iJlnjy fdled with nii/ji-aied leucocytes; e,e, CoTm.e(Mve tissue
with less irLfiltration,- f^ Dark-bordered nerve fUyre,- (/, yurrd^er of nutlet
in shea I lis i/i/veuscfl .
Hain-fs, deL after
INF^Lx\]^vIMATIOX.
JULIUS BIEN & CO. I
INFLAMMATION. 489
the blood or the fixed connective tissue cell embedded in the fibers, it
multiplies in the same way. The nucleus in the center is divided into
two, and then each again into two, ad infinitum. If the process is
slow, each new cell may assimilate nourishment and become, like its
ancestor, an aid in the formation of new tissues; if, however, the
changing takes place rapidly, the brood of young cells have not time
to grow or use up the surrounding nourishment, and, but half devel-
oped, they die, and we then have destruction of tissue, and pus or
matter is formed, a material made up of the imperfect dead elements
and the broken-down tissue. Between the tAvo there is an interme-
diate form, where we have imperfectly formed tissues, as in " proud
flesh," large, soft splints ; fungous growths, greasy heels, and thrush.
Whether the inflamed tissue is one like the skin, lungs, or intes-
tines, very loose in their texture, or a tendon or bone, dense in struc-
ture, and comparatively poor in blood vessels, the principle of the
process is the same. The effects, however, and the appearance may
be widely different. After a cut on the face or an exudation into the
lungs, the loose tissues and multiple vessels allow the proliferating
cells to obtain rich nourishment ; absorption can take place readily,
and the part regains its normal condition entirely, while a bruise at
the heel or at the withers finds a dense, inextensible tissue where the
multiplying elements and exuded fluids choke up all communication,
and the parts die (necrose) from want of blood and cause a serious
quittor, or fistula.
This effect of structure of a part on the same process shows the
importance of a perfect knowledge in the study of a local trouble, and
the indispensable part which such knowledge plays in judging of the
gravity of an inflammatory disease, and in formulating a prognosis or
opinion of the final termination of it. It is this which allows the vet-
erinarian, through his knowledge of the intimate structure of a part
and the relations of its elements, to judge of the severity of a disease,
and to prescribe different modes of treatment in two animals for trou-
bles which appear to the less experienced observer to be absolutely
identical.
Termination of infJaTtimation. — Like congestion, inflammation may
terminate by resolution. In this case the exuded lymph undergoes
chemical change, and the products are absorbed and carried off by the
blood vessels and lymphatics, to be thrown out of the body by the
kidneys, liver, the glands of the skin, and the other excretory organs.
The cells, which have wandered into the neighboring tissues from the
blood vessels, gradually disappear or become transformed into fixed
cells. Those which are the result of the tissue cells, wakened into
active life, follow the same course. The vessels themselves contract,
and, having resumed their normal caliber, the part apparently reas-
sumes its normal condition; but it is always weakened, and a new
490 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
inflammation is more liable to reappear in a previously inflamed part
than in a sound one. The alternate termination is necrosis, or morti-
fication. If the necrosis, or death of a part, is gradual, by small
stages, each cell losing its vitality after the other in more or less
rapid succession, it takes the name of ulceration. If it occurs in a
considerable part at once, it is called gangrene. If this death of the
tissues occurs deep in the organism, and the destroyed elements and
proliferated and dead cells are inclosed in a cavity, the result of the
process is called an abscess. When it occurs on a surface, it is an
ulcer, and an abscess by breaking on the exterior becomes then also
an ulcer. Proliferating and dying cells, and the fluid which exudes
from an ulcerating surface and the debris of broken-down tissue is
known as pus, and the process by which this is formed is known as
suppuration. A mass of dead tissue in a soft part is termed a slough,
while the same in bone is called a sequestrum. Such changes are
especially likely to occur when the part becomes infected with micro-
organisms that have the property of destroying tissue and thus caus-
ing the production of pus. These are known as pyogenic micro-
organisms. There are also bacilli that are capable of multiplying in
tissues and so irritating them as to cause them to die (necrose) with-
out forming pus.
TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION.
The study of the causes and pathological alterations of inflamma-
tion has shown the process to be one of hyj^ernutrition, attended by
excessive blood supply, so this study will indicate the primary factor
to be em^Dloyed in the treatment of it. Any agent which will reduce
the blood supply and prevent the excessive nutrition of the elements
of the part will serve as a remedy. The means employed may be used
locally to the part, or they may be constitutional remedies, which act
indirectly.
Local treatment consists of —
ReTKioval of the cause, as a stone in the frog, causing a traumatic
thrush; a badly fitting harness or saddle, causing ulcers of the skin;
decomposing manure and urine in a stable, which, by their vapors,
irritate the air tubes and lungs and cause a cough. These causes, if
removed, will frequently allow the part to heal at once.
Rest. — Motion stimulates the action of the blood, and thus feeds an
inflamed tissue. This is alike applicable to a diseased point irritated
by movement, to an inflamed pair of lungs surcharged with blood by
the use demanded of them in a working animal, or to an inflamed eye
exposed to light, or an inflamed stomach and intestines still 'further
fatigued by food. Absolute quiet, a dark stable, and small quantities
of easily digested food will often cure serious inflammatory troubles
without further treatment.
INFLAMMATION, 491
Cold. — The application of ice bags or cold water by bandages,
douching with a hose, or irrigation with dripping water, contracts
the blood vessels, acts as a sedative to the nerves, and lessens the
vitality of a part; it consequently prevents the tissue change which
inflammation j^roduce.
Heat. — Either dry or moist heat acts as a derivative. It quickens
the circulation and renders the chemical changes more active in the
surrounding parts; it softens the tissues and attracts the current of
blood from the inflamed organ ; it also promotes the absorption of the
effusion and hastens the elimination of the waste products in the part.
Heat may be applied by hand rubbing or active friction and the ap-
2:)lication of warm coverings (bandages) or by cloths wrung out of
warm water; or steaming with warm moist vapor, medicated or not;
will answer the same purpose. The latter is especially applicable to
inflammatory troubles in the air passages.
Local hleeding. — This treatment frequently affords immediate relief
by carrying off the excessive blood and draining the effusion which
has already occurred. It affords direct mechanical relief, and, by a
stimulation of the part, promotes the chemical changes necessary
for bringing the diseased tissues to a healthy condition. Local blood-
letting can be done by scarifying, or making small punctures into the
inflamed part, as in the eyelid of an inflamed eye, or into the sheath
of the penis, or into the skin of the latter organ when congested, or
the leg when acutely swelled.
G ounterirvHants are used for deep inflammations. They act by
bringing the blood to the surface and consequently lessening the
blood pressure within. The derivation of the blood to the exterior
diminishes the amount in the internal organs and is often very rapid
in its action in relieving a congested lung or liver. The most com-
mon counterirritant is mustard flour. It is applied as a soft paste
mixed with warm water to the under surface of the belly and to the
sides where the skin is comparatively soft and vascular. Colds in the
throat or inflammations at any point demand the treatment applied in
the same manner to the belly and sides and not to the throat or on the
legs, as so often used. Blisters, iodine, and many other irritants are
used in a similar way.
Constitutional treatment in inflammation is designed to reduce the
current of blood, which is the fuel for the inflammation in the dis-
eased part, to quiet the patient, and to combat the fever or general
effects of the trouble in the system, and to favor the neutralization or
elimination of the products of the inflammation. It consists of —
Reduction of hlood. — This is obtained in various ways. The dimi-
nution of the quantity of the blood lessens the amount of j^ressure on
the vessels, and, as a sequel, the volume of it which is carried to the
point of inflammation ; it diminishes the body temperature or fever ;
492 DISEASES OF THE HOBSE.
it numbs the nervous system, which plays an important part as a con-
ductor of irritation in diseases.
Blood-letting is the most rapid means, and frequently acts like a
charm in relieving a commencing inflannnatory trouble. One must
remember, however, that the strength of the body and repair depend
on the blood. Hence blood-letting should be practiced only in full-
blooded, well-nourished animals and in the early stages of the disease.
C athartics act by drawing off a large quantity of fluid from the
blood through the intestmes, and have the advantage over the last
remedy of removing only the watery and not the formed elements
from the circulation. The blood cells remain, leaving the blood as
rich as it was before. Again, the glands of the intestines are stimu-
lated to excrete much waste matter and other deleterious material
which may be acting as a poison in the blood.
Diuretics operate through the kidneys in the same way.
Diaphoretics aid depletion of the blood by pouring water in the
form of sweat from the surface of the skin and stimulating the dis-
charge of waste material out of its glands, which has the same effect
on the blood pressure.
Antipyretics are remedies to reduce the temperature. This may be
accomplished by depressing the center in the brain that controls heat
production. Some coal-tar products are very effective in this way.
but they have the disadvantage of depressing the heart, which should
always be kept as strong as possible. If they are used it must be with
knowledge of this fact, and it is well to give heart tonics or stimu-
lants with them. The temperature of the body may be lowered by
cold packs or by showering with cold water. This is a most useful
l^rocedure in many diseases.
Depressants are drugs which act on the heart. They slow or weaken
the action of this organ and reduce the quantity and force of the cur-
I'ent of the blood which is carried to the point of local disease ; they
lessen the vitality of the animal, and for this reason are now used
much less than formerly.
Anodynes quiet the nervous system. Pain in the horse, as in the
man, is one of the important factors in the production of fever, and
the dulling of the former often prevents, or at least reduces, the latter.
Anodynes jDroduce sleep, so as to rest the patient and allow recupera-
tion for the succeeding struggle of the vitality of the animal against
the exhausting drain of the disease.
The diet of an animal suffering fi'om acute inflammation is a factor
of the greatest importance. An overloaded circulation can be starved
to a reduced quantity and to a less rich quality of blood by reducing
the quantity of food given to the patient. Foods of easy digestion do
not tire the already fatigued organs of an animal with a torpid diges-
tive system. Nourishment will be taken by a suffering brute in the
FEVEKS. 493
form of slops and cooling drinks where it would be totally refused if
offered in its ordinary form, as hard oats or dry hay, requiring the
labor of grinding between the teeth and swallowing by the weakened
muscles of the jaws and throat.
Tonics and stimulants are remedies which are used to meet special
indications, as in the case of a feeble heart, and which enter into the
after treatment of inflammatory troubles as well as into the acute
stages of them. They brace up weakened and torpid glands; they
stimulate the secretion of the necessary fluids of the body, and hasten
the excretion of the waste material produced by the inflammatory
process ; they regulate the action of a weakened heart ; they promote
healthy vitality of diseased parts, and aid the chemical changes
needed for returning the altered tissues to their normal condition.
FEVERS.
[Stnonyms: Fehris, Latin; pyrexia, Greek; fievre, French; fieber, German;
febbre, Italian; caletititra, Spanish.]
The etymology of the word " fever," from the Latin fevere, to boil
or to burn, and of pyrexia^ from the Greek word Trvp, fire, defines in a
general way the meaning of the term.
Fever is a general condition of the animal body in which there is an
elevation of the animal body temperature, which may be only a de-
gree or two or may be 10° F. The elevation of the body temperature,
Avhich represents tissue change or combustion, is accompanied by an
acceleration of the heart's action, a quickening of the respiration, and
an aberration in the functional activity of the various organs of the
body. These organs may be stimulated to the performance of exces-
sive work, or they may be incapacitated from carrying out their
allotted tasks, or, in the course of a fever, the two conditions may
both exist, the one succeeding the other. Fever as a disease is usually
preceded by chills as an essential symptom.
Fevers are divided into essential fevers and symptomatic fevers.
In symptomatic fever some local disease, usually of an inflammatory
character, develops first, and the constitutional febrile phenomena are
the result of the primary point of combustion irritating the whole
body, either through the nervous system or directly by means of the
waste material which is carried into the circulation and through the
blood vessels, and is distributed to distal parts. Essential fevers are
those in which there is from the outset a general disturbance of the
Avhole economy. This may consist of an elementary alteration in the
blood or a general change in the constitution of the tissues. Fevers
of the latter class are usually due to sorcie infecting agent and belong,
therefore, to the class of infectious diseases.
Essential fevers are subdivided into ephemeral fevers, which last
but a short time and terminate by critical phenomena; intermittent
494 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
fevers, in which there are alterations of exacerbations of the febrile
symptoms and remissions, in which the body returns to its normal
condition or sometimes to a depressed condition, in which the func-
tions of life are but badly performed; and continued fevers, which
include contagious diseases, such as glanders, influenza, etc., the septic
diseases, such as pyemia, septicemia, etc., and the eruptive fevers,
such as variola, etc.
Whether the cause of the fever has been an injury to the tissues,
such as a severe bruise, a broken bone, an inflamed lung, or excessive
work, which has surcharged the blood with the waste products of the
combustion of the tissues, which were destroyed to produce force, or
the toxins of influenza in the blood, or the presence of irritating ma-
terial, either in the form of living organisms or of their products,
as in glanders or tuberculosis — the general train of symptoms are
much the same, varying as the amount of the irritant differs in
quantity, or when some special quality in them has a specific action
on one or another tissue.
There is in fever at first a relaxation of the small blood vessels,
which may have been preceded by a contraction of the same if there
was a chill, and as a consequence there is an acceleration of the cur-
rent of the blood. There is, then, an elevation of the peripheral
temperature, followed by a lowering of tension in the arteries and
an acceleration in the movement of the heart. These conditions may
be produced by a primary irritation of the nerve centers of the brain
from the effects of heat, as is seen in thermic fever, or sunstroke, or by
the entrance into the blood stream of disease-producing organisms
or their chemical products, as in anthrax, rinderpest, influenza, etc.
There are times when it is difficult to distinguish between the exist-
ence of fever as a disease and a temporary feverish condition which
is the result of excessive work. Like the condition of congestion of
the lungs, which is normal up to a certain degree in the lungs of a
race horse after a severe race, and morbid when it produces more than
temporary phenomena or when it causes distinct lesions, the tem-
perature may rise from physiological causes as much as four degrees,
so fever, or, as it is better termed, a feverish condition, may follow
any work or other employment of energy in which excessive tissue
change has taken place; but if the consequences are ephemeral, and
no recognizable lesion is apparent, it is not considered morbid. This
condition, however, may predispose to severe organic disturbance
and local inflammations which wnll cause disease, as an animal in this
condition is liable to take cold and develop lung fever or a severe
enteritis, if chilled or otherwise exposed.
Fever in all animals is characterized by the same general phe-
nomena, but we find the intensity of the symptoms modified by the
species of animals affected, by the races which subdivide the species.
FEVERS. 495
by the families which form groups of the races, and by certain condi-
tions in individuals themselves. For example, a pricked foot in a
Thoroughbred may cause intense fever, while the same injury in the
foot of a Clydesdale may scarcely cause a visible general symptom.
In the horse, fever produces the following symptoms :
The normal body temperature, which varies from 99° to 100° F.,
is elevated from 1° to 9°. A temperature of 102° or 103° F. is mod-
erate fever, 104° to 105° F. is high, and 106° F. and over is excessive.
The temperature is accurately measured by means of a clinical ther-
mometer inserted in the rectum.
This elevation of temperature can readily be felt by the hand
placed in the mouth of the animal, or in the rectum, and in the cleft
between the hind legs. It is usually appreciable at any point over
the surface of the body and in the expired air emitted from the nos-
trils. The ears and cannons are often as hot as the rest of the body,
but are sometimes cold, which denotes a debility in the circulation and
irregular distribution of the blood. The pulse, which in a healthy
horse is felt beating about 42 to 48 times in the minute, is increased
to 60, 70, 90, or even 100. The respirations are increased from 14 or
16 to 24, 30, 36, or even more. With the commencement of a fever
the horse usually has its appetite diminished, or it may have total
loss of appetite if the fever is excessive. There is, however, a vast
difference among horses in this regard. With the same amount of
elevation of temperature one horse maj'' lose its appetite entirely,
while others, usually of the more common sort, will eat at hay
throughout the course of the fever, and will even continue to eat oats
or other grains. Thirst is usually increased, but the animal desires
only a small quantity of water at a time, and in most cases of fever a
bucket of water should be kept standing before the patient, which
may be allowed to drink ad libitum. The skin becomes dry and the
hairs stand on end. Sweating is almost unknown in the early stage
of fevers, but frequently occurs later in their course, when an out-
break of warm sweat is often a most favorable symptom. The. mu-
cous membranes, which are most easily examined in the conjunctivae
of the eyes and inside of the mouth, change color if the fever is an
acute one; without alteration of blood the mucous membranes become
of a rosy or deep-red color at the outset ; if the fever is attended with
distinct alteration of the blood, as in influenza, and at the end of two
or three days in severe cases of pneumonia or other extensive inflam-
matory troubles the mucous membranes are tinged with yellow, which
may even become a deep ocher in color, the result of the decomposi-
tion of the blood corpuscles and the freeing of their coloring matter,
which acts as a stain. At the outset of a fever the various glands
are checked in their secretions, the salivary glands fail to secrete the
saliva, and we find the surface of the tongue and inside of the cheeks
496 DISEASES OF THE HOESE.
dry and covered with a brownish, bad-smelling deposit. The excre-
tion from the liver and intestinal glands is diminished and produces
an inactivity of the digestive organs which causes a constipation.
If this is not remedied at an early period, the undigested material
acts as an irritant, and later we may have it followed by an inflamma-
tory process, producing a severe diarrhea.
The excretion from the kidneys is sometimes at first entirely sup-
pressed. It is always considerably diminished, and what urine is
passed is dark in color, undergoes ammoniacal change rapidly, and
deposits quantities of salts. At a later period the diminished excre-
tion may be replaced by an excessive excretion, which aids in carrying
off waste products and usually indicates an amelioration of the fever.
While the ears, cannons, and hoofs of a horse suffering from fever
are usually found hot, they may frequently alternate from hot to cold,
or be much cooler than they normally are. This latter condition
usually indicates great weakness on the part of the circulatory system.
It is of the greatest importance, as an aid in diagnosing the gravity
of an attack of fever and as an indication in the selection of its mode
of treatment, to recognize the exact cause of a febrile condition in the
horse. In certain cases, in very nervous animals, in which fever is
the result of nerve influence, a simple anodyne, or even only quiet
with continued care and nursing, will sometimes be sufficient to dimin-
ish it. When fever is the result of local injury, the cure of the cause
produces a cessation in the constitutional symptoms. When fever is
the result of a pneumonia or other severe parenchymatous inflamma-
tion, it usually lasts for a definite time, and subsides with the first
improvement of the local trouble, but in these cases we constantly have
exacerbations of fever due to secondary inflammatory processes, such
as the formation of small abscesses, the development of secondary
bronchitis, or the death of a limited amount of tissue (gangrene).
In specific cases, such as influenza, strangles, and septicemia, there
is a definite poison contained in the blood-vessel system, and carried
to the heart and to the nervous system, which produces a peculiar
irritation, usually lasting for a specific period, during which the tem-
perature can be but slightly diminished by any remedy.
In cases attended with complications, the diagnosis becomes at times
still more difficult, as at the end of a case of influenza which becomes
complicated with pneumonia. The high temperature of the simple
inflaminatory disease may be grafted on that of the specific trouble,
and the determination of the cause of the fever, as between the two,
is therefore frequently a difficult matter but an imjjortant one, as upon
it depends the mode of treatment.
Any animal suffering from fever, whatever the cause, is much more
susceptible to attacks of local inflammation, Avhich become compli-
cations of the original disease, than are animals in sound health. In
FEVERS. 497
fever we have the tissues and the walls of the blood vessels weakened,
w^e have an increased current of more or less altered blood, flowing
through the vessels and stagnating in the capillaries, which need but
an exciting cause to transform the passive congestion of fever into
an active congestion and acute inflammation. These conditions be-
come still more distinct when the fever is accompanied by a decided
deterioration in the blood itself, as is seen in influenza, septicemia,
and at the termination of severe pneumonias.
Fever, with its symptoms of increased temperature, acceleration of
the pulse, acceleration of respiration, dry skin, diminished secretions,
etc., must be considered as an indication of organic disturbance.
This organic disturbance may be the result of local inflammation
or other irritants acting through the nerves on nerve centers; altera-
tions of the blood, in which a poison is carried to the nerve centers,
or direct irritants to the nerve centers themselves, as in cases of
heat stroke, injury to the brain, etc.
The treatment of fever depends upon its cause. One of the im-
portant factors in treatment is absolute quiet. This may be obtained
by placing a sick horse in a box stall, away from other animals and
extraneous noises, and sheltered from excessive light and drafts of
air. Anodynes, belladonna, hyoscyamus, and opium act as antipy-
retics simply by quieting the nervous system. As an irritant exists
in the blood in most cases of fever, any remedy which will favor the
excretion of foreign elements from it Avill diminish this cause. AYe
therefore employ diaphoretics to stimulate the sweat and excretions
from the skin ; diuretics to favor the elimination of matter by the
kidnej^s; cholagogues and laxatives to increase the action of the liver
and intestines, and to drain from these important organs all the waste
material which is aiding to choke up and congest their rich plexuses
of blood vessels. The heart becomes stimulated to increased action
at the outset of a fever, but this does not indicate increased strength ;
on the contrary, it indicates the action of an irritant to the heart
that will soon weaken it. It is therefore irrational to further depress
the heart by the use of such drugs as aconite. It is better to
strengthen the heart and to favor the elimination of the substance
that is irritating it. The increased blood pressure throughout the
body may be diminished by lessening the quantity of blood. This
is obtained in some cases with advantage where the disease is but
starting and the animal is plethoric by direct abstraction of blood,
as in bleeding from the jugular or other veins; or by derivatives,
such as mustard, turpentine, or blisters applied to the skin; or by
setons, which draw to the surface the fluid of the blood, thereby
lessening is volume, without having the disadvantage of impoverish-
ing the elements of the blood found in bleeding. Antipyretics given
H. Doc. im, 59-2 32
498 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
by the mouth and cokl applied to the skin are most useful in many
cases.
When the irritation which is the cause of fever is a specific one,
either in the form of bacteria (living- organisms), as in glanders,
tuberculosis, influenza, septicemia, etc., or in the form of a foreign
element, as in rheumatism, gout, hemaglobinuria, and other so-called
diseases of nutrition, ^\e employ remedies which have been found to
have a direct siDecific action on them. Among the specific remedies
for various diseases are counted quinine, carbolic acid, salicylic acid,
antipyrine, mercury, iodine, the empyreumatic oils, tars, resins, aro-
matics, sulphur, and a host of other drugs, some of which are of known
effect and others of which are theoretical in action. Certain remedies,
like simple aromatic teas, vegetable acids, such as vinegar, lemon juice,
etc., alkalines in the form of salts, sweet spirits of niter, etc., which
are household remedies, are always useful, because they act on the
excreting organs and ameliorate the effects of fever. Other remedies,
which are to be used to influence the cause of fever, must be selected
with judgment and from a thorough knowledge of the nature of the
disease.
INFLUENZA.
[Synonyms: Pinkeye, lypJwid fever, epizooty, epihippic fever, hepatic fever,
hilious fever, etc.; fidvrc iyphoidc, grippe, French; pferdestaiihe, Gei'man ;
gastro-enteritis of Vatel and d'Arboval ; febris crysipelatodes, Ziiudel ; typhus
of Delafond.]
Definition. — Influenza is a contagious and infectious specific fever
of the horse, ass, and mule, with alterations of the blood, stupefac-
tion of the brain and nervous system, great depression of the vital
forces, and frequent inflannnatory complications of the important
vascular organs, especially of the lungs, intestines, brain, and laminae
of the feet. One attack usuall}^ protects the animal from future
ones of the same disease, but not always. An apparent complete
recovery is sometimes followed by serious sequelae of the nervous and
blood-vessel systems. The disease is ver}'^ apt, under certain condi-
tions of the atmosphere or from unknown causes, to assume an epi-
zootic form, with tendency to complications of especial organs, as,
at one period, the lungs, at another the intestines, etc.
The first description of influenza is given by Laurentius Rusius in
1301, Avhen it spread over a considerable portion of Italy, causing
great loss among the war horses of Rome and the surrounding district.
Later, in 1648, an epizootic of this disease visited Germany and
sjiread to other parts of Europe, In l7ll, under the name of " epi-
demica equorum" it followed the tracks of the great armies all over
Europe, causing immense losses among the horses, while the rinder-
l^est was scourging the cattle of the same regions. The two diseases
were confounded with each other, and were, by the scientists of the
INFLUENZA. 499
day, allied to the typhus, which was a plague to the human race at
the same time. We find the first advent of this disease to the British
Islands in an epizootic among the horses of London and the southern
counties of England, in 1732, which is described by Gibson. In 1758,
Robert Wliytt recounts the devastation of the horses of the north of
Scotland from the same trouble. Throughout the eighteenth century
a number of epizootics occurred in Hanover and other portions of
Germany and in France, which were renewed earl}^ in the present
century, with comjDlications of the intestinal tract, which obtained for
it its name of gastro-enteritis. In 1766 it first attacked the horses in
North America, but is not described as again occurring in a severe
form until 1870-1872, when it spread over the entire country, from
Canada south to Ohio, and then eastward to the Atlantic and west-
ward to California. It is now a permanent disease in our large cities,
selecting for the continuance of its virulence young or especially sus-
ceptible horses which pass through the large and ill-ventilated and
uncleaned stables of dealers, and assumes from time to time an en-
zootic form, when from some reason its virulence increases. It as-
sumes this form also when, from reasons of rural economy and com-
merce, large numbers of young and more susceptible animals are
exposed to its contagion.
Etiology. — As one attack is self-protective, numbers of old horses,
having had an earlier attack, are not capable of contracting it again ;
but, aside from this, young horses, especially those about four or five
years of age, are much more predisposed to be attacked, while the
older ones, even if they have not had the disease, are less liable to it.
Again, the former age is that in which the horse is brought from the
farm, where it has been free from the risk of exposure, and is sold to
pass through the stables of the country taverns, the dirty, infected
railwaj^ cai-s, and the foul stockyards and damp stables of dealers in
our large cities. Want of training is a predisposing cause. Overfed,
fat, young horses which have just come through the sales stables are
much more susceptible to contagion than the same horses are after a
few months of stead}?^ work.
Pilger, in 1805, was the first to recognize infection as the direct
cause of the disease. Roll and others studied the contagiousness of
influenza, and, finding it so much more virulent and permanent in
old stables than elsewhere, classed it as a " stall miasm." The at-
mosphere is the most common carrier of the infection from sick ani-
mals to healthy ones, and through it may be carried for a considerable
distance. The contagion will remain in the straw bedding and
droppings of the animal and in the feed in an infected stable for a
considerable time, and if these are removed to other localities it may
be carried in them. It may be carried in the clothing of those who
have been in attendance on horses suffering from the disease. The
500 DISEASES OF THE HOESE.
drinking water in troughs and even running water may hold the virus
and be a means of its communication to other animals, even at a
distance. The studies of Dieckerhoff, in 1881, in regard to the con-
tagion of influenza were especially interesting. He found that dur-
ing a local enzootic, produced by the introduction of horses suffering
from influenza into an extensive stable otherwise perfectly healthy,
the infection took place in what at first seemed to be a most irregular
manner, but which was shown later to be dependent on the ventilation
and currents of air through the various buildings. His experiments
showed that the virus of influenza is excessively diffusible, and that it
will spread rapidly to the roof of a building and pass by the apertures
of ventilation to others in the neighborhood. The Avriter has seen
cases that have appeared to spread through a brick wall and attack
animals on the opposite side before others even in the same stable
Avere affected. Brick walls, old woodwork, and the dirt which is too
frequently left about the feed boxes of a horse stall will all hold
the contagion for some days, if not weeks, and communicate it to
susceptible animals when placed in the same locality. A four-year-
old colt, belonging to the writer, stood at the open door of a stable
where tAvo cases of influenza had developed the day before, fully 40
feet from the stall, for about ten minutes on Iavo successive mornings,
and in six days developed the disease. On the morning Avhen the
trouble in the colt was recognized it stood in an infirmary Avitli a
dozen horses being treated for various diseases, but Avas immediately
isolated; within one week tAvo-thirds of the other horses had con-
tracted the disease.
SyTnptoms. — After the exposure of a susceptible horse to infection
n joeriod of incubation of from four to scA'en days elapses, during
Avhich the animal seems in j^erfect health, before any symptom is
Adsible. When the SA^nptoms of influenza develop they may be in-
tense or they may be so moderate as to occasion but little alarm, but
the latter condition frequently exposes the animal to use and to the
danger of the exciting causes of complications Avhich Avould not have
hai:)pened had the animal been left quietly in its stall in place of
being AAorked or driA^en out to show to prospectiA^e purchasers. The
disease maj^ run a simple course as a specific fcA^er, Avith alterations
only of the blood, or it may become at any period complicated by
local inflammatory troubles, the graAaty of AAdiich is augmented by
developing in an animal Avith an impoverished blood and already
irritated and rapid circulation and defectiA^e nutritiA^e and reparative
functions.
The first symptoms are those of a rapidly developing feA'er, Avhich
becomes intense Avithin a A'ery short period. The animal becomes
dejected and inattentiA^e to surrounding objects; stands Avith its head
doAA'n, and not back on the halter as in serious lung diseases. It has
INFLUENZA. 501
chills of the flanks, the muscles of the croup, and the muscles of the
shoulders, or of the entire body, lasting from fifteen to thirty min-
utes, and frequently a grinding of the teeth which warns one that a
severe attack may be expected. The hairs become dry and rough and
stand on end. The body temperature increases to 101°, 104.5°, and
105° F., or even in severe cases to 107° F., within the first twelve or
eighteen hours. The horse becomes stupid, stands immobile w^ith its
head hanging, the ears listless, and it pays but little attention to the
surrounding attendants or the crack of a whip. The stupor becomes
rapidly more marked, the eyes become puffy and swollen with ex-
cessive lachrymation, so that the tears run from the internal canthus
of the eye over the cheeks and may blister the skin in its course. The
respiration becomes accelerated to twenty-five or thirty in a minute,
and the pulse is quickened to seventy, eighty, or even one hundred,
moderate in volume and in force. There is great depression of mus-
cular force ; the animal stands limp, as if excessively fatigued. There
is diminution, or in some cases total loss, of sensibility of the skin,
so that it may be pricked or handled without attracting the attention
of the animal. On movement, the horse staggers and show^s a want of
coordination of all of the muscles of its limbs. The senses of hearing,
sight, and taste are diminished, if not entirely abolished. The visible
mucous membranes (as the conjunctiva), from which it is known as
the pinkeye, and the mouth and the natural openings become of a
deep saffron, ocher, or violet-red color. This latter is especially
noticeable on the rim of the gums and is a condition not found in any
other disease, so that it is an almost diagnostic symptom. In some
outbreaks there is much more swelling of the lids and weeping from
the eyes than in others. If the animal is bled at this period the blood
is found more coagulable than normal, but at a later period it be-
comes of a dark color and less coaguliible. There is great diminution
or total loss of appetite with an excessive thirst, but in many cases
in cold-blooded horses the animal may retain a certain amount of
appetite, eating slowly at its hay, oats, or other feed. There is some
irritation of the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract as shown
by discharge of mucus from the nose, and by cough. Pregnant mares
are apt to abort.
We have, following the fever, a tumefaction, or edema, of the sub-
cutaneous tissues at the fetlocks, of the under surface of the belly, and
of the sheath of the penis, which may be excessive. The infiltration
is noninflammatory in character and produces an insensibility of the
skin like the excessive stocking which we see in debilitated animals
after exposure to cold. In ordinary cases the temperature has reached
its maximum of 105° or 106° F. in from twenty-four to forty-eight
hours from the origin of the fever. It remains stationary for a period
of from three to four days without so much variation between morn-
502 DISEASES OF THE HORSE,
ing and evening temperature as we have in pneumonia or other seri-
ous diseases of the hmgs. At the termination of the specific course of
the disease, which is generally from six to ten days, the fever abates,
the swelling of the legs and under surface of belly diminishes^ the ap-
petite returns, the strength is rapidly regained, the mucous mem-
branes lose their yellowish color, which they attain so rapidly at the
commencement of the disease, and the animal convalesces promptly
to its ordinary good condition and health, and rapidly regains the
large amount of weight which it lost in the early part of the disease,
a loss which frequently reaches 30, 50, or even 75 pounds each twenty-
four hours. For the first three days of the high temperature there is
a great tendency to constipation, wdiich should be avoided if possible
by the use of the means recommended below, for, if it has been
marked, it may be followed by a troublesome diarrhea.
Terminations. — The termination of simple influenza may be death
by extreme fever, with failure of the heart's action; from excessive
coma, due generally to a rapid congestion of the brain ; to the poison-
ous effects of the debris of the disintegrated blood corpuscles and the
toxin of the disease ; to an asphyxia, following congestion of the
lungs ; or the disease terminates by subsidence of the fever, return of
the appetite and nutritive functions of the organs, and rapid con-
valescence ; or, in an unfortunately large number of cases, the course
of the disease is complicated by local inflammatory troubles, whose
gravity is greater in influenza than it is when they occur as sporadic
diseases.
Complications. — The complications are congestions, followed by
inflammatory phenomena in the various organs of the bod}'^, but they
are most commonly located in the intestines, lungs, brain, or vascular
lamina? of the feet. Atmospheric influence or other surrounding
influences of unknown quality seem to be an important factor in the
determination of the local lesions. At certain seasons of the year,
and in certain epizootics, we find 40 and 50 per cent or even a greater
percentage of the cases rendered more serious by complication of the
intestines ; at other seasons of the year, or in other epizootics, we find
the same percentage of cases complicated hy inflammation of the
lungs, while at the same time a small percentage of them are com-
plicated by troubles of the other organs; inflammatory changes of
the brain, of the lamina^, more rarely commence in epizootic form,
but are to be found in a certain small percentage of cases in all
epizootics.
Exciting causes are important factors in complicating individual
cases of influenza, or in localizing special lesions either during enzo-
otics or epizootics. These exciting or determining causes act much as
they would in sporadic inflammatory diseases, but in this case we find
the animal much more susceptible and predisposed to be acted upon
INFLUENZA. 503
llian ordinary healthy animals. With a temperature already ele-
vated, with the heart's action driving the blood in increased quantity
into the distended blood vessels, which become dilated and lose their
contractility, with a congestion of all of the vascular organs already
established, it takes but little additional irritation to carry the con-
gestion one step further and produce inflammation.
Complication of the intestines. — When any cause acts as an irritant
to the intestinal tract during the course of this specific fever it may
produce inflammation of the organs belonging to it. This cause may
be constipation, which can find relief only in a congestion which offers
to increase the function of the glands and relieve the inertia caused by
a temporary cessation of activity; or irritant medicines, especially
any increased use of antimony, turpentine, or the more active reme-
dies ; the taking of indigestible food, or of food in too great quantities,
or food altered in any way by fungus or other injurious alterations;
the swallowing of too cold water; or any other irritant may cause
congestion. This complication is ushered in by colics. The animal
paws with the fore feet and evinces a great sensibility of the belly ; it
looks with the head from side to side, and may lie down and get ujj,
not with violence, but with care for itself, perfectly j^rotecting the sur-
face of the belly from any violence. At first we find a decided con-
stipation; the droppings if passed are small and hard, coated wnth a
A'iscous varnish or even with false membranes. In from thirty-six
to forty hours the constipation is followed by diarrhea. The alimen-
tary discharge becomes mixed with, a seromucous exudation, which is
followed by a certain amount of suppurative matter. The animal be-
comes rapidly exhausted and unstable, staggers on movement, losing
the little appetite which may have remained, and has exacerbations of
fever. The j^ulse becomes softer and w^eaker, the respiration becomes
gradually more rapid, the temperature is about 1°' to 1.5° F. higher.
If a fatal result is not produced by the extensive diarrhea the dis-
charge becomes arrested in from five to ten days and a rapid recovery
takes place.
Complication of the lungs. — If at any time during the course of the
fever the animal is exposed to cold or drafts of air, or in any other
way to the causes of repercussion, the lungs may become affected. In
the majority of cases, however, after three, four, or five daj^s of the
fever, congestion of the lungs commences without any exposure or
apparent exciting cause. Unless this congestion of the lungs is
soon relieved it is followed by an inflammation constituting pneumo-
nia. This pneumonia, Avhile it is in its essence the same, difl'ers from
an ordinary pneumonia at the commencement by an insidious course.
The animal commences to breathe heavily, which becomes distinctly
visible in the heaving of the flanks, the dilatation of the nostrils, and
frequently in the sAvaying movement of the unsteady body. The res-
504 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
l^irations increase in number, what little appetite remained is lost, the
temperature increases from 1° to 2°, the pulse becomes more rapid,
and at times, for a short period, more tense and full, but the previous
poisoning of the specific disease has so Aveakened the tissues that it
never becomes the characteristic full, tense jjulse of a simple pneu-
monia.
On i:)ercussion of the chest dullness is found over the inflamed
areas; on auscultation at the base of the neck over the trachea a tubu-
lar murmur is heard. The crepitant rales and tubular murmurs of
2)neumonia are heard on the sides of the chest if the pneumonia is
peripheral, but in pneumonia complicating influenza the inflamed
portions are frequently disseminated in islands of variable size and
are sometimes deep seated, in which case the characteristic auscultory
symptoms are sometimes wanting. From this time on the symptoms
of the animal are those of an ordinary grave pneumonia, rendered
more severe by occurring in a debilitated animal. The cough is at
first hacky and aborted ; later, more full and moist. There is dis-
cliarge from the nostrils, which may be mucopurulent, purulent, or
hemorrhagic. As in simple pneumonia, in the outset this discharge
may be " rusty," due to capillary hemorrhages. We find that the
blood is thoroughly mixed with the matter, staining it evenly, instead
of being mixed with it in the form of clots. At the commencement of
the complication the animal may be subject to chills, which may again
occur in the course of the disease, in which case, if severe, an unfa-
vorable termination by gangrene -may be looked for. If gangrene
occurs it is shown by jareliminary chills, a rapid elevation of tempera-
ture, a tumultuous heart, a flaky discharge from the nostrils, and a
fetid breath ; the symptoms are identical with those which occur in
gangrene complicating other diseases.
C 07nplicat'io7i of the hrah. — At any time during the course of the
disease congestion of the brain may occur; at an early period if the
fever has been intense from the outset, but in ordinary cases more
frequently after three or four days. The animal, which has been
stupid and immobile, becomes suddenly restless, walks forward in the
stall until it fastens its head in the corner. If in a box stall and it be-
comes displaced from its position, it folloAvs the Avail Avith the nose
and ej^es, rubbing it along until it reaches the corner and again fastens
itself. It may become more Adolent, and rear and plunge. If dis-
turbed by the entrance of the attendant or any loud noise or bright
light, it Avill stamp Avith its fore feet and strike Avith its hind feet, but
is not definite in fixing the object Avhich it is resisting, Avhich is a
diagnostic point between meningitis and rabies and Avhich renders
the animal Avith the former disease less dangerous to handle. If fas-
tened by a rope to a stake or post, the animal Avill Avander in a circle
INFLUENZA. 505
at the end of the rope. It wanders ahnost invariably in one dii'ection.
The pupils may be dilated or contracted, or we may find one condition
in one eye and the opposite in the other.
The period of excitement is followed by one of profovmd coma, in
which the animal is immobile, the head hanging and 2:)laced against
the corner of the stall, the body limp, and the motion, if demanded of
(he animal, unsteady. Little or no attention will be paid to the sur-
rounding noises, the crack of a whip, or even a blow on the surface of
the body. The respiration becomes slower, the pulsations are dimin-
ished, the coma lasts for variable time, to be followed by excesses of
violence, after which the two alternate, but if severe the period of
coma becomes longer and longer until the animal dies of spasms of
the lungs or of heart failure. It may die from injuries which occur
in the ungovernable attacks of violence.
C omfUcatlon of the feet. — The feet are the organs which are next
in frequency ^predisposed to congestion. This congestion takes place
in the lamina? (podophyllous structures) of the feet. The stupefied
animal is roused from its condition by excessive pain in the feet, and
assumes the position of a foundered horse; that is, if the fore feet
alone are affected they are carried forward until they rest on the heels,
and if the hind feet are affected all of the feet are carried forward,
resting on their heels, the hind ones as near the center of gravity as
possible. In some cases the stupor of the animal is so great that the
pain is not felt, and little or no alternation of the position of the
animal is noticeable. The foot is found hot to the touch, and after a
given time the depressed convex sole of typical founder is recognized.
Pleurisy. — This is a rare complication, but when it does occur it is
ushered in by the usual symptoms of depression, rapid pulse, small
respiration, elevation of the temperature, subcutaneous edema of the
legs and under surface of the belly, and we find a line of dullness on
either side of the chest and an absence of respiratory murmur at the
lower part. If it is severe there may be an effusion filling one-fourth
to one-third of the thoracic cavity in from thirty-six to forty-eight
hours.
Pericai'ditis is an occasional complication of influenza. It is
ushered in by chills, elevation of the temperature ; the pulse becomes
rapid, thready, and imperceptible. The heart murmurs become in-
distinct or can not be heard, A venous pulse is seen on the line of the
jugular veins along the neck. Respiration becomes more difficult and
rapid. If the animal is moved the symptoms become more marked,
or it may drop suddenly dead from heart failure.
Peritonitis., or inflammation of the membranes lining the belly and
covering the organs contained in it, sometimes takes place. The gen-
eral symptoms are similar to those of a commencing pericarditis.
506 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
The local s^Tiiptoms are those of pain, especially to pressure on side
of the flanks and belly; distention of the latter, and sometimes the
formation of flatus, or gas, and constipation.
Other occasional complications are nephritis, hepatitis, inflamma-
tion of the flexor tendons and rupture of them, and abscesses.
Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of influenza is based upon continued
fever, Tvith great depression and symptoms of stupor and coma ; the
rapidly developing, dark-saffron, ocher, yellowish discoloration of the
mucous membranes, swelling of the legs and soft tissues of the geni-
tals. When these symptoms have become manifested the diagnosis
of a local complication is based upon the same symptoms that are
produced in the local diseases from other causes, but in influenza
the local symptoms are frequently masked or even entirely hidden
by the intense stupor of the animal, which renders it insensible to
pain. The evidence of colic and congestion, which is followed by
diarrhea, indicates enteritis. The rapid breathing or difficulty of
respiration points to a complication of the lungs, but, as we have
seen in the study of the symptoms, the local evidences of lung lesions
are frequently hidden. Again, we have seen that inflammation of
the feet, or founder, complicating influenza is frequently not shown
on account of the insensibility to pain on the part of the animal,
which indicates the importance of running the hand daily over the
hoofs to detect any sudden elevation of temperature on their surface.
The diagnosis of brain trouble is based upon the excessive violence
which occurs in the course of the disease, for during the intervening
period or coma there is no means of determining that it is due to this
complication. Severe cases of influenza may simulate anthrax in the
horse. In both we have stupor, the intense coloration of the mucous
membranes of the eyes, and a certain amount of swelling of the legs
and under surface of the belly. The diagnosis here can be made only
by microscopic examination of the blood. In strangles, equine variola,
and scalma we have an intense red, rosy coloration of the mucous
membranes, full, tense pulse, and, although in these diseases we may
have depression, we do not have the stupor and coma except in severe
cases which have lasted for some days. In influenza we have no evi-
dence of the formation of pus on the mucous membranes as in the
other diseases, except sometimes in the conjunctivae of the eyes.
In severe pneumonia (lung fever) we may find profound coma,
dark yellowish coloration of the mucous membranes, and swelling of
the under surface of the belly and legs ; but in pneumonia we have the
history of the difficult}^ of breathing and an acute fever of a sthenic
type from the outset, and the other symptoms do not occur for sev-
eral daj^s; while in influenza we have the history of characteristic
symptoms for several days before the rapid breathing and difficulty
of respiration indicate the appearance of the complication. Without
INFLUENZA. 507
the histoiy it is frequently difficult to diagnose a case of influenza of
several days' standing, complicated by pneumonia, from a case of
severe pneumonia of fi\'e to six days' standing, but from a prognostic
point of view it is immaterial, as the treatment of both are identical.
The fact that other horses in the same stable or neighborhood have
influenza ma}' aid in the diagnosis.
Prognosis. — Influenza is a serious disease chiefly on account of its
numerous complications. Uncomplicated influenza is a compara-
tively simple malady, and is fatal in but 1 to 5 per cent of all cases.
In some outbreaks, however, complications of one kind or another
preponderate; in such instances the rate of mortality is much
increased.
Alterations. — The chief alteration of influenza occurs in the di-
gestive tract, and consists in hyperemia, infiltration, and swelling of
the mucous membrane, and especially of the Peyers' patches near the
ileocecal valve. The tissues throughout the bod}'^ are found stained,
and of a more or less yellowish hue. There is always found a con-
gested condition of all the organs, muscles, and interstitial tissues of
the body. The coverings of the brain and spinal cord partake in
the congested and discolored condition of the rest of the tissues.
Other alterations are dependent entirely upon the comiDlications.
If the lungs have been affected, we find effusions identical in their
intimate nature with those of simple pneumonia, but they differ
somewhat in their general appearance in not being so circumscribed
in their area of invasion. The alterations of meningitis and lami-
nitis are identical with those of sporadic cases of founder and inflam-
mation of the brain.
Treatment. — "\^1iile the appetite remains the patient should have a
moderate quantit}^ of sound hay, good oats, and bran ; or even a little
fresh clover, if obtainable, can be given in small quantities. It is
not so important that a special diet shall be observed as that the horse
shall eat a moderate quantity of nourishing food, and he may be
tempted with any food of good quality that he relishes. The sick
horse should be placed in a well- ventilated box stall away from other
horses. Grass, roots, apples, and milk may be offered and, if relished,
allowed freely. To reduce the temperature, the safest simple plan is
to inject large quantities of cold water into the rectum. Antipyrene
may be used with alcohol or strychnia. Derivatives in the form of
essential oils and mustard poultices, baths of alcohol, turpentine,
and hot water, after which the animal must be immediately dried and
blanketed, serve to waken the animal up from the stupor and relieve
the congestion of the internal organs. This treatment is especially
indicated when complication by congestion of the lungs, intestines, or
of the brain is threatened. Quinine and salicylic acid in 1-dram
doses will lower the temperature, but too continuous use of quinine
508 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
in some cases increases the after depression. Iodide of potash re-
duces the excessive nutrition of the congested organs and thereby
reduces the temperature; again, this drug in moderate quantities is
a stimulant to the digestive tract and acts as a diuretic, causing the
elimination of waste matter by the kidneys. Small doses of Glauber's
salts and bicarbonate of soda, used from the outset, stimulate the
digestive tract and prevent constipation and its evil results.
In cases of severe depression and weakness of the heart digitalis
can be used with advantage. At the end of the fever, and when con-
valescence is established, alcohol in one-half pint doses and good ale
in 1-pint doses may be given as stimulants; to these may be added
1-dram doses of turpentine.
In complication of the intestines camphor and asafetida are most
frequently used to relieve the pain causing the colics ; diarrhea is also
relieved by the use of bicarbonate of soda, nitrate of potash, and
drinks made from boiled rice or starch, to which may be added small
doses of laudanum.
In complication of the lungs iodide of potash and digitalis are most
frequently indicated, in addition to the remedies used for the disease
itself.
Founder occurring as a complication of influenza is difficult to treat.
It is, unfortunatelv, frequently not recognized until inflammatory
changes have gone on for some days. If recognized at once, local
bleeding and the use of hot or cold water, as the condition of the ani-
mal will permit, are most useful, but in the majority of cases the
stupefied animal is unable to be moved satisfactorily or to have one
foot lifted for local treatment, and the only treatment consists in local
bleeding above the coronary bands and the application of poultices.
During convalescence small doses of alkalines may be kept up for
some little time, but the greatest care must be used, while furnishing
the animal with plenty of nutritious, easily digestible food, not to
overload the intestinal tract, causing constipation and consequent
diarrhea. Special care must be taken for some weeks not to expose
the animal to cold.
AFTER EFFECTS OF INFLUENZA.
Anasarca, or purpura hemorrhagica. — A previous attack of influ-
enza is a common predisposing cause of this disease, which appears
most frequently a few weeks after convalescence is established. It
occurs more frequently in those animals which have made a rapid
convalescence and are apparently perfectly well than it does in those
which have made a slower recovery.
Anasarca commences by symptoms which are excessively variable.
The local lesions may be confined to a small portion of the animal's
body and the constitutional phenomena be nil. The appearance and
gravity of the local lesions may be so unlike, from difi^erence of loca-
ANASARCA, OR PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA. 509
tion, that they seem to belong to a separate disease, and complica-
tions may comj^letely mask the original trouble.
In the simplest form the first symptom noticed is a swelling, or
several swellings, occurring on the surface of the body — on the fore-
arm, the leg, the under surface of the belly, or the side of the head.
The tumefaction is at first the size of a hen's egg • not hot, little sen-
sitive, and distinctly circumscribed by a marked line from the sur-
rounding healthy tissue. These tumors gradually extend until they
coalesce, and in a few hours we have swelling up of the legs, legs and
belly, or the head, to an enormous size; they have always the char-
acteristic constricted border, which looks as if it had been tied with a
cord. In the nostrils are found small reddish spots, or petechise,
which gradually assume a brownish and frequently a black color.
Examination of the mouth will frequently reveal similar lesions on
the surface of the tongue, along the lingual gutter, and on the
fra?num. If the external swelling has been on the head, the pete-
chitc of the mucous membranes are apt to be more numerous and to
coalesce into patches of larger size than when the dropsy is confined
to the legs. The animal may be rendered stiff by the swelling of the
legs, or be annoyed by the aAvkward swollen head, which at times may
be so enormous as to resemble that of a hippopotamus rather than
that of a horse. During this period the temperature remains nor-
mal; the pulse, if altered at all, is only a little weaker; the respira-
tion is only hurried if the swelling of the head infringes on the
caliber of the nostrils. The appetite remains normal. The animal
is attentive to all that is going on, and, except for the swelling,
apparently in perfect health.
In from two to four days, in severe cases, the tissues can no longer
lesist the pressure of the exuded fluid. Over the surface of the skin
which covers the dropsy we find a slight serous sweating, which
loosens the epidermis and dries so as to simulate the eruption of some
cutaneous disease. If this is excessive we may see irritated spots
which are suppurating. In the nasal fossse the hemorrhagic spots
have acted as irritants, and, inviting an increased amount of blood
to the Schneiderian membrane, produce a coryza or even a catarrh.
We may now find some enlargement and peripheral edema of the
lymphatic glands, wdiich are fed from the affected part. The ther-
mometer indicates a slight rise in the body temperature, while the
pulse and respiration are somewhat accelerated. The appetite usu-
ally remains good. In the course of a few days the temperature may
have reached 102°, 103°, or 104° F.
Fever is established, not an essential or specific fever in any way,
but a simple secondary fever produced by the dead material from the
surface or superficial suppuration, and by the oxidization and absorp-
tion of the colloid mass contained in the tissues. The skin may sup-
510 DISEASES OF THE HORSE,
purate or slough more or less over the areas of greatest tension or
where it is irritated by blows or pressure. The great swelling about
the head may by closure of the nostrils interfere seriously with breath-
ing. Internal edema may occur in the throat, lungs, or intestines.
Septicemia, or blood poisoning, may result from anasarca.
TerTninations. — The simple form of the disease most frequently
terminates favorably on the eighth or tenth day by resolution or ab-
sorption of the effusion, with usually a profuse diuresis, and v.'ith or
without diarrhea. The appetite remains good or is at times ca-
pricious.
Death may occur from mechanical asphj'^xia, produced by closure of
the nostrils or closure of the glottis. Metastasis to the lungs is almost
invariably fatal, causing death by asphyxia. Metastasis to the intes-
tine 5 may cause death from pain, enteritis, or hemorrhage.
Excessive suppuration, lymphangitis, and gangrene are causes of a
fatal termination by exhaustion. Mortal exhaustion is again pro-
duced by inability to swallow in cases of excessive swelling of the
head.
Peritonitis may arise secondary to the enteric edema, or by perfora-
tion of the stomach or intestines by a gangrenous spot. Septicemia
terminates fatally with its usual train of symptoms.
Altei^ations. — The essential alterations of anasarca are exceedingly
simple; the capillaries are dilated, the l3anphatic spaces between the
fibers of the connective tissue are filled with serum, and the coagulable
portion of the blood presents a yellowish or citrine mass, jellylike in
consistenc}^, which has stretched out the tissue like the meshes of a
sponge. Where the effusion has occurred between the muscles, as in
the head, these are found dissected and separated from each other
like those of a hog's head by the masses of fat. The surface of the
skin is desquamated and frequently denuded of the hair. Frequently
there are traces of suppuration and of idceration. The mucous mem-
brane of the nose is found studded with small, hemorrhagic spots,
sometimes red, more frequently brown or black, often coalesced with
each other in irregular-sized patches and surrounded by a reddish
zone, the product of irritation. If edema of the intestines has oc-
curred, the membrane is found four or five times its normal thickness,
reddish in color, with hemorrhages on the free surface. Edema of
the lungs leaves these organs distended. The secondary alterations
vary according to the complications. There are frequently the lesions
of asphyxia ; externally we find ulcers, abscesses, and gangrenous
spots and the deep ulcers resulting from the latter. The lymphatic
cords and glands are found with all the lesions of lymphangitis.
Again are found the traces of excessive emaciation, or the lesions of
ANASARCA, OR PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA. 511
septicemia. Except from the complications the blood is not altered
in anasarca.
Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of anasarca must principally be made
from farcy or glanders. In anasarca the swelling is nonsensitive,
while sensitive in the acute swelling of farcy. The nodes of farcy
are distinct and hard and never circumscribed, as in the other disease.
The eruption of glanders on the mucous membranes is nodular, hard,
and i^elletlike. The redness disappears on pressure. In case of
excessive swelling of the head in anasarca, there may occur an ex-
tensive serofibrinous exudation from the mucous membranes of the
nose, poured out as a semifluid mass or as a cast of the nasal fossa?,
never having the appearance or tyi^ical oilj^ character which it has
in glanders. The inflammation of the lymphatic cords and glands
in anasarca does not produce the hard, indurated character which is
found in farcy.
Prognosis.— SVhilQ anasarca is not an excessively fatal disease, the
l^rognosis must always be guarded. The majority of cases run a
simple course and terminate favorably at the end of eight or ten
days, or possibly, after one to two relapses, requiring several weeks
for complete recovery. Efi^usion into the head renders the prognosis
much more grave from the possible danger of mechanical asphyxia.
Threatened mechanical asphyxia is especially dangerous on account
of the risk of blood poisoning after an operation of tracheotomy.
Edema of the viscera is a most serious complication. The prognosis
is based on the comj)lications, their extent, and their individual grav-
ity, existing, as they do here, in an already debilitated subject.
Treatment. — The treatment of anasarca may be as variable as are
the lesions. The indications are at once shown by the alterations
and mechanism of the disease, which we have just studied.
Hygiene comes into play as the most important factor. Oats, oat
and hay tea, milk, eggs — anything which the stomach or rectum can
be coaxed to take care of — must be employed to give the nutriment,
which is the only tiling that will permanently strengthen the tissues,
and they must be strengthened in order to keep the capillaries at their
l^roper caliber.
Laxatives, diaphoretics, and diuretics must be used to stimulate
the emunctories, so that the}'' shall carry off the large amount of the
l)roducts of decomposition Avhich result from the stagnated effusions
of anasarca. Of these the sulphate of soda in small repeated doses,
and the nitrate of potash and bicarbonate of soda in small quantity,
and the chlorate of potash in single large doses will be found useful.
Williams cites the chlorate of potash as an antiputrid. Stimulants
and astringents are directly indicated. Spirits of turpentine serves
the double purpose of a cardiac stimulant and a powerful, warm diu-
512 DISEASES OF THE HOESE.
retic, for the kidneys in this disease will stand a wonderful amount
of work. Camphor can be used with advantage. Coffee and tea
are two of the diffusible stimulants which are too much neglected in
veterinary medicine; both are valuable adjuncts in treatment in
anasarca, as they are during convalescence at the end of any grave
disease which has tended to render the patient anemic. Dilute sul-
phuric acid and hydrochloric acid are perhaps the best examples of
a combination of stimulant, astringent, and tonic which can be
employed. The simple astringents of mineral origin, sulphates of
iron, copper, etc., are useful as digestive tonics ; I doubt if they have
any constitutional effect. The vegetable astringents, tannic acid,
etc., have not proved efficacious in my hands. Iodide of potash in
small doses serves the triple pvirpose of digestive tonic, denutritive
for inflammation, and diuretic. Among the newer forms of treat-
ment are diluted Lugol's solution injected into the trachea, anti-
streptococcus serum and colloidal silver solution injected into the
circulation. No one but a qualified veterinarian Avould be competent
to ajjply these remedies.
Externally. — Sponging the swollen jjarts. especially the head, when
the swelling occurs there, is most useful. The bath should be at an
extreme of temperature — either ice cold to constrict the tissues or hot
Avater to act as an emollient and to favor circulation. Vinegar may be
added as an astringent. When we have excessively denuded surfaces,
suppuration, or open wounds, disinfectants should be added to the
Avash.
In cases of excessive swelling, especially of the head, mechanical
relief may be required. Punctures of the part should be made with
the hot iron even in country practice, as no other disease so predis-
poses to septic contamination. When mechanical asphyxia is threat-
ened tracheotomy may be demanded. With the first evidence of
dyspnea, not due to closing of the nostrils or glottis, or with the first
pawing which gives rise to a suspicion of colic, a mustard plaster
should be applied over the whole belly and chest. The sinapism Avill
draw the current of the circulation to the exterior, the metastasis to
the lungs or intestines is prevented, and the enfeebled nervous system
is stimulated to renewed vigor by the peripheral irritation. The
organs are encouraged by it to renewed functional activity; the local
inflammation produced by it favors absorption of the exudation. The
objection to the use of blisters is their more severe action and the
danger of mortification. Septicemia, Avhen occurring as a complica-
tion, requires the ordinary treatment for the putrid diseases, with
little hope of a good result.
After recovery the animal regains its ordinary health, and there is
no predisposition to a return of the disease.
GENERAL DISEASES. 513
STRANGLES.
[Synonyms: Distemper, colt-ill, eartarrhal fever, one form of shipping fever,
Febris pyoycnica.]
Definition. — Strangles is an infectious disease of the horse, mule,
and ass; seen most frequently in young animals, and usually leaving
an animal which has had one attack protected from future trouble of
the same kind. It appears as a fever, lasting for a few days, with
formation of matter, or pus, in the air tubes and lungs, and fre-
quently the formation of abscesses in various parts of the bodj^, both
near the surface and in the internal organs. It usually leaves the
animal after convalescence perfectly healthy and as good as it was
before, but sometimes leaves it a roarer or is followed by the devel-
opment of deep-seated abscesses, which may prove fatal.
Causes. — The cause of strangles is infection by direct contact with
an animal suffering from the disease, or indirectly through contact
with the discharges from an infected animal, or by means of the
atmosphere in which an infected animal has been. There are many
predisposing causes which render some animals much more subject to
contract the disease than others. Early age, which has given it the
popular name of colt-ill, offers many more subjects than the later
periods of life do, for the animal can contract the disease but once,
and the large majority of adult and old animals have derived an
immunity from previous attacks. At 3, 4, or 5 years of age the colt,
which has been at home, safe on a meadow or in a cozy barnyard, far
from all intercourse with other animals or sources- of contagion, is
first put to work and driven to the market town or county fairs to be
exposed to an atmosphere or to stables contaminated by other horses
suffering from disease and serving as infecting agents. If it fails to
contract it there, it is sold and shipped in foul, undisinfected railway
cars to dealers' stables, equally unclean, where it meets many oppor-
tunities of infection. If it escapes so far, it reaches the time for
heavier work and daily contact on the streets of towns or large cities,
with numerous other horses and mules, some of which are sure to be
the bearers of the germs of this or some other infectious disease, aiid
at last it succumbs.
The period of the eruption of the last permanent teeth or the end
of the period of development from the colt to an adult horse, at
which time the animals usually have a tendency to fatten and be ex-
cessively full-blooded, also seems to be a predisposing period for the
contraction of this as Avell as of the other infectious diseases.
Thoroughbred colts are very susceptible, and frequently contract
strangles at a somewhat earlier age than those of more humble origin-
Mules and asses are much less susceptible and are but rarely affected.
Other animals are not subject to this disease, but there is a certain
analogy between it and distemper in dogs. After exposure to infec-
H. Doc. 795, .'50-2 .3.3
514 DISEASES OF THE HOESE,
tion there is a period of incubation of the disease, lasting from two
to four days, during which the animal enjoys its ordinar}^ health.
Symptoms. — The horse at first is a little sluggish if used, or when
placed in its stable is somewhat dejected, paying but moderate atten-
tion to the various disturbing surroundings. Its appetite is somewhat
diminished in many cases, while in some cases the animal eats well
throughout. Thirst is increased, but not a great deal of water is
taken at one time. If a bucket of water is placed in the manger the
patient will dip its nose into it and swallow a few mouthfuls, allow-
ing some of it to drip back, and then stop, to return to it in a short
time. The coat Ijecomes dry and the hairs stand on end. At times
the horse will have chills of one or the other leg, the fore quarters,
or hind quarters, or in severe cases of the whole body, with trembling
of the muscles and dryness of the skin.
If the eyes and mouth are examined the membranes are found red-
dened to a bright rosy color. The pulse is quickened and the breath-
ing may be slightly accelerated. At the end of a couple of days a cough
is heard and a discharge begins to come from the nostrils. This dis-
charge is at first watery ; it then becomes thicker, somewhat bluish in
color, and sticky, and finally it assumes the yellowish color of matter
and increases greatly in quantity.
At the outset the colt may sneeze occasionally and a cough is heard.
The cough is at first repeated and harsh, but soon becomes softer and
moist as the discharge increases. Again the cough varies according
to the source of the discharge, for in light cases this may be only a
catarrh of the nasal canals, or it may be from the throat, the wind-
pipe, or the air tubes of the lungs, or even from the lungs themselves.
According to the organ affected the symptoms and character of cough
will be similar to those of a lar\Tigitis, bronchitis, or lung fever
caused by ordinary cold.
Shortly after the discharge is seen a swelling takes place under the
jaw, or in the intermaxillaiy space. This is at first puffy, swollen,
somewhat hot and tender, and finally becomes distinctly so, and an
abscess is felt, or having broken itself the discharge is seen dripping
from a small opening. AYhen the discharge from the nostrils has
fully developed the fever usually disappears and the animal regains
its appetite, unless the swelling is sufficient to interfere with the func-
tion of the throat, causing pain on any attempt to swallow. At the
end of four or six days the discharge lessens, the soreness around the
throat diminishes, the horse regains its appetite, and in two weeks has
regained its usual condition. Old and strong horses may have the
disease in so light a form that the fever is not noticeable ; they may
continue to eat and perform their ordinary work as usual and no
symptom may be seen beyond a slight discharge from the nose and a
rare cough, which is not sufficient to worry anj' but the most particu-
STKANGLES. 515
lar owner. But, on the other hand, the disease may assume a malig-
nant form or become complicated so as to become a most serious
disease, and even prove fatal in many cases. Inflammation of the
larj^ix and bronchi, if excessive, will produce violent, harsh coughing,
whicli may almost asphyxiate the animal. The large amount of dis-
charge may be mixed with air by the difficult breathing, and the
nostrils, the front of the animal, manger, and surrounding objects
become covered with a white foam. The inflammation may be in the
lung itself (lobular pneumonia) and cause the animal to breathe
heavily, heave at the flanks, and show great distress. In this condi-
tion marked symptoms of fever are seen, the appetite is lost, the coat
is dry, the horse stands back in its stall at the end of the halter strap
with its neck extended and its legs propped apart to favor breathing.
This condition may end by resolution, leaving the horse for some
time with a severe cough, or the animal may die from choking up of
the lungs (asphyxia).
The SAvelling under the jaw may be excessive, and if the abscess is
not opened it burrows toward the throat or to the side and causes
inflammation of the parotid glands and breaks in annoying fistulas at
the sides of the throat and even up as high as the ears. Roaring maj^
occur either during a moderately severe attack from inflammation of
the throat (larynx), or at a later period as the result of continued
lung trouble. Abscesses may develop in other parts of the body, in
the poll, in the withers, or in the spaces of loose tissue under the
arms, in the fold of the thigh, and, in entire horses, in the testicles.
During the course of the disease, or later, when the animal seems to
be on the road to perfect recovery, abscesses may form in the internal
organs and produce symptoms characteristic of disease of those parts.
Roaring, plunging, wandering in a circle, or standing with the head
wedged in a corner of the stall indicate the collection of matter in the
brain. Sudden and severe lung symptoms, without previous dis-
charge, point to an abscess between the lungs, in the mediastinum ;
colic, which is often continuous for days, is the result of the forma-
tion of an abscess in some part of the abdominal cavity, usually in the
mesentery.
Pathology. — The lesions of strangles are found on the surface of
the mucous membranes, essentially of the respiratory system, and in
the loose connective tissue fibers of the internal organs and glands,
and consist of acute inflammatory changes, tending to the formation
of matter. The blood is unaltered, though it is rich in fibrin, and if
the animal has died of asphyxia it is found dark colored and uncoagu-
lated when the body is first opened. If the animal has died while
suffering from high fever the ordinary alterations throughout the
body, which are produced by any fever not attended by alteration of
blood, are found.
516 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
Treatment. — Ordinary light cases require but little treatment be-
yond diet, warm washes, moistened hay, warm coverings, and pro-
tection from exposure to cold. The latter is urgently called for, as
lung complications, severe bronchitis, and laryngitis are often the
results of neglect of this precaution. If the fever is excessive, the
horse may receive small quantities of Glauber's salts (handful three
times a day), as a laxative, bicarbonate of soda or niter in l-clram
doses every few hours, and small doses of antimony, iodide of potash,
aconite, or quinine. Steaming the head with the vapor of warm
water poured over a bucket of bran and hay, in which belladonna
leaves or tar have been placed, will allay the inflammation of the
mucous membranes and greatly ease the cough.
The swelling of the glands should be promptly treated by bathing
with warm water and flaxseed poultices, and as soon as there is any
evidence of the formation of matter it should be opened. Prompt
action in this will often save serious complications. Blisters and irri-
tating liniments should 71 oi^ be applied to the throat. TN'lien lung
complications show themselves the horse should have mustard applied
to the belly and to the sides of the chest. When convalescence begins
great care must be taken not to expose the animal to cold, which may
bring on relapses, and while exercise is of great advantage it must not
be turned into work until the animal has entirely regained its
strength.
SCALMA.
The differentiation of the various diseases which have popularly
been included under the terms of distemper and influenza up to a
comparatively recent date has been so slow and so tardily accepted by
the majority of practitioners that we have been subjected to con-
stantly seeing announced and heralded as news in the daily papers the
appearance of some new disease. These new diseases of the populace
and of the empiric are to us but the epizootic outbreak or the more
severely manifested form of some ordinary contagious disease.
There is, however, one of the contagious fevers of the horse which
has constantly been confounded with other diseases, and which has
not been separated from them in our English text-books. As this dis-
ease has received no proper name in English, I shall use for it the
name given by Professor Dieckerhoff, of Berlin, who first described it
in the Adams Wochenschrift, XXIX, in 1885.
Etymology. — The term " scalma " is derived from the old German
word scalm.0., scehno., schelm^ which indicates roguishness, or knavish-
ness, as great nervous irritability, especially of the temper, is one of
' the characteristic, almost diagnostic, symptoms of this disease. The
term '•'' H eim^tuckische Kranhheit^'' signifying malicious, treacherous,
or mischievous, is also employed in German for the same trouble. I
SCALMA. 5l7
am not aware of any name in English or French which has been
applied to it.
As I am oi^posed to employing in veterinary medicine any of the
nomenclature of human medicine, except for identical, simple, and
inflammatory diseases, or for intercommunicable contagions diseases,
I will not offer the term " Avhooping cough " as a name, but I will sug-
gest a certain similarity between the latter disease in man and scalma
in the horse.
Definition. — Scalma is a contagious and infectious febrile disease
of the horse, with local lesions of the bronchi, trachea, and larynx,
which is evidenced by cough. It is further characterized by great
irritability of temper. It occurs as a stable plague; that is, in en-
zootic form, with, however, great variations in the susceptibility of
the animals to contract it. It is rarely fatal except from compli-
cations.
Incubation. — The period of incubation is from six to seven days,
but the disease may develop in two days after exposure or it may
delay its appearance for ten days. It spreads through a stable slowly,
developing at times in a horse placed in a stall Avhere the previously
sick one had stood, or it may pass next to an animal several stalls
away. One attack is usually protective.
Symptoms. — The symptoms are ushered in by fever, in which the
acceleration of the pulse and respiration is in no way in accord with
the great elevation of temperature. With the appearance of the
fever is developed a diffuse bronchitis, which is, however, subacute
both in its character and in its course. At times the trouble of the
bronchi may extend to the trachea, larynx, pharynx,, or even to the
nasal fossa?.
In two or three days a trifling grayish albuminous discharge from
the nostrils occurs, which continues, variable in quantity, for eight to
fourteen days, or may even last for three weeks. The cough is short,
rough, and painful, spasmodic in its occurrence and in character.
The slight watery or slimy discharge may become more profuse,
purulent, or even " rusty," if the bronchitis has extended to the neigh-
boring structures. Pharyngeal discharge may take place. The res-
piration is moderate and affected only during an excess of coughing,
or in complicated cases. The pulse undergoes but little quickening.
The temperature rises rapidly to 102.2°, 104°, and in some cases even
to 107.5° F. The latter temperature usually, but not always, indi-
cates complication by ^^leurisy. In ordinary cases the temperature
drops in two or three days after the appearance of the cough. The
skin is dry and rough, with the hairs on end, but the horse appears
as an animal out of condition rather than as a sick one. Emaciation
may be rapid. The mucous membranes are moderately reddened.
518 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
The appetite is diminished, but the animal chews constantly. Deglu-
tition, either of food or water, is frequently the cause of spasms of
coughing, and these in turn seem to Avarn the animal against attempts
at swallowing. On i)ercussion no alteration of resonance is to be
detected. On auscultation of the lungs mucous rales are heard, with
at times tubular breathing; the latter, however, we will study under
the complications, as also the friction warning of pleurisy. Through-
out the course of the disease we have still one constant and charac-
teristic symptom — nervous irritability. With temperature of 104° to
107° F., the horse still flinches to the touch on the loins; it stands
frequently with the head up, and is on the alert for the entrance of
anyone to the stall. The previously good-temj^ered and quiet horse
will turn and bite, will strike with the hind legs, or at the first touch
to the side, head, or throat will half x'ear and back into the corner
of the box, or, breaking the halter, turn backward out of the stall.
The course of the disease is from five to eight days, but the cough
may continue for two or three weeks with variable elevation of tem-
perature. As a stable plague the course is from two to three months,
as the contagion is much more uncertain than in strangles or influ-
enza. The termination is by resolution and recovery or by complica-
tions. In resolution the temperature drops, the cough becomes less
frequent and less spasmodic in character, the appetite returns, and no
sign is left of the disease except the fever mark on the hoof.
C om plications. — The complications are excessive spasms and pleu-
risy. In the former the cough may be so violent as to convulse the
whole animal, the legs are spread and fixed, Avith the hind ones drawn
slightly under the body. The head and neck are extended, with the
muscles tense. The cough comes out by rapidly succeeding efforts, or
with the first sound the larynx seems to close for a moment before the
rest can follow. In two cases of my own the spasm has been so great
that the animal has fallen to the ground. During these accesses the
respiration becomes accelerated, and on auscultation of the trachea
and lungs the tubular murmur of an apparent pneumonia can be
heard. This false murmur, however, disappears at the end of the at-
tack. In the case which fell to the ground the horse would lie for a
moment or two absolutely motionless. (In the first I believed that he
had broken his neck.) The rapid respiration was then followed by a
long inspiration, the animal regained his feet, the respiration became
almost normal, and the tubular murmur had disappeared. I have seen
no fatal termination from this spasm of the pneumogastric, but can
readily believe that traumatisms resulting from such attacks might
prove fatal, or that the spasm might continue long enough to produce
asphyxia. The fatal complication is pleurisy. This occurs when the
horse has been kept at work after the development of the disease
SCALMA. 519
while suffering from a high fever, and is probably in no way specific,
but the res^ult of work on an animal with high temperature. The
additional symptoms are those of an ordinars^ pleurisy.
Diagnosis. — The diagnosis is based upon the elevation of the tem-
peratui'e without corresponding acceleration of the pulse and of the
respirations; upon the retention of appetite and spinal reflex, with
the great irritability of temper in the presence of a high temjierature,
and upon the spasmodic cough and auscultatory sounds of bronchitis
with but trifling discharge.
The diagnosis is made from edematous pneumonia by the absence
of the yellow colorations, the absence of pneumonia, and the less con-
tinuous high temperature ; from influenza by the absence of edema, of
the ocher coloration, and of the typhoid sj'mptoms; from strangles
by want of enlargement of th« lymphatics, absence of purulent dis-
charge and abscesses ; from variola by the nonappearance of pustuks
and enlarged Ij^mphatics ; from simple bronchitis, as the latter is
sporadic, and in it great fever is accompanied by profuse discharge;
from rheumatic pleurisy and pleurodynia by the history in these of
repeated attacks and great temporary pain; from surgical fever by
the absence of cause.
Prognosis. — The prognosis is usually favorable. This disease en-
tails onl}^ the loss of ten da3^s"' to three weeks' use of tlie animal, and
leaves the subject with no complicating s'equelse. In same cases I
have seen the irritable disposition remain for a length of time, but in
«very case it has finally disappeared. As I have suggested, violent
spasms might prove fatal. Pleurisy would render the prognosis
serious, as the same disease would when occurring from simple causes.
Treatment. — The treatment of a stable should be at once prophy-
lactic. The infected animals should be removed, and com2:)lete disin-
fection of the stalls and area should be made. The individual treat-
ment is simple. The hygienic measures of cleanliness, fresh air with-
out drafts, frequent rubbing, and tempting food should be thorough.
The digestive tract is to be regulated by small doses of bicarbonate of
soda, sulphate of soda, gentian, and tannic acid. The appetite is to
be stimulated by drinks of cold breakfast tea and cow's milk. Anti-
spasmodics are to be used when the cough is excessive. The best of
these are camphor, belladonna, stramonium, and steaming with tur-
pentine (turpentine 1 ounce, water half bucket). External frictions
of alcohol and turpentine, with hot packs to the loins, will also
afford relief. Quinine and salicylic acid may be used during the ele-
vation of temperature. Professor Dieckerhoff recommends tracheal
injections in 1-ounce doses of the following solution: Acetate of
aluminum, 1 per cent; alum, one-half to 1 per cent; bromide of
potash, 1 to 2 per cent ; water, 100 per cent.
520 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
EDEMATOUS PNEUMONIA.
[Synonyms: Contagious pneumonia; adynamic pneumonia; hospital, or sta-
ble, pneumonia ; equine pleuro-pneumonia ; influenza ; pcctoralin cquorum ; pleuro-
pneumonia ; contagiosa cquoriun; hnistseuche, German.]
Definition. — This disease is the adynamic pneumonia of the older
veterinarians, who did not recog-nize any essential difference in its
nature from an ordinary inflammation of the lungs, except in the
profound sedation of the force of the animal affected with it, which
is a prominent symptom from the outset of the disease. Again, this
same prostration of the vital force of the animal, combined with the
staggering movement and want of coordination of the muscles of the
animal, caused it for a long time to be confounded with influenza,
with which at certain periods it certainly has a strong analogy of
symptoms, but from which, as from sporadic pneumonia, it can be
separated very readily if the case can be followed throughout its
whole course.
Edematous pneumonia is a specific inflammation of the lungs, accom-
panied by interstitial edema and inflammation of the tissues of these
organs and a constitutional disturbance and fever. It causes a pro-
found sedation of the nervous system, which may be so great as to
cause death. It is sometimes attended by pleurisy, inflammation of
the heart, or septic complications which also prove fatal.
Etiology. — AA'liile, as an infectious disease, its original cause is due
to a specific virus, there are many predisposing causes which act as
important factors in aiding in its development. Such causes are any
influences that lessen the general vigor.
Old, cold, damp, foul, unclean, and badly drained and ventilated
stables allowrapid dissemination of the disease to other horses in the
same stable and act as rich reservoirs for preserving the contagion,
which may be retained for over a year.
The virus is but moderately volatile, and in a stable seems rather
to follow the lines of the w^alls and irregular courses than the direct
currents of air and the tracts of ventilation. Professor Dieckerhoff
found that the contagion of influenza was readily diffusible through-
out an entire stable and through any opening to other buildings, but
he also found that the contagion of edematous pneumonia is not
transmissible at any great distance, nor is it very diffusible in the
atmosphere. A brick wall 8 feet in height served, in one instance,
to prevent the infection of other animals placed on the opposite side
from a horse ill with the disease, while others placed on the same side
and separated from the focus of contagion only by open bars in the
stall were infected and develoj^ed the disease in its typical form.
Symptonis. — The symptoms differ slightly from those of a frank,
fibrinous pneumonia, but not so much by the introduction of new
symptoms as by the want of or absence of the distinct evidences of
PNEUMONIA. 521
local lesions which are found in the latter disease. All of the pneu-
monias throughout the whole course of the trouble are less marked
and less clearly defined.
The symptoms may develop sloAvly or rapidl}'. If slowly, there is
fever and the animal gives a rare cough which resembles that of a
heavy horse affected with a slight chronic bronchitis; it becomes
somewhat dejected and dull, at times somnolent, and has a dimin-
ished appetite. This condition lasts for several days, or the disease
may begin wuth high fever, and the symptoms described below are
severe and develop in rapid sequence. The respiration increases to
24, 30, or 30 to the minute, and a small, running, soft pulse attains a
rhythm of 50, 70, or even more beats in the sixty seconds. The heart,
however, contrary to the debilitated condition of the pulse, is found
beating violently and tumultuously, like it does in anthrax and septic
intoxication. The mucous membranes of the eyes and mouth and of
the genital organs are found somewhat edematous, and they rapidly
assume a dirty, saffron color, at times approaching an ocher, but dis-
tinguishable from the similar coloration in influenza by the w^ant of
the luster belonging to the latter and by the muddy, dull tint, which
is characteristic throughout the disease.
Suddenly, without the preliminary rales which precede grave
lesions of the lungs in other diseases, the blowing murmur of pneu-
monia is heard over a variable area of the chest, usually, however,
much more distinctly over the trachea at the base of the neck and
directly behind the shoulder on either side of the chest. In some cases
the evidence of lung lesion can only be detected over the trachea.
The lesions of the lungs may be scattered through both lungs, in-
volving numerous small areas, or they may be confined to and more
or less fully occupy one or two lobes. Occasionally there is a general
involvement of both lungs. The body temperature has now reajched
104° or 105° F., or in extreme cases even a degree higher. The de-
bility of the animal is great without the stupefaction or evidence of
cerebral trouble, which is constant with such grave constitutional
phenomena in influenza or severe pneumonias. The animal is sub-
ject to occasional chills, and on movement staggers in its gait. The
yellow coloration of the visible mucous membrane is rendered pale
by infiltration of the liquid of the blood into the tissues; the pulse
may become so soft as to be almost imperceptible, the heart movement
and sounds being at the same time exaggerated. The animal loses
flesh rapidly, and dropsies of the extremities, of the under surface of
the belly, or of the internal organs may show themselves.
Terminations. — These symptoms may gradually subside after five
to eight days, with an improved appetite the inanition may cease and
the animal commence to nourish its impoverished blood and tissues;
the i^ulse becomes stronger and the heart more regular and less tumul-
522 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
tuous; the mucous membranes assume a brighter and more distinct
color; the difficulty of respiration is removed, and the animal may
make a recovery. When death occurs it is usually directly due to
heart failure; in some cases it is caused by asphyxia, owing to the
great amount of exudation into the lung tissue, rendering its fur-
ther function impossible.
C omjylicatioyis. — The pulmonary complications of edematous pneu-
monia are secondary inflammatory or necrotic changes in the lungs
themselves. Suppuration at times takes place in the bronchi and may
extend to the lung tissue. In this case mucous rales develop which are
most distinctly heard over the trachea and on the sides of the chest
directly behind the shoulders. With the development of the mucous
rales, to be heard on auscultation, we have a more purulent discharge
from the nostrils, similar to that of a chronic or subacute bronchitis.
If the inflammation has been of some standing, cavernous rfiles may
be heard indicating the destruction of a considerable portion of lung
tissue and the formation of a cavity. The effects of this more acute
inflammatory process are not appreciable in the general condition of
the animal, except to still further weaken it and add to its debili-
tated and emaciated cachexia. Gangrene sometimes occurs. A sud-
den rise of the body temperature of 1° or 2°, with a more enfeebled
pulse and a still more tumultuous heart, develop simultaneously with
the appearance of a discharge from the nostrils. This discharge is
gray in color, serous or watery in consistency, mixed with the detritus
of broken-down lung tissue, and sometimes contains clots of blood, or
in more serious cases may be marked by a quantity of fluid blood
from a hemorrhage, which proves fatal. The discharge is fetid to the
smell. The animal emaciates ^apidl5^ On examination of the lungs
mucous rales are heard in the larger bronchi, cavities may be found at
any j^art of these organs, and points of lobular pneumonia may be
detected.
A very serious complication is an inflammation of the heart mus-
cle. This is shown by a very weak and rapid pulse, great prostration,
some filling of the lungs. This complication nearly always terminates
in death. Other complications which may be mentioned are inflam-
mation of the kidneys, blood poisoning, congestion of the brain, and
inflammation of the tendinous sheaths and the tendons of the legs.
Diagnosis. — As fever is the first symptom of edematous pneumonia,
it is useful during an outbreak of this disease to make daily tempera-
ture measurements of the exposed horses, so that the first indication
of disease may be discovered and the horse removed from contact Avith
those that are sound.
Prognosis. — The mortality in this disease may be as high as 25 per
cent, but it is usually not more than 10 per cent. If there is a special
tendency to complications of some sort, the mortality is increased.
PNEUMONIA. 523
Alterations. — At the time of death from edematous pneumonia we
frequently find septic changes and the evidences of putrefaction. The
solidification of the lung tissue is found irregular in shape and high
up around the root of the lungs and around the large bronchi, and is
generally covered by sound lung tissue. The anterior lobes of the
lungs are usually entirely affected. The diseased portion appears of
a gray yellowish color, somewhat watery, and tears readily. Matter
is found in the air tubes which form gutters through the jelly like
mass of the diseased limg. Abscesses from the size of a nut to larger
■masses may l)e found disseminated through the lungs. The blood is
dark in color, fluid, or only clotted into soft, jellylike masses.
Masses of gangrenous or dead black tissue may be present.
Tr'eatment.—TMQQ.drng is not to be used because it would only still
further weaken an already enfeebled animal; antimony or the
alterants would increase the depression of a too depraved constitu-
tion. There is in this disease no acute congestion of a particular
organ to draw off by depletive measures, nor any violent blood
current to be retarded, for fear of hypernutrition of any special part.
Revulsives do good, as they excite the nervous system and awaken
the torpor of the weakened blood vessels, which aid in the reestablish-
ment of the functions. Mustard poultices may be applied over the
belly and sides of the chest, as in other diseases, but caution must be
used in the employment of blisters, as ugly ulcers may result from
their action on a tissue of w^eakened vitality. Setons are dangerous
from the great tendency in this disease to septic complications. Re-
peated friction of the legs by hand-rubbing and warmth by banda-
ging and by rubbing the surface of the body with turpentine and
alcohol, which is immediately to be dried by rough towels, will excite
the circulation and stimulate the emunctories of the skin.
Stimulants are given internally from the outset of the disease.
Turpentine in 1-dram doses regulates the heart and excites the kid-
neys to carry off waste matter, but if repeated too frequently may
disturb the already delicate digestive system. Alcohol rectifies the
latter danger, and is a useful stimulant to the heart and digestive
system, if given with care in small doses. It is an antiputrid, and
is especially indicated when septic complications and gangrene are
present. The aromatics and bitter tonics are useful ; gentian and tea
in Avarm decoction form a useful menstruum for other remedies.
Digitalis is a useful remedy. Strychnine and quinine may be given
throughout almost the whole course of the disease. The various
preparations of iron are astringents and excitants to the digestive sys-
tem. Carbolic acid is an antiputrid which is of marked benefit in
edematous pneumonia ; it should be given in small doses diluted in
alcohol.
Salicylic acid may be given in 1 or 2 dram doses every few hours.
524 DISEASES OF THE HOIlSE.
It is much used for troubles of the serous membranes, lowers the tem-
perature, and is of value in this disease in preventing the exudation
into the tissue of the lungs. The alkalines, as the sulphate and bicar-
bonate of soda, the nitrate of potash, and very small doses of the iodide
of potash, should be employed to regulate the digestive tract, the kid-
neys, and the other excreting glands, and to stimulate absorption of
the waste matter.
Serums and antitoxins have been used in the treatment of this dis-
ease, especially in Germany. The results appear to show some benefit
in some instances, but none in others; altogether they are not espe-
cially encouraging.
The diet demands the strictest attention from the outset. In many
of the fevers the food has to be diminished in quantity and regtUated
in the quality of its heat-producing components during the acute part
of the disease, so as to lessen the material for combustion in the in-
flamed organs. In edematous pneumonia, on the contrary, all the
food that can possibly be digested and assimilated must be given.
Choice must be made of the richest material which can be handled by
the weakened stomach and intestines without fatiguing them. Good,
sound hay should be chopped short and dampened or partly boiled ; in
the latter case the hay tea can be reserved to use as a drink. Oats
may be preferred dry or in other cases will be taken better scalded ;
in most cases, however, it is better to give slops of oatmeal, to which
can be added a little bran, barley flour, or boiled milk and wheat
flour. Pure cow's milk, not too rich in fatty matter, can be given
alone or with beaten eggs; frequently the horse Avill have to be coaxed
with the milk diluted with several parts of water at first, but Avill
soon learn to drink the pure milk. Apj^les and carrots cut up raw or
boiled are useful, and fresh clover in small quantities will frequently
stimulate the appetite. In other words, try various foods and com-
binations and give the horse what he will eat. Throughout the
course of the disease and during convalescence the greatest attention
must be taken to cleaning the coat thoroughly so as to keep the glands
of the skin in working order, and light, warm covering must be used
to protect the animal from cold or drafts of air.
HORSEPOX, OR EQUINE VARIOLA.
[Synonyms: Variola equina; pustular grease; phlyctenoid herpes.}
Definition. — Horsepox is a specific infectious fever of the horse
attended by an eruption of pustules, or pocks, over any part of the
skin or on the mucous membranes lining the various cavities in the
body, but chiefly, and often exclusively, upon the pasterns and fet-
locks. The eruption may commence upon the lips, or about the nos-
trils or eyes.
HORSEPOX. ■ 525
This disease was described by the early Homan agricultural writers
and by the veterinarians of the last century. It received its first im-
portant notice from the great Jenner, who confounded it with grease
in horses, since animals with this disease are very apt to have the
eruption of variola appear on the fetlocks. He saw these cases trans-
mit the disease to cattle in the byres and to the stablemen and milk-
maids who attended them, and furnish the latter with immunity from
smallpox, Avhich led to the discovery of vaccination. Horsepox is
also frequently mistaken for the exanthemata attending some forms
of venereal disease in horses.
Variola in the horse, while it is identical in principle, general
course, complications, and lesions with variola in other animals, is a
disease of the horse itself, and is not transmissible in the form of
variola to any other animal ; nor is the variola of an}^ other animal
transmissible to the horse. Cattle and men, if inoculated from a case
of horsepox, develop vaccinia, but vaccinia from the latter animals
is not so readily reinoculated into the horse with success. If it does
develop, it produces the original disease.
Causes. — The direct cause of horsepox is infection. A large num-
ber of predisposing causes favor the development of the disease, as
in the case of strangles, and this trouble, like almost all contagious
diseases, renders the animal which has had one attack immune. The
chief predisposing cause is young age. Old horses which have not
been affected are less apt to become infected when exposed than
younger ones. The exposure incident to shipment, through public
stables, cars, etc., acts as a predisposing cause, as in the other infec-
tious diseases. The period of final dentition is a time of the animal's
life which renders it peculiarly susceptible.
Dupaul states that the infection is transmissible through the at-
mosphere for several hundred yards. The more common means of
contagion is by direct contact or by means of fomites. Feed boxes
and bridles previously used by horses affected with variola are proba-
bly the most frequent carriers of the virus, and we find the lesions in
the majority of cases developed in the neighborhood of the lips and
nostrils. Coition is a frequent cause. A stallion suffering from this
disease may be the cause of a considerable epizootic, as he transmits
it to a number of brood mares and they in turn return to the farms
where they are surrounded by young animals to whom they convey
the contagion. The saddle and croup straps are frequent agents of
infection. The presence of a wound greatly favors the inoculation of
the disease, Avhich is also sometimes carried by surgical instruments
or sponges. Trasbot recites a case in which a set of hobbles, which
had been used on an animal suffering from variola, were used on a
horse for a quittor operation and transmitted the disease, which
developed on the edges of the wound.
526 DISEASES OF THE HOKSE.
Symptoms. — There is a period of incubation, after an animal has
been exposed, of from five to eight days, during which there is no
appreciable alteration in the health. This period is shorter in sum-
mer than in winter. At the end of this time small nodes develop at
the point of inoculation and the animal becomes feverish. The horse
is dull and dejected, loses its aj^petite, and has a rough dry coat with
the hairs on end. There is moderate thirst. The respirations are
somewhat quickened and the pulse becomes rapid and full. The
body temperature is elevated, frequently reaching 104° or 105° F.
within thirty-six or forty-eight hours from the appearance of the
first symptoms.
The visible mucous membranes, especially the conjunctivae, are of a
bright rosy red. In the lymphatic, cold-blooded, and more common
hoi*ses these symptoms of fever are less marked; even with a com-
paratively high temperature the animal may retain its appetite and
even work comparatively well, but these cases, if worked and over-
heated, are apt to develop serious complications.
At the end of from three and a half to four days the eruption
breaks out, the fever abates, and the general symptoms improve.
The eruption in severe cases may be generalized ; it may be confined
to the softer skin of the nose and lips, the genital organs, and the
inside of the thighs, or it may be localized in the neighborhood of a
wound or in the irritated skin of a pair of greasy heels. It consists
of a var3ang number of little nodes which, on a mucous membrane,
as in the nostrils or vagina, or on soft unpigmented skin, appear red
and feel at first like shot under the epidermis. These nodes soften
and show a yellowish spot in the center when they become pustules.
The epidermis is dissolved and the matter escapes as a viscid fluid
at first citrine and later cloudy and j^urulent, which dries rapidly,
forming scabs; if these fall off or are removed they leave a little shal-
low concave ulcer which heals in the course of five or six days. In the
softer skin if pigmented the cicatrices are white and frequently remain
so for about a year, when the pigment returns. The lips or genital
organs of a colored horse, if covered with a number of small white
spots about the size of a i>ea, will usually indicate that the animal has
been affected with the horsepox.
At times the pustules may become confluent and produce large
superficial serpentine ulcers on the membrane of the nostrils, around
the lips or eyelids, or on the borders of wovnids and in greasy heels;
in this case the part becomes swollen, hot, painfid, and is covered
with a profuse discharge of matter. In this form there is frequently
a secondary fever lasting for a day or two.
In severe cases there may be a suppurative adenitis, or inflamma-
tion of the lymphatic glands which are fed fix)m the affected part.
If the eruption is around the nostrils and lips, the glands between
HOESEPOX. 527
the Jaws (submaxillary) form abscesses as in a case of strangles; if
the eruption is in a pair of greasy heels abscesses may form in the
fold of the groin (inguinal).. There may be so much tumefaction of
the nostrils as to produce difficulty in breathing.
C ompUcations.—K case of horsepox maj^ be attended with various
complications of varying degrees of importance. Adenitis, or sup-
l^uration of the glands, has just been mentioned. Confluent eruptions
irritate the part and induce the animal to rub the inflamed part
against the manger or scratch it in other ways, and thus produce
troublesome ulcers, which may leave ugly scars. Irritation of the
mucous membrane of the nose causes severe coryza with purulent
discharge.
The eruption may occur in the throat or in the air tubes to the
lungs, developing an acute laryngitis or bronchitis. If the animal is
exposed to cold, or worked so as to engorge the lungs with blood at
the termination of the specific fever, just when the eruption is about
to localize, it may be determined to the lungs. In this case we have
a short, dry cough, labored breathing, the development of a secondary
fever of some gravity, and all of the external symptoms of a pneu-
monia. This pneumonia differs, however, from an ordinary j^neu-
monia in the symptoms furnished by the examination of the lungs
themselves. In place of a large mass of the lung tissue being affected
the inflammation is disseminated in smaller spots over the entire
lung.
Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of horsepox is to be based on the pres-
ence of a continuous fever, with rosy mucous membranes, for several
days, and the appearance of the characteristic eruption. If the
eruption is in the nasal cavities, marked by a considerable discharge
and attended by submaxillary abscesses, it may be confounded with
strangles. If the throat is affected it may be confounded with an
angina (laryngitis or pharyngitis), but in the latter the local trouble
precedes or is concomitant with the fever, while in the former the
fever precedes the local trouble by several days. Variola may be
confounded with bronchitis or pneumonia if complicated with these
troubles and the eruption is absent from the exterior, but it is of little
moment, as the treatment for both will be much the same. When the
eruption is in the neighborhood of the genital organs this disease has
been mistaken for the dourine. In variola the eruption is a temporary
one ; the nodes and pustules are folloAved by shallow ulcers and rapid
cicatrization unless continued in the vagina or on the penis by the
rubbing of the walls and filth which accumulates ; there are apt to be
pustules at other parts of the body. In the venereal disease the local
trouble commences as a papule and breaks into an ulcer without hav-
ing formed a pustule. The ulcer has not the convex rosy appearance
of that of the less serious discharge ; the symptoms last for a longer
528 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
period, by which time others aid in differentiating the two. In
glanders the tubercle is hard, and, after breaking into an ulcer, the
indurated bottom remains, grayish or dirty white in color, ragged,
and exuding a viscous, oily discharge. There is no disposition to
suppuration of the neighboring glands. In variola the rosy shallow
ulcer and healthy pus, with the acutely tumefied glands, should not
be mistaken, at least after a day. I have seen acute glanders in mules
which required a day's delay to differentiate from strangles; at that
time the farcy buds appeared.
Prognosis. — The average case of horsepox runs a course of dejec-
tion, loss of appetite, and more or less fever for about four days,
followed by a rapid convalescence, and leaves the animal as well and
as sound as before. If the eruption has been excessive or confluent,
the ulcerations may act as irritants and render the animal unfit for
use for several weeks. Laryngitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis, and pneu-
monia in this disease are not of greater gravity than they are Avhen
occurring from other causes. The spots denuded of pigment left
by the pustules on the lips and genitals may temporarily depreciate
the value of the animal to a slight degree.
Treatment. — As this is a disease unattended by alterations of the
blood itself, although a specific fever, and is of a sthenic type, active
remedies are admissible and indicated. The horse should be placed
on a low diet (little or no oats) — bran mashes, a moderate quantity
of good, sound hay, a few carrots or apples, which will act as laxa-
tives, and slop feed. Barley flour is more cooling for mashes than
bran or oatmeal. Water may be given as the animal desires it,
but it should not be cold ; if a half bucketful of water is kept in the
manger, the horse will take but a fcAv sAvalloAvs at a time. One-dram
doses of nitrate of potash or 1-ounce closes of sweet spirits of niter
are useful in the drinking water. If the fever is high, the anti-
pyretics are indicated: Sulphate of quinine in 1-dram doses; iodide
of potash in 1-dram doses; infusion of pine tops, of juniper leaves,
of the aromatic herbs, or of English breakfast tea are useful in the
later stages. If complications of the air passages or lungs are
threatened, a large mustard poultice should be applied to the belly
and sides of the chest. Oxide of zinc ointment should be used on
confluent eruptions, and if the idceration is excessive it may have to
be touched with caustic.
Great care must be taken to keep the animal protected from cold
drafts of air or other exposure. Blankets or sheets should be used
on the body and bandages on the legs. After convalescence is estab-
lished, nutritious food of easy digestion and walking exercise are all
that is needed, except perhaps a little Glauber's salts to prevent
constipation.
Prophylactic treatment. — When horsepox breaks out among a large
ANTHRAX. 529
number of horses, especially on a farm where there are a number of
colts, it may be assumed that the greater majority will contract the
disease, and it is more economical that they should have it and be
through with it at once. If the weather is moderate, all the animals
which have not been affected can be inoculated, which will produce
the disease in a mild form, with the eruption at a point of election,
and render the danger of complication a minimum one. For inocula-
tion the discharge from the pustules of a mild case should be selected
and inoculated by scarification on the belly or the under surface of
the neck.
ANTHRAX,
[Synonyms: Carbuncle, splenic fever, splenic apoplexy, hraxy (in sheep),
etc. ; sacer ignis, pustula maligna, anthrax, Latin ; charhon, sang de rate,
French ; miltshrand, German ; carhonc, cardoncMo, fiioco de St. Antonio, Italian ;
jaswa, siherskaji jastva, Russian.]
Definition. — Anthrax is a severe and usually fatal contagious dis-
ease, characterized by chills, great depression and stupor of the ani-
mal, and a profound alteration of the blood. It is caused by the
entrance into the animal's body of a bacterium, known as the Bacillus
anthracis, or its spores.
Practically all animals are susceptible to anthrax. The herbivora
are especially susceptible, in the following order: The sheep, the ox,
and the horse. The guinea pig, the hog, the rabbit, mice, and other
animals die quickly from its effects. Man, the dog, and other omniv-
ora and carnivora may be attacked by it in a constitutional form as
fatal as in the herbivora, but fortunately, in many cases, develop
from it only local trouble, followed by recovery.
Anthrax has been a scourge of the animals of the civilized world
since the first written history we have of any of their diseases. In
1709-1712 A. D. extensive outbreaks of anthrax occurred in Germany,
Hungary, and Poland. In the first half of the present century it had
become an extensively spread disease in Russia, Holland, and Eng-
land, and for the last century has been gradually spreading in the
Americas — more so in South America than here. In 1864, in the five
governments of Petersburg, Novgorod, Olonetz, Twer, and Jaroslaw,
in Russia, over 10,000 horses and nearly 1,000 persons perished from
the disease.
Causes. — The causes of anthrax were for a long time attributed
entirely to climatic influence, soil, and atmospheric temperature, and
they are still recognized as predisposing factors in the development of
the disease, for it is usually found, especially when outbreaks over any
number of animals occur, in low, damp, marshy countries during the
warm seasons. It is more frequent in districts where marshy lands
dry out during the heat of summer and are then covered with light
H. Doc. 795, 59-2 34
530 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
rains. Decaying vegetable matter seems most favorable for nourish-
ing and preserving the virus.
The direct cause of anthrax is always infection of a previously
sound animal, either directly from a diseased animal or through
various media which contain excretions or the debris from the body of
a previously infected animal.
The specific virus of anthrax was first discovered by Davaine in
1851. He recognized in the blood of animals suffering from anthrax
microscopic bodies in the form of little rods. It was not, however,
till a quarter of a century later that Pasteur defined the exact nature
of the bacillus, the mode of its propagation, and its exact relationship
to anthrax as the sole cause of the disease. In the animal body the
bacilli have a tendency to accumulate in the spleen, liver, and else-
where, so that these organs are much more virulent than the muscles
or less vascular tissues. AATien eliminated from the animal in the
excretions, or when exposed to outside influences by the death of the
animal and the disintegration of the tissues, the body of the rod is
destroyed and the spores only remain. These spores, which may be
called the seeds of the bacilli, retain their vitality for a long period;
they resist ordinary putrefaction; they are unchanged by moisture;
and they are not affected by moderate heat. If scattered with the
debris of a dead animal on the surface of the ground, they may remain
around the roots of the grass in a pasture or may be washed to the
nearest low -lying ground or marsh. If buried in the body of an ani-
mal dead from anthrax, they may be washed deep into the ground, and
in later years (in one proven case 17 years) be brought to the surface
and infect other anirnals. They are frequently brought to the surface
of the earth, having been swallowed by earthworms, in the bodies of
which they have been found.
This accounts for the outbreaks at the time of the first rains after a
dry season. During the latter the earthworm goes deep in the ground
in search of moisture ; it finds the spore which has been washed there
in past years, swallows it. and afterwards brings it to the surface.
The virus is carried with the wool from infected sheep and remains in
it through the process of manufacture into cloth. The spores remain
in the hides of animals which have died of anthrax and retain their
vitality throughout months of soaking in the tanners' pits, the work-
ing of the harness maker or the cobbler, and after the oiling of the
completed leather. The dried spores in the dust from any of these
products may be carried by the atmosphere.
Infection of an animal takes j)lace through inoculation or contact
of the bacillus or its spores with an abraded surface or mucous mem-
brane on a sound animal. In an infected district horses may eat the
rich pasturage of spring and early summer with impunity, but when
grass becomes low they crop it close to the ground, pull up the roots
ANTHRAX. 531
around which the virus may be lodged, and under these conditions
the animals are more apt to have abrasions of the lips or tongue by
contact with dried stubble and the dirt on the roots, which favors the
introduction of the germs into the system. The virus may be intro-
duced with food and enter the blood-vessel system from the stomach
and intestines. If contained in the dust, dried hay, or on the parched
pasture of late summer, the virus may be inhaled and be absorbed
from the lining of the lungs. If contained in harness leather, it
needs but an abrasion of the skin, as the harness rubs it, to transfer
the spore from the leather to the circulation of the animal.
The writer saw a case of anthrax occur in a groom from the use of
a new horse-brush. The strap which passes over the back of the hand
inoculated an abrasion on the knuckle of the first finger, and in
twelve hours a " pustule " had formed and the arm had become
infected.
Symptoms. — The symptoms of anthrax usuallj^ develop with ex-
treme rapidity. The horse is dejected and falls into a state of pro-
found stupor, attended by great muscular weakness. The feeble,
indolent animal, if forced to move, drags its legs. There are severe
chills, agitation of the muscles, symptoms of vertigo, and at times
colicky j^ains. The mucous membranes turn a deep ocher or bluish
red color. The body temperature is rapidly elevated to 104° or
105° F. The breathing is increased to thirty or forty respirations in
the minute and the pulse is greatly accelerated, but while the arteries
are soft and almost imperceptible, the heart beats can be felt and
heard, violent and tumultuous. In some cases, when inoculation is
through the skin, large subcutaneous swellings appear; these may
involve a leg, a shoulder, one side of the body, or the neck or head.
The swelling is at first hot and painful, but afterwards it becomes
necrotic and sensation is lost. The symptoms last but two, three, or
four days at most, when the case usually terminates fatally. An
examination of the blood shows a dark fluid which will not clot, and
which remains black after exposure to the air. After death the
bodies putrefy rapidly and bloat up ; the tissues are filled with gases,
and a bloody foam exudes from the mouth, nostrils, and anus, and
frequently the mucous membranes of the rectum protrude from the
latter. The hairs detach from the skin. Congestion of all the organs
and tissues is found, with interstitial hemorrhages. The muscles are
friable and are covered with ecchymotic spots. This is especially
marked in the heart.
The black, uncoagulated, and incoagulable blood shows an iri-
descent scum on its surface, which is due to the fat of the animal dis-
solved by the ammonia produced by the decomposed tissues. The
serum oozes out of every tissue and contains broken-down blood,
which, when examined microscopically, is found to have the red
532 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
globules crenated and the leucocytes granular. A high power of the
microscope also reveals the bacteria in the shape of little rodlike
bodies of homogeneous texture with their brilliant spores.
The lymphatic ganglia are increased four, five, six, or ten times their
natural size, enlarged by the engorgement of blood. The spleen
shows nodulated black spots containing a muddy blood, which is
found teeming with the virus. This organ is much enlarged and is
quite friable. The mucous membranes of the intestines are congested
and reddish brown; the surface of the intestines is in many places
denuded of its lining membrane, showing fissures and hemorrhagic
spots. The liver has a cooked appearance ; the kidneys are congested
and friable; the urine is red; the pleura, lungs, and the meninges are
congested, and the bronchi of the lungs contain a bloody foam.
Treatment. — The treatment of anthrax has little in it to encourage
one. The curative treatment, for which almost every drug in the
pharmacopoeia has been used, is practically without avail.
The prophylactic treatment formerly consisted in the avoidance of
certain fields and marshes which were recognized as contaminated
during the months of August and September and had been oc-
cupied the years in which the outbreaks usually occurred. It under-
went, however, a revolution after the discovery by Pasteur of the
possibility of a prophylactic inoculation or vaccination which granted
immunity from future attacks of the disease similar to that granted
by the recovery of an animal from an ordinary attack of the disease.
This treatment consists in the use of a vaccine which is made by the
artificial cultivation of the virus of anthrax in broth and in the treat-
ment of it by means of continued exposure to a high temperature for
a certain length of time, which weakens the virus to such an extent
that it is only capable of producing a very mild and not dangerous
attack of anthrax in the animal in which it is inoculated, and thus
protects the animal from inoculation of a stronger virus. The pro-
duction of this virns, which is carried on in some countries at the
expense of the government and is furnished at a small cost to the
farmers in regions where the disease prevails, in this country is made
in private laboratories only.
GLANDERS AND FARCY.
[Synonyms: Glanders, farcy, one form of nasal gleet; Malleus hiimidiis.
Equina nasalis. Equina apostematos, Latin ; rotz. rotskrankheit, German ; s7iot,
verroting, Dutch; moccio, ciamorro, Italian; niuermo, Spanish; morve, farcin,
French.]
Definition. — Let it be understood at the outset that glanders and
farcy are one and the same disease, differing only in that the first
term is applied to the disease when the local lesions predominate in
the internal organs, especially in the nostrils, lungs, and air tubes,
rf ',
Q I
51
X t
G
GLANDERS AND FARCY. 533
and that the second term is applied to it when the principal mani-
festation is an outbreak of the lesions on the exterior or skin of the
animal. The term glanders aj^plies to the disease in both forms,
while the term farcy is limited to the visible appearance of external
trouble only ; but in the latter case internal lesions always exist,
although they may not be evident.
Glanders is a contagious constitutional disease of the genus Equus
(the horse, ass, and mule), readily communicable to man, the dog,
the cat, the rabbit, and the guinea pig. It is transmitted with diffi-
culty to sheep and goats, and cattle seem to be entirely immune. It
runs a variable course and usually produces the death of the animal
affected with it. It is characterized by the formation of neoplasms,
or nodules, of connective tissue, which degenerate into ulcers, from
which exude a peculiar discharge. It, is accompanied by a variable
amount of fever, according to the rapidity of its course. It is sub-
ject to various complications of the lymphatic glands, of the lungs,
of the testicles, of the internal organs, and of the subcutaneous con-
nective tissue.
History. — Glanders is one of the oldest diseases of which we have
definite knowledge in the history of oiedicine. Absyrtus, the Greek
veterinarian in the army of Constantine the Great, described this dis-
ease w^ith considerable accuracy and recognized the contagiousness of
its character. Another Greek veterinarian, Vegetius Kenatus, who
lived in the time of Theodosius (381 A, D.), described, under the
name of Malleus humidus, a disease of the horse characterized by a
nasal discharge and accompanied by superficial ulcers. He recog-
nized the contagious properties of the discharge of the external ulcers,
and recommended that all animals sick with the disease should be
separated at once with the greatest care from the others, and should
be pastured in separate fields for fear the other animals should become
affected.
In 1682 Sollysel, the stable master of Louis XIV, published an
account of glanders and farcy, which he considered closely related to
each other, although he did not recognize them as identical. He
admitted the existence of a virus which communicated the disease
from an infected animal to a sound one. He called special attention
to the feed troughs and water buckets as being the media of conta-
gion. He divided glanders into two forms — one malignant and con-
tagious and the other benign — and he stated that there was always
danger of infection.
Garsault, in 1746, said that " as this disease is communicated very
easily, and can infect in a very short time a prodigious number of
horses by means of the discharges which may be licked up, animals
infected with glanders should be destroyed."
Bourgelat, the founder of veterinary schools, in his " Elements of
534 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
Hippiatary," published in 1755, establishes glanders as a virulent
disease.
Extensive outbreaks of glanders are described as prevailing in the
great armies of continental Europe and England from time to time
during the periods of all the wars of the last few centuries.
Glanders was imported into America at the close of the eighteenth
century, and before the end of the first half of the last century had
spread to a considerable degree among the horses of the Middle and
immediately adjoining Southern States. This disease was unknown
in Mexico until carried there during the Mexican war by the badly
diseased horses of the United States Army. During the first half of
the last century a large body of veterinarians and medical men
protested against the contagious character of this disease, and pre-
vailed by their opinion to such an extent against the common opinion
that several of the governments of Europe undertook a series of ex-
periments to determine the right between the contesting parties.
At the veterinary school at Alfort, and at the farm of Lamirault
in France, several hundred horses which had passed examination as
sound had placed among them glandered horses under various condi-
tions. The results of these experiments proved conclusively the con-
tagious character of the disease.
In 1881 Professor Bouchard, of the faculty of medicine in Paris,
assisted by Drs. Capitan and Charrin, undertook a series of experi-
ments with matter taken from the farcy ulcer of a human being.
They afterwards continued their experiments with matter taken from
horses, and succeeded in showing in 1883 that glanders is caused by
a bacterium which is capable of propagation and reproduction of
others of its own kind if placed in the proper media. In 1882 the
specific germ of glanders was first discovered and described by Loef-
fler and Schuetz in Germany.
When we come to study the etiology of glanders, the difference of
susceptibility on the part of different species of animals, or even on
the part of individuals of the same species, and when we come to find
proof of the slow incubation and latent character of the disease as it
exists in certain individuals, we will understand how in a section of
country containing a number of glandered animals others can seem to
contract and develop the disease without having apparently been
exposed to contagion.
Causes. — The contagious nature of glanders, in no matter what
form it appears, being to-day definitely demonstrated, we can recog-
nize but one cause for all cases, and that is contagion by means of
the specific virus of the disease.
In studying the writings of the older authors on glanders, and the
works of those authors who contested the contagious nature of the
GLANDERS AND FARCY. 535
disease, we find a large number of predisposing causes assigned as
factors in the development of the malady.
While a virus from a case of glanders if inoculated into an animal
of the genus Equus will inevitably produce the disease, we find a vast
difference in the contagious activity of different cases of glanders.
AVe find a great variation in the manner and rapidity of the develop-
ment of the disease in different individuals and that the contagion is
much more apt to be carried to sound animals under certain circum-
stances than it is under others. Only certain species of animals are
susceptible of contracting the disease, and while some of these con-
tract it as a general constitutional malady, in others it only develops
as a local sore.
In acute glanders the contagion is found in its most virulent form,
as is shown by the inevitable infection of susceptible animals inocu-
lated with the disease, while the discharge from chronic semilatent
glanders and farcy may at times be inoculated with a negative result;
again, in acute glanders, as we have a free discharge, a much greater
quantity of virus-containing matter is scattered in the neighborhood
of an infected horse to serve as a contagion to others than is found in
the small amount of discharge of the chronic cases.
The chances of contagion are much greater when sound horses,
asses, or mules are placed in the immediate neighborhood of glan-
dered horses, drink from the same bucket, stand in the next stall or
work in the same wagon, or are fed from feed boxes or mangers
which have been imi^regnated by the saliva and soiled by the dis-
charge of sick animals. Transmission occurs by direct contact of
the discharges of a glandered animal with the tissues of a sound one,
either on the exterior, when swallowed mixed with food into the
digestive tract, or when dried and inhaled as dust.
The stable attendants serve as one of the most common carriers of
the virus. Dried or fresh discharges are collected from the infected
animal in cleaning, harnessing, feeding, and by means of the hands,
clothing, the teeth of the currycomb, the sponge, the bridle, and the
halter, and are thus carried to other animals.
An animal affected with chronic glanders in a latent form is moved
from one part of the stable to another, or works hitched with one
horse and then with another, and may be an active agent in the
spreading of the disease without the cause being recognized.
Glanders is found frequently in the most insidious forms, and we
recognize that it can exist without being apparent; that is, it may
affect a horse for a long period without showing any symptoms that
will allow even the most experienced veterinarian to make a diagnosis.
An old gray mare belonging to a tavern keeper w^as reserved for
family use with good care and light work for a period of eight years,
during which time other horses in the tavern stable were from time
536 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
to time affected with glanders without an apparent cause. The mare,
whose only trouble was an apparent attack of heaves, was sold to a
huckster who placed her at hard work. Want of feed and overwork
and exjoosure rapidly developed a case of acute glanders, from which
the animal died, and at the autopsy were found the lesions of an acute
pneumonia of glanders grafted on chronic lesions, consisting of old
nodules which had undoubtedly existed for years.
In a case that once came under the care of the writer, a coach horse
was examined for soundness and passed as sound by a prominent
veterinarian, who a few months afterwards treated the horse for a
skin eruption from which it recovered. Twelve months afterwards
it came into the hands of the writer, hidebound, with a slight cough
and a slight eruption of the skin, which was attributed to clipping
and the rubbing of the harness, but which had nothing suspicious in
its character. The horse was placed on tonics and put to regular
light driving. In six weeks it developed a bronchitis without having
been specially exposed, and in two days this trouble was followed by
a lobular pneumonia and the breaking of an abscess in the right lung.
Farcy buds developed on the surface of the body and the animal died.
The autopsy showed the existence of a number of old glanderous
nodules in the lungs which must have existed previous to purchase,
more than a year before.
Public watering troughs and the feed boxes of boarding stables and
the tavern stables of market towns, are among the most common
recipients for the virus of glanders, which is most dangerous in its
fresh state, but cases have been known to be caused by feeding animals
in the box or stall in which glandered animals had stood several
months before. While the discharge from a case of chronic glanders
is much less apt to contain many active bacilli than that from a case
of acute glanders, the former, if it infects an animal, will produce
the same disease as the latter. It may assume from the outset an
acute or chronic form, according to the susceptibility of the animal
hifected, and this does not depend upon the character of the disease
from which the virus was derived.
The animals of the genus Equus — the horse, the ass, and the mule —
are those which are the most susceptible to contract glanders, but in
these we find a much greater receptivity in the ass and mule than we
do in the horse. In the ass and mule in almost all cases the period
of incubation is short and the disease develops in an acute form. We
find that the kind of horse infected has an influence on the character
of the disease; in full-blooded fat horses of a sanguinary tempera-
ment, the disease usually develops in an acute form, while in the
lymphatic, cold-blooded, more common race of horses the disease
usually assumes a chronic form. If the disease develops first in the
GLANDERS AND FARCY. 537
chronic form in a horse in fair condition, starvation and overwork are
apt to bring on an acute attack, but when the disease is inoculated
into a debilitated and impoverished animal it is apt to start in the
latent form. Inoculation on the lips or the exterior of the animal
is frequently followed by an acute attack, while infection by ingestion
of the virus and inoculation by means of the digestive tract is often
followed by the trouble in the chronic latent form.
In the dog the inoculation of glanders may develop a constitutional
disease with all the symptoms which are found in the horse, but more
frequently the virus pullulates only at the point of inoculation, re-
maining for some time as a local sore, which may then heal, leaving
a perfectly sound animal; but while the local sore is continuing to
ulcerate, and specific virus exists in it, it may be the carrier of con-
tagion to other animals. In man we find a greater receptivity to
glanders than in the dog, and in many unfortunate cases the virus
spreads from the point of inoculation to the entire system and de-
stroys the wretched mortal by extensive ulcers of the face and hemor-
rhage or by destruction of the lung tissue; in other cases, however,
glanders may develop, as in the dog, in local form only, not infecting
the constitution and terminating in recovery, while the specific ulcer
by proper treatment is turned into a simple one. In the feline species
glanders is more destructive than in the dog. The point of inocula-
tion ulcerates rapidly and the entire system becomes infected.
A^^iile a student the writer saw a lion in the service of Professor
Trasbot, at Alfort, Avhich had contracted the disease by eating glan-
dered meat and died with the lung riddled with nodules. A litter of
kittens lapped the blood from the lungs of a glandered horse on which
an autopsy was being made, and in four days almost their entire faces,
including the nasal bones, were eaten away by rapid ulceration. Nod-
ules were found in the lungs. A pack of wolves in the Philadelphia
Zoological Garden died in ten days after being fed with the meat of a
glandered horse. The rabbit, guinea pig, and mice are especially sus-
ceptible to the inoculation of glanders, and these animals are conven-
ient witnesses and proofs of the existence of suspected cases of the
glanders in other animals by the results of successful inoculations.
The primary lesion in any form is a local point in which occurs
a rapid proliferation of the cell elements which make up the animal
tissue with formation of new connective tissue, Avith a crowding to-
gether of the elements until their own pressure on each other cuts off
the circulation and nutrition, and death takes place in them in the
form of ulceration or gangrene. Following this primary lesion we
have an extension of infection by means of the spread of the bacilli
into those tissues immediately surrounding the first infected spot,
which are most suitable for the development of simple inflammatory
phenomena or the specific virus. The primary symptoms are the re-
538 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
suit of specific reaction at the point of inoculation, but at a later time
the virus is carried by means of the blood vessels and lymphatic ves-
sels to other parts of the body and becomes lodged at different places
and develops in them; again, when the disease has existed in the
latent form in the lungs of the animal and the virus is wakened into
action from any cause, we have it carried to various parts of the body
and developing in the most susceptible regions or organs. The points
of development are most frequently determined by the activity of the
circulation and the effects of exterior irritants. For example, if a
horse which has been so slightly affected with the virus of glanders
that no symptoms are visible is exposed to cold, rain, or sleet, or by
the rubbing of the harness on the body and the irritation of mud on
the legs, the disease is apt to develop on the exterior in the form of
farcy, while a full-blooded horse which is employed at speed and has
its lungs and respiratory tract gorged with blood from the extreme use
of these organs will develop glanders as the local manifestation of the
disease in the respiratory tract.
The previous reference to the existence of glanders under the two
forms more commonly differentiated as glanders and as farcy, and
our reference to the various conditions in which it may exist as
acute, chronic, and latent, show that the disease may assume several
different phases. Without losing sight for a moment of the fact that
all of these varied conditions are identical in their origin and in their
essence, for convenience of study we may divide glanders into three
classes — chronic farcy, chronic glanders, and acute glanders with or
without farcy.
CHKONIC FARCY.
Symptoms. — In farcy the symptoms commence by formation of
little nodes on the under surface of the skin, which rapidly infringe
on the tissues of the skin itself. These nodes, which are known as
farcy " buds " and farcy " buttons," are from the size of a bullet to
the size of a walnut. They are hot, sensitive to the touch, at first
elastic and afterwards become soft; the tissue is destroyed, and in-
fringing on the substance of the skin the disease produces an ulcer,
which is known as a chancre. This ulcer is irregular in shape, with
ragged edges which overhang the sore; it has a gray, dirty bottom
and the discharge is sometimes thin and sometimes purulent ; in either
case it is mixed with a viscous, sticky, yellowish material like the
white of an egg in consistency and like olive oil in appearance. The
discharge is almost diagnostic; it resembles somewhat the discharge
which we have in greasy heels and in certain attacks of lymphangitis,
but to the expert the specific discharge is characteristic. The dis-
charge accumulates on the hair surrounding the ulcer and over its
surface and dries, forming scabs which become thicker by successive
deposits on the under surface until they fall off, to be replaced by
CHEONIC FARCY. 539
others of the same kind; and the excess of discharge may drop on
the hairs below and form similar brownish yellow crusts. The farcy
ulcers may retain their specific form for a considerable time — days
or even weeks — but eventually the discharge becomes purulent in char-
acter and assumes the appearance of healthy matter. The surface
of the gangrenous bottom of the ulcer is replaced by rosy granula-
tions, the ragged edges are beveled off, and the chancre is turned
into a simple ulcer which rapidly heals.
The farcy buttons occur most frequently on the sides of the lips,
the sides of the neck, the lower part of the shoulders, the inside of
the thighs, or the outside of the legs, but may occur on any part of
the body.
We have next an irritation of the lymphatic vessels in the neigh-
borhood of the chancres. Those become swollen and then indurated
and appear like great ridges underneath the skin; they are hot to
the touch and sensitive. The cords may remain for a considerable
time and then gradually disappear, or they may ulcerate like a farcy
bud itself, forming elongated, irregular, serpentine ulcers with a
characteristic, dirty, gray bottom and ragged edges, and pour out
a viscous, oily discharge like the chancres themselves.
The essential symptoms of farcy are, as above described, the button,
the chancre, the cord, and the discharge. We have in addition to
these symptoms a certain number of accessory symptoms, which,
while not diagnostic in themselves, are of great service in aiding the
diagnosis in cases where the eruption takes place in small quantities,
and when the ulcers are not characteristic.
Epistaxis, or bleeding from the nose without previous work or
other apparent cause, is one of the frequent concomitant symptoms
in glanders, and such a hemorrhage from the nostrils should always
be regarded with suspicion. The animal with farcy frequently de-
velojDs a cough, resembling much that which we find in heaves — a
short, dry, aborted, hacking cough, with little or no discharge from
the nostrils. With this we find an irregular movement of the flanks,
and on auscultation of the lungs we find sibilant or at times a few
mucous rales. Another common symptom is a sudden swelling of one
of the hind legs; it is found suddenly SAvollen in the region of the
cannon, the enlargement extending below to the pastern and above as
high as the stifle. This swelling is hot and painful to the touch, and
renders the animal stiff and lame. On pressure with the finger the
swelling can be indented, but the pits so formed soon fill up again on
removal of the pressure. In severe cases we may have ulceration of
the skin, and serum pours out from the surface, resembling the oozing
which we have after a blister or in a case of grease. This swelling
is not to be confounded with the stocking in lymphatic horses or the
edema which we have in chronic heart or in kidney trouble, as ,
540 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
in the last the swelling is cool and not painful and the pitting on
jDressiire remains for sometime after the latter is Avithdrawn. It
is not to be confounded with greasy heels. In these the disease com-
mences in the neighborhood of the pastern and gradually extends
up the leg, rarely passing bej'ond the neighborhood of the hock. The
swollen leg in glanders almost invariably swells for the entire length
in a single night or within a ver}^ short j^eriod. "WHien greasy heels
are complicated b}^ lymphangitis we have a condition very much
resembling that of farcy. The swelled leg in farcy is frequently fol-
lowed by an outbreak of farcy buttons and ulcers over its surface.
In the entire horse the testicles are frequentl}' swollen and hot and
sensitive to the touch, but they have no tendency to suppuration.
The acute inflammation is rapidly followed by the specific induration,
which corresponds to the local lesions in other parts of the body.
Chronic farcy in the ass and mule is an excessively rare condition,
but -sometimes occurs.
CHRONIC GLANDEBS.
Symptoms. — In chronic glanders we find the same train of inflam-
matory phenomena, varying in appearance from those of chronic
farcy only by the difference of the tissues in which they are located.
In chronic glanders there is first the nodule, from the size of a shot
to that of a small pea, which forms in the mucous membranes of the
resj)iratory tract. This may be just inside of the wings of the nos-
trils or on the septum which divides the one nasal cavity from the
other and be easily detected, or it may be higher in the nasal cavities
on the turbinated bones, or it may form in the larynx, itself or on the
surface of the trachea or deep in the lungs.
The nodules, which are first red and hard and consist of new con-
nective tissue, soon soften and become yellow ; the yellow spots break
and we have a small ulcer the size of the preceding nodule, which has
a gray, dirty bottom and ragged edges and is known as a chancre.
This ulcer pours from its surface a viscous, oily discharge similar
to that which we have seen in the farcy ulcer. The irritation of the
discharge may ulcerate the lining mucous meml^rane of the nose,
causing serpentine gutters with bottoms resembling those of the
chancres themselves. If the nodules have formed in large numbers,
we may have them causing an acute inflammation of the Schneiderian
membrane, with a catarrhal discharge which may mark the specific
discharge, or that which comes from the ulcers and resembles the
discharge of strangles or simple inflammatory diseases.
The eruption of the ulcers and discharge soon cause an irritation
of the neighboring lymphatics ; and in the intermaxillary space, deep
inside of the jaws, we find an enlargement of the glands, which for
the first few days may seem soft and edematous, but which rapidly
becomes confined to the glands, these being from the size of an
GLANDERS. 541
almond to that of a small bunch of berries, exceedingly hard and
nodulated. This enlargement of the glands is found high up on the
inside of the jaws, firmly adherent to the base of the tongue. It is
not to be confounded with the puffy, edematous swelling, which is
not separated from the skin and subcutaneous connective tissues
found in strangles, in laryngitis, and in other simple inflammatory
troubles.
These glands bear a great resemblance to the hard, indurated glands
which we find in connection with the collection of pus in the sinuses;
but in the latter disease the glands have not the extreme nodulated feel
which they have in glanders. With the glands we find indurated
cords, feeling like balls of tangled wire or twine, fastening the glands
together.
The essential symptoms of glanders are the nodule, the chancre,
the glands, and the discharge. With the development of the nodules
in the respiratory tract, according to their number and the amount
of eruption which they cause, we may find a cough Avhich resembles
that of a coryza, a laryngitis, a bronchitis, or a broncho-pneumonia,
according to the location of the lesions. In chronic glanders we
find the same accessory symptoms that occur in chronic farcy, the
hemorrhage of the nose, the swelling of the legs, the chronic cough,
and, in the entire horse, the swelling of the testicles.
On healing, the chancres on the mucous membranes leave small,
whitish, star-shaped scars, hard and indurated to the touch, and which
remain for almost an indefinite time. The chancres heal and the
other local symptoms disappear, with the exception of the enlarge-
ment of the glands, and we find these so diminished in size that they
are scarcely perceptible on examination. During the subacute at-
tacks, with a minimum quantity of local troubles, in chronic glanders
and in chronic farcy the animal rarely shows any amount of fever,
but does have a general depraved appearance; it loses flesh and be-
comes hidebound ; the skin becomes dry and the hairs stand on end.
There is a cachexia, however, which resembles gi-eatly that of- any
chronic, organic trouble, but is not diagnostic, although it has in it
certain appearances and conditions which often render the animal sus-
picious to the eye of the expert veterinarian, while without the pres-
ence of local lesions he would be unable to state on what he has based
his opinion.
ACUTE GLANDERS.
8ymfto7iiis. — In the acute form of glanders we find the symp-
toms which we have just studied in chronic farcy and in chronic glan-
ders in a more acute and aggravated form. There is a rapid outbreak
of nodules in the respiratory tract which rapidly degenerate into
chancres and pour out a considerable discharge from the nostrils.
There is a cough of more or less severity according to the amount and
542 DISEASES OF THE HOESE.
site of the local eruption. Over the surface of the body swellings
occur which are rapidly followed by farcy buttons, which break into
ulcers; we find the indurated cords and enlargement of the lym-
phatics.
Bleeding from the nose, sudden swelling of one of the hind legs,
and the swelling of the testicles are apt to precede an acute eruption
of glanders. As the symptoms become more marked the animal has
difficulty of respiration, the flanks heave, the respiration becomes
rapid, the pulse becomes quickened, and the temperature becomes
elevated to 103°, 104°, or 105° F.
With the other symptoms of an acute fever the general appearance
and station of the animal is that of one suffering from an acute pneu-
monia, but upon examination, while we may find sibilant and mucous
rales over the side of the chest, and may possibly hear tubular mur-
murs at the base of the neck over the trachea, we fail to find the tubu-
lar murmur or the large area of dullness on percussion over the sides
of the chest which belongs to simple pneumonia.
^Miere there is doubt as to the diagnosis the mallein or the inocula-
tion test may be employed. The mallein test is made by injecting
mallein (a sterilized extract from a culture of glanders bacilli) be-
neath the skin. If the horse has glanders there results a febrile
reaction and a swelling at the point of injection. If the horse does
not have glanders the mallein has no effect or, at most, it produces a
slight swelling only at the point of injection. The inoculation test
consists in the inoculation of a susceptible animal (usually a guinea
pig) with some of the suspected discharge from the nose or a farcy
ulcer. If the material is properly used, and if it contains bacilli of
glanders, the experimental animal will develop the disease. Neither
of these tests should be put into use except by a competent veteri-
narian.
The post-mortem examination of the lungs shows that the pneu-
monia of glanders is a lobular, V -shaped pneumonia scattered through
the lungs and caused by the specific inflammatory process taking
place at the divergence of the smaller air tubes of the lungs. In some
cases of acute glanders the formation of nodules may so irritate the
mucous membrane of the respiratory tract and cause such a profuse
discharge of mucopurulent or purulent matter that the specific char-
acter of the original discharge is entirely masked. In this case, too,
the submaxillary space may for a few days so swell as to resemble the
edematous inflamed glands of strangles, equine variola, or laryngitis.
This condition is especially apt to be marked in an acute outbreak of
glanders in a drove of mules.
Cases of chronic farcy and glanders, if not destroyed, may live in a
depraved condition until the animal dies from general emaciation and
anemia, but in the majority of cases, from some sudden exposure to
GLANDEES. 543
cold, it develops an acute pneumonia or other simple inflammatory
trouble which starts up the latent disease and the animal has acute
glanders.
In the ass, mule, and plethoric horses acute glanders usually termi-
nates by lobular pneumonia. In other cases the general symptoms
may subside. The symptoms of pneumonia gradually disappear, the
temperature lowers, the pulse becomes slower, the ulcers heal, leaving
small indurated cicatrices, and the animal may return to apparent
health, or may at least be able to do a small amount of work with but
a few symptoms of the disease remaining in a chronic form. During
the attack of acute glanders the inflammation of the nasal cavities
frequently spreads into the sinuses or air cells, which are found in the
forehead and in front of the eyes on either side of the face, and cause
abscesses of these cavities, which may remain as the only visible
symptom of the disease. An animal which has recovered from a case
of acute glanders, like the animals which are affected by chronic
glanders and chronic farcy, are apt to be affected with emphysema of
the lungs or the heaves, and to have a chronic cough. In this condi-
tion they may continue for a long period, serving as dangerous sources
of contagion, the more so because the slight amount of discharge does
not serve as a warning to the owner or driver as profuse discharge
does in the more acute cases.
At the post-mortem examination of an animal which has been de-
stroyed or has died of glanders we find evidences of the various
lesions which we have studied in the symptoms. In addition to this,
we find nodules similar to those which we have seen on the exterior
throughout the various organs of the body. Nodules may be found
in the liver, in the spleen, and in the kidneys. We may find inflam-
mation of the periosteum of the bones, and we have excessive altera-
tions in the marrow in the interior of the bones themselves. Both of
these conditions during the life of the animal may have been the cause
of the lamenesses which were difficult to diagnose.
In one case which came under the observation of the writer, a lame
horse was destroyed and found to have a large abscess of the bone of
the arm, with old nodules of the lungs. When an animal has died
immediately after an attack of a primary acute case of glanders, w^.^^
find small V-shaped spots of acute pneumonia in the lungs. If the
animal has made an apparent recovery from acute glanders, and in
cases of chronic farcy and chronic glanders, no matter how few the
external and visible symptoms may have been, there is a deposit of
nodules — small, hard, indurated nodes — of new connective tissue to be
found in the lungs. When these have existed for some time we may
find a deposit of lime salts in them. These indurated nodules retain
the virus and their power to give out contagion for almost an indefi-
nite time, and predispose to the causes which we have studied as the
544 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
common factors in developing a chronic case into an acute case ; that
is, an inflammatory process wakens up their vitality and produces a
reinfection of the entire animal. The blood of an animal suffering
from chronic glanders and farcy is not virulent and is unaltered, but
during the attack of acute glanders, while the animal has fever, the
blood becomes virulent and remains so for a few days.
Treatment. — Almost the entire list of drugs in the pharmacopoeia
has been tested in the treatment of glanders. Good- hygienic sur-
roundings, good food, with alteratives and tonics, frequently amelio-
rate the symptoms, and often do so to such an extent that the animal
would pass the examination of any expert as a perfectly sound ani-
mal. But while in this case the number of nodules of the lungs,
which are invariably there, may be so few as not to cause sufficient
disturbance in the respiration as to attract the attention of the exam-
iner, they exist, and will remain there almost indefinitely, with the
constant possibility of a return of acute symptoms.
It is probable that some horses may recover from glanders if the
infection is slight, but it will not yet do to depend upon this except-
ing under the most stringent veterinary supervision. AVith good
care, good food, and good surroundings and little work, an animal
affected with glanders vlvaj live for months or even years in an ap-
parent state of perfect health, but with the first deprivation of food,
with a few days of severe hard work, with exposure to cold or with
the attack of a simple fever or inflammatory trouble from other
causes, the latent seeds of the disease break out and develop the
trouble again in an acute form.
In several celebrated cases horses which have been affected with
glanders have been known to work for years and die from other
causes without ever having had the return of symptoms ; but allow-
ing that these cases may occur, they are so few and far between, and
the danger of infection of glanders to other horses and to the stable
attendants is so great, that no animal which has once been affected
with the disease should be allowed to live unless repeated mallein
tests have shown him to have become free from taint of glanders.
In all civilized countries, with the exception of some of the States
in the United States, the laws are most stringent regarding the
prompt declaration on the part of the owner and attending veteri-
narian at the first suspicion of a case of glanders, and they allow
indemnity for the animal. When this is done, in all cases the animal
is destroyed and the articles with which it has been in contact are
thoroughly disinfected. When the attendants have attempted to
hide the presence of the disease in a community, punishment is meted
to the owner, attending veterinarian, or other responsible parties.
Several States have passed excellent laws in regard to glanders, but
these laws are not always carried out with the rigidity with which
BABIES. 545
they should be. The disease is very prevalent in Massachusetts, in
New York City, and in some of tJie Western States. It has been al-
most completely eradicated from Pennsylvania and several other
States.
RABIES IX THE HORSE.
[Synonyms: Hyclroi)hobia, madness ; ?//.s'.sy;, Greek ; rof/f, French ; iciithJcrauJc-
Jieit, German.]
Defimtion. — Rabies is a contagious disease which is usually trans-
mitted by a bite and by the introduction of a virus contained in the
saliva of an affected animal. It may, however, be transmitted in
other ways. It is characterized by symptoms of aberration of the
nervous system, and invariably terminates fatally. It is accompanied
by lesions, inflammation, and degeneration in the central nervous
system. It is a disease that is most common in the dog, but is trans-
mitted to the horse, either from dogs or from any other animal
affected with it. (See also remarks on page 222.)
As a disease of the horse it is useless to enter into the etiology fur-
ther than to state that in this animal it is invariably the result of the
bite of a rabid animal, usually a dog.
Perhaps no disease in medicine has been the object of more con-
troversy than rabies. Certain medical men of prominence have
even doubted the existence of the disease. Many medical men have
claimed for it a spontaneous origin. The experience, however, of
ages has shown that contagion can be proved in the great majority of
cases, and, by analogy with other contagious diseases, we may only
believe that the development of one case requires the preexistence of
a case from which the virus has been transmitted. M. Pasteur has
further added to our knowledge of the disease by showing that a
virus capable of cultivation exists in the nervous system, especially
in the lower part of the brain (medulla oblongata) and in the ante-
rior part of the spinal column. M. Pasteur has further shown that
that portion of the nervous system which contains the virus, the
exact nature of which has not yet been demonstrated, will retain it
for a very long time if kept at a very low temperature or if left sur-
rounded by carbonic acid; but if the nerve matter, which is virulent
at first, is exposed to the air and is kept from putrefaction by sub-
stances Avhich will absorb the surrounding moisture, it will gradually
lose its virulence and become inoffensive in about fifteen days. He
has further shown that the action of a weak virus on an animal will
prevent the development of a stronger virus, and from this he has
formulated his method of prophylactic treatment. This treatment
consists in the successive inoculation of portions of the nerve matter
containing the virus from a rabid animal which has been exposed
to the atmosphere for thirteen days, ten days, seven days, and four
H. Doc. 795, 59-2 35
546 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
days, until the virulent matter which will j^i'oduce rabies in any
unjirotected animal can be inoculated with impunity. A curious
result of the experiments of M. Pasteur is that an animal which has
first been inoculated with a virus of full strength can be protected
by subsequent inoculations of attenuated virus repeated in doses of
increasing strength.
Symptoms. — From the moment of inoculation by the bite of a rabid
dog or other rabid animal or by other means, a variable time elapses
before the development of any symptoms. This time may be eight
days or it may be several months; it is usually about four weeks.
The first symptom is an irritation of the original wound. This
wound, which may have healed completely, commences to itch until
the horse rubs or bites it into a new sore. The horse then becomes
irritable and vicious. It is especially susceptible to moving objects;
excessive light, noises, the entrance of an attendant, or any other dis-
turbance will cause the patient to be on the defensive. It apparently
sees imaginary objects ; the slightest noise is exaggerated into threat-
ening violence; the approach of an attendant or another animal,
especialh^ a dog, is interpreted as an assault and the horse will strike
and bite. The violence on the part of the rabid horse is not for a
moment to be confounded with the fury of the same animal suffering
from meningitis or any other trouble of the brain. But in rabies
there is a volition, a premeditated method, in the attacks which the
animal w^ill make, which is not found in the other diseases. Between
the attacks of fury the animal may become calm for a variable period.
The writer attended a case in which, after a violent attack of an hour,
the horse was sufficiently calm to be walked 10 miles and only
developed violence again an hour after being placed in the new stable.
In the period of fury the horse w'ill bite at the reopened original
wound; it will rear and attempt to break its halter and fastenings; it
will bite at the woodwork and surrounding objects in the stable. If
the animal lives long enough it shows paralytic symptoms and falls to
the ground, vmable to use two or more of its extremities, but in the
majority of cases, in its excesses of violence, it does physical injury to
itself. It breaks its jaws in biting at the manger or fractures other
bones in throwing itself on the ground and dies of hemorrhage or
internal injuries. At times throughout the course of the disease there
is an excessive sensibility of the skin wdiich, if irritated by the touch,
wall bring on attacks of violence. The animal may have appetite and
desire water throughout the course of the disease, but on attempting
to swallow has a spasm of the throat, which renders the act impossible.
This latter condition, which is common in all rabid animals, has given
the disease the name of hydrophobia (fear of water).
In a case under the care of the writer a horse, four weeks after
being bitten on the forearm by a rabid dog, developed local irritation
RABIES. 547
in the healod wound and tore it with its teeth into a large ulcer. This
was healed by local treatment in ten days and the horse was kept
nnder surveillance for over a month. On the advice of another prac-
titioner the horse was taken home and put to work, and within three
days it developed violent symptoms and had to be destroyed.
Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of rabies in the horse is to be made from
the various brain troubles to which the animal is subject; first, by the
historj^ of a previous bite of a rabid animal or inoculation by other
means; second, by the evident volition and consciousness on the part
of the animal in its attacks, offensive and defensive, on persons, ani-
mals, or other disturbing surroundings. The irritation and reopen-
ing of the original wound or point of inoculation is a valuable factor
in diagnosis.
Recovery from rabies may be considered as a question of the cor-
rectness of the original diagnosis. Rabies is always fatal.
Treatment. — No remedial treatment has ever been successful. All
of the anodynes and anesthetics, opium, belladonna, bromide of pot-
ash, ether, chloroform, etc., have been used without avail. The
prophylactic treatment of successive inoculations is being used on
human beings, and has experimentally proved efficacious in dogs, but
would be impracticable in the horse unless the conditions were quite
exceptional.
SURRA."
By Ch. Wardell Stiles, Ph. D.,
Co)isiiltiug Zoologist, Bnrcau of Animal Indiistrii; Zoologist, United tStates
Public Health and Marine-Hospital i^crrice.
Surra is not known to occur in the United States, but it is more or
less common in the Philippine Islands and India. It is caused by a
microscopic, flagellate animal parasite, known as Trypanosoma
Evansi^ 20 to 30 yu long by 1 to 2 yw broad, which lives in the blood and
destroys the red-blood corpuscles. In general, the disease is very
similar to, and belongs in the same general class with, tsetse-fly dis-
ease, or nagana, of Africa and mal cle caderas of South America.
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.
Surra is a wet-weather disease, occurring chiefly during or imme-
diately after heavy rainfalls, floods, or inundations.
ANIMALS AFFECTED.
Surra attacks esj^ecially horses, asses, and mules, but it may occur
in kerabau, camels, elephants, cats, and dogs, and has been trans-
mitted to cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, and
monkeys. No birds, reptiles, amphibia (frogs, etc.), or fish are
known to suffer from it. It attacks both male and female animals,
young and old. Australian breeds of horses and Avhite and gray
mules are said to be more susceptible than animals of other breeds
and color.
LETHALITY DURATION.
Surra in equines and camels is said to be an invariabl}^ fatal dis-
ease, but cattle occasionally recover from it. There is no history of a
definite onset of the disease, and the condition is progressive, usually
with a number of relapses. The period of incubation may vary some-
what; in experimental cases it is from two to seventy-five (usually
six to eight) days, according to conditions. The duration varies with
the species of animals attacked, their age, and general condition. The
average duration in the horse is reported as less than two months,
though some cases nuiy terminate fatally in less than one to two
weeks.
a For a more detailed discussion of this disease see Salmon & Stiles, 1902,
Emergency report on surra ul. 42, Bureau Animal Industry, U. S. Dept.
Agric, Wash., pp. 1-152, figs. 1-112. Reprinted in Eighteenth Annual Report
(for 1901), Bureau of Animal Industry, pp. 41-182, figs. 1-112.
548
SURRA. 549
METHOD OF INFECTION.
All evidence nov\' available seems to indicate that surra is strictly a
wound disease, namely, that the parasite may enter the body only
through a wound of some kind. Apparently by far the most common
method is through wounds produced by biting flies, whose mouth
parts are moist with the infected blood of some animal bitten by the
same flies immediately previous to biting the healthy animal. Crows
may also transmit the infection by pecking at sores "on a diseased
animal, soiling their beaks with blood, and transferring this infected
blood to a healthy animal. Likewise, if a scratch is made on a horse
and then infected blood is rubbed on the scratch, the horse will be-
come diseased. If, in experiment, infected blood is fed to a healthy
animal, the latter may contract surra in case it has an abraded or
wounded spot in the mouth ; but if no part of the lining of the
alimentary canal is wounded, infection does not take place. Thus
dogs and cats may contract the disease by wounding the lining of the
mouth (as with splinters of bone) while feeding on the carcasses of
surra subjects. All available evidence indicates that under normal
conditions of pregnancy the disease is not transmitted from mother
to fetus.
There is a popular view that surra may be contracted by drinking
stagnant water and by eating grass and other vegetation grown upon
land subject to inundation, but there is no good experimental evidence
to support this view. Probably the correct interpretation of the facts
cited in support of this theory is that biting flies are numerous around
bodies of stagnant water and in inundated pastures ; hence that a great
number of possible transmitters of the disease are present in these
places.
SYMPTOMS."
Sym.pto7ns of the disease as observed when contracted naturally. —
The invasion of this disease is usually marked by symptoms of a
trivial character; the skin feels hot, and there may be more or less
fever; there is also slight loss of appetite, and the animal appears
dull and stumbles during action; early a symptom sometimes appears
which may be the first intimation received of the animal's indisposi-
tion, and which, as a guide to diagnosis, is of great importance; it
is the presence of a general or localized urticarial eruption. If the
blood be examined microscopically, it may be found to present a
normal appearance; but in the majority of cases a few small, rapidly
moving organisms will be observed, giving to the blood, as it passes
among the corpuscles, a peculiar vibrating movement, which if once
o This summary of symptoms is based upon work by Lingard, as summarized in
tbe Emergency Report. (See footnote on page 548.)
550 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
observed will not easily be forgotten. If the parasite has not been
discovered in the blood for some days, the s3anpto]ns mentioned above
may be the onlj'^ ones noticed, and, as a rule, when treated with febri-
fuges, the horse quickly improves in health and the appetite x^eturns.
This condition does not last for more than a few days, when the
animal is again observed to present a dull and dejected appearance,
and on examination well-marked symptoms are found ; the skin is
hot, the temperature more or less elevated — 101.7° to 104° F,; the
pulse full and frequent — 56 to 64 beats per minute ; the Adsible mu-
cous membranes may appear clean, but the conjunctival membranes,
especially those covering the membrana nictitans, are usually the seat
of dark-red patches of ecchymosis, varying in size in different an-
imals. There is more or less thirst and slight loss of appetite; the
animal eats its grain and green grass, but leaves all or a portion of
the hay with which it has been supplied. At the same time there
are slight catarrhal symptoms present, including lachrymation and a
little mucous discharge from the nostrils. Occasionally at this period
of the disease the submaxillary glands may be found enlarged and
perhaj^s somewhat tender on manipulation. One symptom is mark-
edly absent, namely, the presence of rigors or the objective sign of
chilliness. In addition, it will be noted that there is some swelling and
edema of the legs, generally between the fetlock and the hock, which
pits but is not painful on pressure, and in case of horses there may
be present also at this stage of the disease some swelling of the sheath.
"When the fever and concomitant symptoms have declared themselves
for a short period, one thing becomes especially noticeable in every
animal attacked, namely, the rapidity with which it loses flesh. If
the blood has been examined microscopically during the second period
of fever, at first a few parasites will have been observed in it, which
day by day increase in number and reach a maximum, where they
remain for a varying period, or at once suddenly or gi^adually disap-
pear during the i^eriod of apyrexia. After the fever and the accom-
panying sj'mptoms have for the second time been present for some
days — the period varying from one to six — the animal is found to
have lost the dull, dejected appearance and to look l^right. The tem-
perature has fallen and, in some cases, has attained normal or even
subnormal limits. The visible mucous membranes are clean, and the
conjunctival petechiae begin to fade; the pulse, however, will be found
to be weak and thready in character, but the appetite excellent, and,
in fact, if it were not for the loss of flesh and slight edema of the
legs, there would be little to show that the animal was sick. But
vmfortunately this condition does not continue for any length of time,
for again the temperature is elevated; in the course of a few hours
the thermometer registers a still higher degree, the animal is dull and
dejected, and by the following day the visible mucous membranes
SURRA. 551
present a yellow tinge ; large ecchymoses, dark in color, appear on the
conjunctival membranes, the action of the heart is irritable, the pulse
full and quick, or at times intermittent, and regurgitation may be
observed in the jugulars, the breathing is quickened, and the individ-
ual respirations are shallow. On watching an animal in this condi-
tion it may be noticed that it takes T to 8 very short inspirations, and
these are followed by a much more prolonged and sonorous one ; at the
same time the breathing is more abdominal than thoracic in character.
On examination, of the legs it will be found that the sw^elling and
edema have increased considerably, and that on the under surface of
the abdomen, where it was previously confined to the sheath, it has
now cammeneed to spread forward along the subcutaneous tissue
between the slrin and the muscles. During the whole of this time the
appetite will have varied little, and the evacuations will be only
slightly, if at all, altered in character. In the blood a repetition of
the previous events takes place, the parasites make their appearance
and increase to a maximum and again suddenly or gradually disap-
pear, according to the length of the fever period. These periods,
alternating with and without fever, ma}^ go on far a considerable time.
The progress of the disease is variable and greatly depends upon the
condition of the animal attacked, the weak one succumbing very rap-
idly, but each return of the fever brings with it, as a rule, an increase
in the severity of the symptoms. There is increased yellowness of the
membranes, fresh crops of petechias on the conjunctiva, a collection of
gelatinous material at the inner angle, which at times becomes red in
color from an admixtuFe of blood, and which on microscopic exami-
nation is found to contain a varying nimiber of the surra parasites ;
increased swelling and edema of the extremities and abdomen, which
now extends between the fore limbs and up the chest. During this
time the wasting has been steadily progressive, especially of the mus-
cles of the back and those surrounding the hip joint and the glutei.
Toward the termination of the disease it will be noticed that an
animal is disinclined to move, and when made to do so there will be
manifest loss of power over the hind quarters, somewhat simulating
a slight partial paralysis, and the hind quarters of the animal reel
from side to side. In connection with this it may be noted that there
is frequentlj^ present paralysis of the sphincter ani and a dilated
condition of the anus. These symptoms taken together jwint to some
interference with the normal functions of the spinal cord in the lower
dorsal and lumbar regions, and are probably due to pressure caused
by an exudation wdthin the spinal membranes. In many cases shortly
before death the heart's action becomes exceedingly violent, shaking
the whole frame at each beat, so that the sound can be heard at some
distance from the animal. In some of these cases the animal may
suddenly drap dead ; in others the emaciation and weakness become
552 DISEASES OF THE HOESE.
SO pronounced that the animal falls to the ground, and, after a short
struggle, succumbs to the disease. In other cases, again, the animal
falls to the ground and appears to be suffering from acute pain,
struggles violently, sweat covers the bod}^, and respiration is very-
hurried. The struggles soon exhaust the patient's strength, and for
a time it lies quiet; soon, however, the struggles commence again,
and this continues until death occurs. In some cases the appetite is
voracious.
Symptoms of the disease as ohserved in exjjerimentally inoculated
animals. — Twentj^-four hours after the subcutaneous injection of a
small quantity of surra blood, in the great majority of cases, a small
circumscribed and somewhat raised swelling is noticed at the seat
of the inoculation. After forty -eight hours the tumor has increased
in size and is accompanied by some edema ; it presents a certain
amount of tension of the parts involved, and is generally tender on
manipulation. These conditions continue to increase, until by the
fourth day the tumor may measure 3 or 4 inches in one direction by
2 or 3 in the other, and raised to the extent of an inch or an inch and
a half above the surrounding tissues, or in some cases the tumor pre-
sents an almost circular form throughout. It will be also found
that, if the tumor be firmly grasped, it is not fixed, but can be lifted
up from the subcutaneous tissue. According to the nature and
amount of the inoculated blood, these symptoms rapidly present them-
selves, and either attain a maximum or are retarded until, varying
from the fourth to the thirteenth day, the tumor at the seat of inocu-
lation will be found to have lost a certain amount of its tension and
tenderness. From this date the swelling and edema Avill gradually
begin to grow less, until finally, after a period of ten to fourteen days,
the only sign left of the former swelling will be slight thickening of
the skin over the point of the injection ; but at the moment when the
tension and tenderness of the parts at the seat of inoculation become
suddenly decreased a symptom of the utmost clinical importance
takes place, namely, at that moment the parasite of surra enters the
blood of the general circulation.
The temperature on the day of inoculation, and, in fact, for several
days afterwards, may remain normal in character, there being only a
few degrees difference between the morning and evening observations.
In other cases there may be a slight rise from the first evening, and a
gradual progressive rise until the swelling at the seat of inoculation
shows signs of reduction in size, when the temperature generally
takes a decided rise again, and may attain 104° or 105.8° F, This
elevation will last a varying period of from two to six days, and on
the day following its onset the ordinary symptoms of fever will be
noticed, and in addition there will be petechia^ on the conjunctival
membranes, lachrymation, a slight mucous discharge from the nose,
SURRA. 553
and in seA^ere cases some edema of the lower portion of the legs, and
perhaps of the sheath in horses. At the termination of the period
of fever the temperature will be found to have fallen to normal or
nearly so; the animal will present a brighter aspect, and there is
every appearance of its return to health ; but in a few days the animal
again appears dull and half asleep; the temperature becomes elevated,
and a relapse takes place, and a repetition of all the symptoms in the
primary paroxysm, including the reappearance of the parasite, is
observed.
DIAGNOSIS.
Certain symptoms (anemia, fever, petechia^, ravenous appetite,
extreme emaciation, high mortality, etc.) would naturally give rise to
a suspicion of surra. The positive diagnosis should, however, be
made with a microscope. In case of suspected surra no delay in con-
firming or disproving the suspicion should be permitted.
TREATMENT.
No satisfactory treatment is known. Intravenous injections of
FoAvler's solution of arsenic give temporary relief, but relapses occur.
In view of the great economic importance of this disease, it would
not be advisable to attempt to treat any sporadic cases should they
occur in this country. On the contrary, the animals should be slaugh-
tered immediately and their carcasses promptly burned.
OSTEOPOROSIS, OR BIGHEAD.
By John R. Mohler, V. M. D.,
Chief of Pathological Division, Bureau of Animal Industry.
NATURE OF THE DLSEASE.
Osteoporosis is a general disease of the bones which develops slowly
and progressively and is characterized by the absorption of the cal-
careous or compact bony substance and the formation of enlarged, soft-
ened, and porous bone. It is particularly manifest in the bones of the
head, causing enlargement and bulging of the face and jaws, thereby
giving rise to the terms '' bighead" and ''swelled head," which are
applied to it. The disease affects horses, mules, and asses of all ages,
classes, and breeds, and of both sexes, and is found under all soil,
dietetic, and climatic conditions. It may occur in sporadic form, but
in certain regions, such as South Africa, Australia, Madagascar, India,
Hawaii, and in this country it seems to be enzootic, several cases
usuall}^ appearing in the same stable or on the same farm, and numer-
ous animals being affected in the same district. In the United States
the disease has been found in all the States bordering the Delaware
River and Chesapeake Bay, in some of the New England States, and
in many of the Southern States, especially along the coast in regions
of low altitude. In Europe the disease appears to be quite rare, and
is usually described as a form of osteomalacia, a disease which is not
uncommon among cattle of that continent. However, the opinion
that bighead is only a form of osteomalacia can not be accepted, nor can
the infrequency of the former among European horses and the fre-
quency of the latter among other live stock be conceded on the argu-
ment which has been presented, namely, that the better care which
horses receive prevents them from becoming affected. In the South-
west, where osteomalacia, or creeps, has not infrequent!}^ been
observed by the writer among range cattle, no case of osteoporosis of
the horses using the same range has been noted, although the latter
animals are given no more attention than the cattle.
The appropriate treatment of osteomalacia in cattle is so effective that
if osteoporosis were a similar manifestation of disease a similar line of
treatment should prove equally efficacious. However, this is not the
fact. On the other hand, the occurrence of osteomalacia on old,
554
OSTEOPOROSIS, OE BIGHEAD. • 555
worn-out soil, or on land deficient in lime salts, or from eating- feed
lacking- in these bone- forming substances, or drinking water with a
lime deficiency, is in perfect accord with our knowledge of the disease.
But osteoporosis may occur on rich, fertile soil, in the most hygienic
stables, and in animals receiving the best of care and of bone-forming
feeds with a proper amount of mineral salts in the drinking water.
CAUSE.
The cause of this disease still remains obscure, although various
theories have been advanced, some entirely erroneous, others more
or less plausible; but none of these has been -established. Thus the
idea that feeding fodder and cereals poor in mineral salts and grazing
in pastures where the soil is poor in lime and phosphates will
cause the disease has been entirely disproved in many instances.
Others have considered that the disease starts as a muscular rheuma-
tism which is followed by an inflammatory condition of the bones,
terminating in osteoporosis. The idea that the disease is contagious
has been advanced by many writers, although no causative agent has
been isolated. Numerous experiments have been made by inoculating
the blood of an affected horse into normal horses without results. A
piece of bone taken by Pearson from the diseased lower jaw of a colt
was transplanted into a cavity made for it in the jaw of a normal
horse, but without reproducing the disease. Petrone believes that the
Micrococcus iiitrlJiGans causes osteomalacia in mau as a result of its
producing nitrous acid, which dissolves the calcareous tissues, and
when injected into dogs in pure culture a similar disease is produced.
It is probable that if this work is confirmed a somewhat similar causa-
tive factor will be discovered for osteoporosis.
Elliott considers the latter disease to be of microbic origin due to
climatic conditions, and divides the island of Hawaii into two districts,
in one of which the rainfall is 150 inches annuall3^ where bighead is
very prevalent, and the second of which is dr}" and rarely visited by
rain, where the disease is unknown. Removal of animals from the wet
to the dry district is followed by immediate improvement and fre-
quently b}^ recovery. In the wet district horses in both good and bad
stables take the disease, but in the dry district no unfavorable or unhy-
gienic surroundings produce the affection. As both native and im-
ported horses are equally susceptible, there is no indication of an
acquired immunity to be observed^
Theiler has recently stated that his experiments in transfusing blood
from diseased to normal horses were negative, and has suggested that
the causative agent may only be ti-ansmitted by an intermediate host,
as in the case of Texas fever. He draws attention to this method of
spreading East African coast fever, although blood inoculations, as in
osteoporosis, are always without result. We know that coast fever is
556 • DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
infectious, and that it can not be transmitted by blood inoculations,
but is conveyed with remarkable ease by ticks coming from diseased
cattle. That the cause has not been observed may be accounted for
by its being invisible even to the high magnification of the microscope.
On some farms and in some stables bighead is quite prevalent, a
number of cases following one after another. On one farm of thor-
oughbreds in Pennsylvania all the yearling colts and some of the aged
horses were affected during one year, and on a similar farm in Vir-
ginia a large proportion of the horses for several years were diseased,
although the cows and sheep of this farm remained unaffected.
SYMPTOMS.
The commencement of the disease is usually unobserved by the
owner, and those symptoms which do develop are generally not well
marked or are misleading unless other cases have been noted in the
vicinity. Until the bones become enlarged the symptoms remain so
vague as not to be diagnosed readily. The disease may be present
itself under a variety of sj^mptoms. If the bones of the hock become
affected, the animal will first show a hock lameness. If the long bones
are involved, s3^mptomsof rheumatism will be the first observed, while
if the dorsal or lumbar vertebra3 are affected indications of a strain of
the lumbar region are in evidence. Probabl}^ the first symptom to be
noticed is a loss of vitality combined with an irregular appetite or
other digestive disturbance, and with a tendency to stumble while in
action. These earlier symptoms, however, may pass unobserved, and the
appearance of an intermittent or migrator}^ lameness without an}^ visi-
ble cause may be the first sign to attract attention. This shifting and
indefinite lameness, involving first one leg and then the other, is very
suggestive, and is even more important when it is associated with a
tendency to lie down f requentl}^ in the stall and the absence of a desire
to get up, or the presence of evident pain and difficulty in arising.
About this time, or probabl}^ before, swelling of the bones of the
face and jaw, which is almost constantly present in this disease, will
be observed. The bones of the lower jaw are the most frequently
involved, and this condition is readil}^ detected with the fingers by the
bulging ridge of the bone outside and along the lower edge of the
molar teeth. A thickening of the lower jawbone may likewise be
identified by feeling on both sides of each branch at the same time
and comparing it with the thinness of this bone in a normal horse.
As a result mastication becomes difficult or impossible and the teeth
become loose and painful. The imperfect chewing which follows causes
balls of food to form which drop out of the mouth into the manger.
Similar enlargements of thebones of the upper jaw ma}^ be seen, caus-
ing a widening of the face and a bulging of the bones about midway
betW'Cen the eyes and the nostrils. In some cases the nasal bones also
OSTEOPOEOSIS, OB BIGHEAD. 557
become swollen and deformed, which, together with the bidgino- of
the bones under the eyes, gives a good illustration of the reason for
the application of the term bighead.
Other bones of the body will undergo similar changes, but these
alterations are not so readily noted except by the symptoms they occa-
sion. The alterations of the bones of the spinal column and the limbs,
while difficult of observation, are nevertheless indicated by the reluc-
tance of the animal to get up and the desire to remain lying for long
periods of time. The animal easily tires, moves less rapidly, and if
urged to go faster may sustain a fracture or have a ligament torn from
its bony attachments, especiall^^ in the lower bones of the leg. An
affected horse weighing 1,000 pounds was seen by the writer to frac-
ture the large pastern bone from rearing during halter exercise.
The animal becomes poor in flesh, the coat is rough and lusterless, and
the skin tight and harsh, producing a condition termed "hidebound,"
with considerable "tucking up" of the abdomen. The horse shows a
short, stilted, choppy gait, which later becomes stiffer and more
restricted, while on standing a position sinmlating that in founder is
assumed, with a noticeable drop to the croup. The animal at this
stage usually lies down and remains recumbent for several da3^s at a
time. Bed sores frequently arise and fractures are not uncommon in
consequence of attempts to arise, which complications, in addition to
emaciation, result in death.
The disease may exist in this manner for variable periods extend-
ing from two or three months to two years. The termination of the
disease is uncertain at best, but is likely to be favorable if treatment
and a change of feed, water, and location is adopted in the early stages
of the malady.
LESIONS.
As has been stated, the bones are the prmcipal tissues involved.
The nutrition of the bone is disturbed, as is indicated by the dimin-
ished density or rarefaction of the bony substances, the increase in
the size or widening of the Haversian canal and the medullary cavity,
and the enlargement of the network of spaces in the spongy tissue, the
absorptive changes following the course of the Haversian S3'stem. In
this process of absorption there are formed within the substance of the
bone areas of erosion, indentations, or hollow spaces of irregular shape.
These spaces increase in size and become confluent, causing an appear-
ance resembling some varieties of coral. The afiected bone may be
readily incised with a knife, the cut surface appearing finely porous.
This porous area is soft, pliable, and yields easily to the pressure of
the finger. It has been shown b3r chemical analysis that the bone of
an osteoporotic horse, when compared with that of a normal horse,
shows a reduction in the amount of fat, phosphoric acid, lime, and
558 DISEASES or the horse.
soda, but a slight increase in organic matter and silicic acid. The
bones lose their yellowish-white appearance, becoming g'ray and
brittle. The affected bones may be those of any region or portion of
the bod}^. Besides the change already noted in the bones of the face,
the ends of the long bones, snch as the ril)s, are involved, and ma}' be
sectioned, though not so readily as the facial bones. The bones of the
vertebrte are also frequently involved, necessitating great care in cast-
ing a horse, as the writer has seen sevei"al cases of ])roken backs in
casting such animals for other operations. The marrow and cancel-
lated tissue of the long bones may contain hemorrhages and soft gelat-
inous material or coagulated fibrin. The internal organs are usually
normal, but a catarrhal condition of the gastro-intestinal tract ma}' be
noted as a result of the improper mastication, resulting from the
enlargement of the jaws and soreness of the teeth.
TREATMENT.
The affected animal should be immediately placed under new condi-
tions, both as to feed and surroundings. If the horse has been stable
fed, it is advisable to turn it out on grass for two or three months,
preferably in a higher altitude. If the disease has been contracted
while running on pasture, place the animal in the stable or corral. In
the early stages of the disease beneficial results have followed the
supplemental use of lime given in the drinking water. One peck of
lime slaked in a cask of water and additional water added from time
to time is satisfactory and can be provided at slight expense. This
treatment may be supplemented by giving a tablespoonful of pow-
dered bone meal in each feed, with free access to a large piece of rock
salt, or the bone meal may be given with four tablespoonfuls of
molasses mixed with the feed. Feeds containing mineral salts, such
as beans, cowpeas, oats, and cotton-seed meal, may prove beneficial
in replenishing the bony substance that is being absorbed. Cotton-
seed meal is one of the best feeds for this purpose, but it should be
fed carefully. The animal should not be aHowed to work at all during
the active stage of the disease, nor should it be used for breeding
purposes.
SHOEmG.
By JoHiN W. Adams, A. B., V. M. D..
Professor of (^tirf/cri/ and Lecturer on Hhoeing, Veterinary Department, rnirersity
of Pennsylvania.
Bad and indifferent shoeing so frequently leads to diseases of the
feet and in irregularities of gait which may render a horse unservice-
able, that it has been thought appropriate to conclude this book with
a brief chapter on the principles involved in shoeing healthy hoofs.
In unfolding tliis subject in the limited space at my disposal, I can
only hope to give the intelligent horse owner a sufficient number of
facts, based on experience and upon the anatomy and physiology of
the foot and leg, to enable him to avoid the more serious conse-
quences of improper shoeing.
Let us first examine this vital mechanism, the foot, and learn some-
thing of its structure and of the natural movements of its component
parts, that we may be prepared to recognize deviations from the nor-
mal and to apply the proper corrective.
GROSS AXATOMY OF THE FOOT.
The hon£s of the foot are four in number, three of which — the long
pastern, short pastern, and coffin bone, placed end to end — form a
continuous straight column 2:>assing downward and forward from the
fetlock joint to the ground. A small acceasoiy bone, the navicular, or
" shuttle," bone, lies crosswise in the foot between the wings of the
coffin bone and forms a part of the joint surface of the latter. The
short pastern projects about 1| inches above the hoof and extends
about an equal distance to it. (See also page 369.)
The pasterns and the coffin bone are held together by strong fibrous
cords passing between each two bones and placed at the sides so as not
to interfere with the forward and backward movement of the bones.
The joints are therefore hinge joints^ though imi^erfect, because, while
the chief movements are those of extension and flexion in a single
plane, some slight rotation and lateral movements are possible.
The bones are still further bound together and suj^ported by three
long fibrous cords, or tendons. One, the extensor tendon of the toe,
passes down the front of the pasterns and attaches to the coffin bone
just below the edge of the hair; when pidled upon by its muscle this
tendon draws the toe forward and enables the horse to place the hoof
flat upon the ground, The other two tendons are placed behind the
559
560 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
pasterns and are called fexors^ because they flex, or bend, the pasterns
and coffin bone backward. One of the tendons is attached to the
upper end of the short pastern, while the other passes down between
the heels, glides over the under surface of the navicular bone, and
attaches itself to the under surface of the coffin bone. These two ten-
dons not only flex, or fold up, the foot as the latter leaves the ground,
during motion, but at rest assist the suspensory ligament in support-
ing the fetlock joint.
The foot-axis is an imaginary line passing from the fetlock joint
through the long axes of the two pasterns and coffin bone. This
imaginary line, which shows the direction of the pasterns and coffin
bone, should always be straight — that is, never broken, either forward
or backward when viewed from the side, or inward or outward when
observed from in front. Viewed from one side, the long axis of the
long pastern, when prolonged to the ground, should be parallel to
the line of the toe. Viewed from in front, the long axis of the long
pastern, Avhen prolonged to the ground, should cut the hoof exactly
at the middle of the toe.
Eaising the heel or shortening the toe not only tilts the coffin bone
forward and makes the hoof stand steeper at the toe, but slackens the
tendon that attaches to the under surface of the coffin bone (perforans
tendon), and therefore allows the fetlock joint to sink downward and
backward and the long pastern to assume a more nearly horizontal
position. The foot-axis, viewed from one side, is now broken for-
ward ; that is, the long pastern is less steep than the toe, and the heels
are either too long or the toe is too short. On the other hand, raising
the toe or lowering the heels of a foot with a straight foot-axis not
only tilts the coffin bone backward and renders the toe more nearly
horizontal, but tenses the perforans tendon, which then forces the fet-
lock joint forward, causing the long pastern to stand steeper. The
foot-axis, seen from one side, is now broken backward — an indication
that the toe is relatively too long or that the heels are relatively too
low.
The elastic tissues of the foot are preeminently the lateral cartilages
and the plantar cushion. The lateral cartilages are two irregularly
four-sided plates of gristle, one on either side of the foot, extending
from the wings of the coffin bone backward to the heels and upward to
a distance of an inch or more above the edge of the hair, where they
may be felt by the fingers. A^^ien sound, these plates are elastic and
yield readily to moderate finger pressure, but from various causes
may undergo ossification, in which condition they are hard and un-
yielding. The plantar cushion is a wedge-shaped mass of tough,
elastic, fibro-fatty tissue filling all the space between the lateral car-
tilages, forming the fleshy heels and the fleshy frog, and serving as a
buffer to disperse shock when the foot is set to the ground. It ex-
ANATOMY OF THE FOOT. 561
tends forward underneath the navicular bone and perforans tendon,
and protects these structures from injurious pressure from below.
Instantaneous photographs show that at speed the horse sets the heels
to the ground before other parts of the foot — conclusive proof that
the function of this tough, elastic structure is to dissipate and render
harmless violent impact of the foot with the ground.
The horn-producing niemljrane^ or " quick," as it is commonly
termed, is merely a downward prolongation of the " derm," or true
skin, and may be conveniently called the pododerm (foot skin). The
pododerm closely invests the coffin bone, lateral cartilages, and plantar
cushion, much as a sock covers the human foot, and is itself covered
by the horny capsule, or hoof. It ditfers from the external skin, or
hair skin, in having no sweat or oil glands, but, like it, is richly sup-
plied with blood vessels and sensitive nerves. And, just as the derm
cf the hair skin produces upon its outer surface layer upon layer of
horny cells (epiderm), which protect the sensitive and vascular derm,
so, likewise, in the foot the pododerm produces over its entire surface
soft cells, which, pushed away by more recent cells forming beneath,
lose moisture by evaporation and are rapidly transformed into the
corneous material which we call the hoof. It is proper to regard the
hoof as a greatly thickened epiderm having many of the qualities
possessed by such epidermal structures as hair, feathers, nails,
claws, etc.
The functions of the pododerm are to produce the hoof and to unite
it firmly to the foot.
There are five parts of the pododerm, easily distinguishable when
the hoof has been removed, namely: (1) The perioplic hand., a narrow
ridge from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch wide, running along
the edge of the hair from one heel around the toe to the other. This
band produces the perioplic horn^ the thin varnishlike layer of glis-
tening horn, which forms the surface of the wall, or " crust," and
whose purpose seems to be to retard evaporation of moisture from
the wall. (2) The coronary hand^ a prominent fleshy cornice encir-
cling the foot just below and parallel to the perioplic band. At the
heels it is reflected forward along the sides of the fleshy frog, to be-
come lost near the apex of this latter structure. The coronet pro-
duces the middle layer of the wall, and the reflected portions produce
the " bars," which are, therefore, to be regarded merely as a turning
forward of the wall. (3) The fleshy leaves., 500 to COO in number,
parallel to one another, running downward and forward from the
lower edge of the coronary band to the margin of the fleshy sole.
They produce the soft, light-colored horny leaves which form the
deepest layer of the wall, and serve as a strong bond of union between
the middle layer of the wall and the fleshy leaves with which they
dovetail. (4) The fleshy sole., which covers the entire under surface
H. Doc. 795, 59-2 36
562 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
of the foot, excepting the fleshy frog and bars. The horny sole is
produced by the fleshy sole. (5) The -fleshy frog, which covers tlie
under surface of the plantar cushion and produces the horny frog.
The horny hox, or hoof, consists of wall and bars, sole and frog.
The wall is all that part of the hoof which is visible when the foot is
on the ground (see fig. 8). As already stated, it consists of three
layers — the periople, the middle layer, and the leafy layer.
The hars (see fig. Ic) are forward prolongations of the wall, and
are gradually lost near the point of the frog. The angle between the
wall and a bar is called the " buttress." Each bar lies against the
horny frog on one side and incloses a wing of the sole on the other,
so that the least expansion or contraction of the horny frog separates
or approximates the bars, and through them the lateral cartilages and
the walls of the quarters. The lower border of the wall is called the
" bearing edge," and is the surface against which the shoe bears. By
dividing the entire lower circumference of the wall into five equal
parts, a toe, tAvo side walls, and two quarters will be exhibited. The
*' heels," strictly speaking, are the two rounded soft prominences of
the plantar cushion, lying one above each quarter. The outer wall is
usually more slanting than the inner, and the more slanting half of a
hoof is always the thicker. In front hoofs the wall is thickest at the
toe and gradually thins out toward the quarters, where in some horses
it may not exceed one-fourth of an inch. In hind hoofs there is much
less diflPerence in thickness between the toe, side walls, and quarters.
The horny sole, from which the flakes of old horn have been removed,
is concave and about as thick as the wall at the toe. It is rough, un-
even, and often covered by flakes of dead horn in process of being
loosened and cast off. Behind, the sole presents an opening into
which are received the bars and horny frog. This opening divides the
sole into a body and two wings.
The periphery of the sole unites with the lower border of the wall
and bars through the medium of the white line, which is the cross-
section of the leafy horn layer of the wall, and of short plugs of horn
which grow down from the lower ends of the fleshy leaves. This
white line is of much importance to the shoer, since its distance from
the outer border of the hoof is the thickness of the wall, and in the
white line all nails should be driven.
The frog, secreted by the pododerm covering the plantar cushion
or fatty frog, and presenting almost the same form as the latter, lies
as a soft and very elastic wedge between the bars and between the
edges of the sole just in front of the bars. A broad and shallow de-
pression in its center divides it into two branches, which diverge as
they pass backward into the horny bulbs of the heel. In front of the
middle cleft the two branches unite to form the body of the frog,
which ends in the point of the frog. The bar of a bar shoe should
MOVEMENTS OF THE HOOF. 563
rest on the branches of the frog. In unshod hoofs the bearing edge
of the wall, the sole, frog, and bars are all on a level; that is, the
under surface of the hoof is perfectly flat, and each of these structures
assists in bearing the body weight.
With respect to solidity, the different parts of the hoof vary widely.
The middle layer of the wall is harder and more tenacious than the
sole, for the latter crumbles away or passes off in larger or smaller
flakes on its under surface, while no such spontaneous shortening of
the wall "occurs. The white line and the frog are soft horn struc-
tures, and differ from hard horn in that their horn cells do not under
natural conditions become hard and hornlike. They are very elastic,
absorb moisture rapidly, and as readily dry out and become hard,
brittle, and easily fissured. Horn of good quality is fine grained and
tough, while bad horn is coarse grained and either mellow and fri-
able or hard and brittle. All horn is a poor conductor of heat, and
the harder (drier) the horn, the more slowly does it transmit extremes
of temperature.
THE PHYSIOLOGICAL M0VE:srENTS OF THE HOOF.
A hoof while supporting the body weight has a different form, and
the structures inclosed within the hoof have a different position than
when not bearing weight. Since the amount of weight borne by a
foot is continually changing, and the relations of internal pressure are
continuously var3dng, a foot is, from a physiological viewpoint, never
at rest. The most marked changes of form of the hoof occur when
the foot bears the greatest weight, namely, at the time of the greatest
descent of the fetlock. Briefly, these changes of form are: (1) An
expansion or widening of the whole back half of the foot from the
coronet to the lower edge of the quarters. This expansion varies
between one-fiftieth and one-twelfth of an inch. (2) A narrowing of
the front half of the foot, measured at the coronet. (3) A sinking of
the heels and a flattening of the wings of the sole. These changes are
more marked in the half of the foot that bears the gi'eater weight.
The changes of form occur in the following order : W^ien the foot
is set to the ground the body weight is transmitted through the bones
and sensitive and horny leaves to the wall. The coffin bone and navic-
ular bone sink a little and rotate backward. At the same time the
short pastern sinks backward and downward between the lateral carti-
lages and presses the perforans tendou upon the plantar cushion.
This cushion being compressed from above and being unable to ex-
pand downward by reason of the resistance of the ground acting
against the horny frog, acts like any other elastic mass and expands
toward the sides, pushing before it the yielding lateral cartilages and
the wall of the quarters. This expansion of the heels is assisted and
increased by the simultaneous flattening and lateral expansion of the
564 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
resilient horny frog, ^Yhich crowds the bars apart. Of course, when
the lateral cartilages are ossified not only is no expansion of the
quarters possible, but frog pressure often leads to painful compres-
sion of the plantar cushion and to increase of lameness. Frog pres-
sure is therefore contra-indicated in lameness due to sidebones (ossi-
fied cartilages). Under the descent of the coffin-bone the horny sol.3
sinks a little; that is, the arch of the sole around the point of the
frog, and the wings of the sole become somewhat flattened. All these
changes of form are most marked in sound unshod hoofs, because
in them ground pressure on the frog and sole is pronounced ; they
are more marked in fore hoofs than in hind hoofs.
The movement of the different structures within the foot and the
changes of form that occur at every step are indispensable to the
health of the hoof, so that these elastic tissues must be kept active by
regular exercise, Avith protection against drying out of the hoof.
Long-continued rest in the stable, drying out of the hoof, and shoeing
decrease or alter the i3hysiological movements of the hoof and some-
times lead to foot diseases. Since these movements are complete and
spontaneous only in unshod feet, shoeing must be regarded as an evil,
albeit a necessary one, and indispensable if we wish to keep horses
continuously serviceable on hard, artificial roads. However, if in
shoeing we bear in mind the structure and functions of the hoof and
apply a shoe whose branches have a wide and level bearing surface,
so as to interfere as little as may be with the expansion and contrac-
tion of the quarters, in so far as this is not hindered by the nails, we
need not be apprehensive of trouble, provided the horse has reason-
able work and his hoofs proper care.
GROWTH or THE HOOF.
All parts of the hoof grow downward and forward with equal
rapidit3% the rate of growth being largely dependent upon the amount
of blood supplied to the pododerm, or " quick." Abundant and reg-
ular exercise, good grooming, moistness and suppleness of the hoof,
going barefoot, plenty of good food, and at proper intervals removing
the overgroAvth of hoof and regulating the bearing surface, by increas-
ing the volume and improving the quality of the blood flowing into
the pododerm, favor the rapid growth of horn of good quality ; while
lack of exercise, dryness of the horn, and excessive length of the hoof
hinder growth.
The average rate of growth is about one-third of an inch a month.
Hind hoofs grow faster than fore hoofs and unshod ones faster than
shod ones. The time required for the horn to grow from the coronet
to the ground, though influenced to a slight degree by the precited
conditions, varies in proportion to the distance of the coronet from the
ground. At the toe, depending on its height, the horn grows down
GROWTH OF THE HOOF. 565
in eleven to thirteen months, at the side wall in six to eight months,
and at the heels in three to five months. We can thus estimate with
tolerable accuracy the time required for the disappearance of such
defects in the hoof as cracks, clefts, etc.
Irregular growth is not infrequent. The almost invariable cause
of this is an improper distribution of the body weight over the hoof —
that is, an unbalanced foot. Colts running in soft pasture or confined
for long periods in the stable are frequently allowed to grow hoofs of
excessive length. The long toe becomes " dished " — that is, concave
from the coronet to the ground — the long quarters curl forward and
inward and often completely cover the frog and lead to contraction of
the heels, or the w^hole hoof bends outward or inward, and a crooked
foot, or, even worse, a crooked leg, is the result if the long hoof be
allowed to exert its powerful and abnormally directed leverage for
but a few months upon 3'oung plastic bones and tender and lax articu-
lar ligaments. All colts are not foaled with straight legs, but failure
to regulate the length and bearing of the hoof may make a straight
leg crooked and a crooked leg worse, just as intelligent care during
the growing period can greatly improve a congenitally crooked limb.
If breeders were more generally cognizant of the power of overgrown
and unbalanced hoofs to divert the lower bones of 3^oung legs from
their. proper direction, and, therefore, to cause them to be moved
improperly, with loss of speed and often with injury to the limbs, we
might hope to see fewer knock-kneed, bow-legged, " splay-footed,"
'' pigeon-toed," cow-hocked, interfering, and paddling horses.
If in shortening the lioof one side wall is, from ignorance, left too
long or cut down too low with relation to the other, the foot will be
unbalanced, and in traveling the long section will touch the ground
first and will continue to do so till it has been reduced to its proper
level (length) by the increased wear Avhich will take place at this
point. While this occurs rapidly in unshod hoofs, the shoe prevents
wear of the hoof, though it is itself more rapidly worn away beneath
the high (long) side than elsewhere, so that by the time the shoe is
worn out the tread of the shoe may be flat. If this mistake be re-
peated from month to month, the part of the wall left too high will
grow more rapidly than the low side whose pododerm is relatively
anemic as a result of the greater weight falling into this half of the
hoof, and the ultimate result will be a " wry," or crooked foot.
THE CARE OF UNSHOD HOOFS.
The colt should have abundant exercise on dry ground. The hoofs
will then wear gradually, and it will only be necessary from time to
time to regulate any uneven Avear with the rasp and to round off the
sharp edge about the toe in order to prevent breaking aAvay of the
wall.
566
DISEASES OF THE HOKSE.
Colts in the stable can not wear down their hoofs, so that every
four to six weeks they should be rasped down and the lower edge
of the wall well rounded to prevent chipping. The soles and clefts
of the frog shoidd be picked out every few days and the entire hoof
washed clean. Plenty of clean straw litter should be provided.
Hoofs that are becoming " awry " should have the wall shortened
in such a manner as to straighten the foot-axis. This will ultimately
produce a good hoof and will improve the position of the limb.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A HEALTHY HOOF.
A healthy hoof (figs. 1 and 8) is equally warm at all parts, and is
not tender under pressure with the hands or moderate compression
with pincers. The coronet is
soft and elastic at all points
and does not project beyond
the surface of the wall. The
wall (fig. 8) is straight from
coronet to ground, so that a
straightedge laid against the
wall from coronet to ground
parallel to the direction of
the horn tubes will touch at
everj-^ point. The wall should
be covered with the outer
varnishlike laj'er (periople)
and should show no cracks or
clefts. Every hoof shows
" ring - formation," but the
rings should not be strongly
marked and should always
run parallel to the coronary
band. Strongly marked ring-
formation over the entire wall
is an evidence of a weak hoof,
but when limited to a part
of the wall is evidence of previous local inflammation. The bulbs
of the heels should be full, rounded, and of equal height. The sole
(fig. 1) should be well hollowed out, the white line solid, the frog
well developed, the middle cleft of the frog broad and shallow, the
spaces between the bars and the frog wide and shallow, the bars
straight from the buttresses toward the point of the frog, and the
buttresses themselves so far apart as not to press against the branches
of the frog. A hoof can not be considered healthy if it presents
reddish discolored horn, cracks in the wall, white line, bars, or frog,
thrush of the frog, contraction or displacement of the heels. The
lateral cartilages should yield readily to finger pressure.
Fig. 1. — Ground surface of aright fore hoof of the regu^
lar form: a, a, wall; a-a, the toe; a-b, the side walls!
b-d, the quarters; c, c, the bars; <7, d, the buttresses]
e, lateral cleft of the frog;/, bod j' of the sole; g, g',g"
leafy layer (white line) of the toe and bars; h, body
of the frog; i, i, branches of the frog; k, k, horny bulbs
of the heels; I, middle cleft of the frog.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HOOF.
567
VARIOUS FORMS OF HOOFS.
As among a thousand hnman faces no two are alike, so among an
equal number of horses no two have hoofs exactly alike. A little
study of different forms soon shows us, however, that the form of
every hoof is dependent in great measure on the direction of the two
pastern bones as viewed from in front or behind, or from one side;
and that all hoofs fall into three classes when we view them from in
front and three classes when we observe them in profile. Inasmuch
as the form of every foot determines the peculiarities of the shoe that
is best adapted to it, no one who is ignorant of, or Avho disregards
the natural form of, a hoof can hope to understand physiological
shoeing:.
Fig. 2. — Pair of fore feet of regular form in regular
standing position.
FORMS OF FEET VIEWED FROM IN FRONT AND IN PROFILE.
Whether a horse's feet be observed from in front or from behind,
their form corresponds to, or at least resembles, either that of the
regular jjosition (fig. 2), the
hase-wide or toe-wide position
(fig. 3), or the hase-narrow po-
sition (fig. 4).
By the direction of the im-
aginaiy line passing through
the long axes of the two pas-
terns (figs. 2, 4, 5) we deter- .r
mine whether or not the hoof ^^
and pasterns stand in proper
mutual relation.
In the regular standing posi-
tion (fig. 2) the foot-axis runs straight downward and forward; in
the base-wide position (fig. 3) it runs obliquely downward and out-
Avard, and in the base-narrow
position (fig. 4) it runs ob-
liquely downward and inward.
Viewing the foot in profile,
we distinguish the regular po-
sition (fig. 56) and designate
all forward deviations as acute-
angled (long toe and low heel,
fig. ,5a), and all deviations
'^^^^^^^^^^~'=^''-^-^^"^'C^ ~ backward from the regular
FiG.3.— Pair of fore feet of base-wide form in toe-wide (steep toe and high heel, fig.
standina; position. „ .. i j. i j.
5r) as steep-toed, or stum-py.
When the body weight is evenly distributed over all four limbs, the
foot-axis should be straight ; the long pastern, short pastem, and wall
at the toe should have the same slant.
568
DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
A front hoof of the regular stcmding position. — The outer wall is a
little more slanting and somewhat thicker than the inner. The lower
border of the outer quarter describes the arc of a smaller circle — that
is, is more sharply bent than the inner quarter. The weight falls
near the center of the foot and is evenly distributed over the whole
bottom of the hoof. The toe forms an angle with the ground of
45° to 50° and is parallel to the direction of the long pastern. The
toe points straight ahead,
and when the horse is mov-
ing forward in a straight
line the hoofs are picked
up and carried forward in
a line parallel to the mid-
dle line of the body, and
are set down flat. Coming
straight toward the ob-
server the hoofs seem to
rise and fall perpendicu-
larly.
A hoof of the Ijase-wide position is alwaj^s awry. The outer wall is
more slanting, longer, and thicker than the inner, the outer quarter
more curved than the inner, and the outer half of the sole wider than
the inner. The weight falls largely into the inner half of the hoof.
In motion the hoof is moved in a circle. From its position on the
ground it breaks over the inner toe, is carried forward and inward
Fig. 4.
-Pair of fore feet of base-narrow form in toe-narrow
standing position.
Fig. 5.— a, side view of an acute-angled fore foot (shod); 6, side view of a regular fore foot, showing
the most desirable degree of obliquity (45°); c, side view of a stumpy, or "upright," fore foot;
obliquity above 50°. In a, b, c, note particularly the relation between the length of the shoe and
tlie overhanging of the heels. Note also the toe roll of the shoes.
clo.se to the supporting leg, thence forward and outward to the
ground, which the hoof meets first with the outer toe. Horses that
are toe-wide (" splay-footed " — toes turned outward) show all these
peculiarities of hoof-form and hoof-flight to a still more marked
degree and are therefore more prone to " interfere " when in motion.
A hoof of the hase-narrow position is awry, but not to so marked a
degree as the base-wide hoof. The inner wall is usually a little more
EXAMINATION OF HOOF BEFORE SHOEING. 569
slanting than the outer, the inner half of the sole wider than the
outer, and the inner quarter more curved than the outer. The outer
quarter is often flattened and drawn in at the bottom. The weight
falls largely into the outer half of the hoof. In motion the hoof
breaks over the outer toe, is carried forw^ard and outward at some
distance from the supporting leg, thence forward and inward to the
ground, which it generally meets with the outer toe. The foot thus
moves in a circle whose convexity is outward, a manner of flight
called " paddling." A base-narrow horse whose toes point straight
ahead frequently "interferes," while a toe-narrow (pigeon-toed)
animal seldom does.
A regular hoof (fig. 55), viewed from one side, has a straight foot-
axis inclined to the horizon at an angle of 45° to 50°. The W' eight
falls near the center of the foot and there is moderate expansion of
the quarters.
An acute-angled hoof (fig. 5«) has a straight foot-axis inclined at
an angle less than 45° to the horizon. The w^Mght falls more largely
in the back half of the hoof and there is greater length of hoof in
contact with the ground and greater expansion of the heels than in
the regular hoof.
In the upright^ or stumpy, hoof (fig. he) the foot-axis is straight
and more than 55° steep. The hoof is relatively short from toe to
heel, the weight falls farther forward, and there is less expansion of
the heels than in the regular hoof.
Finally, there are wide hoofs and narroio hoofs, dependent solely
upon race and breeding. The wide hoof is almost circular on the
ground surface, the sole but little concave, the frog large, and the
quality of the horn coarse. The narrow hoof has a strongly
" cupped " sole, a small frog, nearly perpendicular side w^alls, and
fine-grained, tough horn.
Hind hoofs are influenced in shaj^e by different directions of their
pasterns much as front feet are. A hind hoof is not round at the
toe as a front hoof is, but is more pointed. Its greatest width is
two-thirds of the w^ay back from toe to heel, the sole is more concave,
the heels relatively wider, and the toe about 10° steeper than in front
hoofs.
EXAMINATION PRELIMINARY TO SHOEING.
The object of the examination is to ascertain the direction and posi-
tion of the limbs, the shape, character, and quality of the hoofs, the
form, length, position, and wear of the shoe, the number, distribu-
tion, and direction of the nails, the manner in which the hoof leaves
the ground, its line of flight, the manner in wdiich it is set to the
ground, and all other peculiarities, that at the next and subsequent
shoeings proper allowances may be made and observed faults corrected.
The animal must, therefore, be observed both at rest and in motion.
570
DISEASES OF THE HOESE.
At rest, the observer should stand in front and note the slant of the
long pafe-terns- Do the_y drop perpendicularly, or slant downward
and outward (base-wide foot), or downward and inward (base-nar-
30W foot) ? Whatever Ije the direction to the long pastern, an im-
j'.ginarv' line passing through its long axis, when prolonged to the
ground, should apf)arently pass through the middle of the toe. But
if such line cuts through the inner toe the foot-axis Is not straight, as
it should be, but is broken inward at the coronet, an indication that
either the outer wall of the hoof is too long (high) or that the inner
wall is too short (low). On the contrary, if the center line of the long
pastern falls through the outer toe the foot-axis is broken outward at
the coronet, an indication that either the inner wall is too long or the
outer wall too short.
The observer should now place himself at one side, two or three
paces distant, in order to view the limb and hoof in profile. Note the
Hize of the hoof in relation to the height and weight of the animal,
Fi^. c. — a. Side riew of foot with the foot-aiis broken backward as a resalt of too long a
toe. The amount of horn to be remored from the toe in order to straighten the foot-
axis is denoted by a dotted line ; h, side riew of a properly balanced foot, with a
Btrajgbt foot-asis of desirable slant ; c, side view of stumpy foot with foot-axis broken
forward, as a result of overgrrowth of the quarters. The amount of horn to be removed
in order to straighten the foot-axis is shown by a dotted line.
and the obliquity of the hoof. Is the foot-axis straight — that is. does
the long pastern have the same slant as the toe, or does the toe of the
hoof stand steeper than the long pastern (fig. ^c) ? In which case
the foot-axis is broken forward at the coronet, an indication, usually,
that the quarters are either too high or that the toe is too short.
If the long pastern stands steeper than the toe (fig. 6a) the foot-
axis is broken backward, in which case the toe is too long or the quar-
ters are too low (short). In figures Ga and (Jc the dotted lines passing
from toe to quarters indicate the amount of horn which must be
removed in order to straighten the foot-axis, as shown in figure C&.
Note also the length of the shoe.
Next, the feet .should be raised and the examiner .should note the
outline of the foot, the conformation of the sole, form and quality
of the frog, form of the .shoe, wear of the .shoe, and the number and
EXAMINATION OF HOOF BEFORE SHOEING. 571
distribution of the nails. Does the shoe fully cover the entire lower
border of the wall ? or is it too narrow, or fitted so full on the inside
that it has given rise to interfering? or has the shoe been nailed on
crooked ? or has it become loose and shifted ? is it too short, or so wide
at the ends of the branches as not to support the buttresses of the
hoof? Does the shoe correspond with the form of the hoof? Are
the nails distributed so as to interfere as little as possible with the
expansion of the quarters? are there too many? are they too large?
driven too "fine" or too high? These are questions which the
observer should put to himself.
Note carefully the wear of the old shoe. It is the unimpeachable
evidence of the manner in which the hoof has been set to the ground
since the shoe was nailed to it, and gives valuable " pointers ■' in lev-
eling the hoof. Wear is the elFect of friction between the shoe and the
ground at the moment of contact. Since the properly leveled hoof
is set flat to the ground, the '" grounding wear " of a shoe should be
uniform at every point, though the toe will always show wear due
to scouring at the moment of " breaking over." Everything which
tends to lengthen the stride tends also to make the " grounding wear "
more pronounced in the heels of the shoe, while all causes which
shorten the stride — as stiffening of the limbs through age, overwork,
or disease — bring the grounding wear nearer the toe.
An exception should be noted, however, in founder, in which the
grounding wear is most pronounced at the heels.
If one branch of the shoe is found to be worn much thinner than
the other, the thinner branch has either been set too near the middle
line of the foot (fitted too close), Avhere it has been bearing greater
weight while rubbing against the ground, or, what is much more
often the case, the section of wall above the thinner branch has been
too long (too high), or the opposite section of wall has been too short
(too low) . " One-sided wear, uneven setting down of the feet, and an
unnatural course of the wall are often found together." How much
an old shoe can tell us, if we take time and pains to decipher its scars !
The horse should next be observed at a walk and at a trot or pace,
from in front, from behind, and from the side, and the " breaking
over," the carriage of the feet, and the manner of setting them to the
ground carefully noted and remembered. A horse does not always
move just as his standing position would seem to imply. Often there
is so great a difference in the form and slant of two fore hoofs or tAvo
hind hoofs that we are in doubt as to their normal shape, when a few
steps at a trot will usually solve the problem instantly by showing us
the line of flight of the hoofs and referring them to the regular, base-
wide, or base-narrow form.
No man is competent either to shoe a horse or to direct the work
till he has made the precited observations.
572 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
PREPARATION OF THE HOOF FOR THE SHOE.
After raising the clinches of the nails with a rather dull clinch-
cutter (" buffer ") and drawing the nails one at a time, the old shoe is
critically examined and laid aside. Remaining stubs of nails are then
drawn or punched out and the hoof freed of dirt and partially de-
tached horn. The farrier has now to " dress " the overgrown hoof to
receive the new shoe ; in other words, he has to form a base of support
so inclined to the direction of the pasterns that in motion this surface
shall be set flat upon the ground. He must not rob the hoof nor
leave too much horn; either mistake may lead to injury. If he has
made a careful preliminary examination he knows what part of the
wall requires removal and what part must be left, for he already
knows the direction of the foot-axis and the wear of the old shoe, and
has made up his mind just where and how much horn must be re-
moved to leave the hoof of proper length and the foot-axis straight.
A greatly overgrown hoof may be quickly shortened with sharp
nippers, and the sole freed of semidetached flakes of horn. The con-
cave sole of a thick-walled, strong hoof may be pared out around the
point of the frog, but not so much as to remove all evidences of ex-
foliation. The wall should be leveled with the rasp till its full
thickness, the white line, and an eighth of an inch of the margin of
the sole are in one horizontal plane, called the " bearing surface of
the hoof." The bars if long may be shortened, but nei)er pared on the
side. The branches of the sole in the angle between the bars and the
wall of the quarters should be left a little lower than the wall, so as
not to be pressed upon by the inner web of the shoe. " Corns," or
bruises of the pododerm, are usually a result of leaving a thick mass
of dry, unyielding horn at this point. The frog should not be
touched further than to remove tags or layers that are so loose as to
form no protection. A soft frog will shorten itself spontaneously
by the exfoliation of superficial layers of horn, while if the frog is
dry, hard, and too prominent it is better to soften it by applying
moisture in some form, and to allow it to wear away naturally than
to pare it down. It is of advantage to have the frog project below
the level of the wall an amount equal to the thickness of a plain
shoe, though we rarely see frogs of such size except in draft horses.
The sharp lower border of the wall should be rounded with the rasp
to prevent its being bent outward and broken away. Finally, the
foot is set to the ground and again observed from all sides to make
sure that the lines bounding the hoof correspond with the direction
of the long pastern.
THE SHOE.
The shoe is an artificial base of support, by no means ideal, because
it interferes to a greater or less degree with the physiology of the
THE SHOE. 573
foot, but indispensable except for horses at slow work on soft ground.
Since a proper surface of support is of the greatest importance in
preserving the health of the feet and legs, it is necessary to consider
the various forms of shoes best adapted to the different forms of
hoofs. Certain properties are common to all shoes and may be con-
sidered first. They are form, width, thickness, length, surfaces, bor-
ders, " fullering," nail holes, and clips.
Form. — Every shoe should have the form of the hoof for which it
is intended, provided the hoof retains its proper shape ; but for every
hoof that has undergone change of form we must endeavor to give the
shoe that form which the hoof originally possessed. Front shoes and
hind shoes, rights and lefts, should be distinctly different and easily
distinguishable.
AYldtli. — All shoes should be wider at the toe than at the ends of
the branches. The average width should be about double the thick-
ness of the wall at the toe.
Thichnes8.—^\\Q. thickness should be sufficient to make the shoe last
about four weeks and should be uniform except in special cases.
Length. — This will depend upon the obliquity of the hoof viewed in
profile. The acute-angled hoof (fig. 5a) has long overhanging heels,
and a considerable proportion of the weight borne by the leg falls in
the posterior half of the hoof. For such a hoof the branches of the
shoe should extend back of the buttresses to a distance nearly double
the thickness of the shoe. For a hoof of the regular form (figs. 56
and 8) the branches should project an amount equal to the thickness
of the shoe. In a stumpy hoof (fig. or) the shoe need not project
more than one-eighth of an inch. In all cases the shoe should cover
the entire " bearing surface " of the wall.
Surfaces. — The surface that is turned toward the hoof is known as
the " upper," or " hoof surface," of the shoe. That part of the hoof
surface which is in actual contact with the horn is called the '" bearing
surface " of the shoe. The " bearing surface " should be perfectly
horizontal from side to side, and wide enough to support the full
thickness of the wall, the white line, and about an eighth of an inch of
the margin of the sole. The bearing surface should also be perfectly
fiat, except that it may be turned up at the toe ("rolling-motion"
.-^hoe, fig. 5 a, 6, c) . The surface between the bearing surface and the
inner edge of the shoe is often beaten down or concaved to prevent
pressure too far inward upon the sole. This " concaving," or " seat-
ing," should be deeper or shallower as the horny sole is less or more
concave. As a rule, strongly " cupped " soles require no concaving
(hind hoofs, narrow fore hoofs).
Borders. — The entire outer border should be beveled under the
foot. Such a shoe is not so readily loosened, nor is it so apt to lead to
interfering.
574
DISEASES OF THE HORSE,
Fullering. — This is a groove in the ground surface of the shoe. It
should pass through two-thirds of the thickness of the shoe, be clean,
and of uniform Avidth. It is of advantage in that it makes the shoe
lighter in proportion to its width, and, by making the ground surface
somewhat rough, tends to prevent slipping.
Nail holes. — The shoe must be so " punched " that the nail holes will
fall directly on the white line. They should be confined to the fore
half of front shoes, but may occupy the anterior two-thirds of hind
shoes. For a medium-weight shoe three nail holes in each branch are
sufficient, but for heavier shoes, especially those provided with long
calks, eight holes are about right, though three on the inside and four
on the outside may do.
Cliiys. — These are^ half-circu-
lar ears drawn up from the
outer edge of the shoe either at
the toe or opposite the side wall.
The height of a clip should
equal the thiclniess of the shoe,
thougli they should be even
higher on hind shoes and wdien a
leather sole is interposed be-
tween shoe and hoof. Clips se-
cure the shoe against shifting.
A side clip should always be
drawn up on that branch of the
shoe that first meets the ground
in locomotion.
SPECIAL PECULIARITIES OF THE
CHIEF CLASSES OF SHOES.
Fig. 7.— Left fore hoof of regular form, shod with (1) A shoe for a regular hoof
a plain " fullered " shoe. Note the distribution (flo's. 7 and 8) fits W'hen its
of the nails, length of the fuller (creased, and ^ <> n ■! ^■\
the closene.=s of the ends of the shoe to the OUter border tolloWS the Wall
branches of the frog. closcly in the region of the nail
holes and from the last nail to the end of the l^ranch gradually pro-
jects beyond the surface of the wall to an eighth of an inch and
extends back of the buttresses an amount equal to the thickness of
the shoe. The shoe must be straight, firm, air-tight, its nail holes
directlj^ over the white line, and its branches far enough from the
branches of the frog to permit the passage of a foot pick. Branches
of the shoe must be of equal length.
In fitting a shoe to a hoof of regular form we follow the form of
the hoof, but in base-wide and base-narrow hoofs, which are of
irregular form, w^e must pay attention not only to the form of the
hoof, but also to the direction of the pasterns and the consequent
THE SHOE.
575
distribution of weiglit in the hoof, because where the most weight
falls the surface of support of the foot must be widened, and where
the least weight falls {opposite side of the hoof) the surface of sup-
port should be narrowed. In this way the improper distribution of
weight within the hoof is evenly distributed over the surface of
su]3port.
(2) A shoe for a hase-tvide hoof should be fitted full on the inner
side of the foot and fitted close on the outer side, because the inner
side bears the most weight. The nails in the outer branch are
placed well back, but in the inner branch are crowded forward
toward the toe.
(3) A shoe for a hase-narrow Iwof should be just the reverse of the
preceding. The outer branch should be somewhat longer than the
inner.
(4) A shoe for an acute-angled lioof should be long in the branches,
because most of the weight falls in the posterior half of the foot.
The support in front should be diminished either by turning the shoe
up at the toe or by beveling it under the toe (fig. ha).
Fig. S. — Side view of lioof and slioe sliown in fip;. 7. Note tlie straiglit toe, wealc ring
formation running parallel to tlie coronet, clinches low down and ou a level, length of
the shoe, and the under Jjevel at the toe and heel.
(5) A shoe for a stumpy hoof should be short in the branches, and
for pronounced cases should increase the support of the toe, where
the most of the weight falls, by being beveled downward and forward.
In many cases, especially in draft horses where the hoofs stand
very close together, the coronet of the outer quarter is found to stand
out beyond the lower border of the quarter. In such cases the outer
branch of the shoe from the last nail back must be fitted so full that
an imaginary perpendicular dropped from the coronet will just meet
the outer border of the shoe. The inner branch, on the other hand,
must be fitted as " close " as possible. The principal thought should
be to set the new shoe farther toward the more strongly worn side.
Such a practice will render unnecessary the widespread and popular
fad of giving the outer quarter and heel calk of hind shoes an extreme
576 DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
outward bend. Care should be taken, however, that in fitting the
shoe " full " at the quarter the bearing surface of the hoof at the
quarter be not left unsupported or incompletely covered, to be
pinched and squeezed inward against the frog. This will be obviated
by making the outer branch of the shoe sufficiently wide and punch-
ing it so coarse that the nails will fall upon the white line.
HOT FITTING.
Few farriers have either the time or the skill necessary to so adjust
a cold shoe to the hoof that it will fit, as we say, " air-tight." Though
the opponents of hot fitting draw^ a lurid picture of the direful con-
sequences of applying a hot shoe to the hoof, it is only the abuse of
the practice that is to be condemned. If a heavy shoe at a yellow
heat be held tightly pressed against a hoof wdiich has been pared too
thin, till it embeds itself, serious damage may be done. But a shoe at
a dark heat may be pressed against a properly dressed hoof long
enough to scorch, and thus indicate to the farrier the portions of horn
that should be lowered, w^ithout appreciable injury to the hoof, and
to the ultimate benefit of the animal.
The horse owner should insist on the nails being driven low. They
should pierce the wall not above an inch and five-eighths above the
shoe. A nail penetrating the white line aiicl emerging low on the
wall destroys the least possible amount of horn, has a wide and
strong clinch, rather than a narrow one, which would be formed near
the point of the nail, and, furthermore, has the strongest possible
hold on the wall, because its clinch is pulling more nearly at a right
angle to the grain (horn tubes) of the wall than if driven high.
Finally, do not allow the rasp to touch the wall above the clinches.
THE BAR SHOE.
The bar shoe (fig. 9) has a variety of uses. It enables us to give
the frog pressure, to restore it to its original state of activity and
development when by reason of disuse it has become atrophied. It
gives the lioof an increased surface of support and enables us to re-
lieve one or both quarters of undue pressure that may have induced
inflammation and soreness. The bar of the shoe should equal the
average width of the remainder of the shoe and should press but
lightly on the branches of the frog. The addition of a leather sole
with tar and oakum sole-packing allows us to distribute the weight
of the body over the entire ground surface of the hoof.
THE RUBBER PAD.
Various forms of rubber pads, rubber shoes, rope shoes, fiber shoes,
and other contrivances to diminish shock and prevent slipping on the
hard and slippery pavements of our large cities are in use in differ-
RUBBER PADS FOR SHOES. 577
ent parts of the world. In Germany the rope shoe (a malleable-iron
shoe with a groove in its ground surface in which lies a piece of tarred
Fig. 9. — An acute-angled left fore hoof shod with a bar shoe. Note the width and posi-
tion of the bar and the fact that the nails are placed well toward the toe, so as not to
interfere with the expansion of the quarters.
rope) is extensively used wdth most gratifying results. It is cheap,
durable, easily applied, and effective.
Fig. 10.— a fairly formed right fore ice shoe for a road.ster. The toe and outer heel calks cut at right
angles, and the inner-heel calk is slender and blunt. The back surface of the toe calk should be
perpendicular.
In the large cities of England and the United States rubber pads
are extensively used. They are rather expensive, but are quite effi-
cient in preventing slipping on polished and gummy pavements,
H. Doc. 795, 59-2 37
578
DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
though not so effective on ice.
the best of many rubber pads.
Figure 11 is an ilhistration of one of
The rubber is stitched and cemented
to a leather sole and is secured by
the nails of a three-quarter shoe.
Such a pad will usually last as
long as two shoes. They may be
used continuously, not only with-
out injury to the hoof, but to its
Fig. 11. — Left fore hoof of regular form shod with a
rubberpad and " three-quarter" shoe. (Ground
surface.)
great benefit. The belief, unsup-
ported by evidence, that rubber
pads " draw the feet " keeps many
from using them. A human foot
encased in a rubber boot may even-
tually be blistered by the sweat
poured upon the surface of the
skin and held there by the imper-
vious rubber till decomposition
takes place with the formation of
irritating fatty acids; but there is
no basis for an analogy in the hoof
of a horse.
Some drawings, designed to illustrate shoeing in connection with
" interfering " and " forging," are given herewith.
Fig. 12.— a narrow right fore hoof of the base-
wide (toe-wide) standing position, shod with a
plain "dropped-crease " shoe to prevent the toe-
cutting (interfering). The dotted line at the
inner toe indicates the edge of the wall which
was rasped away in order to narrow the hoof
along the striking section. Note the inward
bevel of the shoe at this point, the dropped
crease, the distribution of the nails, the long
"full" inner branch, and the short "close"
outer branch.
SPECIAL SHOES.
579
Fig. 13. — Hoof surface of a right hind shoe to prevent interfering. The inner branch has
no nail holes and is fitted and beveled under the hoof. Note the number and position
of the nail holes, the clip on the outer side wall, and the narrowness and bend of the
inner branch.
Fig. 14. — Ground surface of shoe shown in the previous figure. The inner nailless branch
has the thickness of the outer branch plus its calk, so that the inner and outer quarters
of the hoof are equidistant from the ground.
580
DISEASES OF THE HORSE.
Pig. 15. — Side view of a fore hoof shod so as to quicken the "breaking over" (quicken
the action) in a " forger.'' Note the short shoe, heel calks Inclined forward, and the
rolled toe.
Pig. 16. — Side view of a short-toed hind hoof of a forger, shod to slow the action and to
prevent injury to the fore heels by the toe of the hind shoe. Note the elevation of the
short toe by means of a toe calk and the projection of the toe beyond the shoe. When
such a hoof has grown more toe, the toe calk can be dispensed with and the shoe set
farther forward.
SPECIAL SHOES.
581
Fig. 17. — A toe-weight shoe to increase the length of stride of fore feet. The nails are
placed too far back, and the shoe has no characteristic form, but the weight is properly
placed.
Fig. is.— Most common form of punched heel-weight shoe to Induce high action in fore
feet. The profile of the shoe shows a " roll " at the toe and " swelled " heels. The
weight is well placed, but " rolling " the toe and raising the heel's loioer action. The
shoe would be much more effective if of uniform thickness and with no roll at the toe.
IJSTDEX.
Abdomen — Page.
dropsy, in foal, or ascites, description and treatment 172
dropsy, or ascites, description, symptoms, and treatment 71
limbs, and perineum, dropsy affecting, description and treatment 159
sheath, and penis, swelling, cause and treatment 149
Abnormal presentations at birth 176-181
Abortion, description, cause, symptoms, and treatment 161
Abscess —
and inflammation of lymphatic glands, description, symptoms, and treat-
ment 249
in lung and suppuration, symptoms 135
Abscesses —
acute, description and treatment 475
cold, description and treatment 476
description 474
in throat, treatment 46
Acariasis, or mange, note 450
Acan, parasites of eye 273
Achorion schonlelni, vegetable parasite of skin, description. 450
Adams, John W., chapter on "Shoeing" 559-581
Air embolism, or air in veins, note 247
Albuminoid poisoning, hemoglobinuria, azoturia, or azotemia, symptoms, pre-
vention, and treatment 82
Amaurosis, or palsy of nerve of sight, causes, symptoms, and treatment 210, 272
Amnion, dropsy, description and treatment 159
Anasarca, or purpura hemorrhagica, causes, symptoms, treatment, etc 508, 510
Anatomy and physiology of brain and nervous system 190
Anemia —
spinal, symptoms and treatment 214
of brain, causes, symptoms, pathology, and treatment 203
Aneurism —
description, symptoms, pathology, and treatment 242
one form caused by Strongylus vulgaris 243
Anidian monsters, or moles, description 158
Animal parasites, description of kinds 450
Ankle —
and fetlock, skin, note 371
fetlock, and foot, diseases, chapter by A. A. Holcombe 369, 430
Ankles, cocked, or knuckling, description, causes, and treatment 374
Anthrax, definition, causes, symptoms, and treatment 529-532
Apoplexy, or cerebral hemorrhage, causes, symptoms, pathology, and treat-
ment 200
Arteries —
description 227
diseases, or arteritis, and endarteritis, description, symptoms, pathology,
and treatment 240
583
584 INDEX.
Page.
Arteritis, or diseases of arteries, or endarteritis, description, symptoms, and
treatment 240
Artery —
constriction, description 244
rupture, description, symptoms, and treatment 242
Arthritis, open joints, broken Jcnees, and synovitis, cause and treatment 332
Ascaris equorum, intestinal worm, note 60
Ascites, or dropsy of abdomen, description, symptoms, and treatment 71, 172
Asthma, heaves, or broken wind, definition, symptoms, and treatment 137
Atheroma of veins and arteries, description 242
Autumn mange, description and treatment 452
Azotemia, hemoglobinuria, azoturia, poisoning by albuminoids, symptoms,
prevention, and treatment 82
Azoturia, hemoglobinuria, azotemia, poisoning by albuminoids, symptoms,
prevention, and treatment 82
Balls, or pills, description and manner of administering 28
Bar shoe, uses 569
Bees, wasps, and hornets, stings, treatment 454
Beets as feed 41
Bighead (osteoporosis) —
chapter by John R. Mohler 554-558
symptoms, lesions, and treatment 556
Biliary calculi, or gallstones, symptoms and treatment 74
Bilocular cavity, or calculus in sheath, or preputial calculus, description and
treatment 103
Birth, abnormal presentations at 176-181
Black pigment tumors, or melanosis, description and treatment 449
Bladder —
calculus, or stone, and tumor affecting 169
diseased growths, symptoms and treatment 92
eversion, description and treatment 93
inflammation, cystitis, or urocystitis, symptoms and treatment , . 90
irritable, cause and treatment 91
neck, spasms affecting, causes, symptoms, and treatment 87, 205
paralysis, description and cause 210
paralysis, symptoms and treatment 89
stone, vesical calculus, or cystic calculus, description, symptoms, and
treatment 100
worms of kidney 87
Bleeding —
after castration, treatment 149
from lungs, or hemoptysis, causes, description, and treatment 136
from nose, causes and treatment 112
or flooding from womb, treatment 1 84
skin eruptions, or Dermatorrhag la parasitica, description and treatment 441
Blisters, inflammation, or eczema, description and treatment 437
Bloat colic, cause, symptoms, and treatment 57
Blood-
circulation of heart, description 226
clots in walls of vagina 187
medicines administered into veins 33
of penis, extravasation, causes and treatment 145
spavin, bog spavin, and thoroughpin, description and treatment 331
INDEX. 585
Blood vessels — Page.
and heart, diseases, remarks 228
heart, and lymphatics, diseases, chapter by M. R. Trumbower 225-250
physiology and anatomy 225
Bloody urine, or henaaturia, cause and treatment 82
Blowing, high, description 119
Bluebottle ( Lucilia ciesar ) , note 453
Bog spavin, blood spavin, and thoroughpin, description and treatment. 331
Boil of eyelid, description and treatment 259
Boils—
or Dermatitis granuloma 442
or furuncles, description and treatment 4o9
Bone —
hip, fracture, or os innominatum, description, symptoms, prognosis, and
treatment 317
premaxillary, fractures, description and treatment 312
spavin . ( See Spavi n . )
Bones —
cannon, fractures, description, symptoms, and treatment 325
cranial, fractures, causes, symptoms, and treatment 310
diseases, description 284
dislocations and luxations, cause, symptoms, and treatment 336
of face, fractures, description, and treatment 311
of fetlock and foot, description 369
of hip, fractures, causes 167
one system of locomotion 275, 277
sesamoid, fractures, cause, symptoms, prognosis, and treatment 328
Botfly, treatment 61
Bovi^els, twisting, volvulus, or gut-tie, cause, symptoms, and treatment 56
Brain —
and membranes, inflammation, description 192, 193
and nervous system, anatomy and physiology 190
anemia, causes, symptoms, pathology, and treatment 203
compression, causes, symptoms, and treatment 201
concussion, causes, symptoms, treatment, and prevention 202
congestion, or megrims, description, causes, symptoms, treatment, and
prevention 197
description 191
dropsy, or hydrocephalus, causes, symptoms, and treatment 203
Bran, value as feed 40
Broken knee, open joints, synovitis, and arthritis, cause, prognosis, and treat-
ment 332
Broken wind, heaves, or asthma, definition, symptoms, and treatment 137
Bronchitis —
and broncho-pneumonia, description, symptoms, and treatment 129
chronic, description and treatment 119
Broncho-pleuro-pneumonia, description 135
Broncho-pneumonia and bronchitis, description, symptoms, and treatment... 129
Bruise of frog, causes, symptoms, and treatment 399
Bruises, description and treatment 464
Burns and scalds, treatment 455, 471
Calculi —
biliary, or gallstones, symptoms and treatment 74
or stones, in intestines, description, symptoms, and treatment 55
586 INDEX.
Calculi — Continued. Page.
or stones, in stomach, symptoms and treatment 54
renal, description, symptoms, and treatment 98
uretral, description and treatment 99
urinary, classification 98
urinary, stone, or gravel 94, 97
Calculus —
in sheath, or bilocular cavity, or preputial calculus, description and treat-
ment 103
or stone, and tumor in bladder 169
urethral, or stone in urethra, description, symptoms, and treatment 102
vesical, stone in bladder, or cystic calculus, description, symptoms and
treatment 100
Calk wounds, description and treatment 379
Callosities —
description '. 448
sloughing, horny sloughs, or sitfasts, description and treatment 448, 470
Cancer, epithelial, or epithelioma, description and treatment 449
Canker —
of foot, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 392
or grease (inflammation of heels with sebaceous secretion), description,
causes, symptoms, and treatment 444
Cannon bone —
description 369
fractures, description, symptoms, and treatment 325
Capped elbow, cause, symptoms, and treatment 354
Capped hock, cause, symptoms, and treatment 359
Capped knee, description, cause, treatment, etc 357
Cardiac enlargement, or hypertrophy of heart, description, symptoms, and
treatment 237
Caries of cartilage, or tumor of haw, description and treatment 261
Carrots, value as feed 41
Cartilaginous quittor, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 389
Cartilago nictitans, or winking cartilage (the haw), description 253
Castration —
bleeding after operation, treatment 149
by covered operation, method 151
of cryptorchids, or ridglings, method 148
of mare, method 151
of stallions, methods 147
pain after operation, treatment ' 149
successful method 148
Cataract, remarks 272
Catarrh —
chronic, nasal gleet, or collection in sinuses, causes, symptoms, and treat-
ment 108
gastro-intestinal, or indigestion, cause, symptoms, and treatment 61
nasal, or cold in head, symptoms and treatment 107
Cerebral hemorrhage, or apoplexy, causes, symptoms, and treatment 200
Cerebritis, causes, symptoms, and treatment 193
Cerebro-spinal meningitis, so-called, or forage poisoning, causes, symptoms,
and treatment 217
Cervical choke, description 47, 48
Chaff for feeding 39
INDEX. 587
Chaps on knee and hoek, scratches, or cracked heels, description, causes, and
treatment 443
Chest walls, wounds penetrating, description and treatment 140
Cheyletus, or Gamarus pteroptoides, animal parasites . ■. 452
Chicken acari, or Dermanyssus gallinse, animal parasite of skin 452
Chigoe, or jigger —
larvfe of Trombidium, Leptus americanus, animal parasite of skin 452
{Pidex j)enetrar)s), bite, treatment 454
Choke-
cervical, description 47, 48
pharyngeal, cervical, and thoracic, symptoms and treatment 47
Chorea, or St. Vitus dance, description and treatment 207
Chorioptes —
bovis {Symbiotes equi, Dermatophagus equi), animal parasite of skin 452
spathiferus, animal parasite of skin 452
Choroiditis, cause, symptoms, and treatment 265
Chronic bronchitis, description and treatment 119
Circinate ringworm, or Tinea tonsurans, description, symptoms, treatment 449
Circulation organs, methods of examination 15
Clubfoot, description 372
Clysters, or enemas, description and manner of administering 32
Cocked ankles, or knuckling, description, causes, and treatment 374
Coffinbone, description 370
Coffin joint, description '. 370
Cold in head, or nasal catarrh, symptoms and treatment , 107
Colic-
bloat, cause, symptoms, and treatment 57
cramp, or spasmodic, cause, symptoms, and treatment 58
flatulent, cause, symptoms, and treatment 57
obstruction, caused by impaction of large intestine, symptoms and treat-
ment 52
specific forms 50
wind, cause, symptoms, and treatment 57
worm, description, symptoms, and treatment 59
tympanitic, cause, symptoms, and treatment 57
Compression of brain, causes, symptoms, and treatment 201
Concussion —
of brain, causes, symptoms, and treatment 202
spinal, causes and treatment 215
Conformation —
of foot, faults 372
of horse 12
Congenital scrotal hernia, description and treatment 67
Congestion —
active, causes 485
and inflammation of skin, description of kinds 434
and inflammation of testicles, or orchitis, causes, symptoms, and treat-
ment 1-12
description 484
of brain, or megrims, causes, symptoms, treatment, etc 197
of heart, description and symptoms 240
of lungs, description and treatment 120
of skin, red efflorescence, or erythema, description and treatment 434
of skin, with small pimples, or papules, description and treatment 436
588 INDEX.
Congestion — Continued. Page.
of spine, cause, symptoms, and treatment 213
passive, causes 486
Conjunctivitis, or external ophthalmia, description, causes, symptoms, and
treatment 262
Constipation, or costiveness, cause and treatment 54, 160
Constitution of horse 12
Consumption, or tuberculosis, note 1 36
Convulsions, description and treatment 206
Cord-
spermatic, strangulated, cause and treatment 149
spermatic, tumors, causes and treatment 150
spinal, description 192
Cornea —
ulcers, treatment 265
white specks and cloudiness, cause and treatment 265
Corn, or maize, how to feed 40
Corns, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 394
Coronary band, description 371
Coronet —
description 370
fractures, symptoms and treatment 327
Costiveness, or constipation, cause and treatment 54, 160
Cough, chronic, description 139
Cracked heels, or scratches, causes, and treatment 443
Cramp—
of hind limb, or spasm of thigh, description and treatment 205
or spasmodic, colic, cause, symptoms, and treatment 58
Cramps —
of hind limte, cause and treatment 160
or spasms, causes and treatment 205
Cranial bones, fractures, causes, symptoms, and treatment 310
Cranium, tumor within, description of kinds 204
Crookedfoot, description 373
Croup and diphtheria, mistakes in diagnosis 117
Cryptorchids, or ridglings, castration, method - - . 148
Curb of hock, cause, symptoms, and treatment 349
Cutaneous quittor, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 381
Cuticle, description 432
Cyanosis of newborn foals, description 240
Cystic calculus, or stone in bladder, description, symptoms and treatment 100
Cystic disease of wall of womb, or vesicular mole, description and treatment.. 158
Cysticercus fistularis —
parasite of bladder 87
? parasite of eye - - - 273
Cystitis, inflammation of bladder, or urocystitis, symptoms and treatnient 90
Dermanyssus gallina:, or chicken acari, animal parasite of skin 452
Dermatitis granulosa, or boils 442
Dermatocoptes equi, animal parasite of skin 452
Dermatodectes equi, animal parasite of skin 452
Dermatophagus equi, animal parasite of skin 452
Dermatorrhagiajxirasitica, or bleeding skin eruptions, description and treatment. 441
Dermis, or true skin, description 432
INDEX. 589
Diabetes — Page,
insipidus, diuresis, i)olyuria, or excessive secretion of urine, causes, symp-
toms, and treatment 79
mellitus, saccharine diabetes, glycosuria, or inosuria, causes, symptoms,
and treatment 80
Diaphragmatic hernia, description 70
Diaphragm —
rupture, cause and symptoms 141
spasm, or thumps, description and treatment 141, 205
Diarrhea, causes, symptoms, and treatment 62
Digestive organs, diseases, chapter by Ch. B. Michener . . . : 84-74
Digestive tract, examination 21
Dilatation —
of heart, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 239
of veins, varicose veins, or varix, causes and treatment 247
Dioctophyme renale, roundworm of kidney 87
Diphtheria and croup, mistakes in diagnosis 117
Diseases, general, chapter by Rush Shippen Huidekoper 482-545
Dislocations and luxations of bones, causes, symptoms, treatment, etc 336
Distemper. {See Strangles. )
Diuresis, polyuria, diabetes insipidus, or excessive secretion of urine, causes,
symptoms, and treatment 79
Douche, nasal, in administering medicines 31
Dourine, or maladie du coit, description and treatment 146
Drench, methods 29
Dropsies, synovial, remarks 330
Dropsy —
general, of fetus, description and treatment 173
of abdomen in foal, or ascites, description and treatment 172
of abdomen, or ascites, description, symptoms, and treatment 71
of amnion, description and treatment 159
of brain, or hydrocephalus, causes, symptoms, and treatment 203
of limbs, perineum, and abdomen, description and treatment 159
of scrotum, or hydrocele, symptoms and treatment 144
of womb, cause, symptoms, and treatment 158
Dysentery, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 64
Eeh inococcus —
parasite of eye 273
parasite of kidney 87
Ectropion and entropion, or eversion and inversion of eyelid, causes and
treatment 259
Eczema, or inflammation with blisters, description and treatment 437
Edematous pneumonia, definition, causes, symptoms, treatment, etc 520-524
Elbow —
capped, cause, symptoms, and treatment ?- 354
muscles, sprain, causes, symptoms, and treatment 343
Electric shock, causes, description, and treatment 224
Electuries, or pastes, description and manner of administering 29
Embolism —
air, or air in veins, note 247
and thrombus, description, symptoms, and treatment 244
Embryotomy of parts at abnormal births 182
Emphysema, or swelling of fetus with gas, description and treatment 173
Encephalitis, cause, symptoms, and treatment 193
Endarteritis, and arteritis, description, symptoms, and treatment 240
590 INDEX.
Page.
Endocarditis, or inflammation of lining membrane of heart, cause, symptoms,
and treatment 229
Enemas, or clysters, description and manner of administering 32
Engorgement colic, description, symptoms, and treatment 50
Enteritis, definition 50
Entropion and ectropion, or inversion and eversion of eyelid, causes and
treatment 259
Epilepsy, or falling fits, symptoms and treatment 207
Epithelial cancer, or epithelioma, description and treatment 449
Epithelioma —
degeneration of penis, or papillioma 145
or epithelial cancer, description and treatment 449
Equine variola, or horsepox, causes, symptoms, treatment, etc 524-529
Eruptions, bleeding skin, or Dermatorrliagia parasitica, description and treat-
ment 441
Erysipelas, description, cause, and treatment 446
Erythema, congestion of skin, or red effloresence, description and treatment- 434
Esophagus —
dilatation, causes, symptoms, and treatment 49
or gullet, treatment for foreign bodies 46
stricture, description and treatment 49
Eversion —
and inversion of eyelid, or ectropion and entropion, causes and treatment. 259
of bladder, description and treatment 93
or womb after difficult parturition, treatment 185
Exostosis, cause, description, and treatment 284
Extravasation of blood of penis, causes and treatment 145
Eye-
diseases, chapter by James Law 251-273
examination 254
haw, or winking cartilage, description 253
lachrymal apparatus 254
muscles, description 253
palsy of nerve of sight, or amaurosis, causes, symptoms, and treatment. . . 272
parasites affecting, description of different kinds 273
watering, or obstruction of lachrymal apparatus, description and remedies. 261
Eyeball-
description 251
tumors affecting - _ 272
Eyelid-
diseases, description of different kinds 255
inflammation, causes and treatment 257
inversion and eversion, or entropion and ectropion, causes and treatment. 259
sty, or furuncle (boil) , affecting, description and treatment 259
torn, or wounds affecting, description and treatment 260
warts and tumors affecting, description and treatment 260
Face bones, fractures, description and treatment 311
Facial paralysis, cause and symptoms 210
Fainting, or syncope, symptoms and treatment 237
Farcy —
and glanders, definition, causes, etc 532-545
chronic, symptoms 538
Fatty degeneration of heart, causes, symptoms, and treatment 239
Favus, or honeycomb ringworm, description and treatment 450
INDEX. 591
page.
Feces, impaction of rectum 170
Feet, interfering, causes, symptoms, and treatment 373
Femur, fracture, cause, symptoms, and treatment 323
Fetlock—
and ankle skin, note 371
and foot bones, description 369
ankle, and foot, diseases, chapter by A. A. Holcombe 369-430
joint, description 370
knuckling, causes, symptoms, and treatment 347
sprain, causes, symptoms, and treatment 376
Fetus —
adherent to walls of womb, description, cause, and treatment 171
excessive size 171
general dropsy, description and treatment 173
or foal, prolonged retention, cause and treatment 160
swelling with gas, or emphysema, description and treatment 173
tumors, or inclosed ovum, description and treatment 174
Fever, description, causes, and treatment 493-498
Fibrous bands constricting and crossing neck of womb, description and treat-
ment 170
Fibrous constriction of vagina or vulva, cause and treatment 171
Filaria —
conjunctivse, parasite of eye - 273
equina, parasite of eye 273
hsemorrhagica, threadworm causing skin disease 441
irritans, parasite causing summer sores, description and treatment 442
muUipapillosa, threadworm causing bleeding skin eruptions 441
palpebralis, parasite of eye 273
Fistulas, causes, symptoms, and treatment 477-481
Fits, falling, or epilepsy, symptoms and treatment 207
Flatfoot, description 372
Flatulent colic, cause, symptoms, and treatment 57
Flea, or pulex, prevention and treatment of bite 454
Flesh fly {Sarcophaga carnaria), note 453
Flexor —
metatarsis, rupture, description, cause, symptoms, and treatment 352
pedis perforans, description 371
pedis perforatus, description 371
tendons or their sheath, and suspensory ligaments, sprains, cause, symp-
toms, and treatment 345
Flies, method of attacking horses, prevention and treatment for bite 453
Flooding, or bleeding from womb, treatment 184
Flyblow, or grubs in skin, description and treatment 453
Foal-
contractions of muscles, description and treatment 173
monstrosities, description of kinds, causes, and treatment 174
natural presentation 164
prolonged retention, cause and treatment 160
water in head, or hydrocephalus, description and treatment 172
Foals, newborn, cyanosis affecting, description - - - 240
Food-
kinds to give ^"
musty and moldy, effect on digestive organs 38
preparation -. ^1
592 INDEX.
Foot. {See also llooi.) Page.
anatomical review 369, 559
and fetlock bones, description 369
canker, causes, symptoms, and tueatment 392
conformation, faults 372
fetlock, and ankle, diseases, chapter by A. A. Holcombe 369-430
mange, description and treatment 452
punctured wounds, description, symptoms, and treatment 400
.sand-cracks, causes, symptoms, and treatment. 405
sole, description ; 371
Forage poisoning, or cerebro-spinal meningitis, symptoms and treatment 217
Forearm, fracture, description, cause, symptoms, and treatment 321
Founder, or laminitis —
acute, subacute, and chronic, description 421
complications 422
curative measures — 428
description and causes - 414
following parturition, cause 188
sequel of superpurgation 64
symptoms 417
treatment and prevention . 426
Fractures —
causes and symptoms 297
description of different kinds 297
of different bones, description 310
prognosis and treatment 303
Frog-
bruises, Oauses, symptoms, and treatment 399
description 371
Frostbites, description, symptoms, and treatment 379
Furuncle —
or boil, description and treatment 439
or sty (boil), of eyelid, description and treatment 259
Galls, harness, or sitfasts, description and treatment 448, 470
Gallstones, or biliary calculi, symptoms and treatment 74
Gamarus pteroptoides and cheyletus, animal parasites of skin 452
Gangrene —
or mortification, causes - 136
or mortification, description, symptoms, and treatment 473
Gas, swelling of fetus, or emphysema, description and treatment 173
Gastritis, definition 50
Gastro-enteritis, description, symptoms, and treatment 65
Gastro-intestinal catarrh, or indigestion, description, cause, symptoms, and
treatment --- 61
Generative organs, diseases affecting, chapter by James Law 142-1 89
Genito-urinary passages, method of medication 33
Gestation, extra-uterine, description, symptoms, and treatment 157
Glanders —
acute, symptoms 541
and farcy, definition, causes, etc 532-545
chronic, symptoms 540
treatment 544
INDEX. 593
Glands — page.
lymphatic, description, symptoms, and treatment 249
sebaceous, description 433
sweat, description 434
Gleet-
inflammation of urethra, of urethritis, symptoms and treatment 93
nasal, chronic catarrh, or collection in sinuses, causes, symptoms, and
treatment 108
Glossitis, description and treatment 45
Glottis, spasm, description 205
Glycosuria, saccharine diabetes, diabetes mellitus, or inosuria, causes, symp-
toms, and treatment 80
Grains for feeding 39
Grasses, important feed 41
Gravel —
urinary calculi, or stone, causes 97
urinary calculi, or stone, description 94
Grease, or canker, causes, symptoms, and treatment 444
Grubs —
or flyblow, description and treatment 453
under the skin, description and treatment 453
Grunting, testing 118
Gullet, or esophagus, treatment for foreign bodies 46
Gunshot wounds, description and treatment 469
Gut-tie, volvulus, or twisting of bowels, cause, symptoms, and treatment 56
Guttural pouches, description and treatment 128
Hairs on skin, description 433
Harbaugh, W. H., chapter on " Diseases of respiratory organs" 104-141
Harness galls, or sitfasts, description and treatment 448, 470
Harvest bug, larvae of Tromhidium, Leptus americanus, jigger (chigoe), animal
parasite of skin 452
Haw —
tumor, or caries of cartilage of the eye, description and treatment 261
or winking cartilage of the eye, description 253
Hay, kinds for feeding 38
Heart —
adventitious growths, description, symptoms, and treatment 236
anatomy and physiology - 225
and blood vessels, diseases, remarks 228
blood vessels, and lymphatics, diseases, chapter by M. R. Trumbower. . 225-250
circulation of blood, description 226
congestion, description and symptoms 240
dilatation, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 239
fatty degeneration, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 239
hypertrophy, or cardiac enlargement, description, symptoms, and treat-
ment -37
inflammation of lining membrane, or endocarditis, cause, description,
symptoms, and treatment 220
inflammation of muscular structure, or myocarditis, symptoms, alterations,
and treatment 229
inflammation of sac inclosing, or pericarditis, causes, symptoms, and treat-
ment 233
inflammatory diseases, description and treatment 229
H. Doc. 795. 59-2 38
594 INDEX.
Heart — Continued. Page.
palpitation, description, symptoms, and treatment 236
rupture, description and cause 240
valvular disease, description, symptoms, and treatment 235
weakness, causes, symptoms, and treatment 240
Heat exhaustion, sunstroke, or heat stroke, symptoms, pathology, treatment,
and prevention 199
Heaves, broken wind, or asthma, definitions, symptoms, and treatment 137
Heels —
contracted, or hoof-bound, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment- 403
cracked, scratches, or chaps on knee and hock, description, causes, and
treatment 443
inflammation, with sebaceous secretion, grease, or canker, description,
causes, symptoms, and treatment 444
Hematuria, or bloody urine, cause and treatment 82
Hemiplegia, or paralysis of one side, or half the body, description and symp-
toms - 208
Hemoglobinuria, azoturia, azotemia, poisoning by albuminoids, symptoms,
prevention, and treatment -- 82
Hemoptysis, or bleeding from lungs, causes, description, and treatment 136
Hemorrhage —
process of healing and method of treatment _ 461
spinal, symptoms and treatment - - 214
Hemorrhoids, or piles, description and treatment 66
Hemostasia, description and treatment 460
Hepatitis, or inflammation of liver, symptoms, causes, and treatment 72
Hernia —
congenital scrotal, description and treatment 67
diaphragmatic, description 70
inguinal, description, symptoms, and treatment 67
of womb, description and treatment 168
or rupture, description of different kinds - 67
scrotal, cause - 67
umbilical, description and treatment 69
ventral, description and treatment 68
Herpes, description and treatment - 441
High blowing, description - 119
Hip-
bone, or OS innominatum, description, symptoms, and treatment 317
bones, fractured, causes 167
joint, luxation, description and treatment 338
lameness, description, symptoms, and treatment 344
Hock—
and knee, chaps or scratches, description, causes, and treatment 443
capped, cause, symptoms, and treatment 359
curb, cause, symptoms, and treatment 349
fractures, note 325
Holcombe, A. A., chapter on "Diseases of ankle, fetlock, and foot" 369-430
Honeycomb ringworm, or favus, description and treatment 450
Hoof. [See also Foot. )
-bound, or contracted heels, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment. . 403
description 371
growth 564
healthy, characteristics 566
INDEX. 595
Hoof — Continued. p
physiological movements _. 563
preparation for the shoe 572
Hoofs —
unshod, care 565
various forms 567
Hornets, bees, and wasps, treatment for stings 454
Horny sloughs (sitfasts), or sloughing callosities, description and treatment. 448, 470
Horsepox, or equine variola, causes, symptoms, and treatment 524-529
Horses, anatomy, description 276
Horseshoe. {See Shoe.)
Horse, sick —
attitude and general condition indicative of disease 10
conformation and constitution 12
examination, chapter by Leonard Pearson 9-27
history of diseases necessary in examination 10
Huidekoper, Rush Shippen, chapter on "General diseases" 482-545
Humerus, fractures, symptoms and treatment .320
Hydrocele, or dropsy of scrotum, symptoms and treatment 144
Hydrocephalus —
or dropsy of brain, causes, symptoms, and treatment 203
or water in head, of foal, description and treatment 172
Hydrophobia. (See Rabies. )
Hydrothorax, treatment 134
Hypertrophy of heart, or cardiac enlargement, description, symptoms, and
treatment 237
Hypoderma-lineata, note 453
Icterus, jaundice, or yellows, description and treatment 73
Impaction —
of large intestine, cause of obstruction colic, symptoms and treatment 52
of rectum with feces 170
Indigestion, or gastro-intestinal catarrh, description, causes, symptoms, and
treatment 61
Inflammation —
acute, of kidneys, or acute nephritis, causes, symptoms, and treatment . . 84
and abscess of lymphatic glands, description, symptoms, and treatment.. 249
and congestion of skin, description of kinds 434
and congestion of teats and udder, symptoms and treatment 188
and congestion of testicles, or orchitis, causes, symptoms, and treatment. . 142
chronic, of kidneys, causes, symptoms, and treatment 86
description, symptoms, termination, and treatment 487-493
local, and abscess of lymphatic glands, description, symptoms, and treat-
ment 249
of bladder, cystitis, or urocystitis, symptoms and treatment 90
of brain and its membranes, description 192, 193
of eyelids, causes and treatment i 257
of heels, with sebaceous secretion, grease, or canker, description, causes,
symptoms, and treatment 444
of lining membrane of heart, or endocarditis, cause, description, symp-
toms and treatment 229
of liver, or hepatitis, symptoms, causes, and treatment 72
of membranes, a complication of influenza 505
of membranes of spinal cord, causes, symptoms, and treatment 211
596 INDEX.
Inflammation — Continued. Page,
of muscular structure of heart, or myocarditis, symptoms, alterations, and
treatment 229
of nerve, or neuritis, cause, symptoms, and treatment 216
of pharynx, description 112
of sac inclosing heart, or pericarditis, causes, symptoms, pathology, and
treatment 233
of substance of spinal cord, or myelitis, causes, symptoms, pathology, and
treatment 213
of urethra, urethritis, or gleet, symptoms and treatment 93
of womb and peritoneum, symptoms and treatment 187
with blisters, or eczema, description and treatment 437
with pustules, description and treatment 438
Inflammatory diseases of the heart, description and treatment 229
Influenza, definition, symptoms, termination, complications, and treatment. 498-608
Inguinal hernia, description, symptoms, and treatment 67
Inhalation, manner of administering medicines 31
Injections, methods of administering medicines 31
Inosuria, saccharine diabetes, diabetes mellitus, or glycosuria, causes, symp-
toms, and treatment - 80
Insufflation, description 31
Interfering —
and speedy cuts, description, symptoms, prognosis, and treatment 362
of feet, causes, symptoms, and treatment 373
Intestinal —
paralysis, cause 210
worm, or Ascarts equorum , note 60
Intestines —
and stomach, diseases, remarks 49
calculi, or stones, description, symptoms, and treatment 55
large, impaction, cause of obstruction colic, symptoms and treatment 52
paralysis, description and treatment 56
spasms 205
Intussusception, or invagination, description, symptoms, and treatment 56
Invagination, or intussusception, description, symptoms, and treatment 56
Iritis, causes, symptoms, and treatment 265
Irritation, nervous, of skin, or pruritus, description and treatment 441
Jaundice, icterus, or yellows, description and treatment 73
Jaw, lower, fracture, description, causes, and treatment 312
Jigger, or chigoe, Leptus americanus, animal parasite of skin 452
Joint —
hip, luxation, description and treatment 337
shoulder, displacement, description and treatment .337
Joints-
diseases, note 329
open, cause, prognosis, and treatment 332
Kidneys —
acute inflammation, or acute nephritis, causes, symptoms, and treatment. 84
chronic inflammation, causes, symptoms, and treatment 86
bladder worm and round worm affecting 87
tumors, note 87
Knee —
broken, cause, prognosis, and treatment 332 '
capped, description, cause, symptoms, prognosis, and treatment 357
fracture, cause, symptoms, prognosis, and treatment 322
INDEX. 597
Knee — Continued. p
or hock, chaps, scratches, or cracked heels, description, causes, and treat-
ment 443
Knees, sprung, cause, symptoms, and treatment 348
Knuckling —
of fetlock, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 347
or cocked ankles, description, causes, and treatment 374
Labor pains, premature, cause and treatment 166
Lachrymal apparatus of eye —
description 254
obstruction, or watering eye, description and remedy 261
Lameness —
definition ; physiology and description 279
how to detect the seat 283
how to discover 280
its causes and treatment, chapter by A. A. Liautard 274-368
of hip, description, symptoms, prognosis, and treatment 344
of shoulder, descrij^tion, causes, symptoms, and treatment 340
Laminse, sensitive, description 372
Laminitis, or founder. {See Founder, or laminitis. )
Lampas, description and treatment 44
Laryngismus paralyticus, or roaring, description and treatment 117, 210
Laryngitis, or sore throat, description, symptoms and treatment 112
Larynx, spasms, description and treatment 116
Law, James —
chapter on "Diseases of the eye" 251-273
chapter on ' ' Diseases of the generative organs " 142-189
chapter on "Diseases of the skin" 431-458
chapter on ' ' Diseases of the urinary organs " 75-103
Lead poisoning, or plumbism, causes, symptoms, and treatment 223
Leptus amerieanus, or harvest bug, animal parasite of skin 452
Leucorrhea, description and treatment 188
Liautard, A., chapter on "Lameness: Its causes and treatment" 274-368
Lice, or pediculi, description and treatment for bite 454
Ligament —
suspensory, description 370
suspensory, rupture, description, symptoms, and treatment 377
Ligaments —
description and functions 278
suspensory, sprains, causes, symptoms, prognosis, and treatment 345
Limbs —
hind, cramp, cause and treatment 159
perineum, and abdomen, dropsy, description and treatment 159
Linseed, ground, value as laxative 40
Liver —
diseases, remarks 71
inflammation, or hepatitis, symptoms, causes, and treatment 72
rupture, causes, symptoms, and treatment 73
Lockjaw, or tetanus, causes, symptoms, prevention, and treatment 219
Locomotor ataxia, or incoordination of movement, description 209
Loins, sprains, description, cause, symptoms, and treatment 367
Ludlia ciesar, or bluebottle, and L. hominivorax, or screwworm fly, note 453
598 • INDEX.
Lung — Page.
abscess, and suppuration, symptoms 135
fever, or pneumonia, description, symptoms, and treatment 122
Lungs —
bleeding, or hemoptysis, causes, description, and treatment 136
congestion, description and treatment 120
description 120
Luxations and dislocations of bones, cause, symptoms, and treatment 336
Lymphangitis, causes, symptoms, and treatment 250
Lymphatic —
glands, local inflammation, and abscess affecting, description, symptoms,
and treatment 249
system, diseases, description 249
Lymphatics, heart, and blood vessels, diseases, chapter by M. R. Trumbower. 225-250
Madness, rabies, or hydrophobia, cause, symptoms, treatment, and preven-
tion 222, 545
Maize, or corn, how to feed 40
Maladie du coit, or dourine, description and treatment 146
Mange —
autumn, and mange of foot, description and treatment 452
or acariasis, note 450
Mare —
castration, method 151
pregnant, hygiene 156
sterility, causes and treatment 151
Masturbation, or self-abuse, remedy 145
Meat fly, or Musca vomitoria, note ' 453
Medicines, methods of administering, chapter by Ch. B. Michener 28-33
Megrims, or congestion of brain, description, causes, symptoms, treatment, etc. 197
Melanosis, or black pigment tumor, description and treatment 449
Membrane —
lining, of heart, inflammation, or endocarditis, cause, description, symp-
toms, and treatment 230
of nose, thickening, symptoms and treatment 110
Membranes —
inflammation, a complication of influenza 505
mucous, visible, and skin may indicate disease 13
of brain, inflammation, description 192, 193
of spinal cord, inflammation, causes, symptoms, and treatment 211
Meningitis —
causes, symptoms, and treatment 193
spinal, causes, symptoms, pathology, and treatment 211
Metatarsi, flexor, rupture, description, cause, symptoms, and treatment 352
Michener, Ch. B.—
chapter on "Diseases of the digestive organs" 34-74
chapter on "Methods of administering medicines" 28-33
chapter on ' ' Wounds and their treatment " 459-481
Microsporon furfur, vegetable parasite of skin 450
Mohler, John R. , chapter on ' ' Osteoporosis or bighead " 554-558
Mole, vesicular, or cystic disease of walls of womb, description and treatment. 158
Moles, or anidian monsters, description 158
Monstrosities in foal, description of kinds, causes, and treatment 175
Moonblindness, or periodic ophthalmia, causes, symptoms, treatment 268
Mortification, or gangrene. {See Gangrene.)
INDEX. 599
Page.
Mouth, diseases, remarks 44
Mucous membranes, visible, and skin may indicate disease 13
Musca vomitoria, or meat fly, note 453
Muscles —
and tendons, diseases 340
contraction in foal, description and treatment 173
of elbow, sprain, causes, symptoms, and treatment 343
of eye, description 253
one system of locomotion 275, 276
Myelitis, or inflammation of substance of spinal cord, causes, symptoms, and
treatment 213
Myocarditis, or inflammation of muscular structure of heart, symptoms, alter-
ations, and treatment 229
Nasal —
catarrh, or cold in head, symptoms and treatment 107
douche, used in administering medicines 31
gleet, chronic catarrh, or collection in sinuses, causes, symptoms, and
treatment 108
polypus, description and treatment Ill
Navel —
discharge of urine, or persistent urachus, description and treatment 92
string, constriction of a member, description 171
Navicular —
bone, description , 370
disease, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 409
Neck of vi'omb, twisting, description and treatment 168
Nephritis, acute, or acute inflammation of kidneys, causes, symptoms, and
treatment 84
Nerve —
inflammation, or neuritis, cause, symptoms, and treatment 216
tumor, or neuroma, cause, symptoms, and treatment 216
Nerves —
injuries, description and treatment : 216
spinal, designations 192
Nervous system —
and brain, anatomy and physiology 1 90
diseases affecting, chapter by M. R. Trumbower 190-224
examination 24
Nettlerash, surfeit, or urticaria, description and treatment 440
Neuritis, or inflammation of a nerve, cause, symptoms, and treatment 216
Neuroma, or tumor of a nerve, cause, symptoms, and treatment 216
Nose —
bleeding, causes and treatment , 112
membrane, thickening, symptoms and treatment 110
Nostrils, tumors and wounds, treatment 106
Obstruction colic, cause 52
Open joints. {See Joints. )
Ophthalmia —
external, or conjunctivitis, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment. 262
internal, causes, symptoms, and treatment 265
periodic, or moonblindness, causes, symptoms, and treatment 268
Optic nerve, paralysis, or amaurosis, cause 210
600 INDEX.
Page.
Orchitis, or congestion and inflammation of testicles, causes, symptoms, and
treatment 142
Os innominatmn, or fracture of hip bone, description, symptoms, and treatment. 317
Os pedis, or third phalanx, fractures, cause and treatment 327
Osteoporosis, or bighead, chapter by John E. Mohler 554-558
Ostitis, cause, symptoms, and treatment 284
Overreach, description, symptoms, and treatment 378
Ovum, inclosed, or tumors of fetus, description and treatment 174
Palpitation of heart, description, symptoms, and treatment 236
Palsy —
of nerve of sight, or amaurosis, causes, symptoms, and treatment 272
or paralysis, description and causes 208
Pancreas and spleen, diseases, remarks 74
Papilloma, epithelioma, or degeneration of penis 145
Papules, or congestion of skin with small pimples, description and treatment. 436
Paralysis —
facial, symptoms and cause ; local paralysis 210
general, cause 208
of bladder, description and cause 89, 210
of hind legs, cause and treatment 160
of intestines, cause 56, 210
of one side or half the body, or hemiplegia, description and symptoms. . . 208
of optic nerve, or amaurosis, cause 210
of penis, cause and treatment 145
of pharynx, description and treatment - 46
of rectum and tail, cause 210
or palsy, description and causes 208
transverse, of hind extremities, or paraplegia, description and symptoms. 209
treatment - - - - 210
Paraphymosis and phymosis, description and treatment 150
Paraplegia, or transverse paralysis of hind extremities, cause and treatment. . 209
Parasites —
animal, of skin, description of kinds 450
causing worm colic 59, 60
in eye, description of kinds 273
specific kinds affecting urinary organs 87
vegetable, of skin, description of kinds, symptoms, and treatment 449
Parasitic pityriasis, description and treatment 450
Parturition —
different presentations 176
difficult, from narrow pelvis, cause and treatment 165, 1 66
symptoms 16'4
Pastern joint, description 370
Pastes, or elecfuaries, description and manner of administering 29
Patella-
fracture, descrijition 324
pseudoluxations, descriptions, symptoms, cause, and treatment 338
Pearson, Leonard, chapter on * ' Examination of a sick horse" 9-27
Pediculi, or lice, description and treatment for bite 454
Pelvis —
and vagina, tumors affecting, description and treatment 167
bones, fracture, different kinds 316
narrow, cause of difficult parturition, cause and treatment 166
INDEX. 601
Penis- P^g^
degeneration, papilloma, or epithelioma 145
extravagation of blood and paralysis, causes and treatment 145
sheath, and abdomen, swelling, cause and treatment 149
warts, treatment 145
Pericarditis —
a complication of influenza 505
or inflammation of sac inclosing the heart, causes, symptoms, and treatment. 2o3
Perineum, limbs, and abdomen, dropsy, description and treatment 159
Periostitis, cause, symptoms, and treatment 284
Peritoneum and womb, inflammation, symptoms and treatment 187
Peritonitis —
a complication of influenza 505
description, symptoms, and treatment _ _ _ 70
Phalanx, first, second, and third, fracture, cause, symptoms, and treatment. 326, 327
Pharyngeal polypus, description and treatment Ill
Pharyngitis, description and treatment 45
Pharynx —
inflammation, description 112
paralysis, description and treatment 46
Phlebitis, or diseases of veins, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment. . 246
Phymosis and paraphymosis, description and treatment 150
Physiology and anatomy of brain and nervous system 190
Piles, or hemorrhoids, description and treatment 66
Pills, or balls, description and manner of administering 28
Pimples, small, or congestion of skin, description and treatment 436
Pityriasis, or scaly skin disease, description and treatment 440
Plantar cushion, description 372
Pleurisy—
a complication of influenza 505
description, symptoms, and treatment 131
Pleuro-dynia, symptoms and treatment 140
Pleuro-pneumonia, description and treatment 135
Plumbism, or lead poisoning, causes, symptoms, and treatment 223
Plyalism, or salivation, description and treatment 45
Pneumonia —
edematous, causes, symptoms, treatment, etc 520-524
or lung fever, description, symptoms, and treatment 122
Poisoning —
albuminoid, or azotemia, symptoms, prevention, and treatment 82
forage, or cerebro-spinal meningitis, causes, symptoms, and treatment 217
lead, or plumbism, causes, symptoms, and treatment 223
Poll evil 477
Polypus-
nasal, description and treatment Ill
pharyngeal, description and treatment ! H
Polyuria, diuresis, diabetes insipidus, causes, symptoms, and treatment 77
Pouches, guttural, description and treatment - 128
Poultry, acariasis, description and treatment 452
Powders, manner of administering 28
Pregnancy —
duration 155
mare, hygiene 156
medication 154
602 INDEX.
Page.
Premaxillary bone, fracture, description and treatment 312
Preputial calculus, calculus in sheath, description and treatment 103
Presentations at birth, abnormal 176-181
Pruritis, or nervous irritation of skin, description and treatment 441
Pseudoluxations of patella, description, symptoms, cause, and treatment 338
Psoroptes equi, animal parasite of skin 451
Psoroptic acariasis, description and treatment 451
Pulex—
or flea, prevention and treatment for bite 454
penetrans, or chigoe, bite, treatment ., 454
Pulse, how to count _ 15
Purpura hemorrhagica —
description, symptoms, and treatment 247
or anasarca, causes, symptoms, and treatment 508
Pustules, inflammation, description and treatment 438
Quittor, description of different kinds 380
Eabies, description, symptoms, and treatment 222, 545
Rectum — ■
and tail, paralysis, cause 210
impaction with feces 1 70
method of administering medicines 32
Red efflorescence, or erythema, description and treatment 434
Renal calculi, description, symptoms, and treatment 98
Respiratory organs-
description 104
diseases, chapter by W. H. Harbaugh 104-141
methods of examination 17
Retinitis, causes, symptoms, and treatment 265
Ribs, fractures, description, symptoms, and treatment 315
Ridglings, or cryptorchids, castration, method 148
Ringbone, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 289, 413
Ringworm —
circinate, or Tinea tonsurans, description, symptoms, and treatment 449
honeycomb, or favus, description and treatment 450
Roaring and thick wind, description and treatment 117, 210
Roundworm of the kidney 87
Rubber pads in shoes, uses 576
Rupture —
of an artery, description, symptoms, and treatment 244
of diaphragm, causes and symptoms 141
of flexor metatarsi, description, cause, symptoms, and treatment 352
of heart, description and cause 240
of liver, cause, symptoms, and treatment 73
of stomach, result of engorgement colic, symptoms and treatment 51, 52
of suspensory ligament, description, symptoms, and treatment 377
of vagina, description and treatment 187
or hernia, description of different kinds 67
or laceration of womb, causes and treatment 186
Saccharine diabetes, diabetes mellitus, glycosuria, or inosuria, causes, symp-
toms, and treatment 80
Sacrum, fractures, description and treatment 316
St. Vitus dance, or chorea, description and treatment 207
INDEX. 603
Page.
Salivation, or plyalism, description and treatment 45
Sand-cracks of foot, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 405
Sarcocele, description and treatment 143
SarcojjJiaga camaria, or flesh fly, note 453
Sarcoptes —
mutans, animal parasite of skin 451
scabiei equi, animal parasite of skin 450
Sarcoptic acariasis —
description, symptoms, and treatment 450
of fowls, description and treatment 451
Scalds and burns, treatment 455, 471
Scalma, symptoms, treatment, etc 515-518
Scaly skin disease, or pityriasis, description and treatment 440
Scapula, fracture, cause, symptoms, and treatment 319
Scorpion and tarantula, treatment for sting or bite 455
Scratches, or chaps on knee and hock, or cracked heels, causes and treatment. 443
Screw- worm fly, or Luc'dia hominivorax, note 453
Scrotal or congenital hernia, cause, description, and treatment 67
Scrotum, dropsy, or hydrocele, symptoms and treatment 144
Sebaceous glands, description 433
Self-abuse, or masturbation, remedy 145
Sesamoid bones, fracture, cause, symptom.s, treatment, etc 328
Sesamoid sheath, inflammation, or navicular disease, description, symptoms,
and treatment 408
Sesamoids, description 369
Sexual and urinary organs, examination 26
Sheath-
calculus, or bilocular cavity, or preputial calculus, description, treatment. 103
of flexor tendons, sprains, cause, symptoms, and treatment 345
penis, and abdomen, swelling, cause and treatment 149
Shock, electric, description and treatment 224
Shoe-
bar, uses 576
detailed description 572
hot fitting 576
Shoeing —
chapter by John W. Adams 559-581
preliminary examination 569
preparation of the hoof 572
rubber pads 576
Shoes, special peculiarities of chief classes 574
Shoulder —
joint, displacement, description and treatment 337
lameness, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 340
Sick horse. {See Horse, sick. )
Sidebones, description, cause, symptoms, and treatment 291,411
Sinuses, collection in, chronic catarrh, or nasal gleet, causes, symptoms, and
treatment ^^^
Sitfasts —
or harness galls, description and treatment 4^0
horny sloughs, or sloughing callosities, description and treatment 448
Skin —
and visible mucous membranes may indicate disease i«i
animal parasites affecting, description of kinds 450
604 INDEX.
Skin — Continued. Page.
bleeding eruptions, description and treatment 441
congestion, red efflorescence, or erythema, description and treatment 434
disease, scaly, or pityriasis, description and treatment 440
diseases, chapter by James Law 431-458
grubs under, description and treatment 453
hairs, description 433
inflammation and congestion, description of kinds 434
nervous irritation, or pruritis, description and treatment 441
of fetlock and ankle, note ^ 371
structure, divisions 432
true, or dermis, description 432
vegetable parasites, description of kinds, symptoms and treatment 449
wounds, description of different kinds and treatment 456
Sloughs, hornj', sitfasts, or sloughing callosities, description and treatment. 448,470
Snake bites, treatment 455
Sole of foot, description 371
Sores, summer, caused by Filar ia irr items, treatment 441, 442
Sore throat, or laryngitis, description, symptoms, and treatment 112
Spasmodic or cramp colic, cause, symptoms, and treatment 58
Spasm —
of diaphragm, or thumps, description and treatment 141, 205
of glottis or intestines, description and treatment 205
of larynx, description and treatment 116
of neck of bladder, causes, symptoms, and treatment 87, 205
of neck of womb, description and treatment 1 70
of thigh, or cramp of hind limb, description and treatment 205
Spasms, or cramps, causes and treatment 205
Spavin —
blood, bog spavin, and thoroughpin, description and treatment 331
description, cause, symptoms, prognosis, and treatment 293
Speedy cuts and interfering, description, symptoms, treatment, etc 362
Spermatic cord —
strangulated, cause and treatment -. 149
tumors, causes and treatment 150
Spinal —
anemia, symptoms and treatment 214
compression and concussion, cause, description, and treatment 214
concussion, causes and treatment 215
congestion, cause, symptoms, and treatment 213
cord, description 192
cord, inflammation of membranes, causes, symptoms, treatment, etc 211
cord, inflammation of substance, or myelitis, causes, symptoms, treatment- 213
hemorrhage, symptom, and treatment 214
meningitis, causes, symptoms, pathology, and treatment 211
nerves, designation 192
tumors, symptoms and treatment 215
Spleen and pancreas, diseases, remarks 74
Splint, description, symptoms, cause, and treatment 286
Sprain —
of elbow muscles, causes, symptoms, and treatment 343
ot fetlock, causes, symptoms, and treatment 376
Sprains —
description and treatment 340
of loins, description, cause, symptoms, and treatment 367
INDEX. 605
Sprains — Continued. Page.
of suspensory ligaments and of flexor tendons or their sheath, cause, symp-
toms, and treatment 345
Sprung knees, cause, symptoms, and treatment 348
Staphyloma, or bulging cornea, description and treatment 273
Stallion —
castration, methods 147
sterility, cause and treatment 151
Sterility in mare and stallion, cause and treatment 151
Stiles, Ch. Warden, chapter on "Surra" 548-553
Stomach —
and intestines, diseases, remarks 49
calculi, or stones, S3'mptoms and treatment 54
rupture, result of engorgement colic, symptoms and treatment 51, 52
Stomatitis, description and treatment 45
Stone —
in bladder, vesical calculus, or cj'stic calculus, description, symptoms, and
treatment 100
in urethra, or urethral calculus, description, symptoms, and treatment 102
or calculus, and tumor in bladder 169
urinary calculi, or gravel, description .' 94, 97
Stones —
or calculi, in intestines, description, symptoms, and treatment 55
or calculi, in stomach, symptoms and treatment 54
Strangles, definition, causes, symptoms, and treatment 513-516
Strangulated spermatic cord, cause and treatment 149
Stricture —
of esophagus, description and treatment 49
of urethra, description and treatment 94
Stringhalt, description, cause, and treatment - 207, 364
Strongylus —
equinum, parasite of kidney - 87
equinus, intestinal worm 60
vulgaris, intestinal worm 60
vulgaris, worm causing one form of aneurism 243
Sty, furuncle, or boil of eyelid, description and treatment 259
Suffraginis, description 370
Summer sores, caused by Fllaria irritans, description and treatment 442
Sunstroke, heat stroke, or heat exhaustion, symptoms, treatment, etc 199
Superpurgation, description and treatment 63
Suppositories, description and uses 32
Suppuration and abscess in lung, symptoms 135
Surfeit, nettlerash, or urticaria, description and treatment 440
Surra —
chapter by Ch. Wardell Stiles 548-553
clunatic conditions; animals affected; and lethality 548
diagnosis and treatment 553
method of infection, symptoms 549
Suspensory ligament —
and flexor tendons or their sheaths, sprains, cause, symptoms, treatment- . 345
description "^ ' "^
rupture, description, symptoms, and treatment 377
Sutures, description and uses 461
Sweat glands, description 434
606 INDEX.
Page.
Symhiotes equi, Dermatophagus equi, or Chorioptes spathiferus, animal parasite of
skin • 452
Syncope, or fainting, symptoma and treatment 237
Synovial —
dropsies, remarks 330
sacs, diseases, description 330
Synovitis, cause, prognosis, and treatment 332
Tail and rectum, paralysis, cause 210
Tarantula and scorpion, treatment for bite and sting 455
Teats, sore, scabs, cracks, warts, cause and treatment. 189
Teeth-
diseases; period of dentition 42
irregularities, remedies 43
Temperament of horse 12
Temperature, method of determining 17
Tendon sheaths, wounds, description and treatment 469
Tendons —
and muscles, diseases 340
flexor, or their sheath, sprains, cause, symptoms, and treatment 345
functions - - - 277
lacerated, cause, symptoms, prognosis, and treatment 350
of foot, function 370
Testicles —
abnormal number; causes of degeneration 144
or orchitis, congestion and inflammation, causes, symptoms, treatment.. 142
Tetanus, or lockjaw, causes, symptoms, prevention, and treatment 219
Thick wind and roaring, description and treatment 117
Thigh, spasm, or cramp of hind limb, description and treatment 205
Thoracic choke, description and treatment 47, 49
Thoroughpin, blood spavin, and bog spavin, description and treatment 331
Threadworms causing bleeding skin eruptions 441
Throat-
abscesses affecting, treatment 46
sore, or laryngitis, description, symptoms, and treatment ■ 112
Thrombosis, description, cause, symptoms, and treatment 365
Thrombus and embolism, description, symptoms, and treatment 244
Thrush, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 392
Thumps, or spasm of diaphragm, description and treatment 141, 205
Tibia, fractures, symptoms and treatment 324
Ticks, description and treatment 453
Timothy, best hay for feeding - 38
Tinea tonsurans, or circinate ringworm, description and treatment 449
Tissues, description 482
Toothache, how to determine and treat 43
Trichiasis, or turned eyelashes, description and treatment 260
Trichophyton tonsurans, vegetable parasite of skin 449
Trumbower, M. E.—
chapter on "Diseases of heart, blood vessels, and lymphatics" 225-250
chapter on "Diseases of nervous system" 190-224
Tuberculosis, or consumption, note 136
Tumor — •
and calculus, or stone in bladder 169
of haw, or caries of cartilege, description and treatment 261
INDEX. 607
Tumor — Continued. „
Page.
of nerve, or neuroma, cause, symptoms, and treatment 216
on spermatic cord, causes and treatment 150
Tumors —
and warts of eyelids, description and treatment 260
black pigment, or melanosis, description and treatment 449
in nostrils, treatment 106
in vagina and pelvis, description and treatment 167
of eyeball, remarks 272
of fetus, or inclosed ovum, description and treatment 174
of kidneys, note 87
of spine, symptoms and treatment 215
of udder, cause and treatment 189
or abnormal growths, cause of colic 57
within cranium, description of kinds 204
Twins, remarks 176
Tympanitic colic, cause, symptoms, and treatment 57
Udder-
congestion and inflammation, symptoms and treatment 188
tumors, cause and treatment 189
Ulceration, description, causes, and treatment 474
Ulcers on cornea, treatment 265
Umbilical hernia, description and treatment 69
Urachus, persistent, or discharge of urine by navel, description and treatment. 92
Uremia, description, symptoms, and treatment 223
Urethra —
inflammation, urethritis, or gleet, symptoms and treatment 93
stone, or urethral calculus, description, symptoms and treatment 102
stricture, description and treatment 94
Urethral calculus, or stone in urethra, description, symptoms and treatment.. 102
Urethritis, inflammation of urethra, or gleet, symptoms and treatment 93
Uretral calculi, description and treatment 99
Urinary —
and sexual organs, examination 26
calculi, classification 98
calculi, stone, or gravel, description and causes 94, 97
disorders, causes 75
organs, diseases, chapter by James Law 75-103
organs, parasites affecting 87
organs, symptoms of disease 77
organs, uses.
75
Urine —
analysis 95
bloody, or hematuria, cause and treatment 82
discharge by navel, or persistent urachus, description and treatment 92
excessive secretion, diuresis, polyuria, diabetes insipidus, causes, symp-
toms, and treatment 79
how to examine 77
of healthy horse, description 27
Urocystitis, inflammation of bladder, or cystitis, symptoms and treatment 90
Urticaria, nettlerash, or surfeit, description and treatment 440
Vagina —
and pelvis, tumors affecting, description and treatment 167
rupture, description and treatment 1*^7
608 INDEX.
Page.
Vaginal walls, effusion of blood 169
Valvular disease of heart, symptoms and treatment 235
Varicocele, description and treatment 144
Varicose veins, varix, or dilatation of veins, causes and treatment] 247
Variola, equine, or horsepox, causes, symptoms, and treatment 524-529
Veins —
description 228
dilatation, varicose veins, or varix, causes and treatment 247
diseases, or phlebitis, causes, symptoms, and treatment 246
Ventral hernia, description and treatment 68
Vertebrte, fractures, causes, symptoms, and treatment 313
Vesical calculus, stone in bladder, or cystic calculus, description, symptoms,
and treatment 100
Vesicular mole, or cystic disease of walls of womb, description and treatment. 158
Volvulus, gut-tie, or twisting of bowels, cause, symptoms, and treatment 56
Vulva, or vagina, fibrous constriction, cause and treatment 171
AVarts —
and tumors of eyelids, description and treatment 260
description and treatment 448
on penis, treatment 145
"Wasps, bees, and hornets, stings, treatment 454
Water —
impure, cause of disease; time to give 34
in head, or hydrocephalus of foal, description and treatment 172
Watering eye, or obstruction of lachrymal apparatus, description and remedy. 261
Whistling, description 119
Wind-
broken, heaves, or asthma, definition, symptoms, and treatment 137
colic, cause, symptoms, and treatment 57
Windgalls, description, causes, symptoms, and treatment 330, 375
Windpipe, description 128
Winking cartilage, or cartilago nictitans, description 253
Womb —
and peritoneum, inflammation, symptoms, and treatment 187
bleeding, or flooding, treatment 184
dropsy, cause, symptoms, and treatment 158
eversion, description and method of treatment 185
hernia, description and treatment ^ 168
laceration, or rupture, causes and treatment 186
neck, twisting, description and treatment 168
Worm colic, description, symptoms, and treatment 59
Worms, bladder, affecting kidneys 87
Wounds —
and their treatment, chapter by Ch. B. Michener 459-481
gunshot, description and treatment 469
healing under a scab, treatment 462
in nostrils, cause and treatment 106
lacerated and contused, description and treatment 463
penetrating walls of chest, description and treatment 140
poisoned, description and treatment 470
punctured, description, symptoms, and treatment 400, 465
Yellows, jaundice, or icterus, description and treatment 73
o