SUPPOSED CHOLERA IN THE HORSE. 145 
upon by the fingers, the impression was left, and there was no 
elasticity in the vessels. 
The blood when drawn was thick, would scarcely flow, and 
as black as could be.’^ There was a death-like appearance in 
his countenance ; the eyes sunk and ghastly: and he died in 
about four hours after he was taken ill. He was not particularly 
examined after death. 
In two or three weeks after the first, a second was attacked ; 
the symptoms were precisely similar; but he bled freely at first, 
when four or five quarts were drawn ; but in an hour afterwards it 
was like the other; it dropped away, and resembled treacle in 
thickness : he died in three hours. He had been at work all day in 
the plough, and was playing w’hen coming to the stable, about two 
p. M. ; at eight p. m. his supper was given to him, but he was not 
inclined to eat; he was observed, before leaving the stable, to 
be attacked similar to the others, purging, &c.; and he was dead 
by eleven p. m. On examining him the next day, the only 
morbid appearance recognizable was at one place, and that w^as 
the slightest possible blush upon the intestines, such as severe 
cholic might ultimately have produced. '‘The immediate cause,” 
says the person who examined it, ' ■ of this case I should suspect 
to have been the reception of something cold into the stomach 
and bowels while the animal was over-heated, or otherwise pre¬ 
disposed to disease.” In a week afterwards, a third one became 
affected, under the same circumstances, having, how^ever, only 
worked in the forenoon. Within a fortnight another died from 
similar causes, and under the same treatment. These three 
patients were between three and four hours ill. 
In two months afterwards, two horses in one day were seized ; 
one had not been out: he w^as ill five or six hours, and did not 
lie down. On inspection after death, a degree of inflammation 
of the pleura could be observed. The other w^as at work in the 
fore part of the day. In three weeks or a month another, in 
like manner, was carried off. About a week previous to this 
last case, all the horses were put through physic, and the stable 
cleansed and fumigated ; with the exception of the first, all had 
had a feed of steamed potatoes a-day, about half a pailful, and 
they were in fair condition. 
The contents of their stomachs were in a natural state, but 
those of the intestines were quite fluid throughout, and gather of 
a whitish slimy appearance. 
VOL. vi. 
1' 
