GENERAL DISEASES. 



487 



INFLAMMATION. 



[Synonyms: Inflammatio, Latin, from inflammare, to flame, to burn; phleg- 

 masia (pXsyuaSia, Greek ; inflammation, French ; infiammazione, Italian ; In- 

 flamacidn, Spanish ; Entmiindung, German.] 



Inflammation is a hypernutrition of a tissue. It is described by 

 Doctor Agnew, the surgeon, as " a double-edged sword, cutting either 

 way for good or for evil." The increased nutrition may be moderate 

 and cause a growth of new tissue, a simple increase of quantity at 

 first ; or it may produce a new growth differing in quality ; or it may 

 be so great that, like luxuriant, overgrown weeds, the elements die 

 from their very haste of growth, and we have immediate destruction 

 of the part. According to the rapidity and intensity of the process 

 of structural changes which takes place in an inflamed tissue, inflam- 

 mation is described as acute or chronic, with a vast number of inter- 

 mediate forms. When the phenomena are marked it is termed 

 sthenic; when less distinct, as the result of a broken-down and feeble 

 constitution in the animal, it is called asthenic. Certain inflamma- 

 tions are specific, as in strangles, the horsepox, glanders, etc., where a 

 characteristic or specific cause or condition is added to the origin, 

 character of phenomena, or alterations which result from an ordinary 

 inflammation. An inflammation may be circumscribed or limited, 

 as in the abscess on the neck caused by the pressure of a collar, in 

 pneumonia, in glanders, in the small tumors of a splint or a jack; or 

 it may be diffuse, as in severe fistulas of the withers, in an extensive 

 lung fever, in the legs in a case of grease, or in the spavins which 

 affect horses with poorly nourished bones. The causes of inflamma- 

 tion are practically the same as those of congestion, which is the 

 initial step of all inflammation. 



The temperament of a horse predisposes the animal to inflamma- 

 tion of certain organs. A full-blooded animal, whose veins show on 

 the surface of the body, and which has a strong, bounding heart 

 pumping large quantities of blood into the vascular organs like the 

 lungs, the intestines, and the laminae of the feet, is more apt to have 

 pneumonia, congestive colics, and founder, than lymphatic, cold- 

 blooded animals which have pleurisies, inflammation of the bones, 

 spavins, ringbones, inflammation of the glands of the less vascular 

 skin of the extremities, greasy heels, thrush, etc. 



Young horses have inflammation of the membranes lining the air 

 passages and digestive tract, while older animals are more subject to 

 troubles in the closed serous sacs and in the bones. 



The work to which a horse is put (saddle or harness, speed or 

 draft) will influence the predisposition of an animal to inflammatory 

 diseases. As in congestion, the functional activity of a part is an 

 important factor in localizing this form of disease. Given a group 

 of horses exposed to the same draft of cold air or other exciting 



