THOUGHTS ON INFLUENZA. 
215 
was astonished to see the cow becoming rapidly worse 
after the operation. She was a very nice half-bred, short- 
horn cow, and an excellent milker, and had a short time 
previously been bought for £17. She proved to be about five 
months gone with calf. I should not have troubled you with 
the details of this case, but, knowing that your valuable 
Journal frequently finds its way into the hands of farmers 
and breeders of stock, I have thought that perhaps its narration 
might tend to lessen such occurrences. 
THOUGHTS ON INFLUENZA. 
By G. Armatage, Y.S., Sheffield. 
. ( Continued from jo. 139.) 
Respecting the nature of influenza, I believe much diver- 
sity of opinion exists. For my own part, I class it under the 
head of “low typhoid diseases/ 5 the accuracy of which, I 
think, will be fully confirmed by the facts mentioned in my 
former paper, as well as from the treatment. That it is a con- 
gestive disease is also proved by the circumstance of the’ ex- 
treme debility and oppression, together with the nearly total 
absence of lymph in the post-mortem appearances. And that 
it is not inflammatory, by the fact that inflammation, purely 
so, cannot exist at the same time with debility ; the latter 
always following the former as an effect on the shock produced 
upon the system by the destruction of the balance of the 
vital forces. 
Some time ago I was requested by a young professional 
friend to examine a case of influenza with him, which he had 
had under treatment some time, and about which he was 
extremely anxious. After detailing to me the symptoms he 
had noticed, he remarked, with all the sedatives he could 
muster to his aid, that the pulse defied all attempts to 
reduce it in frequency and strength : it lost its volume, and 
the mare sank. Opium had been employed to relieve the 
spasms ; and although solution of aloes was extensively em- 
ployed, no purgation ensued, or the slightest response of the 
bowels. Bleeding had been resorted to at first, still all was 
futile. 
So long as this complaint is considered an inflammatory 
one, no doubt the above treatment is the most consistent ; 
but I am inclined to designate it “ wholesale slaughter/ 5 for 
