EriDliMIC CATARRH. 177 



it becomes purple, livid, dirty brown, and the discharge is blood} 

 and fetid, the breath and all the excretions becoming fetid too 

 The mUd character of the disease gives way to malignaiU typhus ; 

 swellings, and purulent ulcers, spread over different parts of tho 

 frame, and the animal is soon destroyed. 



Post-mortem Examination. — ^Examination after death suffi- 

 ciently displays the real character of the disease, inflammation 

 first of the respiratory passages, and, in fatal or aggravated cases, 

 of the mucous membranes generally. From the pharynx, to the 

 termination of the small intestines, and often including even the 

 larger ones, there will not be a part free from inflammation ; the 

 upper part of the trachea will be filled with adhesive spume, and 

 the lining membrane thickened, injected, or ulcerated ; the lining 

 timic of the bronchial tubes will exhibit unequivocal marks of in- 

 flammation ; the substance of the lungs will be engorged, and 

 often inflamed ; the heart will partake of the same affection ; its 

 external coat wiU be red, or purple, or black, and its internal one 

 will exhibit spots of ecchymosis ; the pericardium wiU be thick- 

 ened, and the pericardiac and pleuritic bags will contain an un- 

 due quantity of serous, or bloody-serous, or purulent fluid. 



The oesophagus will be inflamed, sometimes ulcerated — ^the 

 stomach always so ; the small intestines will imiformly present 

 patches of inflammation or ulceration. The liver will be in- 

 flamed — ^the spleen enlarged — ^no part, indeed, wiU have escaped ; 

 and if the malady has assumed a typhoid form in its latter stages, 

 the universality and malignancy of the ulceration wiU be ex- 

 cessive. 



This disease is clearly attributable to atmospheric influence. 

 It is most prevalent in cold, ungenial weather, and is most fre- 

 quent in the spring. It is both epidemic and endemic — some- 

 times raging over large districts so that scarcely a stable escapes, 

 and at others, being confined to a neighborhood. It is much 

 more liable to make its appearance in stables where a number of 

 'horses are kept, than in smaller ones. 



The disease is beyond all doubt contagious. 

 "With regard to the treatment of epidemic catarrh, there may 

 be, and is at times, considerable difficulty. It is a disease of the 

 mucous membrane, and thus connected with miich debility ; but 

 it is also a disease of a febrile character, and the inflammation is 

 occasionally intense. The veterinary surgeon, therefore, must 

 judge for himself. Is the disease in its earliest stage marked by 

 evident inflammatory action ? Is there much redness of the 

 membrane of the nose — much acceleration of the pulse — ^mucb 

 heaving of the flanks ? If so, blood must be abstracted. The 

 orifice should be large, that the blood may flow quickly, and tha 



circulation be sooner affected ; and the medical attendant should 

 12 h 



