542 
RHEUMATIC LAMENESS. 
stance had occurred in the course of a case of pleurisy, and men- 
tion was made of it as follows : — 
“ On the 9th February (1829), on seeing her (the mare) walk 
out, I found her halting exceedingly with the off fore leg : I exa- 
mined it, and it proved to be precisely similar to a sprain, so 
that, had I been ignorant of its spontaneous origin, I should have 
called it a sprain in the back sinews. I could not at the time, 
nor have I been able since to, account for it*.” In the year follow- 
ing, viz. 1830, the late Mr. Castley sent a paper expressly on 
the subject of “ metastasis of inflammation,” to The VETERINA- 
RIAN!, wherein, after observing, “ we have all of us occasionally 
witnessed instances of what is called acute founder, or inflamma- 
tion of the feet, occurring as a supervening consequence of severe 
or long-continued attacks of pneumonia,” he goes on to say — “ But 
I think I have more frequently observed a painful inflammatory 
affection of the tendons and tarsse about the back of the large 
pastern joint, appearing as a subsequent consequence in cases of 
this kind, and which is often confined to one leg only, but some- 
times shifts from one limb to another. I am not aware that this 
circumstance has yet been noticed by any veterinary writer.” 
The fact, however, had been noticed and recorded by myself, as I 
have already shewn, in the foregoing year. 
Two interesting cases are brought forward by Mr. Castley in 
the paper alluded to ; one well calculated to shew the erratic or 
metastatic, or, as we have regarded it, the rheumatic character of 
the disease ; the other worthy our notice from the circumstance of 
its passing out of hand uncured. The cases are these : — 
Case I. “ A young horse belonging to the regiment (the 12th Lancers, 
stationed at the time at Brighton) had been suffering under a very severe 
and long-protracted attack of inflammation of the lungs : the case was for some 
time doubtful : ultimately, however, it seemed to be doing well, when, all of 
a sudden, the patient was seized with lameness in two legs (the near-fore 
and off-hind), but more especially the near-fore, where he evinced much 
pain, on the slightest pressure, over the back part of the pastern joint. 
Local bleeding and the warm bath were the remedies employed ; and, on the 
third or fourth day, this affection as suddenly shifted into the two opposite 
legs ; appearing, however, in a less violent form. A few days afterwards it 
seemed to leave the fore extremities altogether, and to fix itself in the two 
hind ones ; then, in a few days more, it changed back again into the near- 
fore leg, where it first began, and there it ultimately ended ; leaving, how- 
ever, no bad effects behind. The horse perfectly recovered.” 
Case 2. “ A brown mare, six years old, and in fat condition, was admitted 
into the infirmary stables, Piers-hill Barracks, on the 16th of July last, with 
what might be called a smart attack of pneumonia, but which appeared 
speedily to give way to bleeding, &c. : the pulse and breathing had become 
tranquil, and there seemed to be nothing to fear. When horses are thus 
* Veterinarian, vol. ii, p. 283. | Vol. iii, p. 139, et seq. 
