626 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



this kind, and Vende another. Hoskins (Philadelphia) also 

 states that he has seen cures in both young and adult horses 

 having tumefied maxillaries. Faville and Herbang observed 

 similar cures. They are, however, rare. Diecherhoff refers 

 to cases of four-year-old horses w^ith deformed maxillaries 

 that did not afterward exhibit any morbid symptoms. Ar- 

 rests in the morbid process are, on the contrary, very com- 

 mon. The attack always coincides with the phosphaturia, 

 and arrests with its disappearance. 



ANNOTATION. 



Cures, or at least arrests of the morbid evolution of the disease, are not 

 at all uncommon in American horses. When the disease is recognized in its 

 "rheumatic period" or when the tumefaction of the skull is still in its incip- 

 iency, osteoporosis is frequently seen to yield to a course of hygiene, dieting 

 and medication that will palliate, arrest or even entirely cure the condition 

 for all practical purposes. Failure to recognize the disease until it has de- 

 veloped to an advanced state will prevent successful intervention. The cases 

 of tumefaction in young horses referred to by Diecherhoff, cannot be claimed 

 in the same category of affections, as osteoporosis. Bulging of the superior 

 maxillaries and sometimes the inferior maxillary in three, four and five-year- 

 old horses, without any diffused morbid process to correspond, is a mighty 

 common disease in all breeding districts. This particular lesion is local; it 

 is dental in origin and presents no phase by which it could be connected with 

 grave constitutional affections of the skeleton. (See Vol. I, Osteoma of the 

 Maxilla.)— L. A. M. 



DIAGNOSIS. — The diagnosis of osteoporosis is very 

 difficult at the beginning, at which time it manifests itself 

 exclusively by a migratory and remittent lameness and by 

 a more abundant elimination of phosphates. These symp- 

 toms disclose the intra-osseous pain and the destructive pro- 

 cess taking place in the bones. At a later stage, fatigue and 

 tumefaction of the facial bones become apparent, but in some 

 cases the detachment of a ligament or tendon, or the frac- 

 ture of bones, may cause death before the appearance of the 

 facial deformities. The symptoms bear some resemblance 

 to pseudo-leukemia or pernicious anaemia, but are distin- 

 guished by the absence of the remittent lameness so charac- 

 teristic of osteoporosis. It is differentiated from rheuma- 

 tism tiv phosphaturia. 



