538 On Mismanagement of Farm- Horses, 



active, and the action of remedies comparatively certain. Unless, 

 however, a change for the better is either naturally or artificially 

 brought about, the number and intensity of the symptoms go on 

 increasing; the conservative power of nature becomes impaired; 

 the disease, from being merely local, involves the whole system ; 

 the digestive functions are deranged, the circulation, and hence 

 the respiration, affected ; morbid changes are in progress ; and 

 remedies act slowly and uncertainly, and are often quite ineffec- 

 tual in controlling or subduing the now fully developed disease. 

 In pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs, for example, there is 

 at first merely coldness of the surface, cough, fever, slightly 

 accelerated pulse or breathing ; and well-directed measures will 

 often entirely and speedily avert further evil effects. Should this 

 stage, however, be allowed to pass unattended to, these symptoms 

 become aggravated ; effusions are poured into the areolar struc- 

 ture of the lungs, become organised, and, as no treatment whatever 

 can remove them, they often, even when recovery takes place, 

 interfere with the important functions of respiration, and perma- 

 nently impair the integrity of the organs. 



There are, we believe, but few diseases which do not afford 

 the clearest and most incontrovertible evidence of the importance 

 of early judicious treatment, and the injurious consequences of the 

 neglect of such treatment. This is however chiefly observable in 

 acute diseases. It is well shown, for example, in enteritis. In 

 the horse this disease sometimes runs its fatal course in six hours, 

 and even in four ; and unless the earliest symptoms be noticed and 

 combated, there is but little hope of a successful issue. The in- 

 flammation affects the mucous coat of the intestines, exhibits 

 great tendency to spread to all parts of this delicate and sensitive 

 membrane, and also involves the serous and muscular coats. It 

 is on this account that such cases are so unmanageable ; for the 

 rapidly extending inflammation and great amount of effusion pro- 

 duce such a shock, and cause so much debility, that death speedily 

 ensues. 



Wounds, when neglected, frequently take on very unfavourable 

 conditions, which ordinary attention might have easily prevented. 

 Simple incised wounds, from want of cleanliness, often run on to 

 suppuration; and in certain situations, where matter or other 

 irritants are permitted to accumulate, sinuses and fistulae are fre- 

 quently induced. Thus, slight injuries about the poll or withers^ 

 or in the neighbourhood of ligamentous and fibrous tissues, when 

 not properly attended to, often run on to the formation of exten- 

 sive, deep-seated, and tedious wounds. Pricks and other injuries 

 of the foot, when promptly attended to, are generally easy of cure ; 

 but when neglected, give rise, amongst other diseases, to sinuses 

 or quitters, which pass in various directions, destroying the con- 



