GENERAL INDICATIONS OF ILL-HEALTH. 1 69 
mild work carried on for many hours at a stretch and therefore 
curtailing the time for feeding, sleep and rest. 
(d) Insanitary conditions. — Want of cleanliness in standings, 
, sheds and surroundings. 
(e) Worms. — That is internal parasites, by depriving the animal 
of nutriment, or actually robbing him of his blood. 
(/") Abuse of drugs. — Gilchrist states that this condition may 
be induced by the excessive use of mercurial preparations vv^hich 
some mahouts undoubtedly are fond of employing. 
(^) Suppurating wounds. — When these are extensive or chronic, 
the constant discharges issuing therefrom cause a drain on the 
system. 
Debility in some degree must of necessity accompany all consti- 
tutional ailments and is the outcome of profound changes in the 
constitution of the blood. Every one must have heard the adage 
blood is life it necessarily follows that the vitality and nutrition 
of every structure and organ of the body must depend on the 
quality and quantity of this fluid supplied to them. When this is 
lacking in quality or quantity, the organs and vital processes from 
poverty of nutriment are unable to perform their functions as 
satisfactorily as in health. Debility is directly therefore the 
outcome of depravity of the blood and is shown in very many ways. 
Symptoms : Weakness. — Which may vary from mere listless- 
ness, restlessness at night and unwillingness to work, to prostration 
or utter helplessness. 
^ 2. Anemia (bloodlessness). — Which may vary from slight pallor 
of the mucous membranes to extreme blanching. 
' 3. Emaciation. — Which may only be so slight that the natural 
depressions and projections of the surface are accentuated, or so 
pronounced that the beast becomes a skeleton. 
4. The heart. — Owing to the inferior quality of blood supplied 
for its own nutrition, becomes weakened and unable to perform its 
functions satisfactorily, hence those parts furthest removed, especi- 
ally the tail, and those with paucity of circulation, the ears, may 
suffer ulceration or actual destruction (mortification). The pulse 
becomes weak ; respiration is hurried, the animal pants on the least 
exertion, and if pressed may drop dead (heart failure) ; dropsical 
swellings, thit (ogc5), frequently occur owing to the watery condi- 
tion of the blood permitting a leakage or sweating of this fluid 
through the walls of the vessels into the tissues surrounding them. 
The fluid then by force of gravity occupies the most dependent 
parts. In the case of cavities such as the abdomen, it may collect 
in large quantities constituting what is known as dropsy. Gilchrist 
and Forsyth have noted that sores and extensive sloughing of the 
