486 GENERAL DISEASES. 



Much interesting information on horse sickness is to be found 

 in '' The Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics " 

 for March, September, and December 1900, and June and Sep- 

 tember, 1901. 



Port Pirie Horse Disease. 



In 1901, a disease which had up to that time been unknown in 

 Australia, attacked a large number of horses at Port Pirie, South 

 Australia, with the result of many deaths. At first the malady 

 was supposed to be due to lead poisoning, but that idea was con- 

 clusively disproved by Dr. Ramsay Smith, M.B. CM., B.Sc. (Chair- 

 man of the Central Board of Health, Adelaide), and Veterinary 

 Surgeon Desmond (Chief Government Veterinary Surgeon, Ade- 

 laide), who made an elaborate investigation into the nature of 

 this disease. The conclusions arrived at by Dr. Ramsay Smith 

 are as follows : — " The disease as manifested in the lungs of horses 

 at Port Pirie is in no' way distinguishable from South African 

 horse-sickness, which shows such a well-marked aggregation of 

 naked eye and microscopical appearances as marks it off from all 

 known diseases. The disease differs from the most common forms 

 of South African horse-sickness in so far as it is more chronic 

 and is associated with less fever and less dropsy of the heart-sac 

 and of the pleural cavities." We learn from Veterinary Surgeon 

 Desmond's report that a two-year-old filly which was found to be 

 affected in April, 1901, was examined by him on the 5th of the fol- 

 lowing July, and was so vigorous that at first she could not be 

 caught, " so she was run in the paddock, and at the end of ten 

 minutes she was so distressed (the breathing could be heard at 

 a distance of 200 yards) that she could be approached to be 

 shot." This extreme distress in breathing, caused by slight 

 exertion, in the case of an animal which appears to be in a normal 

 condition when at rest, seems to be one of the most prominent 

 peculiarities of this disease. 



Two other peculiarities are the spasmodic nature of the attacks 

 of distress of breathing, and the attempts made to breathe through 

 the mouth, by the patient lying or throwing itself down on the 

 ground, extending its head, and rolling, as if in colic. The 

 following extract from Veterinary Surgeon Desmond's report lucidly 

 describes what is meant: — "When on the ground her mouth was 

 open, and her nose thrown upwards to the side to allow extra air to 

 reach the lungs by mouth breathing ; the tongue and lips were 

 of a livid colour, while brown brothy mucus escaped from the 

 no!^ and mouth. Mouth breathing, on account of the anatomical 



