Comparative physical-chemical research, with special reference to horsesickness

Abstract

Experiments were undertaken to find differences by means of various physical methods combined between normal horses, horses suffering from horse-sickness, horses immune and hyperimmune against horse-sickness and serum horses, i.e. horses from which great quantities of blood have been taken (artificial anaemia). Results: Horses suffering from horse-sickness are distinguished by the following peculiarities from normal horses (average values):- Volume of blood corpuscles and viscosity of blood are supernormal during the climax, but considerably below normality during the end of the disease and a certain time after it. Specific gravity, viscosity, and conductivity of serum are lower than normal at the climax and at the end of the attack. The differences between normal and immune horses are as follows:- The average volume of blood corpuscles is lower than normal. The specific gravity is evidently subnormal, because the average is lower, and 72 per cent. of the values of immune and hyper immune horses lay below the normal average.. The same is the case with the surface tension of serum - eight of ten values are lower than the normal average.