EHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS. 269 



readily recover under proper treatment, though the deformity 

 generally persists. 



TREATMENT. — If the foal has not been already weaned, we 

 should, if possible, put it to a healthy foster-mother which has 

 plenty of milk. If it has been taken away from its dam too early, 

 it should be sent back to her, put to an efficient foster-mother, 

 or liberally fed on cow's milk, to the daily ration of which 15 

 grains of pepsin may be added, in order to reduce the amount 

 of hard curd that is deposited from the milk of cows. To make 

 cows' milk of approximately the same composition as mares' milk, 

 we should add to each pint of it, half a pint of water and three- 

 quarters of an ounce of sugar. Phosphorus has been proved by 

 Kassowitz to be the most valuable drug in this disease. In young 

 foals it may be given daily in doses of one-tenth of a grain dis- 

 solved in an ounce of cod liver oil or linseed oil. As iron has a 

 good effect in this disease, we may give 10 grains of sulphate of 

 iron twice a day to the young foal, or better still, if cost be no 

 great object, an ounce of steel wine (vinum ferri). A pint of lime 

 water mixed with milk may be given daily, especially if there be 

 signs of diarrhoea or acidity. The food should be carefully regu- 

 lated according to the principles already discussed. 



Rheumatoid Joint Disease i Rheu7natoid Arthritis). 



GENERAL REMARKS. — In mankind, rheumatoid arthritis is 

 not an uncommon disease, and consists of a chronic and incurable 

 inflammation of one or more joints, the hip being a favourite 

 seat. As a great rule, it is a malady of old, or at least, middle- 

 age; and, when it occurs, often follows an injury to the part, or 

 chill. "The essential cause of the disease is indeed unknown. It 

 appears to have no^ connection with tubercle, gout, or true 

 rheumatism except in so far as these act as depressing agents" 

 {Erichsen). The bones that form a joint, as I have explained on 

 p. 257, do not come in contact during health, but are kept apart 

 by the articular cartilages which respectively cover the ends of 

 the bones, and which thus form two smooth surfaces that being 

 lubricated by synovia (joint oil) work on each other without injury. 

 " The starting point of the disease appears in most cases to be 

 the articular cartilage. The first change observed is a loss of polish 

 and smoothness, gradually increasing till the surface becomes 

 velvety in appearance. Microscopic examination shows that this 

 change is due to the gradual conversion of the matrix into 

 fibrous tissue, the fibrillse of which are arranged at right angles 



