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

90 The Management and Treatment of the Horse,
or undiscovered cause ? Is it idiosyncrasy or some
peculiar element in the system of the patient ? Is it
cachexia or a bad habit of the body ? and when ru-
minating upon this subject, I have frequently had
brought to my recollection the remark of Professor
Spooner upon this form of disease, which was to the
effect that laminitis to all intents and purposes
belongs to the rheumatic class ; and more lately, on
perusing a paper by Mr. Greaves, I find two right words
used in the right place in reference to the active causes
of this disease, viz., igneous element. I feel quite
satisfied that the words " igneous element " are the
very essence of this lamentable disease of the horse,
lurking as it does in the system, waiting only for some
exciting circumstances to bring it into activity. Nor
is it possible for the man attending upon the animals
to prevent this complaint, any more than he can
prevent himself from an attack of rheumatic fever—
case in the human subject analogous to laminitis in
the horse. Here we have the symptoms somewhat
similar to those we see in the laminitic acute pain
extreme tenderness attended with great constitutional
disturbance, extreme restlessness, intense thirst, and
loss of appetite, the pulse often up to 120, and full,
hard, and jerking; the bowels obstinately costive, the
urine scanty and high coloured, with a strong acid
reaction ; the skin is often bathed in a profuse sweat,
which, however, affords no relief, and it is an established
fact with the medical profession that rheumatism is
essentially a blood disease, and that the poison which
is accumulated in it appears to be lactic acid. It also