518 SrOEADIC DISEASES. 



violence upon the ground ; when pricked with a pin it showed 

 extreme agony. 



Stei'torous Ireathing. — This symptom, like the other, is not 

 invariably present, indeed it is often absent in undoubted 

 apoplexy. At all times it indicates severe lesion, and that the 

 pons varolii or medulla oblongata are implicated. 



MORBID ANATOMY. 



Apoplexy from degeneration is seen in old horses, in which 

 the post mortem examination reveals the cerebral arteries in an 

 atheromatous condition. The first attack generally proves fatal, 

 but I have seen two cases of relapsing apoplexy, in which 

 distinct post moi'tcm traces of former extravasation were found. 



The clots are either superficial or deep seated. Superficial 

 clots are generally supposed to be due to external violence. 

 This is, however, not always the case. Extravasations are found 

 in the lateral ventricles, from a rent in the corpus striatum, or 

 from rupture of some of the vessels of the choroid plexus, upon 

 the surface of the cerebrum, and at the base of the brain ; in one 

 instance there was, in addition to a tumour, extravasation from 

 degeneration and rupture of the vessels of the falx cerebelli. 



The extravasations are occasionally circumscribed, but most 

 commonly diffused, and spread over a more or less extensive 

 surface, extending from the lateral to the fourth ventricle, and 

 sometimes surrounding the crura cerebri. 



In rare instances the symptoms may take some days before 

 they become fully developed. This is due to very slight but 

 increasing hsemorrhage. In the majority of cases the attack is 

 sudden, and the loss of power almost instantaneous. Congestion 

 of the brain — as in the last described disease — occasionally 

 terminates in apoplexy, or rupture of the cerebral vessels and 

 extravasation of blood; but congestive cerebral apoplexy is a 

 rare disease in the horse, that which is usually met with being 

 due to degeneration of the vessels. 



