748 
ROSCOE R. BELL. 
and character of the pulsations—especially the latter—than up¬ 
on any other symptom, and prognoses (the most praetieally-im- 
portant thing to the practitioner) were always based upon the in¬ 
formation gained from that source. In those where an internal 
organ becomes the seat of the expenditure of the disease, the 
symptoms are not elearly defined at the outset the extent of 
the appreeiable lesions being extreme fever, psychical and nerv¬ 
ous depression, with general lassitude and inappetence. In 
various periods from the apparition of the symptoms, varying 
from a few hours to as many days, we are enabled to proelaim 
that the patient has the complication of laryngitis, bronchitis, 
pneumonia, pleurisy, pleuro-pneumonia, enteritis, hepatitis, 
nephritis, phrenitis, laminitis, or other involvement. It has 
been my experience that, if the majority are not affected with 
simple catarrhal fever, the greater number have respiratory in¬ 
flammations, and of these pneumonia heads the list. 'The stag¬ 
gering gait which is always present after a few day^s is no indi¬ 
cation that the disease is expending itself upon the nerves, as 
this is an accompaniment of every one of the complications, a 
diagnostic symptom being relaxation of the sphineter ani muscle 
from the loss of nerve force to produce contraetion. As the lax 
condition of the involuntary nerve governing this muscle is so 
manifest by virtue of its position and function, it is safe to as¬ 
sume that all other muscles supplied by this system are in a like 
state and hence there is relaxation of the unstriped fibres of the 
intestines, and consequent irregular peristalsis, resulting in con¬ 
stipation or diarrhoea. 
The infecting agent and its means of gaining entrance into 
the system, are matters of speculation, and all writings to date 
are based upon theoretical reasoning. As I have no greater 
knowledge upon the subject, I pursue my conclusions by infer¬ 
ence. 
An animal located at one end of the stable becomes affected, 
and the next one to suceumb is just as likely as not to be a horse 
occupying the furthest stall away from the first victim, while his 
nearest neighbor may never become diseased. This is so fre- 
