105 
FISHER V. JOYCE. 
that has had chronic inflammation is more liable to be attacked by acute in¬ 
flammation to the end of life: and when chronic inflammation has had an 
attack of acute inflammation immediately upon it, the acute may subside for 
awhile, and then another attack occur, and each causing more mischief than 
the last. 
Inflammation may arise fi’om very slight cold, such as scarcely would 
attract attention. I opened a horse yesterday that was perfectly fat with 
a disease of the lungs upon him. I have seen many such in the course of 
iny experience. I have seen a horse as fat, sleek, and spirited as could be 
at one o’clock in the day, and dead at night, from the natural termination 
of the disease: and, with respect to the one I inspected yesterday, it was 
well on Monday, and at Lansdowme fair. To ascertain whether a horse 
is lame, it is better to trot him slowly. If he trots fast, he may hide the 
lameness. We ascertain the state of his wind by coughing him. When 
he is trotted fast, it is done wdth a view of shewing his paces and action. 
At the first hardening of the lungs there are no tubercles. When the lymph 
is thrown out in the lungs, it takes some weeks to become organized for vessels 
to pass through it before the tubercles begin to form, and then the tubercles 
are of slow grow^th. In my judgment, the tubercles themselves must have 
been coining for months. In the course of my time I have seen a great many 
horses with diseased lungs. 
When the lung, which is naturally of a spongy structure, becomes hard¬ 
ened, it is the effect of inflammation. It becomes like liver, and impervious 
to air; in course of time, bloodvessels may or may not form in the hardened 
part, and the structure of the lung be restored or softened. I do not call it 
an organic disease until a change of substance has taken place,—I mean a 
change of the substance of the lungs. When the lungs have become solid, 
that is certainly a change of organization. When the lungs are slightly in¬ 
flamed, one of the first symptoms is cough. The cough may be slight, and 
it may partially or totally subside, and be apparently cured w’ithout its being 
really so. There may be repeated attacks of slight inflammation, and their 
organic effects may be produced without particular attention being attracted 
to them. When acute inflammation has subsided, a chronic inflammation 
may follow, and the acute inflammation may be still existing, but in a minor 
degree. Before disorganization can take place, it must be preceded by 
chronic inflammation. As chronic inflammation goes on, the hepatization 
generally increases by slow degrees. During the continuance of chronic dis¬ 
ease, tubercles may or may not be formed; and, supposing them to have 
been formed, they may be cither of quick or slow' growth. From the appear¬ 
ance of the tubercles, and the hardness which I felt, I think the disease in 
this horse must have been of considerable standing. I judge so from the 
remains of the tubercles which were yet visible, and which had evidently ex¬ 
isted to some extent. We cannot tell from the appearances of the lungs the 
exact period when the disease commenced, but from what I saw I think it 
must have been before the 2()th of February. It could not have had its com¬ 
mencement since the 26th of January. It must have been of some months’ 
standing, perhaps six or eight months. 1 have not known an instance in my 
practice of such apjjcarances having commenced and been produced in so 
short a time as from the 26th of February to the 12th of April. 
By the Court .—By the remains of tubercles I meant to say that small por¬ 
tions of them were still visible—small yellow spots—they had existed during 
life, but had been partially absorbed. No treatment could have wholly re¬ 
moved them. J'here were portions of the tubercles lefl in the lungs, not 
merely marks or forms, but portiorrs of them. When we give certificates, we 
can generally undertake to say whether or not there is disr'asc of the lungs. 
