188 
OBSERVATIONS ON INFLUENZA IN HORSES. 
which the animal labours from the first ; the languor and lassitude 
about him ; above all, the manifest debility present, the weakness 
in his loins, and the difficulty with which he sustains himself in 
his waddling or staggering walk ; the state of the pulse ; the irre- 
gularity of the disturbance in the respiration, together with the 
circumstance of there being more of nervousness or irritability in 
the quickened breathing than of pain or labour in it : these symp- 
toms, with the accompaniments of sore throat, & c., must guide the 
observant practitioner to a safe diagnosis ; in which he will be, 
if not in the first instance, surely after a time, most materially 
assisted by the circumstance of the disorder appearing as an epi- 
demic. In fact, during the seasons of prevalence of influenza, it 
is common to set almost every case of illness or indisposition 
down to it ; and it is not often we err in so doing. 
TREATMENT. — The treatment pursued by Mr. Hayes, V.S., 
Rochdale, in the influenza of 1836, was v.s. ad lb. viij vel x, 
with a second blood letting about the third day, when requisite ; 
and balls composed of potass, nitrat., antimon. potass, tart., digi- 
talis, potass, sulphas, & zingib. pulv. By such treatment he suc- 
ceeded “ in 79 severe cases out of 82*.” Professor Sewell for the 
epidemic of the same year recommended blood-letting “ in large or 
small quantities, according to the degree of inflammation and state 
of the pulse, and repeated it until the inflammation was subdued. 
He inserted setons in the neck and chest ; gave from two to four 
drachms of aloes, and afterwards slight diuretics composed chiefly 
of nitre,” — “ He gave no medicinal stimulants, thinking food the 
best tonic t.” Mr. Stewart’s (late veterinary professor at Glasgow) 
treatment for the influenza of the same year consisted in “ copious 
depletion, gentle laxatives, spare diet, and throat blisters*.” — 
Mr. Jeffery, Y.S., Blandford, had more than 100 cases of the in- 
fluenza of 1836, and lost but three out of them. His treatment 
Was blood-letting at first, and then spts. aether, nit. 5j> cum liquor, 
ammon. acetat. Jv in a drink twice a-day. After the fever was 
over he had recourse to vegetable tonics — gentian, ginger, &c.t. 
Mr. Gutteridge, V.S., Carmarthen, for the same influenza, gives 
an aloetic aperient daily until the bowels are “ moderately open ;” 
applies blisters to the throat; foments and bandages the legs; and 
during convalescence exhibits “ mild tonic and diuretic medicine*.” 
The epidemic of the same year (1836) became extensively preva- 
lent among the horses of the 10th Hussars, and proved at first very 
fatal : fifteen horses died of it, eleven between the 2d and 14th 
Jan. 1837. Mr. Gloag, the veterinary surgeon to the regiment, 
who has given an excellent account of this epidemic;};, at first re- 
* Veterinarian for 1836. f Veterinarian for 1837. 
I In The Veterinarian for 1836, 1837. 
