300 SYNOPSIS OF CONTINENTAL VETERINARY JOURNALS. 
cation of grave conditions. When a rapid rise to 41° occurs, 
and the reading remains at that point for several days, life 
is seriously threatened ; if it continues to rise, even slowly, 
death is imminent. It is necessary to know how to in¬ 
terpret the rise, often rapid and considerable, which the 
curve undergoes in the simple forms of strangles under the 
influence of the development of a simple abscess in the inter¬ 
maxillary spaces in the parotid gland or the muscles, and 
often, let us add, in the absence of any abscess. These 
variations resemble those which occur during the secondary 
eruptions of smallpox. The curve falls when the abscess 
has been opened. When the fall of the curve is regular and 
gradual, the prognosis is favorable. A rapid decline to 
below the normal indicates a fatal result; in the few minutes 
before death the curve perhaps rises above 42°, or, on the other 
hand, falls suddenly to below 37°. (6) Thermometry con¬ 
trols and rectifies the important but often false indications 
which are given by the pulse and the respirations, for these 
are easily modified in their rhythm and frequency by com¬ 
paratively slight causes. The indications which it affords 
cannot replace others, but they supplement and increase 
their value when they agree with them, while they excite 
increased attention when they are not in accord. Indeed, 
when a marked discord exists between the indications of the 
thermometer and those of the pulse, serious complications 
and a fatal result may be anticipated.” M. Humbert affixes 
to his memoire thirty-five graphic tracings of temperature, 
each of which is a beautiful and valuable observation. 
Finally, gentlemen, allow us to say that M. Humbert has 
taken a valuable step, and his example ought, in our opinion, 
to be followed by his colleagues in the army. No one is 
in a better position than the military veterinary surgeon to 
make good thermometric observations in any particular group 
of diseases. It is easy for him every day at a fixed hour to 
take the temperature of his patients—at the morning visit, 
and at the evening feeding time, for instance. He has at 
his disposal a precious instance of animals of the same age, 
breed, and work, subjected to similar surrounding conditions. 
What could be more favorable to operations of this nature? 
Could not the thermometric curves of diseases of the lungs, 
pleura, articulations, the intestines, heart, nervous centres, 
&c., be thus definitely fixed ? Can nothing in this direction 
be done in cases of colic, which are so frequent and so fatal, 
and so varied in their causes among troop horses ? And, 
without confining themselves to thermometric observations, 
could not our army colleegues try to apply to the pathology 
