1S4 The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



no hope of the mouth being opened again, and the 

 horse, if not killed, must die of starvation, in a short 

 time nearly all the muscles of the body becoming spas- 

 modically affected. The cause of this disease proceeds 

 from the nerves being injured in consequence of a 

 wound having been received by one of the ligaments or 

 tendons. It sometimes comes on by an injury to 

 the foot from the puncture of a nail ; nicking and dock- 

 ing are often the cause of it. One case that I had was 

 caused by the waggoner cracking his whip in front of 

 the horse's head, the point of the lash striking the 

 horse on the ball of the eye, hurting the optic nerve. 

 It sometimes comes on instantaneously after the in- 

 fliction of the wound, and sometimes not until a con- 

 siderable time after. It is caused sometimes by the 

 animal being allowed to cool too suddenly when very 

 warm ; worms have also been known to be the remote 

 cause of tetanus ; bots have also produced it. 



The usual way in which this disease comes on 

 seldom leads to no suspicion of what it is, as few who 

 have not previously watched its progress can trace its 

 character. Hence it has assumed its climax before 

 persons are aware of it. In this condition it can seldom 

 be cured, from the difficulty of administering medicine. 

 In this affection the endermic method of administering 

 remedies bids fair to become beneficial ; prussic acid, 

 morphia, atropine, conium, &c, or tinctures of plants 

 containing the last three substances are readily brought 

 to bear upon the system by the endermic syringe. 

 Injections also per anum of chloric ether and its allies 

 prove serviceable, and in the trassmatic form the 



