INFLAMMATION. 
213 
where the results have been most gratifying after this operation, 
and where almost hopeless cases in aged animals have been re¬ 
turned to work in a wonderfully short period of time. But once 
in a while an apparently easy case will baffle all treatment and 
insist in going lame after repeated firings. 
INFLAMMATION. 
By Dr. A. Babb, D.V.S,, Springfield, Ill, 
A paper read before the Illinois Veterinary Medical Association. 
The term inflammation is derived from the Latin inflammation 
a kindling, a conflagration; it is allied to the verb niflammo , to 
set on fiie, the root of the word is the noun flamma, a flame, a 
blaze. All these point to the subjective sensation of heat ex¬ 
perienced by the patient suffering from the acute stages of the 
disorder. 
The very great importance of a full knowledge of this sub¬ 
ject is manifest from two well-known tacts : namely, that almost 
every organ of the animal economy is subject to its attacks and 
that the pathology of inflammation is the same in all of them. 
Etiology. —Many heroic drugs, if not properly diluted or 
administered in a suitable excipient, will severely inflame the 
parts with which they come into immediate contact, such as the 
buccal mucous membrane, tongue, pharynx, oesophagus and 
other parts of the prima via. 
Drafts of air, or a cold shower bath at an unseasonable time 
of year, especially on a heated horse may cause laminitis, pneu¬ 
monia, nephritis, or the inflammation of any other important 
viscus. Over-exertion is also a fruitful source of the evil as 
seen in nephritis and lymphangitis, the former brought about 
by the immoderate exhibition of diuretics, the latter by an ex¬ 
cess of stimulating food passing through the lymph glands, or 
in podophyllitis from the protracted driving of an unseasoned 
horse particularly on a hard, resilient surface. 
Direct violence, such as nail-pricks, blows, incisions, either 
accidental or surgical, originate the pathological condition 
under consideration. Blisters, escharotics, the potential caus- 
