509 



animal is unduly exposed or worked, it may be attacked with a conges- 

 tion of the lungs, which will prove fatal within a few hours, aud no 

 localization be developed ; or, if in this case relief is afforded, it may 

 be followed by a lobar pneumonia, showing itself with all the symptoms 

 of this disease when it is produced by ordinary causes. 



Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of the horsepox is to be based on the pres- 

 ence of a continuous fever, with rosy mucous membranes, for several 

 days, and the appearance of the characteristic eruption. If the erup- 

 tion is in the nasal cavities, marked by a considerable discharge and at- 

 tended by submaxillary abscesses, it may be confounded with strangles. 

 If the throat is affected it may be confounded with an angina (laryngitis 

 or pharyngitis), but in the latter the local trouble precedes or is concomi- 

 tant with the fever, while in the former the fever precedes the local 

 trouble by several days. Variola may be confounded with bronchitis 

 or pneumonia if complicated with these troubles and the eruplion is 

 absent from the exterior, but it is of little moment, as the treatment for 

 both will be much the same. When the eruptiou is in the neighbor- 

 hood of the genital organs this disease has been mistaken for the dou- 

 rine. In variola the eruption is a temporary one; the nodes and pus- 

 tules are followed by shallow ulcers and rapid cicatrization, unless con- 

 tinued in the vagina or on the penis by the rubbing of the wuMs and 

 filth which accumulates; there are apt to be pustules at other parts of 

 the body. In the venereal disease the local trouble commences as a 

 papule and breaks into an ulcer without having formed a pustule. The 

 ulcer has not the convex rosy appearance of that of the less serious dis- 

 charge; the symptoms last for a longer period, by which time others 

 aid in differentiating the two. In glanders the tubercle is hard, and, 

 after breaking into an ulcer, the indurated bottom remains, grayish or 

 dirty-white in color, ragged and exuding a viscous, oily discharge. 

 There is no disposition to suppuration of the neighboring glands. In 

 variola the rosy shallow ulcer and healthy laudable pus, with the 

 acutely tumified glands, should not be mistaken, at least after a day. 

 I have seen acute glanders in mules which required a day's delay to 

 differentiate from strangles ; at that time the farcy buds appeared. 



Prognosis. — The average case of the horsepox runs a course of dejec- 

 tion, loss of appetite, and more or less fever for about four days, followed 

 by a rapid convalescence, and leaves the animal as well and as sound 

 as before. If the eruption has been excessive or confluent, the ulcera- 

 tions may act as irritants and render the animal unfit for use for several 

 weeks. Laryngitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia in this dis- 

 ease are not of greater gravity than they are when occurring from other 

 causes. The spots denuded of pigment left by the pustules on the lips 

 and genitals may temporarily depreciate the value of the animal to a 

 slight degree. 



Treatment.— As this is a disease unattended by alterations of the 

 blood itself, although a specific fever, and is of a sthenic type, active 



