THE HORSE IN SICKNESS AND DISEASE 253 



by the dung, urine, and breath of many horses stabled 

 together. These poisons may also be conveyed through the 

 medium of the secretions. Rabies and other diseases pro- 

 duced by the bites of venomous creatures, are transmitted 

 through the saliva. Farcy and glanders may be transferred 

 by inoculation with the matter of either disease ; and mange 

 is probably conveyed in some peculiar exudation from the 

 skin. 



2. Spontaneous Injlanimations are such as arise without 

 any assignable cause. That there are many of that descrip- 

 tion we have daily proofs. Were our knowledge of structure 

 and function perfect, and had we a thorough comprehension 

 of the relations subsisting between the body and the various 

 agents and influences naturally or necessarily connected 

 with it, we should probably be enabled, in every instance, 

 to link disease with its cause, and thus frame a full and 

 satisfactory system of nosology. But at present we are 

 much in the dark concerning internal causes, and even 

 lack knowledge about those that are external, and in 

 particular, in respect to atmospheric influence on the 

 body. 



3. Sympathetic Inflammations are such as owe their 

 origin to disease or disorder already existing in the body. 

 We know, in human pathology, how apt is one set of parts 

 to take on disease through what we call " sympathy " at the 

 time that another is suffering. In man, the digestive organs 

 oftener than any other evince disorder ; in the horse, the 

 respiratory apparatus is the most common seat of disease ; 

 both which sets of organs, when disordered, may, in their 

 turn, become the cause of disease in other parts of the body. 

 The skin sympathises readily both with the digestive and 

 pulmonary organs ; and so do the urinary apparatus and 

 the brain. Sympathy is also evinced in a remarkable 

 manner between fellow -organs on opposite sides of the 

 body. One eye is no sooner affected with ophthalmia 

 than we begin to entertain apprehensions for the opposite 

 one. 



The Progress and Termination of Inflammation may be 

 rapid or may be slow, depending on its violence, its nature, 

 the part it is affecting, its exciting cause, the condition of 

 the animal, and other collateral circumstances. In the 

 horse it generally assumes the violent form, and runs its 

 course rapidly ; or, in technical language, is of the acute 



