PHLEBITIS. 147 



some unexplained cause or originate from an injury, the coats of 

 the artery become thickened and sometimes calcified (or hardened 

 by a deposit of mineral substance.). 



It i& not an uncommon disease in the horse, as post-mortem 

 examinations aid one to testify, and when present it is generally 

 observed in the aorta, or large artery, at the point where a branch 

 is given off called the mesenteric artery. 



The symptoms are not positively indicative, but when a horse 

 becomes thin, emaciated and unequal to work; breathes hurriedly; 

 pulse is irregular, and great stiffness when called upon to turn 

 round is exhibited together with tenderness to pressure over the 

 loins, and the hind legs swell constantly, there is good reason to 

 suspect this condition. 



As a rule it does not declare itself sufficiently for recognition 

 until well established, hence the greater difficulty in effecting a 

 cure; but it is not without hope of alleviating the condition if 

 Lycopodium 3X be administered three times a day, and the horse 

 be allowed meanwhile to rest in a roomy, loose box. 



PHLEBITIS ; IXFLAMMATIOX OF VEINS 



is not a condition often met with in the horse ; it rarely arises 

 without some external cause, mechanical injury, such as bleeding; 

 as however this operation is of comparatively rare occurrence now- 

 a-days it is more than ever rare; should it however be met with 

 there is one condition that requires some care to obviate, namely, 

 ulceration, which of course involves the formation of pus (matter) ; 

 this becomes serious when the pus is carried into the general cir- 

 culation away from the seat of origin, which is most likely to be 

 the case, as its distribution will probably give rise to the formation 

 of abscesses in various parts of the body, and the ultimate sequel 

 would be blood poisoning. An inflamed condition of the veins is 

 recognized by dilatation of the vessels, and the locality where 

 they most readily expose themselves to observation is the inside 

 of the hind legs; swollen veins are distinguished from arteries, in 

 a like condition, by their being more superficially placed, and the 

 knotted enlargement or pouches which are presented at varying 

 distances along the course of the swollen vessel; the knots are due 

 to the arrest of the blood at the points where the valves are 

 situated. 



