SPECIAL REPORT 



ON 



DISEASES OE THE HORSE. 



THE EXAMINATION OF A SICK HORSE. 



By Leonaed Pearson, B. S., V. M. D., 



Dean of the Veterinary Department, University of Pennsylvania, and State 



Veterinarian of Pennsylvania. 



In the examination of a sick horse it is important to have a method, 

 or system. If a definite plan of examination is followed one may feel 

 reasonably sure when the examination is finished that no important 

 point has been overlooked and that the examiner is in a position to 

 arrive at an opinion that is as accurate as is possible for him. Of 

 course, an experienced eye can see, and a trained hand can feel, slight 

 alterations or variations from the normal that are not perceptible to 

 the unskilled observer. A thorough knowledge of the conditions that 

 exist in health is of the highest importance, because it is only by a 

 knowledge of what is right that one can surely detect a condition that 

 is wrong. A knowledge of anatomy, or of the structure of the body, 

 and of physiology, or the functions and activities of the bodj'', lie at 

 the bottom of accuracy of diagnosis. It is important to remember 

 that animals of different races or families deport themselves differ- 

 ently under the influence of the same disease or pathological process. 

 The sensitive and highly organized Thoroughbred resists cerebral 

 depression more than does the lymphatic draft horse. Hence a de- 

 gree of fever that does not produce marked dullness in a Thorough- 

 bred may cause the most abject dejection in a coarsely bred heavy 

 draft horse. This and similar facts are of vast importance in the 

 diagnosis of disease and in the recognition of its significance. 



The order of examination, as given below, is one that has proved to 

 be comparatively easy of application and sufficiently thorough for the 

 purpose of the readers of this work. It is recommended by several 

 writers. 



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