THE INFLUENZA. 
9 
Fearing that my observations might prove tedious, to go 
through the whole routine of treatment, I merely add, that it 
was varied to combat the different symptoms presented. This 
was the first horse attacked, and would have been removed 
from the stables which the other horses were shortly to occupy, 
had he been capable; but such was the great and rapid pros¬ 
tration of strength that the animal could not, without fear of 
falling, turn in his box. 
The regular hunting stud arrived at Lincoln on the 27th of 
October, and three days after their arrival, Whitelock, Ilwell, 
and Backslider were attacked; after which, day by day, fell 
victims to it Kossuth, Glaucus, Tickel, Magnet, Thunder, 
Hopbine, Reindeer, Templar, Squib, Granby, Tom Thumb, 
Legatee, the Libel, Testator, Fiescha, &c., until, up to the 
time I write, very few have escaped. 
The symptoms already described were the first observed, gene¬ 
rally, but after a time different organs of the body were acutely 
attacked; sometimes the lungs, at others the kidneys; sometimes 
the pleurae, at others, and more generally, the liver, and de¬ 
cidedly the most difficult to treat. In these cases I had to resort 
to mercurial medicine, giving, morning and evening, hydr. 
chlor. pulv. opii, terebinth, vulg. q. s. ut fiat bolus; quantities, of 
course, in ratio to the state of the animal; and I must here quote 
the words of Mr. Percivall, finding them so explicit and appli¬ 
cable :—“ Lest it should be said,” says that gentleman, and so 
say I, after the perusal of these cases, “ that they were not of a 
dangerous character, or to have required any thing out of the 
ordinary way of treatment, I beg to observe, that, at the time I 
submitted them to the action of mercury, under a continuance 
of treatment of any ordinary kind, I certainly should have enter¬ 
tained the greatest fears for their safety.” 
In one instance the horse “ Templar ” became totally blind : 
under treatment, however, I am glad to find his sight quite 
returned. There was a great tendency to super-purgation when 
the bowels once responded, and therefore more than ordinary 
care required in the giving of laxative medicine. 
The whole of the cases were successfully treated, with the 
exception of one, and that the first described. 
It is remembered one of the cub-hunters was the first attacked. 
Three days after the arrival of the stud, three horses fell sick of 
the disease, and these three were occupying stables communica¬ 
tive with the ill horse. I ask, is not this conclusive of influenza 
being infectious 1 That it is epidemical and endemical I freely 
admit, also that atmospherical causes are in operation to produce 
it; but that, when once produced, it is highly infectious, I am 
convinced, and that the cases quoted bear no scruple. It is 
VOL. XXV. C 
