THE INFLUENZA itt HORSES. 
270 
of the blood, and the exhausting effect of the disease on an 
already weak and debilitated subject. 
Symptoms of the Abdominal Form. —In most cases of in¬ 
fluenza there is a great irritability of the digestive mucous 
membrane, as manifested by the frequently fatal action of 
purgatives incautiously administered. Oftentimes, after the 
discharge from the nose has been established, muco-enteritis 
will set in and overshadow the disease of the air-passages. 
There is great weakness and torpor, tenderness of the ab¬ 
domen, frequent uneasy movements of the hind limbs, 
alternate lying down and rising, turning of the nose toward 
the flank, and the frequent passage of small pellets of dung, 
thickly coated with mucus, the membrane of the gut exposed 
at such times being of a deep red colour. The anus will 
sometimes remain constantly open, with frequent ineffectual 
straining. The urine is scanty, high-coloured, slimy, and 
sometimes bloody. There is ardent thirst, coated tongue, 
and unusual yellowness of the mucous membranes. 
Symptoms of the Rheumatic Form. —Like the abdominal, this 
supervenes in the earlier stages of the catarrhal type. The 
stiffness and frequent cracking of the joints, in the early 
stages of the disease, testify to the partial implication of the 
joint capsules and fibrous structures of the limbs and body ; 
and this may become the main feature after the disease has 
made some advance in its catarrhal form. This occurs 
mainly in cold latitudes, like Northern Germany, Norway, 
Denmark, and Scotland, and has been a frequent compli¬ 
cation in the present disease in New York. There are swell¬ 
ing and tenderness along the course of particular muscles of 
the face, neck, back, or limbs, of joints or other synovial sacs, 
and extreme stiffness and inability to move. 
Later Complications. —Short of proving fatal, the malady 
may terminate in some permanent disorder of the air-passages, 
such as roaring, heaves, short or thick wind. The heart is 
sometimes implicated in the primary disease, though often 
also as a complication along with the rheumatism. Inflam¬ 
mation of the fibrous valves, leading to their contraction and 
inability to close the orifices at which they are placed, is not 
uncommon, and, though the patient may apparently have 
become well and lively, there is left a modification of the 
natural heart sounds, a shortness of breath, and a liability to 
sudden death under any active exertion. 
Another cause of deranged heart action is in the formation 
of clots of blood in that organ during life. An inflamed 
valve, the weakness of the circulation, and the excess of 
effete or dead particles in the blood, may one or all contribute 
