180 ACITES. 
lowest, none think that all of animated creatures are born with rights; 
no one behaves as though domesticated animals were only intrusted to 
the care of man. Violation of moral conditions begins the evil, which 
ends in cheatery and robbery of one another. 
The symptoms which announce that the serous membrane has effused 
water into the abdomen are a want of spirit; constant lying down and 
remaining in one position for a long period; perpetual restlessness; 
thirst; loss of appetite; thinness; weakness; enlarged abdomen; con- 
stipation and hide-bound. 
The enlargement of the belly has something peculiar in it; the swell- 
ing lies toward the inferior portion of the abdomen. Near the loins 
there is apparently an empty space; if the hamd be placed on the en- 
largement, and another person strikes the belly on the opposite side, a 
sense of fluctuation can be distinctly felt. If the horse be thrown upon 
its back, the swelling will, with the change of position, gravitate toward 
the loins. At length small bags containing fluid depend from the chest 
and the inferior surface of the belly. Should the disease be suffered to 
progress, the sheath and one leg generally enlarge; the hair of the mane 
A HORSE WITH ACITES, OR ABDOMINAL DROPSY. 
breaks off and is easily pulled out. Where once hung the tail now re- 
mains little more than the dock with a few scattered hairs. Ultimately 
purgation starts up, which terminates the suffering. 
Of course, after effusion, all treatment is powerless—creatures in the 
last stage of dropsy presenting sights which the mind shudders to con- 
template; objects of this kind are sometimes to be seen on commons in 
