78 Stable Management and the Prevention of Disease 



system, by the horses being fed upon grass that had grown in 

 marshes or on the swampy banks of streams, and recom- 

 mended that great care should be taken to have the grass 

 cut from well-drained land, that salt should be given with 

 the food, and that the sick horses should be treated with 

 iron and vegetable tonics, combined with diffusible stimu- 

 lants. 



About twelve months afterwards Dr. Evans was sent by 

 Government to make a thorough investigation of the disease. 

 His report is well worth reading in full, but I will here give, 

 only the substance of it. 



Symptoms of Surra. — The chief symptoms observed at 

 first are capricious appetite, staring coat, great languor, and 

 tendency to stumble. If the animal be kept at work symp- 

 toms of considerable fever come on, shown by quick pulse, 

 hot mouth, and increased temperature ; but these subside 

 after a few days' rest. There are often slight catarrhal signs 

 with discharge of yellow-tinged mucus from the nostrils, and 

 of tears from the eyes. 



In a few cases the submaxillary glands are swollen and 

 tender, and in a large proportion of the patients there are 

 dropsical swellings under the chest and in the sheath, which 

 in some instances subside, and in others increase. Occasion- 

 ally the swollen glands suppurate and burst, a thick gluey 

 discharge at the same time running from the nostrils. 



The most distinctive symptom is that the membranes of 

 the conjunctiva and vulva are yellow, with claret-coloured 

 spots on them. When the salutri (or native doctor) sees 

 those, he is sure that the disease is really Surra. 



The appetite remains good to the last, yet the visible 

 mucous membranes become blanched, and the horses gradually 

 waste away until they die from exhaustion. No case has 

 ever been known to recover. A few linger for more than a 

 year, but the majority die in about two months. 



Post-mortem Examination. — Post-mortem examination 

 reveals no structural changes in any of the internal organs. 

 There is effusion of clear serum in the abdomen, with a layer 

 of lymph upon the peritoneum. In several instances filaria 



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