98 PHRENITIS. 



The after-treatment m\ist be regulated by circumstances. For some time the horse 

 should be put on a restricted diet ; mashes should be given ; green meat in no great 

 quantity ; a moderate allowance of hay, and very little corn. When sufficiently 

 recovered, he may be turned out with advantage on rather bare pasture. One circum- 

 stance, however, should never he forgotten — that the horse who has once been attacked 

 with staggers is liable to a return of the complaint from causes that otherwise would 

 not affect him. The distended vessels are weakened — the constitution is weakened, 

 and prudence would dictate that such an animal cannot he too soon disposed of. 



Let no farmer delude himself with the idea that apoplexy is contagious. If his 

 horses have occasionally slight fits of staggers, or if the disease carries off several 

 of them, he may be assured that there is something wrong in his management. One 

 horse may get at the corn-bin and cram, himself to bursting ; but if several are attack- 

 ed, it is time for the owner to look about him. The general cause is too voracious 

 feeding — too m.uch food given at once, and perhaps without water, after hard work 

 and long fasting. 



There is one consequence of this improper treatment, of which persons do not 

 appear to be sufficiently aware, although they suffer severely from it. A horse that 

 has frequent half-attacks of staggers very often gees blind. It is not the common 

 blindness from cataract, but a peculiarly glassj^ appearance of the eye. If the history 

 of these blind horses could be told, it would be found that they had been subject to 

 fits of drooping and dulness, and these produced by absurd management respecting 

 labour and food. 



PHRENITIS. 



Primary inflammation of the brain or its membranes, or both, sometimes occurs, 

 and of the membranes oftenest when both are not involved. 



Whatever be the origin of phrenitis, its early symptoms are scarcely d'flerent from 

 those of apoplexy. The horse is drowsy, stupid ; his eye closes ; he sleeps while 

 he is in the act of eating, and dozes until he falls. The pulse is slow and creeping, 

 and the breathing oppressed and laborious. This is the description of apoplexy. The 

 symptoms may differ a little in intensity and continuance, but not much in kind. 



The phrenitic horse, however, is not so perfect!}' comatose as another that labours 

 under apoplexy. The eye will respond a little to the action of light, and the animal 

 is somewhat more manageable, or at least more susceptible, for he will shrink when 

 he is struck, while the other frequently cares not for the whip. 



In the duration of the early symptoms there is some difference. If the apoplexy 

 proceeds from distension of the stomach, four-and-twenty or six-and-tbirt}'' hours will 

 scarcely pass without the cure being completed, or the stomach ruptured, or the horse 

 destroyed. If it proceeds more from oppression of the digestive organs than from 

 absolute distension of the stomach, and from that sympathy which subsists between 

 the stamach and the brain, the disease will go on — it will become worse and worse 

 every hour, and this imperfect comatose state will remain during two or three days. 

 The apoplexy of the phrenitic horse will often run its course in a few hours. 



In a case of evident phrenitis, blood-letting and physic must be early carried to 

 their full extent. The horse will often be materially relieved, and, perhaps, cured by 

 this decisive treatment; but, if the golden hour has been suffered to pass, or if reme- 

 dial measures have become ineffectual, the scene all at once changes, and the most 

 violent reaction succeeds. The eye brightens — strangely so; the membrane of the 

 eye becomes suddenly redderiod, and forms a frightful contrast with the transparency 

 of the cornea; tlie pupil is dilated to the utmost; the nostril, before scarcely movinof, 

 expands and quivers, and labours; the respiration becomes short and quick ; the ears 

 are erect, or bent forward to catch the slightest sound ; and the horse, becoming more 

 irritable every instant, trembles at the slightest motion. The irritaliility of the patieni, 

 increases — it may be said to change to ferocity — liut the animal has no aim or object 

 in what he does. He dashes himself violently about, plunges in every direction, 

 rears on his hind legs, whirls round and round, and then falls backward with dread- 

 ful force. Ho lies for a while exhausted — there is a remission of the symptoms, bu 

 .perhaps only for a minute or two, or possibly for a quarter of an hour. 



