322 VETERINARY HOMCEOPATHY. 



those who have studied medicine and qualified and those who 

 have not. 



Inflammation, as used by horsemen, stablemen or even horse 

 knackers, is applied in the most general and vague manner to any- 

 serious case of illness among animals that proves fatal; if you 

 inquire of a man what a horse died of, the answer as a rule is 

 " inflammation;'' that word is used as a definition with which to 

 conjure; it is referred to with awe-inspiring feelings, as though an 

 animal that is once the victim of inflammation cannot possibly 

 recover save by fire or at least a miracle. A horse dies, the 

 carcass is removed to the slaughterers to be disposed of; on being 

 opened it is discovered that the lungs are black in color, instead 

 of a bright pink as m health; the blood vessels contain blood clots 

 and the whole organ is otherwise surcharged with black-looking 

 fluid; the slaughterman at once pronounces it inflammation, and 

 the groom accordingly leaves to report this sage piece of informa- 

 tion to the owner of the horse; he in his ignorance of this particu- 

 lar subject, is perfectly satisfied. All the while there was nothing- 

 like the semblance of inflammation affecting these organs; they 

 were congested with an excessive quantity of blood it is true; it 

 may be that during life congestion to a certain extent existed, but 

 not in so pronounced a condition as was revealed at the autopsy; 

 the large quantity of blood observed in the lungs was the result of 

 post mortem effects; it had, in point of fact, gravitated there; had 

 -a precise examination been made, it is more than probable that 

 the lung on that side of the animal upon which it lay when dying 

 was far the blackest, and contained the greatest quantity of 

 clotted blood and serum, the result really of gravitation and noth- 

 ing more; there was, in point of fact, no inflammation, either local 

 or general. Perhaps the reader will say, well! if this is not in- 

 flammation, pray what is inflammation, after all? So far as we 

 can do so in plain, unconventional language, we will try to ex- 

 plain; because it is of importance that he who treats his own 

 horse should clearly understand that the process is a definite and 

 precise one and not a sort of generalized condition that serves to 

 cover all the most serious complaints to which animals are subject 

 in one comprehensive name. Inflamm^jtion may be either 

 GENERAL when me enure system is implicnf.ed, or local when 

 some particular organ is the seat upon which k* main force is 



