CASE OF LOCKED JAW. 157 



this etfeclually, at page 69. I have known violent cases of staggers cease by 

 this remedy alone, and the cure was completed with a purgative ball, as pre- 

 Bcribod at page 63. 



The fits that constitute megrim, or the more genuine staggers, will require 

 the hncet, and let the quantity of blood taken be commensurate with the 

 violence of the animal, his bulk and fleshiness. From four to six quarts will 

 thus reduce his powers, and lided by the back-raking and purgative just re- 

 commended, a cure is soon effected, 



LOCKED JAW 



fs rather the effect of other diseases, of the acute kind, than an original attack, 

 and is symfitomatic of approaching death. A prick in the foot and docking 

 the tail, are fruitful causes of locked jaw. Hot weather is most conducive to 

 this manner of dissolution, which is brought about by great excitation of the 

 nerves, and accompanied by imperfect digestion. The remedy would of course 

 be found in restoring the tone of the former, and opening the main outlet of 

 nature. I have seen a case of locked jaw proceeding from inflammation of 

 the intestines, of a very aggravated nature. 



Symptoms. — The case to which I allude was that of an old horse, from 

 twelve to fourteen years of age, just off from hard work, which seemed to have 

 lived badly and suffered severely the ills of a protracted life. Date, May 14, 

 1820, when the weather was prematurely hot. As usual, it becran by the ani- 

 mal thrusting out its nose and eating with some difl[iculty, which increased as 

 the stiffness of the neck became worse. The ears stuck up, and the sufferer 

 could scarcely move a foot, and this with the greatest pain. Thus, every hour 

 the malady is found to extend itself towards the more vital parts, until reach- 

 mg the heart, life is then extinguished. The brain appears to be affected at 

 the very earliest period of the attack, when the animal evinces unusual appre- 

 hension, and will neigh and prick up its ears at the approach of any one, as 

 the last effort of nature to obtain the notice of man. The pulse is then in- 

 creased to about 70 ; but in the future stages of the disorder it falls again be- 

 low 40, and lower still until its final extinction. 



In a few hours, the balls of the eyes of the animal just alluded to were turn- 

 ed back, showing the nerve which retained the ball in position in a very dis- 

 gusting manner; he appeared to suffer much pain, respiration had ceased, the 

 abdomen was drawn together, and immediate dissolution was expected mo- 

 mentarily. When the subject was opened, I was struck with the inflamed 

 state of the mesentery, and all the lacteals assumed a bloody appearance. Pre- 

 viously to this catastrophe, I hit the animal hard on the forehead with ray fist, 

 once: the blow shook his whole frame, which before was as stiff as if made 

 of wood ; its eyes immediately returned full one-half way back again towards 

 the proper situation, and I was not mistaken when I imagined that its jaws, 

 which had been knit together, seemed to relax somewhat, and the rigidity of 

 the neck gave way. 



Remedies have been prescribed, and Mr. Wilkinson of New-castle reports 

 several cases of successful practice upon young horses which had acquired 

 locked jaw by being nicked, or docked, or pricked in shoeing. The chief ob- 

 stacle to the administering of any medicine being the closeness of the teeth, 

 which defies the introduction of a horn, it may not be amiss to observe, that 

 profiting by the foregoing experiment, I have in several cases caused a little 

 relaxation in thia respect, by placing a piece of wood upon the forehead and 

 striking a smart blow upon it with another piece or a small mallet. Some 

 substance might then be placed between the teeth to prevent their return to 

 ^be original closeness, whereby the remedies recommended by Mr. Wilkinson 

 15* 



