524 GfENERAL DISEASES. 



the size of the horse, and smaller doses on the second and third 

 day. 



The food, at first, should be light and laxative; but as there is 

 great subsequent debility, the strength should, after the acute 

 symptoms have passed off, be kept up by liberal feeding. The 

 affected muscles should be brought into work as soon as possible, 

 so that they may quickly get rid of the cause of the irritation. A 

 drachm of sulphate of iron may be then mixed through the food 

 daily, and a couple of quarts of beer also given. 



Rheumatism. 



The term, rheumatism, is applied to local inflammatory attacks 

 which show a tendency to shift their position from one part to 

 another. Acute rheumatism, which is a high fever accompanied by 

 intense pain from the slightest movement, and which is well marked 

 in man, is, I think, never seen in the horse. We also recognise in man 

 a form of rheumatism which affects the muscles, tendons, liga- 

 ments, and joints ; but in which symptoms of fever are either 

 wanting, or only slightly developed. It runs a more or less 

 chronic course, and is usually located in or near joints, and, as 

 a rule, manifests its presence by the feeling of pain, only when 

 the affected parts are put into motion, or are subjected to 

 pressure. I have never seen in the horse any affection which 

 bore the faintest resemblance to the rheumatism of man. Other 

 observers, whose accuracy I would not venture to question, state 

 that they have witnessed undoubted cases in the horse, of the 

 second form of rheumatism. Such very rare instances were 

 characterised by shifting lameness, or by inflammatory swellings 

 which appeared suddenly in tendons, ligaments, or joints, and 

 which showed a migratory tendency : for instance, after the at- 

 tack had kept the back tendons of a fore leg in a swollen and painful 

 condition for a few days, it would manifest itself by an inflamed 

 state of one of the hocks. 



Acute rheumatism in man appears to be an infective disease. Sir Thomas 

 Barlow ("The Lancet," 2nd August, 1902) tells us that " the recent researches of 

 Dr. F. J, Poynton and Dr. A. Paine seem to have established the existence of a 

 specific diplococcus in the blood, in the valves of the heart, in the pericardial 

 exudation, in the joints, and in the subcutaneous nodules of acute rheumatism. 

 From pure cultures of this organism intravenous inoculations in rabbits have been 

 followed by clinical manifestations and by non-suppurative lesions similar to 

 those with which we are familiar in acute rheumatism.'' In the chronic rheuma- 

 tism of man, gout appears to play an important part. Gout is caused by the 

 deposition of sodium biurate in various tissues, in which its presence gives rise 

 to irritation, interference with movement, and alteration of structure, especially 

 in joints, where its existence is made more or less manifest by the formation of 

 " chalk stones." In these eases, uric acid, on entering the blood, combines with 

 the sodium of that fluid. The resulting sodium biurate has a strong tendency to 



