570 
INFLUENZA IN HORSES. 
I mention these circumstances to show how often disease of 
an epizootic character shows itself when you can really assign 
little or no cause for it. The horses were all well clothed 
during the night, with a good English rug on each. The first 
horse attacked was ridden by one of the trumpeters. He was 
six years old, and was immediately moved from the rest and 
medically treated. The first five or six cases were more 
severe than any of the following ones; and as the disease 
progressed, it appeared in a much milder form; but no pre¬ 
cautions that were taken appeared to check its steady pro¬ 
gression, until the removal of the camp, which I suggested 
to the officer commanding the force as the only chance of 
getting rid of it. But by this time I should say nearly one 
hundred horses had suffered. We lost only one. In this case, 
although repeatedly blistered over the throat, we could never 
get the abscess to suppurate. It pointed in several places 
under the jaw, in small lumps, about the size of a filbert. 
I have often heard Mr. Dickens, Y. S., of Kimbolton, remark 
how frequent the formation of internal abscesses in such cases 
are ; and such was the termination of this, for the horse 
fell down dead on the march about a month after he was first 
attacked. On a post-mortem examination, I found the whole 
of the small intestines bound up together, as it were, and 
forming one immense abscess, which contained about a 
gallon of pus. There was also a slight trace of disease in 
the liver, but this was evidently caused by its proximity 
to the large abscess. 
The symptoms in almost every case were loss of appetite ; 
profuse discharge from both nostrils ; extreme soreness of 
the throat, with difficulty in swallowing; the urine thick, 
and high coloured; great prostration of strength; pulse 
small, weak, and irritable ; bowels generally constipated. 
Surely, no one would bleed with these symptoms. The 
first treatment adopted was to blister the throat, and give a 
laxative ball when practicable, for the soreness of the throat 
often rendered it impossible to give either a ball or a draught 
by r the mouth. In one case the ball was coughed up into 
the nasal passages, although it was given most carefully 
by the farrier; and being present at the time, I saw that 
the accident, under the circumstances, was an unavoidable 
one. It proved a very troublesome job to get the ball back 
again. The mode of procedure was to soften it first by 
injections of warm water before attempting to use the probe, 
which answered very satisfactorily, and the horse went on 
well afterwards. After this I did not attempt again to give 
any medicines by the mouth, but turned my attention more 
