158 The Farmer's Veterinary Adviser. 



and shows a great tendency to implicate fatally the valvea 

 and other fibrous structures of the heart. Besides the 

 constitutional predisposition, it owes its development to 

 accessory causes, such as cold and wet, cold draughts, and 

 disorders, especially those of the digestive or respiratoiy 

 organs which load the blood with abnormal and probably 

 acid elements. 



Symptoms. Acute Form. Dnllness, languor or indispo- 

 sition to move is followed by extreme lameness in one or 

 more limbs, and heat, swelhng and tenderness of a joint, 

 tendon or group of muscles. If this tenderness moves 

 from joint to joint or muscle to muscle it is very charac- 

 teristic. The swelling is at first soft and afterward hard 

 and resistant ; it may fluctuate from excess of synovia in a 

 joint, but rarely from the formation of matter. With the 

 onset of the inflammation comes active fever, with fuU, 

 hfird pulse, increased temperature, hot, clammy mouth, 

 dry muzzle, hurried breathing, costiveness, and scanty, 

 high-colored urine, sometimes with a neutral or even acid 

 reaction. Cattle often remain down and refuse to rise. 

 If the disease extends to the heart, the pulse has a sharp, 

 often intermittent or irregular beat, and one or other of 

 the heart sounds may be accompanied by a hissing or 

 sighing murmur. (See diseases of tJie heart.) 



Chronic Form. This resembles the acute, excepting that 

 it is less severe, usually unattended by fever, and may 

 even appear only on exposure, and disappear in the warm 

 sunshine. It is liable to induce fibrous and even bony en- 

 largements, and in cattle suppuration, especially about the 

 joints, and in such cases the disease is more stable and 

 less inclined to shift from place to place. 



Treatment. Give a laxative (horse, aloes ; ox or sheep, 

 Epsom salts; pig or dog, castor oil,) with anodynes 

 (opium) if pain is extreme, and follow up with alkalies 

 (bicarbonate of potassa or soda; acetate of potassa or 

 iimmonia ; cream of tartar,) and diuretics (colchicum, mu- 

 riate of ammonia, nitrate of potassa). Sudorifics (hot 



