SYMPTOMS 123 



veterinarian is either found as an enlargement 

 on one or both sides of the poll or else as a sup- 

 purative condition that matts the hairs of the 

 mane and soils the region with dried pus. 



As the disease progresses the patient be- 

 comes distinctly unthrifty in appearance and 

 loses flesh. Locomotion is slow. The patient 

 gropes about and trots only w^hen urged. Feed- 

 ing from the bottom of the manger and grazing 

 is painful. 



Later, as nervous complications develop, the 

 hind quarters wabble inordinately and rising 

 becomes more and more difficult. Finally the 

 failing subject, unable to stand, dies from de- 

 cubital complications, if it is not sooner killed 

 to end its misery. 



Complications 



Paralysis. — The most serious complication 

 is paralysis due to advancement of the inflam- 

 matory process into the meninges, the cord and 

 even the brain itself. The invasion is usually 

 at the atlanto-axoid space, but sometimes oc- 

 curs through the occipito-atlantoid articulation. 

 When these nervous structures become in- 

 volved early in the progress of the disease, the 

 case is not necessarily a hopeless one because 

 of the nerve involvement, since an operation 

 which evacuates the pus externally may turn 



