lammation of the feet, lasting from a
few days to two weeks. In these animals, to all appearances healthy, the
corn neither induces colic, indigestion, nor purging, and apparently no
irritation whatever of the alimentary canal.
(6) Fortunately purgative medicines rarely cause inflammation of the
laminae. That it is, then, the result of sympathetic action is no doubt
more than hypothetical, for when there is no derangement of the
alimentary canal a dose of cathartic medicine will at times bring on
severe laminitis.
(7) Almost all the older authorities were agreed that metastatic
laminitis is a reality. In my opinion metastatic laminitis is nothing
more nor less than concurrent laminitis, and presents little in any way
peculiar outside the imperfectly understood exciting cause. The
practitioner who allows the acute symptoms of the laminitis to mislead
him, simply because their severity has overshadowed those of the primary
disease, may lose his case through unguarded subsequent treatment. This
form of laminitis is by no means commonly met with. It may be found in
conjunction with pneumonia, according to Youatt with inflammation of the
bowels and eyes, and according to Law and Williams sometimes with
bronchitis.
_Symptoms._--Laminitis is characterized by a congregation of symptoms so
well marked as scarcely to be misinterpreted by the most casual
observer. They are nearly constant in their manifestations, modified by
the number of feet affected, the cause which has induced the disease,
the previous condition of the patient, and the various other influences
which to some extent operate in all diseases. They may be divided into
general symptoms, which are concomitants of all cases of the disease,
subject to variations in degree only, and special symptoms, or those
which serve to determine the feet affected and the complications which
may arise.
_General symptoms._--Usually, the first symptom is the interference with
locomotion. Occasionally the other symptoms are presented first. As the
lameness develops the pulse becomes accelerated, full, hard, and strikes
the finger strongly; the temperature soon rises several degrees above
the normal, reaching sometimes 106 deg. F.; it generally ranges between
102.5 deg. and 105 deg. F. The respirations are rapid and panting in character,
the nostrils widely dilated, and the mucous membranes highly injected.
The facial expression is anxious and indicative of the most acute
suffe
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