172 
THE HOUSE.—NO. 4 . 
“ There are two circumstances, which, more than any others, 
will enable the veterinary surgeon, and the owner of a horse, ac¬ 
curately to judge of the character and degree of many diseases, 
and to which very few pay sufficient attention; these are the 
pulse, and the colour of the membrane of the nose. It is the 
custom of most veterinary surgeons, and of almost every horse¬ 
man who takes any pains to ascertain for himself the state of 
his sick horse, to turn down the under eye-lid,* and to form his 
opinion by the colour which its lining presents. If it be very 
red, there is considerable fever; if it be of a pale pinkish hue, 
there is little danger. The nose is more easily got at; the sur¬ 
face presented to the view is more extensive; the sympathy with 
almost all the important organs is greater; and the changes pro¬ 
duced by disease are more striking and more conclusive. Let the 
reader first make himself well acquainted with the uniform pale 
pink appearance of that portion of the membrane which covers 
the lower part of the cartilaginous partition between the nostrils 
when the horse is in health and quiet; then the increased blush 
of red, betokening some excitement of the system; the streaked 
appearance of inflammation commenced, and threatening to in¬ 
crease ; the intense florid red of acute inflammation; the pale 
ground with patches of vivid red, showing the half-subdued, but 
still existing fever; the uniform colour, although somewhat redder 
than natural, predicting a return to a healthy circulation; the 
paleness approaching to white, marking the stage of debility, and 
sometimes intermingled with radiations of crimson, inducing the 
suspicion of lurking mischief; and the dark livid colour of ap¬ 
proaching stagnation of the vital current: these, with all their 
shades of difference, will be guides to his opinion and treat¬ 
ment, which every one who has studied them will highly ap¬ 
preciate. 
VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
JANUARY 14, 1330. 
Mr. W. Goodwin in the Chair . 
Some business having preceded, and the hour being late 
when Mr. Youatt’s paper on the Distemper of Dogs was read, 
the discussion of it was merely conversational. 
In reply to various questions, Mr. Youatt stated that he had 
never endeavoured to produce the disease by the transfusion of 
blood ; and that he had long given up inoculation with the matter 
of distemper, because, even taken in an early period of the ma¬ 
lady, and when the discharge w r as not purulent, it had uniformly 
