Sl£ STAGGERS. 



'' stagger ; and this proceeds froin the vibra-- 

 '' tions and tremors of the optic nerve, 

 " whereby the images falling not directly 

 '• but successive!}^ upon the different parts 

 " of the retina, an object that is at rest will 

 '' therefore appear as if turning round; and 

 ^' this may be occasioned either when an ani- 

 -' mal is fearful of falling, or from a reple- 

 ^^ tion or over- fulness of those arteries which 

 '' are situated near the optic nerve, which, 

 *' by pressing upon the brain, will cause a 

 ^' shakino- in that nerve. 



" No\r (says he) if we examine a little 

 '' carefully into all the different appearances 

 ^Vof that distemper which farriers call the 

 ^' staggers, we shall find them reducible to 

 *' one of these maladies above described-*' 

 He then proceeds to prove that the staggers 

 may be the effect of either ; then mentions 

 an attack when the horse is first turned to 

 grass, after a day or two's full feeding, and 

 defines that apoplectic ; and a fourth, that 

 is, '' either a true apoplexy, or a vertigo, or 

 '' perhaps both/' I omit enlarging here 

 upon these palpable absurdities and direct 

 contradictions, quoting them to demonstrate 

 the inconsistency of followiiig him through 



