608 



Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology of the 



what oppressed, the appetite diminished, rumination suspended, 

 bowels constipated, surface of the body chilly, &c. In the more 

 advanced stages the respiration is difficult, laboured, and pain- 

 ful ; the patient is frequently lying, or if standing, the head is 

 protruded ; the mouth is covered with a frothy saliva ; the muzzle 

 is cold ; rigors occasionally come on ; and the pulse is rapid and 

 often indistinct. An enlargement of the right side of the chest 

 can generally be detected in this stage of the malady; percus- 

 sion gives a dull sound, and auscultation detects an increased 

 bronchial respiration, with a crepitating rale in some parts, but 

 a total absence of sound in others. Approaching death is shown 

 by frequent moaning, grinding of teeth, total loathing of food, 

 cold extremities, wavering pulse, distressed breathing, liquid 

 stools, and distension of the rumen by the disengagement of 

 gaseous compounds from the ingesta. This deranged condition 

 of the digestive organs is probably owing to the high carboniza- 

 tion of the blood ; as the elimination of the carbonic acid is 

 prevented by the obliteration of the air-cells of the lungs. 



The length of this lecture forbids a more minute detail as well 

 as a separate analyzation of the symptoms, and therefore I pass 

 on to speak of the principles which should govern our treatment 

 of the disease. The first remedy to which I shall allude is 

 bloodletting. The propriety of abstracting blood will depend 

 on the stage of the malady, and the amount of symptomatic fever 

 which is present. It must be done early, or not at all; for in 

 proportion to the extent of the effusion, so will be the debility of 

 the patient. To bleed late is to hasten a fatal termination ; but 

 if we attend to the animal at the very commencement of the 

 disease, much good will be done by a bold bloodletting. No 

 rule, however, can be laid down as to quantity to be abstracted, 

 but the pulse must be carefully watched, and as soon as its 

 character is altered the bleeding must be suspended. I do 

 not recommend an early bloodletting for the single purpose of 

 allaying the febrile condition of the system, but to withdraw a 

 portion of the vitiated fluid which has laid the foundation for, and 

 is quickly building up, the disease. 



Another remedy of frequent adoption is the exhibition of 

 purgative medicine. In most disorders it is of the first import- 

 ance to clear out the primes via?, as thereby we not only remove 

 offensive and offending matters from the system, but subdue the 

 excitation w hich is present by the nauseating effects of the medi- 

 cine, which is further assisted by the agent increasing the intes- 

 tinal and other secretions. If constipation is present, even in the 

 advanced stages of pleuropneumonia, a gentle aperient may be 

 given, but v cathartics should be avoided. I have already stated 

 that diarrhoea often comes on as the case approaches its end ; 

 and it should be remembered that this morbid condition of the 



