INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 
57 
deep-rooted inflammation, but assuredly from the very reverse. 
It has been caused by an extraordinary degree of inflamma¬ 
tion bursting the coating of the vessels and filling the air- 
cells with blood, and having thus instantly destroyed their 
functions. 
There are bad cases, which are not so rapid in their 
termination, but which are nevertheless equally fatal. This 
happens when no rupture in the vessels has taken place; 
and although means have been adopted to take off the 
pressure of the inflammation, yet these have been insufficient 
to produce the desired effect. In such a case the breath of 
the horse will be extremely disagreeable, with a running at 
the nostrils, which is a sure indication that mortification has 
taken place in the substance of the lungs, and that death 
will soon follow. 
Inflammation of the lungs will be distinguished from 
inflammation of the bowels, by the pulse in the latter case 
being small and wiry ; the mucous membrane of the nose 
not being so red, and by pains in the belly, which are indi¬ 
cated by kicking, pulling, stamping, &c. 
Cause. —This malady is brought on by the numerous and 
sudden transitions from heat to cold, to which most horses 
are subjected. They are, under the careless and wanton 
folly of masters and grooms, often galloped, or otherwise 
worked and overheated, and then permitted to cool in the 
open air, or in the draught of a stable. The stable itself is 
also kept too hot, frequently from twenty-five to thirty degrees 
beyond that of the atmosphere ; and its air is but too often 
of an impure kind, and which being breathed affects the mem¬ 
brane which lines the cells of the lungs. This is weakened, 
and hence rendered susceptible of irritation and inflamma¬ 
tion from breathing an atmosphere which is impregnated 
with ammoniacal gas, generated by the manure and urine. 
