564 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO TIIE PATHOLOGY AND 
or diffusive character, or its rapid appearance in first one part of 
the organism and then another ; together with its frequent com- 
plication with scarlet fever, and the stiffness which is exhibited by 
the animal when made to move ; are all states and symptoms so 
indicative of this malady as scarcely to allow of a mistake, by the 
careful observer, as to its nature. The only disease with which it 
might be confounded is that of LYMPHATITIS* ; a careful attention, 
however, to a few prominent facts in relation with this latter dis- 
ease, will prevent even this. In very acute cases of lymphatitis, 
one of the limbs (generally a hind one) suddenly begins to inflame 
and swell, and this swelling, at times, will reach to an enormous 
size ; but the disease seldom, or perhaps never, attacks more than 
one limb at a time; and I may add, that it is seldom or never 
manifested in association with any other acute disease. 
Duration of Purpura. — The duration of this malady is extremely 
uncertain ; it may subside, and the animal become convalescent, 
in the course of four or five days, or even earlier : or it may ex- 
tend, as it did in one case which I had, to as many months. Its 
duration will greatly depend upon the previous state of the 
animal’s health, or upon the state of the vital energies at the time 
of being attacked ; upon the treatment of the disease at its com- 
mencement, and upon its complications. John Field says, its 
duration is “ from three to seven days, in fatal cases : if the horse 
survive that period, though the circumstance is favourable, it may 
recur, and prove fatal, by deposits in vital organs, or by gradually 
exhausting the vital powers.” The duration of the disease in 
Case II was seventeen days ; in Case IV, eight or nine days ; 
and in Case V, supposing the disease to have immediately super- 
vened upon the disappearance of the pleuritis, its duration would 
be five days. From the fact of the proneness, as it were, of the 
disease to deviate from its original course, to suddenly attack 
internal viscera, and deposit large quantities of blood amongst the 
tissues constituting such viscera, its duration in consequence, I 
again repeat, is rendered extremely uncertain. This change in 
the course of the disease is attended with one or two peculiarities, 
which are worthy of especial note. The patient, to all appearance, 
begins to improve ; the limbs suddenly become less in size (as in 
Case IV for instance) ; the movements are performed with more 
freedom ; and the countenance becomes more lively. Soon after- 
wards, symptoms of abdominal irritation of a subacute character 
are manifested, which symptoms generally continue from six to 
twelve and even twenty-four hours ; at the end of which time the 
animal usually becomes quiet, and the limbs again begin to fill as 
* A disease which I have described, and shewn the nature of, in the first 
of these Contributions. See Contribution I, in The Veterinarian for 1849. 
