352 
THE SYMPTOMS OF PLEURISY. 
• Jt 
chest. The existence of false membranes, and of fluid, is pro¬ 
bable whenever we hear a sound resembling the gurgling in 
decanting a liquid from a bottle, either at the lower or middle 
portion of the chest. This sound is circumscribed. It attends 
both inspiration and expiration, but is not always present. 
The other pathognomic symptoms which accompany this stage 
of the disease are, that the cough is still unfrequent, suppressed, 
and interrupted—the breath is of its usual temperature, or even 
lower; the pulse remains quick, small, and hard—in a few 
cases, however, it becomes soft; the inspiration is fuller and 
laborious; the walk indicates pain; after the slightest exercise 
the respiration becomeg much accelerated, and the animal is 
forced to stop. In the stable, the horse is ordinarily standing, 
or he only lies dow n for a little while on the side on w hich is the 
effusion. Death is preceded by symptoms of suffocation, attri¬ 
butable to the difficulty of maintaining both the longer and 
shorter circulation. The respiratory murmur becomes feeble; 
the grating appears at the superior portion of the chest; and a 
rubbing sound, stronger as the lung is more compressed by the 
fluid which prevents it from dilating, is heard in the superior 
region. The animal has an anxious, imploring countenance, is 
continually shifting his position, hesitates long in the act of lying 
down—at length, unable longer to support himself, he falls rather 
than lies dow 7 n, he rises and falls a few times, and then dies sud¬ 
denly of suffocation. 
We believe that the sound w hich Laennechas described under 
the name of bronchial respiration, and w hich he compares to that 
w hich the air produces in traversing a tube of a certain diameter, 
is that noise so remarkable and which we have called rubbing 
(frottement), and which is so evident in domestic animals. 
D. Resolutio n — Re-absorption of the effused liquid , the product 
of pleural inflammation—Organization of false membranes .— 
The re-absorption of the effused fluid is indicated by the slow 
and continued diminution of the grating sound, and the return 
of the respiratory murmur to the lower part of the chest, by the 
cessation of the sounds produced by the fluid—the absence of 
the frottement, the gradual return of the respiration to its natural 
state, the softness of the artery and the pulse, and the animal 
quietly laying himself down to rest. The re-absorption is slow, 
in proportion as the quantity of fluid is considerable, and the false 
membranes numerous and thickened. It is on account of this last 
circumstance that a long state of convalescence exposes the 
animal to a fatal relapse, and that the flanks long continue to 
beat irregularly. In general, the horse grows thin, and a husky 
cough is heard, and continues a very long time. 
