THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
\ OL. A f, No. 66.] JLIjVE, 1833. [New Series, No. 6. 
MR. YOUATT’S VETERINARY LECTURES, 
DELIVEIIED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. 
* 
LECTURE XXIX. 
Pleurisy in the Horse, Cattle, and Dogs. 
I MUST request your attention this evening to another of the 
diseases of the chest, scarcely yet recognized in our miserable 
nosology,—Pleurisy, or inflammation of the investing membrane 
of the lungs, or the lining one of the thoracic cavity. That 
inflammation of the substance of the lungs is often propagated 
to the investing membrane, and that both are, at length, equally 
involved, is not disputed. The frequent occurrence of effusion 
in the chest is an unanswerable proof of inflammation of the serous 
membrane which it contains; but the confinement of the inflam¬ 
matory action strictly to the pleura used to be denied in our 
principal school; and although the possibility of it and its sup¬ 
posed rare occurrence is at length admitted, our best writers 
scarcely enter into the distinct consideration of it. Mr. Blaine, 
it is true, gives a brief outline of its characteristic symptoms; 
Mr. Percivall relates some interesting cases of it in “The Veterina- 
rian^%* but we are principally indebted to Mr. John Field for 
establishing the fact of the frequency of the malady, and for 
enabling us to distinguish between it and pneumonia, as readily 
and as surely as we do between pneumonia and bronchitis and 
epidemic catarrh. 
Causes .—The prevailing causes of pleurisy are the same as 
those which produce pneumonia—exposure to wet and cold— 
sudden alternations of temperature—partial exposure to cold— 
nding against a keen wind—immersion as high as the chest in 
cold water—drinking cold water, and extra work of the respi¬ 
ratory machine. To these may be added, wounds penetrating 
into the thorax and lacerating the pleura, fracture of the ribs, or 
violent contusions on the side, the inflammation produced by 
which is propagated through the parietes of the chest. 
. Extent. —It is sometimes confined to one side, or to one of the 
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