280 PHTHISIS PULMONALIS, OR CONSUMPTION. 



his belly is tucked up, notwithstanding that he may have plenty of mashes, 

 and carrots, and green meat, and medicine— his former gaiety and spirit do 

 not return, or if he is willing to work he is easily tired, sweating on the least 

 exertion, and the sweat most profuse about the chest and sides— his appetite 

 is not restored, or, perhaps, never has been good, and the slightest exertion 

 puts him completely off his feed. 



We observe him more attentively, and, even as he stands quiet in his stall, 

 the flanks heave a little more laboriously than they should do, and that heav- 

 ing is painfully quickened when sudden exertion is required. He coughs 

 sorely, and discharges from the nose a mucus* tinged with blood, or a fluid 

 decidedly purulent— the breath becomes offensive — the pulse is always above 40, 

 and strangely increased by the slightest exertion. 



When many of these symptoms are developed, the animal will exhibit consider- 

 able pain on being gently struck on some part of the chest ; the cough then be- 

 comes more frequent and painful ; the discharge from the nose more abundant 

 and foetid, and the emaciation and consequent debility more rapid, until death 

 closes the scene. 



The lesions that are presented after death are very uncertain. Generally 

 there are tubercles ; sometimes very minute, at other times large in size. They 

 are in different states of softening, and some of them have burst into the bron- 

 chial passages, and exhibit abscesses of enormous bulk. Other portions of the 

 lungs are shrunk, flaccid, indurated or hepatized, and of a pale or red-brown 

 colour ; and there are occasional adhesions between the lungs and the sides of 

 the chest. 



Is this an hereditary disease? There is some difficulty in deciding the 

 point. It has been scarcely mooted among horsemen. One thing only is 

 known, that the side has been flat, and the belly tucked up, and the animal has 

 had much more ardour and willingness than physical strength. These con- 

 formations, and this disposition, we know to be hereditary, and thus far phthisis 

 may be said to be so too. Low and damp situations, or a variable and ungenial 

 climate, may render horses peculiarly susceptible of chest affections. All the 

 absurd, or cruel, or accidental causes of pneumonia lay the foundation for 

 phthisis ; and, particularly, those causes which tend to debilitate the frame 

 generally, render the horse more liable to chest affections, and less able to ward 

 off their fatal consequences. The most numerous instances of phthisis occur 

 in those poor persecuted animals that are worn out before their time, and they 

 are frequent enough among cavalry horses after the deprivations and fatigues of 

 a long campaign. 



What is the medical treatment of confirmed phthisis ? The practitioner 

 must be guided by circumstances. If the horse is not very bad, and it is the 

 spring of the year, a run at grass may be tried. It will generally seem to 

 renovate the animal, but the apparent amelioration is too often treacherous. It 

 should always be tried, for it is the best foundation for other treatment. The 

 summer, however, having set in, the medicinal effect of the grass ceases, and 

 the flies tease and irritate the animal. 



The medical treatment, if any is tried, will depend on two simple and un- 

 erring guides, the pulse and the membrane of the nose. If the first is quick 

 and hard, and the second streaked with red, venesection should be resorted to. 

 Small bleedings of one or -two quarts, omitted when the pulse is quieted and 

 the nostril is pale, may be effeced. Counter-irritants will rarely do harm. 

 They should be applied in the form of blisters, extending over the sides, and 

 thus brought as near as possible to the affected part. Sedative medicines should 

 be perseveringly administered ; and here, as in acute inflammation, the chief 

 dependence will be placed on digitalis.' It should be given in small doses until 



