52 Veterina}}' Medicine. 



than the tendency' to some form of nervous disorder (insanity, 

 dementia, alcohoHsm, morphinism, epilepsy, chorea, etc.) in a 

 special family line. Reynal records the case of an epileptic cat 

 (belonging- to an eniplo}'e of the Alfort veterinar}- .school) the 

 progeny of which for three generations, became affected with 

 epileps}' and mostly died before Xh^y were a year old. Also four 

 epileptic dogs (3 males and i female) which produced a num- 

 ber of epileptic puppies. lyaNotte records the cases of two bulls 

 affected with epileps_v, in the progeny of which numerous cases of 

 epileps\' appeared ; the cows being attacked after the first calving, 

 and the oxen soon after they were first put to work. Breeding 

 stallions are particularly liable to attacks, the high feeding, lack 

 of muscular work in the open air, and above all the oft repeated 

 nervous excitement attendant on copulation being directly excit- 

 ing causes. The heredit}^ of the artificial epilepsy induced by 

 Brown-Sequard in Guinea pigs, serves to strengthen the doctrine 

 of heredity in ordinar}^ forms. 



Among emotional causes fear easily heads the list. Bernard 

 states that ahorse became epileptic in connection with the terror 

 caused by the giving way of a wooden bridge over which he was 

 passing. Bourgelat and Reynal adduce instances, in cavalry 

 horses when fir.st put under fire. Reynal records the case of an- 

 other which had his first attack when facing a moving locomo- 

 tive, and which never again could see an engine in motion 

 without suffering another attack. La Notte mentions the case of 

 a horse attacked when frightened by a sky rocket ; Romer, the 

 case of a horse scared by the sudden display of a white sheet in 

 front of him, and Friedberger and Frohner relate cases of attacks 

 caused by intense rays of light, as in racing toward the declining 

 sun, or the dazzling reflection from the surface of water. Liedes- 

 dorf saw it in a dog .scared by a locomotive. 



A strong impression like that caused by tran.sition from bright 

 light into darkness, by seeing shadows of trees cro.ssing the road, 

 or violent suffering caused b}^ severe forms of constraint have 

 been named as causes. 



Speaking in " Brain," of epilepsy in man, Alexander Haig at- 

 tributes the fits to the fluctuations of uric acid in the blood. 

 Headache (migraine) he finds to be very closely allied to epi- 

 lepsy and convulsions and to be a result in a su.sceptible system 



