CHAPTER XLI. 



SPOEADIC DISEASES— contimicd. 



LOCAL DISEASES— conii7iued. 



(D.) CEREBEAL APOPLEXY. 



Dtjlnition. — " A disease essentially characterised by the sudden 

 loss, more or less complete, of volition, perception, sensation, and 

 motion, depending on sudden pressure upon the brain (the tissue 

 of which may be morbid), originating within the cranium." — 



(AlTKEN.) 



Apoplexy is of two kinds : — 1st. That arising from de- 

 generation of the cerebral vessels, with rupture of them, and 

 extravasation of blood upon or within the substance of the 

 brain ; and 2d. That in which congestion of the cerebral vessels 

 — not of themselves necessarily diseased — is the primary con- 

 dition ; this, when excessive, resulting in rupture and extra- 

 vasation. 



SEMIOLOGY. 



Apoplexy from, the rupture of degenerated hlood-vessels. — There 

 may be some premonitory symptoms, such as staggering and 

 partial paralysis, but generally the animal falls suddenly without 

 warning. After falling it may lie prostrate, in a state of uncon- 

 sciousness, without the power of voluntary motion, perfectly 

 insensible to surrounding objects, and dead to all ordinary 

 feeling, with its eyes wide open and presenting a ghastly stare, the 

 pupils dilated and insensitive to the light — amaurotic. The 

 breathing is stertorous, the pulse small, rapid, and thready, the 

 surface of the body cold, or bedewed with a cold sweat, the 

 limbs flaccid, the mouth open, and filled with frothy saliva, and 

 in some severe cases the sphincters are relaxed. In other 



