PLEURISY. 137 
been mistaken for a fit of spasmodic colic. A little care will guard 
against so fatal an error. The pulse, in colic, is always natural at the 
commencement, and the fits, when they first occur, are invariably of short 
duration. In pleurisy, the vessel strikes the fingers; the blow is strong, 
and the artery is thin; the pain is continuous; the agony never remits 
or ceases ; the horse never feeds; the body is hot, and indicates the fire 
within; the feet are icy cold; the muscles are frequently corrugated in 
patches, and partial perspirations break forth upou the surface ; a cough 
is often, not invariably, present; it is always suppressed and dry; it 
suggests no notion that the intent is to clear the throat; the inclination 
to cough, from the larynx sympathizing with the lungs, is great; the 
feeling cannot be entirely mastered,—but the horse is fearful of indulging 
an impulse, which would violently shake the inflamed chest. The ear, 
placed against the ribs, detects a grating sound, and the respiratory 
murmur is less clear than usual. Pressure made on the free interspaces 
between the ribs sometimes deprives the animal almost of consciousness ; 
it shrinks, and were the torture continued, it would fall. At other times 
anguish maddens even timidity,—the foot is lifted or the teeth are dis- 
played, to repel the tormentor. When left alone, the head is frequently 
turned toward the side, with a piteous stare of wonder and inquiry. 
Altogether the animal is, as it were, inspirited by the disorder. 
A HORSE SUFFERING UNDER PLEURISY. 
The fore foot is scarcely ever quiet; it constantly paws, which action, 
in the horse, always expresses impatience or pain. The breathing, of 
course, is peculiar; a full inspiration the animal dare not take. Before 
inhalation is half completed the ribs fly backward. However, the back- 
ward action has hardly been accomplished before anguish once more 
compels a change; thus the breathing, to a looker-on, appears short, 
jerking, quick, and always imperfect. 
