744 PARALYSIS OF THE HIND EXTREMITIES. 



in such cases metastasis may sometimes have occurred. Johne 

 reports having seen hemorrhagic pachymeningitis and leptomeningitis 

 of the lumbar portion of the cord in a horse which, whilst standing 

 in the stable, became completely paralysed in its hind-quarters, and 

 died twenty-four hours later. The spinal cord was more than half 

 torn through between the first and second lumbar vertebrae, though 

 the vertebrae themselves were free of injury. The epizootic paraplegia 

 described in books is probably to a great extent only haemoglobinuria. 

 This seems also true of the condition which Comeny saw in isolated 

 horses of a troop, and which appeared mostly to affect mares. Signol 

 reports an epizootic form of paraplegia amongst horses of Arabian 

 blood, which also generally affected mares. The post-mortem 

 gave no indications of the cause. 



In dogs affected with paraplegia, anaesthesia of the hind-quarters 

 and paralysis of the bladder, Kitt and Stoss found circumscribed 

 pachymeningitis externa chronica, with formation of cartilaginous 

 material, thickening of the dura, dilatation of arterioles, excess of 

 spinal fluid, leading to distension of the dura mater ; though in the 

 spinal cord itself no change whatever could be detected. 



(3) In consequence of tumour formation in the vertebral canal. 

 Pfister found in a cow, which had shown gradually increasing 

 symptoms of paraplegia, a lipoma 3J inches long and 1J thick in 

 the anterior end of the sacral portion of the vertebral canal, which 

 was dilated, whilst the spinal cord appeared flattened. Johne 

 detected meningomyelitis tuberculosa in the spinal cord of an ox, 

 whilst in a horse which had died with symptoms of paraplegia, 

 Hertwig found a melanotic tumour. It had originated in the lymph 

 glands in the lumbar region, partly destroyed the last three lumbar 

 vertebrae and the sacrum and penetrated the vertebral canal. 



(4) As a secondary symptom, paraplegia accompanies general 

 paralysis caused by meningeal inflammation and other inflammatory 

 changes in the brain, medulla oblongata, and spinal cord. 

 Dieckerhoff found an oestrus larva in the cervical portion of the spinal 

 cord in a horse. 



The reports of psychic paraplegia or nervous apoplexy of the 

 spinal cord seem completely inexplicable. Failure to discover 

 diseased conditions on post-mortem examination of animals dead 

 of paraplegia in no way proves that such have not existed, and this 

 is especially true of paraplegia due to concussion of the spinal cord. 

 Aruch describes three cases of psychic paralysis in dogs following 

 punishment. Hagen saw paraplegia in an old horse after fright by a 

 locomotive. The condition disappeared in three days. Probably 



