348 PRINCIPLES OP VETERINARY SCIENCE 



Cause. — The exact cause is not known. The disease is gen- 

 erally considered hereditary, but by many is believed to be due 

 to a specific germ. In many countries affected stallions are dis- 

 qualified by law as unfit for public service. 



Symptoms. — The first attacks are shorter in duration than 

 later ones. An interval of several weeks intervenes between 

 attacks. A diffuse inflammation of all parts of the eye occurs, 

 with a profuse flow of tears, swollen lids, and great sensitiveness 

 to light. With each succeeding attack the normally transparent 

 structures become gradually clouded and opaque, until per- 

 manent blindness results. In old cases the eyeball atrophies 

 and recedes into its socket. This causes the upper lid to buckle 

 near the center and to form what appears to be a third canthus. 



Treatment. — Place the animal in a darkened stall at once. 

 Cover the eye with a soft cloth or compress to be kept wet with a 

 saturated solution of boric acid. Once the lens of the eye loses 

 its transparency nothing can be done to restore the sight. 



MUSCULAR RHEUMATISM] 



Muscular rheumatism is a non-infectious disease of the muscles 

 of rather rare occurrence in horses and cattle. It may be either 

 acute or chronic in its course. 



Causes.- — The causes are unknown. Cold and dampness are 

 predisposing factors. It seems that the direct cause is either an 

 infection or auto-intoxication. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms are a shifting lameness, which 

 develops suddenly after a previous cooling, pain evinced on pal- 

 pation of the affected parts, and a mild fever. 



Treatment. — This consists in the external application of moist 

 warmth, massage, and liniment containing spirits of camphor. 

 Salicylate of soda administered internally in two dram doses two 

 or three times daily, according to the severity of the case, usually 

 proves beneficial. 



PLEURISY 



Pleuritis is inflammation of the pleura, the serous membrane 

 that covers the lungs and lines the thorax and anterior surface 

 of the diaphragm. It occurs in horses and all other domestic 

 animals, but is usually secondary to some other disease. The 

 changes either result in an effusion of serous fluid into the pleural 



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