ART II HIT IS. 727 



Illations, there are metastatic intiaramations of the serous and synovial 

 membranes (pleurisy, pericarditis, arthritis), of the lungs, iris and choroid 

 coat of the eye, abscesses in the muscles and connective tissue — in a 

 word, the entire series of clinical and anatomical alterations which 

 constitute the complicated arthritis of Foals. 



More x-ecent investigators have detected special micrococci in the 

 fluids and tissues, to which the origin of the disease must be attributed. 

 The most important of these is the Streptococcus pj/oijenes, to which tlie 

 more ditTuse suppurations may be due ; and the Sta2)lii/lococcus pyogenes 

 <ilbus and Stitjilii/lococciis aureus, which probably produce the more 

 localised lesions due to inflammation. These find easy access to the 

 body through the umbilicus when circumstances are favourable. 



Treatment. 



Curative treatment of this form of joint disease being, under the most 

 favourable circumstances, veiy unsatisfactory unless it is adopted at the 

 very commencement, the greatest importance must be attached to 

 preventive measures, and especially if the malady is enzootic. On the 

 Continent, those veterinarians who adopt Eoloff's view lay great stress 

 on the necessity for preserving the young animals, and particularly the 

 female parents, from the effects of improper feeding. The latter are to 

 be well fed during pregnancy, and aliment rich in earthy salts is to be 

 ;^'iven. In addition, bone-dust is to be mixed with their prepared food, 

 or witli bran, meal, or oil-cake. 



When it is continually prevalent in districts, it is recommended to 

 improve the pasture lands, and to restore to them, by means of top- 

 <lressings, the mineral elements abstracted by the growth of forage or 

 the herbage consumed by the animals grazing upon them. Attention 

 is drawn to the fact, that in a hundred days a medium-sized Cow will 

 remove from the soil about a kilogramme of phosphoric acid, which is 

 present in the milk yielded during that period. 



But as there is every reason to believe that the malady is of septic 

 origin, the preventive measures recommended for omphalitis must be 

 adopted. 



Curative treatment, as has just been said, is generally unsatisfactory, 

 and this not only from the comparatively small value of the animals 

 affected, and the ditliculty in applying remedies to tliem, but also from 

 the very serious nature of the disease, and the character of the tissues 

 involved. Even when the life of the creature affected with arthritis is 

 preserved, only too frequently its health and condition are irretrievably 

 impaired. 



The umbilicus should he treated as in omphalitis, a solution of 

 corrosive sublimate (1 to 1,00()) being a good dressing, and some of the 

 same solution may also be injected into the umbilical vein ; this may 

 be repeated twice or thrice daily for the first few days, the animal 

 being placed on its back during the application. If the urachus is in- 

 volved and open, a solution of boracic acid ('2 drachms to 16 ounces of 

 water) should be injected into it ; it should not be ligatured. Hot 

 water fomentations ought to be applied to the abdomen, and the 

 animal should be kept in a clean cool place, great attention being paid 

 to the diet. 



Zundel remarks that counter-irritants to the joints augment the pain 

 and increase the debility, and emollients have only a doubtful effect. 

 In the hands of Strauss, refrigerants were productive of good results, 



