444 DISEASES OF THE HOBSE. 



way peculiar outside the imperfectly understood exciting cause. The 

 practitioner who allows the acute symptoms of the laminitis to mis- 

 lead him, simply because their severity has overshadowed those of the 

 primary disease, may lose his case through unguarded subsequent 

 treatment. This form of laminitis is by no means commonly met 

 M'ith. It may be found in conjunction with pneumonia, according to 

 Youatt with inflammation of the bowels and eyes, and according to 

 Law and Williams sometimes with bronchitis. 



Symptoms.- — Laminitis is characterized by a congregation of symp- 

 toms so well marked as scarcely to be misinterpreted by the most 

 casual observer. They are nearly constant in their manifestations, 

 modified by the number of feet affected, the cause which has induced 

 the disease, the previous condition of the patient, and the various 

 other influences which to some extent operate in all diseases. They 

 may be divided into general symptoms, which are concomitants of all 

 cases of the disease, subject to variations in degree only, and special 

 symptoms, or those which serve to determine the feet affected and the 

 complications which may arise. 



General syTnftoms. — Usually, the first symptom is the interfer- 

 ence with lomomotion. Occasionally the other symptoms are pre- 

 sented first. As the lameness develops the pulse becomes accelerated, 

 full, hard, and strikes the finger strongly ; the temperature soon rises 

 several degrees above the normal, reaching sometimes 106° F. ; it 

 generally ranges betAveen 102.5° and 105° F. The respirations are 

 rapid and panting in character, the nostrils widely dilated, and the 

 mucous membranes highly injected. The facial expression is anxious 

 and indicative of the most acute suffering, while the body is more or 

 less bedewed with sweat. At first there may be a tendency to diar- 

 rhea, or it may appear later as the result of the medicines used. The 

 urine is high colored, scant in quantity, and of increased specific 

 gravity, owing to the water being eliminated by th© skin instead of 

 the kidneys. The appetite is impaired, sometimes entirely lost, but 

 thirst is greatly increased. The affected feet are hot and dry, and 

 as much as possible are relieved from bearing weight. Rapping them 

 with a hammer, or compelling the animal to stand upon one affected 

 member, causes intense pain. The artery at the fetlock throbs 

 beneath the finger. 



Special symptoms. — Liability to affection varies in the different 

 feet according to the exciting cause. Any one or more of the feet 

 may become the subject of this disease, although it appears more 

 often in the fore feet than in the hind ones. This is due to the 

 difference of the function, i. e., that the fore feet are the bases of 

 the columns of support, receiving nearly all the body weight during 

 progression and consequently most of the concussion, while the hind 



