636 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



imperfect osseous cells. The process is a general rarefying 

 osteitis. 



TREATMENT.— There is no known effective treat- 

 ment. Phosphorus, arsenic and changes of diet have been 

 tried without effect. Dieckerhofif recommends a special diet 

 and intratracheal injections of, 



Iodine i part 



Potassium Iodide 5 parts 



Water loo parts. 



This mixture is injected in doses of 1.5 grams per day for a 

 few days, and then discontinued from time to time. Colts 

 from two to three years old, attacked with tumefaction of 

 the facial bones, have been cured by a regimen of alfalfa 

 and clover. The oats diet is discontinued. At the end of 

 some months, when some improvement is observed, the ra- 

 tion is augmented with small but increasing quantities of 

 barley bran and rice, in the proportion of two-thirds of the 

 former and one-third of the latter. 



ANNOTATION. 



Osteoporosis, or Big-head, the names universally applied to the disease 

 by American veterinarians, occurs with remarkable frequency throughout the 

 central, eastern and south-central parts of the United States. It is seen 

 alike in the city and country districts. The facial form of the disease is 

 encountered chiefly in the heavier or medium weight draft horse, while the 

 finer breeds seem to be more susceptible to the form localizing itself in the 

 limbs and resulting in the detachment of ligaments and tendons. This 

 latter form is rare in the heavy breeds but is sometimes seen in the small 

 grade horse such as is used for light delivery purposes. Running horses, 

 trotters, hunters, coach horses, drivers and saddle horses seem to be most 

 susceptible to the disjunction of binding ligaments and supporting tendons, 

 probably owing to the severe strain to which these structures are subjected 

 as the disease slowly weakens the stability of their attachment to the bones. 



In both forms of the disease, the premonitory symptoms are alike. 

 There is always the incipient period manifested by mysterious, migratory 

 and remittent lameness which can usually be located in the complicated 

 articulation, such as the coffin joint, the fetlock, the tarsus, the stifle, the hip 

 or the shoulder. It is somewhat more common in the hind-legs than in the 

 fore ones. This lameness is accompanied in every case by evidence of 

 listlessness, fatigue or slight anorexia. None of these general symptoms are 

 very well marked; in fact they frequently do not attract the attention of 

 their keepers until careful inquiry is made. The condition of flesh during 



