572 THE DISEASES OF THE HORSE 



year olds, when first put to work, it commences with all the appeai'ances of 

 muscular sprain of the loins, but instead of i^ecovery gradual and progressive 

 paralysis follows. At the same age an affection known as " shivering • 

 makes its appearance, and it is probable that they have a common origin 

 like the nervous form of distemper in dogs. I am not aware of any thorough 

 investigation, extending over a number of cases, that has proved red soften- 

 ing, or any other degeneration of the cord, to be the cause of the one or the 

 other, and although I have met with many cases of both, the opportunities 

 of making careful post-mortem examination are so few for a busy man, and 

 the dissection necessary so considerable, that I advance this opinion with 

 some reticence. When shivering is established, paralysis does not follow 

 during colthood, and the comparison holds good with the dog ; he either has 

 chorea as a pei'manent condition, or is affected with paralysis at the time of 

 the attack, but the one does not lead to the other. That some form of con- 

 gestion initiates the attack cannot be doubted, as there are all the symptoms 

 of pressure upon the spinal cord, which can be accounted for in no other 

 way. Shivering resembles St. Yitus's Dance in the human subject and 

 chorea in the dog. There is either a jerking movement of the fore- or hind- 

 parts, or else an inability to co-ordinate the muscles. 



Treatment is not likely to be successful for either of the neiwous dis- 

 orders alluded to in the previous paragraphs. That usually adopted is 

 counter-irritation to the spine, bleeding, purging, and the administration, 

 in the case of paralysis, of strychnine over a considerable period and until 

 muscular twitchings are observed. Spinal sedatives, as chloral and the 

 bromides of potassium and ammonium, are sometimes given in cases of 

 shivering. 



PARALYSIS OF THE LIPS 



Tnis is said to be produced by the pressure of ill-fitting and heavy bridles. 

 Many low-bred horses have heavy pendulous lips from colt-hood, and old 

 ones are also disposed to drop the lower one. Jt seldom exists to the extent 

 of preventing prehension of the food, and as it is gradual in its approach 

 the animal learns to seize his food with his teeth or buries his mouth in it 

 instead of using the lips in the usual way. 



Treatment, except in the early stage, is not likely to be of much use. All 

 pressure should be avoided, and stimulating liniments or a mild blister 

 applied over the nerves of supply (the seventh pair), beginning just below 

 the ear and rubbing in the chosen agent along the cheek. 



EPILEPSY AND CONVULSIONS 



These diseases, or symptoms of disease, are not often met with in the 

 adult, but in the foal they sometimes occur, and are not unattended with 

 danger. The young thing will perhaps gallop after its dam round and 

 round its paddock, and then all at once stop, stagger, and fall to the ground, 

 where it lies, struggling with more or less violence, for a few minutes or 

 longer, and then raises its head, stares about it, gets up, and is apparently 

 as well as ever. It is generally in the hot days of summer that these 



