52 CAUSES, SYMPTOMS AS'D TREATMENT OJ 



sium, especially if it is suddenly developed. Put him in a comfortable 

 place ; keep him nice and warm; Another cause is irritation caused by 

 castration, either from irritating the nerve in throwing him, or in irritat- 

 ing the nerve of the testicle in such animals as showed no signs of it 

 before. . •. 



Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis. — This disease is more extensive than it 

 was some years ago. It is congestion, followed by more or less inflam- 

 matory action of the coverings of the spinal cord and brain, due to a 

 congested state of the blood vessels This appears to be a comparatively 

 new disease, and is found principally on this continent It does occur 

 in other places, but not so frequently. I am inclined to the opinion of 

 some others, that the sympathetic system is involved and implicated to 

 some extent, perhaps from some noxious conditions in the blood. It 

 generally appears to the greatest extent to those that are breathing im- 

 pure air and using improper food. Soldiers established in barracks are 

 more subject. It is generally met with in horses in large cities, where 

 they are crowded together to a great extent. Anything that is debilitat- 

 ing tends to produce it. It is more severe and fatal in crowded stables. 

 Some say it attacks healthy as well as horses in poor condition. If this 

 is so, then it is due to atmospheric influence. It is ditticult to say what 

 is the exciting cause. It may be dme to atmospheric influence, local 

 causes, vegetable poisons, grass containing narcotic properties, etc., 

 affecting the cerebro-spinal nerves, and sympathetic as well. It appears 

 in various forms, and the 



Symptoms vary according to the parts affected. Some show the spine 

 affected, and others the brain. Sometimes it shows itself by loss of 

 power, especially of the posterior extremeties. The appetite is impaired, 

 or completely gone. An animal may be in apparently good health, and 

 in twenty-four hours will present the above symptoms. The temperature 

 does not vary to any great extent ; in some it is increased, in others 

 decreased. The tremors or spasms show themselves in different parts, 

 In the early stage the pufse is not accelerated generally, but may be even 

 slower than natural. In other cases there will be a peculiar involuntary 

 jerking ; the animal reels about, and in some severe cases falls or lies 

 down, and is unable to rise ; the bowels usually costive ; urine of a 

 brownish colour, and retained in the bladder, but is not so dark as in 

 azoturia. As well as of loss of power in the posterior extremeties, you 

 will have well marked cerebral disturbance, and a comatose state, which, 

 in some cases, lasts until death closes the scene. One symptom is par- 

 alysis of the muscles of deglutition, and it will lead (especially a non- 

 professional man) to think of acute inflammation of the larynx. I have 

 had some difficulty in saying whether a ca=e was meningitis or typhoid 

 fever. I am more and more convinced every day that cattle and horses 

 suffer from nervous diseases, and that without knowing how to account 

 for it. It is more common with animals that are grazing in the bush, 

 eating grass that may have become over-ripe, which acts first upon the 

 digestive and then upon the nervous system. The symptoms are dul- 

 ness, produced in a short time; costive condition of the bowels; appetite 

 gone ; thirst intense. If you give him a pail of water, he will place his 

 head in it, and you think he was drinking rapidly, but you will find that 

 nothing has been taken, for he is not able to swallow. These are 

 prominent symptoms. He may get the water in his mouth, but cannot 

 swallow it ; but not from any soreness. The animal may show slight 

 abdominal pain, and when he lies down he has no inclination to get up, 

 but will lie stretched out ; may move the legs. The pupil becomes 

 dilated ; the mucous membrane becomes impaired, although in the first 



