754 CumbiiK'd Paralysis of the Tail and oil llic Sphincter. 



A case is recorded by Holterbach in which a calf showed severe periotbca! 

 restlessness and gnawing at the root of the tail. In this case the nerves of the 

 tail were compressed by a fibroma. 



Course. The course of tlie disease is chronic. The first 

 symptoms generally escape observation, but within two or three 

 months they become pronounced and in many cases remissions 

 are observed. In some cases the s^anptoms may be fully de- 

 veloped within a month (Marek). With careful treatment the 

 animal may remain useful for a year or more, but it frequently 

 liappens that the animal dies before that from cystitis, or there 

 may be lumbar paralysis. 



Diagnosis. In well developed cases the disease is easily 

 recognizable owing to the characteristic nature of the symp- 

 toms. The slow development is sufficient to distingiiish it from 

 contusion of the cauda equina or of the posterior part of the 

 sacral portion of the cord (fracture of the sacrum), and the 

 presence of the zone of hyperesthesia distinguishes it from 

 other diseases of the spinal cord. The condition is differen- 

 tiated from that caused by compression of the cauda equina 

 (Petit) by the discovery of a neoplasm (melanoma) in the sacral 

 portion of the spinal canal. 



Treatment. The diseased process within the vertebral 

 canal is uncurable and consequently the symptoms due to it 

 cannot be removed. With careful treatment, however, an ani- 

 mal may be able to work for a long time. The masses of feces 

 which collect in the rectum must be removed by hand at least 

 twice a day, and the anal region must be kept clean. Suitable 

 treatment must be applied to the catarrhal condition of the 

 l)ladder. 



Literature. Dexler, Z. f. Tm., 1897, I, 273 (Lit.) ; Nervenkrkh. d. Pferdes, 

 IsitO. 4-2 (Lit.).— Holterbach, B. t. W., 1904, 788.— Kiiske, Z. f. Vk., 1904, 389.— 

 Marchand & Alix, Eec, 1906, 353.— Marek, Z. f. Tm., 1909, XIII, 33.— Mayer- 

 strasse, B. t. W., 1898, 85.— Petit, Bull., 190r., 266. 



16. Polyneuritis. 



Under this term are included inflammatory conditions of 

 the nerves which involve several nerve trunks, either simul- 

 taneously or one after the other, but which are due to the same 

 internal cause. 



Etiology. Investigation of a number of cases of dourine 

 (Marek) showed that the symptoms were due to an interstitial 

 inflammation of the nerve trunks which extended as far as the 

 dura mater of the cord (see Vol. I). The investigations of 

 Thomassen showed that in chronic lead poisoning in the horse 

 there is parenchymatous inflammation of various nerves. The 



