The management and treatment of the horse in the stable, field, and ...

48 The Management and Treatment of the Horse,
surrounded and pressed upon by an atmosphere which
is in this peculiar state, the rapidity and intensity of
the attack will depend upon the state of the skin and
coat of such animal. As to its acting as a good conduc-
tor or non-conductor if the animal has a thick coat or is
clothed too much, inducing a damp state of the coat, and
whilst in this state permitted to stand in a cold stable, or
outside in the open air, that is the precise time the
mischief is done.
There is no process of incubation in this affection.
If all the conditions are favourable to radiation, the
system can contract the infection suddenly, and be-
come affected to a degree entitling it to the term of
influenza in five minutes ; but if the conditions are
not so favourable, it will require twenty or thirty
minutes' exposure to the same trying circumstances to
produce the same effect, and in some less susceptible
animals they may tolerate the same influence for
several days before becoming affected. I am decidedly
of opinion that some horses are not susceptible to its
influence, and even those that are, after they have
passed through it, with very rare exceptions, enjoy an
immunity from it. It would appear that the con-
stitution had become inured or accommodated to it,
for they enjoy perfect health after, and this, too, in the
same atmosphere. Horses occupying the most healthy
and best ventilated stables are equally liable to contract
the complaint, but there is this difference, it is less
malignant and less fatal. It is a fact that at other times
the animals may experience a chill, and have a check
of perspiration, and the result will be an ordinary