266 
Cfommuntcattons anti (Kasstg. 
Ars veterinaria post medicinam secunda est.— Veyetius. 
ON PNEUMONIA. 
By Mr . Lang worthy. 
[Read at the Veterinary Medieal Society, March 4, 1829.] 
THE disease whose nature and treatment we are about to consider 
is one, perhaps, to which our attention is more frequently called 
than any other to which the horse is subject. It is a disease 
fraught with danger, and one that, without the most skilful treat¬ 
ment, will annoy and perplex the practitioner by its speedy and 
fatal termination. It is also a malady where the immediate and 
prompt adoption of the curative means is essential. I have little 
doubt that most of us have experienced the vexation of being 
called to a case, at no great distance of time, perhaps, from the first 
attack, yet when no chance of recovery has existed. We have been 
compelled to do something, because we are told that whilst there 
is life there is hope, and we begin and continue working against, 
the stream, until death puts a period to the poor animal’s suffer¬ 
ings and to our futile exertions—futile only because not earlier 
resorted to. There appears to be a much greater disposition in 
the lungs of horses to take on inflammatory action than in most 
other animals ; but whence or how this predisposition arises is a 
point that can only be answered by supposition; but that it does 
exist, is an assertion supported by facts, and one upon which I 
believe I am right in saying most veterinary writers are agreed. 
They tell us that the lungs form an extremely large viscus, that 
they have a great extent of surface, and extreme vascularity. The 
last of these circumstances, together with the complete life of 
art the animal leads, appears to me to be a very probable cause 
of Pneumonia. Having said thus much, I shall proceed to a 
consideration of the causes (perhaps I had better say the exciting 
causes) and effects of this insidious disease. 
1st, Change of temperature. 
2d, Over-exertion. 
3d, An impure atmosphere. 
4th, High feeding, with v mt of exercise. 
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