TREATMENT OF ENCEPHALIC INFLAMMATIONS. 351 



Should the appetite not be enth-ely gone, any food which is 

 offered ought to be hght, unstimulating, and in itself of such 

 a nature as will tend to keep the bowels in a moist condition. 

 Excitement and fever will often subside, and consciousness 

 return, while defective motor-power or impaired special sensa- 

 tion still continues. In these conditions, benefit is likely to 

 result from the application of a smart blister to the pole ; while 

 should improvement manifest itself, the blister ought to be re- 

 peated, and the bowels kept moist by laxatives or approj)riate 

 dieting. 



In cases Avhich assume a decidedly chronic character, a 

 somewhat different line of treatment seems indicated, which 

 will be referred to when considering these cases specially. 



CHAPTER VI. 



CHRONIC DISEASES OF THE CEREBRAL STRUCTURES. 



Apaut from the disorders of an active character already 

 noticed, we not unfrequently encounter departiu"es from health 

 which are gradual in development, sometimes decidedly 

 chronic. Chief of these are probably — 1. Disease of cerebral 

 raemhranes and structure, marked by obvious tissue-change; 

 2. Adventitious groivths in connection with cerebral struc- 

 tures ; 3. Dropsy of the cerebral organs — hydrocephalus. 



I. Chronic Disease of Cerebral Membranes and Struc- 

 ture, Marked by obvious Tissue-change. 



a. Chronic Meningitis. — In some instances of repeated or 

 long-continued cerebral congestion, in certain recoveries from 

 cranial injuries and acute inflammatory action, and in others 

 where no previous disease could be detected, horses have been 

 found, on examination after death, to exhibit evidence of 

 changed meningeal structures, conveying the impression that 

 such changes had existed for some time previous to death, 

 and that they were most probably the result of inflammatory 

 action. 



These changes consist in thickening of the membranes 



