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posture. In very bad cases, the horse will slowly rear on his hind legs 
when made to move. The pulse is quick and sharp, and the breathing is 
hurried and distressed. If the hind feet are alone affected, the fore feet are 
directed backwards underneath the body. When all four feet are affected, 
the patient usually prefers the recumbent posture. The hoofs when felt are 
noticed to be much hotter than in health; and some observers have 
recorded that they have seen blood ooze from the coronets. Distinct 
throbbing of the arteries of the pastern may also sometimes be felt. The 
action of a horse affected in the hind feet only, somewhat resembles that of 
stringhalt. If the hoof be tapped sharply, the horse manifests considerable 
uneasiness. Sometimes in his agony, a horse will perspire profusely and 
gasp for breath. 
The symptoms presented by a horse suffering from acute laminitis, 
sometimes lead to the supposition on the part of the unskilled, that it is 
inflammation of the lungs, which the animal is affected with. We have often 
been called to bad cases of so-called inflammation of the lungs, which we 
have found to be in reality, pure and uncomplicated attacks of “fever in the 
feet.” In this connection, however, it may be mentioned that horses affected 
with this disease, sometimes suddenly develop inflammation of the lungs 
or bowels, or pleurisy, or first one and then another. In pathological 
language, this kind of rapid change in the seat of a disease is called 
-“ metastasis.” 
During the year 1883, we were called to attend a five-year old valuable 
dark brown hunter, the property of a dealer resident in a town in 
Lincolnshire. The number of respirations per minute was 74, the 
temperature 105° F., and the pulse 96. The disease was confined to the 
fore feet. As the horse was very plethoric, four quarts of blood were 
abstracted from the jugular vein. The animal was bled locally at the 
coronets. The feet were afterwards placed in atub of hot water for over 
twenty-four hours. 
On the following day, the animal was much better, and hot bran 
poultices were substituted for the hot water. The pulse was now 82, and the 
respirations 54. On the third day, although the feet were better, the pulse 
was 84, and the breathing numbered 68 per minute. At this juncture, as 
frequently happens in acute laminitis, the horse developed all the symptoms 
of acute pleurisy. This complication was treated by the application of the 
hot pack to the chest, the internal remedies not being altered. On the. 
fourth day, the pulse remained the same, but on the fifth and sixth days it 
gradually fellto 52. After this time the patient improved rapidly. On the 
seventh day, towards evening, the owner came in a hurry to announce that 
the animal was colicked. We found him to be ‘suffering from acute 
inflammation of the bowels, and the pulse again rose to 80. This new 
complication was treated with morphia, and mustard poultices were applied 
to the belly. On the eighth day, there was not much alteration in the 
condition of the patient, but on the ninth, the pain ceased; and the pulse 
fell. Then, until the twelfth, the animal continued to improve. On the- 
