A HORSE'S HEAD DEFORMED
BY PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA.
The cause of this terrible affliction is a mystery. The horse has worked, fed, and looked well, when locked up for the night. The next day the animal is discovered breathing with difficulty, and having several parts of the body greatly enlarged. The creature appears, by the disorder, to be rendered stupid rather than insensible. It stands erect, but seems not to be acutely conscious of its condition. Not only are several portions of the horse's frame swollen beyond all recognition, but through the skin there issues streams of serum fearfully variegated by the admixture of blood. The openings to the nostrils and the lips soon enlarge; then the tongue likewise increases in size, a portion of it hanging out of the mouth. The appetite is never entirely lost, though the affliction prevents deglutition. In this lamentable state the wretched horse may continue for several days, or the disorder may reach its termination in a few hours.
As the horse begins to recover, extensive sloughs occur, generally in those parts which have been much enlarged.
Recovery appears to restore the consciousness in some degree, and the life is prolonged at the expense of much suffering. The appetite remains. The power to eat is, nevertheless, slowly attained. The desire for fluids, however, appears to exist throughout the attack, and should be taken advantage of to nourish the patient, by presenting thin gruel in the place of water.
Purpura hemorrhagica is universal congestion. If the body of an animal which has succumbed to this disease be examined, the cellular tissue will be found distended with serum and with blood of a dark venous character. In this case, therefore, a blood-letting judiciously managed may be beneficial. No pulse can be felt, nor is any needed to guide the surgeon. So soon as the heaviness is ameliorated, the can is to be withdrawn, and the orifice is to be pinned up. The smaller the quantity taken the better, as the patient has no strength to spare. Should the congestion return, a second venesection may be imperative to relieve the vessels; such a resort, however, should be practiced only upon the conviction of its absolute necessity.
Mr. Gowing, of Camden Town, in two cases reported in "Blain's Veterinary Art," gave turpentine with success. Turpentine is, however, a potent diuretic to the horse, and therefore, the writer thinks, not the best diffusible stimulant in these cases. Preference would, by him, be given to sulphuric ether or to chloroform. Half an ounce of the last, blended with a pint of linseed oil, should be given in the earliest stage. Half an hour having elapsed, the dose may be repeated. No amendment being witnessed, discard the chloroform and administer two ounces of sulphuric ether in one pint of cold water. After a little space, as in the previous instance, more diluted ether may be administered, though it will seldom be required.
It is imperative to be speedy in adopting the measures intended to relieve purpura; for the disease rapidly attains its termination. For that reason, if the breathing is distressed, as is pretty certain to be the case, at once perform tracheotomy. Impure oxygenation of the blood is one of the most active causes of congestion; indeed, that state appears only possible during impeded respiration.
The tongue often becomes infiltrated, and, hanging out of the mouth, renders the appearance of the head most unsightly. It is, when thus enlarged, a fixture, and is in danger of being injured by the teeth. So soon, therefore, as the member is protruded, several free incisions should be made through its integument. The organ should then be manipulated, so as to cause the fluid to exude. These processes should again and again be had recourse to so often as they are required to return the tongue to the mouth.