Catarrhal Bronchitis. • 209 



which vomition was caused by an over dose of aconite, and a 

 portion of the food entered the bronchi. 



In this connection must be named the introduction into the 

 bronchia of liquids forcibly administered to horses and cattle. In 

 the horse the length of the soft palate enables him to hold liquids 

 in the mouth during his pleasure, and among the expedients 

 adopted to coerce him are the very dangerous ones of holding the 

 nostrils and of pouring the liquid through the nose. When the 

 nostrils are held the urgent demand for air leads to attempts to 

 breathe through the mouth, and, whether he succeeds in this or 

 not, the usual result is the drawing of a portion of the liquid 

 into the lungs. When it is poured through the nose the animal 

 cannot protect himself except by rapid gulping, and as he must 

 breathe, a portion of the liquid is usually drawn into the lungs. 

 Any irritant taken in this way will develop bronchitis, and some 

 bland agents like melted lard are almost equally injurious. Cattle 

 having a short palate can scarcely resist swallowing liquids that 

 are poured into the mouth, but a cough with the succeeding 

 quick inspiration will almost certainly draw a portion into the 

 bronchia. To return to the influence of cold, exposed situations 

 which receive the full force of cold winds, those from the north 

 and west on the Atlantic slope are specially conducive to bron- 

 chitis. Exposure of newly clipped animals to stand without pro- 

 tection in winter or early spring, has the same tendency. Finally 

 the inhalation of smoke or of heated and irritant gases and 

 vapors, as in a burning building, is an effective factor. 



Poisoning by mercury or alkalies determines catarrhal bron- 

 chitis. 



Symptoms. In its mildest form catarrhal bronchitis is a tran- 

 sient illness with some dullness, impaired appetite, hot, dry 

 mouth, redness of the visible mucous membranes, a moderately 

 strong, resonant cough, attended with slight fever, slight rise 

 of temperature, accelerated breathing and pulse, and mucous 

 discharge from the nose. Such an attack passes over in a few 

 days and without any medicinal treatment if ordinary precau- 

 tions are taken to avoid a repetition of its causes. 



In severe cases the symptoms are more intense from the first, 

 microbian invasion and absorption of toxins causing general dis- 

 order. Besides the dullness and inappetence, hot,, dry mouth, gen- 

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