THE HORSE IN SICKNESS AND DISEASE 303 



of the extremities in priGumonia, the variable temperature 

 of those parts in the other ; the frequent lying down and 

 getting up in pleurisy, and the obstinate standing up in 

 pneumonia." 



Treatment — Mr. Field recommends the immediate ab- 

 straction of ten to twenty pounds of blood. A small dose 

 of aloes (linseed oil is preferable), sedatives as prescribed in 

 the last article, seton or rowel in brisket, and blisters on 

 chest and sides. Mild diuretics when hydrothorax is feared. 



PNEUMONIA (inflammation OF THE LUNGS), 



When we consider how totally we have removed the 

 horse from a life of nature to one of art, in which the 

 lungs, more vascular than any other organs, are subjected 

 in an extraordinary degree to the extremes of exertion and 

 temperature, we cannot be surprised that they should in a 

 great measure become the seat of acute inflammation. 



The causes may be looked for in constitutional plethora, 

 occasioned by high feeding, hot clothing, stabling with high 

 temperatures, and accelerated exercise ; all which render 

 the lungs more susceptible to congestion, and less able to 

 resist the effects of it. Among the various causes, alterna- 

 tions between heat and cold are probably the most common ; 

 and we have the more reason to believe that it is the 

 alternations themselves which provoke the disorder, as we 

 find that horses bear the extremes of both heat and cold, in 

 different countries, with seeming impunit}^ Heat suddenly 

 applied may be supposed to heighten the circulation 

 generally, and produce congestion immediately within the 

 lungs. Cold suddenly applied may act instantly also by 

 driving the blood from the skin to the deeper-seated organs. 

 A very fertile source of it is inordinate exercise, as regards 

 quickness of progression, which wears out the vital activity 

 of the lungs ; thus pneumonia frequently follows severe 

 runs in hunting. Cold, moist spring seasons are often 

 marked with pneumonic attacks, which rage in an epidemic 

 form. 



Symptoms. — This disease sometimes attacks the horse 

 suddenly, and he exhibits, with one or two shivering fits, 

 the excited breathing which is symptomatic of the com- 

 plaint ; at others, it steals on, almost unobserved for two or 

 three days. But whether the approach be sudden or retarded 



