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Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems 193

Octavia-Luciana Madge Editor

New Trends and

Challenges in
Information
Science and
Information
Seeking Behaviour
Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems

Volume 193

Series Editor
Janusz Kacprzyk, Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Warsaw, Poland

Advisory Editors
Fernando Gomide, Department of Computer Engineering and Automation—DCA,
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering—FEEC, University of Campinas—
UNICAMP, São Paulo, Brazil
Okyay Kaynak, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
Derong Liu, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University
of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA; Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy
of Sciences, Beijing, China
Witold Pedrycz, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada; Systems Research Institute
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Marios M. Polycarpou, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
KIOS Research Center for Intelligent Systems and Networks, University of Cyprus,
Nicosia, Cyprus
Imre J. Rudas, Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary
Jun Wang, Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong,
Kowloon, Hong Kong
The series “Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems” publishes the latest
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Octavia-Luciana Madge
Editor

New Trends and Challenges

in Information Science
and Information Seeking
Behaviour
Editor
Octavia-Luciana Madge
Department of Communication Sciences
Faculty of Letters
and Doctoral School in Communication Sciences
Faculty of Journalism and Communication Studies
University of Bucharest
Bucharest, Romania

ISSN 2367-3370 ISSN 2367-3389 (electronic)

Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems
ISBN 978-3-030-68465-5 ISBN 978-3-030-68466-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68466-2

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
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Preface

This book has as its main purpose to bring to the attention of the scientific commu-
nity important topics currently under investigation in information science research.
It is intended for information science specialists and researchers, information profes-
sionals, librarians, undergraduate and postgraduate library and information science
students, and anyone with an interest in new research in information science and the
search for and use of information.
The field of information science has undergone many changes over recent
decades. From its beginnings as a discipline concentrating on the communication and
organisation of information, it has expanded into information technologies, informa-
tion behaviour, information retrieval, the Internet and, more recently, gaming and
gamification. This has paralleled the elevation of information and knowledge to the
status of key strategic resources with the development of a global digital society.
Education in the field of information science has evolved alongside these changes in
research and practice.
The idea for this book grew out of an international conference held at the Univer-
sity of Bucharest in December 2018 entitled ‘Information Science: New Challenges,
New Approaches’ - a major information science meeting to be held in Romania, and
a milestone for the discipline in the country. Library and information science educa-
tion was re-established in Romania in 1990, albeit under a human sciences umbrella
in the Faculty of Letters. It was not until 2016 that the University of Bucharest’s
Doctoral School in Communication Sciences, then in its eighth year, welcomed its
neighbouring discipline of information science, thanks to a PhD supervisor special-
ising in library and information science. Information science thus finally found an
appropriate home in Romania, at least for doctoral studies.
It was within the framework of this Doctoral School that the ‘New Challenges,
New Approaches’ conference was organised in 2018. The conference successfully
outlined the current framework of information science, discussing the influence of
new technologies on information needs, practices and behaviour, defining the current
role of the information scientist and introducing the diverse research directions being
pursued in the field. From the breadth of topics discussed at the conference came the
idea for a volume that could capture some of the research concerns of information
science scholars and mark the beginning of a new phase for the field in Romania.
v
vi Preface

Further events associated with the Doctoral School, covering such topics as the
future challenges and possibilities for libraries, gamification, games and libraries,
and changes in information seeking, strengthened the conviction that the time was
right to publish a collection on the challenges and trends in the field.
The contributors to this volume include information science professors, leading
game development researchers, major theorists of gaming and play and experienced
practitioners in the domain of libraries, information and communication. Although
some of the authors participated in the 2018 conference, this book comprises new
contributions, not papers presented at that event. The book is divided into three parts
by general theme, but each chapter stands alone and variations in authorial style
and article structure have been maintained as a strength of the collection, repre-
senting a stylistic diversity that should be encouraged alongside new methodological
approaches.
I would like to give thanks to all of the contributors to this volume for their
work, but especially to Dr. Ari Haasio for his enthusiasm, support, encouragement
and assistance at different stages of the shaping of this book, to Professors Jan
Nolin, J. Tuomas Harviainen and Markku Mattila and to Dr. Arja Mäntykangas,
former senior lecturer at the University of Borås, for her valuable comments and
suggestions. I would also like to thank Mr. Titi Jalbă from E-nformation for his
support in publishing this book.

Bucharest, Romania Octavia-Luciana Madge

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Octavia-Luciana Madge

Information Science Challenged

The Challenge of Challenges and Information Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Jan Nolin

Information Behaviour from a Social and Asocial Perspective

Information Seeking Behaviour of the Socially Withdrawn . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Ari Haasio
Identifying Hikikomori’s ‘Hidden’ Information Needs
and Practices in Online Discussion Forums: Applying Dervin’s
‘Situation-Gap-Use’ and ‘Gap-Bridging’ Metaphors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Hajime Naka
Sharing Identity Information on Dark Web Drug Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Maria Hakalahti and J. Tuomas Harviainen
Understanding the Information Behaviour of Parents Refusing
Vaccination for Their Children: the Recent Measles Outbreak
in Romania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Octavia-Luciana Madge and Ioana Robu
Fake News, Fake Media and Hate Speech in Finnish
MV-Magazine—How Can Libraries Fight Against the Lies? . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Markku Mattila and Ari Haasio
Searching for New Pathways for Measuring Satisfaction
of Children and Adolescent Users Regarding the Services Provided
by the School Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Simona Maria Antonescu and Octavia-Luciana Madge

vii
viii Contents

Physicians Augment Knowledge with Emotion in Making Medical

Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Ioana Răduca

Games and Gamification

Games, Gamification and Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Ari Haasio, Octavia-Luciana Madge, and J. Tuomas Harviainen
The Application of Gamification in the Medical Activity
in Romania: A Perspective of Doctors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Constantin Ciornei
Jamography: How to Document and Reference Design Jams
in Academia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Annakaisa Kultima, Jaakko Stenros, and J. Tuomas Harviainen

Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Editors and Contributors

About the Editor

Octavia-Luciana Madge (PhD) is an associate professor at the University of

Bucharest, Faculty of Letters, Department of Communication Sciences where she has
worked since 2000 and a PhD supervisor at the Doctoral School in Communication
Sciences of the same university. She teaches at the Information and Documentation
Sciences Programme courses on knowledge management, information users, funda-
mentals of information science, and theories of information behaviour. Between
2004 and 2019 she was the editor-in-chief of the journal Studii de Biblioteconomie
s, i S, tiint, a Informării / Library and Information Science Research continued with
the title Information and Communication Sciences Research. She graduated from
library and information science programmes (BA and MA), has a PhD (2006) in
Knowledge Management and the Info-Documentary Structures at the University of
Bucharest and a Habilitation (2016) in Communication Sciences. She also graduated
from the medical school (MD), working for her first specialty as family physician,
and then continuing to specialise in general surgery. She has a PhD (2015) in the
Surgical Stenting of the Bilio-Digestive Anastomoses at the Carol Davila Univer-
sity of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest. She has authored or edited eleven books
and over 50 articles, and presented over 50 papers at international conferences on
various aspects of library and information science and general surgery. She is an
elected member of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries
(EAHIL) Council and member of the Standing Committee of the Section Health
and Biosciences Libraries (HBS) of the International Federation of Library Associa-
tions and Institutions (IFLA). Her current main research interests are communication
in healthcare, knowledge management, information users, and health information
behaviour.

ix
x Editors and Contributors

Contributors

Simona Maria Antonescu Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of

Letters, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Constantin Ciornei Information and Documentation Sciences Programme, Faculty
of Letters, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Ari Haasio Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Seinäjoki, Finland
Maria Hakalahti Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, Helsinki, Finland
J. Tuomas Harviainen Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
Annakaisa Kultima Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Octavia-Luciana Madge Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of
Letters & Doctoral School in Communication Sciences, Faculty of Journalism and
Communication Studies, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Markku Mattila Migration Institute of Finland (Turku) and Tampere University
(Tampere), Turku and Tampere, Finland
Hajime Naka Faculty of Education, Tokoha University, Shizuoka, Japan;
The Graduate School of Library, Information and Media Studies, University of
Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
Jan Nolin Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås,
Borås, Sweden
Ioana Robu The Library of the Cluj Medicine and Pharmacy University, Cluj-
Napoca, Romania
Ioana Răduca Aleph News and Doctoral School in Communication Sciences,
Faculty of Journalism and Communication Studies, University of Bucharest,
Bucharest, Romania
Jaakko Stenros Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
Acronyms

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorders

ANOVA Analysis of variance
CD Compact disc
CDI Documentation and information centres
DiGRA Digital Games Research Association
EFVV European Forum for Vaccine Vigilance
ELIS Everyday life information-seeking model
EU European Union
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation
GP General practitioner
IB Information behaviour
ICGJ International Conference on Game Jams, Hackathons and Game Creation
Events
ICU Intensive care unit
IFLA The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
ISAGA The International Simulation and Gaming Association
IT Information technology
LARP Live action role-playing games
LIS Library and information science
NEET Not in Education, Employment or Training
NGO Non-governmental organizations
PISA Programme for International Student Assessment
PSVR PlayStation Virtual Reality
QR Quick response
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
TOR The Onion Router
VR Virtual reality
WHO World Health Organization
YSQ-L3 Young Schema Questionnaire L-3

xi
List of Figures

Information Seeking Behaviour of the SociallyWithdrawn

Fig. 1 Typical features, distributors and sources of disnormative
information compared to normative information. Source
Haasio 2015; Haasio 2019. Translation from Finnish
by the author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Identifying Hikikomori’s ‘Hidden’ Information Needs and

Practices in Online Discussion Forums: Applying Dervin’s
‘Situation-Gap-Use’ and ‘Gap-Bridging’ Metaphors
Fig. 1 Example of a message posted in 5channel (left), and an English
translation of the excerpts to be analysed in this study (right) . . . . . 37
Fig. 2 Results of the structural narrative analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Fig. 3 Gap topics determined by the thematic narrative analysis . . . . . . . . . 38
Fig. 4 Information need topics determined by the thematic narrative
analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Fig. 5 Application of Dervin’s two sense-making metaphors
to the narrative analysis results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Fig. 6 Simplified framework of the sense-making practice
of hikikomori . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Jamography: How to Document and Reference Design Jams in

Academia
Fig. 1 Images are an important part of the documentation.
For example, Edu Game Jam was held in a truck parked
outside a conference for educational professionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Fig. 2 ASM Game Jam’19 took place at a demoparty. Again,
one image can communicate much relevant documentary
information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

xiii
List of Tables

The Challenge of Challenges and Information Science

Table 1 Mainstreaming of various technologies during the 2020
as part of the fourth Industrial Revolution according
to a wide survey of expert expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Table 2 Environmental impact of bitcoin technology as of September
9, 2020 according to https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-ene
rgy-consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Sharing Identity Information on Dark Web Drug Boards

Table 1 Data categorisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Table 2 Shared information types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Understanding the Information Behaviour of Parents Refusing

Vaccination for Their Children: the Recent Measles Outbreak in
Romania
Table 1 Distribution of measles cases by age group and vaccine status . . . 65

Searching for New Pathways for Measuring Satisfaction of

Children and Adolescent Users Regarding the Services Provided
by the School Library
Table 1 Information about the participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Physicians Augment Knowledge with Emotion in Making Medical

Decisions
Table 1 Internal consistency of used scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Table 2 Items used for analysis and the questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Table 3 Items used for analysis and the questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Table 4 Respondents and their characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

xv
xvi List of Tables

Table 5 Average scores obtained by respondents on the cognitive

schema scale: locus of control and real-life situations (n = 32) . . . 116
Table 6 Average scores obtained by respondents on measurement
subscales: years of professional experience (n = 32) . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Table 7 Variance according to number of years of experience . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Table 8 Average scores according to gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Introduction

Octavia-Luciana Madge

Today we live saturated with information, engaging with it at every step in our
personal and professional lives. The combination of information and digital tech-
nology has transformed our lives and societies, not least by making access to infor-
mation easier than ever before. Against this backdrop, there can be few fields as
pertinent to so many aspects of contemporary life as information science, with its
ability to shape the digital society, its openness to technological progress, and its
support for examining and advancing the role of information in society.
Information science is an interdisciplinary field of study that has grown out
of library science and documentation; it is a social science (as described by Le
Coadic [1]) that is closely related to the communication sciences. Shera defined the
field of information science as ‘... involved with the whole concept of knowledge
in whatever form its manifestations may take’ [2, p. 286], while Vickery considered
it ‘The scientific study of the communication of information in society’ [3, p. 11].
My own understanding of information science, close to that of Saracevic [4], is that
it deals with information and knowledge, with the management and transfer of these
resources, and with all of the activities and technologies involved in their acquisi-
tion, collection, processing, organisation, storage, retrieval, use and dissemination to
users.
Information science is an open and dynamic field. As a meta-discipline, it has
always welcomed specialists from a range of backgrounds, based only on their
capacity to contribute their knowledge and views to its study and practice. In recent
decades the field has undergone many changes and has expanded to cover areas that

O. L. Madge (B)
Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Letters and Doctoral School in
Communication Sciences, Faculty of Journalism and Communication Studies, University of
Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
e-mail: octavia.madge@litere.unibuc.ro

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 1

O. L. Madge (ed.), New Trends and Challenges in Information Science and Information
Seeking Behaviour, Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems 193,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68466-2_1
2 O. L. Madge

were once considered outside of its scope. All of these changes are in need of explo-
ration alongside a host of new topics of research interest among the information
science community.
There are a number of notable books dedicated to information science [5, 6, 7],
information behaviour [8, 9] and information users [10, 11, 12]; these do an excellent
job of introducing the discipline and its history and outlining the major concepts and
theories used in the field, and make available many important contributions from
eminent information scientists. New Trends and Challenges in Information Science
and Information Seeking Behaviour differs from these texts in bringing together a
series of studies that illustrate the current research concerns of specialists working
in information science. The contributions give an insight into and invite reflection
upon the current state of research in the field.
Taken as a whole, the book presents the current trends, challenges and possibili-
ties in the field. The topics vary from the future role of information science in society
to the new concepts of ‘disnormative information’ and ‘jamography’, criminal activ-
ities in the dark web and hate speech on the internet, the hikikomori phenomenon,
and gamification in libraries. The articles analyse different aspects of how people use
information, of people’s needs for information and how these are being satisfied in
a digital world, and of the negative effects of ready access to abundant information.
Through its division into three parts, the volume proposes three major themes:
the contribution of information science to society in the dual context of the Fourth
Industrial Revolution and the UN strategic plan known as Agenda 2030; the infor-
mation behaviour and practices of different groups in a variety of contexts (on and
off the Web); and gamification, with the challenges that it brings to libraries and
other fields of human activity.
The first part of the book introduces the notion of a ‘challenge of challenges’
to describe the meta-challenge of connecting the Fourth Industrial Revolution with
Agenda 2030. Information science has long contributed to the public sector, espe-
cially in regard to freedom of information, the cultural commons, inclusion and acces-
sibility and the challenge of challenges provides opportunities for academic research
in information science to reaffirm and consolidate this social role. Amidst these
emerging processes, which will transform human civilisation, information science
can make major contributions in such areas as sustainability targets and indicators,
open science and sustainable information literacy.
The second part of the book begins with a chapter on the information
practices of socially withdrawn youth, also known as hikikomori, through an
analysis of data collected from a Finnish discussion group. The information behaviour
of this group is affected by the isolated life they lead and the time they spend
engaged on the Web, which constitutes a central part of their life. The information
behaviour of socially withdrawn people is characterised by a need for disnormative
information - a concept introduced in this chapter to denote information that is
in opposition to the values, norms and attitudes of the majority, and which the internet
age has made more prominent and easier to find.
A second chapter on the hikikomori phenomenon provides a methodological
discussion about capturing the information needs of socially withdrawn people in
Introduction 3

Japan who use online discussion forums. From this study’s structural and thematic
analysis, a framework for understanding the information needs of hikikomori is
proposed, based on Dervin’s sense-making methodology and a narrative inquiry
approach.
The information practices on dark web image boards related to drug trading
are examined in another chapter. Identity information sharing focuses on issues of
trust and safety. Age, ethnicity and information sharing practices determine the way
participants are seen - as outsiders or insiders - and the social norms of the community
define many of the information practices on the forum. The findings reveal that the
way of life of these drug users means they draw upon their everyday experiences and
common wisdom as a baseline for evaluating what information ought to be accepted
and possibly added to existing knowledge structures.
Another chapter investigates the information behaviour of parents in Romania who
are refusing to have their children vaccinated, contextualised within a recent measles
outbreak. Based on the idea that the information behaviour of individuals is influenced
by an intricate cluster of beliefs, political orientation and immediate social environ-
ment, the chapter reports on a qualitative study combining narrative analysis and
autoethnography to analyse situations of vaccination refusal, as reported by Roma-
nian information channels. It concludes that action is necessary to combat myths
and falsehoods, with information and strategies capable of reaching marginalised or
disadvantaged groups needed to promote the importance and the safety of vaccination
among the population.
The presently hot topics of fake news and hate speech, and the role of libraries
in fighting these phenomena, are analysed in another chapter. The article draws
upon a case study on fake news, fake media and hate speech in Finland’s MV-
Magazine to discuss the function of the library in teaching media literacy and how
to use information reliably, and in combatting misinformation. Libraries promote
democracy and freedom of expression and have the great advantage of being able
to reach large segments of the population.
A further chapter in this section deals with the expectations that children and
adolescents in Romania hold towards their school libraries. Based on an analysis of
in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys on such topics as library collections,
libraries and schools, library users, and the reading practices and use of leisure time
among teenagers, the findings reveal a group of users who are unsure what to ask for
from the school library. With the participants apparently treating anything provided
by the school library as good and proper, specific standards need to be developed for
measuring the satisfaction of children and adolescents with the school library.
A mixture of medical knowledge, internal institutional rules, conformity and
personal beliefs shape the information behaviour of physicians in their profes-
sional practice. The findings of a questionnaire-based study of Romanian physi-
cians are analysed in another chapter, which discusses the correlations between
specific elements and how they influence each other in affecting medical decisions.
The chapter indicates the need for further research into medical decision-making
and for refining the working protocols to better prepare healthcare professionals for
challenging situations, such as pandemics, disasters or complex pathology cases.
4 O. L. Madge

The third part of the book covers gamification, which is a trending topic in
library and information science. The section begins by examining the opportuni-
ties and challenges that gamification presents to libraries. The opening chapter also
considers the importance of games in a library collection, beginning with the obser-
vation that games can attract new customer groups and motivate youth to study.
The authors advocate for the gamification of information retrieval and library usage
guidelines, and of the teaching of particular types of cultural content, such as literary
genres and the history of music. This chapter raises questions over the role of libraries
as game developers, the customer experience and the significance of game-based
learning events in libraries.
The application of gamification in medical activities is explored in another chapter,
starting from the idea that games could provide a new learning medium or serve as a
replacement for books in libraries for the provision of education and information. The
chapter presents the main findings of an interview-based study conducted in Romania
among medical doctors, indicating a certain degree of openness towards game-based
experiences in medical training activities and also in the areas of psychiatry and
neuropsychiatry.
The volume ends with a chapter that contributes to the subfield of information
processing and organisation with the new concept of jamography - an innovation in
the area of resource description or, more precisely, in providing identifiable details of
design events. The chapter advocates for a jamography in game jam and hackathon
research by discussing the importance of and challenges in documenting game jams.
A framework for referencing jams in academic papers is proposed, comprising
seven key pieces of information (name, place, time, duration, website, organiser and
frequency) alongside other elements that are important for comparative approaches
to such events.
Individually, each chapter in this book approaches a new topic in interesting ways,
sometimes extending to proposing new concepts or notions that can be taken up by
the field. Together, they offer a wide-ranging perspective on the new trends and
challenges in the field of information science in the digital world.

∗ ∗ ∗

New and valuable ideas often appear not when we follow the most well-known
and well-trodden paths, but rather when we proceed differently. It is therefore
important not to reject what does not fall into the generally considered norms
of the scientific or non-scientific world. Innovation and discovery are not simple
outgrowths of knowledge or technology, of what is fixed in the practice of a field;
they relate to the way we look at the world, to the courage to see old things in
different ways and to the trust to try new things. We must embrace the multiple
means for advancing knowledge, and be willing to foster our creativity and openness
to new approaches. In information science, as in other fields, scientists have talked
about change for quite some time, but we must always remember that such change
will never be complete without welcoming new ideas, methods and approaches to
scientific discussion.
Introduction 5

References

1. Le Coadic YF (1994) La science de l’information. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris

2. Shera J (1973) Knowing books and men: knowing computers too. Libraries Unlimited, Littleton
CO
3. Vickery BC, Vickery A (1987) Information science in theory and practice, 1st edn. Bowker-
Saur, London
4. Saracevic T (2009) Information science. In: Bates MJ, Maack MN (eds) Encyclopedia of
Library and Information Sciences, vol 1, 3rd edn. Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, pp 2570–2586
5. Gilchrist A (ed) (2009) Information science in transition. Facet Publishing, London
6. Davis CH, Shaw D (eds) (2011) Introduction to information science and technology. ASIS&T,
Medford, New Jersey
7. Bawden D, Robinson L (2012) Introduction to information science. Facet Publishing, London
8. Fisher KE, Erdelez S, McKechnie L (eds) (2005) Theories of information behaviour. ASIS&T,
Medford
9. Case DO (2007) Looking for information. A survey of research on information seeking, needs
and behavior. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley
10. Sutter E (1992) Services d’information et qualité: comment satisfaire les utilisateurs. ADBS,
Paris
11. Le Coadic YF (1998) Le besoin d’information: formulation, négociacion, diagnostique. ADBS
Editions, Paris
12. Le Coadic YF (2001) Usages et Usagers de l’Information. ADBS, Nathan, Paris
Information Science Challenged
The Challenge of Challenges
and Information Science

Jan Nolin

Abstract The 2020s is on track to become one of the most transformative decades in
human history. On the one hand, numerous mature technologies will have their main-
stream breakthrough in the years to come. As these are combined in various and inno-
vative ways, all human endeavours are likely to be transformed. This has been talked
about in terms of the fourth Industrial Revolution. On the other hand, unchecked
exploitation of human resources, particularly in the form of climate change, needs
to be efficiently dealt with during the 2020s. The United Nations has stipulated a
strategic plan, Agenda 2030, to deal with these, including a strict deadline at the end of
the decade. Curiously, few academic researchers work with both the fourth Industrial
Revolution and Agenda 2030. The imperative of combining strategic work on these
is in this article called the challenge of challenges. The chapter is concerned with
the articulation of this meta-challenge as well as discussing the role of academic
research, more specifically that of information science. It is argued that informa-
tion science is well situated to make substantial contributions to the challenges of
challenges. Three distinct areas within such contributions are outlined: sustainable
targets/indicators, open science, and sustainable information literacies.

Keywords Information science · The Fourth Industrial Revolution · Agenda

2030 · Academic research · Sustainable targets and indicators · Open science ·
Sustainable information literacy

1 Introduction

What follows is a ‘big picture’ narrative of a type that is quite rare in contemporary
scholarly texts. For most scholars, including the undersigned, research is a process
of focusing narrowly demarcated phenomena, systematically devoting years of one’s
career to highly specialized discussions. Climate scientists have for decades warned
about ‘business as usual’ scenarios of greenhouse emissions, pointing to the need for

J. Nolin (B)
Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden
e-mail: jan.nolin@hb.se

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 9

O. L. Madge (ed.), New Trends and Challenges in Information Science and Information
Seeking Behaviour, Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems 193,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68466-2_2
10 J. Nolin

a break with such seemingly intractable trajectories. Interestingly, academic research

progresses in similar solid ‘business as usual’ trajectories wherein disciplines discuss
their own traditional problems. The starting point of the current text is that from the
perspective of this researcher, three fundamental trajectories within research can be
identified as we enter the third decade of the 2000:
(1) The fourth Industrial Revolution, as articulated by the World Economic Forum
and its chairman Klaus Schwab, [1, 2] will create breath-taking transformation
of the way humans relate to technology as well as broad scale changes of society
itself. This involves public breakthrough of a wealth of technologies that already
exist but have not yet become mainstream. Some of these are actually clusters
of technologies such as Internet of things, robot technology, and biotechnology.
Other technologies can function as platforms for a forum of innovations. Exam-
ples of this are 3D printers, augmented reality, blockchain technology, and arti-
ficial intelligence. Academic research will, business as usual, make broad and
significant contributions to this revolution. Although other labels can be used
to describe the ways technology will transform the 2020s, the fourth Industrial
Revolution appears to be the most sophisticated and best grounded. Schwab
emphasizes that the revolution will be broadly disruptive within all areas of
human endeavour and change the very essence of what it means to be human
[1].
(2) Climate change, extinction of species, degradation of land areas as well as
various forms of pollution will continue to place stress on the natural envi-
ronment as well as civilizations as they exist today. A substantial amount of
necessary work needs engagement from the academic research community. The
United Nations have through long-standing work pulled most of the involved
challenges into the so-called Agenda 2030 with 17 sustainable development
goals (SDGs) to be effectively dealt with by 2030 [3]. Climate change alone
may be broadly disruptive within all areas of human endeavour and change the
very essence of what it means to be human.
(3) Research, as well as other specialised discourses, on the fourth Industrial
Revolution and Agenda 2030 are not clearly combined/coordinated.
While there is a wealth of texts surrounding the first two trajectories, there is scant
articulation of the third. As it stands, involved academic researchers are specialised,
business as usual, to make contributions to either the fourth Industrial Revolution
or Agenda 2030, but not to both. The much-needed simultaneous work on both
of these is here called the challenge of challenges. The aim of the current text is
to articulate this challenge of challenges and, thereafter, to identify a few ways in
which information science can make such a contribution. The remainder of the text
is structured accordingly. This means that the challenge of challenges is initially
described. Thereafter, information science will be promoted as being well situated to
make substantial contributions to the challenge of challenges. Finally, three different
areas within which information science can make a contribution are briefly reviewed.
The chapter ends with the conclusion.
The Challenge of Challenges and Information Science 11

2 What is the Challenge of Challenges?

The challenge of challenges is a problem not only for academic research, but for all
specialised experts within society. The fundamental problem is that human civilisa-
tions are dealing with two vastly different trajectories that appear inevitable: we will
make society much more technological and we will also destroy fundamental natural
states which society relies upon. Discussions on these seemingly inevitable trajecto-
ries both touch upon the exploitation of natural resources of the Earth. In addition,
they are both concerned with the latter within the same timescale. Schwab predicts
mainstreaming of numerous technologies during the 2020s up until 2027 (see Table
1) [1]. Agenda 2030 has, of course, the deadline for human intervention by 2030.
However, despite these similarities these discussions are held apart. The challenge
of challenges is therefore to link together domain specific specialists working with
one or the other of these trajectories and connect discussions on the same natural
resources of the earth during the same time period, the 2020s.
The challenge of challenges also involves combining the fundamentally opti-
mistic ‘we will make tremendous technological advancements for the betterment
of humanity’ narrative of the fourth Industrial Revolution with the pessimistic ‘we
need to save the world from extreme forms of exploitation’ worldview underpinning

Table 1 Mainstreaming of various technologies during the 2020s as part of the fourth Industrial
Revolution according to a wide survey of expert expectations [1]
Expected
year of
tipping
point
2021 Robot and
services
2022 Internet of Wearable 3D printing
and for Internet and
things manufacturing
2023 Implantable Big data for Vision as the Our Governments Supercomputer
technologies decisions new interface digital and the in pocket
presence Blockchain
2024 Ubiquitous 3D printing and Connected
computing human health home
2025 3D printing AI and Sharing
and white-collar economy
consumer jobs
products
2026 Driverless AI and Smart cities
cars decision-making
2027 Bitcoin and
the
Blockchain
12 J. Nolin

Agenda 2030. This is not only a difference of the character of discourse, but also a
separation of agency, drivers, and level of economic resources.
The primary agency for the fourth Industrial Revolution lies within the private
sector and the driver is mostly a matter of generating profits. This involves both large
corporations such as Google, Apple and Microsoft and a torrent of start-ups with
original ideas for generating profit. Involved stakeholders are strong and committed.
As modern welfare states rely upon a high technological and competitive private
sector, governments tend to further sponsor developments within the fourth Industrial
Revolution quite extensively. The fourth Industrial Revolution will happen.
In contrast, primary agency for Agenda 2030 resides within government agencies
and NGOs working toward responsible use of common natural resources and of
attending to a wide range of equity issues. The main drivers are grounded in public
service, ethics, and a recognition that those living today are leaving sparse natural
resources and many problems to future generations. There is much less of a profit
generating element within this discourse and governments typically spend much less
on the production of specialised knowledge connected to Agenda 2030 compared
to the fourth Industrial Revolution. Strong commitment to Agenda 2030 during the
2020s is seemingly necessary for long-standing survival of contemporary civilisation
as we know it today.
It is striking that both Schwab and climate modelling researchers use similar
language. For the fourth Industrial Revolution there are numerous tipping points in
which a certain technology shifts from being used by early adopters to becoming
mainstream instead [1]. Numerous such tipping points are expected during the 2020s.
Climate modellers have similar long-standing discussions on tipping points in which
slow warming reaches a threshold. Once the climate tips over that threshold rapid
changes occur even if there is no additional forcing [4, 5]. Moving beyond a tipping
point is therefore discussed as a point of no return, efforts to decrease CO2 may no
longer be efficient.
Schwab does not present an optimistic viewpoint of the 2020s as humans move
into a symbiotic relationship with technology [1]. He expects the world as we know
it to be turned upside down by technologically driven trajectories. However dire, this
analysis does not take into account the parallel challenges of dealing with climate
change and other issues of Agenda 2030.
The main idea of sustainable development, as it was originally formulated by
the Brundtland Commission in 1987 was that humankind for decades have dealt
with social, economic, and ecological challenges on a global scale [6]. Before the
Brundtland report different stakeholders worked diligently to attain political primacy
for issues that they were passionate about. Consequently, NGOs striving to mitigate
poverty could become pitted against environmental activists. The idea with sustain-
able development was to remove such conflicts and deal with the challenges of
humanity together. The social, economic, and ecological problems needed to be
dealt with within the same time period, not one after the other or in conflict with
each other.
The challenges of challenges for the 2020s is to revisit this idea of solving every-
thing together during the same time period. There is an exciting opportunity here if it
The Challenge of Challenges and Information Science 13

can be put into action. The fourth Industrial Revolution is a project that will rebuild
societies and human actions as we know them. It is likely to force a break with busi-
ness as usual. Curiously, such a break with business as usual is what is required for
Agenda 2030. Rebuilding society because of an environmental crisis has never been
an easy sell during the 2000. Nonetheless, if economic and technological drivers
in any case are leading humanity this way, why cannot Agenda 2030 piggyback
on that momentum? If only the ambitions of Agenda 2030 become integrated into
this whirlwind of technological development, progress can become much swifter for
many goals. But will this happen?
The most practical strategy in dealing with the challenge of challenges involves,
in various ways, injecting sustainability issues into discussions and developments
of the fourth Industrial Revolution. Many disciplines should be involved in this. In
the following, it will be argued that information science is well-positioned to play a
substantial role in this process.

3 The Main Disciplines Supporting the Fourth Industrial

Revolution

Although not everything within the development of the fourth Industrial Revolution
is a matter of exploiting new information technology, most of it is. This means that the
primary academic support of the revolution resides within those four disciplines that
deal with information/data, i.e. computer science, information systems, informatics,
and information science. Of these, computer science is by far the most technologically
oriented and important. Computer science is extremely well-funded globally and has
in recent decades emerged as much more than a discipline, actually similar to a faculty
of its own. The other three disciplines are much smaller and information science is
the least well-developed institutionally. Informatics and information systems have
a focus on human computer interaction and IT within organizations. The various
breakthroughs of the fourth Industrial Revolution will supply a wealth of research
opportunities for all these four disciplines. However, information science needs to
find an identity, doing research within which the other three disciplines lack interest or
competence. It is here suggested that the most valuable way of profiling in developing
the identity of information science is to highlight the challenge of challenges by
inserting Agenda 2030 into discussions of the fourth Industrial Revolution.

4 Information Science is Soft/Hard

Becher and Trowler made a fundamental distinction between research disciplines that
are soft, i.e. situated within the social and human sciences, or hard, i.e. positioned
within natural or technological research [7]. Information science is one of these
14 J. Nolin

disciplines that is a little bit of both, but more on the soft side. Of the four disciplines
dealing with information/data, Information science is clearly the softest. There are
many advantages for discipline to have both a hard and soft side. This is particularly
the case when there is a need to negotiate softer societal values of sustainability with
the technologically driven ambitions of the fourth Industrial Revolution. As much of
the developments within the fourth Industrial Revolution deals with advances within
computer science, these four disciplines all appear to be well situated to contribute
to the trajectory of the fourth Industrial Revolution. However, information science,
as the softest, is arguably best placed to insert the concerns of Agenda 2030 into the
discussions surrounding the fourth Industrial Revolution.

5 Information Science and the Public Sector

As noted above, the trajectory of the fourth Industrial Revolution is driven by the
private sector and fundamental concerns of economic profit. In this context, it should
be noted that there is a difference between information science and the three other
disciplines that deal with information/data. Contrary to the others, there is a strong
tradition of making contributions to the public sector. This is largely a result of
historical ties between information science and librarianship, frequently articulated
in the disciplinary entity of Library and Information Science. Given this, informa-
tion science is a discipline with substantial potential of connecting to policy ideas of
Agenda 2030. Frequently, and increasingly, information science includes specialized
policy research within areas such as cultural policy, information policy and research
policy. These are all policy areas that in various ways can be connected to Agenda
2030. In contrast to the other three disciplines, information science has a strong
tradition of dealing with freedom of information, public service, trusted informa-
tion, cultural commons, inclusion and accessibility. Given this, information science
is well-placed to be able to insert the concerns of Agenda 2030 into discussions
surrounding the fourth Industrial Revolution.

6 Information Science and Sustainable Targets

and Indicators

Agenda 2030 contains 17 SDGs. [3] These are formulated loftily and broadly, e.g.
no poverty, quality education, gender equity, climate action etc. However, to each of
these there are targets and indicators. Altogether, there are 169 targets and 232 global
indicators. It is here argued that research on sustainable targets and indicators can
and should be a huge area for information science. We should in various ways be able
to discuss these as crucial and central aspects of development of new information
technology.
The Challenge of Challenges and Information Science 15

Table 2 Environmental impact of bitcoin technology as of September 9, 2020 according to https://

digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption
Carbon footprint Electrical energy Electronic waste
Global footprint and 32.08 Mt 67.54 Twh Czech 10.12 kt Luxembourg
comparable country CO2 Tunisia Republic
Footprint of individual 283.66 kg CO2 597.18 kWh average 89.50 g 1.3 8 C-size
transaction and 709,146 VISA US household for batteries
comparable activities transactions 20.18 days

For instance, target 7.1 states that by 2030 there should be universal access to
affordable modern energy services. At a glance, this would appear to be a chal-
lenge for the energy sector and not IT. Nonetheless, the development of the fourth
Industrial Revolution will undoubtedly place enormous stress on the existing energy
system. Many new technologies are pushed on the market without any concern about
compounded consequences for the energy system.
A pertinent example is blockchain technology which is increasingly used in
numerous innovative types of transactions, bypassing the traditional banking system.
The most highlighted blockchain technology is the bitcoin which is designed with a
mining system that releases a limited amount of bitcoins to the world market until
2140. Huge amounts of advanced mathematical calculations are used in order to
‘mine’ a bitcoin. De Vries aptly describes bitcoin as ‘extremely energy-hungry by
design’ [8]. Table 2 illustrates the environmental impact of a technology that was
designed without any thought about sustainability. There is currently no sustain-
ability accountability for development of information technology with such huge
consequences for the world’s energy consumption.
A related target is 12.2: to achieve sustainable management and efficient use of
natural resources by 2030. This refers back to the central message of the Brundtland
Commission to not develop such exploitation of natural resources that there is scarcity
for future generations [3]. However, for the context of the current argument, without
clear connections to Agenda 2030, the fourth Industrial Revolution will take what is
needed for the technological innovations of 2020 regardless of future scarcity issues.
The main point is that the targets and indicators of Agenda 2030 supplies rich
areas for information science research as well as for other disciplines to inject SDG
discussions into the fourth Industrial Revolution.

7 Information Science and Open Science

Target 7a within Agenda 2030 deals with the enhancement of international coopera-
tion to make it possible for clean energy research and technology to be disseminated as
quickly as possible. This connects to an important policy concept recently adopted
by the European Commission vision for research as one of its three pillars: open
science [9]. This can be seen as an umbrella concept that most crucially includes
16 J. Nolin

open access (to scholarly journal articles) and open research data. Open science is a
vague and difficult concept, and it is challenging to identify various strategic initia-
tives that will be appropriate or successful for all types of research. Nonetheless, in
the research most intimately tied to targets such as 7a it would appear to be a win–win
solution for the scholarly community to promote as much openness as is ethically
possible. Information science through its sub area of scholarly communication has a
long tradition of investigating open access and increasingly today also open research
data. It is important to emphasize that the current transformation of how researchers
publicise the results as well as how they collect, store, manage and make available
primary data are part of the fourth Industrial Revolution. It is therefore reasonable
to expect future disruption of open science in the years to come.
There is much to be gained by allowing some of this research to be connected to
the goals of Agenda 2030. In particular, research on renewable and clean energy is
developed in a multitude of countries, corporations and sectors. A major problem is
that individual projects have difficulty benchmarking themselves against competing
efforts. It becomes challenging to establish if the research one is involved in is ahead
or behind other projects both in regards to sophistication and economic feasibility. It
would be strategically sound for researchers within information science to investigate
how opening up of relevant metadata could be facilitated as well as to improve
searchability of different efforts ongoing. This could be a substantial focus within
information science.

8 Information Science and Sustainable Information

Literacies

The E-handbook on Sustainable Development Goals Indicators is a central document

to drive discussions and actions toward Agenda 2030 [10]. However, it is not an
easily accessible text and the logics involved are not apparent. This is one of many
examples in which the original discussions within information science regarding
information literacy (or media and information literacy) could be expanded to also
talk about sustainable information literacy. A broad range of professionals need to
be educated on how to read and understand such documents. In particular, the focus
in the current text is on those professionals who in various ways are engaged with
the fourth Industrial Revolution.
Take, for instance, Goal 13 on climate action. One would assume that this is
the goal that those engaged in restriction of greenhouse gas emissions should be
focused on. However, that is not the case. Goal 13 is concerned with mitigating the
consequences of inevitable climate change, i.e. minimising number of people killed
and loss of property in cases of disasters such as flooding. It should be noted that this
is a bit strange as the full name of Goal 13 is ‘Take urgent action to combat climate
change and its impact’. However, there is only one target in Goal 13, Target 13.1:
‘Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
the seat of visible lesions. There may be pallor, œdema and swelling,
but not unfrequently there are blood extravasations varying in size
from a pin’s head upward and giving a dark red aspect to the affected
tissues. Under the microscope the affected fibres are seen to have
lost their transverse striation and to have assumed a more or less
granular or hyaline appearance. Next to the gluteal muscles, these
changes are frequently found, in the muscles of the thigh (especially
the rectus femoris, and triceps extensor cruris), and in those of the
loins (psoas, ilio-spinalis, and longissimus dorsi). Exceptionally the
pectoral muscles are involved or even the abdominal muscles. A
considerable straw-colored œdema may be found in the
intermuscular connective tissue.
The red bone marrow primarily of the large bones of the limbs
(femur, tibia, humerus, radius,) and less frequently of other bones,
even of the vertebræ, is often the seat of intense vascular congestion
and even of hemorrhage. The medullary matter is of a deep red or
black color, and there is an abnormal accumulation of red globules in
various conditions of growth and destruction (red nucleated
corpuscles, fragments of corpuscles, colored granules). Dieckerhoff
considers the condition one of osteomyelitis, but it seems to be
rather a sudden, extraordinary exaggeration of the processes of blood
metamorphosis. Neumann found that when the blood regeneration
process is very active even the yellow marrow may be changed into
red, and this throughout all the bones of the extremities.
The kidneys are usually the seat of congestion, and black spots of
infarction, when the disease has lasted for twenty-four hours. In
rapidly fatal cases they may appear normal. There may be
enlargement of the kidneys with softening and granular degeneration
of the renal epithelium in cases that survive for some days.
The bladder contains dark brown or red glairy urine of a high
density and loaded with urea, hæmoglobin, etc.
The terminal portion of the spinal cord and the lumbo-sacral
plexus, or some of its branches, are sometimes blood stained, or the
seat of an exudate or surrounded by one.
Symptoms. In the regular type of hæmoglobinæmia in the horse
the history of the attack is highly significant. The subject is in good
working condition, he may be fat, or lean, but in either case the
muscles are firm and well developed, diet has been liberal,
embracing a large proportion of albuminoids, work has been
constant up to within a day or two preceding the attack, when the
animal has been left absolutely idle in the stall without any reduction
of feed. Then finally it has been suddenly subjected to active exertion
which demands vigorous muscular movement, and above all activity
of the respiratory muscles and the heart. This exertion usually
consists in riding under the saddle or going in harness, but may
attend on casting in the stall, lounging in a ring, or in a playful run
when suddenly set at liberty.
Severe Cases. The attack comes on early in the course of such
exercise. The patient may not have gone more than one hundred
yards from the stable or he may have traveled for half an hour or an
hour, but the disease rarely shows itself after a longer period of work.
The horse which left the stable full of life and spirit, suddenly flags
and hangs on the bit, the ears or head may drop, and one or more
limbs usually the hind ones, are moved stiffly and awkwardly, or
even stagger. He knuckles over at the fetlocks, drags the toes on the
ground, flexes the joints imperfectly, the muscles appearing to be
rigid and uncontrollable, or he crouches, the joints remaining
semiflexed the animal in vain attempting to extend them. The patient
trembles violently, sweats profusely, breathes deeply and rapidly and
assumes a pinched, anxious, agonized expression of countenance.
The heart beats tumultuously, the pulse (in 84 per cent. Friedberger
and Fröhner) is accelerated to a variable degree, and the temperature
is still normal (in 80 per cent. Friedberger and Fröhner), or rarely
exceeds 101.5°F. There is often tenderness on percussion and
sometimes even on manipulation over the loins, short ribs, and the
croup, and pinching of the loins may cause wincing. The affected
muscle or muscles (lumbar, gluteal, crural) are usually firm, hard
and tender, they may be the seat of spasm or of œdema and paresis.
These parts may, however, have their sensitiveness lessened and
even punctures or electric currents may have little effect on them.
Soon the increasing muscular weakness is incompatible with the
maintenance of the standing position, the bending of the limbs and
crouching become extreme, the animal makes vain efforts to control
the muscles and extend the joints, and helplessly drops to the
ground. When down he moves his legs convulsively, but is unable to
coördinate the muscular movements and all efforts to rise are
unavailing.
The spasms and paresis may attack other parts of the body such as
the pectoral region the shoulders and even the abdomen, but the
earliest and most persistent disorder is usually in the divisions of the
lumbo-sacral plexus affecting the supra or sublumbar muscles, the
gluteals, the patellar (triceps,) the adductors and the abductors. The
caudal muscles are exceptionally involved. In a series of ten cases
Bouley noticed that the left hind limb was always the first paralyzed
(evidently a simple coincidence).
Urine may be passed freely or the bladder may be paretic so that it
must be emptied with the catheter. In severe cases the urine is of a
high density and of a dirty brownish gray, red or almost black color.
It contains no blood clots, nor blood globules, but granular
hæmoglobin, tyrosin and other waste products contribute to produce
the reddish color. In some instances there is an abundant
metalbumen which renders the liquid glairy, causing it to fall in fine
threads or films. Urea is usually present in great excess. Hippuric
and even uric acid are usually present but not in excess. When the
disease has advanced to nephritis the albuminuria is complicated by
the presence of casts of the uriniferous tubes, renal epithelium, white
and even red blood globules.
During the violence of the attack there is no disposition nor leisure
to eat, but when the more violent symptoms abate appetite is usually
manifested. There may be more or less paresis of both bowels and
bladder, so that neither fæces nor urine is passed yet in other cases
both are discharged spontaneously.
The senses are preserved, excepting in the case of the affected
muscles and the integument which covers them. There may,
however, be more or less dullness and stupor in certain cases from
poisoning of the cerebral centres by the poisons circulating in the
blood.
Mild Cases. In the mildest cases there is stiffness and lameness
in one, or less frequently in both hind limbs, coming on when put to
work after a period of idleness, and not associated with any
appreciable lesion of the limb in question. There may or may not be
hardness and swelling of the gluteal or other muscles of the quarter
or loins. This has the appearance of rigidity or spasm but may be
primarily due to œdema or exudation into the substance of the
muscle. In some instances the muscles of the breast, shoulder, or
forearm are the seat of the trouble. Muscular trembling and
perspiration may be present and if the urine is examined, it is often
found to be glairy, or charged with urea, and allied nitrogenous
products. These cases are not benefited by local applications, but
they recover (temporarily) under rest and above all under active
eliminating treatment. Under gentle and progressive exercise too
they improve and get well. They recur, however, with great readiness
under a rich nitrogenous diet and a temporary rest followed by
sudden exertion.
Between the mildest and gravest cases there are infinite gradations
of severity, one-third to one-half of the worst cases usually
terminating fatally, whereas the mildest are always amenable to
treatment.
Progress. The course of the disease depends on the severity of the
attack but also, in no small degree, on the good judgment of the
driver. Cases that develop with great suddenness, and apparently
with extreme severity may subside spontaneously if the animal is
placed in a condition of absolute rest. If, however, we can secure rest
of the muscles of progression only, while the breathing remains rapid
and labored, improvement is unlikely, as the system continues to
receive large accessions of the toxic products. When the patient is
down and unable to rise, the enforced rest may be beneficial, but too
commonly, the greater effort with which breathing is carried on in
the recumbent position, and the frequent ineffectual struggles of the
limbs prevent the requisite muscular quietude.
In some cases, and especially in the mildest, recovery may seem to
have been effected in a few hours, and in others it will be seen in
twenty-four or forty-eight hours, while in still others the paresis and
helplessness may continue for a week and yet be followed by
recovery. In these cases appetite may be retained in greater or less
degree, but the intestinal peristalsis is usually weak and imperfect,
the fæces small in quantity and dry, and the bladder atonic so that
the urine may have to be drawn off with the catheter. It usually
retains the deep red color, or improvement may be heralded by a
change to a dirty grayish hue. If, however, it shows an excess of
albumen, cylindroid casts entangling renal epithelium and white or
red globules it will indicate the access of diffuse nephritis and a
prolonged or even a fatal illness.
When control of the limbs is not restored at the end of a week, the
paretic muscles usually undergo marked and rapid wasting, which
may last for months or years. This is especially common in the case
of the patellar muscles (muscle of the fascia lata, triceps extensor
cruris) in which the atrophy may become so extreme that the skin
covering the inner and outer sides of the thigh may be brought
virtually in contact in front of the femur. This entails an almost
complete inability to sustain the body on the hind limbs. When
atrophy is less extreme, there is only a weakness, stiffness, or
swaying or staggering on the hind limbs in progression.
In fatal cases death may occur early in connection with the violent
struggles, the excited breathing, pulmonary hypostasis and
congestion, a cyanotic hue of the visible mucous membranes and a
gradual increase of stupor. Though delayed for several days, there is
a continuation of the muscular struggles, and the labored breathing;
the red or glairy character of the urine persists or is exaggerated; the
nervous irritability increases, with muscular trembling; and cyanosis,
or stupor increases until death.
The mortality is always high in the severe forms of the disease, the
deaths ranging from 20 per cent. upward.
After a first attack there is a strong predisposition to a second
under similar exciting conditions.
Diagnosis. The peculiar symptoms of this disease and the
circumstances attending its onset, are usually sufficient to
distinguish it from all others. There may be danger of confounding
certain cases with thrombosis of the posterior aorta, or of the iliac
arteries or their branches, but the absence, in such cases, of the
special history of the attack and of the morbid state of the urine, and
the absence of pulsation in the arteries distal to the thrombosis will
serve to prevent confusion. Spinal myelitis will be distinguished by
the gradual nature of the onset, by the absence of the conditions
attending on the attack of hæmoglobinæmia, and usually by the
absence of hæmoglobin, urea and other nitrogenous products in
excess in the urine.
 Prevention. The hard worked or systematically exercised horse,
which is at the same time heavily fed must not be left in a state of
absolute rest in his stall for twenty-four hours. A fair amount of
exercise must be given on every day in the week, and at the same
time, the food should be restricted in ratio with the restriction of
exercise. Turning for an hour or two daily into a yard may be a
sufficient precaution. When from any cause, rest is imperative, the
diet must be materially reduced and given in part in a laxative form
(bran, roots), or a slight laxative (Glauber salts) or diuretic
(saltpeter) may be added. Cleanliness and a free ventilation of the
stable, are also of value in obviating at once auto-intoxication and
the admission of poison through the lungs. In the same way a free
allowance of drinking water is beneficial as favoring a general
elimination from the various emunctories, and a dilution of the
plethoric blood.
These precautionary measures are especially important in the case
of horses which have passed through a first attack and which are in
consequence strongly predisposed to a second. Horses fed liberally
on highly nitrogenous food (oats, beans, peas, cotton seed meal), will
also require specially careful oversight when at rest for a day or two
only.
Treatment. The first and perhaps the most important
consideration is absolute rest. If the subject is stopped instantly on
the appearance of the first symptoms, the disease may be often
aborted. It is better to avoid the exercise of walking to a stable until
such time as the severity of the attack has somewhat moderated and
then to move the subject only in the slowest and quietest possible
way. If the patient is already down and unable to rise, he may be
carried to the nearest stable in an ambulance or on a stone-boat, and
there helped to his feet and supported in slings. Though he may be
unable to continue in the standing position without the sling, yet if
he can use his limbs at all for support, and is prevented from lying
down, the breathing will be rendered so much more free and quiet,
that it may greatly lessen the transfer of the poisonous elements into
the general circulation and materially contribute to recovery. If,
however, he cannot stand on his limbs at all, but must settle in the
slings, the compression of the chest will so excite the breathing that
it will induce dyspnœa, pulmonary congestion and a rapidly fatal
result. In such a case a good bed must be provided and the patient
made as comfortable as possible in the recumbent position.
In some cases in the earliest stages a full dose of sweet spirits of
nitre or even half a pint of whiskey has seemed to assist in aborting
the disease though the urine was already of a deep red color. It
probably acted by supporting the already oppressed heart, and
securing a prompt elimination by the kidneys.
Friedberger and Fröhner strongly recommend bleeding in all cases
of dyspnœa and excited heart action, and considering the plethoric
condition of the animal it would equally commend itself in other
cases as well. This is the most prompt sedative of the nervous and
vascular excitement, and the most speedy and certain means of
removing much of the poisons accumulated in the blood, and of
diluting what remains by reason of the absorption of liquids from
every available source. This will more than counterbalance any
temporary increase of poisons drawn from the portal system to fill up
the vacuum in the systemic veins caused by the emission of blood.
When the thick tarry condition of the blood seriously hinders a
speedy abstraction both jugulars may be opened at once.
In some cases of great nervous excitement bromides may be useful
in moderating circulatory and respiratory movement, but on the
whole the advantage is greater from an immediate resort to
eliminating agents.
One of the most effective agents is water. If the patient is thirsty he
should have all he will drink, and if not, it may even be given from a
bottle, or thrown into the rectum. A still more effective resort would
be to introduce water intravenously in the form of a normal saline
solution, or even to pass it into the trachea through a small cannula
or large hypodermic needle. This serves to dilute the over dense
blood, to stimulate the kidneys and other emunctories to active
secretion, and to retain in solution the hæmoglobin, urea and other
products which would otherwise cause greater irritation. This would
be especially applicable after the blood tension had been diminished
by phlebotomy.
Warm fomentations to the loins or croup are not without their
influence. They tend to soothe the irritated parts and to solicit the
action of the kidneys more particularly. The old resort of a fresh
sheep skin, with the fleshy side in, may be used as a substitute.
 Perhaps the most important indication is to secure depletion from
the overloaded portal system and liver. Where nothing better offers,
a pint or quart of castor oil, or a pound of Glauber salts, or a half
drachm of podophyllin and four drachms of aloes may be given. If
available 1 to 1½ grains of eserine, or 7 grains of barium chloride
may be given hypodermically in distilled water or that which has
been raised to the boiling point. This may be supplemented by
frequent injections of hot soap suds or even of laxative saline
solutions. If the bowels can be roused to free secretion the removal of
toxic matters from the portal blood and the delay in the progress of
similar matters through the liver will go far toward securing a
favorable result. When free purgation has been secured recovery can
usually be counted on.
The action on the bowels must be followed up by diuretics to
eliminate the offensive matters from the general system. Colchicum
has been recommended because of its action in increasing the solids
of the urine, and this may be combined with saltpeter or other
diuretic, or the latter may be used alone and repeated twice a day. If,
however, the patient can, by the free use of common salt or
otherwise, be induced to drink freely of water, the elimination
through the kidneys will be sufficiently secured.
The muscular weakness and paralysis that remain after the acute
symptoms have subsided must be met by stimulating liniments and
even blisters to the loins or affected muscles, by the internal use of
strychnia (2 grs. twice daily) until the jerking of the muscles
indicates that its physiological action has been secured, and by an
electric current daily for ten minutes at a time through the affected
nerves and muscles. Animals that have been helpless for weeks have,
in our hands, recovered under such treatment, and even cases of
several months’ standing, with the most extensive atrophy of the
triceps, and in which the animal could barely stand, have made a
satisfactory recovery.
Any remaining nephritis must be treated according to its
indications.
During recovery and in the convalescent animal the diet should be
laxative and non-stimulating. Bran mashes, turnips, beets, carrots,
green fodder, ensilage and scalded hay may be allowed. Oats, corn,
beans, peas, vetches, etc., must be carefully avoided. If the food fails
to maintain the bowels in a gently relaxed condition one, two or
more ounces of sulphate of soda may be added daily.
In the mild cases a good dose of purgative medicine succeeded by a
course of diuretics will serve a good purpose.
In all cases alike work must be resumed very gradually. At first the
animal may be walked a few hundred yards, and the pace or load and
duration of exercise may be increased day by day until full work can
be safely endured. In an animal that has once suffered the same
gradual inuring to labor should be followed, after any short period of
rest on a fairly good ration.
 JAUNDICE, ICTERUS, THE YELLOWS.
Symptomatic. Causes: Mechanical obstruction of bile duct, gall-stones, hydatids,
distomata, extraneous bodies, inflammation, stricture, obliteration, absence,
ulceration, spasm, tumor, enlarged lymph glands, gastric tumors, pancreatic,
kidney or omental tumor, aneurism, fæcal accumulation, pregnancy, ovarian
tumor: Without mechanical obstruction, ptomaines and toxins, animal venoms,
mineral poisons, hepatic atrophy, fear, other emotions, cerebral concussion,
imperfect oxidation, excess of bile, hepatic inflammation, constipation and
reabsorption of bile, experimental jaundice, balance of tension in gall ducts and
blood vessels, duodenitis, compression of aorta, hæmatoidin and bilirubin,
destruction of blood globules by hydroæmia, taurocholate of soda, chloroform,
ether, freezing, heat, electricity, alkalies, nitrites. Hæmoglobin: Its solubility in
horse. Bile acids and blood pigment. Summary of causes. Gravity of icterus.
Symptoms: Coloration, yellow, orange, brown, of tissues and secretions: Tests,
staining white paper, Gmelin’s test, nitric and sulphuric acids, rainbow hues:
Pettenkofer’s test for bile acids, syrup and sulphuric acid, dark violet: Stranburg’s
test syrupy paper and sulphuric acid, dark violet; clay colored fœtid stools; gravity.
The terms icterus and jaundice are applied to a yellowness of the
mucosæ, urine, skin and tissues caused by the presence in them of
the coloring matters of bile. The condition is a symptom of many
different affections rather than a disease per se, yet the phenomenon
is so characteristic that it has been hitherto accorded a special place
and article in systematic works.
Jaundice is either associated with mechanical obstruction of the
bile duct or ducts, or it is independent of such obstruction. The
following enumeration of its causes slightly modified from
Murchison, is equally applicable to the lower animals as to man:
A. Jaundice From Mechanical Obstruction of the Bile Duct.
I. Obstruction by foreign bodies within the duct:

1. Gall stones and inspissated bile.

2. Hydatids and distomata.
3. Foreign bodies from the intestines.
II. Obstruction by inflammatory tumefaction of the duodenum or
of the lining membrane of the bile duct with exudation into its
interior.
III. Obstruction by stricture or obliteration of the duct.

1. Congenital deficiency of the duct.

2. Stricture from perihepatitis.
3. Closure of the orifice of the duct in consequence of ulcer of the
duodenum.
4. Stricture from cicatrization of ulcers in the bile duct.
5. Spasmodic stricture.
IV. Obstruction by tumors closing the orifice of the duct or
growing in its interior.
V. Obstruction by pressure on the duct from within, by:

1. Tumors projecting from the liver itself.

2. Enlarged glands in the fissure of the liver.
3. Tumor of the stomach.
4. Tumor of the pancreas.
5. Tumor of the kidney.
6. Post peritoneal or omental tumor.
7. An abdominal aneurism.
8. Accumulation of fæces in the bowels.
9. A pregnant uterus.
10. Ovarian and uterine tumors.
B. Jaundice Independent of Mechanical Obstruction of the Bile
Ducts.
I. Poisons in the blood interfering with the normal
metamorphosis of bile.
1. The poisons of the various specific fevers (Anthrax, Texas fever, Hog cholera,
Swineplague, Petechial fever, Pyæmia, Septicæmia, etc.).
2. Animal poisons: snake poison.
3. Mineral poisons: phosphorus, mercury, copper, antimony, etc.
 4. Chloroform, ether, etc.
5. Acute atrophy of the liver.
II. Impaired or deranged innervation interfering with the normal
metamorphosis of bile.
1. Severe mental emotions: fright, anxiety, etc.
2. Concussion of the brain.
III. Deficient oxygenation of blood interfering with the normal
metamorphosis of bile.
IV. Excessive secretion of bile, more of which is absorbed than can
undergo the normal metamorphosis.
Congestion of the liver: a. Mechanical, b. Active, c. Passive.
V. Undue absorption of bile into the blood from habitual or
protracted constipation.
Mechanical obstruction, by tying the bile ducts in a dog, caused in
two hours yellow coloration of the contents of the hepatic lymphatics
and thoracic duct, and also of the blood in the hepatic veins
(Saunders). That this jaundice is due to reabsorption and not to
suppressed secretion of bile, already present in the blood, may be
fairly inferred, from the complete absence of icterus, where, from
general disease of the liver, the secretion of bile has been entirely
suspended, and in which the gall ducts and bladder contain only a
little gray mucus (Haspell, Frerichs, Budd, Murchison), also from the
fact that after complete extirpation of the liver in frogs not a trace of
biliary acids nor pigment can be detected in the blood, urine, or
muscular tissue (Müller, Runde, Lehmann, Moleschott). Bile acids
and bile pigment are formed in the liver by disintegration of blood
globules, and when present in excess in the blood it is by virtue of
reabsorption.
This reabsorption will take place under the slightest favoring
influence. The obstructions in the bile duct, above referred to, cause
the tension in these ducts to exceed that of the blood in the
capillaries of the liver and at once osmosis of bile into the blood
vessels sets in. This may occur from so slight a cause as the
congestion and swelling of the duodenal mucosa around the opening
of the bile duct. Again reabsorption of bile may be determined by a
lessening of the normal fullness and tension of the hepatic capillaries
as when the aorta is mechanically compressed by abscess, neoplasm,
ingesta, or otherwise, just behind the diaphragm (Heidenham,
Brunton). The cause is the same in both cases, namely, the want of
balance between the fullness and tension of the bile ducts, and the
hepatic blood vessels. There is increased fullness of the hepatic
biliary ducts, or decreased plenitude of the hepatic capillaries and
lymphatics.
It must be added, however, that the coloring matter of the bile is
apparently produced, in the liver, from that of the blood, and that the
pigment (hæmatoidin), found in old extravasations of blood, is
probably identical with bilirubin, and that any agent or condition
which causes liberation of the coloring matter of the red blood
globules, will cause a staining of the tissues, like that of jaundice. The
following agents are known to have this effect on the blood globules:
water, in hydroæmic states of the blood (Hermann); taurocholate of
soda from absorption of bile (Frerichs, Kuhne, Feltz, Ritter);
chloroform (Chaumont); ether (Burdon-Sanderson); freezing
(Rollet); a high temperature +60° C. (Schultze); frictional and
induction currents of electricity (Burdon-Sanderson); the alkalies
(ammonia, potash and soda) and nitrites when present in excess.
The injection of hæmoglobin into the veins of dogs has been
followed by the appearance of bile pigment in the urine, but
Naumyn, Wolff, Legg and Brunton failed to obtain the same result in
rabbits.
It is noticeable that the hæmoglobin of horses’ blood is very
soluble at all temperatures and that of dogs very slightly so (Burdon-
Sanderson). This may serve to explain the great prevalence among
solipeds of diseases, associated with dusky brown or yellow
discoloration of the mucosæ, with petechiæ, and with the passage of
blood pigments in the urine. It may further explain the usually
benignant course of jaundice in the horse and its extreme gravity in
the dog.
There is further reason to believe that the bile acids, when in
excess, may be transformed into bile pigment in certain conditions of
the blood, as occurs under the action of sulphuric acid out of the
body (Stœdler, Meukomen, Folwarcyny, Röhrig). Moreover, in the
healthy state, the greater part of the bile secreted, including acids
and pigment, is re-absorbed from the intestinal canal, but is oxidized
and decomposed in the blood so that it cannot be detected, in blood
or urine. But let the transformation be interrupted, as in certain
diseases of the lungs, with imperfect oxidation, and the bile
circulates in the blood, stains tissues and urine, and in short causes
jaundice.
To sum up: it may be said that icterus is probably never due to
simple inactivity of the liver: it may, however, be caused by excessive
secretion of bile which is re-absorbed from obstructed bile ducts or
bowels:—it may result from imperfect transformation, in the blood,
of the bile which is normally re-absorbed from the intestine: or it
may possibly be caused by the formation of pigments in the blood
from the abnormal transformation of bile acids, or by solution of the
hæmoglobin of the blood corpuscles.
The gravity of jaundice varies as much as its causes. It is well
known that the system may be saturated with bile, and the tissues
and urine deeply stained without much constitutional disorder. The
pigment alone is not an active poison. But there may be much
attendant suffering from obstructed biliary ducts or bowels, from
diseases of the lungs, or from disintegration of the blood globules
and imperfect nutrition, or there may be profound nervous
prostration and disorder from uræmia, or from the presence in the
blood of an excess of effete and partially oxidized albuminoids (See
Azotæmia). According to our present knowledge, constitutional
disorder, prostration and suffering in cases of jaundice, are mainly
due to the presence in the circulation of these albuminoids, and of
taurocholic acid which latter has a most destructive effect on the
blood corpuscles.
The symptoms, therefore, are not characteristic apart from the
yellow coloration of the tissues and urine and the chemical reactions
of the bile acids and bile pigments furnished by the latter.
The coloration of the tissues may be a simple tinge of yellow
especially noticeable in the eye (conjunctiva), or it may amount to
the darkest shades of orange and brown. It may or may not be
complicated by the presence of spots or patches of blood-staining
(ecchymosis) on the visible mucous membranes but especially in
cases complicated by poisoning with taurocholic acid or effete
nitrogenous products.
The urine may be similarly colored in all shades of yellow or
orange brown, and may leave a correspondingly deep stain on white
paper.
The test for bile pigments (Gmelin’s) is simple and beautiful. Pour
a little nitric acid into a test tube held obliquely and then add a few
drops of sulphuric acid, and finally a little urine, so slowly, that it will
remain on the surface. Soon at the point of junction appear in
succession the various colors of the rainbow: yellow, green, blue,
violet, red and lastly a dirty yellow. It is open to this objection that
the characteristic play of colors may be produced by alcohol in the
absence of bile pigments. Indican also will produce the green and
yellow with blue between but never the violet nor red, nor all in their
regular order.
A second mode of applying this test is by spreading a few drops of
the urine on a white plate and letting fall a drop of nitric acid in the
centre. The play of colors is very characteristic.
The test for bile acids (Pettenkofer’s) is to place a portion of the
urine in a test tube, and after adding a drop of syrup, to add
cautiously, drop by drop, two-thirds of the amount of sulphuric acid.
Shake the mixture and set aside for some minutes. If sufficient heat
is not produced by the mixing of the acid and urine warm slightly.
The mixture becomes of a dark violet color which is destroyed by a
temperature a little above 140° Fah.
A convenient application of this test (Stranburg) is to add a little
cane sugar to the urine, dip a piece of filtering paper in the mixture,
dry it thoroughly, pour a drop of sulphuric acid on the paper and
allow it to run partially off. In a quarter of a minute a beautiful violet
color is produced, best seen by holding up the paper to the light and
looking through it (Brunton).
In cases due to obstruction of the bile ducts the dung is destitute of
bile, whitish, often clayey and fœtid, while in cases due to
reabsorption without obstruction the fæces have their natural color
and odor.
It is needless to enumerate all the concomitant symptoms of
jaundice which will be better noticed under the different disorders
which determine it, for a list of which see the causes.
The gravity of the affection will depend on the dangerous nature of
these concurrent diseases, and the destructive changes in the liver
and blood rather than on the depth of color in the textures.
 CATARRHAL ICTERUS (JAUNDICE) OF
SOLIPEDS.
Causes: infection from duodenum through biliary duct. Suppression of bile
favors. Musty, heated, mow burnt fodder, over feeding, irregular feeding, or
watering, over work, worms, fatigue, damp stables, duodenal congestion, gall-
stones, concretions, pancreatic tumor, ascaris in bile ducts, distoma, infection
through portal vein, toxins. Symptoms: of duodenal catarrh, icterus, yellow,
viscous, odorous urine, dullness, weakness, somnolence, tardy pulse and
breathing, costiveness, or diarrhœa, pale, fœtid stools. Duration: 2 to 3 weeks or
longer. Lesions: duodenitis, distended biliary and pancreatic ducts, calculi,
enlarged softened liver and kidneys. Diagnosis: icteric symptoms in absence of
fever. Prognosis: usually favorable. Treatment: laxative diet, pasture, soiling,
ensilage, roots, fruits, water freely, exercise, antisepsis, elimination, laxatives,
cholagogues, diuretics, calomel, salines, nitro-muriatic acid, podophyllin, castor
oil, aloes, tartar emetic, bitters, sodium bicarbonate.
Causes. This may be said to be an extension of infection from the
duodenum through the bile ducts. The microbes of the intestinal
canal become acclimatized by living in the bile-charged contents of
the duodenum until they acquired the power of survival and
multiplication in the biliary ducts themselves. The well known
antiseptic qualities of the bile, constitute a powerful barrier to this,
yet the power of adaptation on the part of certain germs is greater
than the defensive action of the bile. The attack is however mostly in
connection with indigestion or muco-enteritis, and a more or less
perfect suspension of biliary secretion, so that this defensive action is
reduced to its minimum and the germs can ascend the bile ducts in
the mucous secretion as a culture medium, and by interference with
the resumption of a free hepatic secretion, they succeed in safely
colonizing themselves in the mucosa and hepatic parenchyma.
Whatever, therefore, interferes with the integrity of the duodenal
functions directly contributes to the extension of infection from
bowel to liver. Old, heated, musty, cryptogamic, dusty fodder, grains
that have been badly harvested in wet seasons, feed that has been
damp and fermented, overloading of the stomach, irregular feeding
and watering, giving drink after a feed of grain, underfeeding,
overwork, worms, excessive fatigue, damp, dark stables, etc., tend to
induce indigestions and to lay the bile ducts open to infection.
Blocking of the bile duct and stasis of its contents may be a sufficient
cause. The swollen mucosa around the orifice of the duct not only
blocks the passage but favors the formation of a mucous plug as
recorded by Benjamin of an equine patient. Wolff found obstruction
of the duodenum in the horse by a mass of ingesta, and blocking of
the gall duct, with jaundice.
Gall stones and concretions are very direct causes of biliary
obstruction and jaundice. Though less common in horses than cattle,
these are not unknown in idle, pampered animals when on dry
winter feeding.
Tumors of the pancreas or adjacent organs pressing on the gall
duct are recognized as causes of equine icterus, (Megnin, Nocard).
With any obstruction to the bile a disturbance of balance of
pressure between the bile ducts and the hepatic veins is brought
about by respiratory movements. On the one hand the aspiratory
power of the chest empties the hepatic veins, lessening blood
pressure, and in expiration the contraction of diaphragm and
abdominal muscles compresses the gall ducts increasing their
tension and favoring absorption of bile.
The entrance into the bile duct of the ascaris megalocephala is at
once a cause of obstruction and of the transference of duodenal
microbes, and the presence of trematodes (fasciola hepatica, or
distoma lanceolatum) will also favor obstruction. Other parasites,
like the echinococcus or actinomycosis, may press on the biliary
ducts and determine jaundice.
Another mode of infection is by way of the portal vein, the
microbes entering from the intestine and becoming arrested and
colonized in the liver (Dieckerhoff).
Whether from the presence of the microbes or from the absorption
of ptomaines and toxins from the intestines, the radical biliary ducts
become inflamed, swollen, and even blocked, and the hepatic cells
degenerated or even completely devitalized, so that they fail to take
an aniline stain. In such cases the remaining sound hepatic cells go
on producing bile, but as this cannot any longer escape through the
partially obstructed interlobular biliary radicles, it is largely
absorbed and produces icterus. Cadeac mentions a case of this kind
in a mare in which the toxic matters had not only led to hepatic
disease, but also to structural changes in the eliminating organ (the
kidney).
Symptoms. In the horse the disease is mostly attendant on
subacute duodenitis, and even when this is associated with infective
catarrh of the biliary passages the kidneys remain mostly sound and
active, and eliminate alike the bile pigments and the more toxic
matters so that the disease is not often grave. Beside the essential
feature of yellow mucosæ, and urine, the latter viscous and smelling
strongly, there is profound depression, sluggishness, weakness and
somnolence. Imperfect muscular control and even slight paresis may
be present. Tardy pulse and breathing are at times noticeable. At
others these, like the temperature, are normal. The mouth is hot and
dry. The urine may be slightly albuminous. The bowels incline to
costiveness from lack of their customary stimulus, yet this in turn
may give rise to diarrhœa. In either case, as the disease advances, the
defecations lose the healthy yellowish brown color, becoming pale
and fœtid.
Duration. The attack may last one, two or three weeks, and
generally ends in recovery. With irremediable structural lesions, it is
of course permanent and even fatal.
Lesions. The most common feature is duodenitis with thickening
around the orifice of the common bile and pancreatic duct. The
biliary ducts may be distended and their contents more than usually
viscid and glairy from the presence of pus. Their mucosa may show
ramified redness, or concretions as casts or calculi. The liver is
enlarged, soft and friable giving way readily under the pressure of the
finger. Enlargement of the kidneys is usually present, the cortical
substance having a brownish red and the medullary portion a
yellowish pink hue.
Diagnosis. The absence of hyperthermia in jaundice, serves to
distinguish it from the acute febrile affections (pneumonia,
influenza, contagious pneumonia, petechial fever, etc.,) which are
marked by yellowness of the mucosæ and skin.
Prognosis. The merely functional forms of icterus in solipeds
usually end in recovery.
 Treatment. The first consideration is a laxative diet. A run at
pasture will usually meet every indication. Fresh cut grass, ensilage,
turnips, carrots, potatoes, beet, apples, or other succulent diet may
be given as substitute. Bran mashes and hay cut and moistened may
be allowed in the absence of the above. Abundance of water and
especially cool water will stimulate bowels, liver and kidneys, favor
the elimination of the bile by contraction of the biliary ducts, and
hasten the expulsion of the poisons through the kidneys. Regular
exercise an hour after meals stimulates both bowels and liver to
action.
Medicinal treatment is largely directed to antisepsis of the bowels
and the arrest of the production of injurious toxins; elimination from
the bowels and incidental depletion from the portal vein and liver;
antisepsis and stimulation of the liver; and stimulation of the urinary
secretion.
The preparations of mercury fill several of these indications.
Calomel 2 drs., or blue mass 1½ dr., is not only a soothing laxative
and antiseptic, but seems to operate as a calmative and antiseptic to
the liver as well. It may be continued in 5 to 10 grain doses two or
three times a day, according to the size of the animal and the
condition of the bowels, and associated with ½ dr. belladonna
extract to each dose together with a bitter (quassia, gentian, nux
vomica). Or 4 or 5 ozs. sulphate of soda may be given three times a
day, with 2 drs. salicylate of soda as an antiseptic. Or, to increase the
hepatic action, nitro-muriatic acid largely diluted may be given in
sixty drop doses thrice a day in the drinking water. These are
especially valuable for their antiseptic action, cutting off at once the
source of nervous irritation from the attendant indigestions, and
duodenal congestion, and arresting the flow of the irritant toxins and
other products through the portal system. Podophyllin, castor oil,
aloes, rhubarb, often act well by depletion from the portal vein, and
expulsion of indigestible and irritant matters from the intestines, but
there is more danger of resulting swelling of the duodenal mucosa
than with the mercurials or aqua regia. Goubaux recommends 2½
drs. of tartar emetic.
Siedamgrotzky has had good results from an electric current sent
through the region of the liver, but in the horse this is rarely
demanded.
 A course of bitters, with bicarbonate of soda in small doses, may be
demanded to re-establish the healthy tone of the stomach and
intestines, and a run at pasture, or at least an open air life, exercise,
and a laxative diet with abundance of good water should be secured.
Any undue costiveness should be counteracted at once by a saline
laxative.