250 INFLAMMATION — KINDS MOST [BOOK II. 



rapid, and vehement. The pulse increases in num- 

 ber, in sharpness of vibration, and irregularity. 

 Such is the difference also that is discernible be- 

 tween attacks upon the colon or great gut, and on 

 the smaller guts. But all this refers to the first 

 attack; for after a while, if the means adopted are 

 insufficient to check its career, the ruin goes on 

 to affect the whole abdomen, and the animal dies of 

 gangrene in excruciating torments. 



Causes. — Much the same as those which occasion 

 acute fever in all ordinary cases ; that is to say, a 

 sudden check given by cold to the action of the 

 parts, while these may be in a state of great excite- 

 ment, through over actio?i, hard work, excessive 

 heat of the weather, the operation of cordials, &c. 

 By this latter means stallions are sometimes de- 

 stroyed prematurely, even without catching any 

 cold, or.this part of the system receiving any check 

 whatever : in these cases, excitement has been 

 carried to the utmost pitch by high feeding, and 

 stimulating the male, until nature gives way, or 

 rather, I might say, catches fire almost, and if not 

 speedily arrested, the heat soon destroys the 

 functions of all the abdominal organs of life. 



To stage horses, inflammatory complaints usually 

 prove fatal, from the same immediate cause ; the 

 animal being fed high, and pressed forward to the 

 accomplishment of his daily task, regardless of the 

 first indications of this disease ; and in summer 

 time, we witness numbers of such dropping down 

 in harness, sometimes whilst going aloiig, seldom 



