PLEURISY.

This is an inflammation of the _pleura_, or the serous membrane which
lines the cavity of the chest, and which is deflected over the lungs.
Inflammation of this membrane rarely occurs in a pure form, but is more
generally associated with inflammation of the tissue of the lungs. If
this disease is not attended to at an early period, its usual
termination is in hydrothorax, or dropsy of the chest. The same causes
which produce inflammation of the lungs, of the bronchia, and of the
other respiratory organs, produce also pleurisy.

_Symptoms._--The respiration is quick, short, and painful; pressure
between the ribs produces much pain; a low, short, painful cough is
present; the respiratory murmur is much diminished,--in fact, it is
scarcely audible. This condition is rapidly followed by effusion, which
may be detected from the dullness of the sounds, on applying the ear to
the lower part of the lungs. The febrile symptoms disappear; the animal
for a few days appears to improve, but soon becomes weak, languid, and
often exhausted from the slightest exertion.

_Treatment._--The same treatment in the early stage is enjoined as in
inflammatory pneumonia, which the reader will consult--counter-irritation
and purgatives. Bleeding never should be resorted to. When effusion
takes place, it is necessary to puncture the sides with a trochar, and
draw away the fluid, giving internally one of the following purges three
times a day: rosin, eight ounces; saltpetre, two ounces, mix, and divide
into eight powders. Half-drachm doses of the iodide of potash,
dissolved in water, to be given three times daily, will be found useful
in this disease.

PLEURO-PNEUMONIA.

This disease, as its name implies, is an inflammatory condition of the
lungs and the _pleura_, or the enveloping membrane of the lungs and the
lining membrane of the chest. It is sometimes called contagious,
infectious, and epizooetic pleuro-pneumonia,--contagious or infectious,
from its supposed property of transmission from the diseased to the
healthy animal.

[Illustration: TAKING AN OBSERVATION.]

A contagious character the author is not ready to assign to
it,--contagious, as he understands it, being strictly applicable to
those diseases which depend upon actual contact with the poison that it
may be communicated from one animal to another. This does not
necessarily imply the actual touching of the animals themselves; for it
may be communicated from the