^4 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



that leads one to observe changes and peculiar conditions will probably 

 suffice : 



In some cases the horse will droop for many days before the appear- 

 ance of either buds or corded veins ; the appetite is impaired ; the coat 

 is staring, or rough and unpleasant to the sight ; his mouth is hot ; his 

 thirst gi-eat and difficult to quench ; the urine is highl}^ colored ; the hair 

 comes off easily ; and he evinces then the symptoms of a generally 

 deranged condition. 



Sometimes the horse will appear to be perfectly well at night, and next 

 morning one leg, usually the hind leg, will be fearfully swollen, hot 

 T\nth fever, and almost without the power of moving. 



At other times the head will swell, the muzzle, particularly, will be 

 enlarged, and an offensive discharge proceed from the nose. 



Again, this tendency to the swelling of the leg is accompanied by 

 cracks at the heels, leading the inexperienced to mistake it for ordinary 

 "swelled legs" or for "grease." 



When taken by inoculation, (the poison ha\dng been received from 

 another animal or from trough, stable, or curry-comb), it is apt to 

 manifest itself in its earliest stages by shivering, followed by heat of 

 body, a frequent and hard pulse, dullness, accelerated breathing, and 

 rapid elevation of temperature. These attacks may speedily prove fatal. 



In all these cases, the poison has been working, but is not yet 

 outwardly manifest. Generally the first stage of unmistakable local 

 manifestation is a swelling of the lymphatics, a development of the 

 "farcy-bud." A single bud will sometimes appear near the pastem 

 joint and run up in an uneven knotty form. They usually appear, 

 however, along the sides of the neck or inside the legs, and are rounded, 

 with an elevated edge, and a pale surface. These presently burst and 

 discharge a watery fluid for some time, when a change takes place and 

 the discharges become more mattery and offensive, and are mixed with 

 blood. They frequently increase in number until the neck, shoulders, 

 and legs are almost entirely covered with them — sometimes almost the 

 whole body becomes a putrid loathsome mass. In this last case there are 

 no longer any buds or knots, as the veins have become so generally 

 Injured as not to show special prominences at the valvular points. 



Occasionally it will be found that the buds will not ulcerate, but 

 become hard and difficult to remove. This indicates that the progress of 

 tlie disease is suspended ; but the poison is in the system, and if steps 

 are not taken at once to eradicate the seeds of the malady, it will in 

 time break out and destroy the horse. 



When it rises along the spine, as it occasionally does, it is to be 

 •onsidered mali^ant and very dangerous, particularly to those horseji 



