pleurisy. In the former 

 tlie cough may be so violent as to convulse the whole animal, the legs 

 are spread and fixed, with the hind ones drawn slightly under the 

 body. The head and neck are extended, with the muscles tense. The 

 cough comes out by rapidly succeeding efforts, or with the first sound 

 the larynx seems to close for a moment before the rest can follow. In 

 two cases of my own the spasm has been so great that the animal has 

 fallen to the ground. During these accesses the respiration becomes 

 accelerated, and on ausculation of the trachea and lungs the tubular 

 murmur of an apparent pneumonia can be heard. This false mur- 

 mur, however, disappears at the end of the attack. In the case which 

 fell to the ground the horse would lie for a moment or two absolutely 

 5061 — HOR 17 



