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CTCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AKD COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



EXPRESSION CHAKACTEKIS 

 TIC OF MEGKIMS. 



IV. Megrims. 

 This is similar to apoplexy, but is a milder form of the disease. 

 Causes. — It is due to the same causes as apoplexy, but the animal 

 recovers more quickly. 



How to know it. — The horse stops, throws 

 up his head, shivers all over, staggers ;the eyes 

 close for a minute ; he braces his legs so as not 

 to fall ; stands so for a few minutes like a 

 drunken man, shakes himself and goes on as if 

 nothing had happened. 



What to do. — See that the harness does not 

 press too tight where it ought not to ; if cold 

 water is handy, throw a little over his head ; if 

 not, just let him stand and he will soon recover. 

 It is a pet hobby with some to bleed the horse, 

 to stick a knife through the partition in the 

 nose, or into the second or third ridge in the 

 roof of the mouth, but it is entirely useless and somewhat dangerous from 

 overbleeding ; it is often very difficult to stop the bleeding from these 



small stabs. 



V. Tetanus or Lock-Jaw. 



This is an excessively irritable condition of the whole nervous system, 

 producing cramps or violent contractions of all the nmscles of the body. 

 It is an infectious disease, very painful, and fatal in from seventy-five to 

 eighty -five per cent. 



Causes. — It is due to a specific germ (the bacillus tetani) that gets into 

 the system through a wound, usually on the outside of the body, such as 

 nail pricks in the feet, punctures in the skin, following cartration, collar 

 and saddle galls, etc., and sometimes it arises from the germs taken in with 



the food getting into a small wound in 

 the stomach or bowels, made by some 

 sharp indigestible substance. These 

 germs exist in the soil nearly every- 

 where, especially in garden soil, and 

 they grow best where there is the least 

 oxygen, consequently, nail pricks in 

 the feet are oftener followed by tetanus 

 than other or larger wounds. The 

 germs multiply and produce a chemical 

 poison (ptomaine) that gets into the 

 blood, poisons it, irritates the nervous system, which produces the muscular 

 contractions (cramps). Mild tetanic spasms may be caused by colds, over- 



TETANUS OR LOCKJAW. 

 Note tenseness of muscles. 



