Horses supposed to have perished from pneumonia, not unfrequently, when examined after death, present hydrothorax or dropsy of the chest; thus proving the pleura to have been affected. However, such vivid descriptions of pneumonia are bequeathed us by our ancestors, that we are, to a certain degree, overpowered by the authority of assertion. Too many are actually overawed by the positiveness of the dead; thus, in many instances, influenza is treated as inflammation of the lungs; dropsy of the chest, brought on by weakness, naturally ensues. When =acute pneumonia= (as it is called, which really represents a subacute disorder of all the contents of the lungs) does occur, it is rather lingering in its development; the breathing is labored and slightly accelerated; the pulse is less increased than would be expected; the artery is full, and the beat seems driven by some hidden force through a gelatinous obstacle; it bulges out, and then all is still for an interval, after which the operation is repeated. The horse has lost all spirit, indeed, a considerable portion of its consciousness has evidently departed; it stands as though from giddiness it feared to fall; its legs are separated and strained outward to the furthest limit. [Illustration: THE POSITION ASSUMED BY THE HORSE DURING AN AGGRAVATED ATTACK OF PNEUMONIA.] The head and ears are dejected; the coat rough; the extremities cold; the body without warmth; the visible membranes discolored, and the bowels costive; in short, the animal appears oppressed by some heavy misfortune. Feeling seems half dead; thus we are warranted in imagining that the attack has embraced all the component structures of the lungs, and that it consists in no small degree of congestion. The general practice is to bleed, and to bleed largely; to let the current run till the animal is on the point of fainting; then, as bleeding always quickens the pulse, more blood is abstracted to lower it; this not answering, the same plan is adhered to. The vein is tapped and the liquor drawn, as though the vital fluid were table beer, and the animal an inanimate cask. At last, nature resents such repeated depletion. No sooner is the fleam struck than weakness is alarmed; then the eyes and nostrils are sponged with cold water, to procure a _little more_ blood; until, at last, the animal dies, as practitioners have said, because the horse could not bear bleeding enough!