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HIPPOPATHOLOGY :

A
SYSTEMATIC TREATISE

THE DISORDERS AND LAMENESSES

OF

THE HORSE,

WITH THEIR MODERN AND MOST APPROVED

METHODS OE CURE;

EMBRACINtf THE

DOCTRINES OF THE ENGLISH AND TRENCH VETERINARY SCHOOLS ; THE OPINIONS
OF THE LATE PROFESSOR COLEMAN, DIRECTOR GERARD, HURTREL d'aRBOVAL,
AND OTHER BRITISH AND FOREIGN VETERINARIANS.

BT

WILLIAM PERCIVALL, M.R.C.S.,

LATE VJ5TEKINARY SUBGEON IN THE FIKST LIFE GUAUDS ; AND
AUTHOK or 'LECTUKES ON HORSES.'

VOL. in.

'A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast."

LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.,

PATEENOSTEB, EOW.'
1876.

V-vva"-

^i.3

PRINTED BY J. E. ADLABD, BAETHOIOMEW CLOSE.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE VAPOUK-BAIH FOR HORSES, REPRESENTED IN THE FRONTISPIECE.

Although the remarks incidentally made in allusion to the efficacy of a
warm bath (at page 61), which took their origin from an interesting experi-
ment performed by the well-known inventor of the Patent Syringe, Mr. Read,
in the presence of myself and Mr. Cherry, P.V.S. to the Army, are such as
to lead to the belief that no long time was likely to elapse before so desirable
an object might be attained, yet I must confess I was not prepared for its
accomplishment and introduction into practice at so early a period as that
at which I am now writing. I cannot do more here than briefly explain in
reference to the plate, the nature and operation of the apparatus used for
the purpose by Mr. Field, at whose infirmary the bath may be seen ; further
particulars concerning it may be learned from the account published in The
Veterinarian for January, 1843.

a represents a boiler originally erected for the purpose of supplying the
infirmary with hot water ; c is the main pipe issuing from the top of the
boiler, receiving the steam, and conducting it, when not required for other
purposes, into either a flue or the open air at * ; e and / are branch-pipes
from the main one (c), / being that which conducts the steam into a worm
(A), winding through a condensing trough {g); e the branch-pipe which
conducts the steam (prevented by stop-cock from going in the other
direction) into the bath ; the place of admission {n) being on one side, close
to the floor, at a point intermediate between the horse's fore and hind feet
while standing in the bath, with his head outside ; m is the bath, being a
horse-box, such as is used for embarking horses on board of ship, with the
addition of a lining of flannel, a roofing of hoops and tilting, and curtains
over the doors, front and back, to prevent the escape of steam. The box
being placed upon wheels, serves, besides being used as a bath, for the trans-
port of sick or lame horses ; and having doors at both ends, and a movable
platform for the horse to walk in upon, is in general entered without any
great deal of unwillingness.

642879

CONTENTS

OF VOLUME III.

PAGE

Injuries of the Brain

. 5

Concussion . . . .

. ibid.

Fracture of the Skull .

. 6

Loss of Substance of the Brai

1 . 9

Staggers . . . .

. 10

Arachnoiditis

. 12

Coma, or Sleepy Staggers

. 15

Encephalitis — Phrenitis —

Mad

Staggers .

. 16

Apoplexy . . .

. 22

Vertigo — Megrims

. 26

Paralysis

. 31

Tetanus

. 45

Spasm ....

. 64

Conjunctival Ophthalmia

. 72

Opacity of the Cornea .

. 75

Periodic Ophthalmia

. 77

Cataract

. 102

Glaucoma

. 126

Amaurosis

. 128

Worm in the Eye .

. 133

Fungus Haematodes

. 139

Ossification .

. 146

Melanosis

. 147

Laceration of the Eyelid

• 148

Enlargement of the Caruncle

. 149

Fistula of the Eye»pit

. 151

Disease of the Lachrymal Pa

ssages 154

Tumours and Fungus of the <

3rbit. 158

Glanders,

General Observations

. 159

Derivation of the word " Glan

ders "161

Definition

. 162

SYiUPTOMS

.ibid.

PAGE

Constitutional Disordr . . .162
Discharge from the Nose . . 164
The Ulcerative Stage . . . ibid.
An Analysis of the Nasal Discharges 166
Vascular Injection or Inflammation

of the Schneiderian Membrane . ibid.
Thickening of the Membrane . 167

Ulceration ibid.

Miliary Ulceration . . . 169

Enlargement of the Submaxillary

Lymphatic Glands . . . 170
Tumefaction of the Ali Nasi . .171
Predilection of the Disease for the

left or near Side of the Head . 172
DIAGNOSIS . . . .173
VARIETIES . . . .180

Acute Glanders .... 182
Inoculated Glanders . . 181-183
Course of Acute Glanders . . 182
Typhoid Glanders . . . .183
Pulmonary Glanders . . . 184
Epidemic and Endemic Glanders . 185
Sub-acute Glanders . . .186

Chronic Glanders . . . .187
Insidious Glanders . . . 188

The Distinction between Chronic

Glanders and Nasal Gleet . .192
Frauds practised with Glandered

Horses . . . . .193

CAUSES 195

Predisposing Causes . . . ibid.
Exciting Causes .... 198
Opinions of Authors (ancient and

modern) thereon . . 198-21T
Classification of Exciting Causes . 218
Contagion .... .ibid.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Miasm of the Stable . . . 240
Other Causes .... 248
SEAT AND NATURE OF

GLANDERS . . . .252
Opinions of Authors (ancient and

modern) tliereon . . 253-279
Authors' Opinions . . 280-302

Farcy.

Derivation of the word " Farcy " . 303

Definition ibid.

Varieties ibid.

Symptoms ..... 304
The general Swelling . . . 306
The First and Second Stages . . 307
The Matter discharged from Farcy

Pustules ibid.

The Third Stage . . . .308
The Parts most obnoxious . • 309
Button Farcy . . . .311

Swelling of the Lymphatic Glands .ibid.
Diagnosis . . . .312

Progress . . . • .313
Prognosis ..... 315

CAUSES 316

SEAT AND NATURE . . 318

Treatment of Glanders and
Farcy.

PROPHYLACTIC TREAT-
MENT 323

THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT
OF GLANDERS . . .327

Treatment adopted by ancient and
modern Veterinarians . 327-331

PAGE

331
332
333
334
335
ibid.

The General Treatment
Sulphate of Copper
Sulphate of Iron .
Cantharides ....

Iodine •

Diniodide of Copper

Result of Author's Observations

and Experience .... 336
Tabular Abstract of Cases of G landers

and Farcy 337

Barytes 339

Recovery under the use of • . ibid.
Recovery and Amendment under the

use of Stavesacre , . . 340

Recovery under the use of Balsam

of Copaiba .... ibid.

Recovery under the use of Cubeb

Pepper . . . . .341
Recovery and Amendment under the

use of Cayenne Pepper . . ibid
Injections ..... 342

Creosote ibid.

Fumigations 344

Counter-irritation . . . .ibid.
Treatment of the Enlarged Glands . ibid.
Cool and Pure Air . . . 345
THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT

OF FARCY .... 345
Antiphlogistic Treatment . . 347
Walking Exercise . . . .348
Diet . . .... ibid.

Medicine 349

Tonics 350

Sulphate and Diniodide of Copper,

Sulphateof Iron, Mercury, Iodine,

Cantharides, Barytes . . .ibid.
Local Treatment . . « 351

HIPPOPATHOLOGY.

SECTION XVI.

DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVES.

INJURIES OF THE BRAIN.

CONCUSSION.

FRACTURE OF THE SKULL.

LOSS OF SUBSTANCK OF THE

BRAIN.
STAGGERS.
ARACHNOIDITIS.

COMA.

ENCEPHALITIS— PHRENITIS.

APOPLEXY.

VERTIGO OR MEGRIMS.

PARALYSIS.

TETANUS.

SPASMS.

The smallness of the encephalon or brain of the horse, conspi-
cuous even when estimated by the bulk of his own body, yet more
so when compared with the human encephalon, together with the
predominance in its composition of the medullary over the cineri-
tious or cortical ingredient, are the physical reasons apparent
for the limitedness of the animal's intellectual faculties : those
agencies which, while their fruitful development constitutes
man's supremacy, and immeasurably contributes to his power
and enjoyment as a created being, heavily and sorrowfully add
to the evils which he in common with all flesh is heir to. One
great proof — if any were wanting further than those furnished
by every-day observation — of the absence of mind or under-
standing in the brute, is derivable from the pathological fact
of any such thing as insanity being unknown in veterinary
practice. " Les causes eloignees," says D'Arboval, " les
morales surtout, qui ne manquent pas d'influence sur I'homme,
sont inconnues ou ne sont pas appreciees dans les animaux."
Although exempt, however, from disturbance by any passions
of a social or moral nature, the encephalon of the animal, the
same as that of a man, may become affected through sympathy
with other organs — through what we are now taught to call

III. 1

3 DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NEEVES.

"reflex nervous action" — and in particular with the stomach:
as, in a man, indigestion may cause headache, or a blow upon
the stomach excite sickness, and even death ; so in a horse, an
overloaded stomach may give rise to a cerebral disorder, well
known to veterinarians and others by the designation " sto-
mach-staggers :^'* the symptoms of which sometimes so nearly
resemble those of organic disease of the brain itself, that, but
for the history attached to them, the seat of disease might be
altogether mistaken.

Traumatic tetanus is another example of functional derange-
ment and reflex nervous irritation: a horse receives a prick in one
of his feet from a nail, and locked-jaw is the consequence of it.

On the diseases of the brain and nerves, and their effects on
the diflierent organs and structures of the body, the late successful
investigations into the anatomy and physiology of the nervous
system have cast lights, enabling us very much better to com-
prehend their nature, and directing us to a more defined and
rational mode of practice. We now know for certain, that the
cerebrum is the seat of sensation and volition, the source of what
intuitive reason or sagacity the animal possesses ; and, conse-
quently, that any impairment of these functions is to be imputed
to disease or derangement of, or reflected upon, that division of
the brain. The spinal marrow being in reality but a process or
continuation of the cerebrum, sensation and volition are con-
veyed to and from the cerebrum through the body, the same as
those impressions would be through the medium or intervention
of any large nervous trunk. Removal or destruction of the
cerebrum annihilates all sensation and voluntary power, but not
immediately, or consequently, organic life ; for signs of that
are still demonstrable in the brainless body, even in the highest
orders of animals; though this remnant of vitality is supportable
only for a time ; one, and that the grand system — the primum
mobile — being destroyed, the others are unable of themselves to
carry on the functions necessary to the continuance of the vital
property. Section or injury of the spinal marrow will only
deprive of sensation and motion such parts as derive their nerves
from it below the part divided, injured, or compressed; the

* Described in section x, vol. ii, page 195.

DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 3

same as division or compression of a nerve affects with paralysis
only such parts as its ramifications are dispersed upon.

Again, Sir Charles Bell has proved to us, by a series of most
interesting experiments, and the facts have since received the
confirmation of pathological observation, that there are nerves
for sensation and nerves for volition of motion ; and that,
although for the sake of convenience of distribution the sen-
tient and motor fibrillse are commonly enclosed within the
same tunic, there are instances in which they are altogether
separate. We now perceive the reason why, in cases of para-
lysis, sometimes sensation is lost, sometimes only the power
of moving the part, at other times both faculties are gone :
all depending upon the injury done to the sentient and motor
nerves or to their sources, which latter being the same or very
near together, and the nerves themselves being commonly
within the same envelope, accounts for both feeling and mo-
tion, ordinarily, being destroyed in paralytic parts.

We now also know, that no act of volition can take place
without a previous sensation : — how could my mind give the
mandate for extending my arm, unless it were conscious of its
being already flexed ? And by parallel reasoning, morbid
actions of parts we shall find to be mostly dependent upon
morbid sensations or impressions. Stringhalt, which may be
compared to chorea, both being afiections in which the will hasin
a measure lost its control over the voluntary muscles, may either
proceed from something existing in the spine, along the course
of the nerves, or in the affected limb itself, or even, for aught
I know, in some remote part of the body : the doctrine of
" reflex nervous action " has so much enlightened and extended
our views of spasmodic and convulsive diseases, that we no longer
confine our researches to the brain or spinal marrow, or even to
the trunks of the nerves, to discover the source of their origin,

A most important field of study towards the due understanding
of nervous diseases and derangements is presented to us in
those new departments of the nervous system, the respiratory
of Sir Charles Bell, and excito-motory of Dr. Marshall Hall,
which were formerly confounded with others, or rather of whose
distinct existence we before possessed no knowledge at alL

4 DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVES.

Sir Charles Bell, in the course of his physiological investi-
gations, discovered that the nerves concerned in the functions
of respiration were not to be classed with the sentient and volun-
tary systems, or even with the ganglionic, but, on the contrary,
formed by themselves another, a distinct system ; and that
tlieir seat of power and action was the medulla oblongata.

Since this. Dr. Hall has developed what he calls his " true
spiuaF^ or "excito-motory " system, and insists that Sir Charles
Bell's " respiratory " must come included within it. And,
further, that the primrnn mobile of the respiratory actions is
not seated in the brain, but in the nerves ; that the act is an
" excited " one, arising from the presence and stimulus of car-
bonic acid ; and that the medulla oblongata is but the centre
or medium through which the excitation or impression is con-
veyed to the motor nerves distributed to the respiratory muscles.

This is not the place to enter into physiological inquiry. My
object in touching the subject thus lightly has been to impress
upon the mind of the scientific veterinarian the absolute neces-
sity of the study and comprehension of these new views, before
he can understand a pathology avowedly grounded upon them.

Notwithstanding the brain is the source of all sensation,
yet, singular enough, in itself, it is a part entirely devoid of
feeling : in experiments on living animals its substance has
been pricked, cut, lacerated, burnt even, without the slightest
manifestation of pain or sensation.

Very different, however, are the effects of pressure. Ira-
pressed in a vertical direction, even but slightly, the animal is
prostrated, deprived of sense and motion ; although the same
degree of pressure in a lateral direction produces no such
effects. These are facts which will prove of the greatest ser-
vice to us when we come to treat of injuries to the brain ;
they will enable us to comprehend why, as in Mr. King's
case,* portions of brain may even be removed without ill con-
sequences ; while a portion of bone simply depressed upon the
organ might cost the animal his life.

* This rare and curious case will be found related at page 9.

INJUJMES OF THE BRAIN CONCUSSION.

INJURIES OP THE BRAIN.

These are not near so frequent as might be imagined. Not
but horses' heads receive injuries enough from falls and blows
to often occasion fracture and depression of bone^ but that the
walls of the skull are constructed with so much wisdom and
foresight (being provided with barriers and additional substance
in such parts — the occiput and temples — as are most exposed),
that the collision must be heavy indeed to produce fracture,
and without fracture we can hardly in such parts as these
suppose a case of depression : all that results, nineteen times
out of twenty, from falls backward, being a degree of

CONCUSSION,

producing transient fright and giddiness noticeable only at the
time.

Now and then, however, although nothing more than some
vertiginous sensations may occur at the moment, an attack of
phrenitis, at a more or less distant interval, will ensue from a
fall of this kind.

Eight years ago, a blood black mare, the property of an officer
of the Life Guards, had been ridden by his groom behind him
from the Regent's Park to Norwood, where in the act of shying
and rearing, she was pulled backward by her rider, and fell
upon the back of her head. She was ridden home by the
groom, nothing appearing to ail her : the same night, however,
she appeared dull and unwell ; the next day she showed sym-
ptoms of phrenitis. As an instance of the worst effects of con-
cussion, I cannot find anything equal to the following very
interesting case, sent to The Veterinarian for 1834, by Mr.
Cheetham, veterinary surgeon, Edinburgh.

A cart-horse was so mucli injured by a fall, that it was thought he would
never rise again. He lay in a prostrate position, hardly discernibly breathing,
and so continued for about half an hour, during which time the bars of his
mouth were cut, but with little effect. He was then so far raised up as to
enable persons to bleed him ; and when he had lost what was conjectured to
amount to five or six quarts, by the aid of several men he was got upon his
legs, and supported into the stable. At this period Mr. C. arrived. His

6 FRACTURE OF THE SKULL.

pulse was 40. His head drooped as if he had lost all sensation. Mr. C.
ordered him to be put in slings, and to have hot fomentations applied to his
head and neck : this, giving relief, was persevered in for twelve hours. By
way of experiment, Mr. C. took a sponge filled with cold water, and wetted
the head with it, which, singularly enough,' caused the former symptoms of
coma to return. From this, Mr. C. infers, " it would seem that ivarm water
should always be had recourse to in injuries of the brain." " In this case there
seemed to be concussion of the organ : what confirms this opinion, is, that the
masseter muscle had been contused, as appeared by the swelling afterwards.
Purges were now given ; and when the fomentations had lost their power,
mustard was applied extensively on the superior part of the neck. This gave
pain, and caused him to throw his head about in every direction for the space
of an hour. No further excitement could be produced during the same even-
ing by the re-application of the cold water. I now had the mustard washed
off, and ointment of cantharides substituted, and bled him to the amount of
two quarts ; when his pulse became imperceptible. The following morning
the blister was re-applied, not having acted : the pulse was 60, and full ; the
other symptoms had not improved. I again bled him till I could perceive no
vibration of the maxillary artery, at which period I had obtained six quarts :
^xij of linseed oil were then administered. He took through the day a small
quantity of bran-mash and hay, but still kept lowering his head into the
manger unless excited. In the evening the pulse was 60, and it had gained
strength ; I, therefore, abstracted three quarts of blood. Clysters had been
given from the first at intervals of a few hours. His bowels became relaxed,
and continued so for two days. The action of the blister now commenced,
and my patient exhibited favorable symptoms, such as regaining the use of
his extremities, and keeping his head erect. Through the whole of the case,
one good symptom remained, viz., that of the iris retaining its motion. On
the second day of the purging he was released from the slings ; he walked
about with freedom. Pulse still 60. When the purging ceased, another
draught of oil was given, and in the course of a week his pulse returned to
the natural state. He received gentle exercise for the space of another week,
and then went to work, where he has continued as before the accident. It
would, perhaps, appear, in the foregoing case, that the medulla oblongata was
the part of the brain that had been injured (concussed ?)."

FRACTURE OP THE SKULL.*

This is a rare accident among horses. Not that causes are
wanting for it, for in violent hands the animal too often receives
a blow upon the head ; but that the cranium is so small that

* The same subject is treated pn, but in reference to the hones, in vol. i,
page 258.

FEACTURE OP THE SKULL. 7

it is not often the part struck ; and that nature has so defended
those parts of it likely to be so, that, as was observed before, a
blow must be very severe indeed to have the effect of fracturing
them. The common and almost only accident of the kind we
meet with, is fracture of the basis of the skull ; and the way in
which it occurs is this : — the horse either is pulled or falls
backward ; the vertex or summit of the head receives the blow,
the shock or force of whicii is transmitted to the basilary
process at the base of the skull, and that, from its comparatively
insubstantial, fragile nature, being the weakest part, becomes
the part broken. In very severe falls of this kind, the condyloid
processes of the occipital bone, also in a situation to receive
the impetus of the shock, in like manner, thou^^h comparatively
substantial and strong in their composition, sustain fracture.
It is not the fracture, however, that is to be dreaded in these
cases so much as the consequences of it, haemorrhage in par-
ticular, together with the effects of the tremendous concussion
which in general attends such a fall.

Blood-vessels will be liable to give way in any part of the
brain ; those, numerous and large, about the base, contiguous
to the seat of fracture, will be almost sure to become ruptured.
The svmptoms will of course vary in their nature and intensity
Avith the kind and degree of the mischief done ; the faculties
of motion and sensation will be more or less impaired, should
not death itself immediately result; the senses also, one or
more, will probably be lost or disturbed. By the parts affected,
and by the extent to which they are affected, must we form
our opinion of the nature of the case, as well as our prognosis.
Indeed, in respect to the latter, that in general is but too
evident. Commonly the animal is found down, unable either
to rise or stand without assistance. Should he still retain
feeling, and be in possession of his senses, and there be means
nigh or at hand of treating him, remedies may be tried upjii
him ; but when he lias to be removed upon some drag or
carriage to any distance, he will in general do himself so much
more mischief by struggling before he has arrived at his place
of destination, that his case will probably be rendered yet more
hopeless than it was in the first instance : fiesh hasmot rhage

8 FRACTURE OF THE SKULL.

will be likely to ensue, and may prove fatal, even when, before
the struggling had ensued, hopes of recovery had been enter-
tained. On this account, it is of vast importance, when the
case holds out prospects for treatment, to house the animal
somewhere close to the place where the accident has occurred.
In general bloodletting will be proper; though the symptoms
from loss of blood or nervous depression may be such as not
only positively to forbid this evacuation, but even to demand
the exhibition of stimulants. My estimable and never-to-be-
forgotten deceased friend, Mr. John Field, whose extensive
range of practice brought such cases as these within his notice,
has recorded two* which are well worthy our attention :

Oct. 21 th, 1832. — A brown horse belonging to Col. D., on the road to
Windsor, started opposite Knightsbridge Barracks, in consequence of a kite
falling upon his head, and ran as far as Kensington, where he slipped up on
the stones, and never rose again. He was brought to Mr. Field's infirmary
on a brewer's dray. He possessed common sensation, could struggle, and
was sensible ; but was unable to rise, and to stand when raised in the slings.
Bled largely, and a purge exhibited. Pulse 48. Oct. 28th. — Pulse 90.
More irritable ; is able to turn over ; neighs when persons approach him ; has
passed some hard faeces ; pupils do not contract at the approach of a candle ;
pulse more feeble ; restlessness ; increased struggling ; occasional tremor of
limbs; sweats profusely; respiration much accelerated. Aloes 5iv given.
Catheter introduced, and some urine withdrawn. Raked and clystered.
Towards evening became much weaker, and died about two o'clock the follow-
ing morning. — Examined same afternoon. Some effusion of lymph upon the
right side of the cranium, occasioned by chafing in throwing the head about ;
but no fissure or fracture. On removing the calvarium the dura mater was
observed distended with black blood upon both hemispheres. The upper part
of the occipital bone being struck, the neck suddenly dropped, evidently from
some detachment ; and on further examination it appeared that the basilary
process must have been fractured by the accident, and the vessels on its
surface ruptured. The brain was very sanguineous: its veins were excessively
distended. The lungs and other viscera were undergoing very rapid change.

Sept. 17th, 1821. — A bay gelding, in being led out of Col. R.'s stable-door,
hung back from the collar, reared up and fell backwards upon the pavement.
From this time he was unable to stand without support of men on one side,
the wall sustaining the other. No appearance of fracture about the cranium
at this time. His limbs were all paralytic. Eyes very turgid ; senses all
perfect, excepting no power over the extremities; breathing quiet. With

* Among liis Pustliunious Cases.

LOSS OF SUBSTANCE OF THE BRAIN. 9

some difficulty he was dragged into a coach-house, plentifully littered — bled
to about twelve quarts, took aloes comp. 5^'j» ^^'^ ^ stimulating enema every
second hour ; and this lotion, viz. muriat. ammon. 3SS, acet. distill, ^iv,
sprts. vini giij, aquae Ibij, to be applied frequently to the head. Sept. 18th. —
Still lying. Pulse full and frequent. V.S. ad tbij. — continue lotion. Was
turned upon the oflf side, having lain long upon the near. Died at twelve
o'clock. Examination. — A piece of skin corresponding to the broad promi-
nence near side of atlas was found stripped off its cuticle. The basilary pro-
cess of the occiput was broken in two ; also both condyloid processes were
broken off short by sudden and extraordinary pressure of the atlas against
them ; this pressure was so great, that a portion of the muscle so compressed
had forced out a part of the thin plate of the atlas.

A case precisely similar occurred at Mr. Field's farm ; save in that the two
condyloid processes and the basilary were broken off in one piece. This horse
experienced perfect paralysis of all parts posterior to the occiput, and died
in a few hours after the accident. Immediately after receiving the injury he
could in some measure extend his limbs, and still possessed sensibility in
several parts of the body, as was evident by his endeavouring to exert himself
when a whip was applied ; although he could only stand while propped against
a wall.

*^* The senses of vision, tasting, &c., also the common feeling in such parts
as derived their nerves from the brain anterior to the seat of injury were
observed by Mr. Field to be very acute : " a circumstance," he adds, " that
may serve as a diagnostic between the effects of an accident of this kind and
those of any affection of the brain or its membranes."

LOSS OF SUBSTANCE OF THE BEAIN.

Now and then, iu sheep affected with hydatids in this
organ, considerable loss of substance of the cerebrum has been
observed, and without any apparent derangement or even
inconvenience from it : something very similar has come under
the observation of my old and excellent friend, Mr. King, of
Stanmore, and has been recorded by him in The Veterinarian
for 1831, from which I here extract it.

December 1st — now six years past — a horse belonging to Mr. Geo. Elmore
was sent to my stables with a very small punctured wound on the head,
apparently caused by a nail or the sharp-pointed prong of a fork, through
the lower edge of the right temporal muscle, and which on examination with
a small surgeon's probe, proved to pass through the parietal bone, just above
the coronary suture. It had the appearance of having happened not very
I'ecently. I made an extensive crucial incision through the scalp, quite down
to the bone, directly over the puncture, and applied blisters to the surround-

10 STAGGERS.

ing parts ; gave physic, and bled. — 2, Repeat the bleeding, and give an
aperient ball. — 3d, Bleeding and ball repeated. In the evening the bowels
freely acted on. — 4th, External wound suppurating kindly, and all the
functions going on regularly. Repeated the blisters. All night a degree of
stupor was observed. Repeat the bleeding. — 5th, Delirious, and requiring
much constraint.— 6th, This morning applied a trephine, making the original
puncture the centre, and expecting on the removal of the bone and division
of the membranes, a flow of some fluid. Nothing, however, followed. I
then extended the opening through the membranes to the full extent of the
opening in the skull, and, looking into the head, was surprised to find almost
an empty cavity : nearly two thirds of the cerebrum on that side were gone,
and what remained at the back part of the skull was covered with a dry
black coating, presenting an appearance much like the pigmentum nigrum
when the humours of the eye have been evacuated. The horse died that
night. Thinking it was a case likely to occur again, I made no inquiry,
which I now much -regret.

STAGGEES.

Disease of the brain and its membranes constitutes one of
those branches of hippopathology which has undergone culti-
vation inferior to most others : as one reason for which we may
adduce the comparative infrequency of its occurrence ; as
another, the acknowledged trouble and difficulties attendant on
post-mortem examinations of the encephalon of the quadruped.
That the horse's brain is on occasions the seat of congestion or
plethora, as well as of inflammation, we have evidence enough
both in living and in dead subjects who have evinced symptoms
of cerebral disorder : sufficient cases stand likewise on record
to prove that the organ is obnoxious to many or most of the
same changes in appearance and structure, as have been from
time to time detected by diligent examinations into the morbid
human brain.

In common, we hear of but two diseases of the brain in the
horse : one is megrims — the other, staggers. The first I
believe to be an affection admitting of being sufficiently charac-
terised to stand by itself; but under the last, which must be
regarded as a generic appellation, may be comprised coma,
apoplexy, and phrenitis : in other words there are to be met
with in practice, besides stomach staggers, " sleepy staggers/'
" apoplectic staggers,''^ and phrciiitic, or " mad staggers.''

STAGGERS. 11

Encephalic inflamraatiou may confine its attack either to the
membranes or to the substance of the brain, or both together
may be affected by it : even in this latter case the inflammatory
action probably arises in one, and afterwards extends to the
other, though still raging in the part first attacked with greater
violence than in that which has become secondarily, or sympa-
thetically, /or by contiguity, affected. From all the circum-
stances connected with mad staggers, there appears reason to
believe that the membranes are mostly the principal or primary
seat of the inflammation, and that the brain to the extent that
it is affected, if at all, is but secondarily so : not that we recog-
nise any symptoms during life that we can rely upon as safely
directing us either in one case or the other, but that the ap-
pearances after death are commonly such as especially denote
membranous disease. There is no symptom recognised even in
human medicine as perfectly diagnostic between the membranous
and cerebral affections : the former is said to be " marked by
acute pain, delirium, and convulsions; the latter by muscular
contractions, alternating with and followed by paralysis ;" but
the best physicians acknowledge the difficulty they feel in
drawing a correct diagnosis. The usual consequence of inflam-
mation of a serous membrane is effusion of a straw-coloured
fluid, which we in common language denominate " water ;"
and every practical veterinarian knows that nothing is so
common as, after death from mad staggers, to meet with the
ventricles, and sometimes the cavities within the olfactory
nerves as well, filled with this water ; either in a state of
beautiful pellucidity, or else stained with blood, or perhaps
turbid, from admixture of pus : these cavities, I need not
add, being lined with pia mater. Now and then water is found
included between the membranes themselves, stagnating upon
the surface of the brain. Not, however, that this effusion is
to be considered as an infallible sign of inflammation having
existed ; for, as has been observed by pathologists of unques-
tionable reputation, " inanition and repletion both dispose to
effusion within the head.'' When the inflammation has per-
vaded the brain itself, its substance, when cut into, will display
spots of blood no larger than the pricks of a pin or needle ;

12 ARACHNOIDITIS.

and these will be more or less numerous and extensive accord-
ing as the inflammatory action has raged with more or less
violence, and has been partial or general. The plexus choroides,
too, are often found turgid with blood. Though this may be
said to constitute the ordinary state of the brain of the horse
dying of encephalitis, yet it is right we should observe that
several other anorraal appearances have been recorded as con-
nected with mad staggers, and on authority which we have no
reason to call in question.

Softening of the Brain is by no means an uncommon
result of inflammation in it, but, I believe, rather of that in a
chronic than an acute form. Rarely, I believe, is the cerebral
substance found indurated or firmer than natural.

Discoloration. — In one instance I met with a remarkable
yellowness of the cerebellum ; the horse having at the same
time considerable disease of the liver. Were the two altera-
tions pathologically connected ? Mr. Field mentions a case of
discoloration of the corpora striata and septum lucidum.

Purulent Matter will form under active inflammation.
Mr. Field gives an account of a case in which a large abscess
existed in the posterior hemisphere.

Albuminous Matter. — The same respected authority has
left us the relation of another case in which thick layers of
coagulable lymph were found in the lateral ventricles completely
coating the thalami nervoreum opticorum.

ARACHNOIDITIS.

In cases in which the seat of inflammation may be pronounced
to be membranous, we learn from the closest pathological ex-
aminations, that the arachnoid membrane is in particular affected,
or aff'ected to that super-eminent degree to warrant us in cha-
racterising the disease as arachnoiditis ; and as we have French
veterinary authority for considering this as the most frequent
proximate cause of staggers, perhaps it would be advisable here
to transcribe from the same authority — M. Roupard — the
account given of arachnoiditis. It is published in the Compte
Rendu, for the year 1825, of the Veterinary School at Lyons.

M. lloupiu'd liiys it down as established, that acute idiopathic arachnoiditis

ARACHNOIDITIS, 13

has its origin in lesion of the arachnoid membrane, the consequence of cerebral
effusion. He considers that staggers most commonly arises from acute arach-
noiditis, the result of which is hydrocephalus ; that arachnoiditis may be
either idiopathic or symptomatic ; and that in the chronic form it has been
described under the appellation of serous apoplexy, and on many occasions
is present with that assemblage of symptoms which have been grouped to-
gether under the name of immohilite.

As the symptoms and pathological characters of idiopathic arachnoiditis,
M. Roupard has given, irregularity in the appetite, obscure vision, conjunc-
tive membranes injected, superficial veins turgid, hearing impaired, body
tucked up ; sometimes the mouth wide open and the tongue hanging out ;
temperature of the body now hot, now cold ; pulse slow and oppressed, or
else small, thready, frequent, irregular ; dragging of the hind quarters ;
thrusting the head against the rack ; rearing the fore-feet into the manger ;
restlessness ; flinging himself about, and even backwards ; head erected with
wild stare, or jerking up and down ; tremor of the limbs and tail; loss of
vision and audition ; sweatings ; and, as death approaches, eyes fixed with
convulsions. Autopsy.— Bi^Wy tympanitic ; no traces of inflammation within
the abdomen ; pulmonary tissue crepitous ; cerebral mass less consistent than
in health ; cerebral sinuses and superficial vessels filled with deep-coloured
blood ; lateral ventricles dilated from containing more or less limpid serosity,
slightly citrine-coloured ; the portion of choroid plexus floating in this fluid
discoloured and sodden-like ; the arachnoid rose-tinted, and displaying very
perceptibly reddish spots.

In the above account the practitioner of experience cannot
fail to recognise the characters of staggers: indeed, it tends to
confirm the view here taiien of the pathology of that disease,
that it is essentially, in its acute and violent form, a mem-
branous affection, the brain being but symptomatically or
secondarily deranged.

D'Arboval held the same opinion : " De toutes les phleg-
masies cerebrales ceiles qui se trouvent le plus souvent reuuies
et qu'il est le plus difficile de distinguer, pour les coiisiderer
insolement, sont Fencephalite et la phretiesie. Celle-ci, — qui
serait mieux nommee arachnoidite, est I'inflammation de la
membrane sereuse du crane ; a laquelle se joint souvent celle
de la meninge qui la recouvre, et celle de la substance encepha-
lique elle-meme. Cette p/deymasie, ainsi etendue, est ce qui
repond a ce que les veterinaires et les hippiatres ont desipne sous le
nom de vertige essentiel, pour le distiuguer du vertige abdo-
minal, que n'est que symptomatique." (Vol. ii. p. 175.)

14 ARACHNOIDITIS.

Vatel, in obseiA^ng that inflammation of the brain is ordi-
narily accompanied by inflammation of the arachnoid membrane,
and acknowledging how difficult it is, admitting them to have
a separate existence, to distinguish between them, has laid
down the following rules for our guidance : " Apoplexy ap-
pears to be generally characterised by sudden loss of power
over the voluntary muscles, without spasmodic action. Inflam-
mation of the brain is known by spasmodic action followed by
slow and progressive, perhaps irregular and intermittent, para-
lysis. Arachnoiditis, by spasmodic action without loss of
voluntary power."

So far from there being any paralytic tendency in mad
staggers, we know that the powers of voluntary motion, while
the paroxysm rages, are excited and increased to their utmost
degree, although the sensibility, especially in the intervals
between the fits, appears dead to all external impression, and
the faculties of the organs of sense we know to be lost ; at
least, so it is with the eyes, and so we conclude it to be with
the ears and other senses. This, then, it seems agreed consti-
tutes the membranous inflammation ; the substance of the brain
itself exhibiting — to borrow the language of the great Cullen
— " as in other analogous cases, a more chronic inflammation."

The Causes of Staggers comprise any and every thing
which has tendency to produce an overflow of blood upon the
brain ; such as plethora of body, inordinate exertion, sultry
weather, and determination of blood to the head from
peculiar conformation of parts or other cause. Horses at the
middle or most robust period of life, in full or gross condition,
with short, bull-like, straight necks, and but very inadequately
or irregularly worked, are the common subjects of staggers.
The disease may arise suddenly from a sort of coup de soleil.
Soon after my father entered the Ordnance Service at Wool-
wich, it became customary to turn horses who had become low
in condition, and stale upon their legs from work, from out of
the Barracks at Woolwich into the Plumstead Marshes, to
recruit their strength. During the months of July, August
and September, no case was more common than an attack of
staggers among these horses ; which my father attributed to

COMA, OR SLEEPY STAGGERS. 15

the luxuriant pasture they were suddenly turned into — for it
invariably loaded them with fat, and consequently plethorized
their systems — combined with the dependent posture of the
head, and the sultry heat they were exposed to ; the marshes
being: places entirely destitute of shade. Over-ridden or driven
horses are attacked on occasions with staggers, but not to the
extent that over-fed horses are, without taking into the account
the disease called stomach staggers. Concussion, compression,
injury of the brain of any sort, may cause congestion or inflam-
mation of it, and so produce sleepy or mad staggers. Mr.
Apperley informs us that staggers and megrims are diseases
little known in France ; for which he accounts " by the lax
state of the intestines the food of the French horses causes."

COMA, OR SLEEPY STAGGERS.

The coma here intended to be introduced into veterinary
nosology is the coma somnolentum of human medicine, which,
as near as a disease in man can represent one in a horse, is
the sleepy staggers of old writers on farriery.

Symptoms. — In some instances the attack is sudden ; the
animal all at once becomes sleepy and comatose, and speedily-
after manifests delirium : in other cases, a dulness in his
manner and sluggishness at his work, and disposition to
drowsiness while standing still, is observed perhaps for some
days before the horse isbelieved to be really suffering fromillness.

When coma has set in, somnolency is the prevailing
symptom. The horse, while standing, hangs his head and
closes his eyes, and falls into a profound sleep, out of which,
being suddenly awoke by unconsciously dropping down, by the
slamming of a door or some other noise, or by some person
nigh, he instantly starts up in a state of alarm, appearing
as though he were frightened ; soon, however, to relapse, unless
his attention be again distracted by something, into his former
state of stupor. While aroused, he will open his eyes, and
look at, and perhaps recognise, things and persons around
him, and will oftentimes take a mouthful of hay held out to
him ; at the same time, such is the overpowering influence of

16 ENCEPHALITIS — PHRENITIS MAD STAGGERS.

somnoleucy upon him, that he will — as 1 have on many occa-
sions witnessed — actually drop to sleep again with the hay in
his mouth. At this time there is a laborious slowness of the
respiration, with a tardy, full, soft pulse, and dilated pupils of
the eyes. This drowsy fit is succeeded — sometimes attended
— by a disposition to bore forwards and ram the head against
wall or rack, or anything that happens to oppose its advance-
ment ; the patient, though thus arrested in his progress, still
continuing, as he thinks, to advance, by performing a trotting
motion with his fore-legs ; or, he may stand still, boring his
head with all his might, and breathing so hard and sterto-
rously, that he alarms every person within his reach, lest each
hard-fetched respiration should end in a throe of delirium and
convulsion. These lethargic symptoms seldom continue any
length of time : they may increase in intensity, and end in apo-
plexy and death ; they more commonly are interrupted by a
paroxysm of phrenitis or mad staggers. The bowels partici-
pating in the general torpor of the system, no dung is passed.
Pathology. — It appears to me, that during the comatose
stage the blood-vessels of the brain must be in a state of sur-
charge or congestion; that this may increase and end in rupture,
and extravasation or haemorrhage, giving rise to apoplexy or
sudden death ; or that it may only prove the prelude to increased
vascular action, and that inflammation, as I believe it commonly
does, results from it. In fact, I believe it to be very analogous
to what we observe taking place in congestion of the lungs.

ENCEPHALITIS — PHRENITIS — MAD STAGGEES.

Those who make use of the term encephalon to denote both
the brain and its membranes, employ its derivative, encephalitis,
to express inflammation affecting both those parts ; and in this
sense it is certainly the most appropriate name for the disease
we are about to describe. Inflammation attacking the ence-
phalon mostly does so in the acute form, producing that violent
delirium pathologists have designated by the term phrenitis,
and which veterinarians recognise as 7nad staggers : these are
consequently nothing but appellations for a symptom, though

ENCEPHALITIS — PHRENITIS — MAD STAGQERS. 17

certainly one of a character so prominent and absorbing, that
it is a^t to draw off the attention from all the others. The
nosology of mad staggers arising from inflammation is therefore
encephalitis ; and an advantage in adopting this in place of
phrenitiSy is, that it will apply to any form of inflammation,
chronic as well as acute, and in which phrenitic symptoms, or
mad staggers, may not happen to be present.

Symptoms. — The approach of the phrenitic or mad paroxysm
is foreboded by the animal waking out of his sleepy or coma-
tose state, and staring about him with a fearful wildness and
vacancy in his countenance ; his breathing the while getting
more and more quick and irksome, and the pulse rising with
the respiration. Suddenly, he makes a frightful throe, dashing
himself against rack or manger, or wall, or throwing himself
down, and then lying breathing stertorously, with his eyes
looking as if they were starting out of their orbits, no light at
the time affecting the dilated pupils, nor he heeding anything
that may be done or said to him. On other occasions the
frantic animal will rear both his fore legs into the manger, and
in this posture stand, with his head erected, for several minutes
perhaps, no person daring to approach the while, lest he should
unexpectedly spring up or reel round and fall upon the intruder.
In a word, our patient is now " mad,^^ furiously so, in the worst
sense of the word as applied to staggers, and how, or where, or
upon whom he may in his delirious throes precipitate his body,
is so uncertain, to himself as well as to everybody around him,
that any approach to him, without extreme caution, or in a way
in which ready escape is at hand, is fraught with imminent
danger. Both the respiration and the pulse become during the
fit very much excited, only remitting a little at such times as
the animal remains stationary or quiet. As the disease in-
creases, instead of lying quiet as before, in a state of apparent
insensibility after a throe, convulsions will follow so quickly upon
one another, that the patient will be kept in continual struggle,
panting and perspiring, and perhaps foaming at the mouth,
leading his attendants to believe he is not only phrenitic but
actually rabid. This is a circumstance engendering so much
apprehension and alarm, that not only is a prompt and decisive
opinion demanded of the veterinarian in attendance, but at the

III. 2

18 ENCEPHALITIS — rHRENlTIS — MAD STAGGERS.

same time, such a line of conduct on his part as will at once
convince his employers that he is right in his decision, that
the case is

Not Rabies but Staggers. There being no dog — or mad-
dog at least — visibly connected with the case, is prima facie
evidence of it. And farther, the symptoms of the two cases
are different : there being, according to Mr. Blaine, in rabid
phrenitis, " not merely a frantic, but a decidedly mischievous
disposition : the animal purposely attacking everything, living
and dead : all around him — rack, and manger, and stall — are
all laid prostrate."

The Causes — before enumerated and described, and here
recapitulated — commonly are, in horses from their make or
nature predisposed to an attack, high-feeding, hot weather or
exposure to the sun, violent or over-exertion, or even the want
of necessary exercise. It may succeed to a blow or fall upon
the head. It may result from haemorrhage within or upon the
brain, or from some internal organic change or formation,
such as tumours, &c.

Prognosis. — Staggers in any form must be regarded as a
highly dangerous disease : it is more especially so in that stage
or form in which it acquires the epithet " mad." In fact, almost
the only chance the animal has of recovery — considering tlie
disease to arise from congestion or inflammation — is, the timely
abstraction of a very large quantity of blood; should which be
followed by remission of the coma or phrenzy, and should it not
return again, or but in a subdued form, hopes of recovery may
be entertained: on the other hand, should the evacuation merely
be succeeded by the appearance of weakness or faintness, and
but by such remission or cessation of the symptoms as would be
expected to ensue from that cause alone, the latter relapsing
with the animal's returning strength or revivification, the worst
may be foreboded of the result. Mr. Grattan informs us, 'Svhen
bleeding does not relieve the coma of the disease, and when
the pulse, from being 48 and full, becomes exceeding frequent,
the animal gradually sinking the while, it maybe inferred that
the pressure upon the brain is not from distended blood-vessels,
but from purulent secretion or serous effusion, the consequence
of a few days of previous irritation."

ENCEPHALITIS — PHEENITIS — MAD STAGGEES. 19

Treatment. — The necessity for immediate and copious
bloodletting having been enjoined in speaking of prognosis, I
need only add here, that when blood can be obtained from the
temporal artery, that vessel is to be preferred to the jugular
vein. In general, it is advisable to open both temporal arte-
ries : should, however, even from both of them, the flow of blood
be not free and abundant, the jugular veins must be had re-
course to, it being absolutely necessary that blood in sufficient
quantity should be extracted to produce symptoms of faintness,
and it being highly advisable that this should be done as quickly
as possible. Supposing the blood can be collected in a blood-
can, or water-pail, for this cannot on all occasions be accom-
plished, in general we shall find from two to three gallons
require to flow before this eflFect be produced ; so much depend-
ing upon the size, condition, constitution of the horse, and other
circumstances. I used to consider the jugular vein to be quite
as good a channel as, if not a better than, the temporal artery
for bloodletting in affections of the head ; but some striking
cases I have had in my own practice have greatly altered my
former opinions; and I find I am very much borne out in these
altered views by the reports of others. At the same time, I wish
it to be understood, that arteriotomy is in no case to be con-
fided in, unless blood can be obtained from one or both tem-
poral arteries, in a full and fast stream : a dribbling or tardy
current will avail nothing, and need not be persisted in.

In a communication many years ago from my respected friend,
the late Mr. Cordeaux, who served thirty years as a V.S. in the
Artillery, he informs me " he has seen eminently good effects
from bleeding from the temporal artery, in six or seven instances;
that two cases, which were considered hopeless, after several in-
effectualbleedings from the jugulars, recovered, he verily believes,
from an accident that befel them during the night, by which the
pins were torn from their temples, and considerable quantities of
blood in consequence had escaped, and were found next morning
in their mangers.^^ I have myself had several cases which were de-
spaired of, until, as a last resource, while the animals were despe-
rately struggling and throwing themselves about, I have contrived
to plunge the lancet into their temples, and allowed them to bleed
ad libitum, regardless of the quantity lost, paying attention, in

20 ENCEPHALITIS — PHRENITIS — MAD STAGGERS.

fact, only to effects : in several instances, to the surprise of all
aroundj lias the frantic patient, from kicking about in a pool of
blood, jumped suddenly andunexpectedly upon his legs, and, after
shaking himself once or twice, appeared, like magic as it were,
almost all at once, restored to his right senses. Mr. Kick^vood,
V.S., Bedford, has likewise related a case in The Veterinarian for
]830, which tells eminently in favour of preferring bloodletting
from the temples. Mr. R. was sent for to attend a mare who had
just come in with the Leeds mail from Shefford, and was seized
with staggers. She was wandering about, with dilated pupils and
laborious respiration, and also symptoms of palsy of the hind
extremities. She was bledtotwelve pounds from the jugular vein,
and had administered an aloetic drink and frequent clysters. The
symptoms increasing, both temporal arteries were opened, from
which she was bleeding rapidly when Mr. R. was compelled to
leave her. The bleeding continued until she became so exhausted
as to begin to make a noise in breathing, "the same as a roarer
would make in his gallop." At length she fell ; after which the
symptoms began to subside, and in a few days she was sent home.

The black mare, who was attacked with phrenitis on her return
from Norwood — whose case is mentioned in my account of "con-
cussion of the brain "* — had, during my absence, been bled co-
piously, twice or thrice, from the jugulars, but without any very
apparent benefit. When I first saw her, she was lying upon her
side, flinging herself about in a state of phrenzy, surrounded by
spectators who were betting any odds she could never rise again ;
I lost no time in plunging my lancet obliquely into one of her
temporal arteries, from which instantly issued such a stream of
blood — spouting up like 2t.jet d'eau — that I deemed it quite un-
necessary to endeavour to turn her to puncture the other temple.
She lay, rapidly and profusely bleeding, for some minutes, when,
to the astonishment of all her beholders and despairers, she
suddenly sprang upon her feet, gave herself a rustling shake or
two, and immediately commenced eating some hay which hap-
pened to be in her manger. In fine, from that hour she was
a recovered mare.

Purgation for this disease has ever stood in such high repute
among farriers, that a common saying among them is — " purge

* Turn back to page o.

The Bull,
Take of

Purging Mass .... 5'ss

Calomel S^**"

Mix, and form a ball.

ENCEPHALITIS PHRENITIS MAD STAGGERS. 31

a horse with staggers and you cure him ;" and this, like many
other old veterinary adages, appears to have been founded iu
sound observation : in fact, it is a practice pursued by every
surgeon in cephalitic cases, with the twofold view of removing
any source of irritation or cause for the head-affection that may
exist within the bowels, and of indirectly abstracting blood by
derivation and discharge. I know of no surer or more eflfectual
cathartic than aloes, and their operation will be both augmented
and prolonged by the addition of calomel. The two ingredients
may be exhibited either in ball or drench : the latter, supposing
it can be administered, being perhaps the preferable mode of
exhibition, on account of the shorter space of time in which it
is likely to traverse the alimentary canal.

llie Drench.
Take of

Decoction of Aloes* . . Oj

Calomel S^^s

Stir the calomel into the decoction
made warm over the fire. |

Or about a drachm of the powder of croton seeds may be made
into a ball, and given in lieu of either of the above prescriptions.

Whatever be the medicine or formula administered, it is good
practice to follow the first dose up, after an interval of twelve
or eighteen hours, with diminished doses of the same at inter-
spaces of six or twelve hours, according to circumstances ; tliere
being little cause for apprehension, iu such cases as these, of
superpurgation.

Enemata, containing aloes, should also be injected, as early
as the operation can be performed, after bloodletting and giving
the medicine ; and again repeated about the time that the
cathartic may be expected to take effect. Should the first
exhausting bloodletting be attended with some relaxation or
remission of the symptoms, no time need be lost in closely
trimming the hair off the forehead, occiput, and temples, and
applying to those parts the strongest preparation of blistering
ointment.

In cases in which the legs are deadly cold, and the animal is
in that lethargic state that no impression can be made upon them
* For the formula for the decoction, see vol. i, page 113.

32 APOPLEXY.

by friction or bandages, however warm in their nature, the best
application is a mustard embrocation, which, to give it additional
efficacy, may be made up with oil of turpentine.

Should the first large abstraction of blood not be followed by
any or that relief which we could desire, as soon as the pulse in-
forms us that the system is sufficiently recovered from its effects,
we must practise another arteriotomy or venesection, to as great
an amount as the animal's reduced powers will bear; after which,
probably, it will be advisable that we should await the operation
of the purge and blisters, providing the latter appear disposed to
act ; if not, they must be repeated, or turpentine mustard plasters
may be substituted. Further than this it would be futile to pre-
tend to give directions for treatment : so much depends upon the
circumstances of the individual case, and so much must, conse-
quently, rest with the judgment of the practitioner in attendance,
that, beyond such general rules as are here laid down for his
guidance, it is in no one's power to direct his proceedings.

APOPLEXY.

This is a subject on which I am afraid I shall be at issue with
some of our most respected veterinary authorities. I cannot con-
sent to regard as apoplexy any form of the comatose or somuoles-
cent disorder, familiarly known by the name of sleepy staggers,
although I have described that affection as occasionally terminating
in apoplexy. I regard apoplexy in the horse — in accordance with
the accepted definitions given of it in man — to be a general loss,
and commonly a sudden one, of consciousness, and feeling, and
voluntary motion : respiration and circulation still continuing,
but in a more or less disturbed condition. It must be regarded as
the most dangerous form of cerebral disease. The horse attacked
with it is from the first prostrated. Should there have pre-existed
any warning symptoms, they have been unraanifested or have
probably escaped notice. We are called to the animal lying in a
state of insensibility and without the power of voluntarily moving,
though his limbs are relaxed, and perhaps agitated, as well as his
body, by tremor. His respiration is laboured, and sighing or
sterterous, and sometimes most loudly and distressfully so. His
pulse is slow, but full and strong. He is all over in a cold sweat,
and his extremities are deadly cold. He perhaps froths at the

APOPLEXY. 23

mouth. His nostrils are dilated, showing a highly reddened state
of the lining membrane; and the conjunctive membranes are in
the same excited condition. The eyes present a ghastly stare,
arising from the dilated state of the pupils, which are unaffected
by light, however strong. In fine, neither noise, nor blows, nor
anything we can do to him, makes any impression upon him.
We cannot rouse him out of his lethargy. His fate appears
to be irrevocably sealed.

D^Arboval, although he has enumerated symptoms which, ac-
cording to the view I have taken of apoplexy, are, strictly speak-
ing, inadmissible, as being in themselves apoplectic, still, in the
end, comes to the conclusion, that apoplexy is not to be considered
" comme prononcee qu'au moment ou I'animal tombe tout a coup,
sans mouvement autre que celui des flancs :" transient vertigo,
heaviness and dependance of head; staggering gait; diminution
of sight, hearing, and appetite; frequent gaping; stupidity, and
numbness or torpor of limb ; drowsiness, or else apparent lazi-
ness or weakness, &c., being but the " avant-coureurs ^' or
%yra^ioxi\'s, premonitory of the fit: in fact, symptoms which belong
to coma or sleepy staggers, and which, though they may end in
apoplexy, are more likely to bring forth a paroxysm of phrenitis.

The Diagnosis between apoplexy and coma or sleeping stag-
gers, now becomes apparent. In coma, the horse is standing,
and any loud noise, or smart shake or blow, will rouse him ;
and often so completely will he recover his senses when roused,
that he will not only recognise persons and things around him,
but take food in his mouth and chew it : in the apoplectic fit,
nothing will produce such an effect, though, should the animal
by any means happen to be relieved — a case most rare — apo-
plexy may become mitigated or converted into coma. Staggers,
either in its sleepy or mad form, may commence with symptoms
resembling those of megrims, a circumstance which has given
rise to the notion that megrims occasionally terminates in stag-
gers ; but this I do not apprehend to be the case ; these are
only symptoms so like megrims as, while they continue, to be
perhaps indistinguishable from that disorder, and not genuine
megrims ; that being a disease sui generis, and one that lasts
for years, returning from time to time, without ending in stag-
gers, much less in apoplexy.

24 APOPLEXY.

The Autopsy of horses that have died of apoplexy has com-
monly shown a surcharged condition of the vessels of the cere-
brum and its membranes with blood — a heavy congested state
of them, which on some occasions has ended in rupture and
exti-avasation ; though more commonly it has produced serous
effusion into the cavities of the brain. In reference, however,
to this state of effusion, we find it observed by Dr. Copland,
that " the inference clearly deducible from faithfully observed
facts, is, that the effusion is not the cause but the consequence
of the apoplexy ; and that a considerable portion of the effusion
takes place immediately before or soon after death." It was the
discovery of blood in one case, and of serum in another, that
gave rise to a division of the forms of disease by the older
physicians into sanguineous and serous apoplexy ; though, from
the foregoing observations, there would appear to be no prac-
tical ground for the support of such presumed distinction ; and
it is said, cases have occurred in which nothing extraordinary has
been discoverable either in the brain or its membranes. Mostly,
the disease will be found to have its origin in pressure upon the
brain, or else in some disturbed or interrupted state of the
circulation of blood through it ; and should we by any means
succeed in taking off or relieving this pressure while the powers
of re-action still survive, there may be a chance of the patient's
recovery.

The following very interesting case of

Apoplexy caused by a tumour upon the forehead, was
inserted in The Veterinarian for 1840, by Mr. Relph, veteri-
nary surgeon, Sebergham, near Carlisle.

" A mare had a firm circumscribed tumour upon the right parietal bone,
which, though originally no larger than a nutmeg, had within the last five
months acquired the bulk of an orange. She always evinced much dread of
having it touched, \ybile working one day in a thrashing machine, she was
seized with an apoplectic fit, and, while she lay insensible, the tumour was
observed to have become flattened, irregular, and diffused, and to have ex-
tended to the right orbit. She was bled twice during the fit; and then an
incision was made into the tumour, and about an ounce and a half of coagu-
lated blood let out : after which, became apparent a perforation through the
parietes of the skull. She died an hour afterwards without a struggle. Exa-
mination of the tumour discovered a small opening through which a probe
passed into the cranium by the side ol' the longitudinal sinus ; and upon both

APOPLEXY. 25

sides of this there existed effusion of blood. The structure of the brain
itself was natural.

The Prognosis of a case of apoplexy holds out little hope of
the life of the patient. Should the practitioner be called in
early enough, and be, from the promptitude and propriety of
his measures, fortunate enough, to restore the lost senses and
get the patient on his legs again, he may indeed entertain the
most sanguine expectations of recovery ; horses not being the
subjects of those hemiplegic afiFections which are so apt to follow
apoplectic attacks in man ; and as for any mental derangement
or imbecility, we have, for obvious reasons, no cause for alarm
on that score. If the breathing continue or become stertorous,
the pupil of the eye remain incontractible to light, and there
supervene cold sweats and dilated sphincters, we may consider
the scene of life to be all but closed. In fine, to use the lan-
guage of Dr. Marshall Hall,* " in an ordinary fit of apoplexy
the prognosis is favorable or unfavorable, according as the
symptoms are limited to afiFections of the cerebral system, or
are extended to the true spinal and ganylionic."

Tkeatment. — Presuming the fit of apoplexy in which we
find the horse, to be, as it commonly is, the result of the pre-
sence of too much blood in the encephalon, it is our duty,
without a moment's loss of time, to set about to diminish this.
And here, the jugular veins, for two reasons, are not near so
eligible for bloodletting as the temporal arteries : first, it is
awkward and difficult to open and compress them in the recum-
bent posture ; and, secondly, we shall probably obtain freer and
more speedy evacuation from the arteries. I may repeat here
what I said under encephalitis, that both my own practice and
that of several others in whose observation I confide, decide very
much in favour of arteriotomy in the temples in preference to
drawing blood from the jugulars. In regard to the quantity of
blood to be drawn, as it hardly ever happens that we can collect
it, we must in this, as in all similar cases, be entirely guided
by the eflfects of the loss of blood upon the pulse and by the
general state of the patient. Should bloodletting to the fullest
extent we durst practise it fail to rouse our patient, stimulants
of various kinds may be made trial of — such as the application
* ' On the Diseases and Derangements of the Nervous System.'

26 VERTIGO MEGRIMS.

of ammonia to the nostrils, or even the injection of it into those
cavities: almost any experiment of the kind being warrantable
under such circumstances. The tobacco enema might be tested,
supposing there seemed any reasonable probability of its con-
ferring benefit ; or a mustard embrocation, made up with oil of
turpentine, may be spread upon the forehead and temples shorn
of their hair. Providing we can by any measures dispel his
lethargy — which, alas ! there is but too much reason, from past
experience, to be apprehensive we shall not succeed in accom-
plishing— the same remedies as are recommended for coma and
phrenitis may, with some variation in accordance with the change
of circumstances, be employed afterwards.

Tracheotomy. — On no animal is this operation practised
with more facility than on the horse, neither are the conse-
quences of it such — though it may, now and then, leave the
animal a roarer — as to deter us from practising it in any case
in which important benefit is likely to accrue from it. Dr.
Physick, of Philadelphia, first suggested its performance in hy-
drophobia ; and Dr. Marshall Hall has recently advised a trial
of it in cases of apoplexy : his words are, "in apoplexy from con-
ffestion, I am persuaded that the fatal end might be averted by
thetimely adoption of this measure. The patient dies of asphyxia,
and of an asphyxia which tracheotomy would, I believe, prevent;
or of coma, which bloodletting would cure."

VERTIGO — MEGRIMS.

Indefinite and vague as the meaning of the common appella-
tion '' megrims " is, it must, in accordance with custom, be
admitted into our nosology, and, being admitted, it will become
the duty of the scientific veterinarian to inquire to what especial
disease he is to attach it. Writers on farriery have regarded it
as a sort of epilepsy. But farther than the mere circumstances
of both disorders being sudden in their attacks and consisting in
fits, there appears no foundation for such analogy : on the con-
trary, when once the fits of the two diseases have been actually
witnessed, I should say any attempt to institute a medical re-
semblance betAveen them will by the practical man be instantly
abandoned.

VERTIGO MEGEIMS. 27

With those out of the profession who have much to do with
horses, megrims appears a disorder intelligible enough : every
horse-dealer or groom knows, as he thinks, well enough what
megrims is ; — in his mind there is no mistaking it for any-
thing else. And, in point of fact, so far as a certain common
assemblage of symptoms go, as a recognisable malady, megrims
needs no interpretation ; it being neither more nor less than
what, in a medical sense, we should designate vertigo. Even
then, however, we are not apprised of the nature of the morbid
condition of the encephalon on which we presume it depends.

By vertigo — as synonymous with megrims — I do not mean
any simple or single symptom of giddiness which a staggered
horse may evince ; but I mean an assemblage of vertiginous
symptoms which suddenly attack, and as suddenly disappear,
after the manner of a fit; and to which horses all their lives
may be at times subject, and yet never experience what we
understand by staggers, i. e., encephalitis or phrenitis, or even
coma. This makes me say, megrims is a disease sui generis ;
though of what precise or definite nature I am not at present
prepared to give an opinion.

The Symptoms are, a most unnatural and constrained ele-
vation of the head, and erection and stiffening of the neck,
with such awkward and obstinate protrusion of the nose, that
all attempts to rein in prove fruitless ; for this reason, and on
account of the upward, wild, vacant stare the countenance has,
the horse, in slang language, is often called a " star-gazer/^
In some instances, however, the carriage of the head, instead
of being upward, is stiffly to one side. Carry it, however,
which way he may, the object of the animal appears to be, to
fix his head and render it as little as possible affected by the
movement of the body. Such a horse is readily recognised
as a " megrimed " subject — one that is apt to be suddenly
seized, every now and then, while at work, with stopping, and
violent shaking of the head, rearing and reeling round or
backward, and perhaps falling, to the imminent peril of him-
self as well as of his rider or driver : in a minute or two all
is over, the animal has recovered his senses, and is able to re-
sume his work ; though there is mostly some manifestation of
strangeness and debility about the animal, which renders it.

28 VERTIGO — MEGRIMS.

when it can be done, advisable — in some cases it becomes
compulsory — to return him to the stable. It is not every
horse that has the peculiar carriage of the head before described
that is subject to fits of megrims ; while, on the other hand,
there are horses who experience such fits without any such
predisposing manifestation. Generally speaking, these fits
relapse at uncertain intervals — becoming in a manner consti-
tutional— though it is possible a horse may have one fit, and
suffer no return.

Causes. — High or full condition, hot weather, exertion or
agitation of any kind, may be said to be likely to produce a
fit in a horse predisposed to megrims ; although such causes
are not in some cases recognisable. Harness-horses in parti-
cular appear subject to the disorder : this may arise from the
long-continued constraint the bearing-rein puts the head to.
I knew a horse who had a fit of megrims every time he was
put into harness; as if temper seemed to induce it. D'Arboval
mentions an instance of a young vigorous stallion becoming
seized with megrims brought on by repeated acts of covering.

The Pathology of Megrims remains undeveloped. It
cannot be said essentially to consist in any determination of
blood to the brain, though that may sometimes prove the im-
mediate excitant ; else, why should it so often return, and
occasionally under circumstances when no such determination
can be proved to exist ? Mr. Charles Percivall informs me
that he has discovered water in the brains of megrimed horses.
Nothing will satisfactorily account for the general incurability
of the disease but organic change of some part of the sensoriutn.
I do not believe, with the French veterinarians, that megrims
ever arises from a disordered alimentary canal.

Hereditariness. — With some horses megrims appears to
be an hereditary afiection : there has existed from their earliest
colthood a look and a manner that the eye of the horseman
detects as symptomatic of ingenerate aberratiou, which at
mature growth, and when put to work, is likely to turn to
megrims ; or which may not turn to anything more than a
sort of stupidity or idiocy, or unusual stubbornness when
required to do anything. A colt, only three years old, be-
longing to tlie First Life Guards, on being taken up out of

VERTIGO MEGRIMS. 29

tlie strawyard, in his fourth year, to be broken, manifested this
megrimed disposition to such an extent that the riding-
master pronounced him incapable of being rendered fit for the
ranks : he was in consequence sold, it being, from all we could
learn, an hereditary aberration.

The Treatment of megrims, in such a case as has just
been related, where there is every reason to believe that the
affection is dependent upon some peculiar aboriginal formation
or state of the encephalon, cannot possibly prove of any avail ;
nor will much benefit — at least not permanent relief — be ob-
tained from it in such cases as date their beginning from a long
time back, and have ever since, at various intervals, experienced
relapses of it. We may procure longer remissions — we may
by watching, and diet, and so forth, occasionally succeed in
warding off threatened attacks; but we shall rarely, very rarely,
radically and permanently cure such disease. Those cases
hold out the best prospects for cure in which the subjects are
young, and the attacks prove the first and only ones they have
experienced, and are manifestly traceable to condition or
living, or work, &c., proving often but a kind of prelude to
phrenitisor staggers; — but these, in point of reality, cannot be
considered as genuine megrims. The treatment is to consist
in bloodletting and briskly purging, and in — should that also
be deemed necessary — blistering the head. Here, hkewise,
setons through the temples, or along the nape of the neck, are
likely to prove of especial service, should they be kept in a
sufficiently long time.

The Liability to Return of megrims is so notorious, that
a horse known once to have had a fit is looked upon with extreme
suspicion, and, as a consequence, experiences considerable de-
preciation in the market. The same causes and circumstances
by which one attack has been produced will always be likely
to engender a second ; and though we may by attention to diet
and work, and by occasionally bleeding and physicking, ward off
the paroxysm for a longer or shorter time, still, sultry weather
or strong exertion may bring it on in spite of us, and at a time
we little expect it. This uncertainty, coupled with the dread
of its approach and consequences, commonly proves the occasion
of the unfortunate subject being sold for what he will fetch ;

30 VERTIGO — MEGRIMS.

continuing to cliange hands, probably, until some one purchases
liim at a low rate, by way of speculation, as a subject for further
or experimental treatment.

Tying the Carotid Arteries was an operation resorted to
in affections of the head of this nature by my deceased friend,
Mr. John Field. He mentions one case in which the horse
had long endured megrims, and bloodletting and blistering
had been fully practised, wherein he put a ligature around the
carotid of the near side. After the operation, the horse ap-
peared very stupid for some days, but at length became lively,
fed well, and, by the time the wound in the neck had healed,
seemed quite recovered. He was sent to farming work, where
he continued well up to the expiration of twelve months from
the time of the operation. He then evinced symptoms of re-
turn of his disease, viz. stupidity, occasional delirium, loss of
sight from dilated pupils, &c. He had given him eleven
drachms of aloes, and had taken from him xxviij lb. of blood.
Three days afterwards, the physic not operating enough, four
drachms more of aloes were given : he was kept quite quiet.
Three weeks from this, some symptoms still remaining — such
as stupidity, partial palsy of the optic nerves, &c., Mr. Field
took up the carotid artery of the opposite side. In a week
afterwards he had once more quite recovered his senses, had
become lively and obedient, and ate with a good appetite. Of
the sequel of this interesting case I regret I am uninformed.

The experiment of tying both carotids was made by Mr. Field
upon a black mare, who evinced some peculiar head-aftection
— "biting at everything she saw. ^^ She was cast, and had her
carotids tied : first, that on the near side ; then, the one on
the off. On drawing the ligature close upon the latter, the
breathing became stertorous, and she died in two minutes
afterwards. On examination of her neck, the arteries were
found securely tied ; nor was either the sympathetic nerve or
that of the par vagum included within either ligature. There
was a good deal of fluid within the ventricles ; but no inflam-
mation of the brain nor of the frontal sinuses.

The Result of the first of these experiments is quite in
accordance with what we should expect, from knowing what
happens when any of the arterial trunks of the body are inter-

PAEALTSIS PALSY. 31

rupted by ligature : what is called anastomosis, or inosculation,
takes place between the branches of the trunk proceeding from
either side of the ligature, by which inter-union, in the course
of some months, the circulation of the blood becomes perfectly
re-established. When the carotid artery was tied, it appeared
to require twelve months before the blood found courses to run
to the brain with its wonted freedom ; as soon as it had, the
malady returned : so that, in fact, all that was gained from the
operation was a yearns remission of the disorder ; and this is
all, I am afraid, we are likely to derive by it. I have myself
tied the posterior aorta in the dog successfully. For many
months afterwards the animal followed me about as usual; and
when I had him destroyed for the purpose of preparation, I
found ample circuitous vessels had been formed to carry on the
circulation with the same facility and freedom as before the
operation.

PARALYSIS PALSY.

Definition. — A loss or diminution of the sensibility or
mobility of some part of the body ; commonly of both faculties.

Kinds. — Dr. Cullen describes four : — 1. Paralysis partialis,
palsy of some particular part or single muscle ; 2, Paralysis
hemiplegica, palsy of one side of the body, longitudinally ; 3.
Paralysis paraplegica, palsy of one half of the body, or there-
abouts, transversely, as of the hind quarters ; 4. Paralysis
venenata, palsy from the effects of poison. To these some
veterinarians have added a fifth kind, one they have denomi-
nated ^ewera/ joa/^y; but their cases in illustration have not
borne them out in this addendum : in fact a general palsy,
properly speaking, amounts to an apoplexy. D'Arboval de-
scribes palsy as ambulatory, affecting first the posterior extremi-
ties, afterwards the anterior, and finally returning to its original
seat. There may occur such cases : I never saw any.

The Kind to which the Horse is most disposed '\% para-
lysis par aplegica. Hemiplegia but rarely occurs.

The Symptoms of Paraplegia are very characteristic of
what ails the animal. The horse is down — unable to stand ;
nor can he raise himself upon his legs, although he struggles

32 PARALYSIS — PALSY.

to do so violently with his fore limbs, and succeeds perhaps in
erecting himself into the position of a dog sitting : still his
hind quarters remain powerless upon the ground, reclined side-
ways, from his not even being able to support them in the
proper posture. The probability is they have lost the faculty
of feeling as well as that of moving : this may readily be tested
by pricks and pinches of the skin, by blows, &c. Sensibility
is not uniformly lost with mobility : rarely, indeed, is it lost
while motion is retained. In extreme cases the rectum and
bladder participate in the paralysis : the urine and faeces are
retained. Oftener, these evacuations will pass involuntarily,
owing to palsy of the sphincters ; and when this occurs, we
may in general relinquish every hope of recovery. In all cases
it will be right for the practitioner to ascertain the condition
of the bladder and rectum /(er anum.

The Symptoms of Hemiplegia consist in manifestations of
a loss of voluntary power of one side of the body, and of the
correspondent fore and hind limbs. Should the deprivation of
power be complete, the horse will be found down, lying upon
the paralytic side : it is only while the hemiplegia is partial or
incomplete that he can stand, perhaps walk, dragging, as he
moves along, the affected limbs after him : his head and neck,
together with his loins and hind quarters, will be carried
inclined to one side ; the affected ear will be drawn into its
socket ; the corresponding ear hang lopping down; the lips be
pendulous and drawn to one side.

M. Girard, fils, has left us a ease of hemiplegia replete with
so many curious observations, that I shall here translate it: —

The sensibility of the left — the aflccted side — proved extremely acute ; the
lips and alse of the nose were drawn to the right side, the contrary to that to
which the head and neck turned ; the occlusion of the nostrils was such that
the air made a blowing noise in its passage through them ; the left ear was
palsied, and the tongue slightly distorted ; the lips and nostrils retained their
sensibility, though in a diminished degree to what it was on the unaffected
side. When oats were laid before the horse, he seized them with the right
side of his mouth, the left remaining motionless : he experienced great diffi-
culty in mastication, and succeeded only in swallowing a part of his food, the
remainder, staying behind, lodged between the cheek and molar teeth. He
could not manage to pick up his oats from a plane-surface, and when pre-

PARALYSIS PALSY. 33

sented to him in a trough, he plunged his muzzle into the middle of them,
opening wide his mouth. He could drink but slowly and with difficulty, and
only by thrusting his mouth deeply into the water. The nostril of the affected
side perceived scents. He could walk, but could hardly sustain himself after
but a short exercise : if attempted to be turned to the left side, this instability
became still more manifest ; pressure upon the vertebral column from the
head to the tail seemed to give great pain. The respiration, although sonorous,
was regular. On the fourth day, the animal, unable any longer to stand,
sank down, and after several turns and ineffectual struggles to rise, rolled
over and lay upon bis right side. His bowels were relieved by manual opera-
tion ; his bladder with the catheter ; though after this even he passed his
dung ; but could not posture himself properly to void his urine. His pulse,
like his respiration, remained undisturbed. He died on the seventh day.

An Epidemic Form is in some situations^ or under peculiar
circumstances, assumed by paraplegia. Low, wet, cold, marshy
pastures ; or those in which there are stagnant waters, or
wherein currents of cold air prevail, and which are poor or in-
sufficient to keep cattle in any sort of condition, are very apt
to be productive of cases of palsy, particularly in the autumnal
or spring season of the year ; the remedy for which consists in
removal of the horses or cattle to other — upland — pasture,
where the soil is drier and the feed better.

A SINGULAR Case of incomplete Paraplegia, and some-
thing resembling epileptic fits, occurred to Mr. Read, veterinary
surgeon, Crediton, Devon, by whom it was inserted in The
Veterinarian for 1839.

The horse was nine years old ; had had an abscess upon the poll for several
months ; and in the end was seized with partial incapability of moving his
hind-limbs. He staggered in his walk, and soon afterwards his fore-extre-
mities became implicated ; any act of moving produced convulsive twitchings
and spasmodic rigidity of the muscles of the neck, shoulders, lips, &c., with
the retraction of the eyes and protrusion of the haw. The general excite-
ment was very great. Any sudden noise would bring on convulsions of an
epileptic character, viz. violent spasmodic muscular action, until he fell on
his side, and then all four legs would be as stiff as posts. Sometimes one,
at other times all the legs experienced rapid convulsive movements; and at
the time there would be foaming at the mouth and grinding of the teeth, eyes
retracted, and eyelids partly closed. The fit would last about ten minutes,
and then the horse would scramble up and begin to eat. The paralysis and
fits continued from the 23d to the 27th May, when he died in a convulsive
paroxysm. The treatment consisted in bloodletting and purging; in giving
III. 3

34 PARALYSIS — PALSY.

liiilf a drachm of prussic acid in a pint of cold water every four hours. It
afforded no relief. "On taking off the skin covering the occiput, a sanious
discharge escaped, exposing a piece of detached bone, the cavity around
being in a state of necrosis. A small sinus extended into the investment of
the skull, with serous effusion and a little pus upon the cerebellum and spinal
marrow. The tunics were slightly congested." The whole of the occipital
ridge was in a complete state of caries. There was no interposition of sound
bone between the diseased part and the cranial cavity. Mr. Youatt — to
whom the bone was sent — presented it to the Veterinary College.

Parai,ysis Partialis occurs orenerally in parts about the
head. The face is drawn to one side; the corner of the
mouth upward, towards the eye ; and the distortion is evidently
occasioned l)y a loss of power in the antagonist muscles. The
masseter muscle has been palsied, and the consequence has
been difficulty in mastication, causing the horse to cud his
food and eject it, instead of swallowing it. Amaurosis is an
instance of partial palsy : light cannot be perceived, and yet
the eye retains the power of motion.

A SINGULAR CASE of paralysis, partially involving both the
voluntary and excito-motory or involuntary systems, is related
in The Veterinarian for 1833, by Mr. Bainbridge, V.S., Saffron
Walden.

A three-year-old colt presented the following symptoms : — Penis drawn,
and urine dripping away ; tail depressed, without power to raise it; fieces
lodged in the rectum for want of the power to expel them ; countenance dull ;
lips slightly drawn to the left side ; sight impaired, most in the left eye ;
mouth hot ; pulse 60, and full ; willing to feed, but has difficulty in taking
food into his mouth ; runs his head, mouth open, into the manger, and throws
the food from side to side before he is able to get it between his grinders ;
that accomplished, he appeared to masticate well. Mr. B. was assured the
colt had received no injury about the head or otherwise. He had previously
been noticed for being dull at pasture, not playing about like other colts, and
for not having thriven. He was bled, and took a cathartic, and was put into
a loose box. While the physic was operating, there being no voluntary power
to void the faeces, they ran from him spontaneously down his tail and legs,
as he moved about. He staggered more in his gait than yesterday. Apply
a strong blister to the head. Sixth day, much worse : now, after he had
seized hold of food, it fell from his lips again, and he had lost all power of
mastication. On the tenth day he was destroyed.

Post-mortem. — A small quantity of fluid and some lymph were found in the

PAEALYSIS— PALSY. 35

left ventricle of the brain. The plexus choroides were rather larger than
ordinary, and contained a tumour the size of half a small bean ; the brain
unusually soft and pulpy about the origins of the olfactory nerves.

Mr. Daws, V.S., London, gives a case in The Veterinarian for 1839,
in some respects similar to this. A horse received into his infirmary had
that reeling gait of the hind quarters peculiar to broken-backed horses,
though able to kick ; the tail dependent, swinging like a pendulum, without
power to raise it ; the sphincter ani partially relaxed, exposing the ffeces in
the rectum ; occasional straining to void dung and urine, but with little or
no effect, a little urine only dribbling away afterwards, or a little fajces,
which seemed to pass involuntarily. The hand passed per anum was not
grasped by the rectum ; in fact, it rather resembled a sack than living intes-
tines ; the sphincter ani remained relaxed, and the air rushed in and out at
every inspiration and expiration. The bladder was enormously distended :
its fundus reached the umbilicus.

Treatment. — Introduction of the catheter and evacuation of the bladder,
assisted by manual pressure from within the rectum. The bladder did not
contract after having been evacuated, but collapsed, and remained flaccid ;
it, however, gradually recovered some degree of tone in the course of ten
days or a fortnight. The rectum also became contracted in caliber, but the
sphincter remained vi statu quo. His diet is strictly confined to laxative
nutritious food ; and he appears to suffer no inconvenience unless his bowels
become constipated.

Causes. — Palsy is mostly the offspring of injury. In too
many instances paraplegia has appeared after casting. The
horse is cast for the performance of some operation : all seems
to be going on well up to the time of liberating him from his
fetters ; which done, to the surprise and dismay of the operator,
the patient is found unable to rise. It is at once known what
is the matter. " The horse's back is broken ;'^ that is to say,
the spine is injured — fractured, most likely, — and the compres-
sion upon the marrow is causing the paraplegia. The same
accident has occurred from violent leaping or falling ; it is
possible for it to happen even from the horse being self-cast in
his stall.

Mr. Hudson, V.S., Lincoln, has inserted a case in The
Veterinarian for 1829, of an aged mare, who —

Hunting with Sir Richard Sutton's hounds, in leaping a ditch two yards
wide, " dropped in with her hind parts, but succeeded in getting out, and
staggered a short distance farther, when she fell, and could not be made to
get up again." Mr. H. was sent for, and found the hind limbs completely

36 PARALYSIS — rALSY.

paralytic, both sensation and motion being destroyed in them : the fore legs
retaining their full action and sensibility. The mare survived the accident
but a few hours. The anterior lumbar vertebra was fractured ; the spinous
process was torn from its body, and was pressing upon the theca vertebralis,
at which part was a considerable quantity of extravasated blood, and also
some among the enveloping muscles. The lumbar transverse processes, which
had previously become ossified together, were also fractured through their
middles. The circumstance of the mare being enabled to get out of the
ditch was owing, Mr. H. thought, to the fractured vertebra remaining in its
place " until the time of the fall, although previously broken."*

Laborious Draught, M. Bouley, in the Recueil de Mede-
cine Veterinaire for June, 1830, has remarked, is not an un-
common cause of paraplegia ; such efforts, when violent, being
likely to concuss or strain the medulla spinalis in its least
supported part, the loins ; and to produce, either immediately
or remotely, effusion into the theca vertebralis, satisfactorily
accounting for the palsy.

Cold combined with Moisture is known to produce palsy.
In marshy pastures, in cold and wet seasons, the disorder has
seized the turned-out horses. In India, what is called

KuMREE is now, I believe, ascertained to be paraplegia,
proceeding from the effects of cold and wet.

Palsy in Man is a common consequence of what is called
" an apoplectic stroke." To this species, as far as my observa-
tions have extended, horses can hardly be said to be subject ;
indeed, apoplexy in horses is very rare; and when it does occur,
mostly destroys life.

Reflected Irritation, caused by disease or derangement of
organs unconnected with or remote from, the seat of palsy,
must be ranked among its causes. That it is operative in the
horse's constitution I cannot for a moment hold a doubt ; but
to what extent I am not yet in a situation to say. The irri-
tation, whatever or wherever it may be, is first carried to the
nervous centre, whence, by a reflex operation, it is transmitted
to and along the nerves of voluntary motion, producing similar
effects upon them and the parts to which they are distributed,
as though the nervous centre itself had actually been the sub-
ject of lesion or compression. To cases standing on record —

* The same case is related in vol. i, page 2G2.

PARALYSIS — PALSY. 37

though they include causes which, from their nature, lead one
to doubt — I feel bound to pay due attention; and therefore I
submit the following accounts, taken from D'Arboval's Dic-
tionary, without, on my part, any kind of annotation :

M. Damoiseau knew a three-year-old horse to be suddenly attacked with
general paralysis, after having been copiously bled by a farrier for indigestion,
M. Laurezal witnessed an attack of paralysis in a mule, on the suppression
of a fistula which had been discharging for eighteen months. — M. Olivier
participated in an observation made at the Veterinary School at Lyons, of
paraplegia appearing the morning after firing for ringbone. — Lean horses
rapidly made fat by sainfoin and lucerne, and other nutritive diet, have
been known to experience paralysis, of which D'Arboval says he had a case
in a mare of his own. — Furthermore, we are informed by D'Arboval that, in
the course of his own practice, he occasionally meets with paralysis in horses,
arising from indigestion and nephritis : Vatel and Olivier, he says, have
published cases of the former ; and in respect to the latter, he tells us that
it not only occurs in horses, but likewise in oxen and sheep.

Pathology. — Sir Charles Bell has proved beyond question,
by experiment confirmed by observation, that of the two sets of
roots by which the spinal nerves take their origin, the anterior
are conductors of sensation, the posterior of the power of motion ;
and there is good reason for believing that the correspondent
columns of the spinal marrow are similarly endowed and equally
distinct in their economy ; supposing, therefore, that one set of
columns or roots are affected, the other remaining in their nor-
mal condition, the effect is, that mobility is lost, while sensi-
bihty is retained, or vice versa. In beautiful illustration of this,
the case following is given by Sir Charles. In a patient under
his care a tumour existed " of the form of an almond but
larger, and into it the motor nerves both of the right and left
sides were gathered, while the sensitive roots remained free."
The result was — in practice as was by theory foretold — that the
lower extremities were deprived of motion, whilst their sensi-
bility remained undisturbed. The case of a horse, related by
M. Bouley in the Recueil de Medecine Veterinaire, serves, so
far as eff"ects go, to confirm the above. A stallion, five years
old, was seized with paraplegia. He sweated from pain, and
his pulse grew full and strong, and yet he continued feeding.
During the insertion of a couple of setons in the thighs he mani-

38 PARALYSIS PALSY.

fested great pain, plunging violently under the operation with
bis fore parts, at the time that his hind were without the power
of moving. In the majority of cases of paraplegia, the spinal
marrow is so injured or compressed that both its functions —
mobility and sensibility — are simultaneously destroyed or im-
paired ; there may and do, however, occur cases in which, from
partial injury or compression, but one of these faculties is lost.
The lesions sustaiuable by the medulla or its membranes, from
fracture and consequent displacement of the vertebrae are re-
solvable into such as produce compression only, and those that
occasion laceration ; from the latter hemorrhage may ensue, to
say nothing about the harm that mere concussion or extension
of the marrow may occasion. What is called " a broken back,"
in general arises from fracture of some one or two of the pos-
terior dorsal or anterior lumbar vertebrae, mostly, I believe, of
the 15th, i6th, or 17th dorsal.*

Of the cases called general paralysis, originating in falls or
blows, the majority may be regarded as so many instances of
"broken neck/' The force applied — to the occiput, commonly —
fractures the base of the skull, breaks most likely the condy-
loid processes, the dislocation consequent on which occasions
compression of the anteriormost portion of the spinal marrow,
paralysing the voluntary muscles of the body generally, and
destroying their sensibility, probably, as well. At the same
time, the respiration being affected, will show that the medulla
oblongata is implicated in the injury.

There can be no doubt but that, on occasions, such spon-
taneous morbid changes of the medulla spinalis and its mem-
branes take place as give rise to paralysis ; the cases called
idiopathic paraplegia, rare though they be, are sufficient to
prove this. It does not seem likely that simple congestion
would be followed by such consequences ; but congestion may
end in extravasation or effusion, either of which terminations
might give rise to palsy. Not congestion, however, merely,
but inflammation must, every now and then, from a variety of
causes, arise in the medulla spinalis, or rather in its mem-
branes, particularly in tne region of the loins, where these parts
are more liable to become strained, or stretched, or lacerated.
* For further information on " Fracture of the Spine " consult vol. i, p. 261.

PARALYSIS PALSY. 39

As in the case of encephalitis, the arachuoid appears to be the
especial seat of the iuflaramation.

M. Bouley found the membrane in an intensely injected
state, to the extent of fifteen inches, in a horse who died of
paralysis, with some effusion underneath it. In respect, how-
ever, to the quantity of fluid we may fiud under the arachnoid,
we must bear in mind the recorded fact, one already quoted,
that such effusions may and do take place after death ; so that
unless the examination be immediate, such a circumstance would
be regarded suspiciously. The pia mater may be found in a
state of inflammation, a case in which the medulla will parti-
cipate in the diseased action, and in consequence undergo more
or less change. Finally, the medulla itself may prove to be in
an inflammatory condition. Dupuy mentions a remarkable case
of a stallion, affected with complete loss of voluntary motion
whose spinal marrow had become so softened (from iuflarama-
tion ?), that it ran about like so much purulent matter.

Touching the modus operandi of liumid cold as a producer of
paralysis, its effects may be local, or, we can imagine, it may
operate in a reflex manner through the agency of the general
nervous system. In man, spinal meningitis most rarely occurs
without the brain being similarly affected. In respect to the
cases of paralysis which now and then occur in the stable, among
young horses especially, I hardly know to what to ascribe their
production. As in the brain so in the spinal marrow, inflamma-
tion may occasion effusion of serum, lymph, or purulent matter,
or may produce softening of the medullary substance; and any of
these effects may prove the proximate cause of paralytic disorder.

Diagnosis. — M. Bouley's interesting researches into the
" Lesions of the Spinal marrow," have put us in possession of
some valuable marks of distinction between such cases as arise
from the affection of the medulla or its membranes — idiopathic
paraplegia — and those having their origin in indigestion and
other remote causes ; without however in cases of disease pre-
tending to say from the symptoms, what the precise nature of
the lesion may be. In the first case, the paraplegia is awfully
sudden in its attack, no warning or sign of its approach being
observable ; and comes on during or immediately after work —
draught in particular. The horse evinces on a sudden extreme

40 PARALYSIS — PALSY.

lameness in one hind leg, for which no cause is apparent, and
so great is the pain that he cannot, two minutes together, keep
the limb in the same position. Soon after, the corresponding
limb is attacked ; and now the suffering of the animal reaches
its highest pitch : he crouches behind, throws his weight for-
wards, becomes more and more instable upon his legs, until at
length his hind quarters sink down, and he falls altogether.
When down, he ineffectually struggles to rise again with his fore
limbs, they only retaining much power of motion. M. Bouley
considers the case of spinal lesion or disease distinguishable from
one originating in reflected irritation, digestive or urinary, by
the circumstance of the digestive organs being in proper order,
and by the animal, in spite of suffering, maintaining a good
appetite, for the first day or two at least. The pulse is variable
in its character. The respiration is disturbed in ratio to the
pain existing. There is neither constipation nor retention of
urine, although both evacuations are made with pain ; and the
faeces are lymphy, and the urine sedimentous. There are always
partial or general sweats. The sensorial functions remain per-
fect. The movements of the hind limbs, diminished from the
first, soon become powerless, if not lost. Their sensibility in
the beginning of the attack remains unaltered ; it is only after
the disorder has made progress that the diminution and final
destruction of it happens : though cases do occur in which the
sensibility continues undiminished, motion only being lost.
Taking all cases, however, these two faculties are simultaneously
destroyed. And the organic lesions discovered after death, in
general satisfactorily account for these varied morbid phenomena.
Unless promptly and energetically encountered by remedies, the
disorder makes rapid progress, putting the animal, in a few
hours even, in a hopeless condition ; a termination but too fre-
quent indeed when the case is early and properly treated.
Generally, the second or third day is fatal ; though some horses
sink earlier, others on the sixth or eighth day : rarely later.
The disorder may become chronic ; though of that little is
known, the horse on account of expense and hopelessness being
destroyed. In the worst cases, after a time, the palsy appears
to spread forwards and affect the respiratory muscles ; at this
period also the appetite fails, the suffering increases, the pulse

PARALYSIS — PALSY. 41

becomes weak and accelerated, sweats break out, strength
declines, and death at length closes the scene.

The Prognosis, generally speaking, must be unfavorable.
No hopes can be entertained of a case arising from casting or
fall, or other violent injury ; and therefore the advice may,
without hesitation, be a pistol-shot : at least, it can only add to
the cost of the owner and the misery of the unfortunate patient
to protract this act of humanity beyond such time as may be
found reasonable and sufficient for the trial of any remedial
measures that may suggest themselves at the moment. In an
idiopathic case, or in one which we may suspect to have its
origin in some disease or derangement of some other organ or
part, it will be our duty to endeavour to discover and remove
the cause ; should that be impossible, we must direct our
remedies towards its mitigation : the prognosis in any case
being more or less auspicious according as it appears in our
power to carry one of these objects into effect, and according as
the paralysis is more or less extensive and complete. While
sensation and the temperature of the affected parts remain un-
diminished, there is more hope entertaiuable ; on the other
hand, when all sensibility, as well as power of moving, is lost,
and the palsied parts have a deadly coldness pervading them,
the sooner the poor patient is put out of his misery probably
the better. The epidemic form of the disease appears the least
dangerous.

Treatment. — Finding his patient down — as will generally
be the case — it will become a question with the practitioner,
should he have the necessary apparatus at hand, whether or not
it appears advisable to raise the horse into slings. In most in-
stances I should say it will : in the erect posture he will be
more conveniently bled, and have administered to him what-
ever else is required ; and besides, the spine will be set up in
its natural position : it will seldom happen, however, that the
animal can with advantage be kept long in such confinement.*
Should the accident which produced the palsy be of a nature,
or the interval that elapsed between the accident and the
supervention of the paralysis be such as, to lead the veterinarian

* For an account of the improved method of suspension, vide vol. i,
p. 228.

42 PARALYSIS — TALSY.

to imagine the symptoms are arising from extravasation of
blood, immediate bloodletting, to the extent the animal's age
and condition will tolerate, will be proper, and this may be
succeeded by a terebinthinate or opiate drink : the twofold
object being to arrest haemorrhage, should it be going on,
and promote the absorption of the blood already effused. In
a case in which much irritation prevails, or where there is any
sign of inflammatory action, or where plethora is an attendant,
a full and early bloodletting is likewise peremptorily called
for; and this ought without hesitation to be repeated, providing
the febrile symptoms do not give way. The next thing to
be done is, to administer an aloetic enema, to clear out the
posterior bowels ; and this may be succeeded by a dose of
cathartic medicine. In regard to local applications, in para-
plegia, I know of nothing so likely to prove of service as viru-
lent stimulation of the loins: I have seen the mustard-plaster
— which, to render it speedier and sharper in its operation,
may be composed with oil of turpentine — when spread upon
the loins shorn of their hair, act like a charm : no sooner has
it come into full action than the patient, to the surprise of all
around, has risen upon his legs and commenced feeding ,- sig-
nifying, that not only has the power of motion been restored to
him, but that he has likewise been relieved of his pain. The
acetum cantharidis might likewise prove a very good application.
I should say this would form a proper case for dry cupping ;
or, upon the bare skin, even the scarificators m^' be employed
with advantage, the object being not so much the blood ab-
stracted as the counter-irritation produced. Afterwards, and
especially in chronic cases, setons may be inserted with a remote
prospect of considerable benefit. In all cases the bowels should
be kept soluble by enemata during the continuance of the palsy.
Mr. Read, the ingenious inventor of the improved stomach and
enema syringes, has recently called upon me with an apparatus
for giving a horse a steam-vapour-bath ; a most desirable thing,
certainly, could it be brought — which I fully believe it can be
— into practice, and very likely to prove beneficial in cases of
paralysis.

In hemiplegia and general paralysis — in any case, in fact, in
which the brain is the seat of injury or disease, to that part.

PARALYSIS — PALSY. 43

aud not to the spine, our treatment must of course be directed :
congestion, or inflammation, or infusion, may be present, and
call for the same remedies as are recommended in encephalitis.
In fine, our grand object must always be to seek out the primi-
tive affection, to discover whether the palsy be directly the
consequence of lesion or altered condition of the brain or spinal
marrow, or proceed from some irritation in another part,
proving the result of a reflex impression along the nerves,
through the medium of their common cerebral or spinal centre.

The proper Situation for the patient is a loose box. And
when slings are not used, or even when they are, as patients in
general cannot for any great length of time be kept in them,
particular care should be taken that the horse does not lie too
long upon the same side :* he should every now and then be
turned over, and never turned without having placed under him
fresh, clean, and dry litter; otherwise excoriation, and even
ulceration and sloughing, may be the consequence.

Other Plans of Treatment have been adopted, with varied
success, by different veterinarians. I will mention such as have
been employed on the Continent, and afterwards those that
have proved most serviceable in our own country. M. Jacob,
in paraplegia, inserts setons in the thighs, and rubs the hind
limbs with camphorated ammoniacal liniment ; applies poul-
tices to the loins, and gives opiates and quinine. Bouley, who
has paid especial attention to this subject, and has had great
opportunities of observation, places most reliance in emissions
of blood, regarding all other remedies but as auxiliaries, and
wisely insisting on the vast importance of early and copious
bloodletting, and of a repetition of this, even at a short in-
terval of three hours, should circumstances warrant it. Chariot
has exhibited, after bloodletting, nux vomica with advantage,
in doses up to 45 grains, French : Clichy has given as much
as six drachms at a dose. Mr. Snewing, V.S., Rugby, in a
case of a yearling filly, who, by slight immobility and un-

* Mr. Spooner, veterinary surgeon, Blandford, relates a case of tetanus,
in The Veterinarian for 1830, wherein "the serratus magnus muscle of the
near-side was found in a state of approaching gangrene ;" supposed to " have
been occasioned by the mare's having lain upon that side for twelve or four-
teen hours preceding her death."

44 PARALYSIS — J'ALSY.

steadiness in walking in the hind quarters, with the peculiar
dragging movements in both hind and fore legs, by the coma-
tose state into which she sank after exertion, and the unnatural
position in which she would often stand, and by unusual dila-
tation of the pupils and a shining glassy appearance of the
eyes, and evident partial blindness, evinced some paralytic
affection, appeared to confer much benefit, after bleeding and
purging, by administering daily a drachm of the powdered uux
vomica, in combination with small quantities of iodide of potash
and calomel. Coulbaux, in addition to bleeding from the
jugular, amputated the tail, with a view of drawing blood
topically as well as generally ; and the expedient is by no means
unworthy of our notice, although his case proved an unsuccess-
ful one. Bouley, with the same object, in one instance opened
the saphena veins. Preau, in a mare seized with paraplegia,
after applying the moxa and budding-iron to the loins, made
several experiments of the powers of galvanism, and by its ap-
plication enabled the animal, after a short time, to rise and
stand upon her legs, and, indeed, appeared to have conferred
so much benefit by it, that she, being rendered able to go
about, was turned out, convalescent : at pasture, however, she
became emaciated, and died. Acupuncturation has been
practised by some continental veterinarians, but with no great
deal of success ; still, there are cases in which it may be
worth a trial. M. Clichy, in one instance, found the skin of
the quarters and thighs so hard and unyielding, that the needle
could not be introduced. D'Arboval informs us, that the
treatment employed in the epidemic paralysis which prevails on
the borders of the Seine, near Mantes, consists in plentiful
bloodlettings, cold bathings, &c. ; and that the benefit of this
treatment manifests itself on the second or third day. From
the same authority we learn that uux vomica is not suited to
an acute or recent case of paralysis ; and that it is wrong to
recur to its use in any instance after it has once failed.

A PiioPEii Precaution, in most cases, is a manual examina-
tion per rectum ; by this, the practitioner not only becomes in-
formed of the condition of the posterior bowels and bladder,
but has, on occasions, unriddled the nature of the malady,
which, but for this simple operation, would not have come to

TETANUS — LOOKED JAW. 45

light until after death. The following very interesting case
sent to The Veterinarian in 1840, by Mr. Spooner, V.S.,
Southampton, will strikingly illustrate this : —

Muscat, a grey Arabian stallion, fourteen years of age, the property of Lord
Palmerston, by whom he had been several years used as a stallion, was per-
ceived to manifest considerable weakness in Lis hind quarters. When led
out, " he somewhat reeled in his walk, and, when made to trot, be did not
advance his legs under his body as he ought to have done. This weakness
was most perceptible in turning." When he had mounted a mare, which he
did with as much desire as ever, he " could not advance far enough to eifect
a penetration." Although for a couple of months after this he maintained his
condition, then his glutei muscles were perceived to waste ; and his hind legs,
particularly the near one, to become oedematous. At the earlier part of his
illness he evinced no pain on pressing the loins ; but latterly he has flinched
a great deal; and now, after lying down, experiences much difficulty in
rising. In another month, Muscat could not retain his urine. About this
time Mr. S. examined him per rectum, and, " about twelve inches from the
anus, could distinctly feel a hard tumour of considerable size adhering closely
to the spine, and situated mostly towards its left side." Finding the case
hopeless, Mr. S. recommended that Muscat be destroyed.

A large tumour was discovered closely adherent to the last lumbar and
first sacral vertebrae, of a dark colour, somewhat like a gland in appearance,
several pounds in weight, and occupying the space of two human hands. It
had so pressed upon the posterior cava and Iliac veins, that their external
coats had become absorbed : the caliber of the vessel being lessened, ac-
counted for the oedematous legs. The nerves, the sciatic In particular, must
also have suffered cousiderable compression. Besides the principal one, there
were several small tumours In the neighbourhood, and similar were found,
in a diminutive form, in nearly every muscle in the body. There was one
about the size of a small egg, which could be felt above the elbow, and this
had been there ever since he had been In his lordship's possession : the grooms
used to say It was a pistol-shot. Natives of Arabia are, Mr. Spooner be-
lieves, peculiarly subject to hard black tumours, which penetrate often to
the bone. " Can this," Mr. S. pertinently Inquires, " In an Arabian horse,
be of a similar nature ?"

TETANUS LOCKED JAW.

The word tetanus is of Greek extraction, and literally
signifies " stretching.^' Its application to the disease we are
about to consider appears to consist in the appearance of tension,
which their rigidity and hardness give the muscles of the body,

46 TETANUS LOCKED JAW.

in consequence of a spasmodic contraction of their fibres. Bj
some of the old writers on farriery we find the disorder called
stag-evil — an appellation derived from the French, mal de cerf
— not from any peculiar liability of the deer to the complaint,
but, apparently, from the resemblance there exists between the
stiff and erect carriage in his walk of the tetanic horse to the
natural stalking gait of the stag. We have the authority of
D'Arboval for asserting, that all our domesticated animals are
obnoxious to tetanus, and that the order of intensity of predis-
position runs thus : — first, the ass ; next, the mule ; thirdly,
the horse ; then the dog, the sheep, the ox.

The Muscles affected are the voluntary. The acts of
volition are either entirely suspended or else are perforraable
"with so much difficulty and pain that the animal can hardly be
induced to move. The involuntary muscles are not, in general,
spasmed, at least not in the incipient stages ; though a good
deal of disturbance of the actions of some of them is, on occa-
sions, evinced in the latter stages ; contradicting the assertions
of Cullen, that the secretory, respiratory, and digestive functions
remain imperturbid. Though his general insensibility is pain-
fully increased, neither in the animal nor in man are the
intellects impaired. The horse is watchful and anxious about
what is going on amongst his attendants, and, to the last,
continues sensible and obedient ; verifying in the brute what
Larry observed of the tetanic man, that he may be said actu-
tually to " see himself die.^'

The Muscles most subject to Spasm are those of the lower
jaw, neck, and back. When the muscles of the jaw are ex-
clusively spasmed, the disease is named trismus or locked jaw ;
and these appellations are often used — incorrectly however —
synonymously with tetanus, to denote the general disease ; a
circumstance that seems to have arisen from the notice in par-
ticular which is taken of the jaw being " locked " or im-
moveable, to the disregard of the spasm in other parts of the
body. When the muscles of the neck and back exhibit the
greatest spasm, occasioning the patient to carry his head stiffly
erected, his neck rigidly ewed, and his back crouched, the
disease is characterised by the term opisthotonos ; when the
reverse is the case, the muscles of the inferior parts of the body

TETANUS LOCKED JAW. 47

being most affected, and the animal, in consequence, is forced
to roach his back and contract his belly and flanks, the name
of emprosthotonos is given to it : should the body be drawn by
the spasm to one side, that of pleurosthotonos . Of these
varieties trismus and opisthotonos are most frequent. The
limbs are seldom spasmed to the degree that other parts are ;
at least not early in the attack : and in consequence of this it
is that the horse is able to walk, even at a time when his jaw
is immoveably fixed, and that he has no power of flexing either
his neck or back.

The Division made of tetanus by writers in general is into
idiopathic and traumatic : the latter designating that form or
kind of the disease which results from wounds; the former that
which is said to have a spontaneous origin. Dr. Marshall
Hall, in consonance with his doctrine of excito-motory patho-
logy, has proposed to make the division into central and cen-
tripetal tetanus : the first indicating that disease which origi-
nates within the spinal canal ; the last, that produced by wound,
or " other source of eccentric nervous and convulsive affection,
as deranged stomach or bowels, worms, &c.^' Of the two
classifications, I must confess I regard Dr. Hall's as the one
most consonant with all we profess to know about the source
or origin of tetanus ; and therefore I prefer it, and shall not,
as I proceed, lose sight of it.

Tetanus is either acute or chronic, according to its in-
tensity and rapidity of progress. Traumatic cases are in
general of an acute character; they are rapid in their course,
and fntal in their termination : whereas, such as have their
origin in other causes are apt to be comparatively tardy in their
progress, and, for that reason, afford us more chance of cure.

Tetanus is epidemic or endemic whenever it becomes
unusually prevalent, or shows itself in particular localities to
an unusual extent. There have been seasons in which tetanus
has so commonly supervened on injuries, that practitioners have
dreaded its appearance on every occasion when a horse has been
brought to them for scratches, or punctures, or wounds of any
sort ; and in this epidemic form the disease has, unfortunately,
been observed to be unusually fatal in its tendency.

The Traumatic Species of Centripetal Tetanus is the

48 TETANUS — LOCKED JAW.

disorder we are commonly called to treat ; indeed, so prevalent
is this form of the disease over the others, that, when a tetanic
horse is brought to us, he is, as a matter of course, supposed
to have a wound of some sort about him : very likely it will
be found in one of his feet ; if not there, it should be sought
for elsewhere.

The Causes, in the shape of injuries, of this form of the
disorder, are very various, sometimes very trifling. M. Karkeek,
V.S., Truro, met with a case which had originated in the skin
underneath the eye simply having been broken by the lash of
a whip. The late Mr. John Field mentions one case in which
all that could be found to account for it was a saddle-gall ;
and another, where there existed only a wound in the neck.
The most common cause is a wound in the foot — a puncture
from picking up a nail, or from being fresh shod — which has
gone on, unobserved, to fester. A simple tread may produce
it. Both docking and nicking have been followed by tetanus.
On one occasion it succeeded cauterization of a bleeding
jugular vein.*

Tetanus has followed Strangles. — -In a case extracted
into The Veterinarian for 1828, from M. Durand, V.S. to the
French Artillery, this occurred at a period of three weeks from
the first detection of the tumour, and a little less than one
after perfect maturation and discharge of the matter by lancing.
A similar case is narrated in the same Journal for 1835, by Mr.
Karkeek, with the important addition of the presence of sto-
mach and intestinal irritation.

Tetanus has proved the Sequel of Castration. — D^Ar-
boval informs us, that at a remount depot for cavalry esta-
blished at Bee (departement de I'Eure), twenty-four horses were
castrated on the same day, and afterwards were, four times a day,
made to take a cold bath in water derived from an eminently
cold spring ; the consequences were, that sixteen out of the
twenty-four died of tetanus between the tenth and fifteenth
days. The Americans, who use the actual cautery in the ope-
ration of castration, experience tetanus so frequently afterwards,
that a gelding is worth double the price of an entire horse.

* The case, which is interesting in other respects, will be found with some
excellent connnents on it in The Veterinarian for 18;3'2.

TETANUS — LOCKED JAW. 49

Tetanus may supervene on any Stage or State of the
Wound : the suppurative, however, appears the most inductive.
The disorder may even arise after the wound has healed and
cicatrized.

The Fourth Day has, on several occasions, proved critical
of its appearance. In one of Mr. Field's cases the disease
seized the horse " within an hour after (the occurrence of) a
wound occasioning immediate and excessive pain.^' It has
frequently appeared as late as three weeks after an injury.
At St. Domingo, where the disease is prevalent, it makes its
attack generally during the rainy seasons, September and May.

Horses of all Ages experience tetanus. In The Vete-
rinarian for 1831, Mr. Dickens, V.S., Kimbolton, has recorded
a case of extraordinary youthhood. It occurred in a filly only
a fortnight old, who was attacked at her dam's side, and died
of the disease. From the circumstance of the umbilical cord
having been broken off unusually short, and appearing to be
the only place where traumatic irritation could exist, Mr. D.
was naturally induced, after death, to examine it : and it proved
fortunate he did ; for he found the umbilical arteries, quite up
to their origin from the aorta, full of pus, and in a condition
approaching to gangrene.

High-bred or irritable Horses may be expected to take
tetanus from causes under which low-bred horses, or such as
are of an indolent phlegmatic habit of body, would escape. In
animals, as in ourselves, there is a peculiar make and tem-
perament that is evidently nervous, and may be said to be
tetanic ; opposed to which is another idiosyncrasy wherein the
disease is hardly ever seen.

The sympathetic Disorder, as I shall call the other form
of centripetal tetanus, is that which, from the absence of all
wound or injury, we have got into the habit of considering as
idiopathic ; though in point of fact, while some cases so con-
sidered are, no doubt, central, i.e., originate within the spinal
marrow, others, there seems good reason for believing, must
be dependent upon some irritation, either within the alimentary
canal, or in some other part of the body. Should this turn
out to be the case, our pathology of tetanus will have under-
gone essential improvement ; and we shall be able to account,

III. 4

50 TETANUS — LOCKED JAW.

in a measure, for our therapeutic agents succeeding in one
instance and failing in anotlicr ; a fact that lias hitherto led us
either to regard the asserted remedy as useless, or to attribute
its failure or success to an erroneous source. In a word by
endeavoiu-ing to discover the real seat and nature of two kinds
or forms of disease, which have hitherto been confounded under
tlie ejnthet idiopathic, it is manifest we are in the road to very
considerable amendment of our method of treatment.

We are informed from various sources, that tetanus has been
produced in horses by excessive heat, by excessive cold, by change
of temperature, by low wet pastures, by suppressed perspiration,
by over-exertion, by worms, by certain waters given to drink,
by certain kinds and descriptions of aliment, &c. Without
calling any of which statements into question, I may observe,
that, supposing such cases do happen, they are evidently, all
of them; but so many instances of irritation of the nervous
fibre, the influence of which — the same as wound or lesion of
the nerve — is, in the language of Dr. Hall, " carried by ex-
citer nerves to the spinal axis and reflected upon the motor
nerves ;" and this irritation is capable of pursuing " a retrograde
course along the spinal marrow ;"* a wound in the hind foot
being not less capable than a wound in the fore of inducing a
locked-jaw.

Mr. Abernethy was of opinion, tiiat the injury, whatever it
might be, leading to tetanus, first produced disorder of the
•digestive organs ; that that disorder occasioned derangement of
the functions of the spinal marrow, and, through it, of those of
the system at large, which latter derangement constituted
tetanus. The intervention of the influence of the digestive
organs in the chain of connexive irritation appears, then, to be
the grand diff'erence between the theories of Dr. Hall and Mr.
Abernethy. And on the side of the latter we may range the
opinions of two members of our own profession, Messrs. Hen-
derson and Karkeek, both of whom have bestowed a great deal
of practical observation upon the subject before us.

Mr. A. Henderson, V.S., London, who presented the Vete-
rinary Medical Society with a good practical paper on tetanus

* 'Diseases and Derangements of the Nervous System,' by Marshall Hall,
M.D.

TETANUS LOCKED JAW. 51

in 1832, "doubts that the horse has never the disease except
from sympathy ;" and in confirmation of this opinion states,
that, although during life the symptoms have proved insufficient
to direct his attention to the seat of the source of irritation,
examination after death has manifested appearances, which left
no doubt on the mind of Mr. H. about the nature of a case
which he had at first considered to be idiopathic, i.e. central.
And in the position which Mr. H. has taken up, I am very
much disposed to think, that (although I do not believe his
theory complete) he stands very strong. I feel no doubt, my-
self, that a very large proportion of our cases of tetanus originate
either from wound, discovered or not discovered, or from some
other cause of local irritation ; and that cause Mr. H. has found
frequently to be, "an unusually vascular appearance of the large
sympathetic nerves throughout their various ramifications in the
chest and abdomen." In one case, in combination with this
appearance, he found distension and redness of the stomach,
with crimson spots upon its pyloric portion ; in a second case,
with the same, an enormous quantity of bots, several of which
had eaten through the coats of the stomach ; in a third, with
the same, an immense number of the worms called terites, in
the stomach and small intestines and in some parts of the
duodenum and jejunum, sufficient to block up the passages.
The vessels of the pia mater were also unusually distended, the
brain in this case being examined ; and there was more water
than usual in the ventricles. To this it may be right to add,
that Mr. H. found the sympathetic nerves similarly aflPected in
a case of tetanus apparently caused by broken knees. Mr.
Karkeek, V.S., Truro, has made the same observation since, in
idiopathic tetanus ; and in regard to it, coupled with the con-
sideration of other facts, sagaciously remarks, that " tetanus
depends, if any disease does, upon sympathy." And in another
place, " I am of opinion that a diseased state of the digestive
organs is invariably the primary cause, as on dissection I have
ever discovered it to exist :" thus confirming Mr. Abernethy's
opinion.

Climate. — Mr. Karkeek believes the climate of West Corn-
wall to be favorable to the production of tetanus, on account
of the land being almost surrounded by sea and bordering so

52 TETANUS LOCKED .TAW.

closely upon it. Mr. K. has likewise observed the disease to
be more prevalent in marshy grounds than in places dry and
elevated ; and has accompanied his observations with the remark
that a cure is more likely to be effected in the latter than in
the former situations.

Temperature. — The late Mr, Henderson, Y.S., Edinburgh,
sent the particulars of a case of tetanus to TUe Veterinarian
for 1839, wherein the exciting cause appeared to have been a
" cold stable, with an insufficient roof through which the rain
had fallen upon the horse,'^ already " in low condition, and
probably labouring under some derangement of the digestive
organs." A sin)ilar case is recorded by Mr. Spooner, V.S.,
Blandford, in The Veterinarian for 1830: his words are: —
" I considered the tetanus to have been caused by exposure to
cold. The mare (to whom the disease occurred) was turned out
for a winter's run with two other horses.^^ The cold proved
most intense, succeeded by a thaw, during which, in conse-
quence of her companions refusing to admit her under shelter,
" she was exposed to the droppings from the thatch upon her
hind parts.''

Central Tetanus may be defined to be, that kind or form
of the disease whose seat involves the roots or origins of the
nerves : this may be the brain ; commonly it is the spinal
marrow. Examples of such affections, and on record, do not
appear to be wanting, though pathologists have not hitherto
succeeded in making any digest of them likely to prove service-
able to us in practice. In a large proportion of cases of
centripetal and central tetanus, the brain sometimes, and a
great deal oftener the spinal marrow, has evinced anorraal
alterations of some sort ; mostly of vascularity, congestion,
inflammation, effusion either between the membranes or into
the ventricles, softening of the medullary substances, &c. ; but
there is not of these morbid changes one that we dare single out
as proper to tetanus : we have far more reason for supposing, with
Messrs, Henderson and Karkeek, that the disorder derives its
origin in nervous sympathy, springing from an over- vascular or
actually inflamed condition of the pyloric regions of the stomach
and duodenum, or of the sympathetic nerve and its ganglia.

Messrs. Gelle and Leblanc, who have bestowed unusual pains

TETANUS — LOCKED JAW. 53

in opening and examining horses that have died of tetanus, have
come to the conclusion, that the disease consists in an inflam-
matory irritation of the cerebro-spinal system, accompanied with
softening of the spinal marrow ; and that the inferior columns
and the nerves taking their rise therefrom, which are the motor,
are the parts especially affected : at the same time, they cannot
help admitting that similar morbid alterations are occasionally
observable in cases of paralysis ; consequently the deduction
still presses on our mind, that a something, of whose nature
and presence we are in ignorance, exists as the peculiar or
proximate cause of tetanus. As for the discoloured and ecchy-
raosed condition of the spasmed muscles, which has been ob-
served and noticed by the same investigators, that appears
little or nothing more than might be expected to follow the
long and intensely contracted state of their fasciculi.

The exclusive presence of trismus affords no tenable argument
against the spinal marrow being regarded as the seat of central
tetanus; for the irritation, whatever it may be, is, as we have
seen, "capable o? taking a. retrograde course along the marrow
to the brain." The irritation may, however, originate in lesion,
or disease of the brain itself, of which the following case, sent
to The Veterinarian for 1834, by Mr. Slceavington, late V.S.
to the Bengal Horse Artillery, is beautifully illustrative : —

A horse belonging to that corps was brought to Mr. Skeavington for
" having had his head cut by running violently against a cross-bar which is
in the cavalry stables at the head," occasioning a wound, apparently only of
the skin, that was sewn up, and promised to be well in a few days. Next
morning the horse's head felt extremely hot, and his mouth was dry, and
pulse 50. He had a gallon of blood taken away, and took aloes 5SS, &c., and
had his head bathed with warm water. On the 4th day the sutures gave
way, and the wound gaped open, and looked healthy. On the 8th day the
wound was quite filled up. On the morning of the 22d day the horse " ap-
peared to move rather stiff;" and Mr. S. found the jaw protrude more than
usual, the muscles of the neck stiff and rigid, which symptoms led Mr. S. to
believe " that tetanus was a near neighbour." 23d day. — The horse cannot
separate his jaws — cannot eat. Mr. S. had him cast, and made two oblique
incisions, laying open the apparently healed wound, which disclosed a frac-
ture of the cranium on the parietal suture, and a piece of splintered bone,
which was removed, and the wound afterwards sewn up. 24th day. — Worse.
25th day. — Cathartic medicine operating : much relieved. 27th day. — ■

54- TETANUS — LOCKED JAW.

Better : ate a little grass and corn. 35th day. — Has been gradually amend-
ing, and is now well enough to discontinue medicine, and take exercise.
His treatment consisted in bloodletting and purging, and attention to the
cranial wound.

The Symptoms of tetanus are of that strikingly remarkable
and even appalling character, that a person who has once wit-
nessed the disease in its confirmed stages never afterwards seems
to have the impression it has made erased from his mind. la
its earliest onset, however, it requires an experienced eye to
detect it.

At the Beginning, the horse is observed to carry his neck
unusually stiff, and to evince some unusual inflexibility in the
movements of his back and loins. The owner complains of
this, and soon discovers that the animal does not feed with his
accustomed appetite. He imagines this to arise from sore
throat, and seems confirmed in this opinion from some difficulty
the horse evinces in swallowing. Should he attempt to open
the animals mouth with a view of examining its interior, to
his surprise, he finds the jaws separable only to a short dis-
tance, though the lips possess their usual mobility, and there
issues from between them a discharge of saliva. Moreover,
he finds the horse unusually irritable ; cannot bear to have his
head pulled about ; every time the groom attempts to lay hold
of it, he throws up his head, and at the instant he does so the
haw is protruded over the sight of the eye. Such symptoms
leave no room for doubt about the presumed, or rather actual
presence of tetanus or locked jaw.

Tetanus is confirmed when the spasm has extended to the
muscles of the body generally, and the horse stands, stifi'ened
in every part, with his head erect and his limbs stretched out,
as though he were a stuffed horse, or but the ghost of the
animal he was in health ; indeed, with his neck contracted into
the form called " ewed," and his head drawn upwards and
backwards, the horse assumes the deer-like aspect, which gave
rise to the disease being called the " stag-evil.^' The tetanic
countenance is very characteristic; it has a sort of terrific ex-
pression, and, as the fatal termination draws near, turns haggard
and ghastly. Every time the patient is excited the eyes as-
sume a wild, fixed stare, and look almost as though they were

TETANUS LOCKED JAW. 55

ready to start from their orbits, the haws issuing over them
like a shiekl, whenever the head is raised or moved : on other
occasions, when no agitation prevails, the eyes appear dull, and
even sunk in their orbits ; the ears are erect and rigid ; the
muzzle protruded ; the nostrils dilated. Should medicine
have not been given during the onset of the disorder, the pro-
bability is, that the jaws by this time are so far lucked as to
render the administration of either ball or drench an affair of
extreme difficulty, if not total impossibility.* When the ani-
mal moves — for he is still able to walk — the veterinarian of
experience observes tetanus in his gait, as far off as he can
observe him : locomotion evidently puts him to a good deal of
pain ; his fore limbs reluctantly and stiffly take short steps in
advance, while his unbending hind legs straddliugly drag after
them ; and when he turns, so rigid has his body become, that
from head to tail the spine remains inflexibly straightened, like
that of a horse said to be " ricked "f in the back or loins.
The tail is erected, and commonly has a continual tremulous
motion. The coat stands on end, and the skin feels tight and
harsh. The belly is tense, and towards the flanks is much
drawn up, giving them a hollow appearance. The respiration
and pulse often remain, fur some time after the coramencemcjit
of the attack, undisturbed ; in other cases the breathing soon
grows quick and irregular, and there is present a troublesome
cough ; and now and then, at an advanced state of the disorder,
such is the oppression in the breath, and consequent palpitation
at the flanks, that the veterinarian finds it necessary to per-
form the operation of tracheotomy; and this operation generally
aftbrds the desired relief; the panting and distress being occa-
sioned by spasms seizing the muscles of the glottis, which, but
for such timely relief, might induce even suffocation and death.

* In The Veterinarian for 1837 is an account of a case of locked jaw-
treated by a farrier, who introduced an iron crow-bar between the tushes
and grinders through the mouth, from one side to the other, with a view of
enabling a couple of men, placed on each side of the horse, by means of it,
to force open the mouth. Their efforts proved unavailing. This relic of
the age of veterinary barbarism will tend to show the amount of power
exerted by the spasmed muscles on the closed jaws.

f This looks like a corruption of rickets or rickety.

56 TETANUS LOCKED JAW.

Under these circumstances the pulse becomes accelerated, and
at times acquires such extreme irritability that the least dis-
turbance or alarm will hurriedly run it up to double its former
quickness. In regard to the pain the poor animal all the
while is suffering, some conception may be formed of it, as
Mr. Lawrence has happily observed, by the sharp pains felt by
a person experiencing cramp in his leg : tetanus is a continued
cramp all over the body, and the consequent suffering is in
some cases dreadful, judging from the high state of irritation
our poor patient is in, his extreme restlessness and anxiousness,
his occasional perspirations, shivering fits, &c. And yet there
are remissions of the spasms — times when the patient suffers
less — to dread and feel the more on the accession of the next
paroxysm. The bowels generally are constipated ; the urine
scanty and high-coloured.

The LATTEE Stages are marked by an extension of the spasm
to the limbs, rendering our unfortunate patient all but a fixture
to the place where he stands ; for should he attempt to move,
retaining little or no power over the muscles, there is great risk
of his falling down. And now the animal's aspect becomes
wan, and his body begins to show, in falling away, the effects
of irritation and pain, and of deprivation of aliment. Towards
the close of the sad scene, the respiration becomes more em-
barrassed ; the pulse accelerated more, and then, irregular,
intermittent, imperceptible ; cold sweats and rigors seize the
body, during the continuance of which the spasm appears to
relax. But, alas ! fatal truce ; our poor patient is now on the
point of death : either he stands to the last and drops down
dead ; or he falls headlong, and expires in convulsions.

The Duration of Tetanus is various. In general it may
be said to last from one to three or four weeks. Death has
ensued so early as the second day : commonly, in rapid cases,
it occurs about the fifth or sixth day ; sometimes the twelfth
or thirteenth proves fatal. When symptoms of recovery reward
our endeavours, the favorable change may often be dated from
the tenth day. Should the tenth and following day or two
pass without any sign of amendment, we may begin to despair
of our patient.

Our Prognosis from the beginning must be one of hope-

TETANUS — LOOKED JAW. 57

lessness. "With a few remarkable exceptions — most of which
•will be found recorded — tetanus and death have proved but
cause and effect. In man, traumatic cases are accounted a
great deal more dangerous than others ; and the same observa-
tion holds good in respect to horses : most of the instances of
recovery turning out to be cases of central tetanus, and remedies
which appeared to have proved curative in this, manifesting no
such efficacy in the centripetal form of the disease. When
the case, therefore, is not of traumatic origin — the spasm
neither severe nor universal, not such as to lock the jaws to
that degree that neither food nor medicine can be taken — and
so long as the voluntary muscles exclusively be affected, the
breathing and pulse remaining little or nothing disturbed, hope
may reasonably be entertained of our patient.

Treatment. — This, I fear, will turn out the least satisfactory
part of our account. Tetanus is one of those diseases with
whose nature we are but imperfectly acquainted, and over which
in its worst forms medicine exerts its power in vain ; in the
emphatic language of our excellent and elegant writer, Mr.
Karkeek, " there are few things that show so substantially the
mighty and awful power of disease, and of our incapability of
arresting its progress, as to see a fine noble horse die tetanic."
Nevertheless it is our duty to set about our task energetically,
and in accordance with the best rules of our art. Our treat-
ment, in whatever it may consist, must have regard to the
origin, the kind, the stage, the intensity of the disease, and
the age, constitution, and condition of our patient. The trau-
matic we have ascertained to be the kind of tetanus whereto
horses are especially obnoxious; and this is one reason why the
disease so frequently ends in death. The wound, therefore, what-
ever it may be — slight or severe, recent, or of some duration —
apparently or by possibility giving rise to the tetanic disorder,
of course becomes an object of peculiar interest in the treatment.

Traumatic Treatment. — The removal or destruction of that
from which the disease is supposed to have taken its origin,
and which possibly may still prove a source of irritation, has
always been considered a primary object in the treatment :
accordingly, surgeons have amputated wounded limbs to cure
tetanus ; have excised or destroyed by caustic, wounded or

58 TETANUS LOOKED JAW.

abraded surfaces, and so forth ; aud the same has been prac-
tised to the extent it was allowable by veterinary surgeons ; aud
I would I could add, that these operations had been followed by
the happy effects which, theoretically, they seemed to promise.
It lias been argued that, as the tetanus is caused or kept up by
local irritation transmitted to the brain, so, if the source of the
irritation be annihilated, or the nervous chords through which
it is conveyed to the brain be divided, the sensorial disturb-
ance, together with the spasms dependent upon it, ought to
cease. And in some few cases, and particularly where the
disconnection has been effected at an early period, such felicitous
results have followed : in others, however, no apparent advan-
tage whatever has been derived from these operations. Baron
Larrey indeed observes — " les extirpations du bras et les am-
putations des jambes furent generalement heureuses ;" but
then it must be remembered, this observation had its origin in
the Barents practice during the Russian campaign, where am-
putation was performed tlie moment the disease manifested
itself : on the other hand private practice has shown in too
many instances that delay is fatal to success. Sir Benjamin
Brodie advises that the entire injured nerve or portion of nerve
be removed. The late Mr. John Field was in the habit of
applying lunar caustic freely and extensively to any wounded
or abraded part. Mr. James Turner, in a letter to the Editor
of The Veterinarian, in 1832, represents his practice to be " to
make not only deep crucial incisions with a scalpel within the
wound, but also numerous incisions through the sound skin in
the vicinity of the wound, and sometimes to surround it in
this manner,'^ his object being twofold : — to release any " em-
barrassed nervous fibril ; aud to create a 7ieiv action, or rather
the return of vascular excitement, in the part injured." "And
whenever," adds Mr. Turner, " this counter-irritation has been
succeeded by a counter-suppuration, the cases have invariably
done well ; but it would be vain to look for such a result in a
protracted case." Mr. Turner has likewise observed, that, after
the operation of docking afresh for tetanus, the exposed sur-
face of the stump of the tail assumes a livid deadly aspect,
indicating " a most apparent loss of energy in the arterial
trunks, tlie jets of blood from them wanting that vigour which

TETANUS — LOCKED JAW. 59

exists in the healthy adult horse;" and that "the blood in the
venous trunks is literally as black as ink."

Should the disease ensue on docking or nicking, fresh am-
putation of the tail, being a simple and readily performable
operation, had better at once be had recourse to; it being borne
in mind that not much benefit is to be expected from it should
the divided stump assume the appearance described by Mr.
Turner. Where excision can be practised, it is preferable
either to division of the nerves, or to the destruction of them
by caustic, the grand object being to extirpate or annihilate
the whole of the injured nervous structures. In a case of a
sinus in the foot, we cannot accomplish excision, and therefore
we must content ourselves with the use of caustic ; or we may
employ the actual cautery, should the case seem to warrant it.
A very good application to the part afterwards, in general, is
an ample hot linseed-meal poultice. And though, from such
operations at an advanced stage of the disease, experience for-
bids us to expect any good result, still exists in our minds that
glimmering of hope that induces us in most cases to put them
to the test. Mr. A. Henderson witnessed a case of tetanus,
produced from a wound in the foot, cured by neurotomy ; "
but has known the operation " in other cases fail : " and the
same remark may be made of one and all of the measures of
traumatic treatment.

Copious Bloodletting appears in the generality of cases
to have been practised with decided benefit. When symptoms
of fever are present, it is evidently indicated : and when spasm
is unattended by any febrile action or irritation, it seems to be
productive of good as an antispasmodic. The extent to which
it is to be carried must be regulated by the state of the patient,
and the good or bad efi'ects it appears to take on him : some-
times it may prove advisable to repeat the evacuation as often
as the animal can bear it; at other times, one or two plentiful
abstractions may be all that seem beneficial or bearable.

Medicine, of whatever description it may be, as a general
rule, ought in tetanic afi'ections, on account of the torpid in-
susceptible condition of the alimentary canal, to be exhibited
in doses doubly sti'ong to what we should think of prescribing
in any case of ordinary disease ; and, moreover, it should be

60 TETANUS — LOCKED JAW.

administered as early as possible after the disorder has mani-
fested itself, lest the jaws get locked, and its admiuistratioii,
in the form or quantity we could have desired, becomes difficult
or impossible.

A Strong Purge is generally given in the first instance to
clear out the bowels. And when we come to reflect on the
appearances of derangement and irritation which have at times
presented themselves in the stomach and bowels of horses that
have died of tetanus, purgation seems to be a most proper
beginning. In order to insure it, at least an ounce and a half
of cathartic mass, with which may advantageously be combined
from one to two drachms of calomel, ought to be administered.
The form of ball is that which best insures success: should one
prove too large for administration, it may be divided into two
or three ; and when the hand cannot be introduced, the
shooting-stick, or simply a piece of cane or whalebone may
serve to convey small balls, one by one into the pharynx.
Should the form of drench be preferred to that of ball, a very
potent and effective formula will be found in a combination of
aloes and linseed oil : an ounce of the former melted over the
fire in a pint of the latter, constitutes a cathartic mixture of
great power, and by some practitioners is the dose generally
prescribed. By others, croton powder is preferred ; or the oil
may be given. For my own part, I like the compound
cathartic ball. When the jaws have once become spasmo-
dically closed, we are glad to get anything swallowed in the
shape of purgative medicine : should the animal be found
willing and able to drink, we may stir some croton powder into
his water, and try to cajole him with that ; or we may endea-
vour to introduce an oesophagus-tube as a conduit for medicine.
Now and then, when trismus has so advanced before we are
called to the patient that all our manual efforts to separate the
jaws prove fruitless, we shall find that a decided bloodletting
will have such an effect on the spasm as to enable us to
accomplish our purpose. When once we have succeeded in
opening the bowels, we must take every precaution by medi-
cine and enema to keep them soluble ; for the spasm is very
apt to show aggravation or relapse whenever the body is
suffered to become constipated.

TETANUS — LOCKED JAW. 61

A Warm Bath would no doubt afford a good deal of relief,
from its tendency to relax spasm — supposing even it could not
be reckoned among the means of cure — could one anywise be
obtained or contrived. Mr. Read, the ingenious inventor of
the bivalvular enema and stomach syringe, has been lately
engaged in some experiments towards the accomplishment of
this desirable object, by means of steam, and it is my firm
opinion that in the end success will be attained, and our
infirmaries will be furnished with apparatus for the purpose.
Some practitioners cover the loins and other parts of the body
with fresh-flayed sheep-skins. M. Lacoste, V.S. to the depot
at St, L6, has addressed to the Eoyal and Central Agricultural
Society of Trance a memoir on traumatic tetanus following
castration, wherein are recounted eight cases successfully
treated by repeated steam-baths, along with the exhibition of
opium to the extent of ^\ss in the course of twenty-four hours,
aided by narcotic injections {Veterinarian for 1837),

Of the Cold Bath I saw the effects in early professional
life, on some tetanic horses that were brought to the Veterinary
College for treatment. The late professor Coleman, at that
time an enthusiastic advocate for cold as a remedy — for, in
fact, what now goes by the name of hydropathy — turned tetanic
patients out of their warm stables into open yards without
shelter, in the coldest seasons of the year, and had them, when
the atmospheric cold was insufficient, kept continually suff'used
with cold water ; and, from the sedative efficacy of the cold,
some of them at first appeared benefitted by the change ; in
the end, however, the results were not of a character to induce
a continuance of so severe a mode of treatment. Since these
first experiments, Mr. Youatt has, in the most decided manner,
given the effects of cold a fresh trial; but, in his own words,
though " some slight remission followed,'* the end was not
marked by any " decided good effect.** In human medicine,
a plunge into a cold bath has been known to prove almost im-
mediately mortal to the poor sufferer.

Specific Medicines for tetanus we, in truth, possess none.
Among the many which at one time and another, in human or
veterinary medicine, have been lauded as such, we may men-
tion, as standing in the highest repute, opium, mercury, cam-

62 TETANUS LOCKED JAW.

phor, digitalis, hellebore, belladonna, hydrocyanic acid, hemlock,
henbane, and tobacco.

Of Opium I can speak from my own practice. I attended
a horse belonging to the Enniskillen Dragoons for tetanus super-
vening on broken knees. After free bloodletting and purging,
I prescribed two drachms of opium to be given in a ball, morn-
ing and evening. lie continued to take the medicines regularly
for ten days, making altogether five ounces of solid opium ; by
which time he had so far recovered as to render farther treat-
ment unnecessary. I ought to add that, while taking the
opium, his bowels were kept soluble by occasional doses of
cathartic mass, and the daily administration of aloetic clysters.

The late Mr. Henderson, V.S., Edinburgh, also succeeded
in curing tetanus by the exhibition of opium in still larger doses,
viz. three drachms thrice a-day. The case is contained in
The Veterinarian for 1829.

Mercury. — The late Mr. John Field was in the habit, after
bloodletting and purging, of anointing his patient with a mer-
curial soap : a practice he adopted from his respected father,
and one in which they both placed great confidence.

Digitalis. — Mr. Saunders, V.S., Wolverhampton, had two
cases of tetanus recover under the exhibition of doses of two
drachms of digitalis with three drachms of camphor, alternated
with aloetic purges, bloodletting being an accompaniment.

Belladonna has been prescribed with considerable success
by Mr. Mavor, V.S., London, by Mr. Daws, V.S., London,
and by Mr. Hutchinson, V.S., Wragley, Lincolnshire, in doses
of three and four drachms. These accounts are to be found
in The Veterinarian for 1837-38,

Hydrocyanic or Prussic Acid had its power over tetanus
in the horse first tested by Mr. Hayes, V.S,, Kochdale. The
doses he gave amounted to thirteen drops of Gay Lussac's, forty
of Scheele's, or thirty of Magendie^s, thrice a-day, in warm
water. Mr. Daws has exhibited, both internally and in the
form of clyster, drachm doses of the acid.

The Hyoscyamus Niger has been successfully employed in
doses of two drachms, in combination with hydrocyanic acid,
by Mr. St. Clair, V.S., Morpeth (Veterinarian, 1839).

The ExTRACTUM CoNii, in two drachm doses, in combination

TETANUS — LOCKED JAW. 63

■with croton oil, has been given with success, by Mr. Freake,
V.S., Northampton (Veterinarian, 1838).

Tobacco Enema was used in a case of tetanus with apparent
benefit by Mr. Egan, at the time assistant-surgeon in the 12th
Lancers. The disease was traumatic in its origin. Copious
bloodletting, purgatives, blistering the spine, &c., had been
employed without affording relief, and the bowels still con-
tinued unsolved, when, at the suggestion of Mr. Egan, an
infusion of tobacco was injected in the rectum, which produced
" a discharge of dark-coloured fseces :" the enema was after-
wards daily repeated, with the effect of abridging the duration
of the paroxysms. For two days the injection was omitted;
the consequence was, all the symptoms returned : it was re-
sumed, and used twice or thrice a day, and under its employ-
ment the horse recovered.

The PREFERABLE MODE OF USING ToBACCo appears from ex-
perience to be in the form of fumigation ; with Read^s syringe
and a proper vessel for generating the tobacco smoke,* it may
be administered as an enema, and persevered in twice or thrice
a-day, until the bowels have become sufficiently relaxed. In
this way it may be made subservient to the action of cathartic
medicine ; or when that cannot be or has not been exhibited,
it may even supply the deficiency. And since all experience
has demonstrated that it is of the greatest consideration in the
treatment of tetanus to keep the bowels relaxed, this is likely
to prove a very useful remedy.

CouNTER-iRRiTATioN, in the shapc either of blisters or setons,
has generally been regarded as an essential in the treatment.
Commonly, the skin contiguous to and in the course of the spine
has been blistered, beginning at the head and ending at the tail;
but whether with any real advantage or not, seems, considering
all that has been done besides, somewhat doubtful. Most
tetanic aflFections originate in wounds of some sort ; and many
cases, on dissection after death, have indicated disorder in the
alimentary canal, without apparent disease of the spinal mar-
row : one therefore does not see what great good in the
generality of cases is to be expected from blisters or setons
along the spine. The species of tetanus we have described as
* For a description of the proper apparatus, see vol. ii, page 242.

64 TETANUS — LOCKED JAW.

central, appears to be the only one likely to receive any benefit ;
but cases of this are rare. Mr. Karkeek, under the suppo-
sition of the stomach and bowels, or system of the sympathetic
nerve, being the source or habitation of the disease, in several
cases applied his blisters to the abdomen and breast, and
inserted into the latter a rowel ; and he thought benefit re-
sulted from the practice : oedematous swellings underneath the
belly, Mr. Karkeek having had reason to regard as a most
favorable indication.

The Consequences of Tetanus, even when the animal
recovers, are loss of condition and strength, and loss of action
as well. Generally speaking, in addition to the more or less
emaciated and. debilitated state in which the patient is left, there
is evident in his movements a rigidity or want of flexibility,
owing to the effects or continuance of spasm, which for a long
while unfits the animal for any kind of labour ; and this may
require some weeks — nay, months even — before it is quite got
rid of. On account therefore of the expense, as well as for
the benefit of the animal himself, the best situation for him,
should the season be suitable, is the grass-field ; but if the
time of the year do not permit this recreation, the indulgence
of a loose box or yard, with green-meat, if it can be procured,
or carrots and other roots if it cannot, will best conduce to the
restoration of the invalid.

SPASMS.

Spasm, spasmodic affection, cramp, are so many phrases used
synonymously, to express that rigid contraction of a single
muscle, or single set of muscles, which tetanus denotes of the
muscles of the body generally. Tiie fibres of a muscle in a
state of spasm have the appearance of being, and are, in fact,
in violent action : they feel hard, and are shortened and swollen,
and the office they usually perform is executed without the
consent of, or rather in opposition to, the will. In a word
spasm consists in an involuntary contraction of a voluntary
muscle. There are said to be two kinds of spasm — clonic and
tonic. The clonic is the agitated spasm, called convulsion,
wherein the contractions, although involuntary, alternate, with

SPASMS. G5

oscillatory rapidity, with relaxations of the muscular fibres : the
tonic being the tetanic, or comparatively permanent spasm.

Although I am not going to deny — on the contrary, I can,
■with many others, bring cases to prove — that horses are on
occasions the subjects of spasm, yet I deem it prudent to cau-
tion my reader against the belief that every horse reported to
be seized with " cramp " really is spasmed : for, now and then
— spasm usually attacking the hind legs — he will find this
asserted ''cramp" to turn out a dislocation of the patella ; though
oftener he will discover it to consist in spavin, either concealed
or declared. Still, we do sometimes meet with horses having
really spasmodic affections. I remember, while a pupil at the
Veterinary College, to have seen some cases of excessive lame-
ness of the hind legs which were at the time attributed to
spasm of the adductor muscles ; the inner and prominent part
of the thigli felt rigid and unusually plump, and the horse ex-
pressed pain when it was handled ; and what appeared to con-
firm the opinion entertained of the cases was, that they reco-
vered seemingly from the treatment adopted ; which was, the
rubbing into the part some stimulating embrocation.

In The Veterinarian for 1834 will be found a paper on " The
Cramp in Horses," by M. Prevost, V.S., Geneva. It informs
ns that both Soleysel and Garsault have mentioned the existence
of this disease ; but that from then to the time he writes the
subject has been lying dormant ; and after detailing seven
cases, some of which certainly have the characters of spasm, he
comes to the conclusion that there appear to be —

Three kinds of Cramp. — One which appears after rest, and
lasts only a few seconds ; a second, which endures some days, but
does not relapse ; a third, which returns at uncertain intervals,
minutes or hours, and hence may be denominated periodical.

Mr. W. C. Spooner, V.S., Southampton, has, in The Vete-
rinarian for 1835, with reason, called in question certain of
Prevost's cases, conceiving, from the account he has given of
them, that both dislocation of the patella and disease of the hock
might have been present and overlooked. Three out of the
severe cases, however, Mr. S. is ready to admit might have been
spasmodic in their nature.

Mr. Stewart, late Andersonian Veterinary Professor, Glas-

III. 5

G6 SPASMS.

gow, iu The Veterinarian for 1836, relates two cases which,
ill his mind, " establish the^ fact that horses are liable to
cram p. '^

Slender as this evidence confessedly is, still, from the profes-
sional eminence of the parties by whom it is furnished, it is suffi-
cient in my mind to dispel every doubt of the fact of spasm
being a disease of the horse, a rare one though it be ; at the
same time, one we are on all occasions to hesitate to allow being
present, without the most unequivocal symptoms iu proof of it,
combined with the absence of every other disorder which might
by possibility produce similar infirmity. Were more than the
respectable authorities I have adduced wanting to convince me
of the truth of what has been asserted, I have only to cast an
eye back upon ray own practice. On several occasions, iu the
course of now nearly thirty years' experience, I have had horses
brought to me " dead lame " and suddenly so seized, without
being able to ascribe their ailment to any cause save spasm ; an
opinion which the rigid condition of the limb, and of certain
muscles in particular, together with the loss of power and
extreme tenderness of them, appeared to confirm. I remember
one day riding from Hyde Park to St. James's Street, alighting
there for a few minutes to make a call, and, on remounting,
finding my horse so lame in one fore leg that I could hardly
make him drag the limb forward. I instantly dismounted, exa-
mined the foot and leg, but nothing was to be discovered ex-
cept some seeming rigidity of, and pain on giving motion to,
the muscles in front of the shoulder : in fact, it appeared a
decided case of spasm of the levator humeri. Not relishing
the idea of leading my horse home, especially in the public
thoroughfare where I had already become, on account of the
limping of my horse, not very enviously conspicuous, I mounted
again, and at all hazards raised my horse's courage with my
spurs, though confessedly rather ashamed of myself for being
observed to goad a " poor lame horse." Arriving at the top of
St. James's Street, I was about turning his head towards the
Park, when I thought he seemed to be recovering ; I therefore
pursued my ride into Bond Street, before I had passed along
which and arrived at Oxford Street, my horse went again per-
fectly sound. He had one relapse, and only one, and on that day :

SPASMS. 67

I never knew him, during the twelve months he remained in my
possession, to have a similar attack either before or afterwards.

The Symptoms denoting spasm in any one of the limbs are,
sudden seizure with excessive lameness, limping, and stepping
short, or actually dragging the limb, instead of making any
attempt to put it forwards. In a hind leg, the effort to make
use of it causes it to be caught up and thrown out in a most
sudden and awkward manner ; in a fore leg, there will be ex-
treme limping, dragging, or hopping lameness ; and yet, in
both instances, while standing, the horse will place the feet upon
the ground as though nothing were amiss with him. Compel
him to walk, and his cramp will probably amend, and may after
a time entirely disappear ; on the other hand, it may continue,
and so painfully as to make it seem like inhumanity to drive
the animal on in his exercise. The muscles apparently most
subject to spasm are the levator humeri and adductor es femoris.
The limbs will be stiffened by their rigidity, and the muscles
themselves will feel firm and hard, and plump, as if they were
swollen. The spasm in some cases is so transient as only to
seize the horse at the time he moves, or rather is made to move ;
for, as Mr. Stewart has truly observed, when the horse moves
of his own accord, which is but seldom, he occasionally does
so without showing cramp. The hind limbs appear most liable
to the disorder. Its duration may be very short, quite transi-
tory, as in the case of my own horse, or it may last some hours ;
it has continued even days. Kelapses are common, but not in-
evitable, they are best prevented by avoiding exposure to the
causes or circumstances, apparent, under which the attack arose.

The Treatment must be for the most part speculative or
empirical. As yet we know little, at least so far as horses are
concerned, about either the etiology or pathology of spasm ;
indeed, we seem but just to have recognised, or at all events
acknowledged its existence. We naturally have recourse to
remedies reputed as antispasmodics. In a severe case, blood-
letting would probably prove beneficial, general or topical ; the
latter being mostly preferable when performable. A strong
cathartic will be almost sure to do good, by clearing out the
alimentary passages, and getting rid of any latent or remote
cause of spasm that may exist in them. In regard to the

68 • SFASMS.

spasmed muscles, a very liot fomentation, either of plain water
or of a decoction of poppy-heads, is most likely to confer relief ;
should it not, rub a stimulating application or even a blister
upon the parts. By the judicious use of one or other or all
of these remedies, I should imagine there would be little doubt
about ultimate success in any ordinary case : in dismissing the
patient as " cured," however, it will become our duty to warn
the proprietor of the possibility or probability of a relapse.
Still, in the end, all will most likely do well ; unless we should
have the ill fortune to encounter such an extraordinary case as
occurred to M. Prevost, wherein a mare was for two years
regularly seized every month or six weeks with cramp ; for which
at last, her owner was compelled to get rid of her.

69

SECTION XVII.

DISEASES OF THE EYES AND THEIR
APPENDAGES.

/^r^xTTTTMr^TivAT f CATARRHAL.
^^n^i^JrluA JSYMPATHEIIC.
OPHTHALMIA [ TRAUMATIC.

OPACITY OF THE CORNEA.

PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

CATARACT.

GLAUCOMA.

AMAUROSIS.

WORM IN THE EYE.

FUNGUS HJIMATODES.
OSSIFICATION.

LACERATION OF THE EYELID.
ENLARGEMENT OF THE LACHRY-
MAL CARUNCLE.
FISTULA OF THE EYE-PIT.
FISTULA LACHRYMALIS.
FUNGUS OF THE ORBIT.

Professor Coleman was in the habit of saying in his lec-
tures, that, according to the accounts of some writers* on oph-
thalmic medicine, the diseases of the human eye amounted to
more in number than the diseases of the whole body of
the horse, reckoned altogether ; a remark which by no means
holds good in the present state of the sciences, and for two
reasons : firstly, because the diseases of the human eye have
been found to be greatly overrated ; secondly, because those
the horse is obnoxious to have been greatly underrated. While
the writers on human ophthalmic medicine of the Professor's
day amplified and multiplied a great deal too much, the Pro-
fessor himself simplified and abridged a great deal more than
subsequent observation and experience have been found to
warrant ; in proof of which, we need but set the account given
of the diseases of the horse in the Professor's lectures against
the list enlarged by those diseases since brought to light in the
various modern veterinary works, and, above all others, in the
pages of The Veterinarian.

Perhaps no department of human pathology has sustained
greater cultivation and improvement than the ophthalmic.
Diseases of the human eye, numerous as they are when com-
pared with those of the generality of other individual organs,

* In allusion, perhaps, to a work by Dr. Rowley, to which he gave the
title of 'A Description of 118 of the principal Diseases of the Human
Eye.'

70 DISEASES OF THE EYES.

and intense and rapid in their progress as some of them are,
are most of them, at the present day, treated with an expert-
ness and a success which reflects the highest honours on medi-
cal science, and on those who practise it. Veterinary surgery has
likewise undergone considerable amelioration since the days
when the projecting haw was cut out for the cure of ophthalmia.
Indeed, veterinary surgeons might be expected to avail them-
selves of the advancement made in this department of art by
the human oculist, and to every allowable extent they appear
to have done so; but, unfortunately, that extent has its limits.
Owing to dissimilarities of structure and function, and conse-
quent differences in pathology between the eyes of man and
horse, and to certain disagreements in the constitutions of the
two animal bodies, we are on too many occasions precluded
from using the same means, or at least from deriving the same
benefit from their use, as are with so much justice extolled by
human surgeons. To furnish one example of this : one of the
commonest causes of blindness, both in men and horses, is
cataract. This the surgeon is no more able to cure, by medi-
cine, than we are ; but he has it in his power to remove the
cataract by an operation ; he either extracts the opaque body, or
couches it out of the axis of vision, and so far relieves and satis-
fies his patient. But the veterinarian has it not in his power
to afford his patient any such relief. When he attempts the
operation of extracting or displacing the cataract, the retractor
muscle and membrana nictitans — parts not present in the human
eye — oppose and foil him in his endeavours ; and, even sup-
posing he were to succeed in the operation, still difficulties
present themselves beyond his art or power to overcome. No
man from whose eyes cataracts have been removed can see
afterwards without glasses to supply the deficiency of the lost
lenses ; but, could horses wear spectacles ? And, even if they
could, how are we to discover what refracting powers in the
glasses the animal requires ; for no two persons hardly are
alike in this respect? Or, how should we like to ride or to
drive horses dependent for their vision upon some contrivance
in the form of spectacles ? I remember a person, many years
ago, offering to the notice of the Board of Ordnance an arti-
ficial eye for a horse ; but I have no knowledge of ever having

DISEASES OF THE EYES. 71

■witnessed any attempts at adapting eye-glasses to animals ;
though the one experiment appears to be about as feasible or
as ridiculous as the other.

There is yet another manifest disadvantage the veterinarian
labours under in his opiithalmic practice, one that used to be
urged by Professor Coleman — who devoted his mind a good
deal to the subject of the eye — and that is, supposing a man
to have disease or defect in his eye, and a surgeon only so far
remedies it as to give him imperfect vision, or vision through
the aid of glasses, his patient is thankful, and departs in a
measure satisfied ; but unless the veterinary surgeon be able to
restore completely, or nearly so, the eyesight of his patient, he
has very likely rendered the horse worse fitted for his work
than if he had destroyed vision altogether; it being a notorious
fact that a horse that shies through imperfection of sight is a
more dangerous servant than one totally blind.

Although the catalogue of diseases of horses' eyes, framed
according to our present knowledge of them, is certainly, con-
trasted with the surgeon's list, a contracted one, yet is there
disease, or one class of diseases, which exerts terrible havoc
on our patients, and over which, unfortunately, we possess less
control than perhaps any other disease, taking the range of
every other part of the body. The diseased action, whatever
be its nature and cause, appears to be one peculiar to the horse
species;* man's eye is affected by nothing like it, nor, that I am
aware, is the eye of any other animal ; consequently, it becomes
confined to the practice of the veterinarian, and from him alone
can receive that exposition which its importance demands, and
its destructive tendency renders so desirable.

In textures so different in nature and variously organized as
those composing the eye, inflammation naturally becomes modi-
fied in its character, course, and consequences; in the con-

* It is a mistake to suppose that the disease is never seen in the eyes of
mules and asses. While 1 was in the Peninsula, serving in the Artillery, I
found mules especially subject to malignant diseases— to farcy, and glanders,
and grease, and ophthalmia (and to mange) — which were evidently bred in
the filthy confined sheds they stood crowded together in. In fact, both mules
and asses I believe to be much Sfj/Xer-constitutioned, and therefore more
susceptible animals than horses.

72 CONJUNCTIVAL OPHTHALMIA.

junctive membrane we become apprised of its presence through
the ordinary indications of redness and swelling, increased heat,
and evident pain ; whereas, in the internal parts of the eye, too
often does it escape our observation until actual effusion or
change of structure has taken place. So long as it is confined
to the conjunctiva, we have no reason to believe that it any-
wise differs from inflammation in other parts of the body ; but,
no sooner has it implicated parts composing the eyeball itself,
than the same remedies uo longer exert the same influence over
it. This circumstance has given rise to a distinction of in-
flammations affecting the eye into that which is common or
simple in its nature, and that which is uncommon or specific in
its character; in other words, into that kind which we profess
to understand, and that which, from the little power we possess
over it, we may fairly be said not to comprehend. It is true
that causation has much to do with the kind of inflammation
that follows ; that peculiarity in the excitant appears an essential
part of the specific nature of the disease ; but, at the same time,
it is evident only certain, parts can become the nidus for such
specific inflammation ; we never see it confining its ravages to
the conjunctiva, although that membrane is in every case, in
the acute stages of the disease, more or less affected.

Inflammation seizes the conjunctive membrane, primarily or
exclusively, from one of two kinds of causes ; either from
changes of temperature, or such influences as give rise to in-
flammation in other mucous membranes, producing catarrhal
affections; or from injury of some kind; and thus arises in the
horse the disease called

CONJUNCTIVAL OPHTHALMIA.

The anterior hemisphere of the globe of the eye, indeed
every tangible part of it, is covered by membrana conjunctiva ;
and the same membrane, by reflectitm, becomes the linings of
the upper and under eyelids, as well as the covering of the fore
part of the membrana nictitans. From a common resemblance in
structure and economy, from the same kind of exposure, and from
susceptibility to the operation of similar causes, the conjunctiva.

CONJUNCTIVAL OPHTHALMIA. 73

often simultaneously with the membrane of the nose, takes on
inflammation. When ahorse has a catarrhal affection, what is
more common than to perceive at the same time that his eyes
are weak, and are pouring forth mucous or even purulent matter
from their inner canthi, and, perhaps, over the borders of the
lower eyelids as well? The animal has evidently got " a cold
in his eyes," as well as one in his nose and throat ; in proof
whereof, inversion of the lids will show the conjunctive mem-
braue reddened, more or less tumid, and injected. Indeed, in
most inflammatory affections of the air-passages and lungs, in
encephalic inflammations, and in dental irritations, we shall
find the conjunctiva more or less participating in the increased
action ; and so much attention did former practitioners of horse
medicine pay to the state of this membrane, and such import-
ance attach to it, that it constituted, in constitutional diseases,
their guide, their sole guide very often, in respect to the
expediency of bloodletting, and the quantity of blood they
ought to take away ; nor is the indication totally disregarded
by many very good practitioners among veterinary surgeons.
Such conjunctival inflammation, however, can be regarded but
as sympathetic in its origin and nature, increasing and sub-
siding with the main disease present in the system ; to the
latter, consequently, we devote our undivided attention, heeding
the former but in the light of a thermometer, or guide to a
certain extent in our therapeutic proceedings.

I have, however, met with idiopathic conjunctival inflam-
mation. I have known horses turned into straw-yards at certain
seasons of the year, during the prevalence of cold drying winds,
exhibit most unequivocal symptoms of this disease, unaccom-
panied even with any catarrhal disorder. I acknowledge, how-
ever, that such cases are rare ; and that the ordinary cause of
this inflammation is injury of some sort. It is far from being
an easy matter to answer the question, why horses' eyes should
not be subject to the various conjunctival diseases which affect
our own ; certainly, the conjunctival parts of horses' eyes are
not so exposed as those of our own are ; nor are horses' eyes
obnoxious to the Contagions which ours are ; neither are they
liable to any disorder through derangements of the digestive
organs, at least, if we except the liver. None of these differences,

74 OONJUNCTIVAL OPHTHALMIA.

however, nor indeed all of them together^ seem to account for
the peculiar exemptions the eyes of animals enjoy in this respect.

The Traumatic is the form of conjunctival ophthalmia which
we are mostly called to treat as a special disease. The horse is
brought to us wdth his eyelids closed and knitted together, occa-
sioned by the irritation excited by the presence of the offending
body, whatever it may be. The moment we attempt to separate
them, the lids are more forcibly contracted than ever ; and no
sooner have we effected any separation, than a gush of hot tears
collected within them meets our fingers, while against them is
simultaneously thrust the membraua nictitans. Tlie conjunctiva,
disclosed by the eversion of the upper lid, appears intensely red-
dened and tumid from infiltration ; perhaps besmeared with
mucous or purulent secretion. The eye itself has a small sunken
aspect, in consequence of being retracted, at the time of our exa-
mination, into the orbit ; the cornea appearing the while even
brighter than usual, from the profuse How of tears over it.

The Cause of all this irritation and inflammation must be
sought for while the eye is iu our power. We must first, to the
extent we are able, separate the lids, so as to obtain a view of
the cornea, to ascertain if that be the part injured ; a blow from
a whip or switch, or a bite from another horse, the lesion com-
monly met Avith, leaves a wound with some detachment of sub-
stance hanging from it, which will now become apparent. Should
there be no injury to the cornea, the probability is that some
foreign body, a hay-seed most likely, though it may be some-
thing else, grit or dirt perhaps, has got lodged underneath the
upper eyelid, the eversion * of which, to the extent we are able
to accomplish such an operation, becomes necessary to enable
us to remove it. If the hay-seed or whatever it may turn out
to be, had not got hitched or fixed in the membrane, the flow of
tears which immediately followed its introduction would have
been certain to have washed it away, aided, as the ablution
always is, by the detersive operation of the membrana nictitans.

* In a man's eye the superior lid is capable of complete eversion : indeed,
by means of a probe, is easily turned inside out, and will then remain so
until reflected : but so unsubstantial and membraniform are the tarsal car-
tilages of the eyelids of horses, that we are only able to evert the upper lid
partially ; nor will it remain everted, unless forcibly retained by the finger.

OPACITY OF THE CORNEA. 75

On this account no foreign body could possibly remain upon
the cornea, nor within the shallow chaunel of the under eyelid :
nowhere, in fact, but fixed underneath the upper lid.

The offending substance extracted, the case may be said to
have received its remedy; at least, only such additional or after-
treatment will be required as is calculated to allay and remove
the effects of irritation. It seldom happens that any abstraction
of blood is required. Cathartic medicine may be called for ;
or common enemse may suffice. Poppy fomentation to the eye
will be found most availing in the first instance : should any
weakness or opacity of the eye itself remain, astringent or
stimulant collyria may be demanded.

OPACITY OF THE CORNEA.

There are two kinds of opacities : one is the result of injury
to the cornea ; the other of disease. A horse gets a lash in the
eye from a whip, or a blow from a stick, or a bite from another
horse; the result is a small wound of the cornea, penetrating
through its outer lamellae, a little flap of which is commonly to
be seen hanging from the wounded part. The pain immedi-
ately consequent on the injury creates a good deal of irritation,
indicated by closing the eyelids and lachrymation ; and this is
followed by conjunctival inflammation, the termination of which
is opacity of the cornea at the part wounded, and also for a
considerable space around it, assuming after a time the appear-
ance of a white or fleecy cloud ; and this appearance is so cha-
racteristic of the nature of the case, that see it in what stage
■we may, we need no one to tell us how it has occurred. Now
and then the entire cornea will become nebulous, as it is
termed, from an injury of this sort.

The same thing may also happen from an injury to another
part of the ocular apparatus, occasioning violent conjunctival
and ophthalmic inflammation. I once had occasion to perform,
as I shall hereafter give an account of, an operation simply on
the lachrymal caruncle, and the consequence was violent con-
junctival inflammation and ophthalmia, and thick and complete

76 OPACITY OF THE CORNEA.

nebulosity of the entire cornea. When nebula, from the changes
which in the course of time (unless it become at once absorbed)
it gradually undergoes, turns from a hazy cloudiness to a pearly
or fleecy whiteness, it takes the technical appellation of albugo.

The opacity we have been speaking of arises from the depo-
sition of lymph between the conjunctival covering and the
cornea, unless the wound may happen to have been deep, and
then probably, in its immediate vicinity, interstitial deposit
M'ithin the lamellated substance of the cornea has taken [jlace
as well. When the cornea becomes obscured in consequence
of ophthalmia, it is probable that the chief effusion is seated
inwardly, between its lining membrane and lamellae, and that
serous or other effusion has taken place likewise between the
lamellae themselves.

The Removal of Opacity will, in general, take place with
the dispersion or cure of that which gave rise to it, or will com-
monly soon follow that result. With the inflammation arising
from injury commences and grows the opacit}', and with its
decline the opacity begins to decrease; and though it may remain
some time after all the inflammation has disappeared, yet in the
end will it, generally without assistance, become absorbed.
Should there, however, be any sluggishness of the absorbent
powers apparent, from the disposition of the opacit}' to remain
unaltered either in colour or dimensions, we may set these
powers in fresh action often by the use of stimulating powders,
ointments, or solutions, and, in some obstinate cases, may derive
a good deal of benefit from the application even of caustic sub-
stances. Chloride of soda and common glass finely powdered
are often used with benefit under such circumstances: but the
best application is a solution of nitrate of silver, fjom ten grains
to a drachm even to the ounce of distilled water: indeed, in
some instances, good has been done by touching the opacity
with the pencil of nitrate of silver. From five grains to a
scruple of bichloride of mercury to the ounce of water is another
form of injection.

n

PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

With some such feelings of dissatisfaction as must occupy
the mind of a geographer about to enter on the description of a
country into the heart of which no traveller has been enabled
to penetrate, may we be expected to set about the description
of a disease whose nature and cure yet remain to be developed.
It would be asserting too much to say, we do not understand
more about it than former practitioners in horse-medicine did :
science has shed its lights upon and much improved our know-
ledge of diseases of the eyes, as well as those of other organs ;
but all art and practice have failed in furnishing us with any-
thing in the shape of remedy, by which we are able either to
arrest this one in its destructive course, or prevent its almost
sure return and fatal termination ; and therefore, in point of
naked fact, what we profess to have learnt concerning the
nature of periodic ophthalmia has turned out of very little
practical use to us. Still, it is our duty to record what we do
know, to lay down such rules for the guidance of future
inquirers as former investigators and our own experience have
put us in possession of; and with such views as these, rather than
with any prospect of proving of much benefit to our suffering
patients, do we enter on the consideration of the subject
before us.

D'Arboval pronounces this disease, " de toutes les maladies,
qui affectent les yeux du cheval, la plus commune, la plus grave,
la plus opiniatre, la plus rebelle, la plus fatale.^^ Had he said
which affect the horse, instead of the eyes of the horse, he would
still not have gone very wide of the truth. This indeed is, as
has been said of some other disease, " the bane of good horse-
flesh." What can be more annoying to the feelings of a horse-
man, than to be told that what he took to be simply " a weak
eye" or nothing more than " a cold in the eye," is likely, nay
almost sure, to prove in the end the cause of blindness; and
that, as it is not in the power of his medical adviser to prevent
this sad termination, he had better avail himself of the first
opportunity to dispose of his horse, to part with him whom for
so many good qualities he has set inestimable value upon, or

78 PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

about whom many fond expectations had been raised whicli now
are all to be blasted in the bud. Such advice as this is
enough to make a man exclaim in the doctor's face,

" Throw physic to the dogs, — I'll none of it !"

Name. — Among the various appellations given to this disease,
we have preferred the one which denotes its peculiarly charac-
teristic or most remarkable property, its intermittent or rather
periodical character ; for it is not by fits or paroxysms, after the
manner of an ague, that it returns ; but by relapses, as though
it were a fresh disease, after having been absent for more or less
considerable time. On this account, I prefer the epithet
" periodic ;" the same which the French veterinarians have
adopted. Professor Coleman called it "5/jeci^c ophthalmia ;''
signifying that it Avas a disease differing from common inflam-
mation of the eye, or that it was one sui generis : but the same
epithet, " specific," being applicable to glanders, to farcy, to
grease, and some other disorders, seems on that account less
characteristic than the one I have chosen. The earliest authors
on farriery called the disease " moon-blindness," an appellation
modernized by some succeeding writers into " lunatic blind-
ness ;" they entertaining a supposition that, " as the moon
changed, the horse gradually recovered his sight." Old Gervaise
Markham, in his ' Masterpiece,^ has the following passage :
"Now they be called moon-eyes," showing the appellation
did not originate even with him, "because, if the farrier do
observe them, he shall perceive that at some times of the moon
the horse will see very prettily, and at some times of the moon
he will see nothing at all. Now the signs thereof are, when the
horse's eyes are at the best, they will look rather yellowish and
dimme ; and when they are at the worst, they will look red,
fiery, and angry." Mr. Fearon named the disorder " gouty
ophthalmia," from the resemblance Professor Coleman, in his
lectures, was wont to draw between its periodical returns and
the paroxysms of gout. Mr. Sewell proposes to call it " odon-
talgic ophthalmia," from an opinion which, as we shall see
hereafter, he has imbibed from some continental veterinarians,
who have assumed that its attack is influenced or produced by

PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA. 79

dental irritation. Mr. Spooner has suggested the name "here-
ditary ophthalmia.'^ Mr. Croxford, a student at the time, perti-
nently asks why it may not be called " constitutional oph-
thalraia.'^

The Symptoms, together with the little history attached to
them, are in general sufl&cient to mark tlie presence of this
disease. From its commonly majsing its attack during the
night, the groom discovers, on entering his stable in the morn-
ing, that his horse has got " a weak eye ;" which, in reporting
either to his master or to the veterinary attendant called in, he
seldom fails to attribute to " a blow " or " bite " accidentally
inflicted some time in the night, or else to '^something having
got into the eye :" and, indeed, the half-closed aspect of the
eye itself very much favours this fallacy of the groom's.

The upper lid droops upon the cornea to shut out the glare
of light. Tears are produced in that abundance that they
cannot be carried away by the puncta lachrymalia, and are con-
sequently overflowing their natural boundary, the lower eyelid,
and streaming down upon the face. Both eyehds, together
with the venous vessels in the immediate vicinity of the eye, are
tumid or fuller than ordinarily. What little is visible of the
globe of the eye appears dull and sunken. The organ is into-
lerant of light ; and especially evinces this when suddenly con-
fronted with the strong rays emitted through the door or
window of the stable, by momentary nictitation, and by recoil
within the orbit and simultaneous protrusion of the haw.
Seizure of the upper hd by its lashes, and attempts to evert it,
cause the ejection of the haw,* and aflFords us an enlarged view
of the membrana conjunctiva, reddened and injected through
inflammation, commonly of the sub-acute character, and more
or less tumid from infiltration. The circumference of the
cornea sometimes exhibits a broad nebulous circle, being an

* When the object is to inspect the interior of the eye, the intrusion of
this troublesome visitor is best guarded against by opposing the bulbous end
of a large probe against it. Without such compulsory means, however, a
sufficient view of the eye is often obtainable— before any disturbance has
been given to it— by turning the horse's head in a situation where the light
is subdued, and yet enough for the purposes of inspection.

80 PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

extension of that wliich, in huinau medicine, is called the
arciis senilis.*

At the beginning, the anterior chamber of the eye commonly
preserves its pellucidity, so that we distinctly view the iris and
pupil through it, the latter ranch contracted, the former un-
changed in. colour; but in the course of two or three or four
days afterwards — sometimes indeed on the very day of the
attack — the chamber becomes obscured by a dingy white or
amber-coloured deposit seen floating within it, through which
the pupil is hardly distinguishable, contracted as it is to the
breadth of a broad line, and looking more like the black eye
of a garden-beau, than the ovoid aperture it was before. Super-
vening upon this, in some cases concomitant with it, we have
obscuration of the cornea taking place, arising from an extension
of the conjunctival inflammation over it; and this in very severe
cases, is so intense that vessels carrying red blood are percep-
tible upon its surface, shooting from all sides of the circum-
ference into a sort of circulus vasculosus, from which others
proceed, after the manner of radii, towards a common centre.
The obscuration of the cornea, though it may still leave the
lymph effused into the chamber of the eye visible, precludes
us from distinguishing the pupil and iris ; and it is not until
the inflammatory action has abated that we regain a view of
these parts. And this constitutes the first, or inflammatory
stage of the ophthalmia, which, generally, may be said to last
from three to eight, nine, or ten days, and longer according to
the intensity of the inflammation, as it happens to be a primary
or secondary attack, and to the condition and situation of the
horse at the time ; in some measure, also its duration will be
influenced by what happens to be done by way of treatment.

The Skcond Stage is marked by a gradual decline of the
inflammation, and, along with it, a tardy clearing of the cornea,

* It is natural to the horse's eye to have a whitish border encircling the
cornea ; but in health this is narrow and well defined ; whereas occasionally
under disease it will be found to have broadened considerably. " We owe
to Dr. Amnion the interesting observation that, in those eyes — in human
Ijeings — where there is an arcus senilis of the cornea, a similar opaque ring
exists around the margin of the crystalline body." — Mackenzie on the
Diseases of the {Human) Eye. — Is this the case in horses under disease ?

PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA. Si

sufficieut at least to enable us ouce more to see the parts within.
Through the anterior chamber, murky and darkened, we indis-
tinctly descry the iris, altered in colour and lustreless, with the
pupil contracted perhaps as much as ever, but now not evincing
that sensitive intolerance of light which it did in the inflam-
matory stage ; and therefore it is that the horse, when left to
himself, opens his eyes wider than he did before, particularly
while standing in his stall, with his head turned away from the
glare of light. Within the chamber, gravitating to the bottom
of it, are to be perceived flakes or floccnli of whitish or yellowish
lymph, eftusions, as we suppose^ from the vessels which secrete
the aqueous humour. There is no longer an overflow of tears
upon the face, or nothing like to the extent there was; nor
does the conjunctive membrane any longer exhibit the same
redness and tumidity it did at the beginning. In a word the
inflammatory action is passing away, little more than its con-
sequences now remaining ; and from this time, day by day, the
eye appears recovering from the attack.

Remission. — I repeat appears recovering, when, in too
many instances, on the second, third, or fourth day afterwards,
we find it almost closed again, light being as annoying to it as
ever, fresh tears running over the face, and obscuration once
more clouding the cornea; in a word, there is an evident re-
mission of the symptoms, leading us to believe the treatment
adopted — -whatever it may have been- — has been productive
rather of harm than good. Two or three or four days more
elapsing, and the inflammatory symptoms are evidently once
more on the decline ; the eye appears in the convalescent con-
dition it was before the remission, and henceforth all inflam-
mation and irritability will quickly subside : the absorption of
the matters eff'used into the substance of the cornea, and into
the chamber, and the consequent return of transparency to
these parts, following as natural consequences. The brightening
of the chamber may be observed to take place from above
downward : but as for the clearing of the cornea, that pro-
ceeds so imperceptibly that it is difficult to say whether the
process begins and ends in any particular locality.

Some Febrile Disokder, during the accession and con-
tinuance of the inflammatory paroxysm, is discoverable in the

III. 6

8^ PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

system : althou2;li to the common observer^ the animal, from
eating and drinking with his usual appetite, ma}^ perhaps
appear undisturbed in health, the professional man detects a
sharp febrile pulsation, and a mouth hotter than natural ; the
tongue drier : the bowels somewhat costive; the urine less and
higher coloured, and at his work — at which the horse is fre-
quently continued, notwithstanding his ophthalmia — he is found
to be weak, and to sweat under less exertion. And yet the
animal, as I said before, evinces no very evident sign of feeling
unwell ; or none, at least, that seems to be heeded by his
groom or master, whose attention is wholly engrossed by the
"weak" eye. D'Arboval has remarked, that when one eye by
itself is affected; the pulse on that side is harder and fuller
than on the side of the healthy eye.

The Duration of a Paroxysm of Ophthalmia will be found
to vary very considerably. First attacks, and commonly second
and even third attacks, will occupy a period of from ten days
to a fortnight : I knew them, in two instances, to extend to a
term of forty-one days. But when the disease comes to re-
lapse frequently, and run from one eye to the other, the
paroxysm will now and then prove extremely short : in three
or four or five, sometimes even in two days after setting in, all
will be over again ; and in these fugacious visitings, of course,
there is nothing like remission observable.

Varieties of this ophthalmia are distinguishable. Some-
times it assumes an acute, nay, even a virulent form ; oftenest,
however, the sub-acute character. In cold and wet seasons I
have seen the disease endemic, attacking horses in certain
exposed situations. It is certainly neither infectious nor con-
tagious ; nor have I myself ever known it prevalent enough to
be called an epidemic.

The Progress, irregular, interrupted, destructive though it
may be called, yet cannot, in the generality of cases, be said to
be rapid : on the contrary, the inflammation, as I have just
observed, is commonly of the sub-acute type, with that Protean
phasis which one day holds forth the

" Promise to our sight to break it in our hope."

Cases, however, do every now and then occur, rare though

PERIODIC OrHTHALMlA. 83

they be, in which the inflammution is of that unequivocal and
violent character that pursues its course with rapidity, and in
spite of everything in the shape of obstacle or remedy we may
attempt to oppose it with, and in the course of a single
paroxysm, effects the total destruction of the visual organ.

The Intermission is ushered in by a disappearance of all
signs of inflammation, and a clearing up of the obscured parts
of the eye, with a more or less complete restoration of such of
them as may have undergone any change in their aspect, to
their former colour and texture. For a considerable time,
however, even after a first attack may be remarked, on closely
inspecting the eye that has suffered, more than usual pendu-
losity of the upper lid, a somewhat prominent haw, an appear-
ance of gloom and suukenness about the globe of the eye, with
evident irritability and unusual contraction of the pupil when
the eye is faced to the light : and fortunate altogether may it
be considered for the animal should no more than these slight
imperfections remain, since, in time, providing no fresh attack
intervene, they may all be expected to disappear, and the organ
in the end to recover its wonted aspect and powers. So long,
however, as these sequelae do continue to exist, and particularly
so long as there remains any turbidness of parts which ought
to be transparent, the horse will be found to have acquired an
air of apprehension and suspicion not at all natural to him :
he will be techy when anything is done to his head, and
especially when it is handled on the side of his affected eye ;
and this will subside only on the return to health of the eye
itself. And fortunate would it be for the animal if this return
to healthfulness could be reckoned upon as permanent : alas !
the account we feel ourselves in duty bound to give his master
is, that, after an intermission varying from one to several
months in duration he may expect a relapse of the same dis-
ease, and in the other eye probably. I have noted, after
primary attacks, intermissions of three weeks, six weeks, and
three months ; and in one case the disease did not return until
the seventeenth month : it has, however, relapsed in almost all
the intervening periods.

But one eye at a time, generally speaking, is attacked. I
have seen instances of both eyes suffering simultaneously ; but

84 rERIODiC OPHTHALMIA.

I find, oa reckoning my cases, that they bear a proportion of no
more than six to fifty, or of one in eight or nine. Not, how-
ever, that the healthy eye escapes : on the contrary, after the
cessation of the paroxysm in one eye — unless the first attack
should have proved violent enough to destroy that eye, Avhich
is but rare — the opposite eye will most likely receive the
succeeding attack : though sometimes the disease relapses in
the same eye. This propensity to attack the eyes alternately,
has raised a question among veterinarians, whether it arise
from the known sympathy existing between the visual organs
or be the offspring of tlie same predisposition and excitement
which produced the disease in the eye first invaded. The
rapid and complete destruction of the diseased eye being found,
to be an omen of security to the sound one, has appeared to
favour the notion of sympathy being the influential agent; and
on such a supposition it has been proposed, as an expedient for
saving one eye, to put out by artificial means that which was
in a state of disease. Supposing there existed any good grounds
for putting faith in this theory of sympathy, there might be
some reason or excuse for a practice revolting in itself to our
best feelings : as, however, this cannot be shown to be the
case, but, on the contrary, the attack on the other eye appearing
to be no more than we might expect from the admitted consti-
tutional nature of the disease, this desperate operation has met
with no supporters.

Kelapses are looked for as a matter of course. There are
instances of horses being fortunatQ enough to have experienced
but one attack, and that not of a destructive character; and,
as I already stated, cases have occurred in which a single attack
has deprived the organ of vision : these, however, are both ex-
ceptions to the general rule of progress. Ordinarily, the
disease, after attacking one eye, relapses in the other, and
continues this alternation until the animal is rendered totally
blind by its ravages, the work of destruction being, as I
observed before, commonly efl'ected, as it were, by instalments.
It is not the violence of the disease that we have to dread so
much as these vexatious relapses. The eye is enabled, per-
haps, with the veterinarian's aid, to "weather the storm,^^ and
come tolerably clear out of the attack ; hardly, however, has it

PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA. 85

regained its usual lustre, aud is beginning to be useful to the
animal again, -when a fresh invasion of the disease involves
either it or its fellow in all the danger out of which it has but
just escaped, every succeeding relapse leaving the organ in a
more deteriorated condition. It may commence in both eyes,
and relapse in one ; or begin in one, and relapse in both ; this
last case, however, I believe to be the rarest. And it is
surprising how many returns of the disease some horses will
experience before the eyes become disorganized ; for that alone
appears to put an end to relapses : there is a horse at present
in my regiment, who has had fifteen attacks in his eyes,
alternately, and still, from preserving some vision, is doing his
duty ; another has had seven attacks in the same eye ; two
others have experienced, each of them, five attacks, and have
gone quite blind. It has been said, that as soon as cataract
is completely formed, relapses cease. This, however, is not
always the case. The disease will often re-appear, again and
again, even after the pupil is completely opaque. In fine, as
I said before, nothing short of the disorganization of the entire
globe of the eye appears to put an end to its merciless visitations:
so long as any structure is left for it to prey upon, so long may
the devouring malady be expected to return.

The Changes of Structure the Diseased Eye under-
goes are, with few exceptions, the results of successive attacks
of inflammation, and in general require some considerable time
for their completion ; and when once such changes are com-
menced, it is a rare circumstance for the disease not to return
at intervals, until the eye has, for every purpose of vision,
become a total wreck. A first attack, mild in its character
aud not of long duration, may leave the eye altered only in
such respects as in the course of a long intermission may be
rectified : deposits in the chamber will be removed ; effusions
into the substance of the cornea and iris in time become
absorbed, the former regaining its original pellucidity, the
latter its usual colour and contractility. Commonly, however,
after a second paroxysm, and occasionally indeed after a first,
there will remain more or less haziness of the cornea, through
which we indistinctly perceive the iris lustreless and murky in
its aspect, with the pupil contracted, and without any of its

86 PEEIODIC OrnTHALMIA.

natural bright blue to be seen. The corpora nigra also appear
more pendulous than usual, wanting their jetty blackness, and
on occasions exhibiting light specks of opacity. Every subse-
quent attack will add to these changes of structure. The
cornea will, from interstitial deposit and thickening of sub-
stance, become opacous to that degree that the internal parts
are with difficulty distinguishable through it; within, all appears
darkened and gloomy, altered in colour and texture ; in
which state things remain, probably, until a fresh attack super-
venes and for a time renders matters even worse than they
were before : ultimately, however, with the decline of the
inflammation, comes the clearing away of this murky cloud, and
once more the iris and pupil become distinctly visible, but no
longer in the condition we last saw them, the iris being now
changed into a dark dead-looking substance, and the pupil,
instead of being contracted, being dilated, and assuming that
glassy, greenish, yellow cast, which every experienced veteri-
narian but too well knows is the sure omen of cataract.

Cataract, forming in the manner it commonly does after
ophthalmia, not from a single central or focal point, but by
means of whitish or greyish lines radiating throughout the
substance of the lens, puts an end to all useful vision, or so
confuses it until perfectly formed, that the little sight remaining
is, perhaps, worse than none. Inflammation returning — for,
as I observed before, completed cataract even will not always
prove a bar to relapse — in the end there will be either oblite-
ration of the pupil, through adhesion of its borders to the
capsule of the cataractous lens, or else subsequent dislocation
of that body, through disruption of the iris into the anterior
chamber, where it is seen lying in contact Avith the cornea, to
which ;it subsequently contracts adhesion. This total disor-
ganization of the globe of the eye is, in after years, followed
by a process of internal absorption, the effects of which become
manifest in the shrinking and retirement of the eyeball within
its socket, and in the ultimate wasting and atrophy of it.

The Dissection or Morbid Eyes, according to D'Arboval's
observations, shows an absence of any distinct chamber con-
taining aqueous humour ; nothing, in fact, but a single cavity
remaining. Sometimes the iris appears lacerated, detached

PEEIODIC OPHTHALMIA. 87

from the lens, reduced to a very small volume ; its capsule only
remaining perhaps, thickened and opaque. At other times the
lens is of its natural size, its capsule being opaque, with some
white spots in its substance, and concretions upon its inner
surface. The posterior portion of the chrystalline is thickened
and indurated, almost as if it had been boiled ; and it reflects
a bottle-green colour. The fibres of the iris, surrounding the
lens, on some occasions become osseous ; and in the place of
the vitreous humour, resulting from its decomposition, we find
a viscous orange-coloured fluid, heavier than water. Instead
of the retina there is a fibrous membrane behind the chrystalline.
The optic nerve is flabby and softened.

Mr. Charles Percivall has in his museum a couple of extremely interesting
preparations of morbid eyes. In one, the substance of the retina appears
in places converted into osseous matter, constituting what may be called
ossification of the retina. In the other, the nervous expansion was wanting :
it seemed to be a case of absorption of the retina.

Mr. Cartwright had a good opportunity afforded him of ascertaining the
state of an eye that had experienced " three or four attacks of ophthalmia ;"
and contrasting it with the other eye, which was sound.

" The vitreous humour had not that beautifully white glassy appearance
that it has in its sound state, but was of a very pale amber colour, having a
slight tinge of green in it. The lens and capsule were as near as possible
of a natural colour and transparency ; but they certainly had the same light
amber tinge as the vitreous humour. The under surface of the pigmentum
nigrum (the choroid coat) was highly inflamed; for, on scraping the ante-
rior surface off, it presented a scarlet appearance, evidently referable to an
immense number of small vessels ; on cutting which across they evidently
emptied themselves, the redness in a great measure vanishing. This was so
evident, that, after forcing the vitreous humour out, the parts were of a dark
red colour when seen through the anterior part of the pigmentum nigrum.
This redness was not situated on or under any part that is called tapetum
lucidum. The optic nerve was decidedly harder to cut through than that of
another eye, and was more dense in its texture." — Veterinarian for 1836.

M. Rodet has published the results of the dissection of a horse who had
experienced several attacks of ophthalmia in both eyes, and who at length
was destroyed in the time of an intermission, on account of having con-
tracted glanders. The cerebral substance throughout was injected ; the
optic thalami and nerves equally so, with such an extraordinary develop-
ment of their blood-vessels that they looked as if they were varicosed.
Although the animal had been bled to death, the sclerotic vessels still were
so distended, that when cut, blood in abundance flowed from them. The
adherence between the choroid and sclerotica was greater than usual : and

88 PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

both tunics exhibited occhymoses. The vitreous humour assumed a deep
citrine colour; and although as limpid and diffluent as in health, was
mingled with striated obscurities which, separated, proved to be networks of
capillary vessels, red and injected, and in an inflammatory condition. As yet
the chrystalline had undergone only a slight augmentation of density, with
little diminution of its transparency. But the membrane lining the cham-
bers, which contains the aqueous humour, was inflamed to that degree that
it exhibited a determined vermilion tint, and its vessels, which were disposed
like lace-work, were most conspicuous. A magnifying glass discovered, in
all the internal structures, and especially in the lens and its capsule, multi-
tudes of injected capillaries, which, with the naked eye, would have been
invisible. "What, as M. Kodet remarks, is well wortliy of note in this case
is, that at the time the animal was destroyed, which was during intermission
from ophthalmia, the eyes, which were of their natural colour, showed
nothing beyond some slight general obscuration, such as the state the vitreous
humour exhibited might naturally be supposed to have produced.

Diagnosis. — Although there is nolikelihood of a well-marked
case of periodic ophthalmia being mistaken for one of simple
conjunctival inflammation, yet do, now and then, cases occur
•which for a time create a doubt in the mind concerning their
true nature. Should there be discoverable any mark of a bite.
or a blow, anything be found to have worked its way under-
neath the lid or even any catarrhal signs, any mucous or purulent
secretion from the conjunctiva, the case will be evident enough.
But we must not set down every case which is not so distin-
guished as periodic ; for though, as far as treatment is con-
cerned, we can do no great harm be the case which it may,
we may thereby mislead both our employers and ourselves in
respect to the event. If Ave will but wait a little — not in
treating the case, but in pronouncing any decided opinion upon
it — symptoms already existing will give way, or fresh ones
will declare themselves, and thus all doubt will be dissipated.
In simple ophthalmia — unless the cornea itself receive injury
— rarely will the interior of the eye disclose any other altera-
tion than some irritability and consequent contraction of the
pupil : whereas, should it be the specific disease, soon there
will appear either some duliiess or mistiness of the cornea, some
effusion into the chamber, or muddiness of the aqueous humour,
or else some loss of colour or brightness in the iris, symptoms
which but too surely betray its presence. Should it happen — .

PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA. 89

which is not at all likely — that doubt about the nature of the
case be prolonged even beyond the first attack, the supervention
of another similar paroxysm will settle the point at once.

Geldings more subject than Mares to Ophthalmia. —
Of the fifty cases of troop-horses recorded in ray own practice,
thirty-nine have occurred in geldings, eleven only in mares.
How is this ? D'Arboval, who has chronicled the same fact,
accounts for it on the supposition that there is a connection
between dentism and ophthalmia. He thinks that tiie greater
irritation occasioned by the cutting of the tusks than of the
other teeth, renders geldings more subject to the disease.
That, so far as irritation is concerned, constitutional even as
well as local, the tusks produce more in the course of their
eruption than all the other teeth together, I can readily testify ;
and therefore, if it can be proved — as will be seen when we come
to the etiology of the disease — that dentism is a cause of
ophthalmia, the reason of the special liability of geldings becomes
evident.

The Eye most disposed to the Disease, according to my
own observation, is the small dark-looking one, that which by
no chance whatever is seen to disclose any appearance of white.
Everybody appears to view wall-eyes as all but exempt from
ophthalmia. I have not had much to do with wall-eyes myself,
and therefore can hardly speak concerning them : but Mr.
Castley " remembers two horses in particular, officers' chargers,
whose eyes Avere of that description which is said never to go
blind, but which became a£Fected under exactly similar circum-
stances : one had brown or hazel-coloured eyes, like that of a
sheep, the other was a wall-eyed horse ; and they were seven
or eight years old.'' Disease in their eyes supervened on states
of debility, consequent on repeated attacks of diabetes, or rather
polyuria. I am informed by Mr. Goodwin, the Queen's Vete-
rinary surgeon, that, so far as the eyes of cream-coloured
(Hanoverian) horses are concerned, he has never observed any-
thing peculiar in their diseases.

The Causes of Periodic Ophthalmia demand the greatest
attention from us, both on account of the light which they shed
upon the nature of the disease, and of the suggestions they
furnish us with for its prevention,

90 PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

Hereditary Influence, according to some veterinarians,
shows itself almost everywhere in the production of ophthalmia ;
according to others, its power is of a very ambiguous character.
We learn from D'Arboval that most of the French veterinarians
believe the disease to be hereditary ; and yet, as he observes,
we have in the face of this belief, the facts that foals have
issued from ophthalmic parents without inheriting the disease ;
while others, whose dams and sires have never had ophthalmia,
have themselves contracted it. And, independently of this, it
is not evidence altogether satisfactory, to show that such a mare
breeds foals, or such a stallion gets foals subject to ophthalmia,
unless it be at the same time proved that the young animal
has not contracted the disease, or the predisposition to take it,
from the pasture or climate in which he has been reared :
since it has been demonstrated that horses in certain situations
— in low, wet, marshy pastures — have had ophthalmic disorders
break out among them, which have ceased on their removal to
upland or dry situations.* This is a fact which equally applies
to some other specific or malignant disorders — to glanders and
farcy, grease and canker. I feel satisfied, however, myself,
that we have sufficient testimony on record to prove periodic
ophthalmia to be what is called " an hereditary disease -," and
that, therefore, too much precaution cannot be taken by
breeders to steer clear of propagating so irremediable an evil.
Granting the influence of hereditariness, our next inquiry is, —
Is IT THE Disease itself or only the Predisposition
which is transmitted — in other words, can the offspring of
ophthalmic parents take the disease without being exposed to
certain causes, called by us excitants ? If it be answered
" yes !" how then comes it that the disease so much con-
fines its attacks to horses of certain ages, and in certain
situations ? If, '' no '/' then the production of the disease
under certain conditions and states of excitement can be most
satisfactorily accounted for. I, therefore, look upon the here-

* During the winter of 1840-1, which was an intensely cold one, several
of our young horses who were in strawyard close to Windsor came up into
stables with ophthalmia: for these twenty years I do not remember to have
seen so many cases in so short time. The disease was, I should say, in this
instance, clearly endemic*

PEEIODIO OPHTHALMIA. 91

ditary influence as predisponent only — not excitant ; not
sufficient of itself to produce ophthalmia.

Is THIS Predisposition Constitutional or Local? In
other words, is it something in the blood — some idiosyncrasy
which predisposes ? — or is the predisposition inherent in the
formation or excitability of the eye ? These are most inte-
resting questions, of which various facts and observations,
current among us, may be brought forward by way of eluci-
dation. " According to my own experience,'^ says Mr. Castley,
in The Veterinarian for 1831, " ophthalmia is much more fre-
quent towards the north than in the southern parts of Europe.
In Spain and Portugal it is a complaint of rare occurrence,
whereas in France and England it prevails to a considerable
extent; but certainly, most of all, in Ireland. I feel no hesi-
tation in saying, that there are far more blind and half-blind
horses in Ireland than are to be found in any other country,
proportionably to its size, in Europe ; and I think this is to
be accounted for on the score of hereditary predisposition" —
owing, in fact to the little or no attention paid to the stock
bred from. "A Yorkshire breeder considers it of great con-
sequence to have a sire free from defects and blemishes : but
in Ireland, for a stallion to be blind or half-blind, appears to
be no detriment to him ; and as for the dam, supposing she be
blind, the Irish make a point of breeding from her, because
(continues Mr. C.) she is fit for nothing else." Farrier-Major
Kemp, who had served with the 10th Hussars in Ireland,
informed me that he had observed that ffi^ey horses appeared
most subject to the disease. It is commonly observed among
ourselves in England, that what are called " pig-eyed " horses,
with large coarse heads, are more liable than others; such horses
having at the same time thick skins and fleshy legs, and being
soft or mongrel bred — bred, perhaps, in low or fenny and poor
pastures ; of which stamp are many French and Flemish horses.

Professor Coleman denied all hereditary influence. " I
recollect," says Mr. Castley, in The Veterinarian for 1830-31,
" when at the Veterinary College, observing to our worthy
Professor, Mr, Coleman, that the practical breeders of horses
in Yorkshire considered this complaint in a great measure
hereditary ; and for that reason they almost always had great

92 PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

objection to breeding from either horse or mare that had
gone blind : they said, ' it was almost sure to run in the stock.'
I was laughed at, I remember, for giving utterance to such a
vulgar and obsolete crotchet. I care not/^ continues Mr. C,
" whether this be called hereditary disease or only an original
predisposition : it amounts to just the same thing ; and I ven-
ture to aflBrm, that this is by far the most frequent origin of
the periodical ophthalmia in horses. But while I assert this, I
am ready to admit that it also arises from a variety of other
causes, quite adventitious and unconnected with this source."

Mr. Spooner, at the Veterinary College, is so warm an
advocate for hereditariness, that he proposes to call the disease
" hereditary ophthalmia. ^^ A gentleman stated to Mr. S. that
the stock of a certain stallion had all contracted the disease
though the horse himself had never been known to suffer from it.

As OTHER Causes — lunar influence having been abandoned
— a variety of agencies have been adduced, and had their sup-
porters. Digestion has been accused of causing it. Marshy
pastures, such as generate miasmata, to which the eyes become
exposed, are said to produce it ; while other pastures, from
their fattening qualities, tend to the same result. Chabert
thinks that using horses too young brings it on. Some French
veterinarians have referred it to the cutting of the teeth, and
the mastication of hard provender at the time ; and upon this
Dupuy seems to have founded his opinion, that the disease in
the eyes arises from the irritation caused by the compression
of the molar teeth upon the fifth pair of nerves ; a circumstance,
he informs us, he has proved by anatomy to be peculiar to
horses. And, in confirmation of his theory, he adduces the
experimental results of section of the fifth nerve, which he finds
as regards the eye, to be, obscuration of the cornea, together
with inflammation of the conjunctiva, iris, &c., and all the
consequences thereof. Here is a strange and unlooked-for
result, and a phenomenon altogether that calls for serious
consideration on our part. We cannot view it as the chief cause
of ophthalmia, because there are facts strongly militating against
it : at the same time we would not deny all influence to it.

Professor Sewell, as we learn from the Reports of the
Trarjsactious of the Veterinary Medical Association, in The

PEfelODIO OPHTHALMIA. 93

Veterinarian for ]840, inclines to the French opinion : he
thinks ophthalmia springs out of the local plethora produced
in the head about the fourth year of age by the development of
the molar teeth,

Mr. Castley, strongly as he has expressed himself in favour
of hereditary causation, has known ophthalmia to supervene on
great exertion, on an extraordinary day's work, and on violent
exhaustion ; he has seen an instance or two of its making
its first appearance in states of great debility, and inanition
from bloodletting. To this, adds Mr. C, " high-feeding and
forcing the animal to breathe an impure atmosphere, are
without doubt among the common exciting causes of this com-
plaint." Mr. C. had also noted, in the course of practice,
several cases which induced him to believe the disease might
spring out of a metastasis, or certain disturbed states of the
system. He thought he had seen it occur after long-continued
and repeated attacks of diabetes (polyuria?).

Sudden Exposure to Light, after having been long con-
fined in dark situations, has been known to induce the disease.
Mr. Dunn, V.S., during his apprenticeship, saw several horses,
M'hich had been examined previously to descending into coal-pits,
and found perfectly sound in their eyes, who, after having been
but a short time in the pits, were soon after their emergence
attacked with severe ophthalmia, which terminated very rapidly
in blindness. This is an observation worth something to us.
It is just possible that young horses standing for two or three
and twenty out of the four and twenty hours, daily, in dark
stables, and on occasions for two or three or more days together,
may feel the change in their eyes, when brought out of their
dark stalls suddenly into the glare of a meridian sun.

Professor Coleman's opinions on this ophthalmia we learn
from his Lectures to be, that the disease is never seen prior to
the domestication of the animal ; never occurs on a common or
in the open air, but is the product of the poison generated from
the effluvia of the' breath, dung, and urine, of horses standing
together. In proof of which, the disease is found to be more
or less prevalent, according as the stables in which horses stand
are more or less confined or ill-ventilated : where there occur
most cases of inflamed lungs, grease, and glanders, there we

94 PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

find most blindness ; and wlicre these diseases are rarest,
ophthalmia is least known. We find farmers' horses going
blind, because they are kept in foul, badly ventilated stables ;
and the same observation applies to posting establishments,
and to such of our country stables as arc ill-constructed and
undrained. In some horses this poison of the stables M'ill
affect one organ ; in other horses some other organ ; or it may
aflfect the whole mass of blood, and afterwards show itself
locally in some one or other of these organs. As a proof that
this is not a local disease, we often find that the inflammation
at first is very trifling : we know nothing about it until we dis-
cover it in the transparent cornea, and then even the inflam-
matory action appears not one tenth part so violent as what
would proceed from a blow ; and, yet, in the latter case it would
in time subside without any remedy at all being employed,
while in the former, all that we can do proves of no avail.
The specific ophthalmia makes its appearance, first, in an
inflammation of the conjunctiva lining the eye-lids ; then
aff'ects the membrane covering the opaque cornea, and very
soon afterwards we perceive vessels shooting into the trans-
parent cornea. Horses labouring under this disease either
perspire profusely from exercise, or not at all. Seldom are
they in a healthy state. In perspiring so freely they evince
debility ] in their skins being dry, they show themselves to be
out of health.

Coleman's doctrine is shaken, Mr. Castley thought, by
the fact, that, in a regiment of cavalry, cases of ophthalmia,
greatly more in proportion, occur among troop-horses than
among the officers' horses ; notwithstanding the stables in
which the former are kept are in accordance with regulations
ventilated, and that the latter stand in stables shut up as close
as grooms choose to make them. I cannot, however, myself,
admit the force of this apparent objection. The officers' horses,
generally speaking, are six years old and upwards ; at least
there are very few five-years-olds among themj and none, most
likely, of years four or three. Out of fifty cases of ophthalmia
occurring in my own regiment, I find eight three-years-olds,
thirteen four-years-olds, and five five-years-olds, making above
half of the whole number. And when we come to deduct^

PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA. 95

•which we have a right to do, such cases from the remaining
twentj^-four, as were relapses, we shall find the proportion still
greater. Added to which, these horses of officers, may be
regarded, most of them, as seasoned subjects, horses who have
passed unscathed through the hot atmosphere of the stable,
and who have now become inured to it. It is not likely that
officers purchase any horses having diseased eyes : the vete-
rinary surgeon, to whom they are commonly shown, takes care
to prevent that. So that I really do not see that this fact,
for fact and truth it is, operates against the doctrines of our
late Professor.

A regiment of Cavalry, although it affords no very large
field of observation, yet, under watchful and observant eyes,
furnishes facts of a nature that may, to the extent of their
bearing, be safely reasoned upon. Strings of horses come from
the breeders, through dealers' hands, into regiments j and these
horses, prior to admission, are all of them carefully and closely
examined by veterinary surgeons ; by whom any of them that
had defective eyes, or exhibited any signs even denoting they
had been the subjects of periodic ophthalmia, would most as-
suredly be refused. It is therefore fair to conclude that, so
far as appearances go, they all enter the service with perfectly
sound and healthy eyes. And I may add it is very rare
indeed to have occasion to reject one on account of the eyes.
In fact, what disease they get in their eyes they contract after
they come under the observation of the veterinary surgeon.
Nor can we deny that there present themselves, in the course
of their domestication, causes both for general and local plethora;
or that there are times when the stables in which they stand,
many of them together, separated only by bails, must be hot
and impure too, notwithstanding the precautions taken to
ventilate them.

To WHAT, THEN, IS THE OPHTHALMIA TO BE ATTRIBUTED?

The advocate for hereditary influence answers, " to the circum-
stance of the parents having had it ;" while others say, " No 1'^
but to " nervous influence," to " plethora," to " heat," to " a
contaminated atmosphere." For my own part, however much
hereditariness or other causes may predispose the animal to
take the disease, I cannot help thinking, and I am led to think

96 PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

so by observation and experience, that many horses who now
contract ophthalmia in stables would escape in situations in the
open air; and that in stables we find the proportion of cases
less according as the animal ai this trying time of his life, from
his fourth to his fifth year, is moderately fed, moderately
worked, and kept in an atmosphere unheated and uucontami-
nated. I believe that almost anything that will excite com-
motion in the system at this critical period of age is likely to
show itself in the eyes, though not so likely as it is to take
effect upon the membrane lining the air-passages. Most young
liorses, on being stabled, become affected by some catarrhal
or bronchitic disorder : some have swelled legs, or fly at the
heels ; some few get strangles ; one, here and there, may evince
some diarrhoeal affection ; others will have periodic ophthalmia;
and it is common for attacks of these diseases, in particular of
ophthalmia, to come on during the night, at the time when
the miasm of the atmosphere of the stable may be supposed
to have attained its most concentrated and active form.

Is THE Disease Local or Constitutional ? Most decidedly
constitutional. Not a simple conjunctival aff'ection, although
the conjunctiva is a participant in it; but essentially and pri-
marily a disease of the internal structures of the eye. How,
these structures become affected by the causes which are said
or thought to give origin to the disease, I do not pretend to
say : all I dare venture upon is an opinion, that the blood is
the medium of contamination. It would be worth while to
transfuse the blood of the ophthalmic subject into healthy
veins, with a view of ascertaining whether the disease were
communicable in this manner. I cannot help imagining, my-
self, some analogy, in causation at least, between this disease
and glanders and farcy; and in the latter we know that
the blood is infected. In fine, altogether, I am more of a
Colemanite in my opinions than anything else ; still, not com-
pletely so.

Tiie Treatment of a disease, concerning whose nature the
medical practitioner feels compelled to confess a good deal of
ignorance, is not likely to turn out very satisfactory ; and this
happens to be one of those diseases in the treatment of which,
while the result is such as is almost certain to deceive the

PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA. 97

owner of the horse, so is the veterinarian himself apt to be
deceived. A certain time after remedies, or rather after means
regarded as remedial, have been employed, the eye apparently
recovers ; but whether from the treatment adopted or from
the disease having run its appointed course, is not easy to
determine. Be this as it may, the prudent practitioner finds
it necessary to accompany the '^ cure ^' of the patient with this
advice to his master — that, since other attacks are likely to
follow, either in the same eye or in the opposite one, or pos-
sibly in both, and every fresh attack will certainly leave the
eye or eyes in a worse condition for vision than tliej' were
before, either the animal had better be parted with during
the intermission, or, if kept, should as much as possible be
preserved from those influences likely to favour a return of
his complaint.

For a disease, one main feature of which is inflammation,
we naturally enough resort to antiphlogistic measures ; and did
inflammation constitute the essence of the disease, success would
not fail to attend such potent remedies of this class as have at
one time or other been employed.

Bloodletting, both topical and general, to the extremest
degrees to which it could be carried, has been practised with no
other good efl'ect than that of suspending or temporarily arrest-
ing the inflammatory action. Blood has been drawn from the
jugular vein of the same side as the afiected eye until the animal
has quite staggered under the evacuation ; the carotid artery of
that side has been stopped by ligature ; nay, the vessels carry-
ing on the inflammation, themselves, as they ran upon the
cornea, have been severed by scarification and by cauterization,
and all to no other purpose than that of checking, or, to
appearances, subduing an inflammatory action which has been,
after a time, sure to return with equal or even with redoubled
force. A common inflammation, once fairly conquered, has no
power to revive again ; at least, not in its original activity ; but
as for the inflammation of periodic ophthalmia, it will return
again and again, after having been, to appearance, overpowered ;
and, in very opposition to our most strenuous endeavours, will
march slowly or rapidly on, according as the ease happens to

III. 7

98 PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

be acute or clironic in its character, to the ultimate destruction
of the eye.

Notwithstanding all that has been said, however, we con-
tinue to practise bloodletting, and we do so for two reasons :
first, because we think our patient derives some benefit from it,
however transitory or unreal that may turn out to be ; and,
secondlj^, because we know of nothing that so summarily con-
fers this apparent relief. And topical evacuations of blood seem
to answer this purpose better than any large or general abstrac-
tions. Some practitioners open the angular vein of the eye,
from which in general, by judicious operation and management,
quite as much blood can be obtained as it seems prudent to
take. Others prefer scarification of the conjunctiva ; and where
that membrane is much reddened, and appears injected or
loaded -with blood,* this is, perhaps, the best practice. There
can be no harm, but good may result from practising first one
and then the other of these operations.

Fomentations only do good as means of relaxing the blood-
vessels, at the time blood is flowing from the eye or the eye-
vein, and so enabling us to obtain a much larger efflux than we
should without their aid. The best fomentation is warm water
applied with a large sponge upon the lids.

From Purgation I cannot say I have witnessed any benefit.
I know it is, or used to be, a common practice to give a dose of
physic on an attack of ophthalmia; but, as there appears so
little reason to believe that the disease in the eyes is connected
with any chylopoietic disorder, and as any evacuation from the
bowels is not seen to produce any such effect on this as it does
on common ophthalmia, or any ordinary inflammatory disease, I
cannot myself imagine what good is to be answered by purgation.

What Medicine ought to be given ? — For my own part,
1 can answer this question only by saying, that none that has
hitherto been exhibited has proved a cure for the disease ; at the
same time I would not go so far as to assert no medicine that has
been administered has not done some good. I have, myself,
prescribed preparations of copper, iron, arsenic, silver, mercury,
and iodine, all of them potent in action, and capable of being

* I never saw true chcmosis in a hoi'sc's eye.

tEEiODiO OPHTHALMIA. 99

rendered poisonous ; but, save in the instance of mercury, with
nothing like beneficial result ; and even mercury has been used
in some cases with such doubtful impression on the disease
that one could hardly say whether it had done good or not.
Mr. Morton has spoken favorably of the prot-iodide of mercury,
a preparation combining, in some degree, the powers both of
mercury and iodine, besides, probabh', other properties not to
be found in either of them.

I will not pretend to recommend any medicine as a specific,
or even as in every case to be depended upon as affording re-
lief; but that which I continue to put most faith in is mercury ;
not mercury as exhibited in the common ineffective form, de-
nominated alterative ; but mercury given in doses of one drachm
of calomel, combined with five grains of opium, every eight
hours, until palpable effect is produced on the mouth and breath.

Counter-irritation is by some practitioners employed ; by
others, not. A rowel may be inserted underneath the jaw : a
seton may be passed underneath the skin below the eye ; a
blister may be applied behind or below the ear, or — as was the
practice with our professional predecessors, the farriers — a
liquid blister may be rudely rubbed upon the lids of the
affected eye, with the certain result of some of the vesicatory
getting between the lids, and irritating the conjunctiva. What
a barbarous practice this appears ! and yet it is often found to
be, in the end, productive of good. Fresh and intense inflam-
mation is temporarily excited by the acrid stimulation of the
cantharides, and for some days afterwards it appears as if fuel
had been added to the fire already existing ; but, ultimately, it
mostly turns out that the eye clears, and becomes restored to a
degree we could hardly have anticipated. I have seen my father
pass setons of thread or silk through portions of the con-
junctiva, leaving them hanging out of the eye until copious
suppuration had come on ; and in some chronic cases a good
deal of relief appeared in time to have been afforded by them.

CoLLYRiA. — A good deal of change of opinion has taken
place among medical men concerning the strength and propor-
tionate efficacy of topical applications to mucous membranes :
at one time mere astriction or slight stimulation was considered
to be all the effect that was requisite or safe to be produced 3

iOO PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA.

nowadays, liowever, stimulation in the highest degree, verging
even on an escharotic effect, is found to be, in most cases, both
warrantable and beneficial. In gonorrhoea, formerly, surgeons
would not go farther than a grain or two of sulphate of zinc, or
a quarter of a grain of corrosive sublimate or lunar caustic, to
the ounce of water; but now, there are medical practitioners
bold enough to suppress an attack of gonorrhoea at once by an
injection of lunar caustic of the strength even of a scruple to
the ounce. Similar changes have taken place in regard to
collyria. Now, a surgeon will order a lotion for the eye, com-
posed of five grains of lunar caustic to the ounce of water, and
an ointment of double that strength, when, formerly, he would
hardly have ventured to use such a potent preparation at
all, or certainly not in above half that strength. There is
this difference, however, between the surgeon's and the vete-
rinary surgeon's practice in this respect. The former decries
the use of local applications — either in their astringent, stimu-
lant, or escharotic forms — in internal ophthalmia ; nay, in acute
iyiternal inflammations, positively forbids them ; although he
admits that, in conjunctival inflammations, more good is gene-
rally done by collyria and ointments than by any other remedy.
In Veterinary Practice, however, the case is different. On
the principle that no two great actions or diseases can go on at
the same time, we shall find it to be good practice to produce a
highly stimulant, even an escharotic, effect on the conjunctival
membrane, with a view of, by derivation or revulsion, relieving
the internal ophthalmia ; and this is a practice that might long
ago have suggested itself to the veterinarian, from the known
advantages which farriers, in their rude way, often obtained
from the blisters they so unceremoniously and indiscriminately
employed in ophthalmia : indeed, this may be said to constitute
one of the few remnants of old practice veterinarians have done
wrong to reject. The eye, even in a state of ophthalmia, will
endure and derive advantage from applications of much more
potent nature than are commonly ventured upon in practice. I
use myself, as my favorite coUyrium, a scruple of nitrate of
silver to the ounce of distilled water. Should simple ointment
or hog's lard be used in place of water, as the medium, double
and treble that strength of the silver may be employed. Mr,

PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA. 101

Cherry, the Principal Veterinary Surgeon to the Cavah-y, has
used bichloride of mercury as a colly rium in the potent form of
solution in spirits of wine — 5J to the 5j — and even has touched
eyes with the sublimate itself; and his note, in regard to their
effects, is — " it is of importance to remark how soon the very
considerable effect excited by the injection of corrosive subli-
mate in solution has subsided ; even the application of it in sub-
stance to the surface of the eye producing a scarcely perceptible
effect." By others, a rod of lunar caustic has been used. We
learn, indeed, both from practice and experiment, that our
collyria, to do good, have been in general applied in too weak a
form : we have not dared to do even what farriers before us did,
and this is one reason why our practice, in many cases, has not
turned out so successful as theirs. After blood has been freely
drawn, topically, and when the brunt of the disease is evidently
confined to the interior parts of the eyeball, the conjunctiva
evincing but a secondary or sympathetic sort of inflammation,
I think we are quite warranted in producing high counter-irri-
tation in that membrane ; and to effect this we shall find we
must make use of washes, or ointments, or powders, a great
deal stronger than those commonly used. At the same time I
would introduce mercury into the system as quickly as I could,
compatible with safety, and in some form or other establish
counter-irritation : and when we have done this, in my humble
opinion, we have accomplished somewhere about all that lies in
our power by way of remedy for an attack of periodic ophthalmia.

In Chronic Ophthalmia, Mr. Dunn, V.S., is in the habit of
using, with a good deal of advantage, as a topical application, an
unguent composed of chloride of mercury and honey or treacle.

The Evacuation of the Aqueous Humour has, by Mr.
Wardrop, been highly lauded as a remedy for ophthalmia in
man ; and I have often myself imagined that good might result
from such practice in the acute stages of periodic ophthalmia,
though I have never made trial of it. But there is a case on
record, of which the result would very much dispose us to test
an operation of the kind, one so simple that in proper hands it
cannot well be productive of any harm. This ''singular case"
occurred to Mr. E. Price, V.S., Cork, and will be found in The
Veterinarian, for 1841^ from which I extract it.

103 CATAEACT.

"A celebrated ]\[.D., a great horse-amateur, and fond, witlial, of a little
bit of practice of his owa whenever opportunity offered, had a mare that had
frequent and severe attacks of ophthalmia, but more particularly of the left
eve. On the last attack, and when inflammation was at the highest, he
determined to scarify the conjunctiva. He was everting the lid for that
purpose, when, from a sudden motion of the head, the lancet passed through
the conjunctiva, cornea and all ; the whole of the aqueous humour escaped,
and the eye was in a partially collapsed state. The doctor considered that
he had settled the business. However, to his surprise and gratification, at
the expij-niion of three days the eye had assumed a more healthy appearance,
and in a few days more the inflammation had entirely subsided, and it has not
returned,"

CATARACT.

Cataract— -from Kara paTTcov, breaking or disturbing, and
so confounding, vision — is the terra used by medical men to
denote any opacity of the crystalline lens or its capsule. The
centrical situation of the lenticular body in the eye, and the
consequent necessity of all the rays of light in their passage to
the retina making their transit through it, renders any impair-
ment of its transparency of serious moment to the animal,
causing, as it does, if not loss, imperfection of sight, and, by
rendering him unfit for many services required of him, very
materially reducing his value. Veterinary surgeons, on this
account, have even a greater inducement than surgeons have to
prevent the occurrence of, and seek some remedy for, cataract ;
yet, unfortunately, are we in one respect, if not in both, in
means a long way behind the medical profession.

Division. — A cataract is said to be either true or spurious.

A True Cataract is that which has already been defined to
consist either in opacity of the lens itself or of its capsule,
being lenticular in the former case, capsular in the latter : or it
may consist in the effusion of opaque fluid between llie two,
constituting what has been called a Morgagrdan or interstitial
cataract.

A Spurious Cataract is that which, from its aspect and
situation, is likely to be mistaken for a true cataract ; and is
found to consist in an effusion of lymph into the posterior

CATAEACT. 103

cliamber of tlie eye, against or upon the anterior surface of the
c.ipsule of the lens.

A Capsulo-lenticular Cataract is one of a mixed charac-
ter, in which lens and capsule, and, necessarily, liquor Mor-
gagni too, are ail involved in opacity.

Another Distinction or Cataracts arises out of the nature
of their composition or consistence. Commonly, a cataract is
firm or hard ; at least, in most cases acquires consistence by
age, though when first formed it may be of a sofi nature —
caseous, as sometimes it is called. D'Arboval speaks of a fluid
cataract, one that from its whiteness often acquires the name of
milky ; I have no recollection of ever having seen one myself
of this description. To these may be added the osseous cataract ;
of which Mr. Charles Percivall, V.S., Hoyal Artillery, has a
fine specimen in his museum. This appears to be the ulti-
mate change the lens undergoes, and one that is the result of
many years^ continuance of the cataract.*

Cataracts differ also in Colour or Shade. — Their
colour not only depends upon their nature or consistence, but
likewise upon the stage of formation they happen to be in, as
well as upon their age or continuance. After attacks of oph-
thalmia, we behold the pupil changing from its natural clear
dark blue, and acquiring a greyish or greenish tint, or, while
contracted, having a dusky or blackish-blue aspect ; eventually
dilating and clearing again, to assume the last change — that
of cataract.

The Cause of Cataract, speaking generally, in ninety cases
out of a hundred probably, is periodic ophthalmia. One attack

* Examples of the same ai'e i-ecorded in human medicine. Mr. Wardrop,
"in one case, besides the capsule of the lens being ossified, found several
large but thin scales of bony matter dispersed throughout the vitreous
humour, which in all probability were ossifications of the hyaloid membrane."
The capsule has oftener been detected osseous than the lens itself. But in
an eye sent to Mr. Wardrop by Mr. A. Burns, the central portion of the lens
was converted into hard bone ; the only instance Mr. W. ever met with in
which ossification of the lens was unattended by ossification of the capsule.
Dr. Mackenzie informs us, that a lens dislocated into the anterior chamber,
in consequence of a blow on the eye, is very apt to become ossified. —
Mackenzie on the Diseases of the Eye.

lOl CATAEACT.

succeeds another until at length these changes become evident
ill the aspect and magnitude of the pupil which are known to
betoken the supervention of cataract ; and until this be com-
pleted we may look for returns at longer or shorter intervals of
paroxysms of ophthalmia. Nor will, indeed, the maturation of
the cataract be in every case followed by a subsidence of in-
flammatory action, though often, as a sort of crisis, it is seen to
have tliis effect : in many cases, however, have I known the
disease still to continue to relapse. Cataract has been known
to be the product of a single attack of ophthalmia ; but this is
a rare case.

Mr. W. C. Spooner, V.S., Southampton, informs us, in The
Veterinarian for 1840, that he has " known it supervene within
a fortnight from the first attack."

The Cataract or Ophthalmia consists in a gradual change
in the aspect and composition of the lens, and this commonly
pervades all parts of the lenticular body at one and the same
time. The earliest perceptible alterations in the pupil after one
or more attacks of periodic ophthalmia, are : First, unusual irri-
tability ; it contracts quicker and more forcibly on exposure to
light than that of a sound eye is known to do, and in conse-
quence becomes actually smaller than the other. Secondly,
the corpora nigra hang lower down tliiin in health, shading
more the superior parts of the pupil. Thirdly, viewed out of
the glare of light, while in a state of dilatation, the pupil dis-
closes the lens changed from its natural deep blue colour to
that of a French grey. Should the iris contract adhesion with
the capsule of the lens while the pupil is in this irritable and
contracted state, which is often the case, this small pupil will
become permanent, and we shall see nothing indicating con-
firmed cataract, until some white specks or streaks make their
appearance through the aperture. In other cases, some changes
take place of a glaucomatous nature, followed by others of an
amaurotic tendency, which render the eye tolenuit of light;
and the result is, dilatation instead of contraction of the pupil,
and the conversion of it into an amber-coloured or amber-green-
colourcd body, which ultimately, as in the other case, turns to
a cataract. We read of cataracts being large and small, white,
black, green, yellow, brown, or ash-coloured, &c. Such varied

CATARACT. 105

descriptions being all reconcilable ou the ground of the depen-
dence for magnitude on the degree of contraction of the pupil ;
and for colour, on the circumstance of its being the lens itself
that we behold, or the vitreous humour, or other parts chano-ed
in colour, through it remaining unchanged ; the latter being
that state of eye to which the appellation of glaucoma has been
given.

The CATARACTOus Change is a general, not a partial one.
We do not, in the cataract arising from periodic ophthalmia,
perceive any distinct and separate nucleus or focal point of
opacity ; but we discover commonly a general cloudiness per-
vading the entire lens, and this speedily resolves itself into
streaks of white or nebula, running from the circumference in
radii towards the centre. There is a species of cataract which
begins in a small -white speck, no larger at first than a pin's
point, in the very heart of the lenticular body ; but this is not,
I believe, to be regarded as the offspring of periodic ophthalmia,
although I have known the latter disease attack au eye in which
such a cataract already existed.

In October, 1841, a black mare, three years old, was recruited for the First
Life Guards, having in her off eye a cataract, consisting in a white speck of
the magnitude of a millet-seed, in the very centre of the lens, and which was
by no means easy of discernment, save to any one accustomed to examine
eyes. The dealer, an acute observer in his way, declared he had not been
able to detect it until the mode of doing so was pointed out to him. My
opinion was, that it was a cataract of a kind which had no connexion with
periodic ophthalmia, and that it might remain, for years even, in statu quo.
On the 2-2d of April following — six months afterwards— she was brought to
me with ophthalmia in the cataractous eye ; of which she was dischar<^ed
" cured " on the 8th of May. Again she returned, however, on the 18th of
June, with another attack ; and again left the infirmary ; but now, with her
eye changed in aspect, lustreless, obscured, contracted in pupil, and intolerant
of light : evidently, in fact, breeding cataract, in which state it will probably
continue until it shall experience another relapse.

A Spontaneous Cataract I believe this to be, if there be
any such thing in horses. Several cases like it stand on record,
some of which I shall introduce by way of illustration here ;
from which we may glean that it differs essentially from the
pataract of ophthalmia in formation aud appearance, and in the

106 CATARACT.

circumstance of being unattended with any disease or change
in other parts of the eye. To which may be added another
circurastance by way of distinction : and this is, that in general
it is by mere accident the cataract is discovered ; and to all
our inquiries the answer is, " never to ray knowledge has the
horse had diseased or weak eyes."

Two Focal Points have been observed in the formation of
a cataract of this description ; at least such appear to have
existed in the following case, sent to The Veterinarian for 1834,
by Mr. Harris, V.S., Bromyard.

" A bay raare, coming five years old, when first broken, two years ago, was
accidentally submitted to ray inspection. I perceived tivo small cataracts in-
the off eye. After close inquiry, I could not hear that any symptoms of in-
flammation had been observed. From that time she has remained free from
ophthalmia, although exposed to causes likely to produce it ; and when, a
week ago, she came under ray treatment for lameness, there was but one
cataract remaining."

Were the cataracts in this case capsular or lenticular ?

Mr. Cartvvright mentions a case wherein ^' the horse had
two cataracts in each eye ; two of them being about the size of
large pins' heads, the other two treble that size.'"

Congenital Cataract constitutes another kind of the
original or spontaneous class. Gibson speaks of horses being
" foaled with cataracts or pearls in their eyes." In man con-
genital cataract commonly affects both the lens and its capsule.
"I believe it," says Dr. Mackenzie, ''to be at first lenticular,
and that after some months it becomes capsulo-lenticular."
Mr. Harris, the gentleman above referred to, has likewise
favoured us, in the same Veterinarian^ with a case of the
congenital description.

" An otherwise healthy foal was observed to have defective eyes, I think,
the second day after birth, when I discovered a large cataract in the centre of
each eye (without the slightest appearance of inflammation) which nearly
destroyed vision in a strong light, and caused him to roam about, and turn
his head in different directions, in order to catch a sight of the objects around
him ; but when he was removed to a dark stable, he appeared satisfied, and
like other foals." AVhether the foal was destroyed or died of disease, Mr.
Harris could never ascertain, though the case furnished an undoubted " proof
of the formation of cataract without inflammation, or that ophthalmia may
affect the fcctus in ulcro."

CATARACT. 107

Mr. Hales, of Oswestry, has only seen one case of con-
genital cataract. " Five years ago/' says Mr. H , " a

gentleman of this neighbourhood wished me to examine the
eyes of a foal a few days old, which was foaled blind. I found
a perfect cataract in each eye. I stopped the same gentle-
man^s team a week ago, as it was passing my door. The
cataracts were both there, and the horse remains, of course,
totally blind.

Capsular Cataract, that form of the disease, so called, in
which the opacity occupies the capsule, exclusively, of the lens,
has no relation whatever to the lenticular aflFection, nor is it
anywise connected with periodic ophthalmia. I believe it, my-
self, to be the product of common inflammatory action, and
that its most frequent origin is injury of some sort, either to
the eye itself or to some of its appendages, or even to the parts
adjacent. It is the anterior hemisphere of the capsule which
becomes opaque, that being thicker and more vascular than
the posterior : the latter never, I believe, is found diseased.
On this account, the disease is in general not difficult for the
close and accurate examiner to distinguish from the lenticular :
taking a side view of the eye, and properly guiding the light
to it, we shall, perhaps, be able to detect transparency behind
the cataract, to see, as it were, in the rear of it. It appears to
have been this kind of cataract, or, if not this, the spurious
kind, which has been said and shown to be absorbable.

The Origin and Formation of Cataract constitutes one
of those branches of science, that, on account of the little that
is known for certain concerning the structure and organization
of the lens, has given license for a great deal of speculative
opinion, into which there Avill be no occasion for us to enter
here. It will be sufficient for us to know that in the horse
its common originator is periodic ophthalmia : at the same
time, we must not shut our eyes to the fact of cataract having
been known in many instances to arise independently of this
disease ; and that in some of these recorded cases, it has all
the appearance of being a disease sui generis. And farther,
the case I have mentioned* would seem to show, that although
such a cataract may exist, yet is the eye, the same as sound

* At page 105.

108 CATARACT.

eyes, disposed to take the periodic ophthalmia. It might be
asked me — " was the original cataract not itself the effect of
ophthalmia V to which I should reply, " certainly not." Itself
had no such character ; neither did the eye evince the slightest
shade of imperfection in which it existed. Tlie real origin
and nature of this cataract I do not pretend to know.

Can a Cataract be absorbed, and thus disappear ? This
question I answer affirmatively ; and my reason for so doing
will be found in the cases which I have thought it worth while
to annex to this account. Should I be asked, Of what class
or kind absorbable cataracts are ? I must still refer my inquirer
to the valuable collection of cases which I have been able to
glean from the pages, chiefly, of The Veterinarian. Some
who disbelieve either that any such cataracts ever had existence,
or that, if they had, by any chance they could become absorbed,
may be told, if analogical facts and reasoning will have any
weight with them, that cases of the same description are not
wanting in human medicine, and which are supported upon
unquestionable authority. Dr. Mackenzie, of Glasgow, whose
work, A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the (Human) Eye,
I believe stands as high as any ophthalmic treatise of the day,
informs us —

" When the term cataract is used without any appellative
lenticular opacity is generally meant. For instance, when we
say that cataract is a slow disease, occupying one, two or more
years in its progress, it is of lenticular cataract that we speak ;
for all the others, and especially the spurious cataracts, may he
the product of a few days or hours. It sometimes happens,
however, that even lenticular cataract is fully developed in a
very short space of time. A patient was attending at the
Glasgow Eye Infirmary with glaucoma and amaurosis of one
eye, but without any appearance of cataract. She was present
as usual, on a Monday or Wednesday, the eye exhibiting
exactly the appearances which it had done for months before.
On the Friday I was surprised to find the lens completely
opaque, and stellated by radiating lines running from its centre.
Ilichter, however, relates a case in which cataract was com-
pletely formed in the course of one night. Mr. Walker was of
opinion that blacksmiths, and all mechanics who work near

CATARACT. 109

large fires, were more subject to cataracts than other per-
sons; and he mentions that he had two patients who were
instantly seized with cataract at the very time they were thus
employed.

Another reason for doubting or discrediting the accounts
given of these cataracts, is, that they have vanished or become
absorbed and left the eye as bright as ever. But, may not
that which has come quickly go quickly ? It does not appear
to me that one is more irreconcihxble Avith the Jaws of phy-
siology than the other ; although I am ready to admit, that
cases proving the absorption of true or genuine cataract are
hardly to be found on authentic record. Indeed, we have the
respectable authority of Mr. H. W. Cooper, Surgeon to the
Honourable Artillery Company, in The Veterinarian for 1841,
for saying, that, in the human subject, a decided opacity
of the lenticular capsule has never been observed to disappear.
This would almost drive one to think that the opacities taken
for cataracts, in some of the cases which will be subjoined,
must have been spurious in their nature : spurious or true,
however, I firmly believe myself that there they were, in the
situations in which they were discovered, and that there they
were not when they came to be looked for again.

The trial of Roberts versus Croft it was that gave rise to
more information being elicited concerning cataract than, prior
to that occurrence, was to be found in the whole annals of
veterinary medicine : records were searched, and by-gone cases
and observations recalled to memory, and the result was, the
publication of a number of interesting facts and opinions, which,
with some yet to come, will one day or other set the subject of
cataract in a much clearer light than that through which we
have been compelled to view it up to the present day.

The horse, the subject of this trial — a full account of which
will be found in The Veterinarian for 1832 — ^^was, after being
sold to Mrs. Roberts, incidentally discovered to have a small
cataract in one of his eyes, of the existence of which Mr. Croft,
the vendor, a surgeon, was not only entirely ignorant, but for
which he felt quite at a loss to account, he having bred the
horse, and been therefore certain that the animal never
experienced ophthalmic disorder. It being, from the evidence

110 CATAllACt.

adduced, however, considered that the cataract could not pos-
sibly form within twenty-four days, the period the animal's
eyes remained unexamined, the jury couchided that the cataract
must have existed prior to sale, and on that ground gave the
plaintiff their verdict.

Mr. Cartwright, V.S., Whitchurch, in The Veterinarian
for 1834, revives this interesting subject in the shape of an
analysis of and commentary on this trial ; and so much to the
purpose are his remarks, that I feel I need offer no apology for
introducing them here to my reader.

On this trial, " Messrs. Hickman of Shrewsbury, Collier of Chester, and
Richards and Crow of Shrewsbury, veterinary surgeons, all gave evidence,
' that a cataract never forms in the horse except as the consequence of re-
peated inflammation in the eye.' "

"Mr. Clay, of Shrewsbury, examined for the defendant, said, 'that cata-
racts may be formed in a fortnight or three weeks, and that he has known
many instances where they had been formed in less time ; that he has known
them to be formed without active inflammation, and without any previous
apparent disease of the eyes ; and has detected them when the owners had
not the slightest suspicion of any disease in the eyes, and had declared that
no previous inflammation had been observed. He (Mr. Clay) thought it not
improbable that a small cataract like the one in question might form between
the time that the horse Avas sold and that when the disease was discovered,'
which was either ten or twenty-four days ; the j^eriod being, as remarked by
Mr. Cartwright, apparently ' disputed,' and in consequence making 'material
diflerence.' "

Mr. Hickman, desirous of having so important a question answered by the
highest authorities, wrote both to Mr. Coleman and Mr. Apperley. In his
letter to the Professor, he reminded him that, when a pupil at the College,
he was taught by lectures " that cataracts never appear suddenly or without
previous inflammation in the horse ; but not so in the human subject." Mr.
Hickman, receiving no reply to his letter from the Professor, submitted the
three following questions to Mr. Apperley —

1. " Do cataracts appear in the eye of the horse suddenly, without the eye
first being in a state of inflammation ?"

" Certainly not."

2. " Do you think that a cataract could have formed within twenty days
•without previous inflammation ?"

"/ never hiieiv nor heard of such a case."

3. " Should you not consider the cataract, or the diseased action which
caused the cataract, to be in the eye or in the system on the day the horsd
was sold by Mr. Croft ?"

CATARACT. Ill

*' tt is my opinion that the diseased action, the predisposing cause, must have
existed previously to the first-named period" viz., the day of sale.

" Mr. Croft's horse afterwards came into the possession of Mr. Watson, a
surgeon in EUesmere, who disposed of him this summer, and he had then no
cataract ivhatever (as I have been informed), his eyes being perfectly sound
in every respect. Now it appears to me," continues Mr. Cartwright, " that
this was a case of capsular cataract ; yet, when or how it was formed, I can-
not say; but from the testimony of Mr. Croft, who is a very respectable gen-
tleman, and in the medical profession, and who, I believe, bred the horse ;
and also from that of his bailiff and groom", and that of the colt-breaker who
broke him in, who all assert that they never saw the horse with inflamed eyes,
we must suppose that he never had any apparent attacks of inflammation,
such as to produce cataract ; and I am also induced to come to this con-
clusion from having seen, since that time, two other similar cases, which I
will now relate :

" The first was a chestnut horse, five years old, the property of Mr. Hort,
in this town (Whitchurch), which had two cataracts in eac/i eye : two of them
were about the size of large pins' heads, the other two treble that size : his
eyes were perfectly transparent, with the above exceptions, and did not show
the least vestige of former inflammation, and which the person that bred him
said he had never been subject to. Mr. Hort sold him, about the month of
December, 1831, to a Mr. Dawson, of Burleydam, with these cataracts
evident enough ; but from that time they gradually disappeared, and in the
autumn 1832 there was not the least to be seen of them. I saw him a few
days ago, when his eyes were perfectly sound."

" The other case is a five-year-old black cob mare, the property of Mr.
Wray, of Ightfield Heath (four miles from this place), who purchased her of
a Mr. Pownall, of Darliston, some time in 1832. In November of the same
year I saw her, and detected a cataract in the right eye, and of the size of a
coriander seed. I then advised him to get rid of her, thinking that she would
go blind ; but, being a very useful thing, he kept her. In August 1833 1 saw
her again, when the cataract had disappeared, and her eyes were perfect,
I have spoken to Mr. Pownall respecting her, who informed me that he had
never seen anything the matter with her eyes ; and Mr. Wray says, he never
did, with the exception of the cataract."

" I believe it is the opinion of veterinary surgeons and authors generallt/,
that cataracts never form without previous inflammation ; and English
authors, I think, are totally silent respecting the disappearing of them when
formed."

" Mr. Blaine says, ' that cataract never appears in the human subject as
a distinct disease, independent of active inflammation or ophthalmia.' "

" Mr. Percivall says, ' that it will be found to be, invariably in horses, one
of the consequences of ophthalmia ; for, in cases where no signs of increased
action have attended its apparent formation, they may generally be discovered

113 GATAEACt.

to have existed at no very remote period preceding it. / do not mean to assert
that it never happens idthout inflammation : I have heard, and so far I believe,
that it does : hut it certainly is, comparatively, a rare occwi-cnce .' *'

" Mr. Gibson says, ' that some (horses) have been foaled with cataracts or
pearls in their eyes.' "

" Now, after all that has been said, we must come to this conclusion, that
here are three cases of cataracts that had existed for many months, and, in
some of them, most probably for a year or two, and that have entirely disap-
peared, leaving the eye in a sound transparent state ; and that were, in every
probability, produced without the usual symptoms of that specific inflam-
mation which is generally the precursor of cataracts."

"• I am perfectly aware that it may be said that they have been foaled so ;
but I am not inclined to believe this, as it is most probable that they would
have been sooner absorbed. In my mind, the depositions were of far more
recent date."

Mr. Cartwright concludes his comments with a hope that
Mr. Clay '' will favour the public with the cases on which his
opinion (on the trial) was founded."

In the mean time, Mr. Perry, V.S., Swaffhara, Norfolk —
prompted by the perusal of Mr. Cartwright's observations — in
the same Veterinarian, comes forward and says, " I have met
with many cases where there has been one or more inconsider-
able opaque spots on the lens that have not been preceded by
inflammation, whose presence I have never been able to satisfy
myself has in any way impaired vision :" adding the following
case —

" Some time since I called on a friend who was anxious to show me his
mare, not professionally, but because he had formed an exceeding high
opinion of her. When she was led to the door of the stable I discovered she
had two cataracts. I mentioned the circumstance to him, but he could
scarcely credit it ; and he assured me that the animal was bred by himself,
that she never had been ill in any respect, and that her eyes had ever been
bright and free from disease." " I have generally," continues Mr. Perry,
" observed that cataracts, when formed of these small distinct bodies on the
lens, although they have assumed a dense appearance, have been productive
of no mischief. It is when they form in the centre of the lens, assumiwj the
appearance of rings, slightly clouding the transparency of the lens, and not
dense as the former, that they are to be dreaded ; and this appearance I
believe to be always the effect of inflammation." " A friend of mine, a sur-
geon in this town, purchased a bay pony with a cataract in each eye : he was

CATARACT. US

ignorant of the fact until he showed the animal to rae. They were in appear-
ance extremely dense, formed in the centre of the lens, about the size of small
white peas ; and although the lens was transparent on each side, I conceived
the vision of the pony must have been imperfect ; but his owner continued
to ride and drive him many years ; »nd he has frequently assured me that
he was the safest animal that he ever possessed, and that he never discovered
any defect of vision."

Mr. W. C. Spooner, V.S. (then at Winchester, now at
Southampton), is the gentleman who next enters this interesting
field of investigation ; and he commences with stating, that he
thinks the facts brought forward by Messrs. Cartwright and
Perry set one question at rest, viz., " that cataract may and
does occur independently of previous active inflammation/*

" Mr. Cartwright says that a cataract may take place in a month ; this I
believe, for I have known it occur in less time. Mr. Clay avers the same;
Kut he does not say, nor do any of his cases show, that it can be produced in
this short period without acute inflammation." " Then, again, no one ima-
gines, that, when cataract occurs as the sequel of active inflammation, it ever
becomes absorbed." " The forms and duration of ophthalmia, the frequency
of Its attacks, and the degree of disorganization produced by each attack, are
extremely uncertain and dissimilar."

" The two following cases will, in some measure, corroborate Mr. Cart*
Wright's remarks :

"A four-year-old horse was bought two years and a half since, when I
discovered small cataracts in each eye. I rode him, and, though he did not
shy, he would blunder against a rail or gate. He was put to fast work in a
mail, where he still continues, and he has had no inflammation in his eyea
smce ; and when I last saw him, a few months ago, the cataracts were much
the same.

" Sotae time since I was requested to examine a horse that was lame, when
1 perceived a cataract in one eye. The owner, a surgeon, said he had had
no inflammatory attack during the three months he had been in his pos-
session ; and the previous possessor denied anything being the matter with
his eyes before."

Mr. Spooner's observations were followed by some remarks
(in the same Veterinarian) of my own : before, however, I refer
to them, I shall lay before my reader some cases in elucidation
of the same subject from Mr. Harris, V.S., Bromyard.

" A bay mare, now coming five years old, when first broken two years ago,
III. 8

114 CATAllACl'.

was accidentally submitted to my inspection. I perceived two small cataracts
in the off eye. After close inquiry I could not hear that any symptoms of
inflammation had been observed, and from that time until now the disease
has not progressed ; but when, a week ago, she came under my treatment
for lameness, there was but one cataracLremaining.

" A half-bred gelding had ophthalmia when two or three years old, and a
cataract was the result. I had an opportunity of examining his eyes several
times within the next two or three years. The cataract was evidently dimi-
nishing, and when, some months afterwards, I looked for it, it was gone."

Mr. Hales^ V.S., Oswestry, a gentleman well known to the
readers of The Veterinarian^ in July of the same year, 1834,
communicates to us important information on the same sub-
ject ; he being, as he says, " the first veterinarian in his district
that publicly avowed that cataracts sometimes formed without
previous inflammation, if not the first who entertained such an
opinion."

Mr. Hales continues, " I have for some yfears been convinced of the fact,
that small cataracts are observed in the eye of the horse without their having
been preceded by inflammation ; and I have in my memory at this moment
half-a-dozen cases that have so arisen. In several of them, the ov/ners of
the horses were unconscious of any disease in the eye, and have assured me
they had not the slightest suspicion that the eye was not perfectly good.
Mr. Croft's case (alluding to the trial of Roberts versus Croft) is precisely
in point." " In these kinds of cataracts there is no difierence to be seen
between the eye afiected by the disease and a healthy one, except the appear-
ance of the cataract ; they are equally clear and lucid, which, I believe, is
never the case when once the eye has been attacked with specific ophthalmia.
The opacity is small and well defined, and I consider its seat to be the
capsule of the lens.

" Mr. Percivall, Mr. Cartwright, and Mr. Harris, state that they have
known cases in which cataracts have been absorbed." " It has never fallen
to my lot to see a case of this description.

" Two years ago I bought a horse from a friend, and having known the
animal for a long time, and being satisfied my friend would not deceive me,
I made no examination of him at the time of purchase. But, on the morning
after he was delivered, I found one eye inflamed, and, on looking into it, saw
what I considered to be a cataract, about the size of rather a large pin's head.
I made up my mind that I was done, and wrote to the gentleman on the sub-
ject ; who, in reply, declared that he had never seen or known anything the
matter with the horse's eye, but would take him back if required to do so.
Examining the eye very attentively the next day, I thought I could perceive
xi slight motion in the speck, and thai it did not exactly keep the same situation.

OATARACl^. US

I now began to waver In my opinion whether it was a cataract, and resolved
to keep the horse until I saw the result. In a few days the inflammation
subsided, and in ahout a fortnight the opacity was gone." " I consider the
opaque spot in this case to have been a small portion of condensed coagulable
hjmph in the posterior chamber of the eye, the product of accidental inflam-
mation. I am quite convinced that, had this horse been brought to me for
casual examination, I should have pronounced him to have had a cataract ;
and had I not seen him again for some considerable time, and then found
that the opacity was gone, I, no doubt, should have asserted that the cata-
ract had been absorbed."

Mr. Clay, V.S., Shrewsbury, whose evidence on the trial,
which has incidentally been productive of so much valuable
discussion on the subject before us, was both of a novel and
most important character, kindly afterwards, in The Veteri-
narian for the same year, 1834^ at my request, favoured the
profession with " some of the cases on which his opinion of the
formation of cataract in the eye of the horse was founded/
Those opinions being, 1st, " That he had known cataract form
without active inflammation, or without any previous apparent
disease in the eye." 2dly, " That he had detected small cata-
racts when the owners (of the horses) had not the slightest
suspicion of any disease in the eye, and had denied that any
previous inflammation had ever been observed." 3dly, I may
be at liberty to add, though Mr. Clay has not, as shown by two
out of the three cases reported, that he has known cataracts to
be absorbed ; and 4thly, also, That it is surprising how little
some cataracts appear to disturb or diminish vision.

Case I. — " A filly foal, the property of the Rev. Dr, Gardner, of Sansaw,
had cataract In both eyes without inflammation. This filly having run a nail
Into one of her fore feet, when about a fortnight old, I was requested to see
her. While waiting In the box for an assistant, I amused myself by looking
at her eyes. There was not then the least appearance of cataract, or any
other disease of the eye ; hut in nine or ten days after this I olserved a cata-
ract in the near eye, about the size of a small pin's head. My attention was
then drawn to the ofi" eye, but, after a most minute examination, / could not
detect the slightest appearance qf cataract in it; yet about four or five days
after this, when I again visited Sansaw, and upon a second examination of
the off eye, a cataract was as visible as in the nedr eye. At the end of six
weeks from the time I first saw her, these cataracts were of the size of a
large pin's head. The filly remained in the Doctor's possession until seven

116 CATARACT.

years old, the cataracts continuing nuicli the same. I had not an opportunity
of looking at her eyes from this time until she was got up for sale, at seven
years old. I then examined them, and, to my astonishment, found there was
not the least appearance of cataract. She was sent to Kudgley fair, and
sold to a London dealer, quite sound."

Case II, — "Mr. S. Durston, of Stanwardine, a most respectable gentle-
man farmer, and well known as a fox-hunter in this county, had a black
mare of his own breeding with cataracts in both eyes, of which he had not
the slightest knowledge until a gentleman who came to buy her detected
them. Mr. D. expressed himself much surprised, and said, 'A safer
mare across a country could not be, as a hunter.' I myself, and every sports-
man in this country, can corroborate l\Ir. D.'s assertion. This being
an extraordinary case, Mr. D. wislied me to see her. The cataracts were
then very visible. She Is now In the possession of Mr. Thos. Matthews, of
Lee Hall, another gentleman equally well known in our hunt, for whom I,
about three months ago, fired her legs. The cataracts were much the same
as when I first saw them, which was about seven years ago."

Case III. — " A mare, the property of my father, which I rode as a hack
several years, had cataract without Inflammation. After riding her two or
three years, on her being led out of the stable one day, I noticed something
unusual In one of her eyes, which, on examination, proved to be a cataract,
and must have been of very recent formation, as no one rode her except
myself. This cataract never afterwards varied so long as she remained in
my father's possession, which Avas many years, as hack and brood-mare."

An anonymous writer, under the signature of C. P, 'N., com-
municates in The Veterinarian for the same year, 1834, the
following interesting case, which would have been more valuable
had it duly authenticated :

"A hack mare, about five years old, was brought to me for an accident to
the near eye. When I went towards her, she appeared to be very shy, and
while at a distance I could plainly perceive a white round speck in the centre
of the lens of the other eye ; and after inquiring If there had been anything
the matter with her eyes before, the owner replied In the negative. Showing
the cataract to a few attendants, and it was very perceptible to them all,
I averred that It would end in blindness. But, calling In about six weeks at
the farm-house whence she came, I was astonished to find that the speck
which, according to my prediction, was sure to cause blindness, had been
absorbed, and not a vestige of It was to be seen."

Mr. W. C. Spooner, V.S., Southampton, " thinks it has
been by this time pretty well proved that cataracts do occa-
sionally become absorbed 3'' and relates the following '/singular

CATARACT. 11 7

case corroboratory of this doctrine/' in The Veterinarian
for 1834 :

"On the 23 J of May last, 1834, I was requested by Capt. Ward, of
Twyford, to see his old mare : she had inflammation in one of her eyes, which
was dim and very susceptible of light. On Opening the eyelids, I distinctly
perceived a small cataract. On inquiry, Capt. W. informed me that some
years since she had several attacks of inflammation, but not one for the last
three or four years ; and the groom said he had observed the speck for several
years. I bled the mare from the jugular vein, gave her a dose of physic,
and desired that the eye be kept wetted. I heard nothing more of the case
till July 7th, when the mare was brought to my forge to be shod. I examined
Tier eyes, and coidd perceive no speck of any hind, or impediment in vision.
Query, Was this a case in which the absorbents were roused into action by
the stimulus of inflammation, and the cataract was thereby removed ? But,
let us suppose that this mare had been sold in May last, and brought to me to
be examined by the buyer, and that I had pronounced her unsound, and
that an action was the consequence ; I should have stated in court that I had
examined her, and had found a cataract; but against me, perhaps, there
mi'^ht be arrayed two or three veterinary surgeons, who might have examined
the mare within a short period, and pronounced her sound ; the result
would have probably been that the jury would have given their verdict
ao'ainst my employer, and have charitably considered that, if there had been
any impediment in vision about the case, it existed in my eyes instead of in
the mare's."

M. Richard Rawlins, sen., V.S., Bristol, in The Vete-
rinarian for 1835, has favoured us with opinions on this subject
" founded on more than twenty years' extensive practice, which
we must not fail to profit by. " I never saw," he says, <' a
single case of cataract without previous disease of the eye ; but
a circumstance occurred in the autumn of the last year, 1834,
which did for a while surprise and stagger me. There was a
case in which cataract did seem to appear most suddenly, and
without any previously observed disease.''

On the 18th of October a horse was purchased, warranted sound, of a
dealer in Bristol. The horse, it was remarked at the time, had a cough ;
but it was answered, that was " a mere trifle," and a special warranty should
be given against it. On his arrival at the purchaser's the horse was attacked
with pneumonia, for which he was taken to Mr. R.'s infirmary. On enter-
ing the stable there, the animal ran against the door-post. This led to an
e3?amination of bis eyes, " in each of which was a slight cataract," Th^

118 CATAEACT.

horse recovered of his chest afFection, and was afterwards sold at a very
reduced price, " being then quite blind."

About the same time— October, 1834 — Mr. R. was consulted about lame-
ness in a horse, a favourite with his master, and after giving his opinion con-
cerning this, remarked, " Your horse has a worse disease, and which, I fear,
is incurable. Look at the oflf eye, and you will perceive the forerunner of
much mischief." The gentleman, astonished and angry, said he " had had
the horse three or four years, and that there never had been anything the
matter with the eyes, and that there was nothing nov/." Mr. R. was for-
bidden to do anything to the eye, although the disease continued progress-
ing. About a month afterwards the gentleman called at Mr. R.'s house, and
said he was " sorry to confess that Mr. R.'s opinion was accurate." The
eye was weeping, and its diseased state could no longer be denied. Proper
means were adopted ; but cataract gradually formed, and the horse is now
quite blind.

''Is it notprobable/' Mr. Rawlins asksj " that on such circum-
stances as these the opinion (I believe erroneous) was founded,
that cataract can appear without previous ophthalmia ?"

Seven years elapse, and Mr. Cartwright resumes the subject
in The Veterinarian for 1841. Messrs. Pott, Lucas, Hey,
and Abernethy, all surgeons of the first eminence of their day,
thought that capsular cataracts were sometimes absorbed. Mr.
Tyrrell, Professor Owen, and Mr. H. W. Cooper (Surgeon to the
Honourable Artillery Company), are of a different opinion ;
they say ''they never do.^^ Among veterinarians, Messrs.
Clay, Harris, Spooner, Cartwright, and myself, think with
Mr. Abernethy, that a cataract may disappear.

Mr. H. W. Cooper, the gentleman above alluded to, at the
time that the subject was brought afresh to our notice, in a
praiseworthy spirit stepped forward ; and, by sending two very
interesting communications to The Veterinarian, lent us a
helping hand in unravelling this intricate question.

" The point in question," says Mr. Cooper, referring to a
query put by Mr. Cartwright, " would appear to be * whether
small cataracts, from the size of a coriander-seed downward,
and which are supposed by veterinary surgeons to be capsular,
are ever absorbed, and the capsule become transparent again .^ "

" These small cataracts," continues Mr. Cooper, in his communication to
The Veterinarian iox 1841, "are, I presume, partial opacities of the capsule,

OATAEACT, 119

and are not uncommon in the human subject. I have a case now under my
observation which illustrates the point beautifully. In the centre of the
pupil of each eye a white spot may be discerned, and upon careful examina-
tion this is clearly seen to be an opacity of the capsule of the lens, that
body being evidently immediately posterior to it. These opacities have
existed for some time, and are slowly but decidedly increasing."—" / have
never yet observed, in the human subject, a decided opacity of the lenticular
capsule to disappear. Instances have come under my notice of lymph beino'
deposited upon the capsule during iritis, and closely resembling in appear-
ance an opacity of that membrane, which lymph has been afterwards ab-
sorbed ; but these spurious cataracts must not be confounded with genuine.
This leads me to the question, ' whether lenticular cataracts ever become
absorbed in the human subject, leaving the eye transparent.' Without
saying that such an event is impossible, / am not aicare of any really well,
authenticated case on record. We certainly hear of remedies to cure cataract
without operation, and ever and anon these are stated to have worked won-
ders ; but I fear the cases related will not bear investigation ; and the
simple fact that, one after the other, these ' remedies ' have fallen into disre-
pute, is the best proof of their inefficacy. In fact, we have yet to learn whe-
ther true cataract is capable of being cured by remedial measures, without
having recoiirse to operation. I believe that, under certain circumstances,
the disease may be retarded by treatment ; but I fear that the present state
of our knowledge will not honestly carry us beyond this point."

Mr. Listen, on the same point, says :* " Cataract sometimes,
though rarely, disappears spontaneously, being absorbed."
But in another place, ^' Many remedies, external and internal,
and mercury among the rest, have been employed with a view
of dissipating cataracts ; but all are of no use.'^

My ovrn practical remarks shall be added to these extremely
interesting accounts, and then we will sift what we can out of
the materials in our possession.

Although the case I am going to relate occurred so long ago as 1826, yet
had it escaped, among a mass of notabilia, my memory ; and might, indeed,
have lain dormant to the present time, had it not been called into existence
in The Veterinarian for 1834, by the perusal of some interesting papers
on the subject of the trial of Eoberts versus Croft. Mr. Courtney, then
resident at Lee, brought his horse one morning to the Horse Infirmary at
Woolwich, in consequence of its having fallen with him on his way to town,
and cut its knees and grazed one of its eyebrows. The injuries in the knees

* In his 'Elements of Surgery.'

120 CATARACT.

were bardly skin-deep, and but of trifling consequonce; but, on my atten-
tion being drawn to the eye, I observed the cornea to be partially nebulous,
and a cataract to be plainly visible through the pupil, and the conjunctiva
to be inflamed. Neither of the opacities was hardly apparent enough to
attract any one's notice but that of a professional person ; and both were
quite unconnected v/itli tlie slight bruise the orbital arch had sustained by
the fall not above an hour or so before. Mr. C. expressed himself much
surprised at the disclosure of all this disease in the horse's eye, saying that,
to his knowledge, the horse had on no occasion manifested any signs of weak
or inflamed eyes. I opened the eye-vein, and it bled very freely ; and I gave
the animal a dose of physic, and ordered a lead-wash, with a little tincture
of opium in it, for the eye, I told Mr. C. that I might probably succeed
in removing the corneal opacity, but that the cataract he might regard as
beyond my reach. He returned with his horse on the fifth day, saying that
the physic had operated briskly, but was now set, and that he himself thought
the eye looked quite well again. I examined it, and could discover neither
any relics of the corneal opacity nor of cataract.

In 1832, while my regiment was stationed at "Windsor, Mr. R. showed me
a favourite blood filly of his, three years old, very handsome, and of his own
breeding. I was "looking round her," as the phrase goes, when, by mere
accident, I discovered that she in one of her eyes — I forget which — had got
a cataract ; but such a one, I thought, and I believe said at the time, as I
did not remember to have seen before. It was, to use INIr. Cartwright's
comparison, in point of magnitude, " of the size of a coriander-seed," and
exhibited to the eye of the observer a well-defined insulated white speck,
surrounded and rendered still more perceptible by the clear blue of the
pupil. It seemed to me to present to the beholder much tlie same appear-
ance that a speck upon the cornea would produce, were it possible to view
it through the pupil from the back of the eye. I saw this filly again the
following year, 1833, when the cataract still existed, and in sUilu quo; but I
have not seen her since,

lu conclusion, I shall relate a ca^e of very recent oc-
currence, which has operated in my mind Avitli greater force
to remove the difficulties by which the resolution of these
questions is beset, than anything that has yet come under my
own observation.

On the 10th of September, 1842, a lot of young horses were submitted
to be taken into the service as troopers. One among them, a three-year-old
black mare, fifteen hands high, betrayed an opacity in her near eye, with tiie
mark of a blow upon the orbital arch of the same side, and also a contusion
— apparently from a kick — on the near fore-leg. The opacity was in the
pupil, and appeared albugineous and difl^use rather in its character ; and

CATARACT. 121

withal, was so plainly perceptible that any casual observer could see It with.
out difficulty: moreover, while I was closely and attentively examinino- the
eye, it appeared to me I could distinctly see helihid the opacity. My friend
Dr, Campbell, passing at the time, I availed myself of his professional
opinion. After careful and close inspection, and comparison of one eye with
the other. Dr. Campbell gave it as his opinion that it was a cataract of the
spurious kind, that it consisted, in fact, of matter deposited in the posterior
chamber, a portion of which he thought he could perceive within the circum-
ference of the pupil. Notwithstanding I pronounced the horse unsound in
consequence of it, I accompanied my condemnatory judgment with a recom-
mendation that the mare be not rejected on account of her eye; it bein'>-
my opinion that the "cataract" was of a nature that had been said, and
seemed to me to be, absorbable. Three weeks from this time — I not havino-
seen the mare in the interval— her eye was free from all opacity.

On a subject of so much consequence as i\\\s, and one con-
cerning which it is of so much importance that we should hold
consonant opinions, I hope my readers will not feel that I have
unnecessarily taken up their time or my own pages in the trans-
cription of cases I have made : all that remains to be done is
to come to the safest deductions we can fiom the various facts
and opinions contained in the recited cases.

FiKST, it appears that cataract may arise from other causes,
save periodic ophthalmia, although that disease must still be
admitted to be the ordinary precursor of it.

Secondly, that cataract may form without any detectible
pre-existing inflammation whatever in the eye.

Thirdly, that cataracts may form within a comparatively
short time — a few days, perhaps.

Fourthly, that, in an equally short time, cataracts may
disappear or become absorbed.

Fifthly, that cataracts, bearing this evanescent or absorbable
character, are certainly not of the lenticular class : they may
be capsular; but, in my opinion, are more likely to turn out
of the spurious description.

Sixthly : it appears quite certain that cataract, the product
of periodic ophthalmia, has never been known to undergo ab-
sorption, or even any change for the better.

Future observation, with these questionable points fresh in
our minds, will enable us, at no very remote day, to speak with
jTiore confidence than we cf\n well do at present ; a few such

123 CATARACT.

trials as that of Roberts versus Croft, will set veterinary sur»
geons to work in collecting materials whereon they may erect
defences for their professional opinions, and not, by any dis.
crepancy of evidence, run a risk of having their reputations
undervalued.

The Vision enjoyed by Houses havi^:g Cataractous Eyes
will depend upon the nature of the cataract, and the progress
it has made towards maturity. Should the cataract consist in
a general nebulosity of the lens, the degree of opacity will
regulate the vision remaining; on the other hand, should the
cataract grow from a central speck of opacity, the sight will be
proportional to the largeness or growth of the nucleal deposit.
And in this latter case, during the growth of the cataract, the
sight will be regulated by the degree of contraction of the
pupil : in bright lights, in consequence of the pupil being con-
tracted, vision will be nothing like so good as in twilights,
when the pupil regains a state of dilatation ; simply because the
rays of light, in the latter case, are able still to obtain a pas-
sage to the retina through the remaining uuobscured parts of
the lens. From the circumstance, however, of the pupil of
the horse's eye being oblong, and the cataract, which forms
from a central point, being globular — at all events for a time
— contraction of the pupil will not, to that degree that it will
when the pupil is circular, exclude the light ; and this accounts
for horses that have cataracts of this description seeing with
them better than man and many other animals.

Remedies for Cataracts save what consist in its removal
by an operation, we possess none : the absorbability of cata-
ractous deposits, either of the lenticular or capsular kind, yet
appears exceedingly problematical ; or, to say the most we dare
in favour of it, yet lacks confirmatory cases.

And to the Performance of an Operation considerable
difficulties stand in the way : although many or most of which
by the ingenuity and skill of operators, have been surmounted,
yet, after all, has little or no real good resulted from their
laudable enterprises. The forcible retraction of the eyeball
into the orbit the instant any instrument touches it, together
with the simultaneous protrusion of the haw, will be found
plaguy annoyances ; and though instruments have been con-

CATAEAOT. 123

trived to counteract these biadraiices, yet is their employment
apt to create a good deal of irritation and inflammation, and
thus, after all, foil us in our best intentions. And not only at
the time of, but even after, the operation, has the retraction of
the eyeball been followed by prolapse of the iris ; or, worse still,
bursting of the globe and escape of the vitreous humour.

For the Operation to prove successful, other parts of
the eye immediately concerned in vision will require to
be in a sound or normal condition. Should the cataract
have been the product of successive attacks of periodic
ophthalmia, such can hardly be expected to be the case;
and, therefore, it would be fruitless to operate. In fact,
the only case, strictly speaking, suitable for operation, is that
wherein the cataract is of that description that has arisen
spontaneously, or at all events, with so little concomitant dis-
turbance that it is not likely other important parts of the eye
have become anywise disorganized ; for, unless their impair-
ment could be rectified, it is evident that all the good resulting
from the operation must be nullified. Surgeons, I believe, in
general, refuse to operate for cataract, unless the patient can,
by certain sensations, distinguish light from darkness : perhaps
this test with horses, would be somewhat difficult to arrive at.
But, we will suppose that the eyes are in a condition for an
operation ; and, further, that the operation has turned out, so
far as the removal of the opaque lens is concerned, successful ;
even then it does not follow that the animal is to regain his
eyesight, or enough of vision even to be of any service to him.
The eye, having lost its principal refractor and regulator — the
crystalline lens — will require some artificial substitute. Eye-
glasses supply this deficiency in man ; but, as has been before
asked, could a horse be fitted, or have his eyes suited, with any
sort of glasses? And were this possible, still, would his
restored vision be of a character to render him really safe and
serviceable to us ? or would it be of that imperfect kind, con-
verting him from a steady, sure-footed, trust-worthy servant,
into a shy, mistrustful, dangerous creature, whom we could no
longer confide in ?

The Operation. — Undaunted by any of these grave con-
siderations, some veterinarians have been intrepid enough to

124 CATARACT.

venture upon an operation for cataract. D'Arboval informs us
that Dupuy, and that celebrated surgeon Dupuytren, have both
essayed in horses to couch and comminute lenses, and in that
manner procure absorption of the opaque body : but with no
sort of success ; for neither could the lens, as in man, be
effectually broken down, nor was it found to undergo absorption
after the operation ; and, moreover, the inflammation occasioned
in the eye by the attempts was of a nature to destroy the
structure of parts that had, up to the time, remained sound.
Tenon operated by extraction no less than eleven times, but
failed, in spite of every precaution, in all his cases.

For the purpose of fixing the eye under the operation, various
kinds of tenacula and specula have been invented by our inge-
nious continental brethren ; among -which the instruments of
Leblanc appear to be the most approved. And of the three
modes of operating, viz., by Extraction, by Displacement
(formerly called Couching), and by Division, Leblanc prefers
displacement : indeed extraction he has altogether abandoned,
as being an operation unsuited, on various accounts, to the eye
of the horse. Simple displacement of the opaque body presents
less difficulty in the performance, exposes the eye to less risk of
accident, and is followed by less serious consequences than the
dther operations. We learn from D'Arboval, that both Beauclerc
and Leblanc have succeeded by this simplest of the operations.
Beauclerc assures us that several horses operated on by him re-
covered their sight. Leblanc operated on an Hungarian horse
seven years old, on a one-eyed ass, on a blind ass, on a blind
mare, on a black horse nine years old, on a three-yeai'-old black
marc, and on a horse from three to four years old, all of which
had vision, more or less distinct, conferred upon them. Such
success, however, has not attended all Leblanc's experiments.
In fifteen other operations he failed ; attributing his failures
to the internal condition of the organs with which his instru-
ments came into collision. Gohier has operated on fourteen
solipedes and one dog, by extraction, couching, and division of
the lens. Five horses and one mare, subjected to extraction,
did not recover their sight. Of five other horses, one female
ass, and one bitch, couched, one horse in whom the lens re-
jnained couched, saw pretty well for several days after thg

CATARACT. 125

operation ; but ten days afterwards no longer could distinguish
surrounding objects. The same thing happened to tbo ass,
whose turned out a milliy cataract. Another horse, whose
cataract likewise was milky, and who saw sufficiently well im-
mediately after the operation to direct his own steps, the
following morning could not see at all. In one horse and one
mare the operation of division of the lens was practised ; but it
proved impossible, either before or after the displacement, to
break up the lenticular body.

Gohier has, in few words, detailed the method of procedure
for the operation of couching. The horse being cast and
secured, and his head steadily maintained by an assistant, and
the double speculum of Tenon used to confine the eyelids,
while the cartilago nictitans has been retained by a blunt hook,
the transparent cornea has been punctured with an oculist^s
straight knife, at the distance of a line or two from its circum-
ferent border, on the outer side. The knife has then been
carried through the aperture of the pupil upon the lens, and
the lens depressed by it. To depress has proved easy ; but to
keep the lens down, out of the axis of vision, extremely diffi-
cult j* the moment the knife was withdrawn the lens rising
again. The eye made no movement after it had become
transfixed by the knife; and so every opportunity was given
to keep the lens couched as long as was deemed recpiisite.

Leblanc, however, must be regarded as our great authority
and best guide in these matters. He uses a bent needle, with
a plain or convex back and cutting sides, whose concavity
describes the figure of two oblique planes, united in the middle
by a line slightly salient, extending to the point of the instru-
ment, the handle being turned in the direction of the convexity
of the blade. A simple, pointed stilette,-\ is another instru-
ment he employs; a small double-branched crochet or blunt
hook, a third ; an elevator, a fourth. For a description of these

* This arises from the elasticity of the compressed vitreous humour. On
this account, that form of displacement which is called Eecllnation, which
consists in a lurning oter of the lens into the middle and towards the bottom
of the vitreous humour, is to be preferred to simple depression.

t A triple-branched or tricuspid stilette is vel'y useful in the absence of
an expert assistant.

1^6 GLAUCOMA*

several instruments^ and for an account of liis metliod of ope-
rating— in which he has followed the rules laid down by Scarpa
— and for all other particulars, we must refer those who may
feel disposed to experimentalise on this branch of veterinary
surgery to Leblauc's Traitc des Maladies des Yeux, a work
replete with every kind of information on the subject.

GLAUCOMA.

Glaucoma — a derivation from the Greek word -yXavKoi^,
signifying of a blue colour — is the term used in medicine to
denote an unnatural green appearance of the interior of the eye.
Human surgeons, acute observers in their own practice, are
very apt, from ignorance of the structure and aspect of the
eyes of animals, to suspect horses' eyes of being cataractous
or glaucomatous when, in reality, they are perfect specimens
of health : being deluded by the reflection of the tapeium
lucidum.

The Horse, it appears to me, is the occasional subject of
glaucoma in one of two forms : either as an attendant or
sequel of certain states or stages of periodic ophthalmia, or as
an accompaniment of old age. D'Arboval denies that glau-
coma is ever an especial disease ; but regards it as one of
the symptoms of periodic ophthalmia, or *^ some other ocular
disorder."

The Glaucoma of Ophthalmia is that recognisable change
the eye undergoes in the course of the periodic disease which
commonly goes by the name of green cataract : the aspect of
the organ to the close and intelligent observer is such as to
assure him that the case is not one of genuine cataract ; for
he can plainly see through the lens, changed in colour though
it be, to the very bottom of the eye, the pupil the while re-
maining dilated, almost or quite insensible to light, and the
organ altogether being in a state approaching amaurosis. The
reflection from the bottom of the eye is not so much green as
yelloWj or rather amber-colour, a circumstance owing to the
participation of the crystalline body in disease, together with

QLAUCOMA. ISt

ttie vitreous humour. Under what especial conditions the eye
under ophthalmia takes this glaucomatous turn — which still
mostly ends in cataract — rather than proceed to the formation
of cataract at once, I am not at this time prepared to explain.

The Glaucobia of Age is seldom to be discovered but in
very old horses, and not in all instances among them. As age
advances, the pupil, naturally sluggish in the horse's eye, be-
comes still more so ; its contractions and dilatations, from the
presence or absence of light, are less remarkable; in fact,
become so tardy and inconsiderable as often to be unobservable.
At the same time, the pupil is found to have acquired quite a
grey-blue aspect, and in some aged subjects^ in certain lights,
will appear of a greenish hue. These changes are, no doubt,
in part attributable to alterations in the consistence and
colour of the lens ; but the vitreous humour will, I believe, in
most cases, be also found in an altered condition, a circum-
stance that authorises us to consider the disease as one of a
glaucomatous nature.

The Pathology of glaucoma, in its pure or uncomplicated
form, appears, from the observations of eminent human oculists,
to consist in disease and ultimate absorption or solution of the
hyaloid membrane, leaving the vitreous humour in the same
unconfiued fluid condition as that in which the aqueous humour
naturally exists. It is thought, so far as disease is concerned
in such a change, that inflammation is the producer of this ;
and veterinary observation appears confirmatory of this opinion.
With the glaucoma of age, however, we apprehend inflammation
can in no way be concerned. Sooner or later, in all cases
almost, these changes in the lens and vitreous humour are
succeeded by disorganization of the retina, rendering the eye
less susceptible of the impressions of light 3 and, in the end, so
little so as to make the organ appear, or really be, in a state of
amaurosis.

Remedies jpor Glaucoma, the result of disease, are all, as
a matter of course, merged in those for periodic ophthalmia.
The glaucoma of age admits of no relief.

128

AMAUROSIS.

The faculty of vision, for perfection and enjoyment, is de-
pendent upon integrity, as regards the component structures of
the eye, and upon susceptibHiti/,a.s regards the sensitive apparatus
connected with those structures. The coats and humours of
the visual organ may be all in a perfectly sound condition, and
yet vision may be either impaired or lost, because the nervous
appurtenances of the eye no longer possess the power of per-
ceiving the rays of light, or, at least, of having those impres-
sions made upon them which are necessary for the production
of vision. This latter defect it is which constitutes amaurosis.
The sight, either much impaired or quite gone, is said to be
a/navpoQ, obscure. The same disorder is also called gutla
Serena, and by common farriers, glass eyes, from the more than
ordinary brilliancy the eyes possess, owing to the unnaturally
dilated state of the pupils.

An OBVIOUS Difference between amaurosis as it ordinarily
exists and other diseases of the eye therefore is, that in the one
case there is nothing to obstruct the transit of the rays of light
to the bottom of the eye ; in the other, from obscurities of parts,
from contraction or obliteration of the pupil, the rays are
divided or intercepted in their course; and yet in both cases the
effects, as regards vision, may be similar.

Amaurosis may proceed from some disease of the retina
itself, in which form it is said to be idiopathic ; or from some
anormal condition of the optic nerve or the brain, or, according
to Magendie, even of the ophthalmic division of the fifth pair
of nerves, in either of which cases the disorder can be regarded
but as symptomatic ; or, lastly, it may prove the last link of a
series of morbid phenomena originating in some remote part of
the body, operating sympathetically on the nervous system,
and through it extending to the eye; a case denominated
sympathetic amaurosis. Of these species or forms of the
disease the symptomatic is the one of most common occurrence
in horses.

The Nature op Amaurosis will vary with the nature and
situation of the cause from which it originates. I have, in a
former place, stated that now and then it is present in periodic

AMAUEOSIS. 129

Oplithalmia along with other changes induced by that inflam-
matory disease, and in particular with that which we have
regarded as glaucoma: constituting what we may caW (/lauco-
matous amaurosis, and known by the wide dilatation of the pupil
through which the posterior parts of the eye have a shining,
glassy, amber, or amber-greeu coloured aspect. This appears
a case in which the retina has suffered alteration of structure,
and consequently one we stand no chance of remedying, unless
we were in possession of a cure for the (periodic) ophthalmia
itself.

Symptomatic Amaurosis, which may take its rise either
within the brain or from one of the nerves proceeding from the
brain to the eye, may generally be referred to pressure ; either
a tumour or something else is pressing upon one of the nerves,
or, in consequence of congestion or inflammation or eff'usion,
the brain is suffering compression. Sir Charles Bell, although
he admits the pathological condition of congestion, dissents
from the doctrine of supposed pressure being caused by it;
arguing, that pressure has the eff'ect of diminishing the supply
of arterial blood to the sensorium, and in this manner deranges
its functions, and causes amaurosis, and so forth. In the case
of fracture of the skull, and consequent depression from a blow
or fall, it is clearly pressure that is operative in the cerebral
and nervous derangement ; and the remedy as clearly is, the
removal of that pressure. Cases of this description are by no
means uncommon. The late Professor Coleman had a horse
of his own who, from falling backwards, became hemiplegic and
amaurotic on the opposite side of his body ; for, in consequence
of the decussation of the nerves, injury or disease of one side
of the brain, as we know, produces loss of motion or sensation
of parts on the other side of the body. By bloodletting and
purging, and stimulants applied to the affected eye, the horse
recovered.

ANiEMiA, Debility, or want of blood in the body, and con-
sequently in the brain, may prove the cause of amaurosis.
M. Riss mentions the case of a three-year-old colt that was cas-
trated by an itinerant gelder, and from secondary haemorrhage
became amaurotic. At the time he was called in, finding the
blood still flowing from the wound in the scrotum, he had the

III. 9

130 AMAUEOSlS.

colt cast afresh, and after some difficulty succeeded in regaining
the cord, around which he put a ligature, and besides, to make
assurance doubly sure, plugged the scrotum Avith tow, and
sewed up the external wound. Wine and a nutritious diet
"were prescribed, and all appeared doing well, when all at once
it was discovered that the coitus sight was gone. Both eyes
had become amaurotic, and every treatment tliat could be
suggested failed in restoring them.

Another case the same writer relates, wherein amaurosis fol-
lowed the sudden suppression of lactation in a mare, who for
eight days had suckled her foal, owing to being allowed to
drink heartily of very cold water at the time she was in a pro-
fuse sweat, immediately after coming off a journey. This case
partakes of the nature of plethora or congestion.

Of Sympathetic Amaurosis, one of the commonest causes
in horses is gorged stomach, producing that fatal disease called
stomach-staggers ; and the curious circumstance is, that the
amaurosis occurs not as a symptom merely, but often as a
sequel of the disorder : it will come on one month, even two
months, after the apparent recovery of the patient, and thus
may, unless he be aware of it, deceive the practitioner into a
belief that it is an original or independent affection. Several
cases of this description stand on record. Girard, junior, in
the Recueil de Medecine Veterinaire, relates the case of a horse
who was very subject to *' vertiginous colics,^' a late attack of
which, after eight or ten days, was succeeded by blindness,
arising from complete amaurosis of both eyes ; and this con-
tinued for two years afterwards, notwithstanding the horse
remained in perfect health. M. Berger Perriere, in the same
journal, for 1828, has also recorded cases in which amaurosis
was not only a concomitant, but, in some horses that survived
the attack, a sequel of stomach-staggers. M. Riss, in the
memoirs before named, has detailed two cases, in one of which
he succeeded in restoring the sight after he had been cured of
his gastro-cephalic disorder, by blisters upon the cheeks, sctons
in the neck, and laxative drenches. In the other, which was that
of a two-year-old colt, restored out of a fit of apoplexy to
health and vigour, the amaurosis continued, in spite of all
attempts to remove it. Mr. Youatt informs us, in his Lectures

AMAUROSIS. 131

in The Veterinarian for 1835, he has a perfect recollection of
a case in "which amaurosis occurred six weeks after recovery
from staggers; and though he did not at the time discover
their connection, it was evident enough to him afterwards.

Various other causes give rise to sympathetic amaurosis.
In children, worms and dentition are influential ones. In
horses, there are instances of the uterine functions so affecting
the nervous system as to induce amaurosis.

M. Eiss has, in the 'Memoirs,' published the case of a mare,
nine years old, in an advanced stage of pregnancy, who became
perfectly amaurotic in both eyes. Blisters were applied upon
the cheeks, and for several days kept in a state of purulent dis-
charge, and collyria were used. All failing, however, to do good,
her owner was advised to suspend all further treatment until
after parturition, the period of Avhich was nigh at hand. Eleven
days afterwards she foaled, and on the ninth day after the
event, M. Hiss saw her again, and found her vision restored.
Her master told him she recovered her eyesight the day after
foaling.

Another, a similar case, M. Hiss narrates. The mare was
seven years old, and near her time of foaling. The owner said
she had always enjoyed good sight, but for the last five or six
days she had been unable to see her way. M. Riss found her
amaurotic. Recollecting the former case, however, in this one
M. Riss refused to prescribe, relying uppn the event of her
accouchement. That occurred at the end of the week, and on
the second day afterwards she recovered her vision.

Amaurosis Venenata, a legitimate species of the disorder,
both in man and horse, is that which arises from, or rather is
at pleasure producible by, the application of narcotic poison, in
particular of belladonna. Certain poisonous substances intro-
duced into the system have likewise, I believe, the same effect.
The Symptoms occasioned by amaurosis, and consequent
blindness in both eyes, are too remarkable to be mistaken.
The animal carries his head exalted, in what is called a " star-
gazing " position ; and with his nose protruded and ears erect,
if, unwillingly, made to walk, takes lofty, measured steps, evi-
dently mistrusting the ground he treads upon, and fearful to
advance lest he might encounter anything. Noise of any kind

132 AMAUROSIS.

alarms him : his ears are instantly set in motion to learn whence
it proceeds. Such manifestations as these lead to an examina-
tion of the eyes. They are seen to have a ghastly stare ; the
pupils are widely dilated, insusceptible to light, refusing even to
contract when confronted vfhh the glare of a lighted candle.

The pupils in amaurotic eyes are not always fixedly or even
widely dilated ; they may prove only to an unnatural degree
dilated, their motions rendered 5/M7//i*/i instead of being destroyed,
and their contractions from light less in degree than in a state
of health. Instances occur in man of the pupils of amaurotic
eyes retaining their contractile powers on the application of
light : I cannot say I have observed the same in horses. One
eye may be amaurotic, the other remaining unaffected, in which
case the pupil of the amaurotic eye does not become dilated to
the same degree as when both eyes are paralysed ; and more-
over, though insensible to the stimulus of light, the iris of the
amaurotic eye may often be observed to move in a degree in
concert Avith the motions of the sound pupil.

The Treatment of Amaurosis, too often an affair of hope-
lessness, must be varied in kind and application with the
nature of the case. In retinal affection dependent upon the
presence of periodic ophthalmia, we in vain apply any remedies
save what tend to the removal of the ophthalmic disease. In
amaurosis symptomatic of cerebral disease, our remedies must
be directed to the head ; though, in that form which occurs as a
sequel of cephalic derangement, benefit has been obtained from
counter-irritation set up in the vicinity of the eye ; such as
blisters upon the cheeks, setous through the nape of the neck,
and so forth. In human medicine, benefit has resulted from
making the blistered surface raw, and besprinkling it with a
minute quantity, a quarter of a grain or so, of the powder of
strychnine ; and we have Mr. Liston's authority, in his ' Ele-
ments of Surgery,^ for saying that " the practice is very far
from nugatory :" it would be worth our while to make trial of it.
Among surgeons, also, mercury stands in high repute as a
remedy for amaurosis, and, therefore, demands attention from
us ; for as yet we are, I fear, in much ignorance of what is to
be done for the diseases of horses by the exhibition of mercury.

133

WORM IN THE EYE.

The earliest veterinary account, I believe, published in this
country of the extraordinary phenomenon we are about to con-
sider, was that communicated to me, in June, 1825, by my
relation, Mr. Charles Percivall, then veterinary surgeon to the
11th Light Dragoons, stationed at Meerut, in India; though
in the year preceding this, Mr. Twining, surgeon to the com-
mander-in-chief in India, had sent a paper on the subject to
the Medical Society of Calcutta, which appeared in the Society's
Transactions, and was thence extracted and published in The
Veterinarian for 1828, together with a communication Mr.
Twining received, after the reading of his paper, from Mr. Gibb,
surgeon to the Honorable Company's stud at Poosah, who
had not seen Mr. Twining's paper. This gentleman, from his
situation at Poosah, where the climate was such as appeared
favorable to the disease, had, during a residence of sixteen
years, he thinks, on an average twenty cases annually ; more,
perhaps, than fell to the lot of any other individual in Hindos-
tan. The same volume of Tlie Veterinarian also contains an
" Essay " on the subject in question from the pen of Mr. Moly-
neux, V.S., at present practising in London, which was like-
wise presented to the Calcutta Medical Society. In The Vete-
rinarian for 1834, Mr. Skeavington, then at Devonport, and
late veterinary surgeon to the Bengal Horse Artillery, favoured
us with his observations, while in India, concerning this singu-
lar disease ; since which a single case has been published in
The Lancet for 1836, which occurred to Mr. Jeffreson, surgeon-
oculist ; and was, from that journal, transcribed into The Vete-
rinarian for 1837. This I believe will be found to comprise
all that has appeared in print, from original authority, on the
subject of worm in the horse's eye ; and to the authors of the
several accounts hereinbefore named do we stand indebted for
the knowledge we at the present time are in possession of con-
cerning the curious phenomenon ; myself being under especial
obligations to those gentlemen, from being, through them,
enabled to lay the following detail before my reader :

13-1 WORM IN THE EYE.

The Worm in the Eye is plainly visible. — The intruder
is clearly seen, in some instances even at a short distance off,
swimming about in the aqueous humour within the anterior
chamber of the eye, like — to use Mr. Jeffreson's simile — " an
eel in a basin of water, apparently in the full enjoyment of its
natural element," except at any time that it may happen to
take a swim through the pupil to visit the darker regions of
the posterior chamber; and then, for the time of its stay, it
becomes, of course, invisible : and that it does, on occasions,
take an excursion of this sort, we have the authority of Mr.
Jeffreson, who asserts he has seen it " disappear, apparently be-
hind the iris, and return again through the pupil." Mr. Gibb
has, " more than once, seen two worms in the same eye at one
time ; and has, also, seen a second worm make its appearance in
an eye from which one had been extracted some months before,"
Mr. Skeavington liberated a worm from the 7iear eye of an
officer's charger in September, 1831, and in September, 1832,
the same horse was brought to him with a worm in the off eye.

The Worm proves injurious. — His presence creates irri-
tation. The eye shows it by becoming intolerant of strong
light ; lachrymous ; the eyelids droop ; the cornea becomes par-
tially or completely obscured, sometimes assuming a nebulous
aspect, rendering the pupil indistinct, or altogether invisible ;
nor can the worm, in consequence of it, any longer be seen,
except at such times as it happens to approach the cornea.
After a longer or shorter interval, inflammation arises in the
internal and deep-seated structures of the eye, rendering the
intolerance of light greater than it was at first, and extending
to the conjunctival membrane, and there having the effect of
suspending lachrymation. In some instances the conjunctival
inflammation runs so high that red vessels may be seen tra-
versing the transparent cornea.

The Worm is a Species of Filaria, or thread-worm. It
corresponds with the Linnean definition — " Corpus teres fili-
forme, sequali,ore dilato,labio subrotundo concavo. Filaria equi,
habitat in equini corporis cavis vai'iis, telaque cellulosa." Ac-
cording to Sir Everard Home, another species, the strongylus,
has been detected in the horse's eye ; of which the Linnean
description is, " stronyylus equinus. Capita opaco, intestine

WORM IN THE EYE. 135

iiif^ro. Strongyli ovipari, hactenus uou nisi in mammalium
cauali cibario reperti, " Both the filaria and strongylus are
thread-like worms, and without the aid of the microscope could
not be recognised. Mr. Gibb has " never found the filaria
except in the stomach and intestines of the horse, and in the
eye;" and adds, he has never, as far as his recollection serves
him, " seen a case of worm in the eye before October, or later
than February or March;" the phenomenon being ''exclusively
confined to the cold months, " and more prevalent in seasons in
which the rains have been unusually heavy and enduring. The
disease called kumree, or weakness in the loins, considered to
be of a verminous nature, is likewise prevalent under the same
circumstances. Mr. Gibb has "almost invariably found, in the
stomach and intestines of the horse, worms exactly similar to
those that are found in the eye, and in very great numbers,
particularly in the cold months ; also in tumours in the
stomach, couched in thick mucus, but never in other parts of
the body ; never in the cellular membrane of any part, or in
the canal of the spine ; though he has often dissected, with
Mr. Moorcroft, horses that have had kumree, or weak loins,
with a view of ascertaining the cause of the disease. Mr. Moly-
neux has discovered worms, "similar to the filaria,^' within the
intestinal canal, "as well as on the surface of the peritoneum ;"
and adds, " it does not appear that any part of the peritoneum
is exempt from them."

A worm extracted by Mr. Skeavington, examined without
the aid of a glass, appeared of the magnitude of a middle-sized
sewing cotton, and was nearly three eighths of an inch in
length, and exhibited a black speck at either end. Another
worm, which while in the eye appeared flat and with edges
"fringed like a saw," proved afterwards to have been dead,
and ultimately became absorbed. A worm liberated by Mr. C.
Percivall " measured one fourth of an inch in length, was
about the size of common sewing thread, perfectly white, and
pointed at both ends. Viewed through a microscope, it re-
sembled a piece of catgut ; and there were three luminous
marks distinguishable upon one end of the body, supposed to
be the head; and farther backward, an irregular luminous
patch, from which two brilliant lines ran parallel, direct to

136 WORM IN THE EYE.

the opposite extremity. " Anotlier worm extracted by Mr.
Percivall was both "larger and longer" than the former.

To ACCOUNT FOR THE PRESENCE OF THE WoRM TN THE EyE,

Sir Everard Home informs us that tlie Filaria Equi are found
in tlie circulating blood of the horse ; and that he is disposed
to believe that they get into the aqueous humour through the
arteries of the ciliary processes, which in the horse are of com-
))arativcly large caliber; an opinion favoured by the notorious
fact of worms being often discovered within the coeliac artery
of the ass; though these appear to be of a different description
from — certainly of greater magnitude than — any that have
been found in the eye. Mr. Gibb is of tlic same opinion as
Sir Everard : "I have always been disposed," says he^ "to think
that the worm in the eye must find its way through the circu-
lating system, and not from without. ^^ It is now well enough
known, that worms have been discovered in various parts of
the bodies of animals, besides within the stomach and intes-
tines. Naturalists have described several species — the ascaris,
taenia, filaria, strongylus, ligula, &c., as inhabitants of the
bodies of the horse, the ox, the sheep, the hog, the deer, &c.,
and " several circumstances concur," says Mr. Twining, "to
render it probable that the ova of the filaria cqui are received
into the stomach with the food; and these ova being taken up
by the absorbent vessels^ pass by means of the circulation to
different parts of the body favorable to the development of the
worm; and that having taken place, their further progress may
be impeded by their increased size. "

But how does the Worm enter the Body ? Is it bred
therein ? is the ovum or the animalcule itself taken in with the
food, or with the water, or, like the ovum of the bot, is it
licked in by the tongue ? We learn from Mr. Skeavington,
that the disease is exclusively "peculiar to India : ^' from in-
quiries he made of several Arab merchants, he was informed it
was not known either in Arabia or Persia. Mr, Gibb says^ to
him the presence of the worm appears to be owing "to climate
and situation more than to any other circumstance, and to
have connexion with particular seasons of the year;" and that
he had no cause for believing "that any particular description
of food or water is productive of the disease. ^' But, a§

WORM IN THE EYE. 137

Mr, Skeavington has properly remarked, it is by no means evi-
dent " how the humid atmosphere, the low situation, the fog, the
wet, or the cold, can produce worm in the eye ;" especially as
horses in India are always kept in the stable; Mr. Skeaving-
ton's own opinion being, that " the worm is taken up at the
timeof drinking, in so minute a form that it is capable of being
absorbed; the water in India being supplied through immense
ponds or tanks, filled by deluges of rain " during the wet
seasons ; hardly any of them having springs. Mr. Skeaving-
ton, in the course of his anatomical studies, has found worms
''in almost all the passages;" he recollects finding "an im-
mense quantity within the trachea of an ass, and within the
bronchial tubes ;" and in the same subject, encysted in small
tumours, the size of peas, within the colon, ccecum, and rectum,
worms resembling ascarides; some of them minute enough to
bear a comparison to ''dust shot.^'

The Remedy for Worm in the Eye consists in an opera-
tion by which liberty is given, and death as the consequence,
to the disturber of the health of the visual organ. Supposing
no operation is performed, the usual result according to Mr.
Gibb is " opacity of the transparent cornea, and subsequent
loss of sight of the eye." In some instances in which opacity
did not take place, the worm was observed to be weakly,
" sluggish and feeble in its movements,^^ and soon died, and
became absorbed: hence the reason of the eye "remaining
clear.'' In such cases Mr. Gibb " made it a practice not to
operate."

The Operation is a very simple one. It consists in merely
puncturing the cornea with a common lancet, and giving exit
to the aqueous humour, the worm being expected to float out
along with it. Mr. Gibb's mode of operating is this : — He
never finds it requisite to cast the horse, nor to use any means
to fix the eye : but, with his left hand, raises the upper eyelid,
while an assistant depresses the lower one ; and then, watching
his opportunity, punctures the cornea behind, and about a line's
breadth, or a little more, from its junction with the sclerotic
coat. At the time the puncture is making, he presses the eye-
ball with his left hand, and thereby causes the aqueous humour
to spirt out with greater force, thus affording more certainty of
the escape of the worm,

138 WORM IN THE EYE.

It being an affair of some consequence^ that the opacity
consequent on the cicatrix left by the puncture should not be
in a situation to interfere with useful vision, Mr. Molyneux
thinks the operation ought to be varied, in respect to the place
chosen for puncture, according to the kind of horse, or to the
purpose for which the subject is likely to be used. Draught
horses, not requiring vision backward, might have the incision
made through the supero-posterior part of the cornea ; saddle
horses, on the other hand, through the superior part. And
the instrument Mr. M. has generally used is " a trocar of the
smallest size, having a little tow rolled lightly around the per-
forator, leaving about a twelfth or fourteenth of an inch of its
point naked." Mr. M. finds the cicatrix less after a puncture
of this description than after lancing. Mr. M. casts the horse
for the operation.

Mr. Skeavington, like Mr. Gibb, operates on the horse
standing. He punctures the central part of the cornea ; alleging
that, by so doing, he not only avoids all risk of wounding the
iris, but ultimately leaves the eye without blemish : there being,
according to his observation, always more or less opacity caused
by the lateral operation.

After the Operation it is sometimes requisite to abstract
blood, either topically or constitutionally ; always to purge : and
the best application to the eye appears to be a compress soaked
in cold water. Should any deposits or opacities remain after
the subsidence of the inflammation and union of the cornea,
stimulating collyria, &c., may prove useful.

Sequelae. — Mr. Gibb informs us he has been very successful
in his operations ; and so perfect have they in many instances
proved, that no one could discover where the incision had been
made. In other cases, however, " a considerable speck " has
remained, and in some few, opacity has become permanently
established, notwithstanding every nicety and care have been
used in operating. In one of Mr. C. Percivall's cases an
opacity followed the incision — made with a small lancet through
the postero-inferior part of the cornea — of the dimensions of a
sixpence, which in spite of " a variety of applications " remained
undiminished for several weeks afterwards. The horse was in
consequence sent to his regimental duties ; and while there,

FUNGUS HJ5MAT0DES. 139

the opacity gradually and slowly lessened to a degree that,
nine months afterwards, it had decreased half its original
dimensions.

It has happened that the worm has not made its escape with
the aqueous humour ; and in consequence, a second operation
has become necessary, after giving time for the reunion of parts
and the fresh secretion of the humour. As Mr. Molyneux has
pertinently observed, however, the worm might after the first
evacuation — and would, I should imagine, be very likely to —
" die within the eye," and which he tells us '' often happens ;"
and then it will, "like any other foreign matter, become
absorbed." Still, Mr. Gibb informs us that, repeatedly, the
worm has survived, and for its extraction has required "a.
second operation.'^

FUNGUS H^MATODES.

The formidable disease to which the appellation of fungus
hcematodes or bleeding fungus, was first given by that celebrated
suro-eon, Mr. Hay^ of Leeds, is also described by others under
the appellations of spongoid inflammation, medullary sarcoma,
and soft cancer.

Though hardly any part of the body can be said to be insus-
ceptible of it, the parts in which it has been most observed are
the brain and the testicle, and, above all, the eye. It has
likewise been seen in the mammae and in the extremities, and
in the walls of the heart.* Many cases stand recorded of
persons suffering and dying from dreadful inflictions of this
nature ; but, fortunately for us, and still more for our patients,
the brute creation affords but few and rare instances of it.
This has enabled surgeons to frame an account of the disease
comprehending the features of the generality of cases, as they
commonly present themselves, and such a one as may, as an
outline, prove useful to us ; and, therefore, I shall transcribe
it, selecting, as the best I can find in relation to the eye, that
given in the excellent work of Dr. Mackenzie.*

Symptoms. — " The disease arising within the eyeball pre-

* Dr. Mackenzie's ' Treatise on the Diseases of the (Human) Eye.'

140 FUNGUS H.EMATODES.

seats tHree stages — In the first stage the exterior form of the
ej'e is unchanged. The disease is perceived through the cornea
aud pupil ; the latter being dilated and immovable, and behind
it, the vitreous humour having a shining yellow appearance.
By aud by, this bright reflection attracts more attention, and
is evidently arising from the presence of a solid body at the
bottom of the eye, which slowly advances towards the pupil.
As it advances the tumour presses the vitreous humour and
crystalline lens before it ; the former is absorbed ; the latter
presses, in its turn, the iris convexly forward. By and by, the
lens becomes opaque, and is generally absorbed. Still advancing
the iris is pressed against the cornea.

Second Stage. — The cornea rapidly expands to, perhaps,
double its natural diameter. The eye grows knotted at one or
more places. The white tumoui', covered by thin conjunctiva
only, now feels soft, and might be mistaken for a collection of
pus, and so opened. If the lens had not previously been
absorbed, it is now discharged.

Third Stage. — The tumour, protruding through the rup-
tured cornea and sclerotica, forms with great rapidit}', so that
it is no longer capable of being covered by the eyelids. It
assumes the appearance of a dark-red fungus, irregular on its
surface, soft, readily torn, and bleeding profusely on the slightest
irritation. Clots of extravasated blood form in the interior of
the medullary mass. Extravasations, indeed, of this kind are
apt to supplant almost the whole of the medullary matter; so
that the name, fungus hcpmatodes, becomes more appropriate.
Portions of the tumour die, blacken, and slough off from time
to time, but the general bulk of the fungus is not at all re-
duced ; on the contrary, it increases so as to distend the eye-
lids to an enormous degree, and even to dilate or destroy the
orbit; while the portion which projects from that cavity,
and overhangs the cheek, sometimes exceeds the size of a
man's fist.

'' The lymphatic glands of the cheek and neck become en-
larged, sometimes to a very great extent. In some instances
the opposite eye is protruded from its socket.

" The patient becomes affected with great constitutional
irritation,

FUNGUS HiEMAtODES. 141

" The Duration of the Disease is very variable.

''The Appearances on Dissection are very far from being
uniform ; they may all, however, be referred to the effects of a
medullary growth from the optic nerve." »

This general description of the characters and progress of
the disease, as it invades the eye of man, will be found in most
respects applicable to the same disease in the horse^s eye. The
following case, contained iu The Veterinarian for 1835, pro-
nounced by a surgeon, whose opinion was sought concerning
it, "to bear all the specific characters of the disease in the
human subject/' will, I think, fully warrant me in making this
assertion, at the same time that it affords a striking instance of
the great assistance we may on occasions receive from our sister
science — medicine :

Mr. Godwin, V.S., Birmingham, " was requested by J.
Walker, a farrier in Lichfield, to see a case for him which he
had been attending, viz., ' a mare (to use his own words),
out of whose near eye some proud flesh had grown, until
it had turned the eye inside out.' He had, at different
times, * cut and causticked some pounds away ; but it grew as
large as ever again in a very short time, and bled a good deal
whenever it was touched.'

"I went with him, and found a fungoid tumour growing
from the near orbit ; soft, but resuming its shape after the
removal of pressure, and bleeding considerably after examina-
tion. Upon inquiry, I learned that the tumour had existed
five or six months; but she had been blind of the eye affected
several months previously to the appearance of the tumour. The
ball of the eye, in the first instance, was noticed to have
become considerably enlarged, and this increased until the
cornea burst, when a small vascular tumour protruded, forcing
before it the contents of the sclerotica, and distending this
tunic to such an extent as to cause the farrier's assertion of
the ' eye having been turned inside out ;' a description of the
case not so inappropriate as, in the first instance, it appeared
to be. From this period it grew in size rapidly : portions of
it had been removed several times by different means ; and her
health had continued pretty good until within the last few weeks,
when the bleeding had become more considerable, and she

143 FUNGUS UiEMATODES.

exliihited, by coma and other symptoms, indications of the
brain having become affected. Judging from the appearance
of the tumour, with its disposition to bleed so profusely, and
the fact of its having been formed in the interior of the eye, I
concluded it was not of an ordinary description ; and, suspecting
it to be a case of fungus haematodes, I requested Mr. Allport,
surgeon, residing in Lichfield, to see it with me, who pronounced
it to bear all the specific characters of that disease in the. human
subject.

" I had previously determined upon extirpating it with the
whole of the contents of the orbit, and which was now eff'ected.
I found it necessary, in consequence of the superiority in size
of the tumour to that of the orbit, to dissect a portion of it
away level with the orbital margin, before I could make it
practicable to remove that which was contained within the
orbit. With some difficulty, owing to an immense hemorrhage,
the whole was extirpated, weighing about two pounds. The
sclerotica within the orbit was filled with firm medullary mat-
ter, of a yellowish colour ; the optic nerve had its usual
appearance, but there was no trace of any of the other compo-
nent parts of the eye. The portion that was first dissected
away had a somewhat similar though darker appearance towards
its centre, and became very vascular towards its exterior.
The orbit was filled with tow after the operation, and a
bandage applied to retain it. The mare had physic, and was
sent home,

" I saw her two days afterwards, when she was swollen pretty
much about the parotid gland and top of the head. These parts
were fomented, and physic was given, which operated well. I
did not see her again, but understood from the farrier who
attended her, that the swelling increased until about the seventh
day after the operation, when the comatose symptoms became
more apparent, and she died in three weeks from that time.
The tumour was larger than it had ever been, which appeared
more extraordinary, as I considered that I had removed the
whole of the tunic from which it had originated. He opened
the head, and found the brain very soft, and containing much
serous fluid.*'

M. Crepin, Paris, has related a case in the Journal Veteri-

t^tJNCxUS H.EMATOi)ES. 113

naii'e for 1835, in which a disease; having the character of fungus
hsematodes, commenced in the membrana nictitans, and ex-
tended afterwards to one parotid gland, and to parts about the
under jaw.

The mare was eighteen years old, and had had for many years
an ulcerated tumour on the membrana nictitans of the right eye,
but which did not prevent her working. Almost imperceptibly,
in the course of years, it had grown to the size of a pigeon^s
egg, and nearly covered the eye. Sanious pus ran from its
prominent point, and mixing with the tears streamed down the
cheek. By great persuasion, M. Crepin prevailed upon her
owner to let him operate upon her.

On the 11th February, 1831, M. C. cast the mare, passed a
thread through the tumour, drew it out of the eye, and cut it
off with a pair of curved scissors, leaving remaining nought but
the cartilage from which it had grown. The mare returned to
work on the fourth day afterwards, the only inconvenience re-
maining being relaxation of the lower eyelid, which, in time,
was removed by cold bathing.

From the earliest development of the tumour there had
been apparent a glandular substance underneath the jaw,
which had slowly increased, and at the period of the operation
had reached the magnitude of a nut, and was exceedingly
hard.

The eye continued well until the following August, when
there appeared at its angle a new vegetation like a small pea,
which grew, and in time again covered the eye entirely, and
considerably distended the lids, and could be felt below, ex-
tending towards the bottom of the orbit.

On the 20th February, 1832, M. Crepin extirpated this fresh
growth. He experienced more difficulty than before, on account
of numerous adhesions between the tumour and surrounding
parts. He succeeded, however, in isolating and excising it
without doing any mischief. The animal did not seem to suffer
much, the operation being all over in little more than two
minutes. The immediate consequences were of no moment ;
there remained a little purulent discharge from the angle of
the eye. On the eighth day the mare returned to her work.

But the tumour underneath the jaw had increased consider-

l44 FUNGUS HiEMATODEg.

ably ; it now filled the submaxillary space, and even projected
beyond the branches of the jaw. It was still hard, and the
skin upon it tense and adherent. Being neither painful nor,
as yet, troublesome, it was let alone. In the eye, however, a
montli after the last operation, a new vegetation occupied the
same spot as the old one, and was of the same nature. It
grew as the other had done, and in five months again was the
eye completely covered. Then again, by now the submaxillary
tumour had become enormous, and was comparable in hard-
ness to a stone. It interfered with the motions of the tongue
and with deglutition.

A double operation was now become necessary : JNI. Crepin
solicited the aid of M. Pagnier, A^S., Gardes du Corps, and
MM. Philippe and Leon, V.S. Second Dragoons, who obligingly
attended on the 11th of September.

After having made a longitudinal incision through the skin,
underneath the jaw from the throat almost to the submaxillary
symphysis, M. Crepin dissected carefully past the flaps, and
made an effort to isolate the tumour, by detaching it from its
adhesions, partly with his fingers and partly with the bistoury.
He succeeded in raising it in one mass, which weighed 1 lb.
13 oz. He apprehended opening the parotid duct. He was
also close upon the internal maxillary artery. He tied both
vessels. After all, he found hin:iself compelled to open the
duct.

There remained two gangliform tumours, the larger of which,
the size of a pigeon's egg, lay against the bifurcation of the
jugular, and sufficiently deep to make M. Crepin fear lest he
should wound the carotid artery in removing it : the other rested
on the side of the larynx. Emboldened by the advice of M.
Leon, he used his bistoury, and at length extirpated these
tumours and some smaller ones in the vicinity, without dangerous
hsemorrhage.

The tumour of the eye, now become as large as a hen's egg,
proved diSicnlt to remove. It adhered to the caruncle, lower
lid, and sclerotic coat, and had buried itself under the eye. Of
the triple operation, this, M. Crepin found the most difficult.
At length, however, he succeeded without even injuring the
caruncle.

FUNGUS H^MATODES. 145

His first dressings were tow and cold water, succeeded by
two or three sutures, and confined by a long figure of S ban-
dage, as recommended by Lafosse for cataract.

In the course of the healing process, which went on well in
the neck and eye, the parotid duct got opened, and for a time
baffled all M, Crepin's efforts to close it again. Cauterization
at last proved effectual.

The mare went to work before the wounds were healed,
everything appearing to be doing quite well, when, scarcely
were the wounds closed before new morbid productions began
to form under the cicatrices ; and, in May 1833, the evil had
become as great as ever. Ever since the last operation there
had remained on the cornea, near the nasal organ, a fleshy
growth of the magnitude of a lentil. This rapidly and exten-
sivcly spread, and covered a great part of the eye, and in the
end projected beyond the lids, preventing them from closing.
Its extreme parts were continually emitting blood, and great
pain was occasioned by the continued injuries to which it was
exposed. For this reason, and others of a humane kind, the
mare was delivered over to the farmer, who promised to treat
her kindly, and not work her hard. Shortly afterwards she
quite suddenly turned out a roarer, to a degree to threaten
suffocation on the slightest exertion. Her sufferings were at
length terminated by a single blow ; it being considered the
greatest happiness to her, in her present state, to die without
the knowledge of it.

Post-mortem appearances. — The superior portion of the
trachea was found farcied, with masses of different volumes
communicating with each other by a dense fibrous tissue.
These tumours were formed of an exterior envelope of white,
fibrous, cellular tissue, enclosing a scirrhous structure tending
to an encephaloid nature ; some portions being hard and white,
the remainder of a yellow colour, and of a less firm consistence.
A mass of tumours abutting against the upper part of the
trachea had caused it to bend to the left side, and had pene-
trated between the ligaments of the tube as low down as the
fifteenth ring. The whole of the tumours weighed at least
five pounds. The parotid gland had diminished a fourth of its
natural volume, and its glandular structure was changed into

III. 10

146 OSSIFICATION OP PARTS OF THE EYE.

an indurated cellular tissue, beautifully white. No traces of
the parotid duct could be discovered, except at its place of origin,
and there existed a cavity large enough to hold a pigeon's egg,
containing a turbid fluid, like decomposed saliva.

The submaxillary lymphatic glands had disappeared, had
seemingly become transformed into scirrhous tumours.

The right lachrymal caruncle was the size of a pigeon's egg,
scirrhous, and encephaloid like the otlier tumours. At the
larger angle of the eye (the outer) there was a similar growth, of
the volume of a nut, having its base, which was its largest part,
supported partly by the cornea, partly by the sclerotica. These
two membranes of the eye, however, did not in themselves appear
diseased. A mucous membrane covered the tumour: its roots
also consisted of sub-mucous tissue. The interior of the eye
proved sound. The eyelids had increased in substance.

Such is the history of fungus hsematodes in one of its most
dreaded and uncontrollable forms. In M. Crepin's trying case,
the direful foe had not long been uprooted from one place before
he was seen rising up in another; or else with revived energy
and more terrifying aspect appearing anew in the very spot
from which he had been last dislodged, never, as was but too
fondly hoped, to show his face again. Anomalous and incom-
prehensible disease like this baffles all and every remedy art
can devise to oppose it with. We may succeed in keeping the
destroyer for a time in abeyance ; but in the end he will, in
spite of us, consume the heart's-blood of his victim.

OSSIFICATION OP PARTS OP THE EYE.

It is an opinion entertained by the best surgeons, that
osseous deposit is not only at all times the result of inflam-
mation in some form, kind, or degree, but that inflammation,
long continued or frequently relapsing in almost any part, is
very apt to leave some unnatural formation of osseous sub-
stance. The eye is certainly no exception to this general law :
the cornea, the choroid coat, the retina, the anterior and pos-
terior chambers, the crystalline lens and its capsule, have all,

MELANOSIS. 147

at one time or another, been the seat of ossification ; and in
almost all these cases we shall find that the forerunner of the
ossific change has been periodic ophthalmia. In horses who
have experienced attacks of this disease, inordinate in violence
or duration, or in number, and who have many years survived
the termination of them in total blindness, and consequent
atrophy of the blind eye or eyes, we may search for, and expect
to find, specimens, of some kind or another, of ossification.

Mr. Swarrick, V.S., Skipton, Yorkshire, in examining the
eyes of a blind mare who had died from rupture of the posterior
aorta, found the crystalline lens of the near eye of a cartilagi-
nous texture and not adherent to its capsule. And of the off
eye, though the anterior chamber was full of aqueous humour,
the posterior chamber was ''filled with an osseous deposit, giving
a pitted appearance to the part.^'

Mr. Cartwright accidentally met with a case of ossification in
the eye of a donkey. '' The sclerotic coat appeared healthy,
except that a circle of bone existed near the optic nerve. There
did not appear to be disorganization of any other part of the eye.^'

Mr. Charles Percivall, as I mentioned in a former place
(at p. 87), has in his museum a preparation showing ossification
of the retina.

Besides these and other cases of the kind on record, there
will, in almost all veterinary museums, be found specimens of
various descriptions of ossification of parts of the eye.

MELANOSIS,

Professor Rodet discovered a remarkable kind of melanosis
in one of the eyes of a horse. The space usually occupied by the
vitreous humour was filled with a fluid as black as Indian ink,
in which floated equally black clots. The crystalline lens was
of a deep yellow colour, and in some parts even brown.*

* For a good account of melanosis, consult Andral's ' Treatise on Patho-
l Anatomy,' translated by Drs. Townsend and West.

148

LACERATION OF THE EYELID.

This is bj^ no means an uncommon accident. By a bite from
a liorse standing in the next stall, or from hitching the lid upon
some nail left projecting in the head-boarding or side-lining of
the stall, every now and then a horse gets the external or ciliary
border of the upper eyelid, the part from which the eye-lashes
are growing, torn from the broad expanse of the lid, and left
hanging by a slender portion of skin from the outer angle of
it : the laceration commonly commencing from the inner, supe-
rior, and most projecting part of the lid, though sometimes the
reverse is the case. In this lesion, the ligamento-cartilaginous
substance, called the tarsal cariilage, to which the eyelid owes
its form and consistence, is torn through : the thickest and firm-
est parts of it being incorporated in the ciliary border ; the
remainder being retracted by the levator 'palpehrce muscle, with
which its fibres are inseparably intermingled. In general, for
so small a wound, there is a good deal of hsemorrhage ; and it
is an accident that commonly, to an unprofessional man, assumes
an appearance of an awful nature. Fortunately, however, for
the veterinarian, it is one by which, with a little dexterity and
attention, he may often acquire considerable credit for his
surgery.

The Treatment consists in the accurate approximation of
the lacerated parts, as nearly as possible in their natural juxta-
position, by suture. First, cleanse the eye from blood ; and
then, the horse being twitched, and having his head secured
and steadied by assistants, with a small, sharp, crooked needle,
armed with a double ligature of strong sewing silk, neatly and
securely stitch the severed portion to the body of the eyelid.
The interrupted suture is the one, perhaps, best suited to the
case. As soon as complete cohesion appears to have taken
place between the wounded parts, certainly not before, or when
purulent matter is seen oozing around the edges of the stitches,
the sutures may be divided and withdrawn : this will not be in'
less than a week ; it may take a longer time.

A very important part of the treatment — that without

ENLARGEMENT OP THE LACHEYMAL CARUNCLE. 149

which all the pains we may have taken in the application of
the sutures may turn out to be completely frustrated — is the
precautions to be taken to prevent the patient from disturbing,
fretting, or dissevering the wounded parts again, by rubbing
his eye against some part of the stall, rack, or manger : an act
he is almost certain to commit, urged to it by the irritation
and annoyance the sutures are likely to occasion him. The
surest plan of procedure is to confine his head with a double
rope, running through or attached to rings affixed to the posts
of the stall-boards, on either side, so far back that he cannot
reach either rack or manger with his head, or make any
attempt to lie down. In this pillared position, fed out of a
hay-basket or box placed, at feeding-times only, before him, he
is to be kept until the eyelid is quite adhered and cicatrized.
Even after this, on being liberated, I have had horses that
have, vexatiously, rubbed and excoriated or severed afresh the
healed-up parts. One patient served me this trick three times,
and in the end forced me to deprive him of a portion of his
upper eyelid : thereby rendering his eye continually tantalised
by light, producing frequent nictitation, and occasional lachry-
mation, and in time likely to bring on internal disease.

ENLARGEMENT OF LACHRYMAL CARUNCLE.

Major B , of the Guards, brought his charger to me

for " a swelling at the inner side of the eye." I found it to
be, what I had never seen before, an enlargement of the
lachrymal caruncle. It was about the magnitude of a large
pea. My advice to the Major was, that he had better let it
alone : it neither interfered with vision, nor with the course of
the tears ; and any attempt to remove it might do harm, by
proving an excitant of inflammation in the eye, or might be
followed by *' a watery eye." The horse, in accordance with
this advice, was taken away ; but at the end of five or six
months, returned to me with the caruncle as large as a marble,
and certainly, from its redness as well, appearing now to amount
to a very objectionable appendage : still, nowise molesting
vision or the entrance of the tears into the puncta. However,

150 ENLARGEMENT OP THE LACHRYMAL CARUNCLE.

the Major had made up his mind that the preternatural growth
should be got rid of; and, therefore, the question now arose,
what measures were to be taken for the purpose. I showed
the case to my excellent friend, Mr. Youatt, who agreed with
me that, of the various modes of operation which appeared
appropriate, caustic, excision, ligature, the latter seemed the
simplest, and on that account the preferable proceeding, and
accordingly, ligature was adopted. I deemed it my duty, how-
ever, before operating, once more to warn the Major of the
risk we ran of inflammation in the eye, and that for what the
consequences of that might be I could not hold myself respon-
sible; at the same time I candidly confessed to him I had no
strong reasons to be very apprehensive about the event.

The horse, after due preparation by regimen and physic, was
operated on in August, 1836. The tumour, having a narrow
neck, growing from a slender pedicle, was easily encircled with
a doubled strong silk ligature, which was drawn moderately
tight. The second day afterwards, the tumour had acquired a
livid hue; the ligature was tightened. The fourth day, the
tumour appeared darker coloured and shrunk ; the ligature was
again tightened. The sixth day, tightening of the ligature
dissevered the tumour, and it fell off. I ordered another dose
of physic, and fomentations and simple astringent collyria, and
everything until the twelfth day seemed going on well; but on
this day there appeared some considerable injection of the con-
junctiva, accompanied by a dim lustreless aspect of the cornea.
Next day, this dimness had increased : and the day after, the
entire cornea had become white and perfectly obscure from in-
terstitial deposit. Bloodletting, both general and local, w^as
practised ; strong cathartic medicine was given ; and fomenta-
tions were used, in accordance with the exigencies of the case;
but all availed nothing ; the eye remained completely obscured,
and my worst predictions of the liability of the eye to an
attack of inflammation from such an operation seemed to be
fulfilled. I had no resource left but mercury. I ordered a
drachm of calomel to be given in a ball every morning. About
the ninth day the gums had become tumid and reddened, and
the breath affected with mercurial fetor. The medicine was
discontinued. The day following the liorsc ouddod his hay •

FISTULA OF THE EYE-PIT. 151

after masticating it, he put it out of his mouth again, amassed
into pellets. A few days after this effect of the mercury, the
cornea began to lose its white aspect, and in places to show
signs of becoming bright again. In short, from this time
amendment commenced, and progressively spread until every
part had regained its wonted pellucidity and healthfulness ; the
horse, now old, continuing up to this day, I believe, in the
enjoyment of his full vision.

FISTULA OF THE EYE-PIT.

Of this singular affection I never saw a case myself: but
there stands one on record, and one of a truly formidable
description, that occurred to M. Merle, of Pezenas, who has
related it in the Journal des Veterinaires du Midi, from which
it was translated into The Vcteriiiarian for 1839.

'' On the 21st of May, 1830," says M. Merle, " I was desired
to examine a bay horse, six years old, that during the last
fifteen days had fed with considerable difficulty. It had a large
tumour, which occupied the space between the eye and the
forehead on the left side. I determined to lance it at the spot
corresponding with the pit of the eye, and a great quantity of
the spikes of brome-grass {Bromus hordereceus) immediately
protruded. I cleared them away, and threw in some detersive
injections ; but, on account of the direction of the fistula,
neither the injected fluid nor the suppurative matter could
escape, and it was necessary to absorb them by means of a piece
of sponge. I, however, assured myself of the depth of the
fistula by means of a gum-elastic sound, which, being intro-
duced above, was gradually pushed into the cavity of the mouth.
I then passed a straight sound, which I brought out at the
right commissure of the Hps. I attached to one end of this
probe a long piece of tow, terminating in a point, and moistened
with tincture of aloes. With some management I introduced
it into the whole of the fistulous passage.

" On the following day we removed this pledget, in order to
introduce another, charged with an active digestive ; but in the

153 FISTULA OF THE EYE-PIT.

act of mastication it got between the molars, and was broken,
and it was necessary to renew it every two or three days. If
we neglected this, the pit of the eye would again become filled
with that by which it was before distended ; the animal would
be sadly inconvenienced by it, and refuse to eat. During a
month, the fistula was dressed in this manner, namely, by the
occasional introduction of fresh pledgets of tow. Finding the
inconvenience that resulted from the passage of the seton into
the mouth, I attempted to give it a new direction. I passed the
elastic sound into the pit above the eye, and, pressing lightly
with my right hand, while I held my left under the angle of
the lower jaw, I began to feel the end of tlie sound at the
superior part of the channel. I then determined to pass my
probe in this direction ; but, as I had not the instruments neces-
sary for the operation, I postponed it until the following day.

" The morrow having arrived, I took a long seton-ueedle,
but not so large as the sound of which I have spoken. I
covered the cutting edge of the needle with several layers of
wax, until I had made it for the time a simple sound, that would
not cut for itself any false route. The horse being ready, I
sounded liim again, in order to be assured of the direction which
I ought to take ; and as soon as I had withdrawn the sound, I
passed the needle in precisely the same course. When I began
to feel it in the channel between the jaws, I pressed it with some
force, and it penetrated through the skin, leaving the wax in
the wound. I prolonged the opening longitudinally, and fixed
anew my seton in this artificial fistula, having first dressed it with
weak spirit, and afterwards with digestive ointment. The animal
lost some blood in the operation, but he did not suffer much
during it, nor was lie seriously inconvenienced afterwards.

" I thought that the seton passing this way would not be
torn by the teeth ; but I was deceived. It suffered the same
fate as that which terminated in the mouth.

" I then took an annealed metallic wire ; I surrounded it
with tow, and passed it through the same fistulous opening. In
this way my object was at length accomplished, and the fistulous
canal was closed. I every day threw detersive injections into
the wound, and replaced fresh tow around the wire. The horse
now began to eat without difficulty, and acquired condition.

FISTULA OF THE EYE-PIT. 153

" The bad smell which was exhaled from this ulcer made me
think that there was caries of the sphenoid bone. I cauterized
it, and, iu order to reach the bone without injuring the sur-
rounding parts, I passed my cautery, at a white heat, through
a metallic tube. By these means the fistula became con-
siderably enlarged, and the lotions and injections were more
easily applied.

'^ About a year after this metallic wire had been adopted, I
chanced to see the animal again. When it drank, a portion
of the water escaped through the fistulous opening : a portion
of the food likewise followed the same route, and frequently
obstructed the passage. Then, when no water could ascend or
pus descend, the horse lost his spirits, and would not eat ; but
when a sound was passed, and water with a small portion of
spirit added to it, was injected, the animal's spirits and appetite
immediately returned.

" Thus he continued for another twelvemonth. He was
constantly used, and did his full share of work. Some of the
water, as he was drinking, escaped through the pit above the
eye. Beyond this he did not appear to be incommoded by the
fistida. I attached a large piece of copper to his head-harness,
in order to prevent any foreign bodies from entering or falling
into this chasm. I saw him often, I rode him when I wanted
him, and in 1833 he was given to the hospital of Pezenas, where
he was employed in turning a rude kind of mechanism, for the
purpose of drawing water for that establishment. He is there
at the present moment (1838). The hollow of the pit is now
enormously increased. It is become infundibuliform, and it
will hold more than half a pint of fluid. The skin is con-
siderably distended there, and clings to the bone, in proportion
as the adipose body, which should naturally occupy this cavity,
is wasted away. There is no other wound than the canal which
penetrates into the mouth. Notwithstanding all this disease
in its immediate neighbourhood, the eye is not in the slightest
degree injured.^^

154

DISEASE OF THE LACHRYMAL PASSAGES.

This malady, familiarly known as " a watery eye," only now
and then occurs in horses. I may have met with some half a
dozen cases of it in my time ; some or all of which might have
heen, in days gone by, called fistula lachrymalis : an appellation
which surgeons, better informed, of the present day, properly
confine to a form or stage of the disease, that I cannot say I
have ever had occasion to treat in my own practice. The lachry-
mal apparatus in animals is little subject to be out of repair.
Its comparative simplicity, the larger size of the passages and
apertures, and the little irregularity which happens in the
lachrymal secretion may serve to account for this.

In horses there seem to be three causes from which the tears,
instead of pursuing their natural course, may overflow the under
eyelid and trickle down the face. One is, an increase or super-
abundance of secretion ; and this may arise either from some
external cause of irritation, or, what is commonly the case,
from the presence of conjunctival inflammation : hence the
escape of tears upon the face becomes one of the symptoms of
ophthalmia. A second cause is, tumefaction of the eyelids,
occasioning diminution of the jjuncta lachrymalia, as well as,
perhaps, interfering somewhat with the regular course of the
tears into them. A third, and the grand cause, — it being the
one we are to regard as constituting the disease of which watery
eye is the sole or especial symptom, — is obstruction in the
lachrymal passages. The nature of this obstruction, so far as
our operations to relieve it have enabled us to judge of it,
appears to be similar to what constitutes a stricture in the
urethra in man, viz., a thickening of the lining membrane, in
some part of the passages, in consequence, as it would seem, of
some prior or existing inflammation. That this membrane,
which is of the mucous class, appearing indeed to be a con-
tinuation of the conjunctiva, is not infrequently inflamed, in its
course through the puncta at least, we may adduce as evidence
the globule of mucus so commonly seen lodging upon t\\e,puncta
in catarrhal and other inflammations about the head ; and if

DISEASE OF THE LACHEIMAL PASSAGES. 155

so often inflamed within the puncta, no doubt, on occasions, it
becomes so through its whole course. The common seat of
obstruction, so far as our very limited observations warrant an
opinion, appears to be the superior part of the ductus adnasum;
or it may, according to D'Arboval, be the lachrymal sac*
" In the first part of its course " — I quote from my Anatomy
of the Horse — "the duct diminishes a little in its caliber; from
about the middle, however, it begins to enlarge again, and
soon after acquires its former diameter. " This will account
for the usual seat of obstruction. What the nature of the
obstruction is, whether it consist in some tumefaction, partial
or general, of the lining membrane, or arise from the effusion
of lymph into the passages, or whether it be the effect, simply,
of concretion and lodgment of secretion, natural or altered in
condition, it may not be in our power precisely to determine,
although a pretty conclusive inference may generally be drawn
from due consideration of the circumstances of the case; let it,
however, consist in which it may of these three pathological
conditions, it will not materially alter our views of treatment ;
which, as far as my own practice has gone, will probably be
best elucidated by the following detail :

An aged, cream-coloured Hanoverian horse, that had in his
younger and better days been honorably employed in drawing
the king's state carriage, was brought to me for being troubled
with " watery eyes, " producing ophthalmic irritation, and
tumidity and soreness of the conjunctival membrane, with
nebulous opacity of the cornea, and intolerance of light to such
a degree that the eyes, especially one, were all but closed.
Another ill-consequence of this overflow of the tears out of their
natural channel was destruction of the hair and excoriation and
soreness of the cheek below the eye. This horse had — the
same as all his peculiar breed have — eyes of the Albino de-
scription ; whether such eyes manifest any particular suscepti-
bility to disorder of this kind, I cannot say.

August 4^A, 1841. — Having provided myself with three wax

* Englisli veterinarians have denied the existence of this sac ; the best
argument I can offer of its presence is dissection — the same that has con-
vinced myself. For a description of it, as it exists in horses, consult my
' Anatomy of the Horse,' page 374.

156 DISEASE OF THE LACHRYMAL PASSAGES.

bougies of the smallest size made use of by surgeons, I had the
horse cast, aud his head extended and placed in a convenient
posture for operation upon the eye. An assistant firmly main-
tained the eyelids apart, while I, choosing the inferior puncture
— it being the larger and having the more direct passage — for
operation, readily introduced into it a bougie, but had pushed
it no farther than into the lachrymal sac before it bent and
became useless. Withdrawing this, I passed a second bougie
which, by dexterous manipulation aud some force, I succeeded
in insinuating into the duct, through which it readily passed
onward to the extent of seven inches ; then, on further force
being used, it bent, as the first had done, and was in conse-
quence withdrawn. The act of withdrawal I found to require
more force than the introduction, in consequence of the cohesion
between the membrane and bougie, arising from the latter
having become softened ; and the result was that, just as the
operation was concluded, about one eighth of an inch of the
end of the bougie broke off and remained within the puncture;
however, it easily became extracted with a pair of dissecting
forceps. Still, such an accident, which might have proved
serious, was enough to make me resolve in my mind not again
to use the common bougie, but to have a whalebone probe
manufactured for the purpose. For this time, therefore, I
released my patient.

5th. — The eye shows a slight inflammatory appearance from
what was done yesterday ; but the flow of tears over the face is
diminished, leading me to believe that the bougie has done some
good. At the exit of the duct within the nostril there is a little
coagulum resting,

6th. — Tears still running over the cheek, and, having pro-
vided myself with a whalebone probe of sufficient length —
thirteen inches — and the requisite size, I determined this
morning to renew my attempts to permeate the duct. I also
had, this time, by me, a pewter syringe, with a nozzle suffi-
ciently pointed and fine to enter the puncta, I first intro-
duced the whalebone probe, as on a former occasion I had the
bougie, which passed readily enough into the lachrymal sac,
but required withdrawing for a little way and variously mani-
pulating before I could get it to enter the duct. Presently it

DISEASE OF THE LACHRYMAL PASSAGES. 157

did so^ and then with slight force was easily pushed onward
to the extent of eight inches : here it stopped, and no pressure
safe to be used, could force it further. It had, in fact, reached
the tortuous part of the canal, through the curvatures of which
I was not able to make it pass: I therefore withdrew it. I
next tried what effect syringing the puncta would have : the
warm water was readily injected into the sac, which instantly
became distended ; but, instead of flowing onward into the
duct, all of it regurgitated into the eye. Now I thought I
would apply the syringe to the aperture of the duct within
the nose; first, however, passing up the probe. The probe
could not be pushed up further than about two inches ; stop-
ping as it had done before, at the part where the canal grows
tortuous. The injected water, however, found passage and
exit through the puncta, flowing out in a continuous stream
over the eye. I served the opposite eye in the same manner,
succeeding equally well, and then suffered my patient once
more to rise. This time I felt satisfied with my operations : I
now entertained no doubt I should make a cure of the watery
eyes. After the operation I had the eyes fomented daily,
and ordered some cathartic medicine.

llth. — Both eyes looking much better : not half the quantity
of tears as formerly flow the wrong way. Slight conjunctival
inflammation.

15th. — Very little lachrymation over the face ; the eyes
looking greatly improved ; neither inflamed so much, nor to
the same degree as before intolerant of light.

20/^8. — The amendment has been uninterruptedly progressive.
The tears now flow the proper way : the horse is cured of his
*' watery eyes."

I have thought, since the occurrence of the above, that the
catgut bougies employed in surgical practice, would prove just
the thing for a case of this kind ; and miglit possibly, were it
necessary, be insinuated through the curvatures of the canal.
But, may we not succeed in curing such cases as this by
syringing alone ? I think we shall find we may. If not,
then will come the question about the kind and use of the
bougie.

158

TUMOURS AND FUNGUS OP THE ORBIT.

Cases of this description will every now and tlicu occur in
practice, varying more or less in their kind and character ; and
I believe that injury of some sort, blows most likely, will be
found to be the common originator of them. I remember the
case of a horse belonging to the Artillery, in wliich an exostosis
proceeding from the orbital arch had grown to the magnitude
of a horse-chestnut, and by a tendency downwards had half
obstructed vision, independently of the mischief it was doing
by pressure upon the eyeball. This case admitted of operation.

Of the several cases of fungus growing from or connected
with the orbit that have come to my knowledge, the following,
arising in congenital defect, is one of the most curious : —

Mr. Perry, V.S., Swaffham, Norfolk, was, in July 1832,
requested to see a foal, three days old, which was said '^ to have
no eyes.'^ He went to see it, and to his surprise " found within
the orbit, on the near side, an excrescence of fungus, about the
size of a common pistol-ball, without any organic structure. In
the other orbit it was somewhat larger, answering in appear-
ance to the former, with the addition of the membrana nictitans."
— Veterinarian for 1834.

159

SECTION XVIII.

DISEASES OF THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM.

FARCY ^^^' ' OTHER DISEASES.

From perusal of the various \vorks treating of hippopathology,
even from ancient date down to the present time, we learn that
diseases, as generations and ages have rolled on, have remained
unchanged in their nature notwithstanding the alterations in
other respects they have manifestly undergone. In virulence or
malignity many of them now are quite different from what they
formerly werej in amount of prevalence or in epidemical cha-
racter, others have shown as striking changes. Grease, canker,
strangles, farcy, glanders, are still in nature the same they ever
were ; yet how prevalent they were wont to be compared to what
they are now-a-days ! The state of horses in general, all large
horse establishments, our cavalry in particular, bear record of
these facts. I have oftentimes heard my father — who was for
thirty years senior veterinary surgeon to the ordnance — say,
when he first entered the service, to such an extent did grease
and canker prevail, and in such malignant and incurable forms,
that numbers of horses infested with these diseases had been,
for years past he learnt, annually shot as incurable : so bad was
the stable discipline, and so wretched the state of veterinary prac-
tice. What, however, would be thought of an army veterinary
surgeon at the present day in whose regiment was found a horse
incurably greased or cankered? Nay, no very wholesome opinion
would be formed of such an officer, or of the stable-management
practised in his regiment, were cases of this description, in any
degree beyond a mere accidental occurrence, known even to
exist ! So great is the beneficial change wrought in our

160 DISEASES or THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM.

cavalry through the introduction into the service of veterinary
surgeons.

I can recollect, myself, the day when glanders and farcy pre-
vailed to that extent among the horses of public departments
that hundreds — nay, thousands — of pounds sterling were yearly
sacrificed at thehorse-slaughterers' shrines: during the lastseven-
teen years, however, that I have served in the Guards, I have
had to treat but four regimental cases of these diseases ; and
these four — as I shall hereafter be able to show — would not have
occurred had not the regiment gone into the locality of con-
tamination.

Another most important — most tristful change that has taken
place in respect to glanders and farcy, is the transfer of the
disease from the quadruped to the human being. Many years
ago the late Professor of the Veterinary College taught — and
every disciple of his believed — that the disease was peculiar, in
its infection restricted, to the horse and his fellows in species,
the ass and the mule : sad, however, to relate, scarce twenty
years had this doctrine, ex cathedra^ prevailed, when a veterinary
student, a schoolfellow of mine, through dissection contracted
the disease, proving but too fatally in his own person, poor
fellow ! the complete fallacy of all notions about insusceptibility ;
since which I need hardly add, the melancholy truth of the
human as well as the equine species being obnoxious to both
glanders and farcy has had but too many mournful realizations.

In the investigation I am about to institute into the causes
and nature of glanders and farcy, and into the efficacy of such
medicaments as have at one time or another been brought for-
ward as remedies or antidotes for those diseases, I do not
anticipate being able to elicit or produce much, if anything, that
is new : should I, however, succeed in culling such materials
from the ampler sources of information lying open before me
as shall, by judicious compilation, form what our neighbours
the French are pleased to call, in briefer language than we can
express the same, a corps de doctrine, I may, at least, become
entitled to the merit of having laid a foundation serviceable to
future inquirers in the same mysterious department of science.

161

GLANDEES.

The derivation of our word glanders is traceable through
the French language, from which we appear to have borrowed
it, to the Latin roots glandula and glans ; the latter signifying
any fruit kernel, such as a chestnut or acorn ; the former, its
diminutive, any small fruit kernel ; and both afterwards used in
medicine to denote the glands of the body, many of wliich —
such as were then so called — are small and comparable, both
in shape and size, to acorns or other kernels. Celsus applies
the terra glandula to a swelling in the neck, supposed to be
glandular;* and Vegetius uses the same to denote swollen
glands " between the cheek-bones and lower jaws :" from his
saying, however, that the glandules are " especially troublesome
to foales,"-f it would appear the disease he meant to describe
was not glanders, but strangles. The French veterinarians,
following the ancient phraseology, called a horse exhibiting
any submaxillary tumour or enlargement, ^/«wcfe; not with any
especial reference to glanders, but simply because his glands or
" kernels," as our farriers denominate them, had become
enlarged : hence with the French a horse was said to heglande
de gourme, as well as glande de morve and glande de farcin. ^ It
seems to have been our English writers on farriery who have
restricted the application of the term to the foul and malignant
disease now known under that appellation : before then,
glanders appears to have had no other meaning save that the
horse had tumefied glands, or that, in the farrier^s phrase, " his
kernels had come down." The French call the disease la morve.
A horse, however, in the estimation of Lafosse, is not to be
regarded as having la morve proprement dite, unless he be
glande or have tumefaction of his glands.

* De medicina.

f De Arte Veterinaria.

^J Glande (cheval) est cclul qui a una glande sous la panache, plus
apparente que dans I'etat nature!, ou qui a une tumefaction sous la ganache :
on dit glande de gourme, de morve, de farcin, (' Dictionnaire d'Hippiatrique,'
par M. Lafosse.)

III. 11

162 SYMPTOMS OF GLANDEiiS.

Definition. — Glanders consists in a discharge, from one or
both nostrils, of matter which by transfer or inoculation will
produce the disease in another animal (of the equine or human
species), and which discharge is, sooner or later, accompanied
by vascular injection and chancrous ulceration of the
Schneiderian membrane, by tumefaction of the submaxillary
lymphatic glands^ and by farcy.

SYMPTOJrS OF GLANDERS.

Discharge from the nose, enlargement of the submaxillary
lymphatic glands, vascular injection or inflammation of the
membrane lining the nose and different sinuses of the head,
thickening, ulceration of it, mortification, exfoliation of the septal
cartilage and turbinated bones, constitute the local and charac-
teristic symptoms of glanders : they may be, and occasionally
are, all present ; commonly but two of them make their appear-
ance in the incipient stages of the sub-acute and in the chronic
forms of the disease, which two, or even one without the other,
may be sufficient to constitute a case of glanders.

CONSTITUTIONAL DISORDER, either to a degree to
attract the notice of those who look after the animal, or so slight
as to be detectible by the professional attendant alone, inva-
riably attends or ushers in an attack of glanders. There may
or may not be palpable depression of spirits, and disinclination
or indifference for food ; there will be, more or less, discoverable
indications of fever, such as increase of pulse, heat and dryness
of mouth, heavy and watery appearance of the eyes, roughness
and opacity of the coat. The horse may not be thought or
called " amiss'^ by the groom, and yet the veterinary surgeon
finds in him evident signs of indisposition. A great many
years ago, an old and much-respected professional friend of
mine, Mr. Berrington, formerly veterinary surgeon to the staff
corps of cavalry, and late of the cavalry depot at Maidstone,
drew my attention to this premonitory or accompanying disorder
of the first stage of glanders ; and subsequent observation not
only confirmed in my mind the truth of his practical remark,
that " few or no cases commenced without it,'^ but likewise con«
vinced me that even those cases of sub-acute disease which

SYMPTOMS OF GLANDERS. 163

appeared completely to regain their health and spirits^ were not,
on closer examination, left altogether free from this febrile state
of system. In general, after the first stage is passed, as soon
as the discharges from the nose have become established, the
animal rallies from any indisposition he may have shown,
recovers his spirits and appetite, and, to the common observer,
appears as well as ever. This manifestation of recovery has led
unprofessional persons to suppose that, were it not for " the
running at the nose,^' and " the kernels," there would be little
or nothing the matter with the horse : in all other respects he
is regarded as being in sound and good health, and to such per-
sons as have not seen him during the attack of the glanders, or
whose observation has not been sufficient to enable them to
detect any difference in him at that time, he has never appeared
otherwise than in his usual state of health : hence the prevalence
of the common notion, that glandered horses can do work the
same as others ; and, indeed, such is for a time the trifling
constitutional derangement occasioned by the disease that they,
in reality, are capable of work — though, still, not of the
severest kind — so long as the disease in the head continues
either in the sub-acute or chronic form, and the lungs hold
their integrity. The preservation of their condition, and the
good looks glandered horses for a time maintain, it is also that,
when artful means are taken to conceal the nasal discharge
and the tumours under the throat, enable sharpers to dispose
of them as sound horses. In fine, one of the characteristic
symptoms of the disease, in certain stages, is the unaffected
good spirits and condition, and feelings of health, the animal
manifestly enjoys.

Leblanc confirms the foregoing observations. " I have uni-
formly observed,^' says he, " that horses exposed to causes con-
sidered as productive of glanders have exhibited some symptoms
of general functional disorder prior to the manifestation of the
malady ;" adding, that '^ horses that become glandered and far-
cied without this premonitory disorder, derive the disease from
contagion." Should this latter remark prove well founded it
might turn out one of some value to us : I fear, however, it is
one unconfirmed by experience.

DISCHARGE FROM THE NOSE, though the symptom

164 SYMPTOMS OF GLANDERS.

■\vliicli commonly first attracts notice, is not the first in tlie order
of appearance of the local symptoms, it being often, I believe
generally, preceded by the tumefaction of the glands underneath
the throat. At its commencement, the discharge is scanty and
limpid, amounting to nothing beyond a little aqueous or serous
fluid, trickling or dropping, commonly from one nostril only,
but without intermission. The next day, or the day after, this
watery discharge mostly appears streaked or intermingled with
ropes of mucus ; and in a day or two after that it will probably
have become altogether mucous in its nature, and now glairy
in its aspect, after which it gradually assumes a tinge of yellow,
from the admixture with the mucus of albuminous matters, the
aqueous discharge now diminishing, but not altogether ceasing.
From this, which may be regarded as the incijnent or first stage
of glanders, the ordinary course of the disease is into —

The Second or Ulcerative Stage. From being aqueous
or aqueo-mucous, with little or no show of purulent matter, the
discharge by degrees acquires consistence, turns of a straw colour,
exhibits true purulent characters, and soon follows in abundance,
there remaining, however, still more or less aqueous stream
mingled along with it. In time, this augmented flux, showing
less of the aqueous admixture, becomes thicker, less disposed to
run off, acquires tenacity, and begins to cling about the hairs
fringing the nostrils. At length, it becomes converted into a
truly viscous flux, possessing glutinous properties of that re-
markable kind that, like birdlime or glue, it sticks, nay, firmly
adheres to the hair of the nostril, collecting and concreting
within the cornu or fold of the ala nasi, and clogging, and more
or less obstructing, the aperture, and in this manner, by occa-
sioning impediment to the breathing, generating a snuffling
noise in the passage of the air something similar to the mucous
or bronchial rale, and which to the ear of the experienced prac-
titioner is a sound so peculiarly characteristic of the state the
patient is in, that, the moment he hears it, he is but too well
informed of the nature of the case he is about to inspect.
Indeed, with this glutinous flux in any considerable quantity,
such is the foul state outwardly and the obstructed condition
inwardly of the nasal passages, in consequence of the adhesion
and retention of the discharges, that when even but one nostril is

SYMPTOMS OF GLANDERS, 165

affected the inconvenience caused to respiration is much felt ;
when both, however, are in the same foul and obstructed con-
dition, there exists, at the times that the accumulation of matter
becomes great, danger even of suffocation. Also now, or before
this, according to the source and nature of the discharges, will
be observed, what was not perceptible in the first stage, nor
perhaps in the beginning of the second, fdor ; and that of so
peculiarly an offensive nature that often it, of itself, i^ suffi-
cient to enable the veterinarian to pronounce on the case.
Yellow, purulent, viscous, or glutinous discharges betoken
either the acute or sub-acute form of glanders : in cases in
which the disease, losing activity, degenerates into a chronic
stage, the flux may continue from the first of a glairy or aqueo-
mucous character, or it may turn like that of a nasal gleet,
looking like so much whitening and water, and in that condition
is not infrequently seen grumous. On the other hand, when
the disease runs its natural course in a longer or shorter space
of time, according to varieties in it which I shall hereafter point
out, the nasal fluxes — changing with the havoc the ulceration
is making, first, in the membrane, and secondly on the bones
and cartilages — become of a most disgustingly offensive nature,
and, in their hue, change from yellow to green, or to dirty
brown or leaden colour ; or exhibit streaks of blood ; or bring
away with them, every time the horse essays by blowing to clear
his nose, masses of scab and exfoliated cartilage and even bone;
thus denoting that the disease has reached its final stage, and
that partial suffocation and consequent constitutional irritation
must shortly put an end to the distressed animal's sufferings.
From this, which is the common succession of the discharges
in acute and sub-acute cases, varieties in their appearance and
quantity will occur, depending on the degree of the vascular or
inflammatory action going on within the chambers of the nose ;
on the presence, extent, and depth of ulceration ; on the medi-
cinal treatment the patient may be subjected to, the regimen
he is placed under, the atmosphere he is breathing, the exercise
he is taking, &c. Bloody discharges, or rather blood tinging
the discharges, will, in the latter stages in particular, every now
and then become apparent : when present, they augur either
deep or extensive ulceration, or a disposition to ecchymosis,

166 SYMPTOMS OF GLANDERS.

either from laxity of fibre, or some change in the condition of
the blood ; and their appearance is always inauspicious,
though I never, myself, saw blood lost to any but trifling
amount.

An Analysis or the Nasal Discharges has been made by
Lassaigne. He finds them to consist of albumen, mucus, sub-
carbonate of soda, chloruret of sodium, calcareous 2)hosphate
(trifling in quantity), and ivater ; the water making the largest
proportion. In the normal state, the secretion of the Schneide-
rian membrane contains the same matters, with the exception
of the albumen, whose presence, in large proportion, keeps
pretty nearly pace with the quantity of purulent matter. From
this it would appear that the gluey or glutinous discharges owe
their adhesive properties to the predominance of albumen in
their composition : they may, the same as purulent matter, issue
out of the follicles of the membrane ; though, in any considerable
quantity, I believe they may invariably be regarded as the pro-
duct of ulceration.

VASCULAR INJECTION or INFLAMMATION is ob-
servable in all acute and in certain stages of sub-acute cases,
upon the surface of the Schneiderian membrane ; though it is
uncommon to see any intense degree of inflammation. This
membrane, which in health and under repose of body is of a
pale flesh colour, under exercise of a vermilion hue, in a state
of disease often displays patchy blushes upon its septal surface,
having a peculiar shiny aspect, produced by the slimy or glairy
secretion coating the surface ; and we can generally perceive
red vessels in places traversing its substance. Now and then,
from the discharges adhering to it, the surface will present a
patchiness of yellow intermingled with the shiny red. Should
all signs of vascular action pass away, the disease, from an
acute or a sub-acute running into a chronic form, the surface
of the membrane will become pallid or acquire a leaden hue ;
the ulcers, should there be any, at the same time undergoing
the same process of deflorescence.

The late Professor Coleman characterised the inflammation of
glanders as specific. As regards its products, it certainly is so ;
at the same time there is nothing in its aspect, abstractedly as
inflammation, which can lead one to pronounce it the inflame

SYMPTOMS OF GLANDERS. 167

wation of glanders. Were it not for the discharges, and
more than them, for the ulceration, we should probably dis-
cover no difference between glanderous and common inflam-
mation.

THICKENING is a change the inflamed membrane, from
infiltration, quickly undergoes, and one that often continues
advancing, even after all appearances of inflammation have
vanished, so that in the end the membrane not only becomes
greatly augmented in substance, but much altered in texture.
These changes, hardly discoverable to the eye, from the small
portion of membrane visible to us in the living animal, are
exposed when we come to examine the head after death : we
are then often astonished to find what a degree of thickness
the membrane — in the nasal chambers, or in the sinuses or in
both — has attained through interstitial deposit or actual growth,
something resembling the hypertrophic changes exhibited by
the uterine members during the process of pregnancy. In
some cases — in the sinuses especially, perhaps solely — such is
the exuberance of the nutrient vessels of the membrane, that
it sprouts or granulates upon the surface in some such manner
as the conjunctive membrane of the eye of man is known to do
in that peculiar human disease called granular conjunctiva.
In cases in which the inflammatory action has confined its
attack to or expended its force principally on the sinuses of
the head, we not unfrequently find effusions of lymph upon the
membrane lining them ; and these often tend, as they lie upon
the floors of the cavities, more or less to obstruct their outlets
and in this manner put a temporary or permanent arrest to
the nasal discharges : hence one reason why a glandered horse
ejects from his nose a great deal more matter at one time than
at another.

ULCERATION is the symptom upon which we place the
greatest reliance as denoting the presence of glanders. The
simple circumstance of its appearance is enough to arouse the
strongest suspicions ; while that of its appearing in the form of
chancre is conclusive. Scratch the Schneiderian membrane
•with a pin or nail — wound it in any ordinary way — and the
result will be a sore of a common nature ; bleeding at first, but,
subsequently,', without the generation perhaps of pus, granula-*

1G8 SYMPTOMS OF GLANDERS.

ting, aud so in the usual mode healing : but, introduce into
this scratch virus taken from a glandered or farcied animal, and
the result will be that, losing all disposition to heal, the lesion
■will inflame and secrete an ichorous matter and become con-
verted into a transparent vesicle, surrounded by an areola or
circular blush upon the membrane. Tlie next day the vesicle
has broken, and we perceive in the place of it, a pale, foul,
superficial ulceration, which in the course of another day ac-
quires the genuine characters of the glanderous chancre — an
elevated, circular, pinkish border, including a base of dingy or
faint yellow albuminous matter, which on being wiped or irri-
tated commences bleeding, and, on the matter being removed,
exposes, when the ulcer is deep, the bare cartilage beneath ;
when superficial, a red spotted, rugged, foul, bleeding bottom.
From its tendency to spread, the .ulcer speedily loses its cir-
cular figure, exchanging that for one too irregular and variable
in shape to admit of any furthur cliaracterisation : it has, in
fact, now become a foul spreading ulceration, extending on
every side, coalescing with similar ulcerations in its vicinity,
having for its base the cartilage of the septum nasi, which alone,
from its comparative insusceptibility of the ulcerative action,
puts a temporary arrest to its devouring activity. It is when
the ulcers have eaten down to the substance of the cartilage,
or when others that are situated high up in the meatus of tlie
nose, out of sight, have laid bare the turbinated bones, and
that the substance of the cartilage and bone becomes attacked
by the disease, that mortification and sloughing or exfoliation
of these parts takes place, they being too lowly vitalized to carry
on the ulcerative process : at this time it is likewise that dis-
charges, foul to a degree and fetid past bearing, of a dirty green,
or brown, or blackish nature, are running in great profusion,
bringing with them sloughs of bone and cartilage, and clogging
and obstructing the nasal passages to that degree that the dis-
tressed animal, in the last and worst stage of glanders, may
hourly expect to end his life of torment by an act of suffocation.
I do not remember to have seen holes made through the sep-
tum nasi by ulceration ;* but in such virulent forms of the

* Tbi§ may arise from a process of deposition upon the opposite side,

SYMPTOMS OF GLANDERS. 169

disease as I have just described, it is not uncommon to find
the turbinated bones ulcerated through into the nasal sinus ;
and I have seen heads of glandered horses that have been next
to destitute, on one or both sides, of any turbinated bones,
they have been consumed through the ravages of the ulcerative
and exfoliating processes.

Miliary Ulceration : — So is called an ulceration of the
same membrane, differing altogether in its aspect and tendency
from the true chancrous ulceration we have just been consider-
ing. With the miliary ulceration upon it, the surface of the
membrane has the appearance — as nearly as I can describe it
— of worm-eaten wood, every part of it appearing as though
full of pin-holes. This ulceration is not seen in acute glanders,
at least I never saw it ; nor is it often found in the sub-
acute disease ; but is peculiar, I may I think say, to chronic
glanders.

DuPUY,* who has well described this species of glanders, cha-
racterises these " little ulcerations^^ as the result of the '^ dege-
neration " of miliary tubercles ; and represents them, truly, as
having '' thin edges, unevenly excavated, like pin-holes ; with
this difference, however, that the hole made by a pin would be
deep and pointed, whereas these ulcerations are shallow and
have thin edges. They are commonly regarded as erosions,
sometimes mistaken for the dilated orifices of mucous follicles ;
though, if they be examined after the mucus in which they are
sheathed has been removed, and the membrane has been cleansed
with water, they will be found to be so many little ulcerations.
The membrane of the septum is frequently covered with these
exulcerations, with its surface, in places, elevated. They are,
however, superficial, penetrating merely through somethin layers
of the cellular tissue of the membrane, thereby rendering its
surface irregular, uneven, and scabrous. They follow the
course of the large veins upon the septum. They are found
also grouped within the fold of the ala nasi, particularly on the
left side, and upon the turbinated prominences and their
appendices.^^

ENLARGEMENT OF THE SUBMAXILLARY LYM,

t 'Pe I'^ffection Tuberculeuse,' Paris, 1817,

170 SYMPTOMS OF GLANDERS.

PHATIC GLANDS — kernels as they are called by grooms — ■
buboes, as they might with strict pathological propriety be de-
nominated were they seated in the groia instead of underneath
the jaw — is in general the earliest external indication we have
of the approach of glanders. In cases of inoculation, swollen
glands are perceptible on the third day, ulceration appearing on
the fourth. These swellings owe their origin to the irritation
created within the nose, the same as buboes are occasioned by
irritation set up in the organs of generation ; and in horses as
"well as in man the lymphatic glands may become tumefied from
common as well as from specific irritation : a tight shoe may
occasion a bubo in a man ; and I have known common injuries,
wounds about the nose or mouth, or iu the limbs, occasion the
same thing in horses, though in the latter the case is compara-
tively rare. At first, the submaxillary swelling in glanders is
commonly small and round, isolated and moveable ; or it may
be that more glands than one are enlarged, and then the swell-
ing will have a sort of lobulous as well as loose feel. Now and
then the tumefaction will be so great at first that we may sup-
pose it to be an attack of strangles. I have known the swelling
altogether to be of that magnitude that it has projected beneath
the lower border of the under jaw : indeed, its magnitude may
be said to vary, taking the extreme cases, from a horse-bean to
a goose-egg. D'Arboval has well observed, in regard to these
swellings, that *' their smallness is never to be received as a
proof that no glanders is present ;" and he adds, " while their
multiplicity, especially their successive development one after
another, is ever- a symptom for alarm." On their first develop-
ment these swellings are in general painful to pressure, and
particularly when their development has been quick, when they
have in a short time grown to large size, evincing thereby
acuteness in the disease : in cases, however, in which they have
never acquired much magnitude, but remained single and
stunted, or disinclined to enlarge, becoming firmer iu substance
and fixed in their situation, they possess but little feeling ; in-
deed, often in the course of time, the disease having become
sub-acute or chronic, they acquire a scirrhous hardness, and
almost total insensibility. When first found, as I said before,
the tumour frequently is loose and moveable ; as it acquires firm*

SYMPTOMS OF GLANDERS. 171

ness, however, it acquires fixity, getting by degrees adherent to
the side of the jaw, the tumefaction being confined to which-
ever side of the head the disease occupies. A swollen gland
or mass of glands forming a tumour of this description is, per-
haps, the most usual kind of submaxillary tumefaction in glan-
ders : it is known by its isolated character, by its distinctly
being the only tumour present, the skin being drawn tensely
over it, and the surrounding space being perfectly clear from
any tumefaction ; lastly, by its close and immoveable adherence
to the side of the jaw against which it lies. Should there be
disease in both chambers of the nose, we shall have tumefied
glands on both sides, though it will rarely happen that both
sets of glands will swell at one and the same time. While recent
or susceptible of pain from compression, these tumours are apt
to fluctuate in magnitude, being at one time large, at another
comparatively small. In general, I have known the opposite
effect produced. I do not remember seeing suppurative action
produced in them ; commonly, as I have before observed, they
become hard, void of sensibility, and scirrhous in their nature,
and so continue to the end. In reference to their variable
character,

DupuY makes the following observations on these glands : —
" When the mucous membrane of the chambers of the nose is
affected, the sublingual (submaxillary) glands become tumefied^
and undergo some very variable changes. In succession, they
grow, in the same subject, swollen, firm, painful, and moveable.
In a short time after this they become insensible, diminished
in volume, and appear to resume their natural condition ; then
again, all on a sudden, they recommence swelling, and in the
course of a few days grow larger than ever they have
been."

TUMEFACTION OF THE ALA NASI is a frequent, not
a constant symptom of glanders : when present, it is always
highly characteristic of the acute disease. It is seen in viru-
lent and malignant attacks, and especially when the disease
has set in suddenly ; it is seldom an accompaniment of the sub-
acute forms of glanders so long as they remain sub-acute, and
is never seen in the chronic varieties. Should the tumefaction
not accompany the onset of acute glanders, it is almost certain

173 SYMPTOMS OF GLANDERS.

to come oa during the latter stages, prior to dissolution. The
swelling of the nostrils may arise from the intensity and spread
of the inflammation in the interior of the nose : very often,
however, it is obviously the result of an attack of farcy of the
integuments clothing the nostrils, including frequently the
upper lip as well ; and in that case there will be tumefied or
corded lymphatics perceptible upon the swollen parts, and very
frequently traceable from them along the cheek to the border
of the jaw, proceeding into the submaxillary glands. Pustules
or farcy-buds will also appear, and break and become ulcers,
seated occasionally within the fold of the ala nasi, the same as
in other parts of the body. The tumefaction of the nostrils
when combined — which it commonly is — with a profusion of
gummy discharge, adds greatly to the embarrassment in the
breathing. The partial closure of one nostril produces a good
deal of inconvenience and annoyance : when this happens with
both, the suffering and distress occasioned will be likely, as I
before observed, to end in suffocation, unless relief in some way
or other be afforded.

Does Glanders show any predilection for the left or

NEAR side of THE HeAD ?

DupuY states that it does. His words are — " In summing
up the cases I have reported, it will be remarked that of those
horses who had only the nasal membrane affected, there is but
one case in which the right nostril proved the seat of disease ;
whilst there are eight having the disease on the near side. It is
without doubt a peculiarity that the membrane of the left
chamber of the nose should most frequently be the seat of the
tuberculous affection : it is not very favorable to the notion
of glanderous contagion ; nay, it goes to contradict all that has
been said on that subject. In the greatest number of the cases,
the disease pervaded both sides of the nose/^ Out of fifty-
eight recorded cases of glanders that have fallen under my ob-
servation, twenty-one have had the disease confined to the near
side of the nasal cavity, nineteen to the off side, and eighteen
have shown it in both sides. My own experience, therefore,
will not allow me to step out of my road — as some writers have
done — to endeavour to account for a fact whose truth is by no
means confirmed, aiid which, were there any truth in itj must

DIAGNOSIS OF GtANtiEES. 173

be admitted to be of that extraordinary pathological character
that seems to defy all attempts at explanation.

DIAGNOSIS OF GLANDERS.

The diseases with which glanders is liable to be confounded
or for which it may be mistaken are, catarrh, nasal gleet, and
strangles.

The Characteristic Signs of Glanders are with singular
accuracy, and Avith succinctness too, described by Solleysell.*
"The signs by which the disease may be known, are when a
horse, already too old to be troubled with strangles, without a
cough, voids matter by the nose, and has a kernel sticking to
the bone; and besides, in glanders the matter usually flows
from one nostril, whereas in a cold it runs almost always out
of both." — " Some cast the matter that is voided by the
nostrils into water, and, if it swim on the top, they conclude
the horse to be free of this distemper ; but if it sink to the
bottom, it is a sign of glanders : the principal use of this ex-
periment being to distinguish the pus." — " But you m>ust not
depend on the certainty of this sign ; for if the matter stick
to the nostrils like glue, it is a bad sign, and you may con-
clude the disease to be the glanders, though the matter do swim
on the top." — " When either the breath or matter that comes
out of the nostrils stinks, the disease is almost incurable." — " I
have seen horses troubled with this distemper without kernels,
or, if there were any, they were little and moveable ; and the
only sign by which we could discover it to be glanders was the
glueyness of the matter."

DupuY tells us that suspicion of harbouring glanders — when
the symptoms manifest doubt — will always rest upon a horse
possessing the character of having been reared in a low, wet,
marshy country ; such as flat feet, long hairy legs, exuberant
chestnuts, &c., or upon one that has a narrow chest and razor
back, or that is high upon his legs, loose made, and so forth ;
and upon one that coughs readily, or cannot stand much work,

* ' The Compleat Horseman,' by Sieur de Solleysell.

174 DIAGNOSIS OP OLANDEUS.

If, combiued \\'ith these indications, the mucous lining of the
nose be thickened, infiltrated, discoloured, as likewise the con-
junctive and nictitating membranes, one of the eyes appears
sunk and gummy, and the nostril curled and fouled by mucus
sticking about it, we may set the case down for glanders in the
first stage.

Our Diagnosis must be grounded, first, on the circumstance
of the discharge coming from one or both sides of the head ;
secondly, on the nature of the discharges ; thirdly, on the pre-
sence of ulceration, and the character of it ; fourthly, ou the
presence and character of glandular tumefaction ; fifthly, on
the state of the animal's health ; sixthly, on the presence of
farcy ; seventhly, on the absence of symptoms proper to other
diseases.

The consideration of the symptoms that are present, taken
collectively and with reference to their origin, together with a
notice of the absence of such collateral ones as ought to be
present were the disease other than it really is, will furnish us
with evidence, both of a positive and a negative kind, in regard
to its veritable nature ; and though, after all, suspicion may
lurk about the case, we shall, by taking proper precautions, not
be liable to commit any very serious blunder in our practice;
neither will, commonly, more than a short elapse of time be re-
quired to put an end to all our doubts and apprehensions.

From Catarrh — the disease with which, of all others, glan-
ders is the most liable to be confounded — it is as difficult to
draw the line of distinction in certain forms and stages as in
others the difference between the two diseases becomes self-
evident. A horse, we will say, has a discharge issuing from
one nostril, with a submaxillary swelling on the same side ;
and our opinion is required on the nature of the case. Should
cough or sore throat, or other symptom of catarrh, be found
present, doubt need no longer exist. Should the horse be
young — three, four, or even five years old — we may feel rather
inclined to regard it as catarrh. The suspicious accompani-
ments of these two symptoms are, the absence of any concomi-
tant catarrhal indication, the horse having been slightly "amiss,"
but now appearing as well as ever again ; the constancy and
uniformity of the one-sided discharge ; the circumscribed or

DIAGNOSIS OF GLANDERS. l75

defined nature of the submaxillary tumour, together with its
proximity, perhaps attachment, to the jaw-bone; the duration
of the two symptoms in question, without any material alteration
for better or for worse ; lastly, the horse being in his adult or
an aged period of life. It is quite possible the discharge may
issue from both nostrils, and submaxillary tumours appear on
both sides as well ; and so will the case be rendered more like
catarrh, and yet have enough about it to engender in our mind
suspicions of glanders. In fact, it may positively be glanders,
either in an incipient or an insidious form, or in a chronic stage.
No prudent practitioner, however, would go the length, on
mere inspection, to pronounce on the case ; although he would
consider it his duty to segregate such a horse from his com-
panions, and place him in a situation where there could be no
possibility of communication, mediate or immediate, between him
and sound horses. Attentive observation and appropriate
treatment will, after no very great lapse of time, demonstrate
whether the case be catarrhal or not : but if not catarrh, what
is it, or what can it be ? Is it nasal gleet ? If so considered,
let such treatment as is proper for nasal gleet* be adopted, and
for a reasonable time persevered in, under a hope that it may
cease or " run itself dry ;" still using all precautious to pre-
vent communication with sound horses as much as if we were
assured we were actually treating glanders itself. Time, I say
again, must and will unravel the secret. If this cannot be or
has already been given, we are at liberty to resort at once either
to the test of examining — through an operation to be hereafter
described — the sinuses of the head, or to that of inoculation.
The supervention of chancre in the nose, or of any indication
of farcy in any part of the body, would, of course, decide the
question at once.

With Strangles in its early stage, it is possible, though not
by an experienced hand probable, glanders may be confounded.
The tumefaction of strangles at its beginning, or at times when
it progresses unkindly or hardly at all, or when it assumes
the aspect we call '' bastard strangles,^^t niay something re-

* Vide vol. ii of the ' Hippopathology,' p. 24, et sequent.
t Strangles taking its ordinary course is altogether a different disease
from glanders. Vide vol. i of ' Hippopathology,' p. 155, et sequent.

176 DIAGNOSIS OF GLANDERS.

semble to the feel the solid defined submaxillary swellings
denotive of glanders: unconnected, however, with other suspicious
circumstances, we have, in the first place, no right to assume
any unfavorable opinion of the case ; and, in the second, sup-
posing the age and state of health of the patient to afford no
interpretation, heat and tenderness in the tumour, with a ten-
dency to spread or grow prominent, and to form abscesses,
together with the quality of the discharges from the nose (for
there will most likely be some), will prove such in a little time
as to cast away all reasonable doubt as to the true nature of
the case. Should such not appear, the case must be regarded
in an unfavorable light, and measures taken with it accordingly.

Other Diseases still there are, for the most part of rare
occurrence, which may be and have been mistaken for glanders.
A discharge from the nose, and in particular from one nostril
alone, being the chief or most prominent symptom of glanders,
it is evident that any local disease about the head or even in
the neck or lungs, giving rise to such a symptom, may, so long
as the proximate cause be concealed, be thought to be glanders.
Disease on either side of the mouth or throat, attended with
the secretion or formation of matter, will be likely to discharge
that matter through the nose as well as through the mouth,
and most probably the issue will be confined to the affected
side ; occasioning even at the time, it is not at all improbable,
by irritation, a swelling of the submaxillary lymphatic glands
of the same side, and thus simulating veritable glanders as
much as one disease can resemble another. Cases of this
description have often baffled professional men — have too often
led to erroneous judgment — too often to the destruction of the
patient, when, had the true cause of the malady been discovered,
a simple operation or some appropriate treatment might have
saved his life.

A Carious Molar Tooth has in several instances led to
fatal mistakes. One that occurred to Mr. Cherry, I have already
given the history of.* Another I shall here transcribe from an
interesting account related to the Veterinary Medical Asso-
ciation by Mr. Simonds, in 1839 : —

* In vol. ii of the present work, p. 179,

DIAGNOSIS OP GLANDERS. 17?

A singular case of an ossific tumour taking its rise from the inner portion of
the anterior maxillary bone, between the turbinated bones, and occupying the
whole of the nasal cavity on that side. It owed its origin to the uneven wear
of the molar teeth, one of which, the second on the right, had become carious.
The opposing tooth soon gained upon this, from the balance of attrition being
as it were destroyed, and it was presently worn down to the gums. The caries
now rapidly spread to the alveolar cavities, involving them and the bony palate
in the disease. A communication was establisiied between the nasal cavity and
the mouth, and from this resulted the growth of a sponge-like looking ossific
tumour. Strange as it may appear, the farrier who attended the case said if;
was one of glanders, and the horse was ultimately destroyed. The head v/as
afterwards brought for my inspection and opinion. — Veterinarian for 1S40.

The next is a case respecting which Mr. Dick was consulted
by letter, as follows : —

A mare has been returned and declared by two veterinary surgeons to be
glaudered. She had a colt about fourteen months ago. There seemed oome
obstruction in the nasal passages. The membrane of the nose was redder than
usual; but there was no ulceration, though at times a watery discharge. What
is most remarkable is, there is a constant discharge of masticated food, espe-
cially when she is trotted ; pieces occasionally coming away as large as ordinary
(physic) balls. To clear her nostrils, she sneezes with might and main, ejecting
at the time the half-masticated food in all directions. After such an ejection,
she may be ridden all day without discharging any more. When, however,
allowed to stand and feed again, on starting afresh, she becomes as bad as ever.
In other respects she appears in perfect health, and does her work well. Mr.
Forbes told me that, before he sold her, he gave her a ball, and thought she
had swallowed it. An hour afterwards, however, as she was being led out, the
ball was ejected from her nostril. Tliere is now a constant discharge of watery
fluid, mixed with masticated food. It falls from the nostril drop by drop until
she is taken out for a ride, and then she clears herself of it. The submaxillary
glands are not enlarged.

To this account and appeal for advice, Mr. Dick replies : — -

The case you mention is one of those which you will recollect I used to refer
to in my Lectures as likely to be mistaken for glanders, but which is quite
distinct from that malady. It is connected with disease of some of the molar
teeth or the alveolar processes, or the velum palati. I have seen appearances
very similar from the velum palati having been pierced in giving balls at the
end of a sharp-pointed stick. It" you will carefully examine the mouth of the
mare, you will find an opening somewhere leading from it into the nose. I am
III. 12

178 DIAGNOSIS OP GLANDERS.

unable to write with greater precision, as you have not mentioned whether the
discharge comes from one or both nostrils. You will be compelled, I think, to
cast her. I am afraid you will not be able to do much good. There can be
little prospect of cure, as the orifice will have assumed a fistulous character,
which will be kept up by the constant passage of the food. If there exists
a carious tooth or piece of bone, it must be removed, and probably the parts
will require frequent cleansing by syringing. I do not know any other means
of cure.

The last case of the kind I shall relate is one I transcribe
from the valuable posthumous collection of the late Mr. John
Field. As in Mr. Simond's case, the disease proved to be in
the submaxillary bone.

On the 10th of November, 1S30, an ass belonging to Mr. T was

brought to the infirmary, having been under treatment for a disease supposed
to be glanders. There was an offensive discharge from both nostrils, particu-
larly from the near ; from which, as well as from the mouth on the same side, a
quantity of yellowish inspissated pus was occasionally emitted : the submaxillary
gland was enlarged.

On examination, a tumour was observed over the maxillary sinus of the near
side, immediately corresponding to the second molar tooth. The external sur-
face of the anterior superior maxillary bone was considerably elevated in the
course of the levator labii superioris and anterior maxillary nerve, beginning
just below the escape of that nerve, at the foramen maxillare antcrius. The
base of the second molar tooth within the mouth was in great measure
destroyed : the portions remaining in the jaw were immoveable.

Nov. \2th. — An attempt was made to remove what was left of the tooth by
lancing the gums, and by using very strong forceps. This was done under an
impression that the fangs of the tooth were diseased, and produced the swelling
in the antrum maxillare ; however, the operation was unsuccessful. — (On the
same day an ass was inoculated with some of the glutinous discharge from the
near nostril, on the right ala nasi, the right upper palpebra, and on both sides
of the back. After a few days a little pus was found in the largest incision,
but in ten days all the wounds had healed, and the animal was quite well.)

13^/^ — On this day the ass was cast, the hair was shaved from the tumour,
and an incision was made through the skin, commencing at an inch below the
molar process of the maxillary bone, and extending along the course of the
alveolar process to one inch below the edge of the tumour; another transverse
incision was made across the first, and the four flaps were dissected back, and
the superficial facial muscles were divided in the line of the second incision
down to the maxillary bone. The trephine removed a portion of the thin bony
plate covering the sinus ; and through this opening nodules of bone, such ag
arc eommouly met with in diseases of the frontal and maxillary sinuses, were

DIAGNOSIS OP GLANDEBS. 179

discovered, instead of the diseased fangs we expected to find. In order to
remove these nodules, wliich were very large, it was necessary to make succes-
sive applications of the trephine, chisel, and saw. After the bone was removed,
a large quantity of highly offensive inspissated pus was scooped out ; but the
largest portion was firmly attached to the membrane of the nose and antrum,
and required considerable force, and some cutting, to detach it. The surface
of the sinus was next ascertained to be uniform, and not to have any uncovered
bone. The divided levator labii superioris was then united by suture, and the
crucial flaps replaced and lirought together. Very little blood was lost.

IQilh. — No increase of swelling had taken place in the face : there was a slight
discharge from the near nostril. The ass fed, and was free from fever. A little
pus appeared between the edges of the wounds.

l^lh. — Purulent discharge from nostril still offensive — tumour from sub-
maxillary lymphatic gland much diminished. Ass fed well.

2<dth. — Wounds had all healed, save some superfluous granulations, about
one third of an inch broad, between the edges of the upper incision. Discharge
from nostril less, but still offensive.

On the 4th of December the discharge had almost entirely ceased, the lym-
phatic gland was much reduced in size, and on the 20th of the same month he
went away perfectly cured, and had no return of the disease.

The common notiou is — and it is one consonant with reason,
and for the most part, I believe, in accordance with practice —
that matters coming from the lungs or windpipe through the
larynx become discharged from both nostrils, or are as likely
to find their way into one as into the other : I cannot, how-
ever, for my own part, help thinking, that every now and then
it happens that a channel on one side becomes so established
that all the matters as they issue from the larynx, run sideways
along it ; none, unless through coughing, or other violent
emotion, going by the other side. Should this supposition be
founded in truth it will serve to place us more on our guard in
practice.

Bearing in mind that neither discharge from the nose,
though it be but from one side, nor submaxillary tumour, though
it be affixed to the jaw-bone, nor even ulceration of the Schnei-
derian membrane, unless it be of a certain character, constitutes
a case of glanders, it becomes our bouuden duty to institute
in every instance suspected or asserted to be glanders, a
searching, satisfactory inquiry. Numbers of horses — of valuable
horses — no doubt^ have fallen sacrifices to the ignorance or

180 DIAGNOSIS OF GLANDERS.

precipitancy of tlicir medical attendants : a more skilful and
thorough investigation of their cases, greater paticnce_, allowing
for the development of symptoms, would have shown where the
errors lay, and have saved, as well as many lives, the veteri-
nary practice of days gone by a load of opprobrium since passed
into it.

VARIETIES OF GLANDERS.

Whatever division we may make of glanders — whatever
kinds or species Ave may distinguish in it, we must bear in
mind, the disease in nature remains the same. The varieties
of aspect, of intensity, of duration, observable in it, are attri-
butable to the part in which the disease is seated, to the stage
throngh which it is passing, to the age, &c., of the patient, and
to other circumstances, which in their proper places will here-
after receive notice. We might found our division npon the
circumstance of glanders being seated at one time within the
nose, at another within the sinuses of the head, within the
lungs, within the lai'ynx. We might distinguish as species or
varieties the different appearances the disease assumes even in
the same part, which we now regard as stages; such as the
first or incipient stage, the ulcerative, the sloughing or typhoid
stage, &c. To both these, I prefer the division based upon the
intensity and duration of glanders, as the one which will be
found most useful to us in practice, and which has this advan-
tage over the two others we have noticed, that, although the
three varieties will be found runninginto each other, yet no sooner
does a fresh species make its appearance than that which existed
before necessarily ends. According to notions that have grown
lip in my mind, after an observation of many years of glanders
in all its forms and phases, the best division we can, in my
opinion for practical purposes, make of the subject, is into acute,
sub-acute, and chronic: the first, comprising such forms of the
disease as rapidly and uninterruptedly run their course and end
in death ; the second, such as present the pathological character
of acute glanders, and yet manifest the sluggishness of the
chronic variety ; the third, that species of the disease in which

VARIETIES OP GLANDERS. 181

all progress seems suspended, the morbid parts within the
reach of our examination presenting no indication whatever of
activity — of inflammation, ulceration, &c. To these we may-
add a variety our continental professional brethren have named
tijphoid glanders ; but which is nothing more than the most
malignant form of the acute, the malignancy being owing to
the state of health of the patient at the time, the situation, &c.
Also, we have to add, epizootic or enzootic glanders, an appel-
lation given to the disease when unusually prevalent ; and/arcy-
glanders, which is no more than farcy combined with glanders.

ACUTE GLANDERS.— The purest and best specimen
afforded us of this variety is the disease resulting from inocu-
lation, that which we might denominate —

Inoculated Glanders. — Supposing inoculation with glan-
derous matter to be performed on the Schneiderian membrane,
sometimes so early as the third, always on the fourth day
afterwards — providing the inoculation take effect — may be
discovered swelling of the submaxillary lymphatic glands cor-
responding to the side infected, with, in general, some light
discharge from the inoculated nostril, ulceration following on the
fifth or sixth day : and these results are often accompanied by
some appearance of farcy, manifested in the tumefaction of that
chain of lymphatic vessels which extends from the ala nasi and
angle of the mouth to the swollen glands under the throat.
From this time the disease within the nose spreads rapidly, the
nasal membrane quickly becoming a sheet of ulceration, and
issuing discharges in that profusion and of that glutinous
character that in some cases, so early as the tenth day, in
hardly any later than the twentieth, the animal — a young ass,
commonly — dies actually suffocated through obstruction in the
nasal passages, caused by the accumulation of the discharges
within them, combined with the agglutination and tumefaction
of the nostrils outwardly.

Acute Glanders, however, is often enough to be seen — in
situations where glanders is prevalent — where there is no reason
to suspect either inoculation or contagion to have been present.
It commences with symptoms of slight febrile catarrhal disorder,
and the fever attendant never quits the patients ; we, there-
fore, might with some reason give it the name oi febrile glanders.

182 VARIETIES OF OLANDEES.

Ill the young ass, as wc have seen, the disease, once comraenced,
rages with peculiar violence and malignancy ; indeed, so remark-
ably so that the ass has, by many writers, been regarded as more
susceptible of taking or harbouring the disease than the horse.
And from my own experience, while serving in the peninsular
campaign, I can attest the virulent and destructive course the
disease likewise assumes in mules. Still, we are not in the
habit of inoculating horses ; and, moreover, we rarely find
horse-patients of the same tender age, or of the impoverished
condition asses are in ; and again, horses are taken greater care
of when sick than the poor despised ass is: on the whole, therefore,
considering all these circumstances, I am not disposed to admit
that either the ass or the mule presents any extraordinary
innate susceptibility ; but rather think that it is all acquired in
the age and condition in which the animal receives the disease.
The Course of Acute Glanders is uninterrupted ; often-
times, like the product of inoculation, terrifically rapid, from
the period of its attack to that of its surely fatal termination.
The horse seems unwell, has manifestly lost the bloom on his
coat, is unusually dull in his spirits and movements, does not
feed with his ordinary appetite, evinces a sparing discharge from
the nose of an unhealthy character, with submaxillary tume-
faction, and this is followed by swelling of the nostril, chancrous
ulceration, augmented and inspissated discharges, and appear-
ances of farcy ; symptoms which day by day increase and ex-
tend, and at that rapid rate, that puts an end to life even so
early as the second or third or fourth week, through the extreme
irritation occasioned by the suffocating effects of the enormous
tumefaction of the nostrils, and the clogging of their apertures
from the inspissation and scabbing of the discharges within and
around them. In this last stage of the acute disease the
patient becomes so much an object of pity and compassion that
it is but rarely he is suffered to live on to the last. Every
breath he takes he draws with the utmost difficulty through
his contracted nostrils, all but plugged up with the matters
lodged in them, and the noise he makes in drawing his breath
hard through these accumulations is very distressful to a
bystander ; at the same time there is something in the sound, as
I stated before, so peculiar to the ear of the experienced vete-

VARIETIES OF GLANDERS. 183

rinarian, that the moment he hears it, before even the patient^s
stable-door be opened, he recognises it as the nasal rctle of a
glandered horse.

INOCULATED GLANDERS, I repeat, may be regarded as
a genuine specimen of the acute variety. The common course it
takes, already described after inoculation within the nose, is
in the following case shown modified by inoculation in other
parts : —

May 3«?, 1828.— An ass was inoculated in botli upper eyelids, both sides of
the loins, the off side of the withers, and on the inside of the ala of each nostril,
with the discharge from the off nostril of a grey gelding, purchased by Sir

P D three years previously, who was affected with this same

glanderous discharge at the time of purchase, and which had continued ever
since.

7(h. — All the wounds suppurating, except those on the nostrils, which
appear to be healing.

9tk. — Absorbents inflamed from the ulcers on eyelids and back.

14it/i. — Absorbents much thickened, having diffused inflammation about them,
and at different parts of their course circumscribed tumours suppurating ; the
inflammation from the ulcers of the loins proceeding to the groin, that from
the off side of the withers to the breast, and, on the eyelids, producing small
fluctuating tumours on the jugular vein, just below the ear : the alee nasi were
beginning to swell, and there was a snuffling in breathing, &c.

Wih. — The alse nasi much thickened, copious discharge from nostrils, and
the swelling increasing.

22d. — Respiration greatly embarrassed. He died on the following day.

Examination. — Much frothy spume in trachea — general infiltration of lungs,
which were inflamed — considerable consolidation of the anterior and inferior
portion of right lobe — warty exulceration of Schueideriau membrane of both
nostrils to a greater extent than I had ever witnessed before.*

TYPHOID GLANDERS, as the continental veterinary sur-
geons have named the worst or most malignant form of the
acute, is that variety in which deep and extensive sloughing is
going on in the cartilage of the nose and turbinated bones,
occasioning dark-coloured, in some instances black discharges, at
times mingled with blood, having a most disgustingly foetid odour,
with the lungs in a state of abscess, from ripened tubercles

* From the Posthumous Cases of the late Mr. Jolni Field.

184- VARIETIES OF GLANDERS.

running one into another, or, from their infraction having taken
place some time before, in a state of actual ulceration. In
such a horrible state of disease as this, made still worse by
accompanying farcy tumefactions in various parts of the body,
nothing can exceed the spectacle of loathsomeness and distress
the patient presents. Even death itself seems preferable to
such a state of suffering. The subjoined case, which was sent
to The Veterinarian for 1842, by Mr. Ernes, V.S., Dock-
head, Bermondscy, is valuable, because it shows that now and
then typhoid glanders assumes a character our French brethren
designate by the epithet charbonneuse.

Ou the 16tli of October, Mr. Ernes was sent for to see a horse that did not
feed well : the horse was dnll, unthrifty, and off liis appetite. A prescription
was given, and, after a few days, the horse resumed his work. On the 3d of
November, complaint was made that the horse had a discharge from his nose :
it was from the left nostril, and of a very suspicious character. Pimples were
seen on the mucous membrane, towards the inner canthus, and on the septum
nasi, about the size of a pin's head, and of a yellow red colour : but no ulcera-
tion was perceived. The submaxillary lymphatic gland of the same side was
also slightly enlarged and hard. Mr. Ernes condemned the horse as glandered,
and ordered him to be separated from the others. In the course of the day
liis hind legs swelled, the swelling extending to the sheath and posterior parts
of the abdomen. On the 4th, these swellings had greatly increased, but the
nasal discharge had ceased. On the 6th, the swellings had still farther
increased, and were reaching towards the neck, shoulder, and lower parts of
the head. There is a copious discharge from the left nostril, and the mem-
brane, free from ulceration, is of a blackish hue. On the 8tli, the swellings
had increased to such an enormous size — the nasal discharges being copious,
mingled with blood ; the nasal membrane sloughing; the dyspnoea so great,
&c. — that an end was put to his life.

Autopsia cadaveris. — The effusion in the swollen parts proved of a black
colour, resembling oil-paint, very sticky, and of considerable consistence. The
membrane of the nose was one mass of gangrene, and in many parts
covered with the same black substance that was found in the swellings. The
lungs were a complete mass of ulceration, and of the same black hue. The
abdominal viscera were all of a dark colour. The mucous membrane was
healthy throughout, accounting for the absence of diarrhoea, which is a frequent
complication of this disease.

Pulmonary Glanders is an appellation that may well be
'^iStii to that variety of the acute di.sease which supervenes on

VARIETIES OF GLANDERS. 185

the sub-acute and even on the chronic species, whenever the
lungs^ in which the disease has been, either unceasingly or in
relapses, creeping on all the while, have arrived at a point of
disorganization to fail in their functions, and so to create con-
stitutional irritation.* So long as the glanders remains chro-
nic or inactive in the system, months, years even, may pass
away without any material change : the moment, however, any-
thing occurs to derange the health, the disease reappears in all
its virulence, and then speedily runs on to the destruction of
the patient. In many of these cases, however, symptoms of
failure will a long while be apparent before the final break-up
arrives : the glandered horse will be daily observed to lose his
usual health and spirits, his coat no longer of healthy aspect,
will draw out, and he will perceptibly fail in his strength, and
fall away in his condition. All on a sudden, a fresh eruption
of discharge will show itself from his nose, the membrane will
be found to have changed colour, the glands under his jaw to
have become augmented, his hind legs swollen, farcy broken
out perhaps all over his body, acute glanders and farcy, in fine,
displayed in all their virulence, to end before long, in despite
of anything that can be done, in the destruction of life : not,
however, as I have so recently described, through suffocation,
but through consumption of the lungs by the disease, assisted
by a wearing hectic sort of fever, the same as is seen in human
jjhthisis pulmonalis ; and, moreover, bearing a resemblance to
that mode of ending life, inasmuch as the brute, as well as the
man, retains his senses to the last.

EPIDEMIC or ENDEMIC GLANDERS amounts to
nothing more than extraordinary prevalence of the disease among
horses in general, or among the horses of some particular
locality, referable either to some peculiarity in the breed of
the horse, or in the soil or air of the place he inhabits. So
far, however, as causes are concerned, they will become matter
of future consideration : all that we have to consider in this
place is the question of difference, if there be any, between the
epidemic disease and ordinary glanders. I believe the former

* I have more than once remarked tljat the disease has confined its ravages
to the lungs of the side correspondent ■with the affected nostril,

186 VARIETIES OF GLANDERS.

almost always to assume the acute, generally the acutest form ;
nay, in many instances the typhoid or malignant type : farther
than this I know, of my own experience and reading, no dif-
ference between epidemic or endemic and common glanders.
In the Compte-Rendu of the Royal Veterinarian School at
Alfort, for 1841-2, we find it stated^ that "the number of ani-
mals affected with glanders during the last year has been so
considerable, that glanders may be said to have prevailed, and
still prevails, as an enzootic, in all the environs of Paris. It
has principally appeared among the horses employed in the forti-
fications, who have suffered severely. The form under which
the disease has oftenest shown itself is an acute one.'' — Vete-
rinarian for 1843.

SUB-ACUTE GLANDERS is the variety of most ordinary
occurrence. It commences with the usual signs — slight or
otherwise — of indisposition ; and the disease may — though the
circumstance is a rare one — in the first instance assume the
acute type. Instead, however, of continuing its rapid course,
even after ulceration has displayed itself, both the inflammatory
and ulcerative processes subside down to a state almost of total
inactivity ; the Schneiderian membrane grows pallid, acquires
a leaden hue, and the ulcerations upon it lose their prominent
red-streaked borders, and exchange their rugged bleeding bases
for comparatively smooth and livid bottoms, throwing up a
glass-like reflexion from the lymphy matters covering them.
It is evident, the moment the nose is inspected, that the
disease exists in the sub-acute form : how long it may continue
so is very uncertain ; it will not visibly impair the health, nor
affect the appetite or spirits, so long as it does so remain ; the
moment, however, anything occurs to derange the health, or
even after a certain time — after a month or two, or three —
without any apparent superadded cause, we may expect the
acute disease to supervene, and then the destruction of the
patient's health commences, and speedily is consummated in the
manner already described. Though there be an evident cessa-
tion of the external disease, however, we are by no means cer-
tain that the inward organs — the lungs in particular — are not
all the while affording a nidus for its spreading : in most cases
it is probable this does happen, inasmuch as, whenever death

VAETETIES OP GLANDEKS. 187

has followed from the supervention of the acute disease, we
find those organs in a state of tuberculous disorganization. It
is this apparent cessation of the glanders outwardly, and the
interval during which the disease continues in abeyance, that
has afforded opportunities to experimentalists and hunters-after-
a-cure to make trial of their various nostrums ; and it is the
topical influence some of their remedies have had upon the
secretions, and even upon the ulceration, of the nasal membrane,
that has led so many persons to believe at various times — myself
among the number — that they have discovered the veritable
antidote : no sooner, however, has the fire which has all along
been smouldering within the lungs or head broken out and
shown itself outwardly in the display of acute glanders and
farcy, than the glittering bubble of a cure has burst, and our
darling remedy has to share the fate of those who have gone
before it.

CHRONIC GLANDERS, properly so called, consists simply
in a discharge from the nose, oftener from one nostril than from
both, accompanied by enlargement of the correspondent sub-
maxillary lymphatic gland or glands. Symptomatically, it
differs from the acute and sub-acute diseases in the absence of
anything like inflammation or vascular injection, or chancre, or
in fact of any perceptible change whatever in the aspect of the
Schneiderian membrane denoting morbid activity : all is as
usual in the appearance of parts, and in the animal's health and
spirits and appetite ; nothing whatever seems amiss, save the
flux from the nose and the submaxillary tumefaction. And in
this state, as I have so recently observed, the horse may con-
tinue for years.* Pathologically, also, it diff"ers from the acute
and sub-acute disorders in having for its especial seat the mem-
brane lining the sinuses of the head.f It is possible a chronic

* As is exemplified in Mr. Field's case of Sir P. D.'s horse, given at p. 183.
The disease — which turned out to be chronic glanders — had been known to
have existed three years : how much longer does not appear.

f Some veterinarians assure us a slight prominence is to be felt over the
frontal sinus ; and that tenderness when the part is tapped is evinced by the
patient ; also that the sound elicited by tapping with the knuckle is dull and
obtuse to what it is in the healthy condition. For my own part, however, I
cannot say I have ever derived much information from these (fallacious) tests.

188 VARIETIES OF GLANDEUS.

discharge may proceed from the nasal membrane : I believe,
however, that it rarely does or continues so to do for any length
of time without some discoverable change in the aspect of that
membrane ; and that, although it is quite possible such a case
might, at first, be supposed to be chronic glanders, a little time
would suffice to show whether it really were so or not. If it be
chronic glanders, having for its seat the nasal as well as the
frontal membrane, or to the exclusion even of the latter — a
ver\'- rare case I believe — sooner or later we shall detect the
miliary ulceration, the only ulceration present in this form of
disease, and therefore one truly characteristic of it.

Chronic glanders appears sometimes as the sequel of other
diseases in the air-passages and lungs ; it is more commonly,
however, an idiopathic disease, and one that differs, as much as
one variety of disease can be different from another, from the
acute and sub-acute affections : between the latter there is but
a difference of intensity, whereas the former, be it remembered,
exhibits pathological diflferences. It mostly attacks its victim
in a mild and masked form. The horse is thought to have
caught cold, and no suspicion, perhaps, is aroused to the con-
trary until it comes to be discovered that this " cold^^ is lasting
a great vfhile longer than it ought to endure, and that it has
resisted all the common means of cure. The horse's spirits
and looks and appetite are not in the slightest degree impaired;
he works — or would work — as cheerfully as ever ; but all the
time he has a discharge from one nostril, with an enlargement
of the submaxillary lymphatic gland or glands of the same side.
And although the nasal issue may be of a nature of itself to
excite suspicion, and the enlargement may be such as appears to
strengthen or confirm this suspicion, yet do cases incipient in
their nature too often present themselves, in which it is im-
possible for any practitioner, from these appearances alone, to
determine at once on the nature of the attack. Give time, and
the veterinary surgeon, by watching the progress of the case,
will be enabled to solve the mystery, and at length to demon-
strate beyond any doubt the real nature of the animal's ailment.

Insidious Glanders. — Under this happily-chosen appel-
lation, my friend and schoolfellow, Mr. James Turner, has, in a
paper he read to the Veterinary Society on the subject, in 1830,

VARIETIES OF GLANDERS. 189

describerl, with his ^^sllal accuracy of observation, tlie stealthy
signs by which we may apprehend the approach, or rather sus-
pect the existence of chronic glanders in its early or masked
form. He M'ith truth characterises it as commencino- " iu a
watery discharge from one or both nostrils, more frequently
from one only, generally containing particles of mucus or pus,
at other times assuming the appearance of both ; invariably in
small quantities, but never entirely ceasing, either by night or
day, at rest or in motion;" accompanied by "an indurated
submaxillary gland, enlarged only to the size of a pea or horse-
bean ; frequently loose, and not adherent to the jaw-bone, and,
therefore, presenting no characteristic symptom of the disease
more than we usually meet with in incipient catarrh.'' In
support of the paper, Mr. Turner adduced the following in-
structive—

Case of Insidious Glanders.

"A few years ago, a respectable farmer solicited my opinion respecting a
hackney mare M'hicli he had had some time in full work; telling me that he did
not know there was anytiiing amiss with her, but wished her to be examined.
She was about seven or eight years old, iu sxcellent condition, and had a good
coat. The farmer directed my especial attention to the head, saying that there
had been a discharge from the off nostril for a considerable time, but in so
slight a degree as scarcely to be considered worthy of notice, especially as the
mare was not jugged:^ There was, however, an enlargement of the gland about
the size of a tick-bean, and quite loose. If my attention had not been particu-
larly directed to it, I might have passed it over as not of much importance. I
found that the farmer had had the mare seven or eight months ; that the dis-
charge had existed during the whole time ; and that he had kept her away
from the other farming horses. The farmer wished for a decided opinion
respecting her. I replied, that the mere circumstance of the discharge having
existed for so long a time, led me to suspect she never would be perfectly
sound, and that the farmer would not be justified iu sending her into the
market. Siie was immediately taken to a slaughter-house in the neighbourhood.
While arrangements were making with the collar-maker, a farrier interfered,
and purchased her for three pounds, and triumphantly rode her up the town,
and declared, in no measured terms, that I had committed a grand blunder, and
that he should make a ' complete cure of her.'

" Five or six weeks afterwards I was told that the farrier had nearly ' cured '
the condemned mare. I replied, that, if he had only nearly cured her, luuder-

* A cant term for enlarged submaxillary glands.

190 VARiETIES OP GLANDEES.

stood the state in wliicli she was. A month after this, I was examining the
post-liorses at an inn near London, when I was told that, by some colkision
between the farrier and the ostler, she had been sold into their stables, and was
in excellent condition. On closely examining these post-horses, T detected two
cases of glanders, and two of farcy without glanders ; and this in a stable that
had been occupied ly post-horses for many a year, without a single case of farcy
or glanders. On discovering this, I ordered the black mare out, saying that if
I found her perfectly free from discharge, and with no enlargement of the
submaxillary glands, I would not accuse her as the cause of all this mischief.
She was precisely in the same state as when I first saw her. The first horse
iluit failed was her own partner, and the next stood in the same stable. Those
about the stables were so much mortified by this discovery, that the mare was
immediately afterwards smuggled away ; the infected horses were also removed,
or died. Proper precautions were used with respect to the stables, and no
further disease appeared."

A Case somewhat analogous, with a Result altogether
DIFFERENT, I shall selcct out of my own practice, with a view
of showing, by the two being placed in apposition, the risk the
veterinary practitioner runs of being deceived in any opinion
he may inconsiderately or rashly give at the commencement of
the malady.

A grey mare, cutting her four-year-old teeth, was brought to the First Life
Guards as one of a lot of recruit horses, and was by me examined and passed as
sound and fit for the service. The day after she had been examined, the cor-
poral who had charge of her together with the others — an attendant and
observant man, and well acquainted with the habits of young horses — reported
to me that the grey mare had that morning been discharging blood from her off
nostril. I immediately inspected the nostril, and found some few small coagula
about the ala, with a streak of blood upon the septum, which had also congealed,
there being then no blood actually flowing. The mare was particularly shy
about the head, on which account it was thought by the men, and for the mo-
ment listened to by me, that she might have struck her nose or head. The
third day, in place of blood I found some appearance of matter, very scanty,
but of a yellowish tinge, accompanied by an indistinct feel of lumpiness under
the throat, I had her removed into a box by herself. The fourth day the
discharge had augmented, and become rauco-purulent, with an admixture of
serous liquid, but there was no increase of the submaxillary tumefaction — or
what was taken for such — nor were there, nor had there been from the eom-
niencement, any signs of indisposition, unless occasional cough could be so
considered. The mare fed well, was full of spirits, and would hardly suffer any
one to approach her ; in fact she was so shy, particularly about her head, that
it was deemed inadvisable to attempt to administer any medicine to her ; nor

VAEIETtES OF GLANDERS. 191

was I desirous that any should be given her, being anxious her ailment should
take its natural course. I therefore ordered simply a mash diet and confine-
ment in her box. Two days afterwards the discharge had become considerable ;
it had the straw-colour hue, and clung about the long hairs guarding the nos-
tril, befouling them a good deal, insomuch that those about her called it " a
nasty discharge." The man still afiirming that he heard her cough occasionally
—though nobody else, it seemed, heard it— I had a stimulating liniment rubbed
upon the throttle, but not under the jaw, the submaxillary feeling of lumpiuess
having undergone no alteration. In this state the mare continued for a fort-
night, during which period she kept discharging pretty profusely from the off
nostril, without showing the slightest sign of any issue from the near ; retaining
her appetite and spirits, and only coughing now and then, without showing any
sign whatever of soreness of throat with it. During the third week I had her
nostrils steamed with the vapour of hot water, with a view of eliciting a more
copious discbarge, and it appeared to have that effect ; at the same time I
ordered her diet to be changed from bran-mashes only to two feeds of corn,
daily. On the eighteenth day her discharges, which under the operation of the
steaming had first been augmented, were evidently reduced in quantity ; on the
nineteenth, a further reduction was perceptible ; and on the twenty-first she
was free from any running whatever ; in fact, she was in appearance quite well
again, though still (according to the man's account) keeping the occasional
cough.

The foregoing case is instructive to us from its showing how
closely coryza or simple catarrh (which it was), may resemble
insidious glanders, confined as the nasal flux was during the
whole while to one side : the attendant cough, however, thou^-h
it was but occasional, was favorable, and moreover there was
no very distinct glandular tumefaction. The unfavorable
symptoms being, the haemorrhage from the nose, the offensive
character of the discharge at one time, and the continuance of
it from one to the exclusion of the other nostril.

In Duration hardly any disease can be more uncertain than
chronic glanders. It may continue, simply as a discharge from
one nostril, accompanied by submaxillary glandular enlarge-
ment, with very little or unimportant variation in either, for
months — nay, for years ; on the other hand, it may run in to
the acute in as many weeks. Any person, therefore, having a
horse of this description in his possession can at no period say
how long it may be before the disorder may show itself in an
active, nay, rapidly destructive form. In some cases the nasal
flux, as I said before, runs for a long period with but slight or

193 VARIETIES OF GLANDERS.

unimportant alteration ; in others, in quality as well as quan-
tity, it exhibits most remarkable fluctuations ; at one time
appearing so scanty and trifling as hardly to be worth notice ;
at another, pouring forth in all the abundance of the eruption
of pent-up channels, bringing in its current matters solid as well
as fluid, from the admixture of lymph with muco- or sero-puru-
lent flux, and all of the most fetid nature, in consequence of
having been shut up for a longer or shorter period, and so
undergone a putrefactive fermentation, within the sinuses of the
head. Its colour is very variable, depending upon the nature
of it, and upon the time it has been retained within the sinus :
it may be white, 3'ellow, green, brown, black, according to cir-
cumstances ; its colour being often a sort of guide to us in
respect to its composition and probable duration under confine-
ment.

A Distinction must be made, however, between chronic
glanders and what we are in the habit of calling nasal gleet ;
an aff'ection some horses are known to have either all their
lives, or at certain periods of them. We must not set down
every horse that comes to us for having had for any length of
time, either (more or less) constantly or only at times, a flux
from one or from both nostrils. The membrane clothing the
nasal chambers and sinuses of the head is, the same as other
mucous membranes of the body, liable to derangements in its
functions — to secrete too much or too little, or not of the proper
quality; and therefore the same as the membrane of the human
urethra, it may become the source of gleet, and of gleet of so
long duration that in time it becomes, as it were, habitual,
natural to the secreting apparatus. Tliis is the only way in
which we can account for horses having, at times, discharges from
the nose all their lifetime ; and yet they work, never showing
any glanders : indeed, to those acquainted with them, causing
little or no alarm. The important question for us to consider
is, how are cases of nasal gleet to be distinguished from those
of chronic glanders. In all the cases I have seen, with no ex-
ceptions that I remember, though I do not deny there may be
some — the discharge has consisted of an unusually white mu-
cous or sero-mucous matter, and in several instances has been
remarked to be grumous or lumpy. There is in general no en-

VARIETIES OP GLANDERS. 193

largement under the jaw ; and in this circumstance;, as well as
in the white mucous and grumous nature of the discharge, to-
gether with the history of its origin, when that can be obtained,
may be found pretty safe ground of distinction between nasal
gleet and chronic glanders.*

Beyond any information we can glean from the symptoms,
and such as is to be derived from the history of the case, we have
no means of testing its true nature save through an operation,
or by inoculation of an ass (or another horse) with the discharged
matter. Of these tests we shall speak hereafter.

The unaffected good Health horses having chronic glan-
ders in general enjoy, together with the condition and apparent
aptitude for work they maintain, it is that has given rise to a
fraud often successfully practised at Smithfield and other horse
markets, in days whenglandered horses were more common in the
country than they are at the present time. Three knaves act
in confederacy. The horse, who previously has been made by
some sternutatory means to blow out any matter that might be
lodged in his nose, is by one of them led to the market for
sale, where he is soon sold at a price much below his apparent
value, the purchaser having been persuaded and urged on by a
stander-by — a seeming stranger — who is no other person than
the second confederate. Pleased with his bargain, the pur-
chaser takes him away homeward ; but has no sooner got clear
of the market than he is met by another stranger — the third
confederate — who happens to recognise the horse, and who at
once expresses surprise and dismay that he should have bought
an animal with such a foul and horrible disease upon him ;
adding that the horse ought to be, and must be in obedience to
Act of Parliament, shot without delay ; and in order that the
purchaser may not be at any farther trouble or responsibility,
offers at the same time for a small fee to take the horse of him
" at knacker^s price." In this way the subject of fraud finds
his way back into the hands of his former possessors, and is
soon offered again for sale ; not perhaps in the same market,
but in some other part of the country. The late Captain
Harvey — a gentleman well known as one of the best riders in
the Old Surrey hunt — was cheated in this manner at Bromley

* For an account of nasal gleet, see vol. ii, p. 24-28,
III. 13

194 VARIETIES OP GLANDEKS.

Fair : in his case there was no third confederate. The Captain
thought he had got an excellent hunter for very little money,
with the trifling drawback of his having '* a slight cold in his
head," and brought him the following day to my father for his
advice. The opinion sought proved short and decisive ; — the
horse was " glandered."

The following narrative, taken from the lleport of the Sup-
pression-of-Cruelty Society, will confirm what I have been
saying by way of premonition to the unwary : —

A geutleman passing through Smifchfield Market on Friday the 23d inst.,
observed a man running a very good-looking bay mare up and down the market.
It struck him that the mare would answer his purpose, and he asked the price ;
and was told by the owner, who seemed to be a countryman, that he would
take fifteen sovereigns for her, and not a farthing less, and that he would war-
rant her sound in wind and limb, and in every respect.

The gentleman wished for a reference, and the name of a person at a distance,
of whom he knew nothing, having been given, he expressed dissatisfaction, and
asked whether there was any one in the neighbourhood who would answer for
the character and integrity of the seller. " Oh, yes," said the countryman ;
and he led the way to a public-house in Smithlield Market.

On entering the house he asked the landlord and another person at the bar
whether they knew the countryman, who stated his name to be Brown; to
which they replied in the affirmative, and that he was a perfectly safe man to
deal with. The bargain was then concluded, and the fifteen pounds paid. A
man to lead the horse was easily procured, and he departed with his bargain.

He had, however, scarcely got as far as Snow-lull, when he was surrounded
by a crowd of fellows, who told him that he had bought a glaudered mare, and
offered to rid him of his bargain for a certain sum ; he, however, would have
nothing to do with them, but took the mare home, and, sending for his veterinary
surgeon, found that he had indeed purchased a glandered animal, and that there
was no help for it. Some ill-looking fellows afterwards came to his yard, and
offered to purchase the mare, and he, ashamed of his bargain, sold her to a
butcher-looking fellow for seven pounds.

He went to the next market, and learned that it was quite a common thing
to sell glandered horses, re-purchase them for a small sum, and sell them again
to new flats. While he was talking, he saw the same identical mare with which
he had been duped run up and down for sale, and he heard eighteen pounds
asked for her.

He immediately started in search of the police, but on his return the mare
and her professed owner and purchaser had disappeared. He went immediately
to the police office, and stated all the circumstances, adding that he had no
desire of obtaining redress himself, but he wished to put an end to such rascally

CATTSES OP GiiANBERS. 195

proceedings. The publican was sent for ; he owned that he knew a person of
the name of Brown, but not where he was to be found ; and as for the circum-
stance alluded to, he had no recollection about it. The magistrate ordered him
to appear again on the 2Gtli, and to bring with him the man who was at his
bar when the transaction took place ; observing that a most villainous conspiracy
had long been carried on in Smithfield, which the magistrates were determined
to put down.

THE CAUSES OF GLANDERS

May be considered under the general heads of predis-
posing and EXCITING.

PREDISPOSITION may lurk in breed, in constitution, in
aye ; or it may be generated through the influence of soil,
climate, aliment, &c.

Breed, we have^ I think, pretty satisfactory evidence,
carries with it predisposition to certain diseases : to use a vulgar
but expressive phraseology — " they run in the blood/^ Periodic
ophthalmia is, perhaps, the most striking instance of this j*
roaring, according to many authorities, is another. f Whether
glanders or farcy can be ranked in the class of hereditary
maladies I am not prepared to say : Leblanc hesitates not to
assert that it can. I should certainly give it as my opinion
that insomuch as tender or delicate

Constitutions are inherited by horses, to the same extent
they become predisposed to certain diseases — to those in par-
ticular affecting the respiratory organs, and with these to
glanders ; and the same appear to be the notions of Dupuy,
when he informs us that the " lank, ill-conditioned horse, the
one that is soft in constitution, and soon knocked up at his
work," is the subject the most likely to breed or contract " the
tuberculous affection," as he calls glanders and farcy. Fur-
thermore, a constitution originally strong and resistant may be
reduced to a weak or '^ ill-conditioned," susceptible state, by
bad keep, over-work, exposure to cold and wet, &c. ; or through
the failure of any of its principal organs, especially of the
lungs. Constitutional predisposition may, therefore, prove to
be either natural or acquired.

* See part i, vol. iii, of the ' Hippopathology,' p. 90, et sequent.
f See vol. ii of the ' Hippopathology,' p. 49.

196 CAUSES OP GtANDEES.

Age, we well know, has considerable influence in predis-
posing horses to take disease of the air-passages — to take
catarrh, bro^icJiitis, strangles, glanders : we have no reason,
however, to suppose that this influence is operative in the case
of glanders in particular ; for the same reason that a young
horse is more likely to catch a cold than an old one, for the
same reason, should he go within the reach of the exciting
causes of glanders, he may be considered as especially predis-
posed to that disease. Out of forty cases of farcy and glanders
occurring in the Ordnance, under the superintendence of my
father, and, latterly, of myself, the ages of which happen to be
registered, one was three-years-old, one four-years-old, four
five-years-old, six in their sixth year, six in their seventh, six
in their eighth, five in their ninth, eleven ten-ycars-old and
upwards. Consequently, so far as this brief account goes, the
adult and middle ages appear to suffer most from the
disease.

Certainly, at no age are horses to be regarded as exempt from
taking glanders. Latour relates the case of a foal that exhi-
bited discharge from the nose and enlarged glands under the
throat at its birth, which, in ten days afterwards, was followed
by ulceration. Legand, the V.S. to the Tenth (French) Chas-
seurs, has also given, in the Yetekinarian for 18,28, an account
of a glandered mare that brought forth a foal free from disease
at birth, but which eight days afterwards commenced running
at both nostrils, and on the sixth day Jifter that (the fourteenth
from its birth) died from suffocation. A horse belonging to the
Artillery, destroyed for glanders in the year 1816, was twenty-
four years old. Another, a very fine, old, milk-white horse, a
great favorite with Colonel Quist, at that day in command of
the Riding-House Department at Woolwich, was shot on
account of glanders in 1818, after a servitude under the colonel
of sixteen years, and being supposed to have completed the
twenty-fifth year of his age. Aged horses labouring under
chronic disease of the lungs are very apt to have glanders and
farcy break out and put an end to their days : indeed in such
subjects it almost appears as one of the ordinary modes of
terminating life.

The following statistic of a French cavahy regiment, which

CAUSES or GLANDERS. 197

we glean from D'Arboval,* is instructive on this head. Out of
134 horses dead from glanders, only five had not attained their
fifth year ; sixteen being between the ages of five aud six, thirty-
one between those of six and seven, twenty-seven between seven
and eight, the same number between eight and nine, eighteen
between nine and ten, and seven only after the age of ten :
making, however, altogether but 131 instead of 134. Of 1634
remount horses, most of them five-year-olds, received by another
French regiment in the course of eleven years, 396 were lost
from glanders, viz. six three-year-olds, forty-five four-year-olds,
ninety-eight five-year-olds, ninety-seven six-year-olds, ninety-
nine seven-year-olds, and fifty-one eight-year-olds. In a third
French regiment, the total number of glandered horses during
a period of nine years amounted to 167, of which the ages of
111 varied from five to nine years.

These statements tend to confirm the deduction I ventured
to draw from my own comparatively limited experience, that
glanders was especially a disease of the adult and middle ages ;
at the same time they appear to put us in possession of another
important fact, which is, that the mortality from glanders in the
French cavalry is much greater, in proportion to the numbers,
than it is in our own. Of British cavah-y regiments serving in
England, Scotland, and Ireland, whose combined strength may
be, in round numbers, computed to be 5500 horses, I am
informed by the principal veterinary surgeon, Mr. Cherry, there
have been thirty-two horses destroyed for glanders, and fifteen
for farcy, in two years and a half. In my own regiment, as I
said on a former occasion, glanders has shown itself but once
during the seventeen years I have served, and that happened
under peculiar incidental circumstances.

In respect to Climate and Soil, it would appear that
glanders is a rare disease in cold and one absolutely unknown
in hot cHmates, in Arabia and Africa, to which, I believe, we
may add India; my cousin, Mr. Charles Percivall, having
informed me that, during his eight years' residence in Bengal,
while serving in the Ilth Light Dragoons, quartered at Meerut
and Cawnpoore, he had not seen a single case either of farcy or
glanders. M. Saunier, veterinary surgeon to the King of
* ' Dictiounaire Veteriuaire ;' under article " Morve."

198 CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

Portugal, assured Dupuy tliat no case of glanders had occurred,
to his knowledge, during the thirty years he had been living at
Lisbon. This was prior to the occupation of that country by
British troops. At the time of the Peninsular campaign
everybody in our army knew that both farcy and glanders pre-
vailed to a great extent, and particularly among the mules that
were in our employ as bat animals. To what such dread
changes were owing — why a country at one time said to be free
from any such disease should, some years afterwards, become,
as it were, the very focus of contamination — is a fact which, if
I mistake not, may prove of some importance to us in the in-
vestigation we are about to make into the exciting causes of
glanders.

Wet and Cold are at all times prejudicial to horses' consti-
tutions, and especially to those either very young or very old ;
and though the better their feed the less they are likely to suffer
under such exposure, yet will these agents predispose and be
very apt to lay the foundation for pulmonary, mesenteric, and
glandular disease, which, in the end, will produce farcy and
glanders.

Before we proceed to the consideration of the second class of
causes, viz.

THE EXCITING CAUSES, it will be well for us to inform
ourselves of the opinions of such veterinary Avriters, foreign as
well as British, as appear to have paid much attention to the
subject, and particularly to that all-important branch of it,
contagion ; a branch which, at one period of time, has had sup-
porters on all sides, while at another it has been left almost
without any. These I shall arrange in the order of the date of
their respective works.

SoLLEYSELL, 1669, pronouuced glanders to be "the most con-
tagious distemper to which horses are obnoxious ; for not only,^^
says he, " does it communicate its venom at a small distance,
but it infects the very air, and seizes on all horses that are
under the same roof with him that languishes from it." —
" There are (however) several kinds of glanders, some of which
are not so extremely infectious as others ; though there are none
that ought not to be suspected."*

* 'The Compleat Horseman:' Hope's Translation, second edition, 1717.

CAUSES OF GLANDERS. 199

De Saunier, 1734, regards glanders as highly contagious;
and commands that the mangers, racks, &c. of glandered stables
be destroyed. He thinks there are forms in which the disease
is communicable even at a considerable distance.*

Lafosse, senior, 1749, is said to have been a non-con-
tagionist ; ' and, so far as making out seven kinds of glanders
and admitting but one out of the seven to be contagious, he
certainly was so. This one contagious species of his, it must,
however, be remembered, was farcy-glanders ; the very species
we of the present day call true or confirmed glanders ; and so,
according to these views, Lafosse did not deny the contagious-
ness of glanders, although he held the opinion that the disease
rarely arose out of such a cause.

BouRGELAT, 1765, the founder of the French Veterinary
School at Lyons, evidently entertained notions opposite to those
of Lafosse. He thought that horses exposed to contagion did
not at all times take the disease. His words are, " according
to the acridity of the virus of glanders, as well as according to
the greater or less disposition of the sound horses to take it,
will be its contagious effects ; and sometimes no such con-
sequences will follow.'' This opinion, remarks Gohier, from
whom this account is taken, is conformable to the observation
of the present day.f

GuERiNiERE, 1769, concurs in belief with Solleysell, that
glanders may readily be propagated within stables through the
medium of the atmosphere.^

Garsault, 1770, is of opinion that the malady will be caught
by licking the discharges from a glandered horse.§

DuTz, 1773, a Dutch veterinary writer, published some
observations leading to the inference that the contagiousness of
glanders was matter of doubt.

Lafosse, junior, 1775, was an affectionate copyist of his
father. II

* * Parfaite Connoissance des Chevaux.'
t L'Abbe Rozier's ' Dictiouuaire d'Agriculture Pratique.'
% ' Ecole de Cavalerie, couteuant ]a Connoissance, I'lustruction, ct la Con-
servation dii Cheval,' 1769.

§ 'Le Nouveau Parfait Marechal,' 1770.

II ' Dictionnaire Raisonne d'Hippiatrique,' &c., 1775.

200 CAUSES OF GLANDEES.

ViTET, 1783. — "Should a sound horse be made to live with
one virulently glandered, he would soon take the disease. In
mules the disease makes great ravages, and is readily commu-
nicable. It is more contagious in summer and in hot stables
than in winter or out-of-door situations. Some farriers think
a horse cannot take the disease without mediate or immediate
contact ; others maintain a contrary opinion, saying they have
witnessed foals glandered who have never been near an infected
horse. In such a case, might not the farrier or groom convey
the disease ? It is sufficient for its transmission that a man or
a dog touches the glandered subject. Even the air may, within
a certain distance, prove the medium of contagion. There is,
however, reason to believe, from an infinity of experience, that
the poison of glanders is not communicable, save through its
coming into immediate contact with the membrane lining the
bronchial tubes, through air charged with the glanderous mole-
cules, or through eating or drinking. Introduce glandered
matter into a wound in the skin of a horse in good health, and
he will not turn glandered.'^*

VoLPi, Veterinary Professor at Milan, makes the bold
assertion that glanders " is caused by contagion alone -," and
adds that " the opinion of those who pretend that this for-
midable disorder is not in its commencement contagious, but
may become so during its progress, is certainly erroneous. This
opinion has led some young veterinarians to believe that
glanders is not contagious j and I know one,^' continues Volpi,
" who, coming to a regiment impressed with this notion,
neglected to segregate glandered horses ; and the consequence
was, the disorder became general.^' " A troop horse that had
a cataract, but was in other respects sound, was sent to the
Veterinary School at Milan, to have an operation performed on
his eye. The horse was put into a stable along with some
glandered horses, the disease not being, by the operating sur-
geon, believed to be contagious. After the result of the ope-
ration was known, the horse was returned to his rrgiment, and,
in about two months from his joining, became glandered/^f
White, of our own country, a man who bestowed a good

* * Medecine Veterinaire,' vol. ii, 3 783.

t Taken from White's 'Treatise on terinary Medicine.'

CAUSES OP GLANDERS. 201

deal of pains on researches into the causes and nature of glanders,
tells us, " Volpi is the only author he has met with who asserts
that both glanders and farcy originate in contagion only. I
have long/' he continues, "held this opinion," And in
another place : " It is now twenty-six years since I have been
devoting a considerable share of my attention to this
subject. ''*

Professor Gohier, of the Royal Veterinary School at
Lyons, in 1813, from some experiments he instituted with a
view of ascertaining in what different ways glanders could be
communicated, received the following results : —

" Firstly : that of two horses, a mare, and three asses, upon
whose pituitary membranes glandered matter had been smeared
or injected ; in the three asses glanders appeared from the sixth
to the ninth day — and that one died on the tenth, one on the
eleventh, and the other on the fifteenth day ; that one of the
two horses had tumefied submaxillary glands on the fifth day
and chancres on the thirteenth, but without discharge ; and
that the other had swollen glands on the fourth day, which, by
the eighteenth, had been followed by confirmed glanders :
lastly, that the mare had swollen glands on the fourth day,
and, on the ninth, chancres ; and that both remained sta-
tionary until the twenty-ninth, the day on which she was
destroyed.

" Secondly : that of two horses, two mares, and two asses,
placed in communication with animals confirmedly glandered,
both horses escaped contamination, although one had been
there a month, the other two months ; but of the two mares,
one showed symptoms of glanders on the tenth day, the other
on the twelfth day ; the disease making progress in the one,
tardy in the other. Of the two asses, one became glandered
on the eighteenth day, and perished on the forty-first ; the
other remained a month in the stable with the glandered
horses without manifesting any sign whatever of having caught
the disease.

" Thirdly : that of two horses, a mule, one male and two
female asses, on whom were put halters and clothing taken off
glandered horses, and who wore them from six to fourteen days,
* ' A Treatise ^^ Veterinary Medicine,' seventh edition.

202 CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

one of the two asses presented on the fourth day well-marked
symptoms of glanders, of which it died on the sixth, but that
the five other animals escaped contamination.

" Fourthly : that of two horses, a mare, a mule, and an ass,
upon the borders of whose nostrils, and upon the sides of the
necks, the virus of glanders had been inserted, almost all had,
where punctures had been made around their noses, spreading
ulcerations, preceded by a good deal of tumefaction of the parts,
and accompanied by some swelling of the submaxillary lym-
phatic glands.

" Fifthly : that a mule, three asses, and an ass foal, into
whose submaxillary intervals wounds were made, in which were
insinuated, and by suture maintained, lymphatic glands, excised
from the same parts in glandered horses, not one of them
experienced any symptom of glanders ; but the young ass died
on the sixth day, from a large submaxillary ulceration, and con-
sequent tumefaction of the parts about the throat, which ended
in every symptom of suffocation.

" Sixthly : that of two horses, a mare, a mule, and two asses,
into the jugular veins of each of which he injected from a
kilogram and a half to three kilograms of blood, drawn from
either the jugulars or carotids of glandered horses, not one
became affected with glanders ; though they all died from the
first to the fifth day after transfusion."

" One might object, that, as most of these experiments were
made on aged animals, or such as Avere worked down in con-
dition, or reduced from bad feeding, &c., the deductions from
them were not equally valid with what they would have been,
had the subjects been young, and in the enjoyment of their full
strength. There is some foundation, no doubt, for such
objections ; but for such experiments we had no other subjects
than such as were purchased by the pupils for dissection ;
and out of them I made choice of those in best condition,
and such as were free from any malady. And further, all
such as were selected were, while under experiment, well fed,
it being an object to prolong their life to the period desired.

" Neither colour nor sex appeared to have any influence in
these experiments. And in all the subjects that became
glandered, the discharge has been nearly the same from both

CAUSES OF GLANDERS. 203

nostrils, with this diflFerence, that it almost always appeared,
as well as the tumefaction of the glands and the chancres,
somewhat earlier on the left than on the right side of the
head.

" The preceding Experiments leave the contagion of
glanders no longer a matter of doubt. By contagious matter
applied to the nasal membrane, it is proved to be communi-
cable, and more readily to asses than to horses. In other
ways, however, such as through cohabitation, the employment
of articles or utensils used by glaudered animals, or the intro-
duction of glandered matter into wounds made in other parts
of the body, the disease is by no means so readily commu-
nicable; and as for the transplantation of diseased lymphatic
glands and transfusion, the disease does not appear to be pro-
ducible at all in either of such ways ; although, in regard to the
latter, some veterinarians have maintained the contrary .^^*

Fromage Defeugre, 1815, the presumed author of " Morve,^^
in Rozier's ' Dictionnaire d'Agriculture,^t &c., tells us that he,
at one time, " fell into the popular opinion of glanders being a
contagious disease, and even went so far as to prescribe means
for its prevention : at the present time, however/^ continues
this author, '' from a multitude of observations I have made
personally, I believe that glanders is not contagious. It origi-
nates in one horse, as in a great number, from individual pre-
disposition, from aliments, from work, from habitation. I have
seen the disease attack a number of horses on a sudden from
having fed on damaged hay ;" " or having eaten ship corn that
has speared, and had afterwards lime mixed with it, to make it
appear dry." — " Horses that dealers call rotten will also have
it ;" and " certain waters will produce it ;'■" — " heating ali-
ments, overwork in posting and coaching establishments ;^' —
" catching cold from standing while overheated ;" — " immer-

* ' Memoires et Observations sur la Chirurgie et la Medecine Veterinaires,'
par J. B. Goliier, Professeur d'Operations et de Maladies a I'Ecole Imperiale
Veterinaire de Lyon, torn, iii, 1813.

t The article " Morve " Las the signature (P) affixed to it in the Dictionary ;
and from Fromage Defeugre being the only one among the authors given in
the title-page whose name begins with F, we take him to be the writer of the
article in question.

204 CAUSES OP GLANDERS.

sion ia cold water, riversj &c/^ — '^ Sometimes the disease
appears as the sequel of neglected catarrh, strangles, quittor,
canker, mange, water farcy treated by repercussives. The dis-
ease has been known to break out in stables through or near
which common sewers or infected streams of water have run/'
— " Marasmus is sometimes the precursor of glanders : it may
also arise from wounds penetrating the nasal bones, or frontal,
zigomatic, or maxillary sinuses ; from carious molar teeth :
though, in this case, it entirely depends upon local lesion/'

DupuY, 1817, states in one of his corollaries, '' That almost
all veterinarians have adopted the idea of contagion ; though
some few have advanced an opposite opinion." And in the
one following : " that I (Dupuy) know of no well-conducted
experiments in favour of contagion ; whereas there are some
against it."*

Coleman, who barely admitted the contagiousness of glan-
ders, will best have his opinions on the subject set forth, in his
own happy way of expressing them, by the following extract
from his Lectures. f

'^ The disease has been long known to be contagious, to be
communicable through the medium of contaminated stables,
and by inoculation ; hence it has been concluded that it had
no other origin but contamination. Most physiologists, indeed,
have supposed that contagious diseases could not arise from
any other cause ; and there are certainly some animal poisons
whose operation appears to favour this hypothesis ; but, in
prosecuting our investigations, it would seem that every such
poison is governed in its operation by certain laws peculiar to
itself: as different medicines produce different eflfects, so the
different poisons of contagious diseases appear to possess pecu-
liar properties, though the diseases themselves all in common
admit of propagation by contagion. There are several diseases
affecting the human subject, that, according to general opinion,
can only be generated by contagion; such are syphilis, small-
pox, measles, and hooping-cough. When a person has con-
tracted any one of these diseases, it is said that he has been
in the vicinity of contagion or infection ; and it may be im-

* 'De I'AfFection Tuberculeuse, vulgairement appclcc ' Morve,' &c. &c.,' 1817.
f Published ia tiie third volume of my 'Lectures on the Veterinary Art.'

OATTSES OF GLANDERS. 205

possible to prove^ beyond all suspicion^ the contrary ; but,
what was it that first bred these disorders ? Not contagion ;
but a combination of certain causes ; and^ being once engen-
dered_, they became contagious. We have examples of this in
jail and ship fevers^ and in dysentery : these^ once generated,
become contagious ; notwithstanding no such cause could pos-
sibly give them origin. Itch, the Professor believes, is often
produced in the absence of contagion : it is bred in personal
uncleanliness. Why, tiien, may not hooping-cough, smallpox,
&c., arise spontaneously, i. e. from the same causes which
originally produced them ? Those who are most conversant
in the habits and diseases of horses now know, that glanders,
although demonstrably contagious, much more frequently arises
from other causes : it is a disease that rarely or never spreads
among horses at pasture, though a glandered subject may have
been grazing among them ; for we learn from experiment that,
although the disease is communicable by contact, the poisonous
matter must be applied to a part bare of hair, and that, even
then, the chances are in favour of the animal escaping infec-
tion unless the part have previously been, or happen to be in
the act, abraded."

" There are two casual experimental results by which prac-
titioners, in investigating this subject, have suffered their judg-
ment to be misled, and thence have come to erroneous con-
clusions. The one is, that, because a horse has been subjected
without effect to inoculation, ergo, the animal from whom the
matter of infection was taken cannot be glandered ; the other,
that, because the former became glandered, ergo, the latter
must of necessity have the disease. Two circumstances are
absolutely and indispensably necessary for the production of a
disease by contagion ; — the application of the poison, and the
susceptibility of the animal or part to which it is applied.
You may inoculate without success from insusceptibility of
the inoculated subject, on the same principle that you may
administer the same doses of aloes to two horses, and effect
violent purgation in one, but make no impression upon the
other. It is by no means uncommon to see persons inoculated
for cow-pox and smallpox without effect : the explanation of
which is, that they are not susceptible of that degree of

206 CAUSES OP GLANDERS.

poisonous excitatiou at that particular period. Again, it has
been argued that a disease could uot be glanders from which
a horse recovered, even though it showed every characteristic
outward sign of glanders. But the very groundwork of this
position is untenable : the Professor has seen (and so have I)
several cases of spontaneous cure from chronic glanders ; and
evidence may be brought forward of recovery even from acute
glanders combined with farcy .^'

" So far from contagion being the ordinary cause of
glanders, the Professor estimates that not one horse in a thoU"
sand, or even in ten thousand, so receives the disease. The
poison of glanders is bred and diffused in an atmosphere ren-
dered impure by repeated respiration, and by gaseous impreg-
nations from the dung, urine, and perspiration, emitted in hot
and foul stables. No vital being, neither animal nor vege-
table, can maintain life in the total absence of pure air ; and,
according as an animal is from nature habituated to purity, so,
generally speaking, it would seem that he suflFers from atmo-
spherical contamination. There are several sorts of vegetables
that cannot be grown (at least to perfection) in the vicinity of
London, in consequence, we believe, of the impurities con-
tinually floating in the atmosphere ; whereas, there are animals,
such as rats and mice, and we may add bats, who enjoy health
in the most confined and noisome situations. Man can with-
stand a contaminated or poisonous atmosphere, it would appear
from his habits, much better than the horse : we join house to
house, form villages, towns, and large cities ; and we live thus
crowded together with seeming innocuousness : still, to obtain
specimens of well-grown forms and robust health, we must go
into the country and select them from among the husbandmen ;
for in large and populous towns instances are always presenting
themselves of rickets, scrofula, consumption, &c."

'' The horse is an animal destined by nature to breathe an
atmosphere of the purest kind ; in proof of the salubrity of
which to him, suffer him to remain in his native fields, and he
will live long and ail nothing. But, bring him once into a
state of domesticity, place him in a confined situation, in which
he is compelled to breathe air that has been already respired,
not only by himself but perhaps by other horses also, air im-

CAUSES OF GLANDERS. 207

pregnatcd with the exhalations from the urine, dung, and per-
spiration, and you sacrifice him a victim to mahgnant and fatal
maladies. And none of our domestic animals, no more than
horses, can tolerate this with impunity. If poultry are kept
in a confined place, they breed what is called the 'pip^ which
proves a very destructive disease among them. Hogs, under
similar circumstances, engender the husk, a species of pul-
monary phthisis. Even plants, unless they are occasionally
supplied with fresh and pure air, will wither away and die in
our greenhouses. Tiiese morbid consequences arise not from
any deficiency in the vital or oxygenous part of the air ; for, it
is found by experiment, that there is proportionably as much
oxygen in the closest alley in London as in that which encom-
passes the hills of Highgate. No ! these deleterious effects
are ascribable solely to the animal poisons contained in the
atmosphere, which are not only inhaled with the breath, but
probably taken in with the food also ; be that as it may, how-
ever, through one or both these channels the poison becomes
absorbed into the system, corrupts the whole circulating mass,
and breaks out in local forms in various susceptible parts of
the body. Therefore it is, that, in the degree in which a stable
is foul and heated, from want of ventilation, we find its inhabi-
tants the subjects of glanders, farcy, ophthalmia, &c. We
seldom receive these cases from gentlemen's stables, because
in general they are well constructed, and kept clean, and do
not contain many horses; but in collieries, breweries, post-
houses, coach establishments, &c., where the stables are filthy
from the dung and urine which stagnate in cavities in the
pavement, for want of proper sewers to carry them off, and
where the men are suffered to add to the mischief by plugging
up every air crevice they can find, we are continually wit-
nessing the ravages of these very formidable diseases. Farmers'
stables, though no better or even worse in their construction,
do not appear to turn out so many glandered subjects ; a fact
that admits of reconciliation with what has been advanced,
from the circumstances of their stables being in general very
capacious, and many of them in too ruinous a state to admit
of exclusion of the external air. The Professor was first led
to adopt this notion of the spontaneous origin of glanders and

208 CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

farcy from an occurrence in our cavalry service which came to
his knowledge. Many years ago (I believe about 1796) there
"was an extensive encampment on Dover heights, from which
the horses could not be removed until the autumnal season
was far advanced, in consequence of the stables intended for
their reception not being in a state of readiness. Now, these
stables were newly erected ones, notwithstanding which, great
numbers of the horses, though previously in perfect health,
soon after entering them, became diseased : the greater pro-
portion contracted grease, but several were attacked with
glanders and farcy. He has since also received peculiarly
satisfactory evidence of this in two memorable instances, in
which stables that were hot and foul, and had from time to
time turned out several glandered horses, were rendered equally
salubrious with others adjoining them by proper ventilation
and attention to cleanliness/'

" By this time we shall have received some striking illustra-
tions of what was advanced in the outset, that every animal
poison is regulated in its operation by its own peculiar laws :
were it not, most wisely, so ordained, the whole animal creation
must long before now have been exterminated. If man had
been susceptible of contracting diseases from horses, oxen, hogs,
sheep, dogs, ^'C, and these animals, in their turn, could have
taken human disorders, all must have lived only to act their
dreadful parts in the work of universal devastation."

" We now come to the relation of that celebrated experiment
of the Professor's, by which not only the contagious, but the
constitutional nature of glanders is proved beyond all doubt
and idle speculation — that experiment which goes to disprove
the assumption of Mr. Hunter, that the blood itself was never
diseased. Of a horse affected with acute glanders, the Professor
laid bare the carotid artery and jugular of the same side, aifd
round each vessel placed a ligature. A pipe furnished with a
stop-cock was then inserted and fastened into the artery, which
was made to communicate through the medium of an elastic
tube — an ureter, I believe — with another pipe introduced into
the jugular vein of an ass ; this animal having been previously
bled until he had fallen from exhaustion. In this manner blood
was conveyed from the artery of the horse into the vein of the

CAUSES OF GLANDERS. 209

ass until the latter evinced signs of perfect resuscitation. A
circumstance occurred, however, in the revival of the assj which^
though it did not affect the issue of the experiment, may serve
as a warning to future experimentalists ; and that was, that in
consequence, as it was thought, of transfusing more blood than
was requisite, the ass appeared puffed out or swollen in every
part of its body : the tumefaction was, however, relieved iu four
or five days, in the course of which time the animal became
glandered in a most virulent degree ; and to prove that his dis-
ease really was glanders, other asses were inoculated from this
one, and they all, without a single exception, shared the same
fate. The blood lost by the horse was not sufficient to deprive
him of vitality."*

Smith, 1818, as a non-contagionist, stands iu the same rank
with Dupuy and Coleman. " Having been taught," he says,
"at a very early period of life, to believe that glanders is a dis-
ease highly infectious, and holding my preceptor (this could not
be Coleman) in great estimation, I received his opinions on the
subject with implicit confidence." Farther, Mr. Smith states
in his preface, that, in offering the result of his experience, he
has no wish to allure any into fatal security, by inducing them
to permit the diseased subject to remain with one that is per-
fectly free from it." — The "causes of glanders" Mr. Smith
enumerates to be, — 1. General debility. — II. A previous
DISEASE. — III. Breathing an impure air. — IV. Exposure

TO A current of COLD AIR, OR BEING PERMITTED TO DRINK
COLD WATER WHEN HOT. V. A SUDDEN TRANSITION FROM COLD

TO HEAT, and VICE VERSA. — VI. INFECTION. The first three
of these Mr. Smith regards as predisposing causes; the
latter three being exciting causes. " General debility may
be considered as the forerunner of every disease, the system
being thereby rendered more susceptible to morbid impressions."
" Glanders is frequently produced by a variety of other dis-

* " No proofs can be more conclusive than those which the Professor
(Coleman) adduces of the contagious poison in question affecting the mass of
blood, and producing ill-efFects through this medium, viz., the production of
the disease in one animal by the inoculation with the matter of secretion, and
in another by transfusion into its veins of the fluid from which such secretion is
formed." (Travers' 'Inquiry concerning Constitutional Irritation.'
III. 14

210 CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

eases." — '^ I have seen the mucous membrane ulcerated^ the
bone carious, and all the characteristic symptoms of glanders
produced by the cut of a sabre. I have also seen one case in
"which glanders was produced from the effects of a severe fall,
by which the frontal sinuses were perforated. In another, the
OS frontis laid entirely bare, and the concussion so violent as
to excite a copious discharge of mucus and pus from the nos-
trils : and in another, the same symptoms produced by a blow
on the superior part of the nasal bones." In stables ill venti-
lated, wherein " a great number of horses stand together, espe-
cially in barrack-stables'' — "the same air is re-inspired until
it becomes a 2)iitrid vapour, totally unfit for supporting health ;
and though it is not so entirely divested of vital air as to occa-
sion immediate death, yet, heiny in part deficient of this essen-
tial jjrinciple, the functions of the secreting organs soon become
imperfect : hence succeed languor and debility, the usual pre-
cursors of every disease ; and, if the cause be not removed,
farcy, glanders, atrophy, and death, inevitably follow,'' Of the
exciting causes, ^^ exposure to cold when hot may be considered "
one ; and this combined with the predisposition induced by
" the heat and impurity of the stables " — '' perhaps more fre-
quently produce not glanders only, but every other disease that
prevails amongst horses in the army." In respect to '' change
of temperature " — '' I have always," says Mr. Smith, " found
glanders to prevail during a campaign ;'^ — " and I have always
found,''' he adds, " that when the greatest heat prevailed in the
course of the day, the nights cool, and the fogs more copious
and heavy, that diseases amongst the horses were also most
prevalent." — Of " infection," Mr. Smith says, " as only two
cases of inoculation with the matter of glanders performed on
the horse have fallen under my observation, in neither of which
was the disease produced, I do not state this on personal know-
ledge, but merely suppose it probable, from common report.
/ grant that the disease may be propagated by inoculation, and^
of course, admit that a glandered horse may communicate the
disease to another, when they stand together : but, as I have
never seen one case of glanders that could, with any degree of
certainty, be traced to infection as its origin, while, on the con-
trary, the real cause was generally easily discovered, if not self-

CAUSES OP GLANDERS. ^U

evident, it has long appeared to me, that, where one case of
glanders proceeds from infection, tiinety-nine are produced by the
causes just enumerated.^'' ^'^ This will be more manifest, if we
eonsider that glanders is a local disease, and cannot be com-
municated by effluvia, but that its propagation must be accom-
plished by the absorption of its virus. It is very well known
that the cow-pox is transferred from one animal to another by
inoculation, yet it is universally allowed to be not infectious.*
The lues venerea is also conveyed from one person to another
by the absorption of its virus ; but there is no instance where
it has given the infection by a vapour. f And the reason
assigned for this is, that it is considered as a local disease,
affecting particular parts." — " Now there is no disease incident
to an animal that is more local and specific than chronic
glanders. I have seen an instance where the surface occupied
by the disease could have been covered by the end of the
thumb ; and in many others, the whole circumference of the
diseased surface did not exceed three inches. From this cir-
cumstance, and the numerous instances I have seen of horses
that have stood with those really glandered escaping the dis-
ease, and of others, being affected with it where no infection
could possibly be traced, I am decidedly of opinion the disease
cannot be communicated by effluvia ; but that, in order to propa-
gate it, it is necessary that the matter discharged from the
nostrils be applied to the action of the absorbents in its most
recent state, for which purpose a perforation must be previously
made through the skin ; and in this way most of the animal
poisons, the vaccine virus, the poison of the viper, the saliva of
the dog, &c., are introduced into the system ; that is, either
with the point of the lancet, the teeth of the animal, accidental
wounds, or excoriation. If the mucus issuing from the nostrils
of the horse be so infectious as it is generally supposed, how is
it that those animals which have access to the places where
they stand, and in which they are frequently confined, escape
the disease ? — especially dogs, who also feed on such horses
immediately after death, when the noxious influence of the
matter retained in the nostrils must be greater than after it has

* 'Ediuburgli lleview.'

t Hunter on the ' Venereal Disease.'

2li CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

remained for years in a stable. It is very well known, that
horses are affected Avitli hydrophobia when bitten by a mad dog.
It is reasonable, therefore, to suppose that, if glanders were
equally contagious, the disease would be equally reciprocal.
It is a fact well known, that the cow-pox is transferred to the
milkers from having wounds or excoriations on their hands ;
and / have frequently had my hands scratched by the diseased
bones in dissecting the heads of ylandered horses, and covered
ivith matter, but never found the least inflammation excited, or
any other ill effects produced ; and I have often applied it to
dogsivith the same result.'' Mr. Smith argues "the improba-
bility of one horse infecting another,'^ from the hair with which
the animal is " completely covered ;'" it being known that rabid
saliva is wiped off the teeth by a woollen garment so as to pre-
vent infection, and, moreover, that the matter of glanders be-
comes soon dry and as hard as glue. " And if there is so little
probability of this poison being conveyed into the system in
the most fluid state, how can it be communicated to it after
having remained on the surface of a rack, in the crevice of a
manger, or in a hole in the wall, for months or years, as is
commonly reported ? This appears equally absurd and in-
credible as it is for one horse to communicate the disease to
another when fifteen or twenty miles apart.^' — '' But, it may
be objected, that, although the mucus has become dry and
solid, may not the breath and saliva of the animal render it
again fluid, that it may be taken up by the absorbents ?^^ But,
if tliis were the case, "the lips, and not the nostrils, would
always be the first part affected," — ''which very rarely happens.''
And altliough the nasal membrane is so much exposed, yet has
it " greater power of resisting the action of any morbid poison,"
from its being "a secreting surface ;" "therefore the ulceration
observed in the membrane in this disease does not appear to be
jjroduced by the absorption of a poison." — " I have in a variety
of instances seen one horse lick the nostrils of another that
was glandered clean with his tongue, but never saw ulcers pro-
duced by it, either on the lips or tlie tongue." — ''I have
known horses of a brigade of cavalry perfectly free from the
disease for a long time prior to their taking the field, yet before
they had been encamped iivo months some of them became glaU'

CAUSER OP GLANDERS. 213

dered, although they stood on ground where no horses had
been for many months^ perhaps years^ before." " From whence
did the disease proceed ? Was it contagion ? * Most certainly,'
say its advocates.^' "When at Longford, I was informed by

General of some French authors' having asserted that,

when the Duke of Marlborough took Lisle from the French,
the glanders broke out there among the horses with such viru-
lence that the stables were obliged to be shut up ; that they
remained so for thirty years ; but, from the circumstance of
another war, they were again opened, and then, from the in-
fection having — as they affirm — remained in the stables all
that time, the horses that were put into them became imme-
diately glandered." Mr. Smith laughs at the idea of ascribing
this to contagion — the matter of which, " had it been brass
instead of mucus or pus, must have been reduced to ashes long
before the expiration of this period " — but assigns the true
cause to be " the want of the vivifying principle " — oxygen ;
whence alone, in his opinion, " sprung all the diseases which
those writers asserted to be the effect of contagion.'' "When
the regiment — the Second Dragoon Guards — returned from
the Continent in 1795, in consequence of contrary winds, the
horses were kept on board ship upwards of seven weeks, during
which time many of them became glandered, and others died
without any symptom of this disease. Now, as one of the ships
in which the disease prevailed had never been in the transport
service before, and consequently these were the first horses
that had ever been in her hold, whence did the disease proceed?
Could it have arisen from the bottom of the North Sea? in the
month of December ? " — " It was the depth of the hold in
some of them, the obstruction of the air by the forage, &c.,
the removing of the wind-sails, and the covering up of the
hatchways, that indubitably rendered the ships so extremely
injurious and fatal to the horses, and produced effects similar,
in some degree, to those too frequently experienced in mines
and other subterraneous situations. " Another striking illus-
tration is afforded by the following narrative :

" A stable at LongforJ, conlaiuing forty-two troop horses, was so con-
structed that the air could find ingress only by the doors and windows at the
two ends. "This did not, however, admit a sufficiency to support such a

214 CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

number of Iioiscs in licaltli ; both glanders and farcy consequently prevailed
amongst them. That the disease was positively occasioned by the absence of
pure air, the follovring circumstance will fully jn-ove : — The first troop of the
regiment that occupied this stable entered on the 19th March, ISOI, and con-
tinued in it until the Soil July, during which period some of its best horses
became glandercd ; but no sooner had this troop left the stable than the disease
disappeared from among them ; but still continued its ravages in the troop
that succeeded it until the 18th January, 1805, when the glass windows fixed
above the doors were taken down, and lower ones put up in their stead ; and
four large tubes, two on each side, were at the same time introduced into the
wall, which tubes ascended obliquely through the roofs of the shed-stables. Six
points of communication with the atmosphere being thus opened, the cause
of the disease was removed ; and though the same troop continued to
occupy the stable until the 39th of July following, its baneful influence never
reappeared."

"The foregoing statement/^ concludes Mr. Smith, '^retiuires
no comment." " The disease, not accompanying the first troop
when it left the stable, and its progress, being arrested in the
second troop, by removing, through the means of ventilation^
the cause which produced it, added to the circumstance of its
never appearing again during the time the troop continued
there, are facts which every one will be able fully to ap[)re-
ciate."*

RoDET, 1830, Professor at the Ptoyal Veterinary School at
Toulouse, and formerly Veterinarian in Chief to the Hussars of
the Royal Guard, in reference to the regiments of which he
has had the veterinary superintendence, alleges the general pre-
disposing causes of glanders to be, the fatigue, the privations,
the excesses, the sudden and frequent changes experienced by
military horses in campaigns.^^ " In regard to remount (young)
horses, the principal predisposing causes are, a strong predis-
position to diseases of the lymphatic system, having its source
or origin in a temperament eminently lymphatic, as is ob-
servable in hoises with short heads, slender necks, flat sides,
narrow chests, and contracted shoulders;" — ''castration prac-
tised without proper precautions, at a time of difficult dentition,
or while they are spreading in growth ; lastly, and especially,
at the period they are experiencing sudden changes of living,
in food and grooming, country, regimen, " &c. " Last of ail,

* 'The Horse-Owner's Guide,' 1818.

CAUSES OF GLANDERS. 215

forage of bad quality." '"Contagiou can but rarely be regarded
as the cause of glanders in the army, since every precaution is
taken to guard against it. It cannot be considered either as a
proximate, or as tiie most frequent or the most ordinary cause,
as persons without any knowledge of such matters are apt to
believe. "*

YouATT, 1832 : — "The main cause," — "the grand cause of
glanders is contagion." — "I advisedly call it 'the grand
cause,' for I believe I shall be able to render it probable that
glanders arises often er from contagion than from any other
source, "f

Vines, 1833, in section 3 of chapter V of his work,| treating
of " The Infectious or Contagious Nature of Glanders and
Farcy," remarks, in a note explanatory of the meaning and
application of the words infection and contagion, " As we have
never seen a case, and are unacquainted with an instance where
glanders or farcy was produced by inhaling the breath or
effluvia of the body of another animal, but only by actual con-
tact of 7natter, we shall, like Smith and Dupuy, use the terms
synonymously." (p. 157.) — "Mr. Coleman,'^ says Mr. Vines,
" attributes the infection or contagion to a specific poison in the
blood ; and he also asserts that a similar poison exists in those
animals where glanders or farcy is generated ; that it is formed
in the atmosphere of stables by the secretions and excretions
of the animal, and that it is a compo of dang, urine, breath, and
perspiration. But, in my opinion, any impure air which may
be thus formed, only tends to render the system debilitated and
unhealthy ; and that from this cause, as well as from a variety
of others, the blood and fluids which are formed are rendered
vitiated or unnatural, and of an infectious or contagious cha-
racter, and capable of producing general derangement or dis-
ease, if introduced into the system of some other animals,
especially the ass, which is almost naturally predisposed to the
disease from bad feeding, and the weak texture of its skin.
Thus far only, then, do I consider the discharge in glanders

* ' Recherchcs sur la Nature et les Causes de la Morve,' 1830.
t Mr. Youatt's Veterinary Lectures, in 'The Veterinarian ' for 1833.
X 'A Practical Treatise on the most important Diseases incideutato Horses,
more particularly Glanders and Farcy,' 1833.

216 CAUSES OP GLANDERS.

and farcy infectious, and not m consequence of an independent
poison in the blood." (p. 157, 158.) — " If it is contended tliat,
by inoculating ^Yith the matter of glanders and farcy, the
proper symptoms are produced, and that the fact is tlien proved,
and that a specific poison thus existed, and that this poison^ like
other poisons, is governed by laws peculiar to itself, and that
this is still further proved by introducing blood from a glan-
dered horse into the veins of a healthy ass, and similar symptoms
produced, I am prepared to prove Ma/ unhealthy blood /a/'e/i
from an animal not glandered ivill jirodiice similar effects as
blood taken from a glandered horse. In the course of my ex-
periments I have produced glanders and farcy ivith a considerable
tubercidous disease of the lungs, and water in the chest, that
ended in death, in the course of ten days, by introducing lialf a
pint of blood, taken from a rabid dog, into the jugular vein of a
five-year-old healthy asfi ; and similar effects will likewise follow
the introduction of any irritating fluid into the circulation — as
a solution of copper." (p. 160.) This clearly shows that it is
the particular irritation to which the system of some animal is
so susceptible (no matter from what cause) that produces the
diseased symptoms, and that it is not the effect of a specific or
particuhir;joi50>i contained in the blood." (p. 161.) Mr. Vines
adds, he has seen " glanders, and even death, produced by ino-
culating an ass with matter taken from an unhealthy animal
labouring under virulent grease." (p. 161.) "Many of our
present practitioners believe that glanders cannot be communi-
cated from one animal to another through the medium of the
breath or exhalations of the body, but that it requires the
actual contact of glandered or farcied matter to produce an
effect. In these views, then, I perfectly coincide, never having
seen a single case ivliich could be fairly attributed to infection,
through any inhalation from another horse." (p. 166.) — " I
And that the contagiousness, by which I mean the actual con-
tact of matter, both of glanders and farcy, admits of various
modifications: for instance, in those animals ivhere the system
is in the most unhealthy state the discharges of matter ivill
be of the most contagious character, and so on the reverse."
(p. 166.) " Strong, healthy, well-fed horses, are by far the
least susceptible of inoculation by morbid matter ; while, ou

CAUSES OF GLANDERS. 217

the contrary, those animals which are but badly fed, and out of
condition, especially asses — whose systems are always weak —
are the most susceptible and liable to become affected, and
generally die about eight or ten days after inoculation." (p. 166.)
Mr. Monk, a well-known horse slaughterer in "VVhitechapel,
informed Mr. Vines, "that for sixteen years he has kept a
horse in a stable generally containing a number of glaudered
and farcied horses, but this horse has never been affected."
(p. 168.)

Delwart, 1837, veterinaire de premiere classe, Professor at
the Veterinary School at Cureghera-lez-Bruxelles, and formerly
of the Royal Veterinary School at Alfort, after making mention
of other causes, says, " But so many facts militate in favour of
contagion, that it is impossible to call it into question. So
long as observation and experience are wanting to convince us
to the contrary, we shall continue to regard glanders as capable
of transmission from one individual to another ; and we shall
recommend our eleves, and all persons charged with the care
of animals, to separate with scrupulous precaution any such as
may show the slightest signs of glanders."*

HuRTREL d'Arboval, 1838 : '' The majority of the French
veterinarians of the present day, if they do not entirely deny
the contagiousness of glanders, have conie to think that it is a
more rare occurrence, and one attended with more difficulty
than it was formerly. Many have come to the conclusion that
glanders is contagious only in the acute form, and this, at the
time we are writing, is the opinion most commonly enter-
tained." . . . . " For our own part, however," says D'Arboval,
in winding up this paragraph on contagion, " we can conceive
a disease to be more contagious at one period than another,
but not in any distinct form. Either a disease must be con-
tagious in all its forms or varieties, or in none of them ; or the
so-called forms are no longer the same disease."!

Leblanc, 1839, a veterinarian of repute in France, and in
England too, from his literary works, comes to the conclusion,

* 'Pathologie Speciale, ou Description des Principaux Animaux Domes-
tiques.'

t ' Dietionuaire de Medecine, de Cliirurgie, et de Hygiene Veteriuaires,

1838.

218 CONTAGION.

after an examination into the different kinds of glanders and
farcy, that " in all tlieir forms they arc contagions, though iu
different degrees/'*

Blaine, 1841 : '' Both glanders and farcy originate in con-
tagion ; and infection, in its strict sense, is the cause of acute
glanders at least,"t

THE EXCITING CAUSES of glanders, many and various
though they be, admit of distribution into five classes :

The First Class comprises such as come under the head of
contagion.

The Second Class includes those causes that come under
the deuomination of infection : the principal — perhaps the only
one — being the miasm of the stable.

The Thrid Class comprehends all such causes of a common
kind as, acting on the animal's constitution in an ordinary or
healthy condition, produce ordinary eflFects, but which o^jerating
against morbid or vitiated states of body, produce malignant
disease, such as glanders, farcy, &c.

The Fourth Class is devoted to the consideration of causes,
still of an ordinary nature, but which, in consequence of their
operation being intensely severe or subitaneous, have been said
to be followed by glanders and farcy.

The Fifth Class embraces those diseases — of the air-pas-
sages and lungs especially — of w^iich glanders and farcy are
known under certain states and circumstances to be the occa-
sional sequel.

CONTAGION.

I have placed contagion in the first or highest class of causes,
not because I regard it either as the most frequent or the most
important of causations; but because I think the early con-
sideration of it may cast a light on some of the other causes to
be afterwards inquired into, in particular on those included
under the head of the miasm of the stable.

Between infection and contagion, according to the late

* 'Des diverses Esp^ccs de Morve ct de Farein,' 1839.
t ' Outlines of the Veterinary Art,' fifth edition, 1841.

CONTAGION. 219

Dr. Hooper,* '' there does not appear to be any distinction
made ;" according to Dr. Copland.f such distinctions as have
been made are without '' a true difference." We learn from
the latter eminent authority, that M. Dupuytren regarded in-
fection as '* the contamination of the air by persons confined in
low, close, ill-ventilated, and dirty situations, and by vegetable
and animal substances undergoing decomposition, the emana-
tions with which the air is thereby charged acting on man as
poisonous agents.'' — '' Contagion, on the other hand, Dupuytren
considers to be in many respects independent of atmospherical
conditions, and a species of germ or virus developed in the
bodies of the sick, or forming an atmosphere around them
containing the principle of the malady ; and through the me-
dium of this germ, virus, or morbid principle, the malady is
transmitted to the healthy/' — Dr. Copland himself uses the
word infection " in its generic acceptation :" — " applying it to
whatever may affect, so as ultimately to taint, pollute, or corrupt
the body." And the word contagion, as a form or kind of

infection — " as an infection by immediate or mediate contact

as ^pollution by the touch." With a desire to conform in the
use of these terms, as nearly as we can, to this lucid exposition
of their true or natural signification, we shall use the word
contagion to express the transfer of glanders or farcy, through
whatever means, from one horse to another; and the word
infection, for such taint or pollution from other causes as still
may produce the disease, the same as though it had originated
from inoculation or contagion.

The Contagiousness of Glanders has proved a fruitful
theme of disputation among veterinary writers; some con-
tending that a glandered horse carried a poisoned atmosphere
about with him wherever he went, contaminating all other
horses within a certain distance of him ; others as confidently
assuring us that we had nothing to fear unless by actual con-
tact, and not very much even then. All the old writers,
some of the modern, are in favour of contagion : " it infects
the very air," says Solleysell ; "it is caused by contagion
alone," says Volpi ; and White, of our own countrv, confirmino-

* In his ' Medical Dictionary/ article " Contagion."

t lu his ' Dictionary of Practical Medicine,' article " Infection.''

220 CONTAGION.

what Volpi has asserted, concludes by saying he has "long
held the same opinion." The first to question this doctrine
was Lafosse : out of seven species or varieties of glanders he
described, but one he said was contagious, and that rarely
propagated its contagion. After the Lafosses' (father and son's)
days, the doctrine of non-contagiousness, or rather that of com-
paratively little contagiousness, gained so much ascendency,
that there were those who hardly scrupled to affirm, the disease
could not be caught in any such manner : Dupuy ^' knew of
no well-conducted experiments in favour of contagion :''
Coleman did not believe that one horse in a thousand, or even
ten thousand ! received the disease through contagion ;" and
Smith " has never seen one case of glanders that could be
traced to infection/^ Most recent veterinary writers have been
content to assert the contagiousness of glanders without quali-
fying their assertions with any such remarks as, the disease is
never, or hardly ever, taken in that way, or never, or hardly
ever, taken in any other way. I do not think that any
veterinary surgeon of the present day absolutely denies the
contagiousness of glanders : nevertheless, since, for ray own
part, I feel no hesitation in pronouncing it to be a contagious
disease, I think it my duty in this place to give my reasons for
holding such an opinion.

The admitted most direct proofs of a disease being conta-
gious are.

First, its propagation by inoculation.

Secondly, its spreading from the diseased to the healthy,
immediately .

Thirdly, its transmission through the medium of habitation,
clothing, &c., or through the breath or air.

The Propagation of Glanders by Inoculation is a fact
so well established that it appears supererogatory to offer any
examples of it. It was one of the first questions regarding
glanders and farcy which the late Professor of the Veterinary
College sought to set at rest ; and it was, in numberless
instances, proved in the affirmative, both by himself and those
studying under him, in the most complete and satisfactory
manner.

Jn later times inoculation has been practised more by way

CONTAGION. 22 i

of a test of the presence or genuineness of glanders in doubtful
cases than Avith any view of proving its communicableuess ;
and asseS; on account of their conaparatively little cost, have
commonly been chosen as the subjects of inoculation : the
circumstance also of their being, as I before observed, more
predisposed than horses to take glanders and farcy, has ren-
dered them additionally inviting. It is not often we hear of
inoculation being practised in the horse. I performed it once
myself on a healthy middle-aged horse : whether the result
proved glanders or not my reader shall determine.

On the 11th of September, 1818, 1 inoculated a brown horse,
then about seven years of age, upon the septum nasi, with
matter of glanders procured from the slaughterer's at Cow
Cross. On the third day there was a pimply and sliglitly
tumid condition of the part of the membrane inoculated,
accompanied by some trifling yellow albuminous issue from
the nostril, and swelling of the submaxillary lymphatic gland
of the same side ; and on the fourth day there was evident
ulceration, with augmented discharge, and that of a purulent
character. On the fifth day there were to be plainly seen two
large, unhealthy-looking ulcers upon the inferior part of the
septum nasi, and there was a mixture of pus and mucus ejected
from, as well as adhering about, the external nostril; and from
the enlarged submaxillary glands was proceeding along the
hollow between the jaw-bones a cord of tumefied absorbents of
the size of ray wrist. On the eighth day the ulceration had
become deep and extensive. On the eleventh, another cord of
absorbents proceeded from the swollen submaxillary glands,
over the side of the face, to the aftected nostril ; aud next day
suppuration had taken place in a couple of buds upon the cords
of absorbents. On the fourth day after inoculation, barytes,
in its pure or caustic form, was administered, a medicine in
which, at that time, my father and myself placed great faith
as a remedy for glanders ; and the same medicine was pre-
scribed throughout the case. From the twelfth to the twenty-
ninth day no material change was noted ; but, on the thirtieth
day, such were the alterations for the better that hopes, which
had almost been abandoned, suddenly and unexpectedly were
revived, and there seemed every prospect of recovery. The

223 CONTAGION.

ulcerations upon the septum were manifestly healing, all
swelling had left the nostril, and the enlarged glands were
diminishing. On the thirty-seventh day there remained but
the cicatrices of the ulcers to be seen, with some slight mucous
discharge. The appearances of farcy were vanishing also ;
the farcy-buds, or rather ulcers, healing and cicatrizing ; but
the enlarged gland under the throat felt soft and disposed to
suppurate and ripen. By the fiftieth day, however, all signs
of disease had disappeared save some trifling remains of indu-
ration underneath the jaw.

If this was not a case of glanders and farcy, it was, at all
events, a case that nobody, save through the test of inoculation,
could, for the most part of its progress, have distinguished
fi'om glanders and farcy ; and that it was not I can imagine
many veterinarians will contend, and for two reasons ; — one
being, that the enlarged submaxillary gland showed a tendency
to suppurate, though, after all, it did not break ; the other,
that the case ended in recovery. It must be remembered,
however, that other instances of alleged " cure" stand on
well-authenticated record ; and that, therefore, this might
have been a case, like many or most of them, of spontaneous
recovery, and consequently there was no absolute need of
ascribing the horse's getting well to the barytes.

May 24tli, 1820, 1 inoculated an ass about teu or twelve mouths old with
matter taken from a horse of Mr. Stowc's, a farmer, at Farnborough, suspected
to have (chronic) glanders. No effect followed. On the 28th I repeated the
inoculation with matter taken from the frontal sinus of Lieut. Rich's horse,
also suspected of having (chronic) glanders. June 6th, still no appearance of
disease. I next procured some matter from an acutely glandered subject,
standing for slaughter at Cow Cross, and with it repeated the inoculation for
the third time, as before, scarifying the ala nasi, and rubbing the virus upon it.
On the fourth day after the last inoculation, this nostril had become swollen
and tender, and had a knotty feel, evidently from lymphatic inflammation ; the
submaxillary gland of the same side was also swollen and tender on pressure.
0)1 the sixth day a foul ulcer appeared upon the inoculated part. On the
eigidh there came discharge from both nostrils ; and the ass had fallen very
lame in the near fore leg, seemingly from an attack (as yet concealed) of farcy.
Ninth day, the animal commenced heaving at the flanks, and appeared altoge-
ther very ill, continually lying down, &c. Three pints of blood were drawn ;
this, however, was no sooner done than he became faint from its loss, and
staggered, and died about five minutes afterwards. Examination of the head

eoJTTAGlON. 228

showed the Schueideriau membrane, ou both sides, reddened and thickened in
substance, its surface studded with small white tubercles, which, in a short
time, would have turned to ulcerations ; likewise the nasal meahis was filled
with sero-mucous discharges.

No question, T should imagine, can arise, that, iu the case
of the ass just related, glanders and farcy ako were produced
by inoculation. The same fact stands likewise proved in the
case extracted from the late Mr. Field's ' Record.' * Again,
we may adduce, as confirmatory evidence — if any be wanting —

The Compte-Rendu of the Veterinary School at
Alfort for 1839-40. MM. Renault and Bouley have prose-
cuted their researches into the nature and symptoms of
glanders, with especial direction of them to its contagious
property, to which increasing interest has been given since the
disease — in so many instances — has proved communicable to
the human subject ; and they have arrived at the conclusion
that acute glanders is co7itagious by inoculation from horse to
horse. In the animals they have inoculated, ivithout a single
exception, the infection of glanders has made its appearance
from the third to the fifth day.

Standing, however, as the fact of propagation through inocu-
lation does upon the ground of undeniable proof, yet it is also
a fact with which those in the habit of practising inoculation
are likewise well acquainted, that it is by no means certain
that the disease follows the application of the virus : a good
deal of fastidiousness or predilection is often manifested on the
part of the inoculated subject which we are unable to account
for J and this has led some into the error that glanders was
not at all or hardly producible in any such manner, and others
into the belief that the chances of production were so small as
scarcely to render such a result probable. It is evident the
success of inoculation must depend upon two conditions : —
the condition of the animal from which the matter is taken
to communicate the disease, and the condition of the one to
whom the matter is a[)plied to receive it; and that, supposing
either of these conditions fails, no result can follow. In the
case of the ass but just given, it would appear that the horses
from which the matter used in the first two inoculations was

* To be found at p. 183.

224 ^ CAUSES OF GLANDEPxS.

obtained, were, if glandered at all, but ckronically so ; whereas
the matter that had the desired effect was proeured from a
condemned subject in the last or ripest stage of acute glanders.
In order to ensure inoculation for smallpox or for vaccination,
we know surgeons to be very particular about the day on which
they collect their lymph, believing, nay^ knowing, it to be more
efficacious or "stronger" at one period than at another, and
to grow less efficacious or " weaker " as the disease declines.
AVhy should not something of the same kind happen in the
progress of glanders or farcy ? It is, indeed, asserted, and on
good authority, that in the acute forms or stages these diseases
are more contagious than in the chronic or lateut forms or
stages ; a fact which seems to harmonise with the result of our
experiment upon the ass, as well as with what we have just
observed in regard to the smallpox and cow-pox ; those diseases
being found to be most contagious when at the height of their
natural course.

But inoculated glanders differs strangely from inoculated
diseases in general — from inoculated smallpox and cow-pox, for
example. These disorders are rendered mild and compara-
tively harmless by being produced in such manner,* whereas
glanders, the product of inoculation, commonly manifests itself
with augmented virulence and malignity. A horse taking
glanders in the common way, apparently spontaneously, may,
and often does, have the disease in a subacute or compara-
tively mild form ; whereas, when we inoculate an ass for the
disease, we expect no other result than, should the inoculation
take effect, to see it fall a prey to the ravages of glanders and
farcy in the very short space of time of ten or twelve days !
Aware of this, we are furnished at once with a reply to persons
who inquire of us, why we do not inoculate horses for glanders

* The fffcel of inoculation is to lessen the number of pustules (in small-
pox) ; and thus to diminish the general violence of the disease. The mortality
from natural smallpox used to be as much as one in six; whereas, after ino-
culation, not above one in two — say in five — liundred, dies. Dr. Pordyce said
that the severity of the inoculated disease was regulated by the quantity of
matter used in inoculation ; it is, therefore, riglit for us to use as little as pes*
sible in smallpox, but in cow-pox a considerable quantity should be intro-
duced. (Dr. Elliotson's ' Lectures.')

CONTACtION. 225

Of farcy, the same as surgeons do cliildren for smallpox and
cow-pox. But, supposing even that the disease were, by inocu-
lation, rendered comparatively mild, and in that mild form
were curable, still are we certain that once having it would
prove any immunity against taking it afterwards ? The fact of
the disease appearing in an aggravated rather than a mitigated
form after inoculation, also in some measure accounts for the
rapid and fatal course of it in those melancholy cases in which
man has been the subject of it. I do not know that in any
instance man has taken the disease save from inoculation : a
fact somewhat singular, and one that possibly may prove of
some service to us hereafter.

It is not reasoning on sound pathological principles to argue
that a disease is not contagious, simply from the circumstance
of matter supposed, or even proved, to contain its virus having
been besmeared upon the Schneiderian membrane, or having
been swallowed into the stomach, without being followed by
contamination. I have myself, on several occasions, rubbed
upon this membrane what I imagined to be glanderous matter
with impunity. On the other hand, I have produced the dis-
ease in this manner. In an experiment apparently so simple
as this appears, there are still several conditions on which its
success must depend. There is, as was before observed, the
condition of the matter, dependent on the kind, the stage, the
duration of the disease affecting the subject from which it was
taken ; next, there is the conditmi of the subject to which it is
applied to receive the disease ;* and, lastly, there is to be taken
into the account the condition of the Schneiderian membrane,
ordinarily shielded as it is by its natural mucous secretion
from harm, and resistent as it is by nature to the action of
virus or poison of any kind. I have, on many occasions,
imbrued my own hands with the matter of glanders, falsely
believing my constitution to be insusceptible of taking any
harm, and therefore unheeding whether there were scratches

* I quite agree in opiuion with Mr. Vines, tiiat " strong, healthy, well-bred
horses are by far tlie least susceptible;" — "while, on the contrary, those
animals which are badly fed and out of condition, especially asses, whose
systems are always weak, are the most susceptible." (' Practical Treatise on
the Diseases of the Horse.')

III. 15

226 CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

or wounds upon my hands or not : although however I escaped,
and hundreds of others escaped infection, yet, at length, did
one and then another person catch the disease ; and now
veterinarians no longer dare do that which they have a hundred
times before fearlessly done, and with impunity.*

With regard to the fact of the matter of glanders having
been made up into balls, and so introduced into the stomachs
of a horse or ass without producing the disease, a fact to which
much importance has been attached by some of our non-
contagionists, it is no more than in accordance with experi-
ments of the same kind that have been made with other
poisons. Speedily and deadly fatal as the Woorara poison is
known to be, inserted in the form of inoculation, Sir Benjamin
Brodie found he could administer it by the mouth, even in
considerable quantities, without producing any perceptible
effect whatever.

The Spread or Glanders from contaminated to healthy
Horses, influenced as it is and naturally must be by a variety
of circumstances, can be proved, beyond any reasonable doubt,
to have on many occasions taken place.

PiiOFEssoB Coleman — nou-contagionist as he was in bis opinions — was
wont to relate in his lectures a " remarkahle instance," as he called it, of glan-
ders being communicated from one horse to another. The Professor was sent
for into a gentleman's stable to examine one of his carriage-horses that had
been some time unwell. He found the patient standing in his stall between
two others, and pronounced him glandered, and had him shot. One of his
other horses also had a discharge from the nostril that toas nearest to the glan-
dered horse. Him he had removed. To no purpose, however ; for he turned
glandered, and was likewise shot. Not a great while afterwards, the third
horse took to discharging from the opposite nostril — still the next one to
the horse that stood in the middle stall — and he also in the end proved glan-
dered.

Mr. Selby, of Wilmington, in the month of July 1826, sent to my father
at Woolwich two cart-horses — a black marc, ten years old, and a grey mare,
about sixteen or seventeen years old — which he had purchased in the autumn

* We have endeavoured, by a succession of inoculations, to determine
whether acute glanders loses its contagious property by reproduction ,- and we
have seen that, even in the seventh generation, the virulence was as active in its
eflfects as when it proceeded from glanders spontaneously developed. (' Compte
Rendu of the Veterinary School at Alfort, for 1S41-2.')

CONTAGION. 227

of llie preceding year, and had worked ever since. The black mare, however,
had had " a cold" on her since Christmas. Three weeks ago, for the first time,
tumours were discovered underneath the jaw. Tiie black mare proved con-
firmedly glaudered : she had three or four chaucrous ulcers upon tlie near side.
And the grey mare, who had only recently shown any, and that but trifling,
flux from the nostril, was pronounced as certain to become so — if not glan-
dered already — from the circumstance of her having stood on the near side of
the glandered horse, without any stall or partition between them. In the end
both were destroyed.

The Reverend Mil. Rashleigh, of Soutueleet, in the year 182], sent
to my father a brown horse, for an opinion concerning the animal. The horse
manifested sub-acute glanders. He had come out of a stable inhabited by one
that had recently been shot on account of glanders ; and two others, living in
the same stable, subsequently took the disease.

General Sir J. M'Cleod, oe the Royal Artillery, had a horse
become glandered in his stable, which was instantly, on its discovery, removed.
Five weeks afterwards, a brown stallion that had stood in the next stall to him,
who had on no previous occasion shown the slightest ill-health, was removed
in consequence of an ulcer having a healthy aspect making its appearance in
the near nostril. The ulcer healed while in the infirmary, and tlie horse was
thought to be recovering, when, a week afterwards, the patient was suddenly
attacked with excessive pain and lameness in one hind leg ; so painful was it,
he refused even to place it on the ground. Three days after this attack the
septum nasi, on the same side as before, manifested foul and spreading ulcera-
tion, and farcy declared itself in various parts of the body.

Mr. Turner's Case of " Insidious Glanders," related at page 189,
tends to the establishment of the same point — the propagation of glanders
from horse to horse. 'J'he black hackney mare Mr. Turner had condemned as
glandered, and that was doomed to slaughter, was purchased by a farrier for
three pounds, who subsequently was said to have '■'nearly cured" her. A
month afterwards, Mr. Turner was examining some post horses in the very
stable where the " nearly cured " mare had been standing, and found two of
them glandered and two farcied ; and yet this stable, for many a year before,
had never harboured a case either of glanders or farcy. This led to another
examination of the black hackney mare. She was precisely in the same state
in which she was when Mr. T. had pronounced upon her case before. And
what rendered the affair so much easier of unravelment was, that the first
horse that failed was her own partner.

Mr. Hales, Y.S., Oswestry, whose " faith in contagion is not so strong
as to believe some of the extraordinary accounts that are given of glanders
being caught in this way" — but whose experience has " fully convinced " him
" that the disease may be readily communicated by a glandered horse being-
stabled with others, or kept at grass in the same pasture with them," sent the
following plain and convincing statement of facts to The Veterinarian for
183i:—

228 CAUSES OP GLANDERS.

"In February, 1S32, 1 was sent for to give my opinion on the case of <a
liorse supposed to be glandered. I felt no hesitation about the matter; and,
as tiie horse had been diseased for several montlis, he was sliortlj afterwards
destroyed. In tlie latter end of June in the same year, I received a letter
from the gentleman, the owner of the above-named horse, again requesting
my attendance at his house. I found that my patients were two very fine
four-year-old horses that had farcy ulcerations and swellings upon the extremi-
ties : the disease had been observed for two or three weeks, and the horses
prescribed for by a veterinarian of the neighbourhood. Knowing tiie previous
case of glanders, I very strictly inquired whether there had been any commu-
nication between these young horses and the one that had been destroyed, and
was positively assured by the proprietor of the horses and his groom that there
had been no possibility of intercourse between them ; and that they had, in
fact, never been near the glandered horse, and that anything like contact or
application of matter was out of the question. After this declaration, I was
obliged to admit and to consider that the farcy must have had its origin from
some other source than contagion, and advised that Mr. Vines' plan of treat-
ment should be adopted. The gentleman now asked me to walk with him to a
field at some little distance from his house, in order to see a very fine hunter
that he supposed had taken a cold some time ago, and which had left an enlarge-
ment under his jaw, which he should like to have removed ; at the same time
remarking, that there was not much the matter with him, for he was in as
good health and spirits as a horse could be. I found the horse full of flesh
and spirits, but with an enlargement of the size of a pigeon's egg firmly
attached to the lower jaw, and a discharge, but not a profuse one, from the
nostril of the same side. The horse had been in the same state for three
months. The case was now unravelled ; for although this horse had not been
kept in the same stable with the subject of the first case, still there were
frequent opportunities of communication ; they were watered often from the
same bucket, and the same brushes, &c. made use of in dressing them : in
fact, the first case was not supposed to be glandered till shortly before I saw
him, and no very strict quarantine had been enforced. In May, the hunter
(with the enlarged gland and nasal discharge then upon him) had been turned
into the same pasture with the young horses, and they were kept together
until the young horses were removed in consequence of their having become
diseased. Treatment was of no avail, and in six weeks the young horses were
decidedly glandered. A professional friend who saw them agreed with me in
opinion that it was putting their owner to useless expense to continue the
treatment any longer, and they were destroyed. At this time tlie constitu-
tional symptoms showed themselves in the hunter ; ulceration and bleeding
from the nose came on, farcy supervened, and this very valuable horse, for
which 150 guineas had been refused, was consigned to destruction. The value
of the three horses mentioned was at least £100, and I think there can be no
doubt that in them glanders was propagated bg contagion^

CONTAGION. 229

" How often baye I heard it afSrmed," says Leblanc,* arguing in favour of
contagion, "by the proprietor of horses, that liis stud has lived in the same
stable, and been fed and groomed and worked alike for years, and never have
had any glanders or farcy break out among them until an infected horse entered
his establishment." — " Not only," continues Leblanc, " have I heard this a
hundred times, but I am myself convinced of the truth of such statements ;
and I am acquainted with a great number of veterinarians who have been
witnesses to parallel occurrences. And this observation applies to glauders in
all its stages and varieties " (p. 66). And iu another place (p. 68) the same
excellent authority follows this strong expression of his own opinions up, by
asserting that " at the present day, an immense majority of the veterinarians
of Germany, Britain, Belgium, Italy, and Spain, believe in the contagion (even)
of chronic glanders."

It would be an easy matter for me, or for any person
engaged in practice, to multiply examples of presumptive con-
tagion j but if those I have adduced, in combination with the
established fact of propagation by inoculation, fail in carrying
conviction to the unbiassed mind, that glanders is a contagious
disease, I should feel apprehensive that any addition of narra-
tives of similar occurrences would prove alike unsatisfactory.
I am aware it is just as easy for anti-contagionists to bring
forward an equal or even a greater number of examples of
sound horses having stood beside of or lived or associated with
others that were glandered without having caught the disease.
Such, however, to ray miud, estimated at the most, but tend
to show that the chances against contagion are greater than
those in favour of it ; and by no means insubstantiate authen-
ticated facts proving glanders to be a contagious disease.
Were counter-facts such as these allowed to have more than
their due weight, it would be easy to show that the contagion
of syphilis were matter of doubt : six healthy men shall have
intercourse with the same diseased individual woman, and it
shall happen that but one or two of the men shall take the
venereal disease, the remaining four or five shall escape.
Does this throw any difficulty in the way of believing syphilis
to be contagious, when, both by inoculation and contact, it
has, over and over again, been demonstrated to be communi-
cable ? Supposing for a moment — and I believe such to be
the case in glanders — that instances wherein, under the

* Op. cit., at p. 217.

230 CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

influence of contagion, no disease has been contracted are in
amount greater — even much greater — than the examples
■wherein contamination has taken i)lace, still, if half-a-dozen
honest cases of proved contagion can be adduced, they arc of
themselves sufficient, against all the host of evidence on the
other side, to prove the bare fact, that the disease is a con-
tagious one. And, after all, the counter-evidence amounts but
to this — that so far from being a highly contagious disease,
the chances of escaping are greater than those of catching its
contagion.

Mr, Field, senior, Veterinary Surgeon to the 2d Life Guards, had in one of
his infirmary boxes at Windsor Cavah-y Barracks a troop horse, which he felt
but too confident had glanders ; and, with a view of testing the contagiousness
of the disease, lie turned into the box, along with the horse, a healtliy ass.
The two animals lived together a montli — eating out of the same crib, and
drinking out of the same pail — without the latter, taking the disorder. So
far the experiment was satisfactory. To carry the test further, however, Mr.
Yield inoculated the ass with matter taken from the nose of the horse. Tlie
ass m due time became contaminated with glanders in its virulent form, and in
consequence he was, along with the horse, without further doubt or demur put
to deatli.

Mr. Smith has related several similarly striking instances of Iiorscs that
have stood beside of, or been stabbed with, glandered and farcied subjects,
escaping the disease.*

Mil. Vines, also, has adduced strong evidence of non-contagiousness in his
mention of the strange immunity enjoyed for sixteen years by Mr, Monk's
horse in a stable inhabited by condemned subjects.!

Still, I must repeat, these cases, — in most of which the disease, I fancy,
will turn out to have been glanders in its chronic or least contagious form —
after all, when set against those in favour of contagion, but tend to show that
the chances of a sound horse taking the disease in such a manner are little
compai'ed with his chances of escaping the contagion.

Of the transmission of the Contagion of Glanders
THROUGH the MEDIUM OF Stabling, I havc had happening,
in my own regiment, as remarkable and convincing a demon-
stration as probably stands on record. I entered the 1st Life
Guards as veterinary surgeon, in the year 1827. Up to 1833
not a single case of glanders or farcy, or of any disease
approaching thereto, had come under my notice. March 14th,

* Op. cif., p. 214. t Op. cit., p. 215.

CONTAGION. 231

1833, the regiment, then stationed in the Regent's Park
Barracks, was ordered away into cantonments at Barnet,
Whetstone, Hornsey, and Highgate, in consequence of an elec-
tion for members of parliament about to take place in Mary-
le-Bone, taking with them 272 horses, all supposed and believed
to be '^ effective,'' i. e. in good health. The regiment remained
in out-quarters eight days, returning on the 22d of March into
the barracks. The day after its return.

The Colonel's Chakgee, a dark chestnut horse, whom I had known for
the six years I had been in the reghnent as a hardy horse and one that had
never ailed anything— was brought to me with a complaint that he had
"caught a cold standing at out-quarters." He had not during the last night
fed with his usually good appetite, and this morning he evidently looked dull,
and his coat was roughened and lustreless; also his hind legs were filled,
showing a disposition to be " humoury." His pulse was quicker than natural,
and his mouth unusually warm and dry, and there was some little watery issue
out of the corners of his eyes and from his nose. I ordered him into a box,
to take aperient medicine, and live upon mash diet. This was on the 23d of
March. On the 25th the horse appeared better. On the 28th, however, the
man still complaining of his being " humoury about his hind legs," more
aperient medicine was given.

81 5^.— Although he has been purging, and the physic is at present but
"setting," a corded swelling as large as my wrist has appeared on the inner
side of the off thigh, extending from the groin to the hock, which feels hot
and gives pain on pressure. Let him be largely bled immediately, and have a
dose of calomel and aloes, with conmion turpentine ; and be exercised twice
a day.

April \si.—1\xe swelling in the thigh has disappeared, owing to the large
and timely bloodletting.

Some return of it took place on the 7th, and in consequence he was bled
again.

14^//.— Some swelling has again appeared. Bleed again, and continue the
calomel and aloes and turpentine, in divided doses.

i On the 4th of May, a chain of superficial ulceration broke out between the
hock and fetlock, discharging foul ichorous matter. Is now taking iodine : the
general health being tolerably good, and the appetite quite restored.

Up to the end of June, the iodine treatment was pursued, but with no
permanent benefit, though at times it was thought to do good. The limb
became ultimately very large, and the sheath partook of the tumefaction ; and
in this state of incurability the horse was, in accordance with the regulations
of the service, destroyed.

The Colonel's little Chestnut Hackney — rather a

232 CAUSES or GLANDERS.

tender-constitutioiied animal — was brought to me the next
day after his charger was taken unwell, also on account of a
" cold/^ The symptoms, with the exception of the swellings
in the hind limbs, were about the same as in the charger : I
had him bled, and gave him an aperient, and ordered low diet.

April \st. — The oCf hind fetlock lias taken to swell.

'id. — The tumour has broken on the inner side of the joint, as though a small
abscess had formed there ; but there arc no cords, nor any swelling whatever
to be detected in the thigh.

&th. — A yellow-greenish muco-purulent discharge from the off nostril.

Ith. — The submaxillary glands tumcflcd, and the cord of tumid absorbents,
altogether as large as my wrist, proceeding from the swollen glands along the
hollow of the jaw to the symphysis.

\Qth. — Two circular ulcers with elevated margins a:.d surfaces covered with
incrustations appeared upon the septum nasi.

\2ih. — Ulcers spreading — the discharge, still muco-purulcnt, has lost its
greenish tinge.

15///. — One ulcer is half an inch in breadth.

16///. — Now so decidedly glandcrcd, and farcied as well, that I have recom-
mended he be shot.

March 23d, 1833, the same day the colonel's charger fell
sick,

A U, BLACK TROOP-HORSE was brought to me for being " off his
feed." He was in good— fat — condition; but was not looking healthy in his
coat. I ordered him a soft diet, and gave him some opening medicine; after
which he appeared to amend.

On the 1st of April, however, he was again brought to me for a " blotch "
on the outer side of one of his arms, which was surrounded by a circumscribed
swelling. At first it appeared to nie like the effect of a blow ; and I accord-
ingly ordered fomentation and physic.

The physic worked briskly; the swelling subsided ; and the appetite became
restored : but a sore remained, half as large as a sixpence and of a circular
figure, with a yellow base.

April llh. — Another blotch has appeared at the ])lace where he was bled
from the plat vein. I begin to suspect farcy. His coat lacks brightness, and
his pulse is increased.

10///. — My suspicions have become confirmed. Cords of absorbents are now
running from the last ulcer upwards to the cariniform process of the sternum,
altogether about a foot in length.

10///. — What has been done — Bloodletting and purgation and diuretic
medicine have made no alteration in the tumefied absorbents. His general
health is not so good as it was.

CONTAGION. 233

SOi',^.— Since the date of the last report, stroug mercurial oiutmeut has been
rubbed into the corded absorbents, and calomel given ; but with no f^ood
result. ^

May 2^/.— llis appetite fails him ; pulse CO, and stronger and fuller llian it
has been. Keeps up his flesh pretty well ; though his coat seems permanently
to have lost its gloss and does not shed kindly, as it ought now to do.

10;:/^.— The tumefied lympliatics iiave increased in size and are distinctly
knotted ; but as yet no abscess has broken. But the submaxillary glands of
the right side have suddenly swollen to the size of an egg: though the° swelling
has a lobulous loose feel, and gives pain when squeezed.

11///.— The man says he has seen some efflux of " watery humour " from
the off nostril, though I can see none myself. The Schneiderian membrane,
on both sides, certainly appears higher coloured than natural. Discontinue
the mercury, and let him take iodine.

12///.— The nasal flux is apparent : it is muco-gelatinous.
13///.— An ulcer, indisputably glanderous in its character, is now visible
upon the septum nasi, high up ; the membrane around having a carnation hue.
18//^.- The ulcer has extended considerably, and grown pale. The flux is
sero-purulent. His old coat clings to him. Let him take iodine.

25M.— A farcy pustule has broken in his breast— the hind legs are both
filled — one of the fore limbs is likewise swollen. Continue the iodine.

27///.— Fresh ulceration observable upon the Schneiderian membrane, and
the hind legs are more swollen.

June 4-///.— Since the last report the disease has been making progress in
all the affected parts, and several other tumefactions, about the magnitude of
eggs, have appeared in different parts of the body, neck, and arms. ° Continue
medicine.

18///.— Has been progressively in every way growing worse, and now is in
that hopeless state of glanders and farcy that his destruction becomes impera-
tive.

C 21, BLACK TROOP-HORSE, making the fourth case, did not
fall ill imtil the 5th July — fifteen weeks after the return of the
regiment into barracks. His first symptoms were discharge
frorn one nostril of a suspicious character, and submaxillary
tumefaction, and these speedily resolved themselves into acute
glanders ; for which, at the urgent request of the commanding
officer, he was shot so early as the sixth day after his attack.

Further particulars, throwing light on the origin of the
above cases, stand as follow : The colonel took out of barracks
but the two horses in question, and they stood by themselves
in a four-stalled stable at the head inn at Barnet, and while
there appeared all along to enjoy good health. A 24, stood

231. CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

with one otlier troop-horse in a small stable at Whetstone,
much out of repair, and in a filthy condition, from holes and
defects iu tlie (cobble) paved flooring. C 21^ troop-horse,
stood with some others — I have forgotten their number — iu a
stable also of an inferior description, at Baruet. It is well
known to people in the army, that the proprietors of inns and
posting or coaching establishments, make it a rule to send
military horses billeted on their houses into their worst stables,
nor would some of our worthy hosts, I am afraid, be over-
scrupulous about such stables being wholesome or free from
infection. In addition to which it may be stated, on almost
public authority, that Barnet and Whetstone, having been for
years towns wherein large numbers of coach and post horses
have been kept for work on the great northern roads, many of
whom from time to time have turned glandered and farcied,
are both places that may be said to harbour the fomes of
contagion.

Connecting, then, all these correlative Facts — the
non-appearance of either glanders or farcy in the regiment
from 1827 to 1833 ; its quick and sudden eruption on the
return of the regiment from out-quarters in three instances,
and fifteen weeks afterwards in a fourth, notwithstanding every
horse left the Regent^s Barracks apparently in full health only
the week before ; its disappearance with that fourth case, and
no return in any shape whatever of the disease since 1833, up
to the time I am writing, the conclusion of 1814; the airy
cold stables, from want of repair, in which the horses were
lodged at Barnet and Whetstone, together with the proverbial
fomites of those two towns for glanders and farcy ; — I say,
taking all these circumstances into account, I do not see to
what other conclusion we can reasonably come than that the
disease was the product of a contagion, to the influence of
which the horses were exposed during their sojourn at out-
quarters. Educated as I have been in the Coleman school,
imbibing as I there did notions of non-contagion, I must con-
fess I was in the early part of my life sceptical concerning the
contagiousness of glanders ; not doubting its j)0ssi!jilif>/, but
questioning its p7'o/jadilil^ ; the above series of incidents, how-
ever, occurring as they did under my very nose, have dispelled

CONTAGION. 235

any scruples I may liave had left on the latter point, and in
my mind established the factj together with its likelihood in
certain situations and under certain favouring conditions, to
become realized, beyond the reach of being shaken by any
arguments founded upon the present state of our knowledge of
the etiology of glanders. It is very natural to ask,

How HAPPENED IT THAT 268 HORSES ESCAPED? CVCn thoSC

in the same stables with and standing by the very sides of
them that contracted the disease ? Every circumstance of
regimen and work^ as well as habitation, probably, with the
bulk of them, being similar, we have no means of accounting
for this dissimilarity of result, save in the resort we have in
the medical axiom of insusceptibility ; but in what that consists
— why one horse should prove susceptible, another not — we
know no more than we do about the modus operandi of conta-
gion itself. Had the disorder been catarrh, or simple fever,
the probability is, among such a number of horses there would
have been more cases of it : the sequel proved that it was
neither — that it was, in fact, no other disease from its very
beginning than glanders and farcy.

Coleman, probably, would have ascribed the production of
the disease to the foulness or ivant of ventilation in the stables
the horses inhabited. The colonel's two horses, however, had
a four-stalled stable to themselves, and consequently could
hardly be said to be in confined air ; and the stables the troop
horses occupied were, for the most part, in such want of repair
that air-holes were more numerous than were desired ; and
though the floorings Avere in a dirty or filthy condition at the
time the troops first took possession, yet would military disci-
pline not allow them to remain so. Considering, therefore,
these circumstances, and taking into account the number of
other instances that might be — and some of which in these
pages have been — adduced of the influence of contagion, for my
own part I think we have good reason for alleging the same to
have been the exciting agent on the occasion in question.
Presuming, then — and we think we have shown strong reasons
for so doing — that

Stabling may be the Medium op Contagion, the inquiry
comes before us — and an interesting one it is — whereabouts

236 CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

aud in what form tlie coutagion presents itself, and what is
required to render it operative. Applying our observations
especially to the case of the introduction of glanders into my
own regiment, there appeared but two ways in which consistent
virus or emanations from it could have reached the nostrils of
these horses; either through some part of the stable, the
mangers in particular, or through the water pails, neither
halters nor bridles of any kind having been used save what the
men took out of barracks with them. Aud as it is probable the
pails had, up to the time the men marched into their quarters,
been in constant use at the inns — there rarely being in such
establishments any utensils of the kind to spare — it seems but
reasonable to infer that the wooden stable fitments, the racks
and mangers more particularly, were the contaminating media.
Admitting that they were, there arises another question : viz.,
in what manner was the transmission made ? Shall we say
that glandered horses had inhabited the stables, aud besmeared
with their discharges the mangers, &c., leaving upon their sur-
faces desiccated matter which waited but for moisture, and
especially for moisture with heat, to render it active and
operative again ? And shall we suppose that the sound horse,
vrho took the contagion, in some way or another actually got
this moistened matter conveyed upon the membrane lining his
nose, and so inoculated himself ; or that he inhaled the effluvia
caused by moisture and heat to arise from the desiccated
besmearraents, and that these effluvia entering with the air into
the animal's air-passages, therein became absorbed, and thus
infected his system : the contamination, therefore — mediate
instead of immediate — breaking out afterwards in the form of
glanders and farcy? I must confess I think this latter the
more feasible modus operandi of the contagious virus ; and my
reasons for so thinking are — first, the unlikelihood of any of
the dried matter obtaining admission in any consistent form
into the nose ; secondly, the results* being so different ; in one
horse the contagion producing farcy ; in two others, farcy suc-
ceeded by farcy-glanders ; in the fourth case glanders alone.
That the contagious Virus enters the Horse's System

THROUGH the AERIAL PASSAGES OR CaVITIES, WC appear to

have, I think, very satisfactory evidence. Clothed as the

CONTAGION. 237

animal's skin everywhere is witli hair, we can hardly imagine
such a thing as cutaneous absorption ; and in respect to the
alimentary passages, it has already been shown that substances
deleterious in the extreme when applied to the skin, become
innocuous when introduced into the stomach ; and glanderous
matter has repeatedly been exhibited by White and others
in the form of bolus without effect. The deduction, therefore,
naturally is, that the aerial membrane is the medium through
which the virus of glanders becomes introduced.

That this Virus may lie latent in the System appears
tolerably satisfactorily proved by the case of C 21 troop-horse.
Supposing he took the contagion at the time the other horses
did — and I really do not see how this can be, with any show
of reason or argument, questioned — then the disease must have
lain dormant in his constitution upwards of fifteen weeks.
Nobody can allege, vrith any degree of plausibility, that the
disease was contracted in the barracks, after the horses' return;
for I have never seen such a case in barracks, either before or
since; and it is not at all likely a solitary case, and in the form
it did — being similar to the others — would have presented
itself at one time and not at another.

Clothing, Pails, Bridles, Halters, &c., may, each and all
of them, prove the media of contagion ; though none of them,
in my opinion, are so likely to convey pollution as is vulgarly
imagined. Supposing that clothing — and woollen is very likely
to do so — harbours the contagious virus, unless it were put
directly in the way of the animal's nostrils, so as to fairly
admit of any effluvia arising from it being inhaled, there is not
much risk of its propagating the contagion. And as for pails,
they are in general kept free from pollution by continual
ablution. Bridles and halters left uncleaned after use about
glandered horses would be more likely to contaminate the next
wearers of them : still, remembering the several circumstances
required to favour the operation of contagion, we should say the
chances of escape exceeded much those of transmitting the
disease.

Can Glanders be propagated through the Medium of
THE Air, or through the breath of the horse? On this
mysterious and important question a good deal of wide difference

238 CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

of opinion has prevailed,, as will have been seen from the
perusal of the abstract we have given of the various notions
entertained by veterinary writers on the subject of contagion.
For my own part, I neither put faith in the assertions of those
who tell us that the glanderous virus infects the very (out-of-
doors) air, nor in the doctrine of those who would deny the
possibility of communicating the disease save through actual
inoculation or transmission of consistent matter. I think,
myself, it is possible, though a very unlikely incident, that the
air may become the medium of contagion ; inasmuch as for it
to prove so, I should say it was requisite the current of the
diseased animal's breath should pass direct, and undiluted with
the common air, into the nose of the sound horse, as we know
does take place at the time that horses approximate each
other's noses, and smell or sniff one at the other by way of
recognition, &c. : in such an impregnated condition, charged
with the effluvia it has received in its passage over a large
superficies of discharge and ulceration, I can conceive it
possible, and under certain favouring circumstances probable,
the air may become the transmitting medium of glanders ; but
certainly under ncaie other. Indeed, if we come to consider,
the air ought to be regarded as the communicating medium in
the case of stables, &c. I have before represented how
unlikely it is for matter in any sort of substantial form to
obtain ingress into the inside of the horse's nose; and have
given it as my notion of the pollution, that it was, in fact,
mediate contagion : the effluvia generated by moisture and heat
from the desiccated besmearments proving the mephitic agents.
And besides, glandered and farcied horses standing in stables
or other places with confined atmospheres may by their breath
and exhalations contaminate the air to that degree that it may
possess poisonous power enough to disease other horses. The
probability, therefore, is, that the air plays a more important
part in the ordinary work of contagion than we are in the habit
of imagining.

Is Chronic Glanders contagious ? Some of the conti-
nental veterinarians deny that it is; while there are others who
entertain doubts concerning it. They allege that the secretions
in acute glanders are acrid and irritating compared to the

CONTAGION. 239

discharges of tlie clirouic disease^ and that the latter, from their
mild character^ do not appear capable of propagating the
contagion. I have already broached an opinion, that the
strength or contagious property of the discharged matters, in
all probability, varies according to the stage, form, &c. of the
disease. I think also, our observation and experience confirm
this account of the acute being a more contagious disease than
the chronic; at the same time we must remember, the fact of
the communicability of the latter through inoculation has
become established, and also that there are examples enough
on record to prove that glanders, though chronic or insidious in
its aspect, has the power of propagating its contagion to horses
in health, producing in them acute glanders and farcy.
Although, therefore, less danger is to be apprehended from a
horse having chronic glanders than from one having the disease
in an acute or sub-acute form, we are by no means warranted
in treating the subject of chronic disease as though no con-
tagion could be caught from him ; on the contrary, such pre-
cautions should be taken in regard to him as may prevent
his intercourse with sound horses ; leading which segregated
life, he may, and will do work, it is probable for years, without
showing any signs of failure, or growing anywise worse in his
ailments.

To CONCLUDE WITH MY OWN OPINIONS ou the subjcct of con-
tagion, they are shortly these : — I have no more doubt of glan-
ders being a contagious disease than I have of syphilis or small-
pox or itch being contagious. At the same time, from the
known fastidiousness of contagion in regard to its operation,
and from the several collateral circumstances required to ensure
its effect in the case of glanders in the horse, in the generality
of instances the chances of escaping under its influence greatly,
I believe, exceed those of contamination. The comparatively
few examples that any of us can adduce of contagion, even after
an experience of many years, in my mind seem to warrant
this inference ; at the same time, these examples are fully suffi-
cient both to establish the fact and warn us against running
any risk of propagating the disease. The lamentable as well
as discreditable difference of opinion that has hitherto existed
on the contagiousness of glanders seems to have arisen out of

240 CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

the narrowness of tlie circuit of observation whence the deduc-
tions have been made : one man's practice may not have fur-
nished him with any well-marked examples of contagion, ano-
ther's may have shown him several ; the former infers that
glanders is a disease of self-origin, the latter that contagion is
its source ; both too precipitately and confidently running to
their opposite conclusions. Let us hope, however, now that
our sphere of observation and experience is becoming so
much enlarged by the contributions of fellow-labourers, both
in our own and in foreign countries, that we shall approximate
in our opinions on this vitally important question ; arid, as a
humble step towards such desirable agreement, I believe the
conclusions I have, after a good deal of deliberation and some
experience, come to here, will not be found widely diverse from
the opinions entertained by the majority of veterinarians whose
works or words are, at the time I am writing, known to us.

THE MIASM OF THE STABLE.

The late Professor of the Royal Veterinary College, as has
been shown by extracts from his lectures on Glanders and
Farcy, was a great non-contagionist in his opinions, not be-
lieving that " one horse in a thousand, or even in ten thousand,
caught the disease from contagion ;" but that the ordinary and
almost exclusive source of glanders and farcy was what he
called the poison — what I have here denominated the miasm —
of the stable: '^ a poison generated," he said, *'in a confined
atmosphere, out of exhalations from the breath, the dung, the
urine, and the perspiration of horses pent up in it." And in
support of this theory of general and almost exclusive causation
he had collected many facts which, Avith great ingenuity and
force of reasoning, he shaped into arguments admitting of the
following classification : —

First : the Professor argued, since nothing short of immediate
contact could, in his opinion, produce glanders by contagion,
and since, even then, abrasion of the touching surface or inocu-
lation in some way or other was, he thought, required,, the
disease could rarely, according to his notions, be propagated in
any such manner.

THE MIASM OF THE STABLE. 241

Secondly : that the first horse that ever became glandered
could not possibly have contracted the disease through contagion.

Thirdly : that several well-authenticated instances stood on
record of glanders and farcy having broken out (in an epidemical
form) among horses who, in apparent health at the time, had
been placed in new stables or on board new ships ; and that
such sudden and general attack of the disease had been satis-
factorily shown to be owing to want of due ventilation.

Fourthly : that where such fomites of infection had been
destroyed, places, before to the utmost degree unhealthy, had
been rendered perfectly salubrious by the introduction of proper
ventilation.

Let us examine these alleged facts, together with the in-
genious and plausible arguments our late Professor founded
upon them.

Coleman's talents were of an order that gifted him with a
ready and acute perception of things in general, enabling him
often to discover cause and design where, to those around, all
seemed buried in mystery. This penetrative and fertile genius
of his, however, would at times lead him beyond the limits of
fair and legitimate deduction into regions of theorization where
his best friends felt loth to accompany him : he had at the
offset, perhaps, framed a pretty and truth-looking theory ; but
too often would he mar the fair image he had created by loading
it with more accountabihty than it was able to sustain. Thus
it was with the point of hippopathology now before us. He
succeeded in proving to the minds of most, if not of all veteri-
narians of his time, that the poison or miasm of the stable was
a fruitful source of glanders and farcj^, and that it was especially
operative when those diseases broke out, and on a sudden, in
an epidemic form ; but he refused to admit the influence of con-
tao-ion in any case, save where actual contact and abrasion, tant-
amount altogether to inoculation, could be proved to have
taken place. In every other instance of alleged contagion
brought before him he could discover some want of ventilation,
some source of " poison," and to such an extent did he carry
the omnipresence of this supposititious poison, that I have heard
him say that horses at pasture even might, by sniffing over
parcels of dung or places wetted by urine, in the open fields, in-
m. . 16

243 CAUSES OP GLANDEliS.

hale it in as efficacious a form as though they had inspired it
generated iu their stables. Consistently with which notions
so far did he carry his plans of ventilation, that he thought open
sheds in straw-yards should have apertures for the admission of
pure and the emission of impure air, the same as stables them-
selves. And yet, non-contagionist as Coleman was in his
opinions, the regulations issued from time to time at his sug-
gestion for the guidance of the veterinary surgeons of the army
were, in their nature, as effectually calculated to prevent the
spread of the disease by contagion as any one of an opposite
way of thinking could possibly desire, as will appear by the
subjoined extract from them, received by me in the month of
October, 1837:—

Extract of a Report from the Principal Veterinary Surgeon.

" I have always considered it the duty of all commanding ofBcers and vete-
rinary surgeons of cavah-y regiments to report to the respective barrack-masters
any and every stall occupied by a glandered horse, and requiring painting, &c.
and, in my opinion, those stalls or standings only, occupied by horses with
symptoms of glanders, require being painted in oil, but that the whole of the
racks and mangers should be thoroughly washed with soft soap and hot water
well softened by soda, and which I have no doubt, if the stables are properly
ventilated, will prevent all danger from infection. Glanders is much more
frequently produced by defective ventilation of stables than by glandered
matter.

(Signed) "Edward Coleman, P.V.S."

If it can be shown, beyond any reasonable ground for doubt,
that glanders may be, and not infrequently is, taken through
mediate contagion, through stabling, &c. — and I think enough
has been advanced in these pages to demonstrate, at least, the
plausibility of such a deduction — then Coleman's first argument
sustains so much weakening, that the miasm of the stable no
longer can be regarded as the universal and exclusive cause of
glanders and farcy which he in his enthusiastic prosecution of
his schemes of ventilation imagined it to be, but must descend
iu the grade of causation, to take no more than its due share
in the production of the disease, along with other equally well-
grounded and recognised causes.

Secondly : that Coleman established his great point, that
glanders and farcy did originate independently of contagion,

THE MIASM OP THE STABLE. 243

there is no question. Setting aside the necessity of actual con-
tact, and the improbability of horses coming togetlier in such
manner as to catch the disease through inoculation one from
another — neither of which positions would experience suffer
Coleman to maintain; — setting aside, also, the posing query
ever put to contagionists, " Whence did the first glandered or
farcied horse take the disease V there is ample evidence on
record to demonstrate that foul and ill-ventilated stabling has
proved a fertile source both of farcy and glanders ;* and to
Coleman the greatest credit is due for the masterly and perse-
vering manner in which he discovered and exposed this /omes
of infection, and for never, after his discovery of it, leaving it —
so far, at least, as the cavalry and ordnance stables were con-
cerned— until he had cleansed it out from the very bottom,
and, in the place of a heated and polluted atmosphere, filled
the public stables with currents of cool and pure air — with air
that was wholesome for the horses to breathe, in the place of
that which was pregnant with miasmatic vapours : continually
charged, as the unrenewed atmosphere of the closed-up stable
must have been, even in the daytime, but especially by night,
with carbonaceous exhalations from the lungs of its inhabitants,
and ammoniacal and other noxious eflSuvia from the urine, the
dung, and the perspiration. To neutralise or expel this miasm
constituted Coleman^s principle of ventilation ; — this was the
object he ever and always had in view. How far his plans for
effecting it were judicious, or the best that could, under the cir-
cumstances, have been devised, is quite another question : that,
in general, they jiroved successful, is in a measure shown in the
comparative infrcquency of glanders and farcy at the present
day. I say, in a measure, because we have had no reason to
take it for granted that contagion had no, or even comparatively
small, influence : whatever share it ^might have had, however,
in the causation, it is not likely that Coleman, intent as his

* M. Patu, M.V. to the 4tli (French) Cuirassiers, ascribes the extraordinary
prevalence of glanders and farcy in the French cavalry to the crowding together
of the horses in small, low-pitched, ill-ventilated, dark, damp stables ; and finds
great fault — not without reason — with the authorities for not affording proper
and healthful accommodation.— (' Veterinarian' for 1836.)

244 CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

mind ever was upon his favorite theory of stable ^' poison/*
■would have heeded it.

To my miiid, however, Coleman's own reasoning on the
modus infectandi of tliis poison is in every way sufficient to
prove that the disease, once generated, is capable of spreading
by contagion, and through the medium of the air, too, from
one horse to another. If the atmosphere of the stable, charged
as we know it to be with humidity, can carry a miasm from
the excretions and secretions into the nose of the horse, suffi-
ciently concentrated to produce glanders and farcy, is there
any good reason why the same atmosphere may not convey the
virus of glanders itself, emanating from the nose or lungs of a
glandered horse, or from the open buds of a farcied one ?
Surely, that which can conduct poison from the dung or urine
upon the floor of the stable, can transport virus from one
horse's nostrils into those of another ; — and, surely, the virus
emanating from a chancrous surface must be as virulent and
efficacious as any generated in the dung, the urine, or the
breath of horses in health.*

Thirdly : no doubt has ever been entertained by me of the
spontaneous origin of glanders and farcy — of their origin apart
from the influence of contagion. Coleman, whose field for ob-
servation was greater than almost any man has enjoyed either
before or since — he having had the Army, the Ordnance, the
Veterinary College, and some private practice besides, to range
over — adduced much satisfactory evidence in proof of this fact.
He showed that these diseases, on several occasions, had made
their appearance in situations never inhabited by horses before,
and then, for the first time, by horses at the time of their entry
in apparently perfect health ; in new, public and private stables,
and on board of new ships. f And he said that the morbific

* "A glaiulcred liorse may contaminate tlic air of a stable to such a degree
that horses breathing the same air maj become infected with the disease, although
the infected may never come in contact with the infecting horse. Fortunately,
glanders is not so infectious as some other diseases to which horses are liable,
otherwise the breed would soon become extinct." — Vide an admirable article
" On the External Causes of Disease," by W. F. Karkeek, V.S., Truro, in ' The
Veterinarian' lor 1833.

t Although some doubt has been cast " by an old military officer" on Coleman's
account of the Quibcron expedition, — (see * Veterinarian' for July, 1840,) yet has

THE MIASM OF THE STABLE. 245

agent was the poison the healthy inhabitants of such uncon-
taminated abodes themselves generated, by being shut up
without due or proper ventilation.

Smith contended as strongly as Coleman for the origin of
glanders independent of contagion, and admitted how frequently
and commonly the disease broke out in foul and unventilated
stables ; but he ascribed the mischief to the consumption and
consequent deficiency of pure air,^ and not to any specific poison.
Coleman, however, had from the first suspected this cause
himself, and immediately set about the investigation of it ; and
the result of his inquiry was, that — to use his own emphatic
language — " the air of the closest alley in London was found
to contain as much oxygen in proportion as the air that encom-
passes the hills of Highgate ;" showing him that there was no
good ground for believing that the atmosphere of the close
stable possessed less pure air than that out of doors ; and serving
to confirm him in his opinion of what was the real deleterious
agent, which was the animal poison.

Fourthly : that, as I observed before, Coleman's introduction
of ventilation into the stables of public and private establish-
ments has been productive of incalculable benefit, admits of no
question whatever : not only has it proved prophylactic against
glanders and farcy, but against other diseases as well; and
were the profession and the public indebted to him on no other
account, the good arising from ventilation alone is sufficient to
preserve his name, for many a year to come, in the records of
veterinary science.

What the Nature of this Miasm or Infection is. — Whe-
ther it be similar in its essence to the virus of glanders itself,
or whether it simply be an irritant of that miasmatic description
that empoisons the system, and breeds malignant disease some-
where, depending for the form in which it breaks out upon
certain local susceptibilities, producing one disease in one part,
another disease in another part, we have no direct or positive
evidence to show. Coleman was clearly of opinion that, though

the fact of glanders having broken out on board of ship been attested by Mr.
Mogford (see ' Veterinarian ' for August, ISiO), as well as by Smith, at page 313
of the present volume.
* See his account of this at page 310 of the present volume.

24.6 CAUSES 01- GLANDERS.

specific he considers " the poison/' it was general in its
operation : he not only ascribed glanders and farcy to its in-
fluence, but rabies^ likewise, and also periodic ophthalmia and

* On the occasion of the Professor being examined before a Committee of the
House of Commons, touching the Bill to prevent the spreading of Canine Mad-
ness, to the question, " Have the goodness to state what (in the course of many
years' experience) has occurred to you ?" He gave the following answer : —
" I have made up my mind on one poinf, in which many people, however, arc of
a different opinion, — that the disease is often produced without contagion."

" Spontaneously ? " — "Yes ; but when I say spontaneously, I believe that to
arise in consequence of the fact of their being exposed to their dung and urine,
and to coufmement, too much feed and too little exercise. I do not believe
that carrion flesh is capable of producing it, but I think it arises more from being
confined, tied up, and exposed to their own dung, and their own urine, and their
own breath, and also from the want of proper exercise. I believe that, with
hounds in kennels that are properly attended to, it is rather an uncommon
disease ; but when the kennel has not been attended to, canine madness some-
times takes place, of which I know one iiistance in particular : the subscription
pack of fox-hounds in Surrey had the disease to a considerable extent, and there
was one remarkable fact, that the dogs did not bite the bitches, nor the bitches
bite the dogs. The kennel had been very much neglected ; there was no water
flowing through the kennel : I suggested improvements in that respect, and the
disease for a length of time disappeared."

" In the cases you are now speaking to, have you examined the dog after its
death in any case where the dog has not been bitten ?" — " It is impossible to
prove the negative : we cannot say the dog has not been bitten; but if it did
always arise from the dog being bitten, how came the first dog to be mad ?
But, independently of that fact, it will be found, that in different parts of the
country, you hear nothing of hydrophobia, and then you hear of it in different
parts of the country pretty nearly at the same time. Now there arc many
diseases highly contagious in themselves, but which are capable of being pro-
duced without contagion. The glanders can be thus produced — it is a con-
tagious disease ; and so is farcy ; and yet it is a fact that these diseases are
more frequently generated than propagated by contagion. The itch also is
notoriously produced by filth, and, when produced, becomes contagious ; so with
ship fever and gaol fever, which, when they break out, become contagious ; but
they can be generated."

"Would the glanders be produced by inoculation in the case you refer to?"
— " I can mention one extraordinary instance, which was in the Quiberon ex-
pedition : there were a great many horses examined, prior to their going out,
and not one of them had any apparent disease : they were put on board different
transports ; they encountered a hurricane ; they were obliged to put down the
hatches ; several horses were suffocated, and great numbers of them became

THE MIASM OF THE STABLE, 247

grease. Supposing the existence of a vhnis in each one of these
diseases, nobody would contend they were all four of the same
nature, or that the diseases themselves differed — no more than
farcy and glanders differ — only in being seated in different
parts or tissues ; therefore, when Coleman asserted that the
same poison that produced glanders would produce ophthalmia,
grease, and rabies, it is manifest he could have regarded the
poison but in the light of a common though malignant infector.
There is no absolute need to suppose that the infection or
miasm generated in the atmosphere of the stable, and believed
to be the producer of glanders and farcy, is the same as the con-
tagious virus of glanders itself: it may be a sort of malaria,
the result of the decomposition of anirao-vegetable matter, or
else of a compound of mephitic vapours positively injurious of
themselves to the mucous membrane of the nose and air-
passages, independently of any exclusion or diminution of the
oxygen of the confined air. And as a poisonous agent, it may
either prove at once noxious to this membrane itself, or, through
its medium, become absorbed and carried into the circulation,
contaminating the blood, and breaking out in the form oi fai'cy
in some horses, in that of glanders in others ; and capable —
the same as malaria is thought capable of producing fever in
some persons, cholera in others — of producing according to
Coleman, ophthalmia and grease as well, and even, in the dog,
rabies. Whatever plausible reasons there may be, however, for
believing that what will produce glanders and farcy, the same
may create ophthalmia and grease, there do not appear to be
any examples of the spontaneous origin of rabies : the only

glandered in consequence. At Dover, in the year 1796, where there was a great
encampment, the government could not get stables to receive them late in the
autumn : they built close and confined stables ; and the most healthy horses went
into those new stables, and a great number became glandered, affected with
farcy or diseases : a great many of them died. Many of the horses were sent
to Hythc and placed in an open shed ; not one of these horses became affected.
It was certainly intended that animals with lungs should have an element to
breathe once, and but once, and that the air should receive something from the
blood, and impart something to the blood ; but that, when made to go several
times into the lungs, it produces a disease which becomes infectious. In the
human subject, it produces fevers and the plague, and farcy and glanders in
horses, the pip in fowls, and the husk in pigs.''

248 OTHER CAUSES OF GLANDERS.

argument in snpport of sucli a presumption being the hackneyed
question of, how the Jirst case of rabies came to appear.

OTHER CAUSES OF GLANDEES.

That both glanders and farcy have on occasions taken their
rise from other canses than contagion and the miasm of the
stable, there is on record ample evidence to prove in the face
of all mere assertion to the contrary ; and this will account for
the number and variety of causations we find enumerated by
authors in their descriptions of the origin of the disease as it
happens to have occurred within their own particular sphere of
observation. Looking over the accounts of different writers,
we find glanders ascribed to contagion, to infection from the
miasm of the stable and other sources, to transitions from cold
to heat and from heat to cold, to suppressed perspiration, to
sudden immersion in cold water, to humidity of the atmosphere,
to want of exercise, to over-v/ork, to bad forage, to water of
some particular quality, to locality, to marasmus or debilit}'^, to
fulness of condition, to wounds and other injuries of the head,
to previous disease, &c.

Such of these divers alleged causes as rest upon any good
ground of authority admit of distribution into three classes,
which we have already specified and numbered among our
general causations as third, fourth, and fifth classes.* The
perusal of these will show it is our opinion that for any cause
of a common description to produce glanders or farcy, that cause
must operate against a constitution predisposed to take on such
a diseased action. Mr. Vines views this predisposition as con-
sisting simply in unhealthiness ; for our own part, however, we
rather side with Dupuy, and fancy there must exist somewhere
in the body the seeds of lymphatic or tubercular disease, waiting
only for the requisite amount of excitation to lead to their de-
velopment in the form of glanders and farcy. Were mere un-
healthy state of body all that was required for a cause of an
ordinary nature to produce glanders or farcy, the disease would,
surely, be a great deal more prevalent than we now find it.
How far a common cause acting with inordinate severity or

* At page 218.

OTHER CAUSES OF GLANDEES. 249

siuldenuess might occasion either gLiuders or farcy, is another
question : that such cases have produced effects semblant of
such diseases we are well convinced ; but, that these results
were veritable glanders and farcy, admits, in our opinion, of
considerable doubt. Once let glanders and farcy be the
acknowledged result of a common cause acting upon a body free
from all specific predisposition created by taint or pollution,
or by lymphatic temperament,* and the door is thrown open to
the admission that glanders and farcy are producible after the
manner of ordinary disease, and that every inflammation of the
Schneiderian membrane attended by ulceration and fetid dis-
charge constitutes a case of glanders : in a word, that there is
no such thing as common lymphatic disease, no other ulcerous
afl'ection of the nose save glanders. For these reasons, and for
one other, it is that we regard with the greatest suspicion as to
their true nature the following cases extracted from the practical
work of Mr. Smith on glanders : we cannot, in our own minds,
conceive how horses can become ''instantly glandered," and as
" instantly aflfected with farcy/^ We have no doubt, as we
said before, that cold and heat suddenly or intensely applied
produce effects such as have been described ; but we would
not — could not, consonantly with any notions of the specific
character of such diseases — call them by the names of glanders
ixud/arcy.

" June 22d, 1793, the Second Dragoon Guards (of which Mr. Smith was the
Veterinary Surgeon) encamped on the plain of Cysoing. The weather was
extremely hot. In about a fortnight afterwards, however, they experienced a
few days of incessant rain, accompanied by a high wind in consequence of which
many of the horses in two troops that faced the wind became severely affected
about the head. In four cases, the nostrils were rendered quite impervious
which occasioned their death ; and several others that were less affected, became
instantly glandered. But in the other two troops, where the horses stood in a
contrary direction, no case of the disease took place.f

Case II. — "August 16th, ISOG, the same regiment paraded in marching
order on the Hoe, at Plymouth, at three o'clock in the morning. The horses
remained ihere upwards of five hours, without moving, during which time they
were exposed to a very heavy fog. The consequence of which was, that four young

* Read Hodet's ' Account of Glanders,' at page 271.

f • The Horse Owner's Guide.' By T. Smith, V.S., Second Dragoon Guards.

250 OTHEE CAUSES OE GLANDERS.

iiorses that stood without saddles or cloths were instantly affected vvith farcy,
and one of tiieni exhibited symptoms of glanders also. Those affected with
farcy recovered : the other was shot.*"

That glanders and farcy have epidemically prevailed in humid
atmospheres and in damp stabling seems no longer matter of
doubt.

"An innkeeper at Wakefield built some extensive stabling for his horses;
but, from inhabiting them too soon, he lost a great proportion of his cattle from
glanders. At present there are no more healthy stables in the place. The
immense range of stabling under the Adelphi in the Strand, whereto light never
enters, and the supply of fresh air is not too abundant, were for a long while
notoriously unhealthy, and in them many valuable horses were destroyed from
glanders ; but now they are filled with the finest waggon-horses the metropolis
or country contains, and they are fully as healthy as the majority of stables. In
a Preuch journal, an account is given of a cavalry regiment, while quartered in
a low humid situation, and lodged in damp stables, losing in that year thirty -
one horses from glanders. They moved into a dry situation, and better
constructed stables, and their loss the following year amounted to but a single
horse."t

Formerly there existed many posting and coaching establish-
ments that might truly be said to hefomites for farcy and glan-
ders : now, however, that the number of these establishments
is diminished, and that things are better ordered and managed
in such as remain, we fear but little in comparison about their
being annoyed by these diseases. Coleman would have said —
and probably with great amount of truth — that all this was
owing to defective ventilation, drainage, &c. Unwarped, how-
ever, by love for any theory in particular, we ourselves would
probably have attributed some of the cases of the disease to
contagion, and others — a few though these might be — to over-
exertion. Whether, however, we should be correct or not in
applying such causation to this particular case, we have no
hesitation in ranking over-exertion among the causes of glanders,
however low down in the catalogue it may stand, because we
have seen some and heard of more horses that have turned
farcied and glandered after severe runs in the chase. It is an
occurrence probably more likely to happen to an aged than to
a young horse.

-•■ ' The Ilorse Owner's Guide,' by T. Smith, V.S., Second Dragoon Guards.
f Mr. Youatt's Veterinary Lectures in 'The Veterinarian for 1832.'

OTHER CAUSES OF GLANDEES. 251

"In 1805, while the Second Dragoon Guards were encamped on theCurragh
of Kildare, a very old horse was ridden throvighout a very fatiguing field-day,
during the former part of which the weather was extremely hot, but changed
just as the troops returned to the lines, and continued very cold all night. The
regiment being ordered out again next day, the same horse was mounted in the
morning as usual, no indisposition having been observed in him until he came
to the troop parade, when a hasmorrhage from both nostrils was discovered.
Being in the lines I (Mr. Smith) saw him in this state, and found the mucous
membrane very much inflamed and ulcerated about the extremity. There was
no cold or previous discharge from the nostrils."*

Injuries about the head, from blows or falls, have on many
occasions given rise to symptoms that might, in ignorance of
the lesion itself, be mistaken for those of glanders.

A valuable chestnut hunter was sent to Mr. Jos. Sewell
for his opinion, supposed to be glandered, from his having had
for six weeks a considerable discharge from his off nostril, with
enlargement of the submaxillary gland. On examination,
Mr. Sewell discovered his patient had received a contusion upon
the ofiF frontal bone, and this induced him to propose trephining
him. This led to the discovery (as was supposed) of a fracture,
and to the exposure of a splinter of bone suspended from the
membrane, lining the frontal sinus. The wound, after being
closed, was syringed with astringent lotions ; and in five weeks
afterwards the patient had recovered, very little blemished. —
Veterinarian for 1840.

Carious teeth, and disease of the maxillary bones and of the
sinuses, have generated a similar set of delusory symptoms. f

It is surprising what trifling and strange causes may now
and then be assumed to be influential in attacks of glanders or
farcy. In the case following, simply a dose of cathartic medi-
cine appears to have done the mischief:

"February 2d, 1806, a dose of physic was administered to a young horse
(belonging to the Second Dragoon Guards, Mr. Smith being their Veterinary
Surgeon), which was taken the following day from Birmingham to Coventry,
the troop to which he belonged having marched there. The unfortunate animal
was led eighteen miles under a violent purgation, exposed all the while to an
intense frosty wind. He became instantly glandered from ear to lip. The skin

* Smith's ' Horse Owner's Guide.'

t Turn to pages 176-180 of the present volume.

252 SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS.

on that side of the head most exposed to the wind appeared as though a mild
blister had been applied to it." *

la anotlier instance castration — in general a simple and
safe operation in the young horse — was followed by farcy
and glanders ; and the owner of the colt refused, in conse-
quence, to pay my father — who was the operator — his charge
for the operation. t

SEAT AND NATURE OP GLANDERS.

In pursuing our investigations through the division of our
subject at which we are now arrived, we anticipate more diffi-
culty in coming to sound pathological conclusions than we
experienced in agitating the question of the contagiousness of
glanders. We shall set about the inquiry by first showing
what progress our science has made in developing the true seat
and nature of the disease, by — as on a former occasion —
collecting the accounts of authors on the subject from the
earliest periods down to the present ; and this will be found to
furnish us with a body of information from which we may, at
least, safely deduce two facts, which are — the veterinarians of
the present age are pretty generally agreed as to the seat of
glanders, though, touching its nature, almost every point of the
pathological compasses of humourism and solidism seems to
have been, at one time or another, touched at by thera, by way
of affording some sort of satisfactory explanation of the phe-
nomena exhibited by glanders and farcy.

Lafosse (senior) in his " preface '' to his ' Treatise upon the
true seat of Glanders in Horses,' states, that " great was his
surprise, when he found that such distemper was not only
unknown to the ancients, but that it was altogether a new
disorder, and did not appear in Europe till about the year
1494.^' — " 'Twas at the siege of Naples, after the arrival of the
Spaniards from their discoveries in America, that glanders in
horses appeared for the first time."

'' Parazzer is the first author who has mentioned it — he

* Op. cit.

-}• The case will be found in the second vol. of the present work, p. 427.

SEAT AND NATUEE OF GLANDEES. 253

himself was at the siege ; and the Spanish authors are the first
who have given us the history of this disease^ which they term

MUORMO/'*

DupuVj however, in his prefatory history — ' Partie Histo-
rique ' — contradicts this account, on the authority of MM.
Masse and Jourdain, two French veterinary writers, who have
been at the pains to translate the writings of the Greek
hippiatrists, and from whom, he says, we learn that the father
of medicine himself, Hippocrates, was acquainted with the
disease, and has, in its confined stage, pronounced the malady
incurable.

Vegetius, who wrote in the fourth century, has described
one disorder he has called morbus humidus, and another he has
named morbus farciminosus, the former of which some of his
veterinary interpreters have said was glanders, the latter farcy.
His descriptions, however, to say the least about them, are
very vague and indefinite, at one time seeming to mean some-
thing more, at another something less than glanders and farcy.

" The humid disease [morbus humidus) is when from a
horse's nostrils, instead of snot, there flows a stinking and
thick humour, of a pale colour, A horse thus aflfected has a
great heaviness in his head, and hangs it down. The tears fall
from his eyes, and there is a whizzing noise in his breast. He
becomes thin and meagre, with his hair standing on end, and
of sad aspect. This disease the ancients called the Attican
FLUX, or running at the nose. But whensoever a bloody
humour or like to saffron begins to flow from the nostrils, then
he is incurable, and near death^s door.^f

Leonard Mascal, 1587, our earliest writer, like the ancients,
had no correct notions of glanders as a disease by itself. He
tells us, " glanders are kernels under the jawes, and when they
be ripe, they will run at the nose and there break out.^^|

^- ' A Tkeatise upou the Tkue Seat of Glandees in Houses, together
with the Method of Cure,' &c., with cuts. By M. De La Fosse, master
farrier of Paris and farrier to the King's Stables, 1751.

-{■ ' Vegetius Rcuatus, of the Distempers of Horses,' translated into English
by the author of Colucaella. London, 1748.

J ' The Government of Cattel,' divided into three Bookes. Gathered by
Leonard Mascal. Loudon, 1G20.

354 SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS.

Blundeville, 1G09, writing in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
the next authority we have, I believe, extant on the subject
before us, appears to have made some progress in the know-
ledge of the fluxes or humid diseases of the ancients, for he
instituted distinctions between glanders and stranguillion,
though he treated them both alike. He imbibed Theomnestris's
notion, that difference of colour in the nasal discharges consti-
tuted a difference in the disease itself. He thought " glanders "
originated in cold, and that '' last of all " came '^ mourning of
the chine.-"*

Gervaise Markham, 1630, was equally in the dark. He
imagined the difference between strangles and glanders to con-
sist in one breaking outwardlie, the other imvardlie.f

De Grey, or De la Grey, 1740, adopted Solley sell's notion
of glanders proceeding from neglected cold, distinguishing the
disease " by the inflamed kernels or knots which may be felt
under the chauloi the horse." He, however, continued in the
old error, of fancying that " the thinne rheurae ascendeth up
to the head and settleth neere to the brain, and so venteth
itself at the nose :" the cold gradually getting worse and ending
in glanders. I

SoLLEYSELL, 1669, a French writer of this period, of excel-
lent repute, still considered glanders as related to catarrh,
though he did not suffer himself to be misled by the difference
of colour the nasal discharges assumed. Neither did he think
— as those before him had imagined — that the discharges pro-
ceeded from the brain, but from the lungs, liver, and spleen.
He thought glanders was " caused and fermented by an ulcer
in the lungs -/' which, increasing, consumed those organs, and
at length killed the horse. §

* ' The Four chiefest Offices belonging to Horsemanship : that is to say,
The Office of the Breeder, of the Rider, of tlie Keeper, and of the Ferrer.'
By Master Blundeville, of Newton Flotman, in Norfolke, 1608.

f * Cavelarice ; or that Part of the Arte wherein is contained the Know-
ledge or Office of the Horse-Farrier, with the Signcs and Demonstrations of
all Manner of Infirmities, and the most Approved Cure for the same.' The
Seaventh Booke, 1G07-1G76 (numerous editions).

% 'The Compleat Horseman and Expert Ferrier.' By , 1740. In one

place the author's name appears as De Grey, in another as De la Grey.

§ Op. cit., at p. 198.

SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDEES. 255

Lafosse, in 1749^ presented to the (French) Royal Academy
of Sciences " A Memoir of the Glanders in Horses
relating to the Seat of that Disease ;''* wherein^ after exposing
the errors of those who had written before him, in supposing
the viscera — the lungs, heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, &c. — to
be the seat of the disease, he informs the Academy that he
had found the frontal and maxillary sinuses filled with matter,
and " the pituitary membrane inflamed ; and, consequently,
much augmented in thickness," and " affected with sanious
ulcers ; which, in some cases, had corroded through the sub-
stance of it to the very bones. That, when horses discharged
matter from both nostrils, both sides of the membrane were
affected ; and that when they only ran at one nostril, that side
only of the membrane was found distempered/^

" In like manner he (Lafosse) constantly observed an agree-
ment between the obstructio7i of the sublin(/ual glands, or g\s.nds
under the jaws, and the affection of the aforesaid membrane ;
that is to say, if one of these glands only was obstructed, then
the horse discharged matter only by one of his nostrils ; but,
on the contrary, if both the glands were affected, matter should
be discharged from both nostrils." — '' One may (therefore)
reasonably conclude, with M. Lafosse," remark the Academicians,
" that the glanders does not depend upon a general distem-
perature of the blood, but is really and truly a simple and

LOCAL MALADY."

In 1752 Lafosse presented the Royal Academy with *A New
Memoir,' "improving and bringing to perfection his discovery.' '
Herein '' he distinguishes seven kinds of discharges which may
come from the nostrils of horses." — " He, also, makes it evident
that the true glanders has its characteristics, which essentially
distinguish it from every other disease that has been called by
the same name." — " And, in order to prove that a great
inflammation of the pituitary membrane is always the cause of
glanders, he has attempted to bring on an inflammation upon
the same membrane by a corrosive injection ; and, when the
injection was only made on one side, the maxillary lymphatic
glands were swelled on the same side, and that nostril only

* The ' Memoir ' is appended to his work, published two years after. See
title of work, given at page 252.

256 SEAT AND NATtEE OP GLANDERS.

produced the discharge. But, on tlie other hand, when both
nostrils were injected, these symptoms appeared on both sides/^
— " The first Memoir presented by Sieur Lafosse Mas confined
to a bare description of the disease, and only a proposal of a
method of cure by way of project; but, in this, he certifies that
he has cured several ylandered horses by means of his injections
and fumigations thrown into the nostrils/' *

LAFOSSE, JUNIOR, 1775, strongly advocating his father's
doctrines, contended that the most conclusive and satisfactory
evidence of their truth was afforded by repeated autopsies, and
by the well-known experiment so often made by his father, as
well as by himself, of throwing corrosive injections upon the
pituitary membranes of horses, and of so turning them glan-
dered. He shaped his father's pathology to the improvements
medical science had in the interval undergone, and made some
alterations in the divisions of glanders, calling them proper and
improper — primitive and secondary — incipient, confirmed, and
inveterate — simple and compound. He would not admit that
the lungs participated in glanders, save from the supervention
of pulmonic disease during its existence. But he allowed that
the frontal and, occasionally, the maxillary sinuses, together
with the cornets and alee of the nose, partook of it. It was some
time, however, before he discovered that the tumours under the
jaw were not salivary, but lymphatic glands. t

Malouin, ]761, appears amongst the earliest dissentients to
the generally-received doctrine of Lafosse. He presented the
French Academy with the results of his own observations,
tending to show that other parts, besides the pituitary mem-
brane, became involved in disease ; and that the longer the
duration of glanders, the greater the number of other tissues
found affected by the disease.

Gibson, 1754, describes glanders to consist in "a malignant
ulcer formed in the inside of the nose of the horse " — " gene-
rally accompanied b}^ a swelling of the kernels under the jaws.
The matter discharged is, for the most part, either yellow or
greenish, or tinged with blood ; and, when horses have been

* ' Observations and Discoveries made upon Horses,' &c. By Sieur La Fosse,
Tarrier to tlie King of Franec, 1755.
f Op. cit., at page 199.

SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS. 257

long glandered, that the bones and gristles are grown foul^ the
matter turns to a blackish colour, and becomes very fetid and
stinking. And this is what usually passes for the mournincj of
the chine, from a mistaken notion of corruption and putrefac-
tion of the brain and spinal marrow." — " But the most common
and usual kind (of glanders) does not proceed from any of these
causes,* but from a bad disposition in the blood; which,
perhaps, continuing for a considerable time unperceived, at last
shows itself by a swelling of the glands under the jaw-bones,
and a running at the nose, without any other visible sign of
sickness or disease ; and this is " what inoperly constitutes the
glanders in the horse, and is either of the scrofulous kind,
the same with the evil, or else cancerous ; both of which I have
met with in practice, and may be either hereditary, or the effect
of hard labour and bad keeping."-^

Eeeves, a farrier at Ringwood, Hants, who about this time,
17G3, published a veterinary work| under the eye of a phy-
sician, looked upon glanders, as Lafosse did, as " properly an
inflammation of the pituitary membrane -," running into the
same errors about the " kinds " of glanders as Lafosse did, and
adopting his mode of cure by injection.

* Not having had by me Gibson's work at the time I was giving others'
opinions of the "causes of glanders," I may be excused for introducing I his
author's notions of the origin of the disease in this place. Gibson thought
glanders " sometimes proceeded from colds Ul cured ;" — " sometimes from
strangles :" — " from an epidemical fever " occasionally ; from " hard labour and
bad keeping." It is " the most infectious of all distempers ;" and is " certainly
so at some seasons more than at others. However, I have known glandered
horses stand a considerable time along with sound horses through negligence or
ignorance of the distemper, thinking it only to be an inveterate cold, and yet
no harm happen. On the other hand, I have known a glandered horse infect
every one that has stood near him in the same stable ; and I have also known
sound horses carried into a stable where glandered horses have stood, and by
that means catched the infection, though the stable has been cleaned and aired
before they were brought into it ; and other horses, that have been set up
along with them in the same stable, and the very stalls where the glandered
horses stood, have escaped the infection." — (Op. infra cit.)

t ' A New Treatise on the Diseases of Horses,' by Wm. Gibson, Surgeon,
1754, 2d edition.

X ' The Art of Farriery, both in Theory and Practice,' &c. &c., by Mr. John
Reeves, Parrier at Ringwood, Hants. The whole revised, corrected, and en-
larged, by a Physician. Second edition, 1763.

III. 17

258 SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDEES.

Bracken, 1769, assures us, he " cannot describe the glanders
better than Mr. Gibson has done : to wit, ' that it is a flux or
running of corrupt matter from the nose of a horse, which
matter is of different colours ; as white, yellow, green, or black,
according to the degree of malignancy, or according as the dis-
temper has been of long or short continuance/ " — " I know
but of one inseparable sign of glanders, and that is inflamma-
tion or sw'elling of the glands about the throat or behind the
ears. And as to what Solleysell, Blundeville, and others, write
about the mourning of the chine or consumption of the brain
and spinal marrow, &c., it is a pack of nonsense.^' — '' I take
Mr. Snape's account of the glanders not to be very defective ;
only I cannot agree with him in one thing, that is, in this dis-
temper s being contagious or infectious ; for he might as well say
that ive catch colds, consumptions, ^c, by infection. ^^*

Bartlet, 1773, a surgeon, who wrote a veterinary work
about the same period^ became another of Lafosse's proselytes.
" A new light,'' he tells us, " having been thrown on this whole
affair by the study of M. Lafosse, the King of France's farrier,
who has been at the pains to trace out and discover, by dis-
sections, the source and cause of this disorder ; we hope the
method he has proposed, with some farther experiments and
improvements, will soon bring to a certainty the cure,"t &c., &c.

BouRGELAT, 1765, thc great founder of the French Veterinary
School, saw reason to secede from the notions of Lafosse, which,
in his day, had firm hold of public opinion. He believed
glanders to have its source in the corruption of the blood and
humours of the body, and thought there was great analogy
between the ulceration of glanders and venereal chancres.

Pa ULET, however, as we learn from Hurtrel d'Arboval,j was
the French writer who especially drew attention to the simi-
larity there existed between glanders and syphilis. " The two
viruses," he says, " exert their action in a similar manner : in
both diseases, the lymph, contaminated through the presence
of the virus, in its turn infects the gland in the neighbourhood
to which it has been taken. In one case it happens to the

* ' Farriery Improved,' by Henry Bracken, M.D., 1769.

t 'The Gentleman's Farriery,' by T. Bartlet, Surgeon, 8th edit. 1773.

X Op. eit., at page 217, article, " Morve."

SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS. 259

gkuds in the groin, in another to those in the throat; both
performing the same office. Tiie two viruses, acrid and irri-
tating in tlieir nature, having reached in one instance the
urethral canal of man, in the other the cavities of the head of
the horse, lined by the pituitary membrane, and being there
dissolved and decomposed, occasion by their presence irritation,
inflammation, burning, speedily followed by purulent flux,
together with augmentation of the natural mucous secretion/-"

Gilbert, another French veterinary writer, regarded the
knowledge of the means of preventing glanders as hardly less
in importance to the discovery of the cure for the disease.
His notions, like SolleyselFs, were that both strangles and
bastard-strangles frequently ended in glanders ; in fact, that
the two diseases were alike, glanders being but an imperfect
evacuation of the strangles. But farcy being the disease
which, of all others, most frequently terminates in glanders,
it has received from farriers the appellation of its cousin German.
Ordinarily, in horses, the disease is of a chronic nature ; but
on occasions it assumes the acute form. In mules and asses
it is constantly acute.*

ViTET, 1783, describes glanders to consist in a discharge
from the nose of a virulent and contagious humour, in the first
stages unaccompanied by fever or cough, or loss of appetite or
spirits. The horse, mule, and ass, are the only animals ob-
noxious to it. The disease commonly commences in one nostril.
Its course is very uncertain. The horse may survive one, or
two, or even three years. Some regard the pituitary membrane,
others the lungs, as the seat of glanders. For my own part, I
willingly class myself with those who think both the head and
the chest the seat of disease. Those who have considered
glanders to be a local disease have essayed by injections to ac-
complish a cure ; while the advocates for its being a pulmonary
disease have made use of detersions, such as the terebinthinates
and balsams; while those who have regarded as its seats both
the pituitary membrane and lungs have been as fond of employ-
ing internal as external remedies. f

VoLPi, the Italian professor of veterinary medicine suspects

* ' Observations sur les Causes de la Morve,' &c. &c.
t ' Medecine Veteriuaire,' par M. Vitet, vol. ii, 1783,

260 SEAT AKD NATURE OF GLANDERS.

strong identity in nature between glanders and syphilis. Glavi-
ders is so frequently associated with farcy, that raany assert
they are the same disease. Farcy, however, is much more easily
cured than glanders. Glanders is only curable while recent ;
after it has long existed, the organic lesions occasioned by it
render all our remedies of no avail, these said lesions proving
the disease to be of an inflammatory nature. It is absurd to
consider the submaxillary tumefied glands as the focus of the
disease, and to imagine that extirpation of them will tend to
its removal.

Snape condemns the operation of trepanning, as insufficient
to cure the glanders ; sagaciously asking, " Can success be ex-
pected from the irrational procedure of attempting to remove
the defects, previous to subduing the original cause, ivhich is
seated in the blood, where it is introduced by various means ?"
This author seems to have had an impression that glanders and
farcy were but the same disease ; for he says, " the first stage
of glanders is farcy in the head, and the last stage of a farcy
in the head is a confirmed glanders."^

Taplin, 1791, after, in his own peculiar happy vein of irony,
holding Lafosse, and ^^ his trumpeter, Bartlett,'^ up to ridicule
for the notions of '' the seven different kinds of glanders,'^ and
" the cures almost incredible," through trepanning, syringing,
&c,, that were said to be performed, gliding from the eminence
of satire '' gently into the vale of reason,^^ informs us, as his
own opinion on the subject, '' that any corrosive matter dis-
charged from the nostrils, and suffered to continue for a length
of time, so as to constitute ulcerations and corrode the bones,
■will degenerate into, and constitute, the disease generally under-
stood by the appellation of glanders : every stagnant, acri-
monious, or putrid matter is possessed of this property, and
more particularly when lodged (or by sinuses confined) upon
any particular part " — " whether proceeding from an ulceration
of the lungs, or the inveterate glandular discharges from the
head (where the case is of long standing, and the bone carious),
they are equally incur able. "f

* 'A Practical Treatise on Farriery; from the management of the laic Mr.
Snape, farrier to their Majesties and to the second troop of Horse Guards.'
t 'The Gentleman's Slable Directory,' by Wm. Taplin, Surgeon, 1791.

SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS. 261

St. Bel, 1792, the first Professor of the Veterinary College
of London, adopted the opinions and practice of Lafosse on the
subject of glanders ; and so, his experiments at Lyons, detailed
here after his death, exhibit a series of nasal injections, united
with antimonial and mercurial preparations by the mouth, &c.*

The late Professor COLEMAN made a division of glan-
ders into acute and chronic. " That form or kind is acute,
which, like other acute diseases, proceeds regularly through its
com'se and ends in death; that chronic, which, so long as it
continues so, will not destroy the animal. This is illustrated
by what happens in chancre, bubo, and (venereal) gonorrhoea :
one requires the administration of mercury, the other will in
time run itself dry."

'^ Acute glanders may be defined to be, a specific inflam-
mation and ulceration of the Schneiderian membrane, more
particularly of that part of it covering the septum, that appearing
to possess a higher degree of sensibility. It is generally accom-
panied by tumefaction of the submaxillary lymphatic glands,
which glandular tumour or tumours is simply the consequence
of irritation.'^

" By specific is meant, an inflammation not attended with
the usual phenomena. If the inflammation could be as well
recognised by any characteristic appearance as the ulceration
is, then the horse ought to be pronounced glandered prior to
the supervention of the ulcerative stage : to this there are ana-
logous instances in the human subject. No surgeon decides
on a case of syphilis before chancre makes its appearance, or
on smallpox until pustules have formed. We may safely lay
claim to two discoveries respecting glanders and farcy. One
is, that the whole mass of blood has been found to be contami-
nated ; the other, that both diseases may be, and are commonly^
produced without the agency of contagion, Mr. Hunter
concluded that the blood was never in itself diseased, because he
could inoculate with it in smallpox and syphilis without
infecting the subject ; whereas, if he made use of lymph, he
produced the disease. This is no proof, however, that the blood
contains no morbific matter; for the poison mixed with it may
be, as we now know it to be, in too diluted a state to take

* This account is taken from Mr. Blaine, op. cit., p. 318,

262 SEAT AND NATQRE OF GLANDERS.

any effect^ tlioiif!;])^ in tlie purulent discharge, it appears to exist
in a concentrated form. On the same principle, a person may
drink a teacupful out of a pailful of water containing a certain
quantity of arsenic, with impunity ; but, should he take a quart
or a gallon of the same fluid, he may probably experience from
it deleterious effects. Aloes itself is a poison exhibited in large
doses. Another proof of the blood being diseased, is, that
syphilitic infection will frequently create disease in the throat :
how could the poison get there but through the medium of
absorption and circulation ? Be this explicable however as it
may, we have proved the fact beyond all doubt and dispute by
the test of direct experiment. "

" Glanders is not so prevalent in the summer as in the winter
season ; and it has, in several instances, been known to be
epizootic, particularly when horses brought from camp or other
external situations have been returned into warm and unventi-
lated quarters. If precautions were taken to properly ventilate
stables, the disease might be altogether eradicated. In further
proof of the disease originating Avithout contagion, we have
instances of glanders breaking out among horses that have
been embarked in a perfectly healthy condition on board of
ships entirely new. In the expedition to Quiberon, the horses
had not been long on board of the transports before it became
necessary to shut down the hatchways : the consequences of
this were, that the horses Avere almost suffocated with heat,
and that almost all of them disembarked either glandered or
farcied. The malady which broke out among the men engaged
in the Walcheren expedition attacked almost all of them, hence
it was considered to be a contagious disease ; afterwards, how-
ever, it proved not to be, nor was this assumption required to
explain its endemic character, for they all (if the expression
may be allowed) ate it, they all drank it, and they all breathed
it. It is for want of reflection upon these points that people
are so often differing about the contagious and non-contagious
nature of diseases. It has been observed, that glanders is
mostly present where grease is prevalent ; indeed, this fact led
Sainbel to say, that grease was a cause of glanders : but, in
truth, it is no more a cause than dung and urine are causes ;
it is simply operating as another cause of atmospherical impurity.

SUAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS. 263

Under such circumstances^ the fetor of grease will predominate,
as the stench of a goat will, after the effluvia arising from the
excretions and secretions ; and it was tlie observance of this
fact probably that gave origin to the vulgar notion of the
salutary influence of goats kept in stables."

" The acute glanders is the same disease, in regard to the
nature of the poison, as farcy and chronic glanders ; I am, how-
ever, not so confirmed in my own opinion concerning the aflinity
of the last as in respect to farcy. Acute glanders hardly ever
proves fatal without farcy making its appearance before death ;
on the other hand, farcy rarely or never of itself puts an end to
life, it being superseded commonly by acute, sometimes by
chronic glanders. Independently, however, of these practical
observations, we have shown their essential identity by direct
experiment : we have produced farcy by inoculation with the
poison of acute glanders, and acute glanders by inoculation
with the matter of farcy : we do not always succeed, it is true,
but one case proves as much as a thousand."

''Chronic Glanders commonly affects but one side of the
head : if, therefore, a discharge makes its appearance from one
nostril alone, that of itself is strong presumptive evidence of
the presence of this disease. This partial flux cannot come
from the lungs ; for, if it did, the other nostril would discharge
too :* it must have its issue from some part anterior to the
larynx ; consequently it can have no other source but the
membrane of the nose or that portion of it lining the sinuses.
Should it come from the nose, the membrane, most likely, will
have a redder aspect upon that side of the septum than upon
the opposite, or there may be a disposition to, or actual ulcera-
tion. If the nasal discharge is considerable, and, at the same
time, the animal to all appearance continues in the enjoyment
of good constitutional health, such circumstances should serve
to strengthen your suspicions. People cannot conceive how
it is a horse can have glanders so long as he eats and drinks,
and does his work in perfect health ; this very fact, however,
I repeat, is corroborative of an unfavorable prognosis. Another
circumstance to be attended to is, that the nasal flux has little

* See my remark concerning this at page 179.

264 SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS.

or no fetor ; ofFensiveness of breath is pretty certain evidence
that glanders is not present : not but uhat pneumonia and
glanders may exist in the same subject, but, fetid breath com-
monly proceeding from the lungs, and tliis chronic discharge
coming from the sinuses of the head, the one disease is not in
any way necessarily connected with the other. In glanders,
the nostrils are contracted and gummed with inspissated dis-
charge ; but the flux is not offensive, or, at least, to the same
degree as pulmonary fetor is. Again ; in glanders, generally
speaking, there is, on the same side from which the discharge
comes, a defined swelling of the submaxillary glands, which is
attached closely and immovably to the side of the jaw : if it is
a tumour of considerable size, one that is diffused and extends
inwardly, or one that is very moveable under the fingers, most
likely it is not lymphatic, and therefore not connected with
this disease. So far as my observation has gone, no such
glandular swelling happens in common inflammation.^^

" In chronic glanders, then, the general health, appetite,
spirits, &c., remain unimpaired. There is simply a discharge
from one nostril, accompanied by fetor, with a circumscribed
immovable tumour under the jaw on the same side. In some
cases, however, the flux comes from both nostrils : here, com-
monly, both sets of glands are tumefied, the nature of which
swellings will serve to direct the diagnosis; in addition to
which, most probably, the animal's health continues good, and
the discharge is not offensive. But, if cough be present with
such a discharge, the submaxillary tumefaction uniformly dif-
fused between the sides of the jaw, and there are feverish
symptoms and evident impairment of the general health, the
lungs in this case are probably the seat of disease. Still, in
order that we may be certain about the existence of chronic
glanders, we have no occasion to implicitly rely even upon
these signs, for we may at once decide the point by the test of
practical investigation. We have only to perforate (with a
spill-gimlet) the frontal sinuses, and inject some clean tepid
water into them : should the sinuses be healthy interiorly, the
fluid will run from the nose either limpid as it was thrown in,
or merely be tinged with blood ; whereas, in a case of disease
there, the water will carry down with it the matter lodged in

SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS. 265

the cavities. It is not uncommon^ in chronic glanders, to
observe a horse discharging profusely for several days, and
then suddenly to cease running altogether. This arises either
from inspissation of the matter collected, or from the eftusion
of adhesive matter within the sinus, which settles at the bottom
of the cavity, and plugs up the aperture by which it communi-
cates with the chamber of the nose. During the interval of
suspension no sign of disease remains but the submaxillary
tumefaction ; there is no discharge, and consequently there
can be no source of contagion ; but, the collection of matter
continually augmenting, at length the plug is forced out, and
the flux returns with more virulence than ever. In Smithfield,
it used to be a common cheat to sell a horse having this
disease for a sound one ; the trick consisting in stopping up
the nostril of the affected side with a piece of sponge, which, of
course, received and imbibed the discharge.^^

" Though we have no specific remedy for chronic glanders,
no more than we have for acute, the Professor has seen more
cases of recovery from this than from the latter disease. When
the discharge early in this affection becomes profuse, and con-
tinues long so, it will end, every now and then, in a spon-
taneous cure, as is the case so often with gonorrhoea ; at other
times, the flux will persist and run for years, and the horse, so
long as the disease continues chronic, maintain his full health.
Many horses of this description are to be found in various
parts of the country working in road-wagons_, brick-carts,
farmers' establishments, &c. Notwithstanding that, the disease
is not only incurable, but is contagious. The matter emitted
from the nose of a horse having chronic glanders has the pro-
perty of propagating, through contact, either acute or chronic
glanders, or even both."

Feron, 1803, in discarding the notions of Lafosse, gives a
very imperfect outline of such as were entertained, in his day,
ly Coleman. He tells us, " the disorder may be divided into
two^ states, the one chronic, and the other acute. The first is
easily distinguished from the other, as the running at the nose
is but trifling, and of a very transparent colour, and no ulcers
at the nose are yet observable ; whilst in the second case, or in
the acute stage, the running and the ulcers in the nose have

260 SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS.

a very offensive smell/' &c. The earliest stage of the disease
" I call chi'onic."'''

Siiipp, 1808, among his ' Cases in Farriery' relates but one
of glanders; and that occurred in a horse "belonging to a
glazier of Doncaster ;" from which solitary instance we are led
to infer, either that glanders was unknown in his own regi-
ments, or that he had kept no records of any military occur-
rences of the kind. The case itself is only worthy of mention
as showing the author's belief that the horse " might live ma7iy
years with the disease, and in that time contaminate a great
number of (other) good horses,'' &c. t

Peall, the Irish veterinary Professor, 1814, imbibing the
more correct pathological views of glanders and farcy which
had been formed by Coleman, surprises us when we find him
saying, that, "in a practical point of view, it is not very
material to inquire whether the farcy and glanders (which he
regarded as the same disease) originate in the arterial or
the lymphatic system /"J

SMITH, Veterinary Surgeon to the 3d Dragoon Guards,
published in 1818 the results of his observations, in his regi-
ment, on glanders, § which, as we have already seen, are
chiefly interesting to us on account of the pertinacity with
which he, on the strength of the facts and cases he adduces,
argues the great improbability and irreconcilableness of the
doctrine of the spread of glanders through contagion. He
places glanders " either in the nasal, frontal, or maxillary
sinuses ; as a discharge from the lungs, trachea, or fauces,
through the nostrils, does not constitute a real case of
glanders." — Although " it frequently happens that only one of
the nostrils, or one of the frontal sinuses, is diseased ;" Mr.

* ' A New System of Farriery,' by John Feron, veterinary Surgeon 13th
Light Dragoons. 1803.

f ' Cases in Farriery,' by John Shipp, Veterinary Surgeon 23cl Light
Dragoons. 1808.

X ' Observations on the Diseases of the Horse,' by Thos. Peall, Veterinary
Professor to the Dublin Society, &c. Cork, 1814.

§ 'The Horse Owner's Guide; containing Vahiable Information on the
Management and Cure of Diseases incident to Horses ; more particularly that
very fatal Disease called Glanders,' by Thos. Smith, late Veterinary Surgeon
2d Dragoon Guards.

SEAT AND NATUEE OF GLANDERS. 267

Smith lias never seen either of the maxillary sinuses diseased
unless the frontal sinuses uere also affected." Mr. Smith
like Professor Coleman, regards glanders as "inflammation^
increased secretion, and ulceration of the mucous membrane
lining the nostrils and the other cavities of the head." He
has seen but '' eight cases in which death was occasioned by
suffocation." — "In several cases he has seen the mucous
membrane ulcerated, and the bones affected, without any
enlargement between the maxillary bones." He feels it
"scarcely possible" from the "various shapes" glanders
assumes, to give such an account as will " enable a person who
has not been in the habit of investigating the symptoms, to
determine with certainty whether a horse be really glandered
or not :" he has " seen many horses pronounced glandered
where no indication of the disease could be found to exist in
the head after death."— Following Coleman, he reckons but
" two species of glanders, — acute and chronic.'' " The acute
disease is situated in the nasal sinuses, and is frequently a
primary disease, as aycU as a sequel of other diseases previously
existing in the system, particularly /arcy, which has probably
occasioned them to have been mistaken for the same disorder.
But, notwithstanding they are produced by the same cause,
and appear in the same subject, they are nevertheless distinct
diseases, having no other affinitij than there is between a
primary and a secondary disease." Mr. Smith has "seen

glanders without farcy produced by diseased liver'' and

" both farcy and glanders are the consequence of diseased
mesentery" — also farcy by itself and glanders by itself from
the same. " When glanders is a concomitant of farcy, it is
generally in consequence of that disease having extended to
the mesentery ;" — this membrane " falls into decay, and then
glanders appears, generally a few days before death; not
because it is the same disease, but because the nostrils, being
an extreme part, and their living power diminished, the mucous
membrane becomes susceptible of inflammation, which is pro-
bably excited and increased by the ingress and egress of the
air in respiration," &c. Mr. Smith has " never seen death
occasioned by the acute glanders, except by suffocation or
hemorrhage. If it was a constitutional disease, would it not

268 SEAT AND NATUrtE OF GLANDERS.

aflfect the system, and produce death in a variety of other
sliapes ? In the chronic state, glanders does not produce any
other disease in the system^' — '' nor occasion death, except by
destroying the orbitary processes of the os frontis, and affecting
the brain. In one subject he has " seen death occasioned by
a morbid affection of tlie brain/^ In another, " matter com-
pressing that organ so as to occasion lethargy/^

Aygalenq, a French physician, in a pamphlet, published in
1809, entitled, ' Aper9u General sur la Perfectibilite de la
Medecine Veterinaire,^ in proposing to adopt names derived
from human medicine for our veterinary ones in ordinary use,
suggested for glanders that of "affection contagieuse du systerae
lymphatique; " plainly showing from this what his views were
in regard to the pathology of glanders.

DupuY, 1817, whose celebrated work on Tuberculous
Disease, commonly called glanders, cojisumption, strangles,
farcy, &;c., I was the first to introduce to the notice of my
brother veterinarians in this country, occupies one of the high-
est stations in our present historical catalogue, as being the
author of an entirely new doctrine on the pathology of glanders,
farcy, &c. Holding in little estimation the opinions of his
predecessors; looking upon them as altogether insufficient to
account for the phenomena exhibited in glanders and farcy, and
resolved, if possible, to discover " the source of the evil,^^ he
traced the origin of both these diseases, as well as that of several
others, not of horses only, but of dogs, cats, monkeys, and
domestic fowls as well, to the existence and development of
tubercle in some part or other of the body, and, accordingly, he
ranged all these several disorders of the animals mentioned
under the generic appellation of " tuberculous affection.^^

" Tubercles, which appear as little, firm, grey, hard bodies,
are organic productions, originating from causes unknown, exist-
ing at first in small numbers, and interfering but little with the
functions of the parts generating them. In this, their incipient
state, the animal enjoys perfect health, and continues in the
preservation of it up to the period of the disorganization of the
tubercle, those changes in its interior which end in its mortifi-
cation and ulceration. In time, they increase in number, and
the result is a discharge commonly from one nostril, which, at

SEAT AND NATUEE OE GLANDERS. 5^69

its commencement, is regarded as catarrh or strategies. This
stage may occupy a term of five or six years.* In tlie second
stage the tubercles grow soft, break and become converted into
ulcers. There are varieties of tubercles ; the most common
are the miliary ; and these are the precursors of that species of
ulceration which I have described (at page 169} as resembling
worm-eaten wood. They are found in greatest numbers in the
course of the large veins upon the septum. They are also
found within the duplicature of the ala nasi, and upon the tur-
binated bones, pursuing the course of the large blood-vessels.
They may even exist within the substance of the cartilage of the
septum, and thus assist in its destruction. The membrane
lining the sinuses is rarely found tuberculated. Tubercles have,
however, been observed in the lungs, lymphatic glands, cellular
membrane, skin, testicles, lining membrane of the alimentary
canal, &c. Should glanders be complicated with a tuberculous
affection of the lungs, the animal coughs frequently, tires soon,
perspires readily : latterly he loses his vigour and energy, be-
comes washy, soft, and lazy ; subject to catarrh, ophthalmia,
cutaneous eruptions, farcy, oedema, &c. And now, soon glan-
ders becomes complicated with farcy. Farcy buds are nothing
else but scrofulous tubercles ; they grow, develop, and decline,
the same as pulmonary tubercles. Glanders bears, therefore,
the closest analogy to phthisis in man. The phthisis of the
pituitary membrane will sometimes turn of a cancerous nature ;
at other times it has been known to become typhoid.^^

Farcy, Dupuy regards as the same " tubercular affection"
as glanders, notwithstanding it is " often local and an original
affection ;" and on this account " it admits of being cured,
while glanders has resisted every remedial means hitherto used."
When we find one veterinarian declaring farcy to be curable,
another incurable, " the probability is, they have been treating
different varieties of the same disease : in one case the farcy
may have been local, in the other constitutional."

Of the Pulmonary Tubercle, Dupuy has observed " three
varieties, the miliary, the pisiform, and the unciform. Each
tubercle is composed of an envelope or cyst^ and of a whitish

* Dupuy cannot exactly say how long : once developed, however, resolution
is hopeless.

270 SEAT AND NATUEE OF GLANDERS.

substauce easily crushed between the fingers, which Messrs.
Duloug and Labillardiere have found to resemble osseous matter.
Very considerable depositions of this bony substance are
occasionally seen in the proper pulmonary tissue, especially in
the ox species. When the tubercles are of the large kind their
number is limited ; but the miliary species are innumerable.
While forming, they are firm, organized, and always found in
the course of the blood-vessels, whose calibre is singularly aug-
mented. They grow and become developed like any other
organized bodies, without our being able to offer any rationale
of the process, or of the space of time they continue organic,
prior to their mollification and degeneration. They commonly
end in ulceration and destruction of the pulmonary tissue. Tlie
lungs present vomica or cysts of various sizes containing thick
reddish matter, or else a more liquid cheese-like matter."

Dupuy has likewise discovered miliary tubercles within the
parenchyma of the liver and kidney ; but much oftener than in
either of these bodies, within the testicles. Even the epididymis
has contained them.

Dupuy agrees with Gilbert in regarding strangles as so far
"identical in its nature with glanders;" — ''that strangles and
bastard-strangles, as well as farcy, grease, and ophthalmia, are
frequently the results of one and the same specific cause ;" that
cause being " the tuberculous affection." — " Glanders itself," he
adds, " is a specific disease, and not a termination of strangles,
bastard-strangles, cynanche maligna, farcy, watery farcy, catarrh,
&c. When the lungs are affected, it is a sequel of the tuberculous
disposition, and not a termination of pneumonia. On the con-
trary, pneumonic affections are very often consequences of the
tuberculous affection." And in another place — " observation
has shown that puriform matter coming from the bronchise,
which is discharged by the nose, does not cause glanders in pass-
ing over the nasal membrane, as veterinarians have imagined."

Dupuy informs us that glanders may exist in that "latent"
form, that it may not by the most acute observation be discover-
able during life. " Tubercles will exist, not merely in the first,
but even in the second degree of development in the internal
viscera, Avithout deranging their functions, and particularly in
the lungs." Or the disease may, after having made its appear-

SEAT AND NATURE OP GLANDERS. 271

ance, subside for a time, and afterwards re-appear^ without any
ostensible reasons.

Speaking of what in France is called acute glanders, Dupuy
tells us " it is a disease of another order. // must not be con-
founded with the tuberculous affection ; rather, it has analogies
with the typhus of cattle or with the great epizootics which at
different periods have ravaged France and Europe." — " All I am
desirous/' adds Dupuy, " of impressing, is, that this disease can-
not be considered as glanders," It is consequently one concern-
ing which, for the present at least, we need take no account.*

Morel, 1823, denies the specificity of glanders, regarding the
disease as no more than the natural consequence of chronic in-
flammation of the mucous lining of the aerial passages. f

Gerard, 1827, asserts the identity of glanders and farcy.
'^ Glanders,'' he says, ^' is no more than farcy in the nose. And
the farcy-buds and pimples observable upon the pituitary mem-
brane constitute lesions of the same description, in both instances
succeeded by ulceration."!

EoDET, 1830, the Veterinary Professor at Toulouse, adopted
the Dupuy theory, but with such important modifications as gave
it a more regular and systematic form. Admitting tubercles to
constitute the especial and proximate cause of glanders, he —
not leaving us, as Dupuy has, in doubt — ascribes their origin to
a constitutional influence, depeudent upon a lymphatic tem-
perament, vicious conformation, hereditary disposition, or upon
accidental causes, such as the relapse and chronic prolongation
of diseases at first acute and of a different nature ; from which
it follows that glanders may be either constitutional or acquired.
The former will be primitive or secondary, according as the
tuberculous affection has its seat exclusively or at least originally
in the pituitary, or as that membrane becomes affected through
extension of the disease from the lungs ; the latter — or
acquired disease — will be the result and producer of phlegmasial
irritations, repeated or more or less protracted, sometimes in
the pituitary alone, but oftener, if not always, in the mucous

* Op. cit., page 204.
t 'Traite Raisoune de la Morve,' 1813.

J ' Remarques et Observations sur I'ldeutite de la Morve et du Farcin/
Eeceuil de Med. Vet., torn, iv, p. 269. 1837.

273 SEAT AND NATURE OP GLANDERS.

membrane lining the air-passages, a circumstance whiclij at the
time that the degeneration (of tubercles) exists nowhere but in
the nose, goes far to show that glanders is an affection purely
consecutive to these same irritations." — In fine, according to
llodet, glanders is no more than a symptomatic disorder — "a
morbid state ever consequent upon other disease." *

Benard, in some researches he made into the nature of the
blood in glandered horses, discovered albumen to be predominant
in it according to the length of time the disease had existed,
and that any amelioration that took place of the patient under
its influence was attended by a correspondent diminution of the
quantity of albumen. In some horses virulently glandered,
albumen constituted seven eighths of the mass of blood. And
this excess of albumen in the blood, Benard ascribes rather to
disease of those excretories of the body which give issue to albu-
minous secretions, than to irritation or modification of the
vitality of organs whose function it is to renovate the circulating
fluid.t

Barthelemv, in discussion before the Royal Academy of
Medicine, wished to be understood that he had never pro-
nounced glanders to be a local disease. Acute glanders cannot
be considered as a local affection, fiom the circumstance of its
being accompanied by an eruption all over the body : it is a
constitutional malady, whose principal, essential, characteristic
effects show themselves in the nasal cavities. Nevertheless,
some facts lead him to believe that the particular affection
denominated chronic glanders is a local disease.f

Delafond thinks that glanders is often bred in the system.
So far from imagining that the disease originates «/z<;a?/5 in the
pituitary membrane, he affirms that in an immense majority of
cases its seat is in the lymphatic system ; and that its nature
consists in an alteration, about which we know little, of the
lymph as well as of the vessels conveying it.f

HuiiTREL D'Arboval sums up the ancient as well as modern
doctrines on glanders, and concludes his interesting summary
with his own notions on the subject : — " Lafosse appears to us
to have been the first to have hit upon the true seat of glanders.

'■'• Op. cit., page 215.

t ' D'Aiboval's Dictionary,' article " Morve."

SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS. 273

lu showing glanders to be a local malady, confined to the
cavities of the nose, to the sinuses connected with it, and to
other parts of the nasal membrane, he has established a fact
which to us appears indisputable, one that is actually admitted
— as, indeed, it ought to be — by all candid persons, by all such
as make it their rule to found their medical observations upon
pathological anatomy and physiology/' — " If we have been
thus fortunate in our discovery of the true seat of glanders, it
only remains for us to agree concerning its nature. To how
many hypotheses, founded upon analogies more or less erroneous,
has not this point given origin ? and what are we to think
about a disease whose nature has given rise to so much diversity
of opinion ? Let us leave to the accurate observations of minds
unbiassed and guided by truth alone the important task of dis-
covering and unveiling to us the veritable, the intimate nature
of glanders ; and, while these researches are making, forming
our opinion from such phenomena as are already within our
knowledge, let us be content with viewing the disease as a
specific inflammation of the pituitary membrane ; acute in its
incipient stage, however short that stage may be — chronic in
its other stages, possibly so from the beginning; and, like every
other phlegmasia, susceptible of re-acting upon other organs
with which they are connected through sympathy, through
reciprocity of relation connecting one with the other, and ren-
dering them reciprocally dependent one upon the other. In the
actual state of our knowledge we must not expect to be able to
explain what we mean by the inflammation being specific ; in
what it difl'ers from other inflammations of the same tissue ;
why it should be contagious and hitherto prove incurable ; why,
as it resembles catarrh at its outset, it does not terminate in the
same manner, but, on the contrary, assumes specific characters,
distinguishing it from coj'yza, angina, nud what is called strangles.
When we shall have thoroughly examiend and probed lliis
question, when we shall have sufficiently studied all the points
bearing upon its unravelment, perhaps we shall find fewer diifi-
culties standing in the way of its solution ; — perhaps we shall
discover that glanders does not diff'er so much as we had imagined
from coryza, — perhaps we shall find out that it is nothing
more than a modification of coryza. It may be, that glanders

in. ' 18

274 SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS.

differs from nasal catarrh in nothing beyond its being obstinate
and tardy in its progress ; that it is analogous to an habitual
and chronic coryza — or nasal gleet — which may, the same as
glanders, entail serious consequences; may be, in spreading by
degrees to the lungs ; may be, in giving rise to ulcerations and
excrescences upon the pituitary membrane. Besides, do we not
know that, in highly acute coryza, the nasal discharge, especially
while it continues clear and limpid, is acrid to that degree that
it irritates and even excoriates the skin, clothing the doubling
of the nostrils over which it flows? The facility with which
horses, standing together in the same stable, catch the same
catarrhal disorder, might lead us to presume that the discharges,
at least up to a certain period, harboured some contagious
property. After all, these are but hints that we have thrown
out ; and so far are we ourselves from regarding them as
infallible, that now we are going to offer some further consider-
ations apparently of a contradictory character."

" Nevertheless, before we conclude, we shall frankly give our
own opinion on the subject. According to our noi\oxi%, glanders
is a disease of the pituitary membrane — an abnormal secretory
irritation of it — either arising spontaneously or caused by con-
tagion. The idiopathic disease may be primitive or consecutive
to the internal change, be it of the entire economy or of one
of the principal systems, especially the respiratory. As for the
different forms or modifications under which glanders appears,
chronic and acute, pustulous and ulcerative, ecchymotic and
gangrenous, these are but phases of endless variety, consequent
on the conditions of individuals and on extrinsic causes."*

Professor Sewell^s opinions on glanders — as they stood at
least so far back as the year 1827-8 — will be found in an
Introductory Lecture delivered by him for that sessional year,
at the lloyal Veterinary College ; which was by myself taken
down in short hand, and afterwards published in the first
volume of The Veterinarian. I here transcribe them, with
some slight alterations of wording and arrangement : f —

* Op. cit., at page 217-

t In reply to a letter I wrote to tlie Professor in March, 1844, submitting
to him the statement I now introduce here, and requesting to be informed if this
coincided with his present views, I received for answer — "that he (the Professor)

SEAT AND NATUEE OF GLANDERS. 275

The Professor believes the lungs to be the original seat of
glanders, and the aflfection of the nose to be secondary. He
agrees with Dupuy iu thinking that miliary tubercles constitute
the original disease; and that these suppurate, and by coalescence
form considerable abscesses in the lungs, the contents of which
become discharged through the nose, and thus constitute
glanders. In the early stage, even in this (tuberculous) con-
dition of lung, Professor Sewell believes that many horses are
recoverable. He has ascertained that matter taken from these
suppurated tubercles (vomica) will by inoculation produce
glanders as surely as one (planted) potato will produce another.
Asses inoculated with such matter have had tubercles produced
in their lungs in the space of five days ; and what renders this
experiment more satisfactory is, the fact of asses rarely having
(from other causes) tubercles iu their lungs.

YouATT regards glanders as "inflammation of the Schuei-
derian membrane, strictly local for awhile, and during its
insidious state ; and even when the discharge becomes gluey,
and some time after chancres have appeared, the horse is
apparently well." — ''I cannot say," continues Mr. Youatt,
" that glanders, like the rot, improves the condition ; but I have
seen that often, and for a long while, for months and even for
years — it does no injury to the general health. The inflam-
mation is purely local, and is only recognised by that invariable
accompaniment of inflammation, — increased secretion. Al-
though that secretion is poisonous, and its neighbours fall
victims to it, it affects not the animal whence it came. But
this continued inflammation at length tells, or other circum-
stances increase its power and its eff"ect, and the vitality of the
tissue is destroyed and suppuration succeeds ; but not that of
a healthy character — not that which is connected with repro-
duction ; — it is malignant and destructive from the beginning ;
and soon another process commences, salutary or destructive,
according to circumstances. There are absorbents on every
surface ; they are found on the surface of the chancres which
are beginning to appear ; and they take up the fluid which is
secreted from the ulcers, and they soon feel its poisonous in-
fluence. The absorbents become inflamed and tumid ; and,

is coufirmed by time aud experience iu his opinions and views wliicii lie
expressed ou the subject of glanders iu his ' Introductorj Lecture' for 1827-8."

276 SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDEES.

where the virus rests^ as it were, viz. at the valves, destruction
of the part ensues, and the chancres spread in every direction.'"
— " Some portion of the venom passes on, and is carried into
the circulation and mixes with the blood, and vitiates the
blood." — " Then comes the constitutional aflection. The mem-
branes of the neighbourhood, and those most susceptible of
irritation, first yield. Chancres proceed down the pharynx and
larynx, and gradually the ulcers spread over the frame. The
acrimonious fluid, mingling with the blood everywhere, begins
everywhere to attack that tissue which is most susceptible of
its influence, viz. the lining membrane of the absorbents ; and
by degrees, and in most distant parts of the frame — the hind
extremities are a favorite situation — the absorbents become
chorded, and tumours appear in the situation of the valves, and
ulcerations ensue. First, the superficial absorbents are aff'ected;
then the deeper-seated become involved : the whole frame is
empoisoned ; farcy is established in its most horrible form, and
death speedily closes the scene.^^*

Vines, 1833, deserves the thanks of the profession for the
pains he has taken in the practical investigation of a subject,
some of the main doctrines concerning Avhich he has had the
boldness to question the validity of, and in their place has in-
troduced others, if not altogether novel in their character, at
least, original in this country ; which I shall, by quotation,
endeavour to put my reader fully in the possession of. That
opinion on which Coleman and his followers grounded their
theory of the nature of glanders — the existence of a poison in
the blood of glandered and farcied horses — Mr. Vines denounces
as " great error " (p. 2) : he believes neither in specific disease,
nor in specific jjoison, nor in specific effects. "All the symptoms
of disease which constitute glanders and farcy,^^ he avers, "in-
variably depend upon the unhealthy state of the system, into
which it is reduced or brought, and not, as is generally supposed,
from (upon ?) a specific poison contained in the blood " (p. 2).
— '^ In common inflammatory diseases, the system is always
in a more or less healthy state ; but, on the contrary, when
those symptoms of disease which constitute glanders or farcy
occur, the system is always in a more or less unhealthy state; and
in proof of this I may advance, that the diseases of a common
* Mr. Youatt's Veterinary Lectures iu ' The Velcriuarian ' for 1832.

SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS. 277

inflammatory nature, such as strangles, colds, inflmnynation of
the Imiffs, grease, injuries, &c., from neglect or improper treat-
ment, frequently degenerate into what is commonly termed
glanders or farcy^^ (pp. 6-7) : so that — putting poison and
specification altogether out of the question — glanders and farcy
are nothing more than '' unhealthy disease " of the mucous
membrane which lines the nose, the substance of the lungs, the
skin, and the cellular membrane underneath" (p. 4), This
constitutes the groundwork of Mr. Vines^ doctrine. — On the
subject of jmlmonary glatiders, Mr. Vines assures us that ''there
are cases, both of glanders and farcy, where no alteration or
disorganization of these parts (the lungs), or any disease of the
lungs, are to be found ^^ (p. 11). — "Glanders and farcy have
hitherto been most commonly described and treated as distinct
and separate diseases; whereas tliey are, if properly considered,
only the unhealthy and, not infrequently, the latter stages of
common inflammatory diseases of certain parts of the body,
generally of the mucous membrane of the nostrils, cellular tissue,
or substance of the lungs, the skiti, or the connecting cellular
membrane underneath ; and the inflammatory diseases which
glanders and farcy most frequently follow are those termed
strangles, true and false ; common colds, distemper ; acute and
sub-acute inflammation of the lungs ; general or local dropsy
{anasarca or oedema) ; and the latter, whether it occurs from
general or local debility, conjointly with grease, or injuries of
different parts of the body or not ; as, for instance, when a
horse has been for a time labouring under one or other of these
common inflammatory diseases, from the effect of which, or by
improper treatment, the system has been brought into an
unhealthy state. When such changes as these take place, and
the discharge and ulcerations become unhealthy, the disease
with which the animal was before afflicted is now altered from
its original character ; and, under these circumstances, the
animal is usually considered to have become glandered ov farcied.
Glanders and farcy not only follow such diseases as have been
just mentioned, but also appear sometimes in unhealthy and
debilitated animals from over-exertion and other causes, Knd with-
out being preceded by any of the former-named diseases of a
common inflammatory character ; and this is occasioned by the

278 SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS.

system beinrj reduced to an unheallhtj state, from the same
causes as those which, in more healthy and vigorous animals,
loonld be found to produce strangles, common colds, inflammation
of the lungs," &c. (pp, 12-13). In cases of glanders following
colds, &c., Mr. Vines does not consider them, strictly speaking,
as glanders, ^' until the discharge or matter from the nostrils
is capable of producing similar effects,'' &c. (p. 167). Mr.
Vines makes a division of glanders according as it is confined
to the head, or as the head and lungs are both diseased : — " In
order to enalile those who may be disposed the better to com-
prehend the subject, I shall divide the symptoms which con-
stitute glanders into two classes, beginning with those which
are confined to the head.^^ Here follows " Sect. I," treating
of " Glanders when confined to the mucous membrane lining
the nose and cavities of the head ;" and, " Sect. IV^ " Glan-
ders, when the head and lungs are both diseased." The
treatment for glanders and farcy I'ccoramended by Mr. Vines I
shall defer tiie account of until we come to consider that
branch of our subject.

Blaine has always ''felt convinced of the specific nature of
this affection (glanders), which, for variety in its mode of pro-
duction, continuation, and termination, has no parallel ; and
to which only we can attribute the unsettled state of the
opinions concerning it, but which do nothing to unsettle its
claim to the character of a direct and peculiar poison which
can always beget its like, and its like only. If the matter of
farcy and the matter of glanders could produce at one time
grease or strangles, and at another mild catarrh, I might doubt,"
says Mr Blaine ; '' but when I find nothing but the same
type of disease follow from the infection, I can only consider
such an infection as one sui generis."^

Spooner, 181.2, the able Editor of White,! has, in one of

* Op. cit., at page 218.

■f At page 200 I have quoted from the seventh edition of Wliite's ' Treatise
on Veterinary Medicine ;' nor did I know, until Mr. Spooner's reconstructed
work came into my liands, that there had been a sixteenth edition. And at
page 236 I have named White as authority for ghaudcrous matter liaviiig been
administered to horses in the form of bolus without effect. Now, however, that
I liave Mr. Spooner's edition before mo, I can — and must in justice to the

SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDEES. 279

his iuterpolatory paragrcaphs, favoured us with his own opiuious
on the nature of glanders. " These views (Dupuy^s) are
deserving of great weight, but we cannot altogether coincide
with them ; for, although perhaps in the majority of cases
tubercles are found in the lungs of glandered horses, yet there
are instances in which there are none to be found there or else-
where. The particular seat of glanders is certainly the membrane
lining the nostrils and chambers of the head, although in a great
number of cases the lungs are involved. AVe cannot say
whether in all cases the constitution is affected, or whether in
some instances the disease is entirely local ; but, in the subject
chosen by Professor Coleman for experiment, it was clearly
proved that the blood was infected. There is evidently a much
greater predisposition in some horses to receive the disease,
either from infection or otherwise,^^ &c.*

TARDiEU,t bringing our literary history up to 1843, has
made a systematic arrangement of the several important
questions touching glanders and farcy, and with considerable
clearness and ability has respectively examined them : —

1st. He considers the identity of glanders and farcy, in
respect to their production — to their being allied by the same
specific virus — as a point settled ; but, he asks, are we thence
to conclude, as other writers have done, that t\\Q\v pathology is
identical? This grave question, involving no less than the
knowledge of the nature of glanders and farcy, he confesses
himself unable to decide, further than that the diseases differ
in their nosological characters.

2d. Glanders he regards as essentially consisting in lesion of

original author— correct myself. " Glanders," in this edition, White tells us,
"is a contagious disorder, which is communicated by inoculation, and bi/ sioal-
loioing matter, and not by effluvia proceeding from a glandered horse, or a stable
in whicli a glandered horse has been kept." And in another place, " I am
inclined to believe that the disorder is more readily caught by eating the gland-
ero7(s matter mixed with the oats aud hay than by drinking it with the water " &c.
— White, edited by Spooner, lSt2.

White's ' Compendium of the Veterinary Art/ edited by W. C. Spooner,
V.S., &c., 1842.

* 'De la Morve et du Farcin Chroniques, cliez I'Homme et chez les Soli-
pedes.' Par AmbroiseTardieu, Docteur eu Medccine, 1843.

280 SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS.

the nasal fossa ; all cases not showing tins belong to farcy;
and this applies to men as well as to solipedes.

3d. That farcy, in the chronic stage^ may present different
phenomena in men and animals without losing their specific
relation to each other. These constitute his " Considerations
Preliminaires/' The work itself is devoted to the consideration
of what he denominates " chronic ^^ farcy and glanders in man.

Few histories of disease, perhaps, carry with them more
interest than the one which, by extracts from authors, writers,
and lecturers on the subject, we have just finished tracing, from
the earliest records down even to the present period. The
primeval notion was, that the nasal discharges came from the
brain — nay, consisted even of the cerebral matter itself running
away through the nostrils : and considering how white and
curdly (brain-like) the nasal fluxes in chronic glanders often
are, the idea was not, in the times in which it was conceived,
so very romantic a one. Succeeding writers located the disease
in some of the viscera — in the liver, the spleen, the lungs, &c.;
and in later times it was, in accordance with the humoral
pathology in vogue in those days, said to be in the blood.

To Lafosse the veterinary world most assuredly is indebted
for the discovery of the true seat of glanders. And, considering
the good health horses for a time enjoy with the disease, to-
gether with the fact that many that die of it exhibit disease
in no other part save in the head, and that his injections did on
occasions, no doubt, suspend, if not cure, fluxes from the nose,
it is no matter of surprise to us that Lafosse pronounced glan-
ders to be a local disease, one confined to the membrane
lining the nose. Neither ought we to marvel that Lafosse's
doctrine should have become so universally received and adopted
as it was, not in France alone, but in England as well, and by
veterinarians of the greatest repute too, b\' (among others) St.
Bel, the first Professor of the London Veterinary College,
seeing that it had already received the stamp of approbation of
the Royal Academy of Medicine at Paris. And in order to
perpetuate so valuable a discovery — for it really was a valuable
one, and especially when compared with the notions entertained

SEAT AND NATUEE OF GLANDEES. 281

concerning the seat of glanders antecedently to Lafosse's time —
Lafosse's son exerted all his energy in defence of it, against any
attacks on the part of those who had the boldness to call its
truth into question. Indeed, at the present day even, we have
only to give a little more scope to Lafosse's definition still to
confirm its truth, and say, that

The Seat of Glanders — instead of being confined to the
pituitary membrane — is in the aerial membrane ;* that mem-
brane with which the respired air comes into contact, and
which constitutes the lining of the nose, of the sinuses of the
head, of the windpipe and its ramifications. Dupu}^, in in-
vestigating the seat of the tuberculous affection, so far as he
found it corresponded to our glanders, came to the conclusion,
that, commonly, the disease attacked, primarily, " the mucous
membrane lining the frontal, maxillary, and other sinuses •/'
secondly, and next most frequently, '' the membrane lining the
chambers of the nose ;" thirdly, '' the lungs." Rodet, the
adopter and expounder of Dupuy^s doctrines, tells us that the
pituitary or Schneiderian membrane may become secondarily
aff'ected, '' through extension of the disease from the lungs.''

The earliest intimation we receive of disease in the aerial
membrane consists in discharge from the nose, which may
either be speedily followed by ulceration, or may continue for
an indefinite length of time with but trifling alterations of it
either in quality or quantity. Of the primary morbid changes
in the membrane — unless the disease should happen to attack
the part covering the septum nasi — we can obtain no informa-
tion : injection of its vessels, amounting or not to inflammation,
may exist hours, or even days, before any running from the
nose appears of that quantity or quality to attract notice :
the submaxillary gland in the meanwhile becoming swollen or
not, according to the amount of local irritation present. The
case at the beginning Avill assume that insidious or indefinite
form that it may, and particularly when no suspicion lurks in
the mind of the examiner, be mistaken for catarrh, the inflam-
matory or augmented vascular action in the membrane, of the

* This appellation is preferred on account of its comprehensiveness. Had
we said the membrane lining the air-passar/es, the sinuses of the head might appear
not to have been included,

I

282 SEAT AND NATURE OF GLANDERS.

frontal and other sinuses, proceeding all the v hile, converting
the natural scanty mucous secretion into a copious and morbid
or malignant one, and increasing through infiltration and
interstitial deposit materially the thickness or substance of the
membrane. These are the primary, in some instances the only,
changes the aerial membrane undergoes in glanders ; and
though they are alterations which would take place from any
common irritation and inflammation, still, in the case of
glanders, they must be regarded as specific ones, from the
circumstances of the discharges (from the nose) being found
capable, through inoculation, of engendering similar disease in
another (equine or human) animal. Vascular injection and
thickening are succeeded by the appearance of pimply or
tubercular elevations upon the surface of the membrane ; and
these, as we have already seen, are but the preludes of a corre-
spondent number of ulcerations, called chancres, in which, for
the first time, supposing them to be visible, we may distinguish
characters such as are peculiar to glanderous disease ; or, at all
events, such as are not seen in the ulcer which we meet with on
the occasion of common irritation or lesion from injury, when-
ever this — rare though the occurrence be — does happen to take
place. And it is worthy of our especial remark, that the
pimples or tubercles make their appearance in waving lines,
pursuing the courses of the larger blood-vessels, the superficial
veins in particular, the chancres resulting from these pustular
formations preserving the same chain of connexion ; though,
when the latter come to spread over the surface of the mem-
brane, these lines of concatenation are, in course, rendered
much less distinguishable.

Notwithstanding every part of the aerial membrane is liable
to be, and, indeed, in its turn, has been known to be, the seat
of glanders, yet are certain parts of it much more frequently
affected than others, and, under a state of disease, present
phenomena somewhat different from what the others exhibit.
Coleman's notion concerning the most frequent or especial seat
of the disease corresponded with Lafosse's : he thought the
membrane clothing the septum nasi was the part commonly
attacked — that it possessed a peculiar or especial susceptibility
to be affected by the virus or miasm. Dupuy, however, has found

SEAT AND NATUKE OF GLANDERS. 283

the siwfses of the head to be the primary and most frequent place
of attack; and, knowing the subacute and insidious form glanders
in so many instances at its beginning assumes, we are inclined to
believe Dupuy's pathology to be the correct one. Next to the
head^ we find the lungs taking on the disease ; not by direct ex-
tension of the morbid action to them through the medium of the
windpipe and its branches, but- — as we suspect — from the con-
tinual inhalation of the glanderous efSuvia arising from the
diseased surfaces in the nasal cavities and sinuses, as well as
from the malignant matters lodged within them ; at the same
time, the general contamination of the system not being without
its influence. The lungs, however, do not prove diseased in all
cases of glanders. In such subjects as exhibit the disease in
its acute form, and wherein death, resulting from suffocation, is
suddenly or quickly produced, the lungs — unless they might
happen to have been already in a state of disease — are com-
monly found in a perfectly normal state. The consideration
of these contingencies upon which the condition, sound or
morbid, of the lungs appears to depend, will serve to reconcile
the wide differences of opinion that have been promulgated
concerning them : some contending that the lungs always were
found diseased in glandered horses ; others, that they hardly
ever were, or were only so in cases in which disease had pre-
viously existed in their own structure.

Another, and by no means an infrequent, seat of glanders
is the larynx. The glottis takes on the specific inflammation
and thickening, and ultimately breaks forth in a state of
ulceration, manifesting all the characters of the glanderous
chancre ; and, with his larynx in this condition, the horse turns
roarer, though this is an effect that is not often discovered,
unless the animal happens to be at the time at work. In the
stable, I have never observed any great inconvenience arise from
this ulcered condition of the larynx : a circumstance, probably,
the chronic or inactive nature of the ulceration will serve to
account for.

I have seen ulceration within the windpipes of glandered
horses; but it is an occurrence which I believe to be exceed-
ingly rare, not within the main tube only, but within its
ramifications as well. There does not appear to exist the

284 NATURE OF GLANDERS.

same susceptibility in the portion of tlie aerial membrane lining
these tubes as in other parts of it — as even in those divisions of
it constituting or lining the pulmonary air-cells.

NATURE OF GLANDERS.

Of the forty authors whose opinions I have sought on the
subject, no one, to my seeming, has framed a more truth-like
pathology of glanders than M. Leblanc : a French veterinarian
of considerable repute in his own country, and very far from
being unknown in ours. In 1839, Leblanc published at Paris
a small work,* which, by accident, came into my possession a
few months ago, wherein, to my great gratification, I found
notions entertained such as for many a year had been floating
about in my own mind ; though with me they were, con-
fessedly, rather the offspring of inductive reasoning from certain
admitted facts, than of any such practical demonstration as
they appear to have since received in the hands of Leblanc.

Coleman, long ago, proved beyond any reasonable ground for
doubt, that glanders and farcy were identical diseases, or,
rather, the same disease affecting different parts of the body ;
and yet — which was singular enough — he never, on any occasion
that I recollect, went so far as to say that the pimple or
tubercle or chancre of glanders was in reality a farcy-bud or a
farcy-ulcer. The proofs of identity in nature between glanders
and farcy rest upon — 1st, their reciprocity or production
through inoculation ; 2dly, their traceableness to the same
causes : 3dly, their termination one in the other, which almost
invariably takes place, when they are suffered to run their
natural course, previously to death ; 4thly, their frequently
simultaneous appearance in the same subject, together with the
similitude of the phenomena and course they exhibit.

Assuming it, then, as proved, that farcy and glanders are in
their natuie but one and the same disease affecting different
parts of the body, and it being admitted that farcy is a disease

* ' Dcs divcrses Especes de Morve et de Earcin, considerees comme des
Formes varices d'uiie iiicmc Affection Gcnerale Coutagicusc' Par U. Leblanc
Mcdeciu Vcteriuaire, &c. &c. Paris, 1839.

NATURE OP GLANDERS. 285

affecting the lymphatic system^ it of course follows that glanders
can be no other than disease of the same system of vessels ;
and^ supposing that this Avere proved, it would also follow that
the pimples we see rising upon the septum nasi after inocula-
tion for glanders, and on occasions in idiopathic glanders as
well, and which Dupuy called and regarded as tubercles, would
probably turn out to be nothing more than so ma.nj farcy -buds.
With such notions as these, I repeat, impressed by such a train
of reasoning upon my mind, I will leave my reader to imagine
with what pleasure and satisfaction I perused the little work of
Leblanc from which I am now about to make some copious
extracts fully confirmatory of my own ideas, crude and undi-
gested as they had long been, and might long have remained,
for want of opportunity in my present position to put them to
any sort of practical or probatory test.

Snape appears to have been the first veterinarian who
regarded glanders and farcy as the same disease affecting
different parts. He pronounced glanders to be " farcy in the
head.^^* In the year 1827, also, a clever paper was published,
" On the Identity of Glanders and Farcy,^^t by Gerard, a
French veterinarian, the concluding part of which runs as
follows : —

" Farcy is sometimes so superficially seated, that, only the
skin appearing affected, it has been regarded as a cutaneous
disease. Considering the analogous organization existing be-
tween the skin and mucous membranes, have we not reason for
believing that, if the pustules, instead of appearing upon the
skin, come upon the pituitary membrane, these same pustules
will then constitute glanders?^' — "We have only attentively
to note the symptoms, to observe the same course in glanders
as in farcy. Glanderous chancres appear in cords prior to
ulceration, resembling (chains of) farcy-buds. The lymphatic
glands tumefy in one as in the other disease. And the puri-
form discharges from farcy-buds answer to the discharges from

* Vide page 260.

■f At the time I perused the brief summary of Gerard's opinions, given at
page 271, I was not in possession, as I now am, of tlie ' Journal de Mcdecine
Veterinaire,' containing Gerard's paper, " Sur I'ldeutite de la Morve et du
Farcin."

286 NATUEE OF GLANDERS.

the nose in glauclered horses. The glanderous chancre com-
mences in a little inflamed bud, whose summit is contracted
and rounded, and filled with serosity : the pellicle covering it
becoming attenuated, bursts and discloses an ulcer, which
speedily acquires certain dimensions. Are not these the same
phenomena that farcy-buds present ?^^

Turning from these accounts to the observations of Delafond
— that, "in an immense majority of cases/' glanders originates
" in the lymphatic system," and that, in nature, it " consists
of an alteration of the lymph as well as of the vessels conveying
it,^^* — we find the ground well prepared for laying the founda-
tion of the pathology of glanders ; and that Leblanc has achieved
a great deal towards erecting a plausible and natural super-
structure thereon, will, we think, appear manifest from the
following extracts from his pamphlet : —

LEBLANC regards Glanders, whether it be chronic or
acute, pustulous or gangrenous^ and Farcy, be it chronic or
acute, as but different forms of one and the same disease — but
aggravations or ameliorations of one common or general con-
tagious affection, having its apparent seat within the nasal
fosscC or in the lymphatic system, and consisting in lesions as
follows : — '

In a general alteration of the fluids of the body, in
particular of the lymphatic fluid. This turns yellow and be-
comes coagulated within the canals of the lymphatics and the
cavities of their glands, the tunics of the vessels thickening and
turning opaque, exhibiting red points upon their inner surface,
and adhering in places to the coagula within, and in other
places growing more or less softened without, as yet, showing
ulceration. In time, all the thickened parts of the vessel
partake of this softening, spreading from a single point upon its
circumference, the coagulum within softening likewise, and the
cellular tissue corresponding to the point of ulceration becoming
tumefied, then hardening, and lastly softening. And now a
little tumour exists, having its seat, in part, in the lymphatic
vessel, in part in the cellular tissue, observably close upon the
situation of the lymphatic valves, wliich accounts for the
accumulation, the lymphatic fluid in its incrassated or coagu-
* Turn back to page 272.

NATURE OP GLANDERS. 287

lated condition not being able to pass tbe valves.* This
explains the knotted aspect of the corded swelling in farcy.
When the little tumours or farcy-buds have the lymphatic
vessels for their seat, they are not tardy in ulcerating their way
to the surface through the skin. When deep seated, they grow
large at the expense of the surrounding cellular tissue, which
either ulcerates or sloughs, and thus contributes to the
abscesses.

The fluid the softened farcy-buds contain is found pretty
uniform in its character. It commonly proves a mixture of
viscous fluid and coagulated matter ; of infiltrated and softened
celhilar tissue ; of purulent blood variable in its aspect, and
sometimes streaked with blood. We never mind phlegmonous
(laudable) pus in these small abscesses.

Farcy-buds are evidently not seated within the principal
lymphatic vessels, and consequently, have no determinate
arrangement : we find them here and there ; in the greatest
number, however, where lymphatic vessels most abound. At
one time they are superficial, at another deep-seated. And
they are found in most of the organs of the body : in the
muscles, in the tendons, in the periosteum, in the skin, in the
testicles, in the lymphatic glands, in the mucous membranes,
even in those of the digestive passages.

On some occasions, either when the disease makes rapid
progress or tlie alteration in the fluids proves deep-seated,
farcy-buds are soft from the first formation, and burst almost
immediately. And then, the buds are not confined to any
region in particular, but simultaneously appear all over the
body. In this case, the fluid they contain is homogeneous in
its aspect, sometimes limpid, oftener livid or muddy ; and this
(latter) denotes deep-seated alteration of it. The blood, also,
is strikingly changed.

An attempt has been made to distinguish these farcy-buds
from what are called real farcy-buds ; the former not being so
considered on account of their not being found to communicate
with the lymphatic vessels ; the vessels not being injectible
through their cavities. This, however, may arise from the
extreme exility of the lymphatic vessels, or from their canals
* Coleman regarded the valves as insusceptible of the action of farcy.

288 NATURE OF GLANDERS.

being plugged np. What induces Leblanc to regard these
isolated buds as farcinous, is the frequent appearance in farcied
horses of cords and buds of different sorts at one and the same
time.

In speaking of the alteration the lymphatic liquid undergoes
in glandered and farcied horses, Leblanc considers it his duty
to make known his opinion of the glanderous lesions that have
been called tubercles, Avhether they exist upon the raucous
membrane of the respiratory passages, or within the lungs, or
the lymphatic glands, or any other organs.

These little tubercular bodies have received divers denomina-
tions : according to their aspect they have been distinguished
into crude, soft, and encysted tubercles, and various have been
the opinions entertained concerning their nature. According
to Leblanc's (and my own) notions of them, they present an
analogy in physical character to farcy-buds. Examination of
the mucous membrane of the nose of a glandered horse will
show, in a certain stage, that it becomes thickened. And that
this thickening, which is owing to an accumulation of fluids of
a white or whitish-yellow colour, precedes the appearance of
the tubercles^ the same as tumefaction of the cellular mem-
brane precedes the formation of farcy-buds. In this (thickened)
condition the membrane assumes a shiny and more humid
aspect than it has in health. Then, upon divers points of its
surface, and notably upon the middle part of the nasal septum
and within the doubling of the nostril, make their appearance
little white or yellowish-white pimples {elevures), rather promi-
nent at their centres, with borders insensibly declining to a
level with the surrounding membrane. These jmnples or
tubercles corresjjond to the course of the bundles of lymj)hatics ,
and very probably have their seat in those vessels. " At least,^'
continues Leblanc, " I have been able to prove that little
shreds [masses elongees), in composition absolutely like what is
found within the lymphatics of a farcied limb, were enclosed
within their canals, from which it was easy, with the point of
the forceps [d'un instrument) to extract them : they proving
adherent only in certain places, marked by some increase of
redness.* I have found the greatest analogy between these

♦ We must be careful uot to coufound these Ijuipliatic coagula with the

NATURE OF GLANDERS. 289

alterations and those which the lympliatic fluid commonly
undergoes in farcy. The two sorts of pimples in the thickened
membrane, after awhile, turn soft. The lymphatic substance
of which they are composed becomes consumed, and passes
away with the secretions from the mucous surface. From its
degeneration result pale ulcerations, reddish at their bases, and
more or less deep in proportion to the magnitude of the
pimples. Their uneven borders, like those of the pimples, are
indented, the ulcerations resembling leaves that have been
eaten by insects. On occasions, indeed, they present the true
worm-eaten aspect (vermoulures) ;* tlieir edges, however, cou-
tinuiug rather prominent so long as any thickening remains.
These ulcerations, no more than those supervening on farcy-
buds, show no disposition to cicatrize : commonly they spread,
and never cicatrize at all.f When very deep, and they take
to closing, they do so through forming indurated prominent
cicatrices, in substance Avhite, corrugated, and radiated.^^J

" The pimples or tubercles, or tuberculous risings upon the
mucous membrane of the nose, form with more or less celerity,
remaining a longer or shorter time in the state of pimple.
Their progress is quicker than is commonly believed : I know
for certain that from four to six days, at most, suffice for some
of them to commence in pimple and terminate in ulcer."

" The excoriations and superficial ulcerations of the nasal
membrane in glanders take their rise in the same manner as
the deeper ulcerations we denominate chancres. And similar
lesions are to be observed upon the mucous membrane of the
larynx, the Eustachian tubes, the trachea, and the velum
palati. The cartilages of the nose, larynx, and trachea,
become likewise, on occasions, the seats of tubercles and
ulcers."

clots of blood contained within the small veins of the mucous membrane, which
(as well as the former) are often colourless,

* This is the " miliary ulceration " described at page 169.

t One reason for which is the nature of the (mucous) tissue in which they
are seated, very different from the cuiis vera under disease. — (Author.)

X I have often observed this puckered, radiated cicatrix : indeed, 1 have
preserved several specimens of it as proofs that there are occasions on which
glanderous chancres heal up. — (Author.)

Ill- 19

290 NATURE OF GLANDERS.

" There are other lesions of the Schneiderian membrane
"which still bear the strongest analogy to certain forms of
farcy. These consist of pimples, more prominent than the
preceding, rounded, solitary or confluent, and either red at
their origin, or else white, surrounded by a circle of red. At
first they are hard, but they soon grow soft and turn to ulcera-
tions, which spread with rapidity. Their especial seats are
the places whereupon appear the tubercles, and the variously
disposed tubercular masses ; the regions, in fact, in which exist
the greatest number of lymphatics. This form (of the disease)
is always marked by acute symptoms, and by lesions spreading
over the membrane of the nose, the sinuses, and the larynx.
Very extensive eechymoses take place in the mucous mem-
branes and fibrous tissues underneath the nasal cavities ; and
these hsemorrhages are, on occasions, followed by destruction
of the ecchymosed tissues."

" The Lymphatic Glands, those in particular receiving the
lymphatics from the alSected parts, are larger than in their
natural condition, softer in substance, and pale [blafardes),
and contain little yellowish-white masses, the transformations,
probably, of the altered lymphatic fluid. In some cases this
liquid appears to be infiltrated into the tissue of the gland, in
others, to be accumulated in little sacs," &c.

" I have met with tubercles, or rather deposits of albuminous
substance, in the glands of horses affected with all kinds of
glanders and farcy. But these deposits are by no means
infallible signs of the chronicity of the disease. And this is a
point I wish to lay stress upon, since it seems to correct an
error which by many, as well as by myself, has been long
entertained."

" In glanders and farcy, the lesions we have denominated
tuberculosis in the glands, are found within the lungs, the
liver, the spleen, the testicles, &c. And, moreover, I have
observed, in respect to the lungs, that the tuberculous growths
exist in greater numbers, and become farther developed, than
in any other organ. And I therefore think that the respira-
tory passages are the especial seat of the transmission of
glanders ; and that they likewise have the greatest influence in
generating the spontaneous disease. Glanderous pulmonary

NATURE OP GLANDERS. 291

tubercles are exceedingly abundant wherever lymphatics are
most numerous."

"The ruLMONARY granulations met with in glanders and
farcy bear great resemblance to the encysted tubercles of the
lymphatic glands. They are often found in numberless abun-
dance in the middle of the pulmonary crepitating tissue. They
consist of deposits of albuminous matter, solid or liquid,
enclosed within cysts of palish gray aspect, which, perhaps, are
nothing more than air-vesicles whose walls have acquired
morbid thickness. They frequently commence by red points,
whose centres, in time, turn white, remaining for a while
enveloped in a red case. At length the enclosed matter sud-
denly becomes softened, then hardens again, and turns of a
calcareous nature."

Such is Leblanc's practical exposition of the nature of
glanders and farcy. The important novelty in it, is, that he
has brought forward proofs, as far as morbid anatomy with the
aid of chemistry would supply them, that glanders, like farc}^,
is a disease of the lymphatic system ; that the pimples or
tubercles observable in the incipient stages of glanders are
nothing more than so many farcy-buds, which in time become
pustules, and burst, and end in turning to so many open, foul,
spreading ulcers. Dupuy regarded glanders as identical in
nature with farcy; but then he confounded both — along with
other diseases, such as phthisis pulmonalis, strangles, &c. — -
under the appellation of tuberculous disease ; and, so far from
telling us that the tubercle is a farcy-bud, insists upon the
farcy-bud being a tubercle : "■ farcy-buds," says he, " are
nothing else but scrofulous tubercles ;" admitting, however,
that tubercles are organic productions ; and that " they are
found in the greatest numbers in the course of the large veins
pervading the septum," — " pursuing the course of the large
blood-vessels :" the very course we know the lymphatic vessels
take.

Assuming, then, that the lymphatic vessels, together with
their glands, are the parts primarily or essentially diseased in
glanders and farcy, it next becomes our business to inquire in
what the morbid action consists, and, if we can, to find out in
what part or tissue of the lymphatic vessel it originates, or is

29.3 NATURE OF GLANDERS.

principally seated. Coleman regarded farcy as a specific
inflammatio)i besett'nuj the internal coat of the lymphatic vessel;
and, considering the heat, and swelling, and tenderness of a
farcy-cord at its first formation, and the ordinary conversion of
the buds from a hard into a soft state, and the final change of
them into jmstules or abscesses — the same as happens with any
common pustular tumour of the cellular membrane — there can
be no doubt but that the morbid process is, during this stage
at all events, of an inflammatory nature ; and that it is specific
as well, we argue from the fact of the pus or matter produced
by ic being capable of procreating the disease (either glanders
or farcy) in another of the horse species. We are assured by
Leblanc, that this bud, whether it be a farcy-bud or a glanders-
bud, and be, as the latter, denominated either ^j»/?/?/e or
tubercle, con%\^i% of albuminous matter; and that, when the
usual conversion of this into purulent matter does not follow,
calcareous deposit has been found : thus satisfactorily accounting
for the degeneration of farcy-buds into hard callous tumours or
tubercles, and, perhaps, likewise explaining the pathology of
such glanderous affections as we denominate chronic, on account
of their length of duration without breaking forth into the
ulcerative stage. The irregular, knotted appearance, of the
farcy-cord, that appearance of it which first, no doubt, gave
rise to the appellation of farcy-buds, was accounted for by
Coleman, out of the circumstance of the valves — which we know
to be very numerous in the lymphatic vessel — not being sus-
ceptible of the specific inflammation ; "' for if one of these
diseased vessels be examined," said the late Professor, " per-
fectly sound partitions of membrane will be found between the
knots, which cannot be anything else but the valves/'*

Whether i\\e 2)ulmonary glanderous tubercle is to be regarded
as no more in its nature than a farcy-bud, and whether the
pulmonary tubercle of glanders bears any, and how much,
analogy to the tubercle of phthisis pulmonalis, are questions
not so easily solved. Leblanc assures us, as far as his examina-
tions have gone, of the identity of the former ; but he is silent
in regard to the latter, although Dupny hesitates not to pro-
nounce them in nature both alike. For my own part, I feel

* Sec the third volume of the Author's Lectures ou the Veterinary Art.

NATURE OF C4LANDERS. 293

disposed to think^ that the production which is taken for and
called a pulmonary tubercle in glanders or farcy, but which
may turn out to be nothing but a portion of diseased lymphatic,
must be a different thing from veritable tubercle of the lung,
concerning the origin and seat, and nature of which such
various opinions have at one time and another prevailed among
human pathologists, and which we now find described by — ■
perhaps the best authority we have — M. Louis, as follows :

" It may now be inquired, in wliicli of the various systems of organs com-
posing the lungs does the development of tubercles take place ? It results from
the researches of M. N. Guillot, that the ramifications of the pulmonary artery,
as far as they can be traced, are smooth, and free from tubercle ; so that the
opinion of those who place the primitive seat of the product in the vessels is
with difiBaulty tenable. On the other hand, according to the same observer, if
the bronchial ramifications of the tuberculous lung be cut open as far as possible
(the organ having been previously injected in such manner that the fluid used
shall have filled the entire web formed by the bronchial arteries on the surface
of the tubes) morbid changes are invariably detected in these. The earliest stage
of change appears in the form of a small whitish speck, produced by a semi-
transparent matter, of rounded or elongated shape, and resembling the miliary
tubercle pretty closely in colour and consistence, or still more closely a small
fragment of epidermis macerated in water. At this period no vascularity is
discoverable in the subjacent mucous membrane. In the second stage, the
whitish semi-transparent matter is thicker and more spread out, and the corre-
spondent part of the parietes of the bronchial tube is destroyed within variable
limits. Hence it follows, that the production of tubercle does not take place in
the pulmonary vessels, but in the bronchi — a doctrine which, as is well known,
is that professed by Dr. Carswell. It is true, adds M. Guillot, that at the
period when the morbid matter may be made the subject of examination in the
bronchi, there have already existed tubercles in the midst of parts of the organ
inaccessible by means of instruments ; but is it not fair to presume that the
phenomena of which I have just spoken may have equally well taken place in
the ultimate cul-de-sacs of the respiratory system ? It is, however, matter of
very little consequence whether the primitive seat of a tubercle placed in the
centre of the lungs he, the internal surface of a j)ulmonari/ vesicle, or the substance
of the wall separating each pair of cells : the extreme tenuity of these parts is
well known, and the attempt to localize a lesion at its origin in the midst of
sucli excessively delicate parts, could really lead to no useful result." *

That the purulent matter contained in the suppurated pul-

* 'Researches on Phthisis.' By P. A. C. Louis, M.D. Translated from the
French by H. H. Walshc, M.D.

394 NATURE or GLANDERS.

moiiary tubercle of a glaudered horse will, through inoculation,
produce the same disease in another horse — even "" as surely/^
to use Professor Sewell's expressive language, '' as one potato
■will produce another" — admits no longer of doubt : yet no one,
I imagine, will assert, that the glanders or farcy is producible
by matter taken from a vomica in the lungs of a horse that has
died o? phthisis^ or any other ordinary pulmonary disease. This
fact may not of itself be sufficient to prove one so-called tubercle
in the lungs to be different from another ; weighed, however,
Avith what has been before advanced, we think it strengthens our
opinion, that the pulmonary tubercle of glanders, and that of
pneumonia or phthisis, are substantially different pro-
ductions.

The question we shall next consider is, whether the lympha-
tic system in horses, the same as in men, be liable to derange-
ment or to inflammation from commoii or simple causes? My
own experience bids me answer in the negative. That such a
case, however, has happened, and, consequently, may happen
again, exception as I believe it to be to the laws of hippopath-
ology, I certainly would not take upon myself to deny. A
punctured finger often, in a man, proves the origin of an in-
flammation of the lymphatics of the arm, enlargement of the
glands of the axilla, &c. ; a tight shoe often gives rise to similar
disease upon the leg and thigh, and in the groin. But in
horses, although great and fearful mischief may arise from a
puncture, yet, if it be into muscle, shall we have fascliial in-
flammation, or, into tendon, thecal inflammation, in both cases
without any apparent lymphatic disturbance. As I said before,
however, I do not mean to assert that we never see what is
called absorbant irritation springing from common causes : I
believe the following case to be a rare example of it, and there-
fore have I deemed it worthy of insertion in this place : —

C 25. Black troop mare was brought to mc on the 30tli May, 1S42, on
account of having got her fore leg injured by being over the bail, a very common
accident in barrack stables. The arm was swollen, and she halted upon it.
Use fomentations to the injured part, and give her some cathartic medicine, and
let her be gently walked out twice in the course of the day.

June Zd. — She has been, and continues, purging. Tlie swollen limb dimi-
nishes.

NATUEE OF GLANDERS. 295

6M. — Instead of gradually subsiding into the healthy condition, as ninety-
nine out of a hundred of these trifling cases do, her arm has taken to swell
again, and is becoming tense, and hard, and warm.

8M. — To-day there is plainly discoverable to the feel, in the course of the
plat vein, corded tumefactions, which seem to me to be enlarged lymphatics ;
the lymphatic irritation being combined with faschial inflammation of the
whole arm. She now halts exceedingly iu her walk, and cannot bear to have
her injured member handled or compressed. There is but little constitutional
disturbance, and her appetite continues good. A trial was made to conflue
a poultice upon the part after the fomentation, but, ia the end, it proved
fruitless ; the weight of the poultice and the movements of the animal con-
tinually displaced it.

lOM. — The tumefaction has extended both upward and downward. Take
blood from her jugular, keep her bowels acting, and be unremitting in the use
of fomentations.

l^th. — The swelling is much reduced. Use cold discutient otion and diu-
retic medicine.

18M. — There is remaining a cord of tumefaction in the axilla, taking the
course of the plat vein, but it has lost its morbid sensibility. I cannot, by the
most careful examination, satisfactorily determine upon the existence of matter
deep-seated. Apply the acetum cantharidis to the cord.

19M. — The blister has resolved our doubts. There is now evident fluctua-
tion in the cord. A lancet plunged deepli/ into it let out some well-concocted
pus. Another abscess was found close up against the sternum. Subsequent
probing proved that the matter had a good deal under-run the faschia.
Foment, &c., as before.

21s^. — She may now, in a gentle manner, resume her walking exercise, and
have a weak solution of sulphate of zinc injected into the punctures in her arm.
From this date she went on doing well, without any relapse, and was, on the
19th of July following, sent to her duty.

Notwithstanding the case just related appeared to be one
shewing the possibility of disease of the lymphatics arising from
an ordinary cause, yet at no stage of it did it assume the aspect
of farcy ; — never could it have been mistaken by an experienced
hand for farcy. I, therefore, feel little hesitation in coming to
the practical conclusion that the lymphatic system of the horse
derives disturbance producing phenomena of a certain well-
known character from no other cause but farcy or glanders ; a
fact which militates much in favour of the doctrine of a
specific poison or virus. Were it otherwise, did common
irritants annoy the absorbent system, or did that system
contract disease simply under unhealthy conditions of body, as

296 NATURE OF GLANDEKS.

is INIr. Vines' opinion, ^ve certainly ought to have cases of farcy
and glanders, or cases analogous thereto, a great deal ofiener
than we now see them. But, if we suppose the necessity of the
presence of virus or poison of some sort to produce such an
effect, and recollect that this virus, should it not be taken by
contagion, is only seen generated in the body under certain
impure or raephitic states of atmosphere, or under certain in-
fected conditions of blood, we can at once account for the com-
parative rarity, at the present day, of glanders and farcy, and,
at the same time, for the efficacy of such prophylactics as have
been recommended and used for their prevention. We may,
therefore, with truth say, not merely that glanders and farcy are
a disease of the lymphatic system, but emphatically the disease
of that system ; for we know, in horses, of no other — at least,
no other that produces the corded, tuberculated, knotted condi-
tion of the lymphatic vessels ; that condition which turns to
suppuration and ends in ulceration of their canals, one upon
■which remedies of an ordinary description make little or no
impression.

From the lymphatic Vessel, in which it has its origin,
glanders spreads into the substance of the mucous membrane,
farcy into that of the cutis vera, involving both one and the
other in the morbid action and its consequences ; the substance
of the lymphatic vessel, in the language of Leblanc, ^'becoming
consumed, and passing away with the secretions.''* The changes
the mucous membrane undergoes under such circumstances
have already been described jf those the skin experiences when
invaded by farcy will become the subject of our consideration
in another place.

Is Glanders a constitutional or a local Disease ?
Under ordinary circumstances, I answer, a constitutional disease;
and in proof of this assertion I allege, first, the febrile commo-
tion discoverable in the system ; secondly, the eruption of the
disease in the form of farcy, in some remote or other part of
the body ; thirdly, the contaminated condition of the blood ;
fourthly, the inefficacy of topical remedies by way of cure.

* Page 2S8.

t At page IGG, et sequent.

NATUEE OF GLANDERS. 297

That constitutional Disorder accompanies or speedily
follows that which, to the superficial observer, has the appear-
ance of being but a local disease — a disease confined, as Lafosse
thought, to the nose — has been shown in our account of the
symptoms;* and that such disorder originates out of the infec-
tion of the system, the same as signs of ill health, slight or
severe, arising after inoculation of the human subject for small-
er cow-pox, proclaim the constitutional efficacy of the inocula-
tion, to me appears highly probable. In eases where glanders
or farcy has been the product of inoculation, it is possible such
constitutional disorder may not be observable ; and this may
have led Leblanc to believe that " horses that become glandered
and farcied without this premonitory disorder derive the disease
from contagion.^^t Iii the cases, however, of the horses of my
own regiment,! which I cannot ascribe to any other source but
contagion, the same constitutional disorder was manifest ; and
this is a circumstance which precludes me from assenting to
Leblanc's inference, further than that, in the case of absolute
inoculation, such disorder may not, as I said before, be detec-
tible.

The Eruption of the Disease in some other Part of the
body is pretty satisfactory evidence that the virus or infection
has travelled from the head through the system into the limbs,
or into whatever other part of the body may happen to prove
the seat of eruption. Even supposing the contagion or infec-
tion from without to be imbibable by the skin as well as by the
aerial membrane, the natural conclusion still is, that the former
in a horse already glandered, received its infection through the
medium of the constitution. Lastly, we come to that irrefra-
gable proof of the constitutional nature of glanders and farcy
afforded by

Transfusion of the Blood, from out of the vessels of a horse
affected with glanders or farcy, or both, into those of a horse
free from any such disease, and the production thereby of the
disease — glanders or farcy, or both — in the latter subject. That
such an experiment has been made on more occasions than one
at the Veterinary College, in the time of the professorship of
Coleman, is well known to many members of the profession
* At page 162. f At page 163. % At page 230, et sequent.

298 NATURE OP GLANDERS.

now living, several of whom, indeed, have been eye-witnesses
of it ; and that the results have proved such as to leave no
room for doubt concerning the morbid or infected condition of
the blood, can be indisputably attested. If there be in existence
any records or detailed accounts of the experiments, they are
unknown to me. For my own part, I regret there should exist
none. I have, however, always understood that the (healthy)
subject into which the blood has been transfused has commonly
been an ass, previously prepared for the influx by bloodletting,
and that the blood transfused was derived from the carotid of
the glaudered horse, through a stop-cock inserted and fastened
into the vessel, to the opposite extremity of which was affixed
an ureter ; a kind of tube found to answer extremely well as
the medium of communication between the stop-cock in the
carotid of the horse and another stop-cock fixed into the jugular
vein of the ass. The current of blood being turned on, was
allowed to flow until such time as revivification of the ass,
asphyxiated from previous loss of blood, had become established.
And the uniform result — whenever the ass survived the opera-
tion, for, now and then, as happened to myself in an experiment
of the kind I made years ago, the ass died either under it or in
consequence of it — I repeat, the uniform result was, the erup-
tion of glanders or farcy, or both, in the ass, after a very short
space of time, and in so virulent and malignant a form as to
destroy the life of the animal (through suffocation) in the course
of a very few days afterwards.* Transfusion, as was very properly
remarked by Coleman, furnished a sufficient close of blood for
the production of the disease, and seemed completely to over-
turn John Hunter's notion, that the blood could not be
diseased since inoculation with it proved harmless :t indeed,
this important experiment brought to light two facts of immense
value to pathologists ; one being, that the mass of blood could
harbour and transmit disease ; the other, that one of the
diseases so harboured and thus capable of transmission was
glanders and farcy.

* 111 the absence of any record of this truly interesting and important expe-
riment, this is tlie best account, from memory, I can give my readers.

f See tiie Professor's own ingenious and convincing arguments on this point
at page 2G1.

NATURE OF GLANDERS. 299

The circumstance of a horse affected with glanders or farcy
recovering, after a short time^ his usual health and spirits, or
even never ostensibly losing them under the disease, is no valid
argument against the constitutional essence of the disease.
There is a class of diseases affecting man, eruptive in nature,
and several among them contagious — the exanthemata — whose
character it is to commence with fever, which, on the appear-
ance of the eruption, either altogether leaves the patient, or
much abates in violence; and to these diseases glanders and
farcy, in this respect, may be said to bear more or less analogy :
this, however, is not the case with syphilis, even after it is
supposed to have become constitutional ; a circumstance in
"which it differs from glanders, though by many between the
two diseases there has been thought to be, and it must be
confessed there certainly is, in some other respects, a good deal
of resemblance.

Of the fourth proof of the constitutional nature of the
disease, viz. :

The Inefficacy of Topical Remedies, I shall speak when
considering if any and what treatment is likely to prove avail-
able in glanders and farcy.

Under aviiat Circumstances, if under any, Glanders
MAY BE regarded AS A LOCAL DiSEASE, it is not easy with any
certainty to determine. Inoculated glanders or farcy, making
its appearance at the usual period — about the third day — after
inoculation, may be or may not be so considered ; and the
same might be said of such cases of proved contagion whose
origin bore any analogy thereto. Cases, however, in which,
although contagion appears to be the cause, weeks or months
elapse before the disease shows itself, should be viewed, I think,
as the result of the contamination of the system. And so,
likewise, ought every case originating in pollution of the blood
from the inhalation of mephitic gases — in other words, from
the miasm of the stable — to which Coleman attributed such
universal and exclusive influence : proving that, according to
his notions, almost every case was constitutional. Mr. Youatt,
hoAvever, who is a great contagionist, defines glanders to be an
inflammation of the Schneiderian membrane, " strictly local
for awhile, and often for a long while, and during its insidious

300 NATDEE OF GLANDERS.

state 3"* resting liis opinion upon the circumstance of the
horse enjoying his health. If, however, as others and myself
have observed, glanders commences with that disturbance of the
health which indicates — as appears natural to suppose it does
-^contamination of the system, the same as tlie febrile com-
motion perceptible after inoculation for small-pox or after
vaccination, affords a test to the surgeon that the constitution
has felt the inoculation in consequence of the absorption of the
virus applied locally, then it seems natural to infer that
glanders from that time becomes a constitutional disease,
although, like syphilis or scrofula, it may remain long lurking
in the constitution without coming into secondary or destruc-
tive action, or even interfering with the ordinary vital operations.
Another argument against glanders being a local disease is the
general ineflficacy of all topical measures employed for its cure :
had it consisted simply in inflammation or ulceration of the
Schneiderian membrane, Lafosse and others, with their detersive
and healing injections and fumigations, must, most assuredly,
have been more successful in their practice than we know them
to have been. How it happens that a disease, constitutional
from its beginning, should assume all the characters of a local
malady for a longer or shorter period of time, and then all at
once, as it were, reassume the constitutional form, and that of
a far worse character than before, we do not pretend to be able
to give any explanation of, further than such as is afforded by
comparison with those diseases of the human subject which
have heretofore been adduced by way of analogy. But that
so stands the fact is sufficiently proved by Coleman's experi-
ment of transfusion, supposing that the subject from whom
the blood was drawn — which we believe to be the case —
showed no more than the ordinary glandered — apparently
healthful — condition.

That the Poison of Glanders, after its absorption, may
be latent or inactive in the system for weeks — months even —
the same as the virus of syphilis is known on occasions to be,
and as that of rabies always is — to me is satisfactorily shown
by the case of C 21 horse. t Whereabouts was the virus

* Mr. Youatt's Lectures in ' The Veterinarian' for 1832.

•J- Given at p. 233. See, also, the same question discussed at pp. 23G-7.

NATURE OF GLANDERS. 301

lurking during the fifteen weeks' interval between his exposure
to the contagion and the actual eruption of disease ? Was it
circulating in his blood ? and, if so, why did it not, as in the
cases of the Colonel's chargers and A 24 horse, show itself
before? After so long an interval it is hardly possible to
conceive the disease, when it did appear, could be local.
Eather would it seem that, notwithstanding the blood is con-
taminated, yet does no topical eruption happen until such time
as certain parts or localities have acquired a predisposifAon to
admit of the eruption. Should the animal, whose system is
supposed to be already infected, contract a catarrh or have the
strangles, the certainty is, that either one or the other will turn
to glanders ; or should he get swelled legs or injure his limbs
in any way, the lesion or tumefaction will surely turn to farcy.
After all we can say or surmise, however, on this abstruse sub-
ject, there is that strange, unaccountable caprice, as regards
their effects, about contagions and the poisons or viruses of
contagion, that defies all science or art to bring their action
-within the compass of any known laws or principles : we can
only adduce facts — or what appear to us to be such — and by
them, and them alone, we must be guided in the narrow circle
wherein we dare reason upon them, and out of which we dare
not permit our reason to wander.

Of the Nature of the (so-called) Virus of Glanders
we know no more than we do concerning the supposed viruses
or poisons of syphilis, rabies, variolus, vaccinea, &c. : we have
the same ground for arguing the existence of virus as there is
for doing so in the diseases just named, and no more; all the
knowledge we possess in regard to the virus of glanders arising
out of the observations we have been enabled to make of its
operation and effects. Indemonstrable, however, as the virus
is in any abstract, palpable form, yet have we no conception,
at least according to the views we take of the pathology of
glanders, of the existence of the disease without its presence.
We do not imagine, as we said on a former occasion, that
simply an unhealthy or ill-conditioned state of the body can give
rise to glanders or farcy. We believe that the specific virus
must, in some form or another, somewhere or other exist.
One of the strongest advocates for the doctrine we are now

302 NATURE OP GLANDERS.

propounding was Culcman ; and yet^ towards the latter part of
his professional career, in consequence of some experiments he
had recently made, did Coleman at times suffer himself to
doubt whether there absolutely was such a thing as the virus
or poison of glanders, or rather, whether its presence was abso-
lutely necessary to the production of the disease. I am led to
say thus much from minutes* made by myself of a conver-
sation I had with the Professor so long ago as June, 1824, in
the course of which he informed me, that he had produced
discharge from, and ulceration of, the Schneiderian membrane,
and all the symptoms, in fact, of glanders, simply by throwing
muriatic acid gas (chloriue) into the frontal sinuses. But this
was no more than Lafosse had done, and afterwards had
adduced as a strong argument to prove the correctness of his
doctrine of the locality of glanders, and its consequent curability
by topical means, and never to my mind can bring conviction
that inflammation and ulceration of the aerial membrane,
brought on by common causes, is identical with glanders.
As well might we say that a carious tooth or a diseased
maxillary bone or a violent catarrh constituted glanders.
Unless we associate with our notions of the nature of glanders
the existence, demonstrable or imaginary, of a poison or virus,
the term specific is no longer applicable to the disease, and
any case may bear the denomination that happens to show
fetid or gluey discharge from the nose and ulceration of the
nasal membrane, whether there exist lymphatic disease or not;
though, as T have in another place observed, should the lym-
phatic vessels and their glands prove to be in a state of disease,
the probability — dare we say, certainty — is, that the case is
glanders and farcy; and for this reason, that lymphatic disease,
at least of the same character, arises in the horse from no other
source of irritation.

* The opinions broached by the late Professor appeared on this occasion
so strangely at variance with what I had always conceived to be his pathology
of glanders, that I could not resist the impulse I had at the moment to make
a memorandum of the conversation ; and it is to this my present observationa
have reference.

303

FAROY.

Derivation. — Our vford farcy is a modification or alteration
of the French word farcin, the etymon of which is from the
Latin verb farcire, to stuff. Vegetius called the disease morbus
farciminosus, the stuffed or stuffi/ malady ; and certainly a far-
cinous limb exhibits very much of that character. The trans-
lator of Solleysell's ' Compleat Horseman' (Sir William Hope)
introduced into our language the French appellation itself,
farcin, and for many years afterwards the disease went by that
name. We find the learned Dr. Bracken writing " on the
farcin. Gibson appears to have been the first who ventured
in print on the introduction of any innovation. At the head
of his chapter he writes " of the farcin or farcy/' and in his
description of the disease adopts the latter in preference to the
former appellation. Still, however, though authors since his
timC; and veterinarians and horse-folks in general, have called
the disease " farcy/' yet is the old French name not altogether
exploded from our language, it being by no means a very rare
occurrence, even in our own day, to hear farriers in the country
talking about the " farcin."

Definition. — Farcy consists in the appearance upon such
parts of the body as are known to give passage to the lymph-
atic vessels, of swellings in the form of nodous cords, called
farcy buds, which in time ripen into pustules, and terminate in
ulceration.

Varieties. — We distinguish, in respect to severity and
rapidity of course, the same varieties in farcy as we do in
glanders — the acute, sub-acute, and chro7iic. Acute farcy
manifests equal virulence, and runs its course in almost an
equally short period of time with acute glanders, in which dis-
ease it commonly terminates some short time prior to disso-
lution. Sub-acute, however, is the ordinary form farcy assumes;
and a very irregular, fluctuating course in this form it is apt
to take, remissions being more or less marked, or intermissions
taking place of greater or less length, until at last acute farcy
supervenes, and with the aid of glanders closes the scene. But
the sub-acute disease may run into the chronic stage or variety;

301 VARIETIES OF FARCY.

all apparent morbid action may ccasc^ or become suspended,
the parts, the seat of disease, growing callous and insensible,
the general health and spirits beconiiug quite restored, and the
animal able to resume his labours. In this flattering condition
the patient is too often pronounced and believed to be ''cured ;'*
when, in reality, the serpent is but " scotched, not destroyed :"
one day, it is more than probable it -will raise its head again,
and assume a more virulent aspect than ever.

In addition to these varieties of intensity and progress or
course, there is a kind of farcy which has a more superficial
or cutaneous seat, and which farriers call button farcy, from
the buds being smaller and more circumscribed than in the
deeper-seated species, which they look upon as a more malig-
nant and intractable disorder, commonly having its seat upon
the insides of the limbs.

Mr. Blaine has noted another, a third variety of farcy ;
one, he says, " which is usually passed over by authors, and
which is also one wherein the poison is self-generated, probably.
It often puts on a chronic, protracted form, and sliows itself
by the affected horse becoming suddenly lame in one limb, the
tumefaction and heat of which recede and attack the other
limb in the same manner. In this way he (the horse) may
remain for months with his health very slightly affected ; at
length, however, the disease assumes a more marked character,
■ — some of the swellings ulcerate, and glanders eventually
closes the scene. '^ *

Symptoms. — Farcy, like glanders, is generally ushered in
by tokens of ill health. The horse, perhaps, is said by the
groom to have " caught cold," or to be " humoury." He is
out of spirits, and loathes his food, or eats it only in part, and
with little appetite : his coat has a roughened, lustreless aspect ;
his pulse is quicker than natural, and his mouth warmer ; his
hind legs, perhaps, fill a little, or one may swell and not the
other, and he evinces some stiffness in his movements, or may
be actually lame in one of his limbs. I have known horses so
lame from farcy, before the disease had in any local or charac-
teristic form declared itself, that shoes have been removed and

* Op. cit., page 218.

SYMPTOMS OP FARCY. 305

feet searched, &c., to discover the seat and cause of lameness,
no suspicion having existed at the time that farcy was present
in the animal's system. It may so happen, however, that none
of these preliminary symptoms are observed or observable ;
that, on the coatrary, farcy at once developes itself in an attack
on some locality, most probably one hind limb. Indeed, so
sudden and sharp and severe are attacks of farcy in some
instances, that in the course of one night the horse's limb will
be swollen to a frightful size, so as to incapacitate him almost
from turning in his stall and walking out of his stable.
Ordinarily, the development of farcy plainly accounts for the
halting or lameness : now and then, however, as I said before,
the lameness appears ivtthout any ostensible cause.

Viewing the affected limb from behind, we perceive a fulness
on the inside of the thigh, along the course of the femoral vein,
and the application of our fingers to this will immediately
detect a corded nodous swelling, which has been, happily
enough in the sensation it conveys to our feel, compared to
" a cord with so many knots tied in it." This at once is
declarative of disease of the lymphatic vessels — of the presence
oi farcy. The fasciculus altogether may be of the magnitude
of a person^s wrist : it is hot to the feel compared with what
the parts naturally are, and, when handled and compressed,
flinches from pain : now and then, indeed, it is so exceedingly
sensitive that the slightest pressure upon it causes the horse to
catch up his limb, and in that unexpected and awkward manner
that may prove the occasion of a blow to the examiner unless
he be on his guard at the time of the examination. Tracing
the cord upwards from its place of origin — which commonly is
above the hock — the hand is carried into the groin, and there
discovers a lobulated tumour, a swelling of the inguinal glands,
which may, without impropriety, be called a buboe ; sometimes,
however, the buboe does not make its appearance until after
the full development of the cord.

Farcy does not at all times commence its attacks in this
open and unambiguous form ; on occasions it presents itself in
a shape so insidious that at first we hardly suspect it to be
farcy, unless there happen to be present circumstances to
induce suspicions of its existence. Sometimes, one of the

III 20

306 SYMPTOMS OF FARCY.

limbs — most likely a hind one — will swell heloiv instead of
above the hock, and the swelling will increase around the fet-
lock, and an abscess will form there. In other cases, blotches
or isolated pustules will break out upon the limbs — more likely
upon the inner than the outer sides of them — or upon the
body, or upon the shoulders, neck, breast, or quarters ; and
these will break and discharge among the hair clothing those
parts an ichorous or dirty-looking thin puriform matter. We
trim the hair off one or more of these blotches, as they happen
to arise, and find them with a yellowish sloughy base, which
by some escharotic dressing, or by cauterization, we soon
reduce to a healthy granulating surface : in the mean time,
however, while we are doing this, others make their appearance,
and in some remote part, perhaps : this may serve to increase
our suspicions concerning the nature of the eruption, and yet
not confirm them. Any doubts we may still entertain are not
doomed, however, to long duration. Soon will corded lympha-
tics be discovered issuing from one or other of these patches
of pustules, running into buboes, and thus resolving, beyond
all question, the veritable nature of the case.

The general Swelling of the surrounding parts, which
ordinarily accompanies the development of farcy-buds, may not
come on until some time afterwards : rarely does it precede
the buds. The common attack includes the simultaneous
appearance both of buds and swelling : the hind limb — for
that is the part, of all others, likely to suffer — becomes swollen
from quarter down even to hoof, and often, as I said before, to
an alarming degree, exhibiting everywhere heat and tenseness
and tenderness, and feeling oily or greasy upon the surface,
from some sebaceous exudation. The whole limb is evidently
seized with a violent inflammation, and the fever observable in
the system is commonly in some sort of proportion to it.
What affects one appears to affect the other : as the one
declines, in consequence of the buds coming to maturity, the
other declines, and should one, after abatement or subsidence,
show a tendency to exacerbation, the other will be found to
manifest a similar disposition.

The unwillingness with which the patient moves, the stiff
and awkward manner in which he drags his farcied limb after

SECOND STAGE OP EAEOT. 307

him, tell plainly of the pain and inconvenience motion puts
him to ; and yet, when so much swelling sets in, we by prac-
tice find that exercise is one of our most influential agents in
bringing about a reduction of it.

After the inflammation has reached its acme, and is on the
decline, the swelling, somewhat diminished, becomes altered in
nature from an inflammatory to an oedematous one; parts that
before were hot and tense and tender, now become hardly warmer
than in a state of health, lose all their morbid sensitiveness,
and pit under the pressure of the finger. In fact, the disease,
so far as the general tumefaction is concerned, is now assuming
one of those forms to which farriers of old applied the am-
biguous appellation of " watery farcy."

The First Stage of Farcy, from what has been said, will
be found to consist in the development of the farcy-bud, and to
last so long as the bud retains its properties of solidity, heat,
and tenderness, and is accompanied by inflammatory tumefac-
tion and lameness.

The Second Stage is commonly a suppurative one. The
solid bud gradually grows soft from centre to circumference,
and at length becomes a pustule or little abscess, which as soon
as ripe bursts or, rather, gives way at the most prominent and
thinnest part of its capsule, and admits at the place where it
has partially burst the tardy escape of its contents, part of
them being still retained by the flaps of the capsule and the
investing hairs. In this sparing or partial manner does a farcy
pustule unload itself when left to break in the natural way: in
time, however, the remains of the capsule become absorbed, and
then we have exposed to view a farcy ulcer.

The Matter discharged from a Farcy Pustule ordinarily
is puriform. It is not, however, what we should regard as
laudable pus ; it is thinner in consistence, and has a dingy or
dirty yellow or white aspect, and is ofi*ensive. Now and then
it is bloody : in other cases it is more of the nature oi ichor, or
an ill-conditioned foetid serum, than pus. Farcy pustules that
have, from some apparent deficiency in the adhesive inflamma-
tion, extended their usual or natural limits, and thus become
abscesses of comparatively large size within the cellular tissue,
are those most apt to manifest a secretion or eff'usion of this
latter description.

308 THIRD STAGE OF FARCY.

The second stage of farcy is not invariably suppurative. Now
and then the disease takes quite a different turn. The farcy-bud,
instead of becoming soft, grows firmer and harder, insensible
and indolent, and in time acquires a most unusual indura-
tion, one amounting to schirrosity ; and in this condition may
continue for an indefinite length of time, the horse appearing
to have quite recovered his accustomed health and spirits, and
seeming, and working with his " big " leg, as though he ailed
nothing. And work now will do his farcied lireib good; it will
prove a stimulant to absorption, and in time, considerably reduce
the size of it. Let not ^his master, however, fondly hope, or
believe the flattering tale, that his servant is " cured." No,
no ! this state does not constitute cure, but rather check or
arrest. One day, it is to be dreaded, a fresh eruption will
make its appearance, either in the enlarged limb or in some
other, perhaps remote, part of the body ; nay, glanders may
unexpectedly present itself : and then comes home to the mind
of the master the utility and truth of the warning he had re-
ceived, but may possibly have disregarded.

The Third Stage of Farcy is the ulcerative. The pustule
has broken, its overhanging flaps of capsule have disappeared,
and an ulcer of a cliancrous description is disclosed to view, large
or small, in accordance with the size of the original bud, circular
in figure, having its surrounding edge inverted, its base yellow
and strewed with bloody points. In consequence of the cutis, after
a time, becoming its seat or nidus, and also, in some measure,
owing to its lying exposed to the air, and especially if any es-
charotic or detersive application should happen to have been
used to it, the farcy ulcer will by degrees, in a sound constitu-
tion, assume a healthy aspect, and evince a disposition to
granulate ; and very often, with a little medical care, will
granulate and heal up, and even cicatrize ; at other times, and
particularly so long as any morbid action continues to prevail,
do all we can, the sores can be made only to dry up. When,
however, the constitution of the animal is unsound or unhealthy
— from disease of the lungs or other cause — the farcy ulcer will
often manifest a phagedajnic or sloughing disposition, extending
itself into the surrounding tissues and such as are deep-seated,
consuming them all alike in one common destruction. Now
and then the ulcers change into what has been called the cancer-

PARTS MOST OBNOXIOUS TO PAECT. 309

ous condition : they lose all propensity to spread, and yet cannot
be got to heal ; they dry up, and their surfaces grow hard and
acquire in time the same sort of insensibility and indolence that
farcy-buds do when they refuse to proceed to suppuration.

The Parts most obnoxious to Farcy are the hind limbs ;
next to them, perhaps, the/ore limbs ; then the breast, the head,
the neck; and, lastly, the trunk. In whatever member or part
of the body the eruption takes place, we look for the disease in
the situation and course of the lymphatic vessels, which, for
the most part, is the same as that of the larger blood-vessels.
Thus, when the attack is on the hind limb, we expect to find
the cords of farcy-buds running up the inside of the thigh ;
when on the fore limb, along the inside of the arm ; when on
the breast, along the axillary hollow, in the course of the plat
vein ; when on the head, about the lips and lower cheek, from
the angle of the mouth towards the lower jaw and into the sub-
maxillary space ; when on the neck, frequently taking the
course of the jugular vein. As a general observation, we feel
warranted in asserting that the nearer the head farcy makes its
eruption the more the danger of glanders following, though it
be a rule to which very many exceptions will present themselves
in the routine of practice. When the head itself becomes the
part attacked by farcy we may entertain the greatest apprehen-
sions of glanders approaching. Commonly, one hind (sometimes
one fore) limb is affected to the exclusion of the other; at
other times, a hind and fore of the same side will prove so, the
disease confining its attack still to one side of the frame : it does
not often happen that either both hind or fore limbs are simul-
taneously afi'ected. When the attack is a general one, all four
legs will become diseased.

A remark everybody has made in respect to parts attacked
. by farcy is, that the disease exhibits at all times almost a pre-
dilection to places where the skin is thin, and nearly or quite
hairless : the insides of the thighs and arms, the lips, nose, &c.,
are all common localities for farcy. Why is this? Is it, that
the contagious or miasmatic effluvia gain admission through the
pores of the skin in these places, and produce in them, in this
direct manner, a local disease ? — or is it a mere incidental cir-
cumstance, one referable, not to the thinness of the skin, but

310 HIND LIMBS MOST SUBJECT TO FAECT.

owing to such places being coursed by the principal trunks and
major number of the lymphatic vessels ? Without taking on
myself to refuse all belief in the possibility of contagion or
miasm affecting the lymphatics through a thin hairless cutis, or
to its entering into their canals through the pores of the latter,
I must say that the impression on my mind is strongly in
favour, as in the case of glanders, of constitutional taint, in the
generality of cases prior to the local eruption ; in all, very
shortly afterwards. Still, I repeat, I would not go so far as to
deny that farcy, as well as glanders, might, in some cases where
contagion or miasm had been operative, be for a time, longer
or shorter, according to circumstances, simply a local disease.

Coleman assigned as a reason for the hind limbs being the
especial seat of farcy, their distance from the central force of
circulation. The more remote a part is from the heart, the
more it is under the influence of causes extrinsic to the body;
and so far this reason is valid. In my opinion, however, there
is yet another reason to be given ; and that is, the work the
hind limbs have to perform in progression compared with what
the fore, or any other parts of the body, have to do. This is
found to have considerable influence in lameness ; and every
veterinarian knows that the hind limb is at all times more
ready to take on inflammatory action — become "humoury" —
than the fore limb ; which does not seem altogether well to
tally with its comparative remoteness from the centre of circu-
lation, or, at least, to depend upon that cause alone.

Other Parts than those that have been named become the
occasional seat of farcy. The eyelids, the ears even, sometimes
show the disease. In stone-horses, we are told by contiuental
veterinarians, it is by no means uncommon to find the spermatic
cord and testicle affected with farcy. Of our own experience
we can allege that the mamma is occasionally so; the disease,
when it is so, commonly extending into it from the thigh. In
conclusion, we may safely assert that no part of the body can
be said to be exempt from an attack of farcy. Now and then
the disease will break out in a sort of broadcast form — appear
over the body generally, without evincing any predilection
whatever for those parts along which the principal lymphatics
are known to take their course : on the contrary, will rise upon

BUTTON FAECY. 311

the outside instead of upon the inside of the limbs — upon the
shoulder, quarters, &c. This is

Button Farcy, the other kind being distinguishable by the
denomination o^ cord farcy. And we have remarked that, in
this variety, the buds, though more numerous, are smaller in
size, and continue so through the stages of suppuration and
ulceration ; thus bearing a resemblance to the miliary ulceration
of glanders ; the cord farcy being succeeded by a more true
chancrous or phagedsenic ulceration. This sraallness and more
numerous and general distribution arises, no doubt, from the
exility of the ramifications of the lymphatics compared with
their trunks and principal branches. Another circumstance in
which these small buds differ from those of larger size, is their
more intimate connexion with the cutis vera ; they are
frequently so incorporated in substance with it that no dissection
can separate them. This, probably, arises from their having
their origin in cutaneous lymphatics.

The Lymphatic Glands commence swelling simultaneously
with, or speedily after, the lymphatic vessels themselves; and
when swollen they evince tenderness, and feel unusually hot
likewise, plainly showing that they also have become the seat of
inflammatory action. The glands that take on disease are those
into which the farcinous lymphatics directly run, or through
which they pass in their course into their common duct : should
a hind limb or the parts of generation become aflPected, the
inguinal glands swell ; should it be a fore limb, the axillary
glands tumefy ; and the same glands become enlarged when
the disease invades the breast and shoulder ; and on the
occasion of the head becoming the seat of farcy, tlie same glands
— the submaxillary — tumefy, as they do when glanders is present.
The bronchial glands may enlarge from disease deep-seated iu
the breast ; usually, however, tumefaction of them indicates
disease in the lungs. It is stated by Hurtrel d^Arboval, that
the mesenteric glands have been found in a state of disease
from farcy, as well as those of the mediastinum and pelvis. I
cannot, however, for my own part, recall to mind any observa-
tions confirmatory of this ; at the same time, I do not question
the statement. All that I have to say in regard to it being,
that when suppuration is named as having taken place in the

312 DIAGNOSIS OF FAECY.

lymphatic glands, it would, in my mind, furnish an argument
against the disease turning out to be farcy or glanders.

Diagnosis. — The old writers on farriery seem to have had
no standard whereby farcy was to be distinguished from some
other disease resembling it. Any common anasarcous swelling
of the hind limb that proved to be general they called " loatery
farcy -," thus evidently confounding it with that oedematous
state of limb which is known to be one of the concomitants or
consequences of true farcy. Modern veterinarians, with their
improved knowledge of pathology, have got rid of these erro-
neous notions, and by showing that farcy is a disease of the
lymphatic system, have laid the foundation for a new and more
orthodox hippopathology. We now know that no disease can
be farcy that does not affect the lymphatics ; I am not aware,
however, that any veterinarian besides myself has carried his
observations so far as to pronounce that farcy was the only
disease to which the lymphatic system of the horse is obnoxious.
And yet this, if established, is an important point, inasmuch
as, then, our diagnosis becomes well defined and comparatively
facile in practice. No swelling of a hind limb (or of any other
part) constitutes a case of farcy apart from unequivocal signs of
lymphatic disease : there must be present corded, nodulated
swellings — huds in some form or other — together with actual or
approaching tumefaction of the lymphatic glands,' or the case
is not farcy.

I cannot help thinking, from accounts I have perused in some
veterinary authors, that both glanders and farcy have been mis-
taken ; or rather, that diseases of another kind have been mistaken
for them, and for farcy oftener than for glanders. One disease
in particular, and one that is by no means so very rare in its oc-
currence, I feel quite certain has been called by the name of farcy
and under this appellation appears to have been "cured," and to
have been recorded as such. The disease I allude to is that which
is now known by the name of diffuse inflammation of the cellular
membrane : a diuease consisting in the (generally sudden)
appearance of lumps or patches of sub-cutaneous eflfusion of a
solid and even firm description, attended by oedematous states
of the limbs, belly, sheath, &c. ; and thus having, so far, the
additional character of watery farcy. But in these cases, let it

PROGRESS OP FARCY. 313

be well observed, there is no lymphatic disease, — nothing like
farcy-buds and cords ; in which circumstance it is, connected
with the course and termination these respective diseases are
seen to have, that we are to seek for a correct diagnosis. But
how are we to distinguish farcy-buds from some cutaneous
eruptions — from surfeits — which appear so much like them ?
There is but one species of farcy for which these eruptions can
be mistaken ; and that is the diffuse or broad cast variety —
the button farcy. Now, should the attack be farcy, the proba-
bility is, from its being a general one, that the animal will show
signs of ill-health at the time ; whereas, a horse that has
" broken out in a surfeit all over his body,'^ is commonly in
unusually good, what is called "fine,^' condition. Then, again,
" surfeit lumps" are often large and irregular in form, and
frequently appear in patches, whereas the buds of button farcy
are small and regularly spheroid in shape, and spread pretty
uniformly over the body. Again, surfeit eruptions are often
but of an hour or two continuance, — rarely are they visible on
the following day : any doubt, therefore, that may impend over
the case is not likely to be of lengthened duration.

The Progress of Farcy, always upwards, towards the heart
or towards the head, will depeiud on the character it happens to
assume. Acute farcy, as I have before observed, will run its
course rapidly and uninterruptedly, the same as acute glanders
is known to do ; with which, indeed, it is commonly at an early
period, always almost prior to death, associated. Subacute
farcy is apt at times to manifest a good deal of irregularity in
its progress, at one time it being acute and full of virulence, at
another in a state of indolence or absolute suspension, the
patient appearing to be recovering from the disease. In the
progress of farcy a good deal will depend on the state (of
soundness or disease) the lungs happen to be in ; when they
are already in a state of tuberculous disease, though the animal
may, by care and judicious management, be kept up for a time,
he will, in the end, turn what has been called "hectic" or (with
less propriety) " typhoid,^^ and end his days in phthisis. As to
cl ironic farcy , it is impossible to say how long it may remain in
the state of inactivity and apparent harmlessness into which it
has, either of its own accord or through treatment, relapsed, or

314 TERMINATIONS OP FARCY.

to make sure even for a day that it will not spring up again in
the system in all the virulence of the acute disease, and put a
speedy end to the animal's existence. The following case,
communicated by Mr. Horsburgh, V.S., Dalkeith, to The
Veterinarian for ISAS, is well adapted to show how rapidly
and destructively farcy, when it is acute, frequently runs its
course : —

Ou the 6th of April, 1S42, Mr. Cossar, horse-dealer, bought from Mr.
Thomson, another horse-dealer, a bay pony for £9, warranted sound. The
pony was delivered to Mr. Vessy, inn-keeper at Dalkeith, without having
been at all in Mr. Cossar's stables : Mr. Cossar also warranting the animal
sound.

The pony being very fat, Mr. Horsburgh, V.S,, was requested to give him
a dose of physic on the 8th April. While giving the ball, Mr. H. perceived
a mark below the off eye, like that of a recently-healed wound, but having a
peculiar shining aspect, with a depression in its middle as though the point of
the finger had been impressed upon it. This was noticed to the groom.

The morning of the 10th (the physic having been working the day before
and set over night) the groom came to Mr. Horsburgh in a great hurry, say-
ing, " The pouy was all over swelled and stiff, and could scarcely move."
Mr. H. found him as described, with the lymphatics swollen to that degree
on his quarters, that anybody would have imagined he had been recently
whipped severely. The mark under the eye was also tumefied.

The day after (the 11th) the disease was but too evident. The place under
the eye had broken, and become a spreading sore ; the lymphatics of the
thigh were much swollen, and presented numerous farcy buds. The sub-
maxillary glands were swollen and hard, and there was discharge from both
nostrils.

\2ith. Every symptom shows the rapidity with which the disease is running
its course. The head is swelling, the discharge from the nose greatly increasing,
the limbs (the hind ones especially) much swollen, and farcy buds multiplying
in all directions.

\Qth. Mr. Dick saw the patient, and, as he was in so hopeless and dangerous
a state of disease, ordered him to be destroyed.

Fakcy terminates in various ways. The termination most
to be dreaded, and, unfortunately, that which proves the most
frequent, is in glanders — in acute glanders — and, as a conse-
quence, shortly afterwards in death. On the other hand, farcy
has on many occasions been known to gradually disappear,
expend itself, as it were, in the part in which it broke out, and

PEOGNOSIS OP FARCY. 315

the patient to recover. The disease confines itself to the part
first attacked — to one hind limb ; at all events,, it does not
spread either to the head or to the lungs, but manifests itself
in a local form only, and in that form admits of removal or
cure, or else, in the part attacked, degenerates into that callous,
chronic stage that may last for nobody knows how long, and in
which the horse can do certain work pretty nearly, or quite as
well, as if his limb had no such thickening or enlargement
about it as an attack of farcy is but too apt to leave.

The amount of work horses with limbs of this description, or
with limbs actually breaking out with farcy at the time, will
often do^ and the length of time — even years — they some-
times are enabled to continue their work, without any
spread or augmentation of their disease^ is on occasions truly
surprising.

As I said before, however, this is not a state of security.
Glanders may at any time supervene on any fresh attack ; or,
should pneumonia at any time, or even a severe catarrh or in-
fluenza come upon the subject^ the probable termination will
still be glanders.

The Prognosis, in farcy, can under no circumstances be
pronounced " favorable." So long as the disease confines
itself to one locality, and continues by degrees to give way to
treatment, some hopes may be entertained of a termination in
the indolent or chronic stage, or even of the disappearance of
disease altogether : still, it must on no occasion be forgotten
how in a day farcy may return in all its worst virulence, and
be productive of glanders. As was observed on a former
occasion, the farther the locality of farcy is distant from the
head the less the probability, generally speaking, is there of its
producing glanders : this rule, however, does not hold in all
cases, many horses showing farcy in one hind limb breaking
out in glanders, without any intermediate part, between the
limb and the head, manifesting disease. The chronic variety
of farcy, or the subacute that shows a disposition to run into
that form or stage, is certainly that which afi'ords the best
prospects under treatment, or which may, even without any
treatment at all, admit of the animal doing part or all of his

316 CAUSES OF FARCY.

work; but, even here, it is injudicious to make the prognosis
too sure : it ought, under ahnost all circumstances, to be a
qualified one.

THE CAUSES OF FAFvCY.

Whatever tends or operates to the production of glanders,
the same has the power of causing farcy. Contagion becomes
no exception to this admitted truth, supposing its agency to be
through the medium of the constitution: contaminated blood
is quite as likely to emit its virus in the form of farcy as in that
of glanders. Coleman, however, appears to have viewed the
operation of contagion in glanders as being local, upon the
Schneiderian membrane ; and that, to take effect, it must have
a local operation also in the production of farcy ; since, in his
lectures, he informs us, that " of all three affections (viz., acute
and chronic glanders and farcy) farcy affords the most con-
clusive evidence of the production of the disease in the absence
of contagion," Undoubtedly, it is out of the range of proba-
bility— out, almost, of that of possibility — for the inside of the
thigh of one horse to come into contact with the nose of another
horse, or, in fact, with any contagious virus, through chance or
accident ; supposing, however, that the contagion enters the
system before the local disease be produced, there is in that
case quite as much likelihood of farcy following as of glanders.
We know that, by inoculation, farcy has been produced by the
matter of glanders, and glanders by the matter of farcy, and
that, consequently, there is every reason to infer a similarity, or
rather an identity in the viruses of the two diseases ; and in
farther proof of this, as was said before, one disease, or form of
disease, almost invariably terminates in the other prior to dis-
solution. There can be no question but that the same con-
taminated or miasmatic atmosphere of the stable or elsewhere
which produces glanders may occasion farcy; and vice versa.
The cases of the four horses of my own regiment* fully bear
out this conclusion : three of them first showed farcy, the

* Given at page 230, et sequent.

CAUSES OP FAECY. 317

fourth commenced with glanders. Surmising that the virus
or animal poison, or miasm, or malaria, or whatever it maybe,
enters the blood, the part upon which it takes local effect will
be that probably in which, from some cause or other, there
resides the greatest amount of predisposition or susceptibility ;
and further than in this obscure manner we shall find our-
selves unable to account for any predilection manifested by the
disease.

That farcy, like glanders, may take its rise from other causes
than contagion and contagious miasms — from such as are
comprised in our third, fourth, and fifth classes of exciting
causes* — we have already stated there exist examples amply
sufficient on record to show : the consideration being, as in the
case of glanders, in respect to their operation, whether the
system of the animal under such circumstances can be said
to be in its natural state; whether, on the contrary, facts
would not warrant our assumption, that some morbid or
peculiar susceptibility did not at the time exist in the
lymphatic system — something more than mere unhealthiness
— to account for causes of an ordinary nature having such
extraordinary effects. Some veterinarians believe farcy and
glanders to be capable of being " bred ^^ or generated in the
horse's system : if so, any common causation might prove
adequate to excite their development ; and our position still
holds good — that for causes of an ordinary or pure nature to
be productive of the specific disease, they must operate on a
system in which the seeds of that disease already exist, or in
which there is present a susceptibility of some kind different
from any existing in a healthy system, or even in one under
any ordinary condition of disease or unhealthiness.

* Turn back to page 218.

318

SEAT AND NATURE OF FARCY.

Farcy may be said to have its seat in the skin^ that of
glanders being accounted to be the aerial membrane. In strict
pathology, glanders and farcy together constitute one and the
same disease of the lymphatic vessels and their glands ; the
disease originates in these vessels, and for a time confines
itself to them ; in the course of its progress, however, it
extends into the contiguous tissues, affecting in one case the
cutis vera, in the other the mucous lining of the air-passages,
and it is in these parts respectively that the phenomena of
farcy and glanders are exhibited. No wonder, therefore, that
the appearances in farcy — the local symptoms — should differ
so much as they do from those of glanders, and that the buds
and ulcerations of the one should be found, in the course of
treatment, so much more manageable or more " curable^^ than
those of the other form of disease ; or that one disease should
be so much more dangerous to the animal affected, as well as
to horses (in health) around him, than the other. Inflam-
mation in the cutis is a different disease from inflammation in
a mucous membrane — productive of different phenomena, and
requiring a different (local) treatment : hence the apparently
wide differences between two diseases essentially or in nature
alike.

In general, in dissecting farcied limbs or other parts, as
soon as we have cut through the thickened and indurated skin,
"we appear to have bottomed the disease — to have reached its
depth or profoundest seat ; the subcutaneous tissue everywhere
around is infiltrated, apparently in a state of local dropsy, but
of the farcinous disease the skin has manifestly borne the
brunt. In cases, however, of inveterate or malignant farcy,
in which the deep-seated as well as the superficial order of
lymphatics have taken on disease, we meet with farcy-buds
and pustules, and occasionally with abscesses of large and
irregular dimensions, situated among the muscles,

Dupuy informs us he has met with " tubercles^^ (or farcy-
buds) and farcy-pustules upon the mucous lining of the

SEAT AND NATURE OF FA EOT. 319

alimentary canal; and Leblanc, so far as having witnessed one
case of the kind, confirms this account. On the same
authorities also we may state that the liver, the spleen, and
the testicles, have all been known to exhibit farcy. In the
case of disease of the mucous membrane, be it in the intestinal
canal or in any other situation, to be consistent in our patho-
logy, we ought to call the disease glanders.

In Nature farcy is identical with glanders : they are, let it
be remembered, one and the same disease seated in different
tissues and localities of the body ; glanders being an affection
of the mucous tissue, seated in the head ; farcy one of dermoid
tissue, appearing upon the limbs and body ; both originating
in disease set up in the lymphatic system.

Writers on Farriery have regarded farcy as a disease of
the blood-vessels, of the veins in particular ; and considering
that farcy cords take in general the same course which the
superficial veins are seen to do, and that the knowledge these
writers possessed of the lymphatic system amounted to little
or nothing, we need not feel surprise at their running into
so venial an error. Solleysell* informs us that the "farcin
may easily be known by the knots and cords that run along
the veins, and are spread over the whole body." And he
describes " four kinds of farcin,'' to which he says " all the
rest may be reduced ;'' and that " the second sort of farcin is
accompanied with hard swellings, resembling ropes or strings,
that run beneath the flesh and the skin, along the veins espe-
cially those of the thigh, neck, brisket, and along the belly."

A century later than the time of Solleysell we find the best
English veterinary author of his day, GiBsoN,t a surgeon as
well as veterinary surgeon, still believing that " the true farcy
is properly a distemper of the blood-vessels'' notwithstanding
he treats in the same work of the ''distribution'' and "use"
of the hjmphatic vessels. " When inveterate," he continues,
" (the farcy) thickens their (the veins') coats, and common
integuments, so as they become like so many cords, and these
are larger or smaller in proportion to the size and capacity of
the veins that are affected by it. It is seldom perceivable on

* Op. cit., p. 198. t Op. cit., p. 257.

320 SEAT AND NATURE OF FARCY.

the arteries, because of their continual motion and pulsation/'
&c.

Coleman pronounced farcy to consist in " an inflammation
and suppuration of the lymphatic vessels;" and assumed, that
the disease had a predilection for the superficial to the exclu-
sion of the deep-seated order of those vessels, the same as other
diseases of the body had their peculiar seats. He considered
farcy-buds to arise from effusions of adhesive matter into the
canal of the lymphatic, distending the vessel in the intervals
between its valves, which latter he regarded as insusceptible
of the farcinous irritation ; '' for if," said he, " a diseased
lymphatic vessel be examined, perfectly sound partitions of
membrane will be found between the buds, which cannot be
anything else but the valves."*

Leblanc, however, with whose researches and opinions we
have had reason, when on the subject of the pathology of
glanders, to be well pleased, regards the farcy-bud as the result
of the coagulation of the lymphatic fluid or lyniph, accumulated
within it in consequence of the obstruction in its incrassated
condition the fluid (lymph) receives from the valves, to which
accumulations are owing the well-known plumpness and rounded
shape of farcy-buds. Still, Leblanc admits that the vessels
themselves are " almost always" in a state of disease : he has
found their coats thickened and opaque, their lining mem-
brane frequently exhibiting red spots, ragged, adherent to the
contained portions of coagulated lymph, and in places softened
without any ulceration, or else altogether in a softened con-
dition. This softening change in time pervades the other
(thickened) tunics of the vessel, and even aff"ects the contained
clots of lymph, ending, at length, in points of ulceration, oppo-
site to which the surrounding cellular tissue becomes at first
tumid, afterwards solid and firm ; lastly, soft, as the other
parts have become. In the centre of the softened mass a
little depot of matter forms, a pustule, having its seat partly in
the lymphatic vessel, partly in the cellular tissue, and separated
from other pustules above and below it by the valves. In
places where the skin is very thin — on the lips, nose, insides

* Coleman's Lectures on Glanders and Farcy, as contained in vol. iii of my
' Elementary Lectures on the Veterinary Art.'

SEAT AND NATURE OF FARCY. 321

of the thighs, &c. — Leblanc observes, farcy-buds are in general
smaller than in parts clothed by thick skin. This, I imagine,
is owing to the scantiness or density of the cellular membrane
in such parts.

The Character of the Farcy-bud is well described by
Rodet.* '^Detach a moderate-sized farcy-bud of recent
formation, and before the softening process has commenced in
it, and cut into this firm, indolent, rounded, everywhere
isolated, completely formed bud, and its interior will be found
composed of a hard, fibrous, condensed, milk-white tissue,
resisting the bistouri ; and though exhibiting throughout, in
certain cases, a homogeneous texture, is nevertheless, in other
instances, found grooved and traversed by some sanguineous
capillaries. At a rather later period than this, at the time
when it commences growing soft in its centre, and is about to
become adherent to the skin, and sometimes before it has
adhered, we may observe (providing the recent internal process
of liquefaction be not completed) that its circumferent parts
still retain the white fibrous indurated texture which formerly
constituted the entire bud, and that within its interior is
enclosed a pultaceous matter of a yellow or a dirty white colour,
or else slightly reddened. At length, when the process of
softening is completed, and before it is converted into abscess,
we find that within the bud several little morbid productions,
united by laminse one to another (ai'ranged in concentric
layers), and resembling adventitious serous membranes slightly
infiltrated, whose raw interior gives the appearance of ulcera-
tion to its inner surface), concur to form the walls of the
abscess, enclosing a white, thick, homogeneous matter, whose
consistence, varying a good deal, is at one time caseous, at
another puriform, at another analogous to that of thick jelly
(bouillie).''

The peculiar well-known spheroid shape of the farcy-bud, as
well as that of the pustule which succeeds it, is proved to be
owing to the existence of the valves within the lymphatic
vessel, they preserving their integrity while the coats of the
lymphatic are vanishing through absorption. Coleman said
the valves were insusceptible of irritation and consequent in-

* Op. cit., page 215.
III. 21

322 SEAT AND NATURE OF FAECY.

flammation from farcy, and alleged as one reason for this, their
being structures organized in a less degree than the tunics of
the vessel. In some cases — in such probably as would be
regarded as unhealthy or ill-conditioned constitutions — we
know that the valves, as well as the tunics, do however inflame
and ulcerate or become absorbed ; and that, in consequence,
the farcy pustules run into each other, and by such communi-
cation lose their characteristic shape, lengthening into fistulous
abscesses, well known to farriers under the denomination of
" farcy pipes,^^ or spreading into abscesses of large and irre-
gular shape, burrowing deep in the connecting cellular tissue.

The Skin — the cvtis vera — undergoes changes very analo-
gous to the thickening and induration of the farcy-bud. In
the course of time it becomes enormously augmented in sub-
stance, remarkably white, and unusually tough and hard, cutting
like so much white leather rather than skin, especially in the
immediate vicinity of the buds ; several of the more superficial
of which, some that have become pustules, will be found em-
bedded in its thickened substance. We, however, no sooner
cut through the indurated cartilaginous-like cutis than we
expose chains of farcy-buds and pustules, immediately under-
neath it, invested by cellular tissue full of infiltration of a jelly-
like citron-coloured fluid, beyond which bed of eflfusion we
appear suddenly to lose all vestiges of disease. To this, how-
ever, there are exceptions. In inveterate farcy the infiltration
will sometimes be observed extending deep between the muscles,
and every now and then abscesses, depots of matter, of con-
siderable volume, will be discovered buried among the fleshy
structures. Nor do the bones, no more than the muscles,
escape the ravages of farcy and glanders ; we know how the
turbinated and ethmoid and nasal and maxillary bones have
suffered in malignant cases of the former disease ; and we are
assured by Dupuy and others, that many of the bones of the
limbs and body have proved extensively diseased in horses that
have for a length of time been afflicted with farcy.

323

THEATMENT OP GLANDERS AND FARCY.

Veterinary surgeons are taunted with glanders being the
opprobrium of their art — a bane for which they possess no
antidote — and they feel the taunt to be too true to admit of
reply : they reluctantly and sorrowfully and reproachfully con-
demn a noble animal, in the apparent enjoymeut of health and
strength, to slaughter, because he has a disease upon him,
though it be seemingly only in his nose, for which they know
of no remedy, and because that disease is likely to spread from
him to other horses ; nay even, through possibility, to man
himself. Although veterinary science, however, has hitherto
failed in discovering any cure for glanders, it may certainly be
said to have elicited a course of medical treatment which often-
times proves of essential service in cases of farcy : why farcy,
which we have found to be in nature nowise difl'erent from
glanders, should be at times curable, and glanders in its acute
and confirmed stages never so, will be pointed out when we
come to consider their respective therapeutics. And though
our art proves unavailing in the removal of glanders, yet have
we sufficiently good reason to boast of the prophylactic measures
it has devised and put into practice. This leads us to make a
division of the treatment into prophylactic and therapeutic.

Prophylactic Treatment.

To form a judgment of the efficiency of our prophylactics we
have no more to do than to institute a comparison between the
existence of glanders and farcy at the present day and their
prevalence in times past. The day was when, in almost any
large horse establishment, certainly in most public horse markets,
such as Smithfield and others, one was almost sure to meet
with a glandered or farcied subject : the metropolitan horse-
slaughterers' yards were never without them, and most loathsome
spectacles the poor wretched creatures presented, tied up as they
were for days together without food, breathing hardly and
stertorously through their plugged-up nostrils, waiting their
turn for the poll-axe. Where, however, in our own days —

324 PROPHYLACTIC TREATMENT.

thanks to the general diffusion and utility of the prophylactics
we are about to mention — are we to look for such disgusting
pitiable scenes as these? — nay, now-a-days, it is hard to know
sometimes where to go to obtain glanderous matter for the
purposes of experiment. Let us but for a moment pause to
consider what the losses of large coach and post and job
establishments, breweries and coal-yards, used to amount to
annually through glanders and farcy, and compare those accounts
with their present casualties from the same causes ! — or let us
turn over the horse statistics of our cavalry or ordnance !
Frightful, to our own knowledge, have been such losses in our
public departments ; as nothing, compared with what they
formerly were, are the same casualties at the present day.

That the principal excitants of glanders and farcy are C07i-
tagion and the miasm of the stable, appears among veterinarians
of our own day to be pretty universally admitted, other causes
being but occasional or incidental. Coleman, indeed, shut
contagion all but out from his causative agents, ascribing all
the mischief to " the poisoned atmosphere of the stable." He
presumed the virus or poison of glanders to be " bred^^ as well
as " diffused in an atmosphere rendered impure by repeated
respiration and by effluvia from the dung, urine, and perspi-
ration." A confined atmosphere in a foul stable being the
fomes of the miasm or contagion, the remedy for prevention
became evident. It was not sufficient for a stable to be drained
and kept clean ; it was necessary that there should be a con-
tinual change of its atmosphere kept up — that the air which
its inhabitants had once breathed, and which had become heated
and carbonized, should not enter their lungs a second time.
This was Coleman's principle of proceeding in his prophylactic
measures — this reasoning it was, supported by a host of facts,
that laid the foundation of his grand scheme of ventilation ;
and the records both of our cavalry and ordnance will triumph-
antly show how successful the scheme has proved, to say
nothing about the benefit private studs and establishments
have derived from having, late though many of them did have,
recourse to the same. Coleman^s plan of ventilation was to
make apertures in the roofs of stables, or in the most elevated
parts, and especially in the corners, of their side walls, through

PROPHYLACTIC TREATMENT. 325

which the heated and impure air might, find escape ; as well as
apertures in the lowermost possible situations through which
fresh (pure) air might find ingress to replace what had escaped
above. Sound, however, as Coleman's theory was upon general
principles, it was not found in all situations to hold good in
practice ; for wherever a current of air or a strong wind sets
against stables, it will be found that even through the upper
holes of that side air will rush in, while through the lower of
the opposite side of the stable rarefied air will escape. Still,
however, Coleman's general reasoning was sound and applicable.
And as a proof of it, we know that he, in numerous instances,
succeeded in rendering stables wholesome, which had been
notoriously the reverse ; the consequence of which was the
banishment, from such abodes, of diseases of the most malignant
and fatal description, in particular of farcy and glanders.

That such were the facts, such the results, can be sufficiently
proved by the veterinary annals of the army and ordnance
departments. The only question for us, as professional men,
to consider is, whether Coleman's premises and deductions in
regard to the said facts were sound — whether, as he so confi-
dently asserted, the evil wholly arose from what he called " a
poisoned atmosphere," i. e. an atmosphere in which a poison
had been " bred,'' or whether the atmosphere had not become
" poisoned " through contagion ? Coleman's assumption that
every horse, at the time he became an inhabitant of a stable of
this description, was sound in constitution — free from the seeds
of disease — could not be proved ; and since he did not believe
that contagion could operate, save through actual contact, he
took little or no heed of any such influence in forming his
theory of the eff'ect of ventilation ; but unhesitatingly ascribed
all, as has been already stated, to the poison or miasm generated
in the stable. Without any desire to detract from the benefits
derived from ventilation, we cannot shut our own eyes to the
good that has evidently resulted from a superior stable regimen,
from a superior management altogether of horses in a state
of domestication j neither can we pass by without remark the
great attention that has all along been paid to the immediate
separation and removal of the tainted subject from his sound
companions ; the very shadow of a symptom of glanders or farcy

326 PROPHYLACTIC TREATMENT.

(or of any other contagious or malignant disease) having been,
with veterinary surgeons, sufficient to cause the instant sepa-
ration of the patient ; and this is a circumstance which alone
we can entertain no doubt whatever has tended very materially
to the prevention of the spread and multiplication of cases of
glanders and farcy.

From these observations we gather that the prophylactics
against the generation and spread of glanders and farcy, are,
first, Ventilation of Stables ; 2dly, Cleanliness, in which is
included the draining of them ; 3dly, The immediate and
complete Separation of the Sick from the Healthy. To
enter here, farther than has already been done, into the
subject of ventilation, would, if not out of place, occupy
more of our space than we could possibly afford it ; neither
can we, nor perhaps need we, enter into any details of
cleanliness, or draining, or paving : it seems right, however, to
remark, in regard to the segregation of a horse having or sus-
pected of having glanders or farcy, that his separation can
neither be too early nor too complete : to satisfy every doubt
respecting contagion, he should be placed at such a distance
from his associates in health, and in such a situation that no
direct atmospheric communication can exist between their
habitations. And moreover, his pail, halter, bridle — even
harness and saddle, too, perhaps — ought to be restricted to the
patieut^s use, or not used among other horses until such time
as they had undergone the necessary purification. Likewise
the groom looking after the glandered subject should be careful
not to allow himself or his clothes to become the medium of
contamination between the diseased and the healthy. These
precautions may, by some people, be thought to be strained
beyond what experience has found to be requisite : I would,
however, for my own pert, rather run the risk of having an
imputation of this kind cast upon me than suffer any doubt to
remain lurking in my own mind of the full sufficiency of any
prophylactic measures I might have recommended. In large
establishments, where many valuable horses are stabled together,
we can hardly exercise too much nicety and fastidiousness on
the occasion of any contagious disease, and especially of such a
one as glanders and farcy, breaking out amongst them.

327

Therapeutic Treatment of Glanders.

Having got our patient lodged in some secluded habitation,
our next consideration is, what is to be done with him, or
rather for him ? Should his attack turn out to be acute glan-
ders, deaths through suffocation, will so soon end his days that
it seems a pity the poor sufferer should be allowed to labour
out his existence : indeed, humanity ought to forbid it, and at
once blow the wretched creature's brains out with a pistol-shot.
Leblanc says he has, on several occasions, performed tracheotomy
for such subjects, but has failed in affording any permanent
relief. And there is nothing that I know of that will, in any
material or marked degree, ameliorate their horrid condition.

In the present state of our knowledge of the therapeutics of
glanders, the only varieties admitting of treatment are the sub-
acute and the chronic ; the acute, as we have just seen, running
its course too hurriedly and fiercely to admit of any check from
medicine. In its less virulent forms, occasionally as subacute
but oftener as chronic, the disease has been known to disappear
under medical treatment, and oftentimes to the delusion of the
director of that treatment, who has naturally inferred that his
prescriptions had worked the cure, when in point of fact, as
subsequent experience has proved to him, the patient has
recovered under the influence of the vis medicatrix natures.
Nevertheless, in one form or other, glanders has been the sub-
ject of treatment from the earliest times down to the present,
every experimentalist varying his plan of procedure, directing it
to the parts diseased or else to the system generally, in
accordance with whatever notions he happened to entertain
concerning the nature of the disease.

Vegetius, in his methodus meudendi, considered it necessary
to purge the head of the horse, in order to rid it of its *' stinking
and thick humours ;" for which purpose he prescribed a mixture
of oil, adeps, and wine, and directed it to be poured into the
nostrils ; and further ordered, that the horse's head should be
bound to his foot, with the intention that, as he stepped along,
" all the humours might drop out.''*

* Op. cit., at p. 253.

328 TBEEAPEUTIC TEEATMENT.

SoLLEYSELL, Considering the state of medical veterinary
knowledge at the time he wrote, manifests here, as in so many
other instances, extraordinary sagacity and penetration. He
tells us that, in glanders, by the use of " good remedies," a cure
even might be effected " if the lungs were not already wasted;'^
adding, that " God alone can restore a consumed part." Al-
thougli, however, he made use in his practice both o{ hijections
up the nose and of fumigations, and of applications as well both
of the actual as the 'potential cauteries to the " kernels" under
the jaws, and occasionally excised them — a practice he found
afterwards to be of no effect — and although he administered
internal " remedies" to boot, it is evident he entertained very
meagre hopes of cure ; for he warns us, that " when a farrier
undertakes to cure a horse of the glanders, you may con-
clude that hardly he will be able to perform his promise,
or that the disease is really not what you imagine it to
be."*

Lafosse, finding the nose and sinuses of the head to be the
locality of glanders, and concluding, from the absence in
general of appearances of disease elsewhere, that the malady
was confined exclusively to the head, " from thence," to use
his own words,t " considered of a proper method of cure ; and
after a great many reflections, I concluded," says he, "in favour
of the TREPAN ; that, by the help of a syringe, one might inject
proper and convenient remedies into the nose." — Doubting at
first "whether the horse could bear the operation of trepan,"
fearful of the result of his experiment, Lafosse commenced the
operation on one side only ; afterwards, however, he performed
it on both sides, and was " agreeably surprised to find that
horses that had holes cut through their skulls preserved every
sign of health" — and that the apertures he had made evinced
" a good disposition to heal and grow up." A very few years
of additional experience, however, evidently showed Lafosse the
iuefficacy of the trepan ; for we find him, in a subsequent

* Op. cit., at p. 198.

f ' A Treatise on the True Seat of the Glanders in Horses ; together with
the Method of Cure.' By M. Lafosse, Master Farrier of Paris, and Farrier to
the King's Stables. The translation and notes by H. Bracken, M.D.,
Loudon, 1751.

THEEAPEUTIC TREATMENT. 329

publication,* calling to his aid, when "glanders is confirmed"
— " emollient decoctions thrown up into the nostrils, carefully
pushed into the frontal sinuses, and repeated thrice a day for a
week ;" and likewise, " fumigations,'' which would come into
practice, he adds, "if their good effects were better known/'
With his trepan and all its auxiliaries, Lafosse in the end finds
himself forced to confess " there is no answering for the cure,"
that depending " on the stubbornness of the disease '" for as
he appears now to have discovered, besides " confirmed glan-
ders," there are " six other kinds of discharges by the nostrils,
of which four are incurable."

Bracken and Bartlett were both advocates for the trepan,
praising Lafosse for his discoveries and efficient mode of cure :
but GiBsoNf had no faith in the remedies, " Glanders," he
said, was " so generally fatal," he had no occasion to " spend
much time in laying down any method of cure," He scouts
the notion of getting rid of the disease through "destroying the
kernel under the jaw with the actual or potential cautery," and
so " cutting ofi" the supply of matter that feeds the distemper;"
adding, that glanders is " rooted in the blood," and therefore
cannot be removed by any other than " iwwarc? means ;" which
" means" he gives an account of in the narratives of the cure
of two cases of glandered horses belonging to the " First troop
of Guards." These cases, however — one of which baffled all
attempts for a period of six or seven months — as our author
remarks on them, only " showed the difficulty and trouble of
curing glanders, even where the symptoms are favorable; for
among the many glandered horses I have seen," he adds,
" perhaps not one in fifty was to be meddled with ; therefore
I should never advise anybody that has a horse truly glan-
dered so much as to attempt a cure."

Few of us now living can give wholesomer counsel than this.
Let any person who professes to " cure" glanders but have his
cases proved by three such simple tests as follow, and the
results, even should they fail to undeceive him, will surely
satisfy those who may be misled by his representations : — 1st,

* ' Observations and Discoveries made upon Horses,' &c. By the Sieur
Lafosse, Farrier to the King of Erance. London, 1755.
+ Op. cit., at p. 257.

330 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT.

Let the cases be proved to be geuuine or confirmed glanders ;
2d, Let such horses as appear to have been "cured'^ be kept or
watched for such a length of time afterwards as will satisfy
competent men that no relapse is likely to occur ; and 3dly,
Let it be demonstrated that the '^ remedy" will take like good
effect in all other cases of glanders and farcy, barring only such
as, from organic disease of the lungs or other vital parts, or
from extreme age or debility of constitution, cannot be expected
to derive the same benefit from the antidote.

Supposing a veterinary practitioner called on to treat a case
of glanders, it becomes his duty, to the extent within his power,
to ascertain whether the case — supposing any doubt impend
over it — be one of glanders or not. I have already observed
that treatment for acute glanders is (unless we know of any
specific) altogether out of the question ; therefore the case
before us we will suppose to be either of a dubious subacute
character, or# altogether chronic in its nature. The patient
appears in excellent health and spirits ; indeed, were it not for
the trifling running from his nose and the inconsiderable
glandular swelling under his lower jaw, he would to appearance
ail nothing whatever. It seems a pity and a shame to put such
an animal to death. And, besides, he is " such a favorite"
— ^' something must be done for him !" The first thing to be
done, I repeat, is to ascertain if the disease really be glanders.
Inoculation of another (valueless or condemned) horse, or of
an ass, will probably set this question at rest. Or, the frontal
and maxillary sinuses may be bored into and examined, through
the introduction of a feather into their cavities, or by syringing
of tepid water into them : should the feather return smeared
with matter, or the water flow through the nostrils bringing
matter along with it, in the absence of any known disease
producing such a secretion within the sinuses, the case may be
at once pronounced upon. Supposing the evidence to turn in
favour of the discharge being of a glanderous nature, what steps
are next to be taken by the medical attendant? The utmost
that can be said in favour of the prospect of a fortunate result
is, that the annals of veterinary medicine contain several cases
of recovery under treatment of various and different kinds, and
that the patient in question, so long as the disease increases not

THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT. 331

beyond its present mild form, may, it is just possible, add
another to that number. But what is to be the methodus
medendi ? Shall we attack it as a general disease or simply
deal with it as a local affection ? — or shall we essay what can
be done in these ways combined ? Let us first consider

GENERAL TREATMENT. In respect to regimen I would
have the horse comfortably lodged^ well groomed, and well fed.
I think it not only impolitic but dangerous even to disturb,
in any material degree, that (good) health which he, to all
appearances, is in the present enjoyment of. Supposing any
local inflammatory action or fever that may exist not to be of
a character — which in the subacute and chronic forms of the
disease we do not expect to find it is — to require any anti-
phlogistic treatment, I would not deplete or debilitate my
patient : I would neither bleed nor purge him. And what
medicine I gave, should be of a tonic or astringent character ;
astringent, so far as regards any action it might have on the
mucous tissues : I say this because it will be found, when we
come to examine the various "specific remedies^' we have had
recommended for the cure of glanders, that they mainly or
wholly owe their anti-glanderous properties to their influence
upon the secretions of these parts.

As well in other countries as in our own, have persons — vete-
rinarians and others — come forward with " cures for the
glanders ;" and there, as well as here, have learned societies
and colleges (not to mention the credulous public) been
ready and weak enough to approve and reward such pretensions
without waiting until the " discoveries^^ had been submitted to
the examinations and tests of persons who were alone capable
of appreciating them. In the last century the Royal
Academy of Science vouchsafed their approbation to Lafosse for
his discoveries of the seat, nature, and cure of glanders. In
the present century, the Royal Society of Agriculture in France
have publicly eulogised Professor Collaine, of the Milan veteri-
nary school, for his successful practice against glanders, with
sulphur as his specific; and our own Veterinary College have
rewarded Professor Sewell for the same, with sulphate of copper
for his specific. In later times still, in France, chloride of
sodium (common salt) has received favorable notice from the

332 THERAPEDTIO TREATMENT.

Royal Agricultural Society, It is hardly requisite to add, that,
had any one of these ''remedies'^ turned out to be curative of
glanders, we should not, at the present hour, be painfully com-
pelled, as for hundreds of years our ancestors have been, to doom
unfortunate glandered patients to a premature and opprobrious
death.

Sulphate of Copper {blue vitriol) has had in our own
country, for a great many years, a sort of established reputation
among veterinary surgeons as a remedy for glanders and farcy.
I believe that it was introduced into our " farcy ball " by the
late Professor (Coleman) ; and, though he never ascribed to it
any specific virtues, the result was, that a good many of his
pupils — my father among the number — were in the habit of
administering it in glanders and farcy, on the belief of some
supposed benefit derived from its use, in all cases where medi-
cine was given, save such as were devoted to experiments, with
some new remedy or untried medicine. Professor Sewell,
however, has not hesitated to declare it to be, administered in a
fluid instead of a solid state, *' a remedy for glanders.'^ His
words are — " Although there are practitioners that condemn
this, more bear me out. I have a horse that has been cured
now (1827) four years. Many of the profession have attempted
to accomplish this by medicine in a solid form ; but the same
quantity which, so given, would inflame the stomach and bowels
and destroy the animal, may be exhibited innocuously in a state
of solution ; and it succeeds best when the solution contains
some mucilage, as gum arable.'^* As a general dose, Mr.
Sewell recommends six drachms of the salt in two or three pints
of water thickened with mucilage. Mr. Youatt thinks — and I
quite agree with him — that this is much too large a dose :
from half-a~drachm gradually increased to two drachms, and
given twice a day if required, being a much likelier dose to
have a tonic operation, and, in the words of Mr. Youatt,t
** sustain the system against the insidious effects of this long-
continued irritation ; or excite another and healthier and more
powerful action, and before which the other must succumb.''

* Mr. Sewell's Introductory Lecture in 'The Veterinarian' for 1828.
t See Mr. Youatt's Lectures in ' The Veterinarian' for 1832.

THERAPEUTIC TEEATMENT. 333

And, moreover, Mr. Youatt thinks that, while the copper
answers this end, it ''has a peculiar local determination to the
Schneiderian membrane;" and, also, that its effect "in healing
abrasions and arresting nasal gleet is undeniable." The fol-
lowing case, sent me by my relation, Mr. Charles Percivall,
exhibits all the appearances of recovery from the employment
of sulphate of copper in solution :- —

"While I was (veterinary surgeon)," says my cousin, " in the Enniskillen Dra-
goons, a squadron of the regiment, then stationed in Ireland, became detached
for upwards of a fortnight ; during which time the horses were cantoned in
filthy close stabling, wherein glandered horses were known frequently to have
stood on former occasions, glanders being no uncommon occurrence in this
part of the country. On the return of the squadron to head-quarters, one of
the finest horses belonging to it — in perfect health at the time he went out-
was brought to me on account of a copious discharge from his off nostril, accom-
panied by extensive ulceration upon the same side of the septum nasi, and tume-
faction of the off submaxillary lymphatic glands. He was immediately shut up
in a box appropriated for contagious subjects, bled (being in high condition),
and had his glands blistered; and was ordered to take, daily, half an ounce of
sulphate of copper in solution, a dose that was afterwards increased to an ounce.
On the ninth day, being off his feed, the medicine was discontinued. On tlie
eleventh it was resumed. On the fifteenth, for the same reason as before, it
was again omitted. On the seventeenth the dose recommenced with was 5vj,
which he continued to take with but few omissions until tlie fifty -seventh day.
By that period the ulcers, which for some time past had been gradually growing
cleaner and healthier, were quite healed; and the discharge from the nose,
which likewise had been for some time diminishing, had also ceased. Appre-
hending, nay, looking for a relapse, the animal was still detained in the infirmary
box, and kept there for two months longer before he was allowed to rejoin his
troop. Twelve months afterwards my cousin left the regiment ; up to that
time the horse continued free from disease."

The Sulphate of Iron is a favorite medicine with Mr.
Turner, of Regent Street. He prescribes it, "not in nauseating,
overwhelming doses, but dissolved in the water (the horse
drinks) in his bucket suspended in his box, so that the patient
may drink a little at a time, and as often as he pleases. Mr.
Turner informs us, that the horse not only soon becomes
habituated to the brackish flavour of the iron, but even prefers
the drugged beverage to his ordinary drink.*

* From Mr. Youatt's Lectures, ' Veterinarian' for 1832.

334 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT.

Cantharides, as a medicine possessing singular eflBcacy in
glanders, are in great estimation with Mr. Vines, " The
medicine I have found of the greatest service/' writes this
author * (in his chapter on the " Treatment of Glanders and
Farcy," Section, "Remedies to be employed '') 'Svhether alone
or in combination, has been cantharides. They appear to me,
when given internally, to act on the system in two ways : —
first, by stimulating the vascular surface of the inner coat of
the stomach and intestines, thus promoting the greater forma-
tion as well of gastric juice as of the other fluids; and also
increasing the appetite and digestion, and consequently forming
a greater quantity' of chyle, or new white blood. Secondly, by
absorption, their active properties being taken into the circu-
lation, and producing in a very short time a material change
in the mucous membrane and ulcers of the nose, as well as in
the ulcers of the skin.'' Mr. Robertson (Mr. Vines informs
us), a surgeon, has published an excellent work on the efficacy
of cantharides for gleets or affections of the urethral membrane,
and for unhealthy sores in the skin ; and that he (Mr. R.),
twenty years ago, recommended its use at the Veterinary
College, where it failed, Mr. Vines says, "from its having been
given m /oo /ar^e closes (drachms)." * * * The principal
precautions to be attended to in using cantharides internally
in the horse are, not to administer them either at the commence-
ment or early stages of inflammatory disease, or in too large
quantities for a dose, or too frequently to repeat them. For
they are only proper to be used, and ought not otherwise to be
administered, but when the symptoms of disease are of a chronic,
or slow form and nature ; that is, when the system is either in
a state of debility, or approaching to it/' &c. * * * The
doses are — ^" for a middle-sized saddle-horse, four grains ; for
a large carriage or dray horse six grains, in fine powder," made
into a ball, with ginger, gentian, &c. " A ball may be given
every day, or every other day, either in the evening^or morning."
Should the horse's appetite amend, and he appear going on
well, after a week, ten days, or a fortnight, the dose may be
augmented a couple of grains ; but after another like interval,

* Op. cit., at page 215.

THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT. 335

the medicine had better be suspended for a few days or a week,
when the first doses may be resumed, and after a week increased
to ten and twelve grains.

Iodine (the mineral) has been exhibited by myself in farcy
and glanders, but with no sign of benefit from it. The iodide
of potassium has been given in very large doses, varying from
a drachm to an ounce (not, however, as a remedy for glanders),
by Professor Dick, but with no appreciable effect, save an un-
usual indifference about drink. Inefficacious, however, as iodine
has proved by itself, in combination with copper, in the form of
the

DiNiODiDE OF Copper, it appears to have become, in farcy
in particular, of indubitable service. For the introduction of
this medicinal agent into our pharmacopoeia we are indebted to
Mr. Morton, Professor of Chemistry at the Eoyal Veterinary
College. " The well-known fact,'^ says Mr. Morton, "that the
salts of copper rank among the most valuable tonic agents for
the horse, and that all the mineral tonics, in order to produce
their effects, are taken up into the circulation, coupled with the
equally well-known influence of iodine on the absorbent vessels,
first led me to think that a combination of these agents would
be of service in farcy. The kindness of my friends. Professor
Spooner and Mr. Daws, enabled me to put the subject to the
test of experiment, the result of which fully confirmed my ex-
pectations. Since then I have received numerous communica-
tions bearing testimony to the benefits derived from its employ-
ment, so that it has now become an established article of the
veterinary materia medica.^' — " It has been found of service in
farcy, chronic oedematous enlargement of the legs, and those
affections simulating glanders. It may be given in doses from
5J to 5ij daily, combining it with the root of gentian and some
carminative, as pimento or Cayenne pepper. Cantharides in
small doses may be advantageously combined.^^* From some
cases related by Mr. Lord, V.S., of Parsons Town, Ireland, it
would appear that the iodine and copper pharmaceutically

* 'Manual of Pharmacy for the Student of Veterinary Medicine.' By
W. J. T, Morton, Lecturer on Veterinary Materia Medica, 3d edition,
1844.

336 THERArEUTIC TREATMENT.

united are equally efficient with the chemical preparation. A
working horse, old and out of condition, whose symptoms were
" evidently farcy, terminating in glanders," was brought to Mr.
Lord on the 12th of August, 18 i2, who made up for him a
dozen and a half powders, composed of the sulphate of copper
in combination with iodide of potassium, ordering one to be
given daily, and that the patient should have as much clover
and vetches as he would eat. He saw nothing more of his
patient until the 4th of September, when to his utter astonish-
ment, the poor man (his owner) came, leading his horse, which
was as well as ever : " the ulcers in the nostrils, the discharge
and the (farcy) buds, having quite disappeared."* Passing
from the accounts of others to

The Results of my Own Observation and Experience, I
would it were in my power to present my reader with an anti-
dote as effectual as our prophylactic measures have proved
against the horrible and fatal disease whose causes and nature
we have been investigating. Few men in the veterinary pro-
fession have, perhaps, had greater opportunities than myself
afforded them of making observations and experiments on cases
of glanders and farcy ; all, however, I regret to be forced to
add, has turned to little amount — glmders, confirmed glanders,
has baffled every effort. What the practice I enjoyed under my
father, who was for thirty years the Senior Veterinary Surgeon
to the Ordnance, and had the superintendence of one of the
largest horse infirmaries in the country, an establishment that
received weekly official visits from the late Professor Coleman — •
I say, what this practice amounted to, may be best learnt by
inspection of the subjoined abstract from the Sick Registers of
the infirmary, including a period of eight years —

* •Veterinarian' for 1842.

THEEAPEUTIC TREATMENT.

337

Abstract of Cases of Glanders and Farcy, from
1810 to 1818.

Year.

Disease.

No. of

Cases

A.dmitted

No.
Cured.

No.
Re-
lieved.

No.
Died.

No.
De-
stroyed.

Totals

in each

Year.

1810 5

Glanders

Farcy-Glanders

Farcy

31

3

11

3
5

1

6

It

1

26

2

[45

1811 1

Glanders

Farcy-Glanders

Farcy

31
6
G

3
2

2

4
4

2

22
4

[43

1812 5

Glanders

Farcy-Glanders

Farcy

25
2
4

2

1

3

6

17
2

[31

1813 j

Glanders

Farcy -Glanders

Farcy

34
11
14

1
1
3

2

1

10

5
4
1

26
5

[59

1814 j

Glanders

Farcy -Glanders

Farcy

31

8
27

4
6

3

1
17

1
1

23

7
3

[66

1815 '

Glanders

Farcy -Glanders

Farcy

19
11
14

4
6

2
2

8

13
9

[44

1816+ j

Glanders

Farcy-Glanders

Farcy

9
2

1

1

8
1

[11

1817:'

Glanders

Farcy -Glanders

Farcy

1

1

""•

—

— .

[ 1

1818f j

Glanders

Farcy-Glanders

Farcy

4

2
1

1

1

—

3

2

f ^

General Totals . .

307

46

66

22

173

307

* Some of the "relieved" cases of farcy were returned "incurable."

f This horse died from pneumonia.

% The decrease in these three years was owing to the reduction of the army
after the battle of Waterloo.

N.B. — Several of the cases of glanders here set down as " cured " and " re-
lieved, " stood entered on the register as "incipient glanders."
HI. 22

338 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT.

In the horses whose cases are enumerated in the foregoing
tabular statement, glanders and farcy presented itself in all its
forms, phases, and stages, and the patients, in by far the ma-
jority of instances, were brought into the infirmary immediately
any sign of disease presented itself: there was, consequently,
every advantage afforded for treatment, and treatment of every
kind and mode that could be devised was, at the suggestion
either of Professor Coleman or my father, sometimes of myself,
put fairly and fully to the test, for the most part under my
own daily, and on many occasions hourly, visits to the patients.
The following medicines were tested, all of them as internal
remedies, some few externally as well : — Preparations of mer-
cury, arsenic, copper, iron, lead, zinc, silver, antimony, barytes;
manganese, sulphur, ammonia, fused potash, nitrous and prussic
acids, chlorate of potash ; aconite, belladonna, cantharides,
catechu, cayenne pepper, cinchona, and oak bark, yew leaves,
copaiba, balsam, cocculus indicus, cubeb pepper, digitalis, ela-
terium, euphorbium, gamboge, hellebore, hemlock, henbane,
mezereon, opium, snake root, stavesacre, sumach, stramonium,
tobacco, valerian, wormwood.

Among the mineral substances experimented on, barytes
commanded our greatest attention. Indeed, at one time, so
sanguine were our expectations concerning it that I drew up a
paper on its efficacy in glanders :* as with other asserted
''remedies" and "cures," however, subsequent experience showed
the apparent success derived from its use to be incidental or
circumstantial ; and now it stands with me much, perhaps, in
the same estimation in which the sulphate and the diniodide of
copper and cantharides stand with their respective advocates.

Among the vegetable productions, stavesacre, the balsam of
copaiba, cubeb pepper, and cayenne pepper^ obtained the most
favorable reports. It was evident, however, that the apparent
— indeed, in some cases resembling nasal gleet, actual — benefit
accruing from the use of these medicines was ascribable to their
well-known action upon the mucous surfaces : in fact, it was
from their acknowledged efficacy in gonorrhoea in the human
subject, that the three latter of these (the copaiba and the two

* Which paper was read, in the year .1824, to the Veterinary Medical Society
at the Veterinary College.

THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT. 339

peppers) were prescribed in cases of glanders. And, to a certain
extent, they were found to answer our expectations. I subjoin
some cases of recovery, some of amendment, from glanders — I
will not say of " cure" — under the administration of these four
last-mentioned agents : —

Recovery under the Use of Barytes.

Case I. — Jul?/ 1816. Black gelding, seven years old, in good condition.
Farcy in near hind leg; a little flux of a muco-puriform nature from the near
nostril, and a small ulcer upon the Schneiderian membrane; submaxillary
gland swollen. Chloride of barium (muriate of barytes) 5ss, made into a
common-sized ball by the admixture of meal and molasses, increased to 5iss
daily. At the end of twenty-one days the patient was discharged "cured."

Case II. — Jmte 1817. A brown mare, seven years old, in fair condition.
Flux from both nostrils; one ulcer apparent within the off nostril, and two
within the near. Chloride of barium 5j> increased to 5iss, in ball as before,
daily. Took the medicine for sixty-eigiit days. Discharged " cured."

Re-admitted in September, 1817, with muco-puriform running from both
nostrils, and tumefied glands, but no ulceration. Chloride of barium 5jj in-
creased by degrees to 5iij> daily, for twenty-five days. Discharged again ; but
admitted for the third time in the following month (October) for farcy in the
ofl: hind leg. Took the medicine again for seven days. Discharged " cured,"
and went away out of any farther cognizance.

Case III. — August 1818. Cbesnut gelding, seven years old, in low condition,
having a foul discharge from the near nostril alone, with tumefied gland. To
this horse was given the oxyde of barium {olim, the pure or caustic barytes), in
doses of 3j and 9iss. Latterly, he took the liquor of chloride of barium (the
solution of the muriate of barytes). Altogether, he took the medicine for
seventy-one days. Discharged "cured."

Case IV. — September 1818. A brown horse, in health, was inoculated with
matter procured from the horse-slaughterers' at Cow Cross, for the purpose of
producing glanders. On the fifth day afterwards two large ulcers made their
appearance within the near nostril (in which he was inoculated), and there was
muco-puriform discharge from it, and adhering to it. The gland of the same
side was swollen, and there was a nodous cord of tumefied lymphatics, as large
as a person's wrist, running from the affected ala nasi along the side of the jaw
into the gland. This horse took the oxyde of barium in doses of 9j and 9iss
during thirty-two days, at the expiration of which period he was sent away
" cured."*

* This horse's case will be found related, at length, at page 221.

340 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT.

Recovery and Amendment under the Use of Stuvesacre.

Case I. — June 1813. A bay horse, five years old, in good coudition and of
apparently sound constitution, having the submaxillary lymphatic glands upon
both sides enlarged, with two small ulcers and one large and spreading, within
the near nostril ; none visible within the off. He took stavesacre seeds in
doses of 5ij, daily, augmented to 3J, four times a-day, for thirty-one days, and
was then discharged, apparently free from disease.

Case II. — June 1813. A black horse, fourteen or sixteen years old, has bis
submaxillary lymphatic glands swollen on both sides ; one large and very foul
ulceration, and three small ulcers, visible upon the near side of the septtim nasi ;
also some ulcerations high up, and consequently less distinct, upon the off side.
Not a great deal of discharge from the nose, and no farcy. Took stavesacre
seeds, commencing with half-ounce doses and ending with ounce doses, re-
peated four times a-day. Was taken away on the seventeenth day of his treat-
ment, by his owner, in consequence of the disease having disappeared from the
off side of the nose, and being in an evident state of amendment upon the
near side, and the glandular enlargements under the jaw having subsided into
a state of general thickening, such as is left after the repeated application of
blisters.

Case III. — July 1813. A black horse, rather low in condition, but in appa-
rent health, excepting that he had enlargement of his off submaxillary lymphatic
gland, and had four superficial ulcers, about the size of peas, visible upon the
same side of the septum, high up, commenced with taking an ounce of the seeds
of stavesacre three times a-day, and continued the medicine for twenty-four
days, latterly taking two ounces morning and evening. The disease, during
the second week and part of the third week, seemed diminishing and leaving
him : it relapsed, however, and became more virulent than before.

Recovery under the Use of Balsam of Copaiba.

Case I. — 3fay 1826. A bay mare that had a copious defluxion from the off
nostril, with a swelling of the submaxillary gland of the same side, nowise
interfering with her general health, took Cayenne pepper for nine days, and
left the infirmary " cured." In the October following she returned with the
same kind of discharge, but now from the near nostril, and accompanied by
fetor and swelling of the glands of the same side. On this occasion had admi-
nistered to her half-ounce doses of the copaiba balsam, made into balls with
farina, thrice a-day. On the ninth day from commencing the balsam her dis-
charge had ceased, and with it had gradually subsided the submaxillary tume-
faction. On the fourteenth day she left the infirmary " cured."

Case II. — Jugust 1826. A bay horse, low in condition, was admitted for
" catarrh," for which, along with other treatment, he had been rowelled under

THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT. 341

the jaw. So long as the rowel continued in full action the discharge from the
nose diminished, but returned as soon as the rowel was taken out. There
seemed to be sometliing besides a mere catarrhal condition of the pituitary
membrane, and it was determined to try copaiba in the case. Half-ounce
doses were given daily for thirteen days, when the patient was discharged
"cured."

Recovery under the Use of Cubeb Pepper.

Case I.— In October, 1826, a brown horse, four years old, and of apparent
healthy constitution, was admitted with " incipient glanders and swelled hind
leg." The swollen limb, however, was afterwards found to have arisen from
injury. There is a tolerably profuse discharge from the near nostril, and a
lobulous tumefaction underneath the jaw, on the same side. He was ordered
to take half an ounce of cubeb pepper, made into a ball with molasses, three
times a-day, which afterwards was increased to an ounce, though the medicine
was every now and then discontinued for a day or so, on account of the appetite
failing. Altogether, he continued taking the pepper for a month, during which
time the nasal discharge varied much, being at times little and then a good
deal again : in the end, however, it became so trifling, and the diminution of the
glandular swelling was such, that the patient was discharged " cured,"

Recovery and Amendment under the Use of Cayenne Pepper.

Case l.—Ma^ 1826. The same (bay) mare that afterwards, in consequence
of relapse, took the cubeb pepper, on her first admission, which was on account
of a copious discharge of healthy-looking purulent matter from her nostril, with
tumefaction of the submaxillary gland of the same side, took Cayenne pepper,
in drachm doses, twice a-day, and at the same time had the tumour under the
jaw blistered. On the eleventh day her nose appeared clean, all discharge
having ceased, and the tumefied gland much diminished. Tiie medicine, how-
ever, was continued for a week longer ; and then the mare left the infirmary
" cured," there remaining only some trifling enlargement under the jaw.

Case II. — The black and grey cart-mares, the property of Mr. Selby, of
Wilmington, in Kent, whose cases are, in so far as regards their origin, given
at page 226, both took Cayenne pepper, commencing with two-drachm doses
morning and evening, which were afterwards augmented to four drachms twice
a-day, and, instead of being made up with farina and molasses, were com-
pounded of farina and copaiba balsam. The black mare, although confirmedly
glandered, received so much temporary benefit from the medicine — the nasal
ulcerations healing under the influence of it, and the nasal flux ceasing — that
she went to work again, appearing to all to be "cured." She, however, expe-
rienced relapse ; and in the end was, together with the grey mare who had also
taken the pepper, but with less benefit, put to death.

342 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT.

The foregoing cases, which have beea selected from a large
collection on account either of their favorable progress or issue
— the very same medical treatment having in as probably great
a number proved of no avail — have not been introduced here
with any view of showing, or inducing anybody to imagine, that
the author either has cured or can cure glanders : at the same
time, such as they are, they are ready to be brought forward iu
support of his pretensions to the " discovery of a cure " for
glanders being about as valid as those of individuals who have
received either approbation or reward on account of such "dis-
coveries,^^ and not a whit more valid or worthy of consideration:
the short and naked truth being, that the cure of glanders is
hardly more advanced than it was iu Lafosse's or even
Solleysell's time. Horses have got rid of the disease un-
der a very great variety of treatment, and on occasions
when no treatment whatever has been employed ; and the
cases of recovery on record are sufficiently numerous to en-
courage us, under certain favorable circumstances, to make fresh
experiments.

Whatever medicine we may choose to prescribe — and, as I said
before, those of a tonic nature that possess, either in themselves
or are combined with others that have, some influence upon the
mucous surfaces, are found in general to hold out best promise —
there can be no doubt but that the cure may be assisted by
injections, if not by fumigations.

Injections up the Nostrils and into the Sinuses op
THE Head I have repeatedly put into practice, sometimes with
good effect, sometimes with no good result, rarely with any per-
manent benefit. The injections I have used have been princi-
pally such as are either caustic, escharotic, or astringent, in
their nature. I have syringed up the nose both caustic and
escharotic solutions of bichloride of mercury, nitrate of silver,
sulphate of copper, zinc, &c.; and such astringent lotions as
solutions of alum, infusion of oak bark, &c. &c.

Creosote, in human medicine, has received a high character
as an injection. Dr. Elliotson says, that, by the sedulous
injection of it in solution up the nostrils, he succeeded in
removing all the symptoms of a case of chronic glanders in a
few weeks. And since, Mr. Ions, V.S., Waterford, has recorded

THERAPE[JTIO TREATMENT. 343

an extraordinary case^ in the person of his own son, in confir-
mation of the good effects of creosote. His son had been
unwell from "a severe cold/' attended by swollen tonsils and
a small sore within the right nostril. While in this state he
had occasion to examine a horse with acute glanders. The
horse snorted his nasal discharge in his (son^s) face. He
wiped it with his handkerchief. This was followed by his
feeling very unwell, his nose becoming obstructed through a
profuse ropy glairy discharge, and his right eye slightly affected.
Next, a large ulcer appeared upon the nasal membrane. The
disease soon assumed a most alarming character. Mr. Ions
urged the trial of creosote. It was conceded to. An ointment,
composed of one drachm of creosote and seven of lard, was
ordered, the slightest application of which produced such
agonizing pain that it was immediately discontinued. Mr, Ions
was determined it should be persevered with. There was now
profuse nasal discharge having a most offensive smell, and, to
all appearance, universal ulceration with constitutional symp-
toms indicative of approaching death. Mr. Ions added two
minims of creosote to an ounce of water, and injected the
mixture up the nose. After the third injection almost a
magical effect took place : the discharge all but ceased, and
two days afterwards the ulcers commenced healthy action, and
went on rapidly improving. They lost their chancrous cha-
racter, and assumed a healthy granulating aspect. His diet
was nutritious, but no solid food was allowed him. " He
drinks a tumbler of good ale every day, and yesterday rode for
an hour.^^*

Supposing the disease to be seated within the nasal meatus,
there is no more effectual way of applying the injection than
through the nostril, with a syringe having a flexible tube of
some length affixed to its nozzle, which tube may at pleasure
be introduced either into the lower or upper meatus, and carried
far up the nose or not, according to circumstances. Should it
be our object to inject the sinuses, those cavities, of course,
must be opened either by means of a small trephine or a bone-
gimlet : injections into the frontal sinuses will run into the
* * Veterinarian' for 1843.

344 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT.

nasal and maxillary sinuses, and from the latter find exit
through the middle meatus of the nose, with the exception of
some small quantity which will, in the ordinary position of the
head, lodge within their cul-de-sacs.

Fumigations, I have no hesitation in saying, are less bene-
ficial as topical applications to the ulcerated surfaces within the
nose than injections. I have frequently used chlorine and
other gases, as well as the fumes of nitric acid, the nitric oxyde
of mercury, &c., but cannot say I have seen any decided good
arise from them. The great use made of fumigation in such
cases as glanders and farcy — and it is a highly important one
— is as a means of disinfecting or purifying stables or other
places which may have been inhabited by horses having such
contagious diseases. " As a fumigating, disinfectant, and
antiseptic agent, chlorine,'^ says Mr. Pereira,* '' stands un-
rivalled,^^ * * «f por destroying miasmata, noxious effluvia
and putrid odours, it is the most powerful agent knoivn." * *
" The best method of fumigating a large building is that
adopted by Dr. Faraday, at the General Penitentiary at Mill-
bank. One part of common salt was intimately mixed with
one part of the black or binoxyde of manganese ; then placed
in a shallow earthen pan, and two parts of oil of vitriol, previ-
ously diluted with two parts, by measure, of water, poured over
it, and the whole stirred with a stick. Chlorine continued to
be liberated from this mixture for four days." We could
hardly devise a cheaper, readier, and more effectual process for
the purification of infected stabling than this.

Counter-irritation, in my hands, has never proved of
much avail in glanders. Some veterinarians advise us to intro-
duce setons into the face, along the sides of the nasal bones ;
others, to blister the skin covering those parts : for ray own
part, I have found little or no relief conferred by either one or
the other.

The enlarged submaxillary lymphatic Glands may,
however, when they come to lose their heat and tenderness, be
blistered with considerable benefit, or they may be rubbed
daily with iodine ointment. On their first appearance, and so

* ' Elements of Materia Medica,' by Jonathan Pereira, F.ll.S. & L.S.

THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF FARCY. 345

long as they continue hot and tender, we cannot do better for
them than confine a folded piece of linen cloth, wetted with
cold water or some refrigerant lotion, upon them, which may
easily be managed by attaching it above to the throat-latch of
the halter, below to the nose-band.

Cool and pure Air has appeared to have, in some instances,
a restorative or curative influence on glandered horses. Persons
unwilling to have their horses destroyed from the circumstance
of their general health and condition being evidently so good,
have come to the determination to turn them to pasture by
themselves, there to " take their chance ;'^ and on occasions the
results have proved favorable. Mr. Youatt gives an account
of some cases so left to Nature, in which, he says, he was
" half-deceived, and willingly so.^' The opportunity, however,
was given of subsequently tracing most of them, and the
following proved the result : — •" The predisposition to the dis-
ease remained ; possibly the very disease itself in an insidious
form. In less than six months the discharge again appeared ;
the glands enlarged, and became once more adherent ; chancre
soon followed ; glanders became fully re-established, and in a
worse form than before ; the malady speedily ran its course,
and they (the patients) died."*

Therapeutic Treatment of Farcy.

While glanders has in all ages been regarded as an incurable
disease, or as one from which the horse recovered — whenever
he did happen to do so — more through the agency of the vis
medicatrix natures than from any medical treatment he might
have received, farcy, on the contrary, has been viewed, in certain
of its forms and stages, as a disease susceptible of cure. It may
at first appear strange that two such opposite opinions should
be entertained concerning the curability of two diseases admitted
in nature to be identical : when we come, however, to reflect
that one has dermoid tissue for its seat, the other mucous, and
that to the locality of the one we have free access, while the
other remains concealed from our view, and for the most part
is out of the reach of surgical means, any surprise we may have
* Mr. Youatt's Lectures.

346 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OP FARCY.

felt will, probably, in a great measure cease. In any case of
ordinary disease, every medical man is well aware how much
easier it is to get a cutaneous sore to heal than one having for
its bed secreting structure ; how much more disposed the latter
is to spread, to become what sux'geons cMphagedanic, than the
former. Furthermore, should an ulcer in the skin acquire any
unhealthy action or aspect, we can correct its morbid tendency
by destroying its surface either by some escharotic application
or by the actual cautery, and by such means create in its place
a healthy granulating surface ; but, should an ulcer deep-seated
within the recesses of the nose take to chancrous spreading, in
the first place how can we obtain any knowledge of its existence
save through the quantity or quality of the nasal discharges? —
and in the second, how are we to become acquainted with its
exact situation ? — and supposing this were possible, how are
we to be sure of conveying our dressings upon it ? The very
circumstance of its concealment within the convolutions of the
nasal meatus, clogged and obstructed as those passages often
are by the collected inspissated discharges, must be adverse to
its healing ; since in the skin we always find ulcers do the best
whose surfaces are left exposed to the influence of the air.

Mr. Youatt's pen, I find many years ago, was engaged in
solving the same question ; and as this gentleman's solution
differs somewhat from mine, I shall make no apology for intro-
ducing it here : — "Glanders,^' says this author, "a sitnply local
complaint, bids defiance to all our means and appliances ; yet
when the virus has spread through the frame, and affected the
greater part or the whole of the absorbent system, it is occa-
sionally manageable. It is the very fact of its spreading that
enables us to account for this. When it (the disease) is simply
local, all its virulence is concentrated on one small surface, and
no medicine can be brought to bear with sufficient power on
the plague-spot ; but, when it begins to spread, and before
the tissues which it now involves are too much injured and
disorganised by its poison, its intensity is diminished. As in-
flammation of almost every character becomes diffused, it less
powerfully affects the individual portions over which it spreads;
it is diluted — lowered : and now, as it becomes in some

THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OP FARCY. 3i7

degree constitutional, it may be attacked with greater hope of
success,"*

So far as relates to the constitutional nature of farcy — it
being in that respect identical with glanders, or rather one and
the same disease as glanders — it is no more curable than glan-
ders itself is : when we say we have " cured" a case of farcy,
we mean we have succeeded in driving back or away the local
disease ; we have subdued the inflammation^ reduced or dis-
persed the buds and swellings, and healed the ulcers — in fact,
rendered the animal fit to resume his work ; and so long as
his constitution remains unaffected by the virus, and no fresh
eruption makes its appearance, the horse may continue at work,
and appear as though he were cured — if not in reality so. It
must, however, be borne in mind — at all events, for some con-
siderable time afterwards — that a relapse is not an unlikely
occurrence, and that it is possible, if not probable, for him, at
some future period, to end his days through glanders.

In the absence of any internal remedy which will act as a
specific against farcy — counteracting, neutralizing, or expelling
the virus — we have recourse to remedies of an ordinary kind,
and place a good deal of dependence upon such as are local or
topical in their operation. In so far as inflammation constitutes
a leading feature of the disease, there can be no doubt but
that an antiphlogistic plan is proper at the commencement of
an attack of farcy. When a horse is brought with one of his
hind limbs enormously swollen, hot and tense, and tender to
pressure, and evincing evident pain and lameness, no veterinarian
of any experience would hesitate a moment to bleed and purge.
Could blood be drawn from the farcied limb, there can be no
question about its being preferable to general bloodletting, as
well on account of the better effect it would have on the limb
as on account of the saving of strength to the animal, consti-
tutionally ; since, however, this cannot in the horse be put into
practice — leeches and cupping-glasses proving inapplicable, and
opening a vein in the diseased parts being highly inadvisable —
we are forced to abstract blood from the neck or some remote
part, to have an efi'ect produced on the diseased limb through
the medium of the system ; and this is a great disadvantage
* Mr.Youatt's Lectures, 'The Veterinarian' for 1832.

348 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OP FAEOY.

we labour under, because while by the reduction of the con-
stitutional powers we are benefiting the diseased part, we are,
perhaps, thereby doing injury to the general system. The
beneficial effect that bloodletting does commonly have in a
recent attack may be seen by a perusal of the case — an ordinary
one — of the Colonel's charger ;* in which it will be observed
that, notwithstanding he was purging at the time, and it was a
week after the disorder had shown itself, a corded swelling arose
in his thigh, which was put back by bloodletting, and a second
and a third time repulsed by a repetition of the bloodletting ;
although in the end, the swelling still returned and proceeded
to suppuration and ulceration. Bloodletting, therefore, is
certainly, in the early stage, the most likely means of bringing
about resolution of the farcy-buds ; and though we may fail in
this object, still will the loss of blood often be found to retard
or stay their progress, at all events for some time, and so,
perhaps, render the attack milder than otherwise it would have
proved. In acute cases, however, do what we will, and do it
when we may, it too frequently turns out that no benefit results
from our remedies : the disease has constitutionally set in, and
will run its course in spite of us.

Walking Exercise is, in general, an indispensable accom-
paniment to any plan of treatment we may adopt. When the
patient's limb is in the frightfully tumefied condition that has
been described, and which it will be certain to run into should
the animal be kept standing still, nothing so much assists the
operation of medicine, and along with it proves so influential in
reducing the tumefaction, as slow and steady walking exercise
perseveringly kept up, and repeated, for an hour or half-an-hour
at a time, twice or thrice, or four times a-day, according to cir-
cumstances. With a view of furthering this end, the patient
may be placed in a roomy box : however capacious his apart-
ment may be, it is seldom he feels disposed to move in it ; but
stands for ease in one place, never stirring his tumid painful
limb but when compelled to do so.

The Diet, during the inflammatory, swollen, tender, and
irritable condition of the farcinous parts, and so long as any
febrile disorder of consequence reigns in the system, must be a
* Given at pages 230 and 231.

THEEAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF FARCY. 349

low one : the febrile stage, however, once past — once the sup-
purative action commenced, the diet should be changed for a
generous one, and the horse at the same time be well groomed:
I am convinced that, no more in farcy than in glanders, is it
prudent, after the first violence of the inflammation is past, to
let the patient live low, or suff^er him in his stable-management
to go neglected. His general health must, if possible, be main-
tained.

Medicine. — After the first brisk dose or two of cathartic
medicine, supposing we still deem it advisable to occasionally
clear out the bowels — which we certainly shall do, so long as
inflammation continues to harass the diseased parts, or when-
ever relapses occur — I prefer giving divided doses of cathartic
mass in combination with diuretic mass. A simple and efl'ectual
formula is the common one of half-an-ounce of each mass, re-
peated every twenty-four hours, until the bowels shall have
fully responded : the second ball not always accomplishing this
— the third, generally.

Cathartics having been carried as far as is deemed expedient,
the question presents itself — what is the next step to be taken?
This is an important question ; at the same time one that ad-
mits of such variation in the professional answer to be given to
it, that I will venture to affirm, the inquirer shall go to a dozen
veterinary surgeons and receive for answer the names of as
many diff'erent remedies. For instance, if he were to go to
Professor Sewell, he would be directed to administer large doses
of sulphate of copper, in solution ; to Mr. Youatt, and he would
be told to change the large for small doses ; to Mr. Vines, and
he would be ordered to give cantharides ; to Mr. Turner, and
he would be recommended to try the sulphate of iron in the
animaPs beverage : * lastly, let him come to me, and I should
probably counsel him to make trial of barytes. Indeed, there
hardly exists a medicine in the pharmacopoeia of any potency
that has not by one or another been tried or lauded as a remedy
for farcy. Nothing can shew the insufficiency of our art more
plainly than all this; the simple truth — lying in a nut-shell —
being, as I observed before, that we are no more in possession
of any specific remedy against farcy than we are of one against '
* Mr. Turner's prescription has been given in another place.

350 THERArEUTIC TREATMENT OF FARCY.

glanders. And in the absence of such a desideratum, we may
say, as we did when on treatment of glanders, that we seem to
gain more by a tonic and astringent or stimulant plan of
proceeding than by any other treatment. In fine, if we do but
examine the various remedies which have, with any colouring of
"cure," been from time to time held up to us, we shall find
that the majority of them are of a description possessing these
properties.

Tonics, then, and such as are known to be serviceable in
glanders, are in general the most likely remedies to prove
useful in farcy. I do not mean to assert that it is a matter of
indifference whether for farcy we prescribe copper or iron or
mercury or barytes. At the same time that I believe tonic and
diuretic properties to be the leading requisites for a remedy for
farcy to possess, I believe that some medicines possessing these
virtues, either one or both of them, are to be preferred to others.
As for specifics or antidotes for farcy, we certainly know of
none. It is the circumstances of farcy so often assuming and
continuing in a local form — confining itself to one hind (or fore)
limb, of the cutis vera being its seat, and of the constitution,
so long as it remains untainted by absorbed virus, being dis-
posed to take on healthful action ; I say, it is these several
circumstances that enable us to arrest the course of the disease
as well as to remove any sequela of it, which may annoy or
interfere with progression ; and though perhaps, after all, topi-
cal applications, and exercise, and regimen altogether, have had
a good deal of influence in working this amendment, yet, should
the patient at the time happen to be taking any medicine, the
amendment is commonly ascribed to that, and the medicine
henceforth goes forth to the world as a specific for farcy. In
this way may we account for the number of "specifics'^ we have
had, first and last, for farcy beyond all other diseases; many
medicines having got names as "curatives" when future
trials of them have shown that the real curative agent has been
the Vis Medicatrix Naturae powerfully operative in a sound
condition of the constitution.

Sulphate of Copper, Diniodide of Copper, Sulphate of
Iron, Mercury, Iodine, Cantharides, Barytes, all have their
advocates, as remedies for farcy, as well as for their being

THERAPEUTIC! TREATMENT OF FARCY. 351

remedial in glanders. In regard to their exhibition, the direc-
tions already given for their administration in glanders will
equally apply here ; it being understood, as a general rule, that
it is seldom expedient to prescribe any one of them — most of
them being of a tonic nature — before the inflammatory action
has been pretty well subdued in the farcinous parts through
antiphlogistic agents ; and that, in prescribing them, we should
take care that the doses are not such, either in quantity or
through repetition, as may tend to injure the general health of
the animal, it being an object rather to support than depress.
With these general observations I shall leave the selection of
the remedy, and the dose, and the manner in which it is to be
given, to the discretion of the practitioner, prepared as he is to
undertake this part of the treatment by the directions already
given in the case of glanders.

HuRTREL D'Arboval, after informing us that atthe French
veterinary schools preparations of sulphur and antimony, in
combination with bitters and tonics, are considered the most
efficacious remedies in farcy, makes the very suitable comment
on such reports, that we no more possess any specific treatment
for farcy than we do for any other disease ; adding, to confine
our prescriptions to the same therapeutic agents, is not the way
to increase our knowledge of the best mode of treating farcy.
On the contrary, says this writer, the treatment ought to be
varied, not less on account of the stage of the disease than in
respect to the cause that has given rise to it, to the idiosyn-
crasy of the patient, his age, condition, &c. The same authority
sagaciously enters his protest against the employment of inter-
nal remedies of a kind or in a dose likely to prove irritating to
the mucous lining of the alimentary passages.

LOCAL TREATMENT in farcy, is of as much or, perhaps,
of more consideration than constitutional means. In glanders,
as was observed on a former occasion, we are, in respect to the
extent and nature of the local disease, as it were, working in
the dark : we know neither the precise condition nor the exact
situation of the ulceration, and, consequently, run a risk of
using some improper dressings, or applying them to some im-
proper places j whereas, in farcy, all the local disease occurring
under our cognizance, we prescribe topical remedies suited to

352 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF FARCY.

the inflamed, tumefied, ulcerated, scirrhous, or other condition
of the limb or diseased part, according to the requisites of the
case.

So long as the tumefied parts continue hot to the feel and
evince tenderness on pressure, and the patient — supposing a
limb to be the seat of disease — halts much upon it, such
evidences showing the presence of inflammation, it is unques-
tionably our duty to continue an antiphlogistic treatment. We
will say, the patient has been well purged — has been, perhaps,
blooded, and is still on low diet, and taking daily as much
walking exercise as his farcinous limb will bear. In their in-
flamed condition the best application to the cords of farcy buds
is a refrigerant or evaporating lotion; with this they ought to
be sponged often enough to keep the surface (the hair) wet, the
object being to repel or disperse the swellings. On this account
this is to be preferred to fomentations and poultices : indeed,
as for the latter, upon the limbs we have no means of securing
their application.

As soon as all heat and tenderness have subsided in the buds
— supposing that, instead of softening and suppurating, they
evince a disposition to diminish and grow harder — we must
alter our treatment of them. We must use lotions of a dis-
cutient character, or, in fact, any applications, liniments or
ointments, having the effect of causing absorption of the swell-
ings. Of this description are, mercurial ointment and camphor,
iodine ointment, blistering liniment or ointment, &c. Indeed,
when there appear signs of hardening and approaching insensi-
bility in the buds, a blister is by far the best application ; and,
for my own part, I am very fond, in cases such as these, of
using the acetum cantharidis : dipping a painter's brush in the
blistering essence, and applying it after the manner a painter
does his paint, upon the tumefactions ; tying the horse up
afterwards, or putting a cradle on him ; and after an interval
of twenty-four hours, sponging the blistered parts with warm
water; an operation that should be repeated daily so long as
any moisture or issue appears upon the surface. " Sweating
blisters," like this, need not interfere with the patient's regular
exercise ; and as soon as one has '' worked ofl" another may be
applied ; the repetition being regulated as well by the condi-
tion of the skin as by the demands of the case.

THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF FARCY. 353

In cases in which no impression can be made upon the in-
durated buds, either by iodine or other ointment, or by blisters,
it is a practice with some veterinarians to score them, or rather
the skin in which they are enveloped, with the firing-iron.
Chabert, a French veterinarian, suggested that we should
extirpate them : and D'Arboval has adopted the farriers'
practice of old, as being preferable when the situation of the
buds admits of it, of destroying them by caustic. " Many of
our common farriers," writes Gibson, "use arsenic or corrosive
sublimate, after opening the buds, putting a small quantity
into each, which answers in cases where there are but few, and
these not situated near large blood-vessels, joints, or tendons.
This they call coring out the farcij." In excising the buds,
D'Arboval cautions us to be careful to cut away all the
scirrhous cutis round about them, since, if left, it might
engender a disposition to ulceration ; and afterwards he recom-
mends that the wounds be seared with the actual cautery.
Buds that are superficial admit readily of extirpation ; such,
however, as are deep seated can only be safely or with any
prospect of success, excised before they have spread into and
become incorporated with the contiguous tissues.

In the majority of cases of farcy, however, it happens that,
instead of diminishing in size and growing harder in consistence,
the buds plump up and become soft, and at length turn into
pustules : and once a pustule formed, it will ripen and burst,
and turn into an ulcer. As soon, therefore, as we perceive
that it is out of our power to prevent the suppurative stage, it
oecomes our duty to contribute all we can to its promotion.
For this purpose, fomentations may be used to the parts ;
poultices likewise, could we manage to apply them. The
patient's diet also must be improved in this stage ; he should
no longer feed on mashes, but have scalded oats, carrots, turnips,
linseed, ^c. When the pustules are ripe, some practitioners
make a point of opening them ; others suffer them to burst
and discharge their contents spontaneously. The old or farriers'
mode of opening ripe farcy buds is with the actual cautery,
the heated budding-iron ; and it is a practice still in vogue
with many very respectable veterinary surgeons. In this
manner the contents of the pustule are, as it were, /ne^ by the

III. 23

354 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF FARCY.

red-hot iron, while its base and interior altogether is destroyed,
and the result is a slough, followed commonly by a superficial
ulcer of larger dimensions than the original pustule, and pre-
senting a healthy granulating surface ; and this ulcer is, in the
end, under judicious management, very often got to heal.
Should we suffer the pustule to burst of itself, we may still
cauterise its base with the budding-iron ; or, if we prefer it,
we may rub it with pencillated lunar caustic : at all events,
some caustic or strong escharotic dressing will be demanded ;
without it we shall never obtain what we so much desire — a
healthy granulating action. The bottom of the ulcer once
cleaned out, dressings of various kinds, depending upon its
aspect — healing or spreading, sloughy, stationary, &c. — will be
required by it afterwards : commonly, mild escharotic appli-
cations answer best, though, at times, stimulant or astringent
ones appear preferable ; in short, the selection of a dressing
must be left entirely to the judgment of the practitioner. For
my own part, I like water or spirituous dressings better than
greasy ones, and have ordinarily observed the best effects from
such as these : — Solutions of lunar caustic, of the sulphates of
copper and zinc, and of alum ; and the tinctures of benzoin
and of myrrh with aloes. The nitric acid lotion is au excellent
dressing for sloughy sores ; and the solution of chloride of lime
an admirable one for such as secrete foetid or offensive matters.
The ulcers should always be cleaned, and have any hairs
shooting over their edges trimmed off, preparatory to their
being dressed of a morning : and it tends to the preservation
of them in cleanliness, and promotes their healing tendencies
as well, to besprinkle their surfaces, immediately after dressing
them, with some absorbent powder, some powder that will
imbibe the discharges, correct any acrimony in them, and at
the same time have some effect in restraining their production ;
and I know of no one that answers all these ends better than
common (baker^s) flour. It should be made as dry as possible
before being used, and may, when required to be additionally
astringent, have some powdered alum mixed with it. As a
change, on occasions we may employ for the sanoe purpose
powdered bark or calamine. Mr. Turner recommends a strong
solution of sulphate of iron to be plentifully applied over the

THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF EAROY. 355

ulcerations, and well rubbed into the sound parts likewise,*
And Mr. Blaiu has found sea-ivater and saturated solutions of
common salt good dressings ; and speaks in favorable terms of
sea-bathing for farcinous limbs, aided by '^ dail^^ doses of sea-
water/^t

The general Tumefaction of the farcinous limb must be
counteracted, as advised before, by internal remedies and by
exercise ; there not being in general any occasion to remit
either on account of the pustular or ulcerated condition of the
swollen parts : indeed, as for the ulcers, they will be benefited
by anything that tends to lower any inflammation there may
be remaining in the limb, and that at the same time has the
effect of reducing the size of it. Unless, however, we succeed
early in the attack in effecting a decided reduction in the
tumefied limb, it is not often we shall find ourselves able to
accomplish more than a partial diminution of the general tume-
faction when once the suppurative and ulcerative processes have
become established, even supposing the disease in other respects
to be proceeding favorably : when such, however, proves not
the case, instead of growing less the limb will grow larger ;
showing us that our plan of treatment, whatever it may be, is
not one adapted to the exigencies of the case, and consequently
ought at once to be changed, supposing we are to continue
treatment. But too frequently, however, in such cases as these,
in order to save needless expense on the part of our employer,
and our own credit as well, it will present itself as our duty to
recommend to his master that our patient's days be summarily
put an end to.

The Tumefied Lymphatic Glands, in farcy as well as in
glanders, will require treatment. By some French veterinarians
their extirpation has been recommended with much assurance
of success in farcy, notwithstanding the notorious failure of a
like operation in glanders. M. Maurice, veterinary surgeon
to the First Regiment of French Artillery, has not hesitated to
assert that a " cure'^ in farcy may be effected by the extirpation
and cauterization of the glands, providing they be in "a sound
condition." For the disease in the hind limbs we are directed

* See Mr. louatt's Lectures, in 'The Veteriuariau' for 1832.
t Op. cit., at p. 218.

356 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF FARCY.

to excise the inguinal glands ; for farcy the back, loius, or
flanks, the glands in the flank : and for farcy in the fore limbs,
neck, and shoulders, the axillary glands. M, Maurice makes
mention of three hundred cases of farcy cured by such opera-
tions. And Renault has informed us that the practice has
proved successful at the Veterinary School at Alfort.

Were there any sound reasons for supposing farcy to be, even
on its first appearance, a local disease, uudoubtedly we should
not only be warranted in undertaking such formidable — or, if
not formidable, painful — operations as these, but blameable if
we did not have immediate recourse to them : when, however,
we come to find we have too much reason for concluding that
by the period of time at which the eruption shows itself in the
thigh or elsewhere, the virus is absolutely in the system, how
can we, in the face of such conclusions, perform operations of
the kind, or even put credence in such accounts as have just
been stated ? I no more doubt that horses with farcy have
recovered after such operations than I do that others have re-
turned to health after taking copper or iron or barytes; between
the POST hoc and the propter hoc, however, there is all the
difference in the world. It is absurd to think of extinguishing
a disease proved to be constitutional by the extirpation or de-
struction of tumefied lymphatic glands and farcy buds.

The treatment proper for the enlarged glands is the same, in
the various stages of disease in them, as has been recommended
for the farcy buds : endeavouring, in the first instance, by re-
frigerant and evaporating lotions, to abate inflammation in them,
and so to effect their repulsion ; and, secondarily, when they
come to lose their heat and tenderness, to apply blisters over
them. It is in vain to try to " bring them forward'' to a state
of suppuration, like the ripening farcy bud : they are hardly
ever known to take on the suppurative action.

By pursuing such a course of treatment as has been pointed
out, we not so very unfrequently succeed in patching up the
ulcerations and getting rid of the corded swellings in which they
originate, and at the same time in so far reducing the size of
the farcinous limb as to render the patient (his general health
and condition being good) capable of undertaking work; indeed,
it is advisable that he should do so, since under the operation

THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OP FAECY. 857

of slow or moderate work it often turns out that his limb ex-
periences, by degrees, further reduction, and that his health and
condition by generous feeding improves. All, in fact, is likely
to go on well as long as the animal experiences no return of
his disease or fresh attack of it : should he do so, in the same
limb or part even, it will much lessen the chances of his second
restoration ; and should he do so in some other limb or remote
part of his body, above all in the head, wearing the aspect of
approaching glanders, we may bid adieu to any hope of recovery;
it is pretty certain, then, that farcy in its worst form, or that
glanders, before long will manifest itself. Even, however, when
during treatment no relapse happens, when the patient has, in
a manner answering our warmest expectations, recovered the
use of his limb, and with it renewed health and strength; even,
I say, then, does it but too frequently happen that at some
remote period — and especially at a period when from any cause
the patient's system is thrown into a state of irritation or de-
rangement, or is labouring under depression or debility of any
kind — the disease returns, and returns in a more aggravated or
malignant form than before, and in the end consumes its victim.
The following case, extracted from Professor Peall's work,* is
excellently illustrative of this : —

A horse had been " severely affected with farcy," of whicli he " was cured ;"
and he remained well, " perfectly sound, for more than a year. At this period,
being then about ten years old, he was castrated, and appeared to be going on
remarkably well after the operation; when, on the eighth day subsequent
thereto, he broke out with the button farcy over the greater part of the surface,
and, though he struggled for a time with this formidable disease, yet it proved
eventually to be a breaking up of the constitution ; which, but for the operation
alluded to, would in all probability have remained sound for a considerable
time longer."f

The treatment of a case of farcy, no less unfortunately for
ourselves than for our patients and their masters, is but too
apt to " drag its slow length along ^^ beyond the period pre-

* Op. cit., at page 266.

t This case may be regarded as somewhat analogous to the one to which I
have referred in a note at the bottom of page 251.

358 THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF FARCY.

scribed by reason and conscience for it to last : the owner of
the horse gets weary of professional attendance, and the vete-
rinary surgeon experiences both a sense of weariness and dis-
satisfaction at finding the progress towards amendment, if any,
of so tardy a nature. The patient is not in that hopeless con-
dition that calls for the knacker ; he is by no means fit, or safe
even, to go to work, and he is " eating his head ofi"," and
taking or using medicine, the expense of which he may never
repay. What is to be done in such a dilemma as this? Should
the season of the year be favorable, pasture off'ers a resource
likely to prove serviceable, certainly pleasant, to the animal, and
one that the medical attendant will, with satisfaction to himself,
if not with benefit to his patient, recommend. A change of
diet, from dried to green and relaxing food, living in the open
air, and the constant exposure of the farcinous limb to a lower
temperature than that of the stable, together with the walking
exercise the animal is from time to time taking upon it, all has
a tendency to do good, and on occasions proves of eminent
service. In particular, salt marshes have been regarded as
beneficial, and apparently not without reason. Whenever and
wherever the patient may be turned out to grass, he ought to
have no companions save any as might happen to have on them
the same disease as himself: it would be highly imprudent,
nay, full of danger, to suffer him to run with healthy horses.
In situations where or seasons when pasture cannot be procured
or resorted to, it is desirable to soil the patient in his box :
vetches or rye, or, in the winter season, carrots or Swedish
turnips, become a desirable change of diet for him. There
arrives a period, in cases of this protracted and indolent stage
of farcy, when the resources of medicine seem to be exhausted,
nothing that is administered doing any good, and this is a
period when the disease is judiciously " left," as our common
phrase goes, " to nature," to take, uninterfered with by art, its
spontaneous course.

PKINTED 15Y J. E. AULARD, BAETHOLOMEW CLOSE,

CRITICAL NOTICES.

" I like the title of this work, inasmuch as it implies imparting to us that know-
ledge of medicine which relates to the distempers incident to the horse, together
with the distinguished characteristics by which they are denominated, and subse-
quently the treatment by which they are relieved. The volume before me is quite
free from what is contemptuously termed 'the jargon of science,' and perfectly com-
prehensible by the most uninitiated understanding. In fact, it is nothing more than
a plain statement of cause and efiect, in very impressive but very convincive language,
and in the true spirit of natural philosophy.'^ — New Sporting Magazine for May,
1834.

" To say that we have been pleased from the persual of Mr. Percivall's ' Syste-
matic Treatise ' would be a most inadequate and imperfect term to apply : we have
derived much valuable information, and can therefore confidently recommend it to
the notice not only of the Profession, but to all Sportsmen and Gentlemen interested
in the Horse." — The Sporting Magazine for July, 1834.

'< But we must close our notice of this work by strongly recommending it to
our brethren, few of whom can aftbrd to live tvithout a horse. Nothing can put in
a clearer point of view the march of intellect than the contrast betweeen the old
books on farriery and the modern works on veterinary medicine. The farrago of
receipts and nostrums is now changed into accurate and scientific anatomy and
physiology ; while the therapeutics of the stable are reduced to even greater simpli-
city than in the wards of an hospital. To such perfection, indeed, bas veterinary
medicine arrived, that we had rather trust our bodj in the hands of a modern horse-
doctor than in those of an ancient physician. An Hippocrates and a Sydenham
were excellent observers of disease, for they watched them throughout all their
phases of increment and decline, with little interference on their parts. A Coleman
and a Percivall can also accurately observe the trains of morbid phenomena in
horses, aided by the lights of human and comparative anatomy and physiology, while
they can apply the most energetic and successful remedies." — Medico-Chirurgical
Remeiv, July, 1834.

" Mr. Percivall's Treatise is a valuable addition to the Veterinarian's Library." —
Medical Gazette, I2t/i June, 1840.

" Every man feels confident— despite common sense to the contrary — to prescribe
for the treatment of his own horse ; and as nothing but experience is likely to
undeceive him, we recommend to his notice this treatise upon equine disorders, and
the methods of their cure, to his consideration generally, before he has satisfied
himself of a necessity for his enlightenment by a loss that may open his eyes
unpleasantly." — Sporting Magazine, July, 1840.

"In a work just issued from the press ('Hippo-pathology') is a chapter on
' Roaring,' an evil which has, of late years, become so prevalent, and amongst all
descriptions of horses, under every variety of treatment, whether in-doors or out —
whether hiuiter or hack, road-horse, coach, or cart-horse— as to render the subject
most interesting to owners of valuable horses; and I strongly recommend the
perusal of this chapter, inasmuch-as it enumerates several of the most probable
causes of the evil — disease he denies it to be, ' no more than crying is in ourselves,'
but the consequence of one— as also the most probable means of cure when in its
incipient state.'' — Nimrod's '• Month in Leicestershire," Sporting Eeview for
March, 1841.

PERCIVALL'S HIPPOPATHOLOGY.

Complete in Four Volumes 8yo, loith Index, price £4 5s. Qd. boards.

HIPPOPATHOLOGY :

A SERIES OF SYSTEMATIC TREATISES

ON THE

DISOIIDERS AND LAMENESSES

OF

THE HORSE.

By WILLIAM PERCIVALL, M.R.C.S.,

Late Veterinary Surgeon of the Life Guards.

To he had separately as follows :
Vol. I.
Observations on Health ; on Transition from Health to Disease ; on
Inflammation and its Treatment ; Fever ; Influenza ; Strangles ; Contusions
and Wounds. lieio Edition. 10*. 6^.

Vol. II.
Part 1. — The Diseases of the Chest and Air-Passages. New Edition.
revised and enlarged. 10s.

Part 2. — The Diseases of the Digestive Organs, including those of the
Urinary and Generative Systems. New Edition, revised and enlarged ;
with Illustrations. 12*.

Vol. III.

Injuries of the Skull and Diseases of the Eye ; Glanders and Farcy, their
Causes and remedial Treatment. New Edition. ] 4*.

Vol. IV.

Part 1. — Lameness : Spavin ; Neurotomy ; Hip-joint, Elbow-joint,
Shoulder-joint, and Knee-joint Lameness ; Splint ; Ringbone. With
coloured Plates. 21*.

Part 2. — Lamenesses arising from Disease of the Bursse Mucosa} and
Synovial Sheaths, Windgall, &c. ; Lamenesses arising from Disease of
Muscle, of Tendon, Sprains, &c. ; Diseases of tbe Foot. With coloured
Plates. 18*.

Also, bv the same Author.
In One Volume Swo, boards, price 12s. ; without the Appendix, 10s.

LECTURES ON HORSES,

THEIR

FORM AND ACTION.

WITH EIGHT OUTLINE PLATES, AND AN APPENDIX ON THE
EFFECTS OF MEDICINE ON HOliSKS.

London: LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., Paternoster Row.

VJU

V.

G\Q ■ 15"
./3