SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
407 
phenomena of rheumatism, especially acute rheumatism, are best 
studied. It is metastatic in character, and has a predilection for 
the fibrous, serous and muscular textures, attacking principally 
the joints, fascia, muscles in various parts of the body, and the 
endocardium and pericardium. > 
Etiology. —Cold; dampness; or may occur from other dis¬ 
eases, as influenza ; epizootic pleurisy ; or from rheumatic diathesis, 
which may be inherited or acquired; disorders of the digestive 
and respiratory organs, which load the blood with abnormal and 
probably acid elements; exposure to draughts, especially when 
perspiring, causing suppression of the functions of the skin. In 
regard to season, it prevails most in humid, changeable climates; 
rare in tropical and extremely cold climates. 
/Symptoms of acute form .—It is sudden in attack ; generally 
the fever and local manifestations are simultaneous. Sometimes 
the pain and soreness precede the development of the complaint 
for a variable period. Dullness, with indisposition to move, fol¬ 
lowed by extreme lameness in one or more limbs; there may be 
swelling of the joints, or not. The affected joint or joints will be 
hot and painful to the hand; the pain differs in different cases. 
It is not intense, as a rule, as long as the parts are at rest. The 
least motion is very painful in severe cases. The parts generally 
affected are the fetlock, joints, hock, stifle, flexor tendons below 
the knee, the sesamodian bursa, the thecae of the muscles of the 
loins and quarters, or of the thoracic walls, constituting pleuro¬ 
dynia. The swelling is due to a morbid increase of the liquid in 
the synovial cavity and into the surrounding structures. The 
swelling is at first soft, but later on becomes hard. Suppuration 
rarely occurs. In some cases one or more joints are affected 
simultaneously, or in quick succession; in others, it is limited to 
one joint. A peculiarity is its leaving one joint to fly to another. 
The temperature may be from 104° to 106° F., and in the cow, 
as high as 109°. 
The pulse is hard and bounding, the mouth hot and dry, the 
breathing hurried. There will probably be costiveness, but may 
be the reverse. Perspiration is copious. The urine is less in 
quantity, and of an acid or neutral reaction, and is loaded with 
