PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 
255 
cause of the “ phlebitis.” In doing this I shall experience no diffi¬ 
culty ; it resolves itself, in short, into a simple matter of fact: the 
presence of pus in the blood places the cause beyond doubt; and 
the appearance of the serous membranes of the veins, in all the 
vessels examined, as well as the state of the lining membrane of 
the heart, proves also the poisonous influence to have been uni¬ 
versal. We thus learn that danger is to be apprehended from the 
confinement of matter in an abscess; and that, in all cases where 
our assistance to such is required, we should be prompt in giving 
it egress. Many owners of horses have a dread, which is little 
less than superstitious, of having free vent given to pus with 
the lancet; they look upon it as inflicting useless pain, and pro¬ 
longing the disease. While I am treating upon the cause of the 
disease in this instance, ere I conclude the present section I will 
offer a remark upon a prominent symptom or two manifested prior 
to death. On the day I was called in, the animal perspired very 
profusely; the same again on the 16th, the 17th, and the 18th: 
whether this state will be found to be pathognomonic of this disease 
or not, is a question which time and close observation can only 
determine. A second fact worthy of consideration is, the irregular 
action evinced by the heart. This peculiarity I first observed on 
the 15th, and it most probably arose from the inflammation having 
reached the serous membrane lining its cavities. 
Cause of the Enteritis and Pleuritis .—The enteritis I regard as 
arising from the inflammation spreading from the serous membrane 
of the veins of the mesentery, omentum, &c. to the mesentery 
itself, and, in short, to the entire tissues composing the whole of 
the digestive organs The inflammation in all these various parts 
was of an asthenic kind ; the tissues throughout were greatly 
softened, with here and there patches of gangrene, in connexion 
with scantiness of lymph, and profusion of serous exudation into 
the abdominal cavity. The same again with respect to the pleura. 
I regard the pleuritis as having its origin also from the presence 
of the pus; for it was clearly evident upon examination that a 
large quantity of this substance had been liberated into the cavity 
of the chest, from the collection which had been deposited around 
the lower extremity of the trachea. By its presence inflammation 
would be excited in two ways; first, by the mechanical action 
which would necessarily occur between it, the lungs, and the 
pleura costalis; and, secondly, by its poisonous properties. The 
disease of the pleura was not very extensive; it appeared to be 
almost wholly confined to its inferior region. The curd-like bands 
which were arranged in what I have denominated a trellis-like 
manner, I am inclined to believe were composed of lymph and 
pus, which substances were made to intimately combine, and 
