TETANUS, OR LOCKED-JAW. 10ft 



plunges, but he more often rolls himself about ; he looks frequently at uia 

 flanks wit.i an expression of pain, and he is conscious. 



In 7uadness there may be more or less violence ; there is sometimes a 

 determination to do mischief; and there is always consciousness. 



Over-exertion when tlie horse is too fat or full of blood, or especially during 

 hot weather, is a frequent cause of inflammation of the brain ; but what- 

 ever will produce general fever, may be the cause of mad-staggers. 



The treatment adopted by the best practitioners is too often unsuccess- 

 ful. The horse should be bled until he faints or drops ; or if he be down, 

 until he is evidently faint and weak. Both the neck-veins should be 

 opened at once, and the fullness of the stream, or the quickness with which 

 it is taken, is almost as important as the quantity. Physic should then be 

 given. • The purge that acts most quickly is the best, and that is the croton 

 nut, powdered at the time, and given in a drink, in tlie dose of a half 

 drachm, and followed by smaller doses of ten grains each, every six hours, 

 with plenty of injections of warm soap and water, until the bowels are well 

 opened. If the crotou is not at hand, aloes may be given, but dissolved in 

 hot water — an ounce of aloes at the first dose, and afterwards, a quarter 

 of an ounce every four hours, until purging is produced. This being ef- 

 fected, those medicines should be given which have a tendency to lessen 

 the force of the circulation, and consequently, the determination of blood 

 to the head. The most powerful of these are the foxglove, and the tartar 

 emetic, in doses of a drachm each, three or four times in the day. Helle- 

 bore should not be given on account of the previously too great determina- 

 tion of blood to the brain. The head should be blistered, but rowels and 

 setons give useless pain, for the horse is either cured or dead before they 

 perceptibly begin to act. 



TETANUS, OR LOCKED-JAW. 



We have described the nerves as proceeding from the brain and spinal 

 marrow, and conveying the power of feeling and motion to the whole 

 frame. This power may best be conceived by considering it as an influence 

 proceeding from tlie brain to every part. In a state of health, it is regu- 

 larly and uniformly distributed ; but it is much affected by disease. It may 

 rush on violently and without interruption, and we have cramp, and tetanus, 

 or locked-jaw : or the stream may be rapid, but with considerable suspen- 

 sions, and we liavc fits ; or it may be quite suspended, and we have palsy. 



Tetanus is one of the most dreadful and fatal diseases to which the horse 

 is subject. It is called the Locked-Jaw, because the muscles of the jaw 

 are earliest and most powerfully affected. Tetanus is a constant spasm of 

 all the voluntary muscles, and particularly of the neck, the spine, and the 

 head. It is generally slow and very treacherous in its attack. The horse 

 for a day or two does not appear to be quite well ; he does not feed as usual ; 

 partlj^ chews his food and drops it ; and gulps his water. The owner at 

 length finds out that the motion of the jaws is considerably limited, and 

 some saliva is drivelling from the mouth. If he tries the mouth, he can 

 open it only a very little w'ay, or the jaws are perfectly and rigidly closed ; 

 and thus the only time in which the disease could have been successfully 

 combated is lost. We have, therefore, given a cut of a horse labouring 

 under this disease, which the reader will do well carefully to examine as we 

 proceed with the symptoms, that he may be enabled to recognise it in its 

 very earliest stage ; at the moment he does recognise it, he will do well to 

 apply for the very best advice he can get. Most of the peculiarities delin- 

 H 



