254 VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



than those of maturer years; still, the old suffer severely and are often 

 carried away. Sex has no influence. Neglect, of every description, as 

 well as bad food and overwork, by debilitating, render animals subject to 

 severe and early attacks of disease. But no amount of care will exempt 

 them from it, as it appears in the stables of the rich as well as of the poor. 

 The latter, however, experience it in its greatest intensity and at a much 

 earlier period than the former. 



Symptoms. — Influenza, in different years and in different places, 

 varies much in its intensity and in some of its symptoms. In some sea- 

 sons it assumes more of an inflammatory character, whilst in others it 

 takes a low form. The description of symptoms given below will have 

 reference to the general type of the disease rather than to the peculiar 

 features which may be abnormally present in any particular outbreak. 



In mild cases, for the first two or three days the horse is observed to 

 be dull, weak, and dispirited; generally sweats on exertion; the bowels 

 are slightly constipated; the fseces are paler than usual, and there may 

 be occasionally cough. If the patient is promptly removed to a loose box 

 and carefully treated, these symptoms may pass off (probably in the form 

 of catarrh and a disposition to swelling of the legs) without the necessity 

 for recourse to any active treatment. 



More often, however, they are followed by others of a more urgent 

 nature. The horse refuses his food, or grinds it; his coat looks unhealthy, 

 the urine becomes scanty, the fseces pale and scanty, the surface of the 

 dung pellets is glazed and perhaps partially coated with muco-lymph; the 

 mouth becomes hot and unnaturally dry, or it may be pasty, particularly 

 at the back of the tongue; and the mucous membrane altogether, and es- 

 pecially round the gums, is of yellowish-red hue, as is also the conjuncti- 

 val membrane of the eyelids. The pulse is quick and oppressed, perhaps 

 70 per minute, but at the same time feeble, and the breathing is quick. 

 The temperature rises to 103 to 105° Fahrenheit. The horse appears to 

 be suffering from intense headache, and if made to move he staggers in 

 his walk. These symptoms point very clearly to the nervous centres 

 being functionally deranged, especially the brain. 



These symptoms may remain much the same for two or three days, 

 except that the pulse may become a little quicker, 80 to 90, and more 

 feeble, and the respiration quicker and shorter. 



If the horse is well nursed, and proper attention is paid to the venti- 

 lation, he will most likely recover without the assistance of medicine. 



