TETANUS, OR LOCKED JAW. 



147 



horses were bitten near Hyde Park, by a mad dog. To one of them the lunar 

 caustic was twice severely applied he lived. The red-hot iron was un- 

 sparingly used on the others, and they died. The caustic must reach every 

 part of the wound. At the expiration of the fourth month, the horse may be 

 considered to be safe. 



TETANUS, OR LOCKED JAW. 



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

 subject. It is called LOCKED JAW, because the muscles of the jaw are earliest 

 affected, and the mouth is obstinately and immovably closed. It is a constant 

 spasm of all the voluntary muscles, and particularly of those of the neck, the 

 spine, and the head. It is generally slow and treacherous in its attack. 

 The horse, for a day or two, does not appear to be quite well ; he does not feed 

 as usual ; he partly chews his food, and drops it ; and he gulps his water. 

 The owner at length finds that the motion of the jaws is considerably 

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

 open the mouth a very little way, or the jaws are perfectly and rigidly closed ; 

 and thus the only period at which the disease could have been successfully com- 

 bated is lost. A cut of a horse labouring under this disease is here given, which 

 the reader will do well to examine carefully. 



The first thing 

 that strikes the 

 observer is a pro- 

 trusion of the 

 muzzle, and stiff- 

 ness of the neck ; 

 and, on passing the 

 hand down it, the 

 muscles will be 

 found singularly 

 prominent, dis- 

 tinct, hard, knotty, 

 and unyielding. 

 There is difficulty 

 in bringing the 

 head round, and 



still greater difficulty in bending it. The eye is drawn deep within the socket, 

 and, in consequence of this, the fatty matter behind the eye is pressed forward ; 

 the haw is also protruded, and there is an appearance of strabismus, or squinting, 

 in an outward direction. 



The ears are erect, pointed forward, and immovable ; if the horse is spoken 

 to, or threatened to be struck, they change not their position. Considering the 

 beautiful play of the ear in the horse when in health, and the kind of conversa- 

 tion which he maintains by the motion of it, there is not a more characteristic 

 symptom of tetanus than this immobility of the ear. The nostril is expanded 

 to the utmost, and there is little or no play of it, as in hurried or even natural 

 breathing. The respiration is usually accelerated, yet not always so ; but it is 

 uniformly laborious. The pulse gives little indication of the severity of the 

 disease. It is sometimes scarcely affected. It will be rapidly accelerated when 

 any one approaches the animal and offers to touch him, but it presently quiets 

 down again almost to its natural standard. After a while, however, the heart 

 begins to sympathise with the general excitation of the system, and the pulse 

 increases in frequency and force until the animal becomes debilitated, when it 

 beats yet quicker and quicker, but diminishes in power, and gradually flutters 

 and dies away. 



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