TETANUS TRISMUS LOCKED-JAW. 473 



The treatment of tetanus has been spoken of as a " mor- 

 tifying subject." The disease is by no means so constantly 

 a fatal one in the lower animals as it is in man, but we 

 are not prepared to attribute the recoveries to anything but 

 the spontaneous efforts of nature. The 'greatest success 

 has attended leaving animals perfectly quiet in dark loose 

 boxes, with nutritious fluids to drink, and sufficient warm 

 clothing to protect them from cold. Bleeding is objection- 

 able ; purgatives of use, but cannot be repeated without 

 unduly exciting the animal ; narcotics are often decidedly 

 prejudicial, and the one to be most avoided in the horse is 

 opium. 



Mr Horsburgh of Dalkeith, who has reported several 

 cases of recovery after tetanus, says, "Like most of my 

 neighbour practitioners, and for a number of years, I fol- 

 lowed the school instructions and recommendations of our 

 veterinary authorities, as published in their works, and, 

 like most others, was equally successful every case of 

 traumatic tetanus died. I found the everlasting annoyance 

 of balling, blistering, drenching, and clystering, aggravate 

 the spasms to that degree that I had no doubt they has- 

 tened death. To save trouble in forcing up the head when 

 the spasmodic action on tlie muscles of the neck rendered 

 it nearly impossible, I tried, but with no better success, an 

 opening into the oesophagus, by which I could pour liquid 

 medicine into the stomach. I entirely changed my prac- 

 tice. Instead of constantly annoying the poor animal 

 with medicines, I gave at first one large dose of physic if 

 the patient is seen early in the disease this is practicable 

 had him wrapt up from head to tail in four or five pairs of 

 blankets wrung out of water about the heat of 200, left 

 him entirely quiet, locked up in a loose box, and his 

 attendant to keep the key, allowing no person to go near or 



