340 
DISEASES OF THE 
shoulderS; flanks, or thighs; and, at length, in the dreadful collapse, 
he either plunges headlong, and dies convulsed, or drops exhausted 
upon his bedding and life escapes without a struggle. 
Terminations .—The true or sthenic form of bronchitis commonly 
runs its course in a week or ten days, but is sometimes prolonged 
to three weeks or a month. This is dependent upon the treatment 
employed, the age and habit of the animal, and the complications 
by which the case is attended. The asthenic variety of the disease 
progresses more slowly, rarely terminating earlier than a fortnight, 
and commonly extending to a period of several weeks. 
In the cases proceeding auspiciously of the sthenic form, the 
symptoms decline from the third or fourth to the tenth day. The 
favourable change is evinced by the improvement of the cough and 
mitigation of the dyspnoea and febrile disturbance of the system; 
by a more general development of warmth to the surface and ex¬ 
tremities ; by a greater evacuation of paler urine; and by a dimi¬ 
nution of the expectoration and discharge from the nostril, and of 
the severity and frequency of the cough. However, this propitious 
alteration does not always take place, more especially if the attack 
is severe, or the treatment employed inefficient, or too late to re¬ 
move the disease; or there is a profuse secretion into the bronchi 
and difficult expectoration. In these cases inflammation may extend 
to the air-cells and substance of the lungs, and produce pneumonitis, 
to which may even be superadded pleuritis; and from the consequent 
irritation set up by the great extent of surface implicated, the profu¬ 
sion of viscid secretion into the bronchi, and interruption to the func¬ 
tions of the lungs, collapse of the vital powers may unexpectedly come 
on, and the animal die either from affection of the brain, or accu¬ 
mulation of fluid within the air-tubes, and inability to discharge it. 
When pneumonia takes place as a termination of the disease, 
tlie discharge from the bronchi through the nostrils is often of a 
greenish colour, and sometimes of a dark-brown rusty appearance, 
from blood more or less intimately mixed with it, and of a foetid 
smell. The cough is deeper, and the oppression more severe: 
symptoms of a more dangerous character indicating pneumonia of 
the worst kind supervene, and other unfavourable signs speedily 
ending in the extinction of life. 
Chronic pleuritis, and effusion into the chest, and also occa¬ 
sionally into the pericardium, are terminations of both the sthenic 
and asthenic forms of bronchitis. The expectoration, with many of 
the other symptoms, may rapidly decline, while the difficult respi¬ 
ration, with the indications of effusion, grow more manifest as the 
signs of bronchitis pass away. The effusion takes place in conse¬ 
quence of the morbid action being translated from the mucous to 
the serous membrane. 
