298 
COUP DE SOLEIL. 
of the body prominent and engorged with blood, great heat 
of skin; respiration difficult and oppressed; anxious counte¬ 
nance, sinking of the pulse ; cold, clammy sweat; exhausted 
and prostrated nervous energy; coma and convulsions, indi¬ 
cating congestion of the lungs and brain. I have observed 
that the effect of the sun is to produce on some horses symp¬ 
toms of disease of the lungs, whilst in others there is the 
cerebral form of the disease; it is also very common to get 
colicky pains, and crouching and curving of the spine, with 
attempts to gnaw the part with the teeth. All these symp¬ 
toms are indicative of lesions of the great cerebral ganglia. 
The symptoms are somewhat analogous to those shown by 
horses who fell victims to an epidemic fever which was pre¬ 
valent here in 1869 and the early part of 1870, and is again 
existent just now. In fact, where the seizures of sunstroke 
are of a milder nature, the case proceeds into one of fever, 
and is frequently associated with laminitis. 
The majority of cases occur in May, June, July, and 
August, and particularly on days that are hot, close, and 
steamy; and when we have an elevated temperature, a pro¬ 
portional rarefaction of the air and a diminished supply of 
oxygen for respiration, causing deterioration of the circulat¬ 
ing fluid, depression and exhaustion of the nervous functions. 
Occasionally there are such accessories as driving with a 
tight collar, fatigue and its results, often acting on a system 
worn out in an aged horse, or debilitated by poor feeding; 
blood horses, or those that are tolerably well bred, stand 
tropical exposure and fatigue very much better than those 
that are ill bred. It is common among imported Austra¬ 
lian horses, from a want of acclimatisation, or from their not 
having properly recovered from the effects of a long sea 
voyage, during which time they have been inhaling vitiated 
air, and are frequently landed in a half-poisoned, impoverished 
state, and not uncommonly with lungs more or less loaded 
with adventitious products. Horses bred in the country and 
Arabs are not quite so susceptible of sunstroke, although 
they frequently fall. Roarers, beyond all other class of 
horses, are seen to suffer most; and those with disease of 
any of the viscera, and which suffer from exposure and 
fatigue, are also very liable to the disease. I have never yet 
seen a case of sunstroke occur merely from standing in the 
sun; but it is common to get cases showing slight congestion 
of the lungs ending in feverish reaction or sun fever from 
this cause. The condition of the heart, brain, and lungs 
resulting from the extreme solar heat and fatigue appears to 
be one of congestion with depression of nervous energy. 
