270 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



distension and the more or less complete state of paralysis to which the 

 stomach is reduced. It may, however, be safely predicted that they 

 will begin and end in manifestation of abdominal pain, or, from the first, 

 disorder of the brain will appear, or the one may precede and ultimately 

 give way to the other. 



In instances of the first kind the patient ceases to feed and presents 

 a dull heavy appearance. He is restless, moves from place to place, looks 

 languidly round to the flank, essays to lie down, and resumes an upstand- 

 ing posture without going to the ground. He paws with the fore-feet, 

 and as the pain increases in severity exhibits an anxious expression of 

 countenance. The body gradually enlarges as the result of fermentation 

 going on in the stomach, and in the fits of pain he throws himself to 

 the ground and rises again to repeat the same after varying intervals 

 of temporary repose. 



Should the disease continue, patchy sweats beclew the body, the move- 

 ments become unsteady, the muscles of the limbs tremble, gas is belched 

 up from the stomach, and in rare instances attempts at vomiting are 

 observed, but the act is seldom accomplished save as to a little fluid 

 matter. 



Should the stomach recover its action, as it sometimes will after a free 

 discharge of gas, these symptoms gradually subside, and nothing remains 

 beyond the weakness resulting from the attack, which, with due care, soon 

 passes away. 



In the absence of relief rupture of the stomach and death may be 

 apprehended. 



In those cases where the brain becomes affected a different order of 

 symptoms is developed, in some instances assuming the form of what 

 is known as "sleepy staggers" (fig. 98), in others of "mad staggers". In 

 the former the patient, after exhibiting signs of abdominal pain, becomes 

 dull, heavy, and stupid. The head is carried low, the eyelids droop, the 

 lips hang pendulous, and in this drowsy half-insensible condition the horse 

 walks round and round the box with a slow, staggering gait in which 

 the toes are trailed or barely lifted from the ground. After one or two 

 turns the head is forcibly pressed against the wall or rested on the manger, 

 and in this position he sinks into a profound sleep from which he is 

 with difficulty awoke. On being roused the same rotary movements are 

 repeated, and these again are followed by a deep sleep or coma as before. 



Vision is much impaired and soon fails altogether, and consciousness 

 gradually disappears. The breathing at this time is slow and attended 

 with a stertor or snorting sound, and the pulse also is less frequent than 

 normal. The bowels are invariably torpid, and little or no fgeces are 



