178 TETAXUS, OR LOCKED JAW. 



some unknown cause, or at the approacli of a stranger. From time to 

 time different parts of tlie frame — the eyes — the jaws — particular limbs 

 — will be convulsed. The eye will occasionally wander after some imagi- 

 nary object, and the horse will snap again and again at that which has 

 no real existence. Then will come the irrepressible desii^e to bite the 

 attendants or the animals A\dthin its reach. To this will succeed the de- 

 molition of the rack, the manger, and the whole furniture of the stable, 

 accompanied by the peculiar di-ead of water which has been ah-eady 

 described. 



Towards the close of the disease there is generally paralysis, usually 

 confined to the loins and the hinder extremities, or invohdng those organs 

 which derive theii' nervous influence from this portion of the spinal cord ; 

 — hence the distressing tenesmus which is occasionally seen. 



The disease rarely extends beyond the thu-d day. 



After death, there is uniformly found inflammation at the back part of 

 the mouth, and at the top of the windpipe, and likewise in the stomach, 

 and on the membrane covering the lungs, and where the spinal marrow 

 first issues from the brain. 



\Vlien the disease can be clearly connected with a previous bite, the 

 sooner the animal is destroyed the better, for there is no cure. If the 

 symptoms bear considerable resemblance to rabies, although no bite is 

 suspected, the horse should at least be slung, and the medicine, if any 

 is administered, given in the form of a diink, and with the hand well 

 protected ; for if it should be scratched in balling the horse, or the skin 

 should have been previously broken, the saHva of the animal is capable of 

 communicating the disease. Several farriers have lost theii* lives from 

 beino^ bitten or scratched in the act of administerino- medicine to a rabid 

 horse. 



It is always dangerous to encourage any dogs about the stable, and 

 especially if they become fond of the horses, and are in the habit of jump- 

 ing up and Hcking them. The corners of the mouth of the horse are often 

 sore from the pressure of the bit ; and when a coach-dog in a gentleman's 

 stable — and it is likely to happen in every stable, and with every dog — 

 becomes rabid and dies, the horse too frequently follows him at no great 

 distance of time. 



If a horse is bitten by a dog under suspicious circumstances, he should 

 be carefully examined, and every wound, and even the slightest scratch, 

 well burned with the lunar caustic (nitrate of silver). The scab should 

 be removed and the operation repeated on the thu-d day. The hot iron 

 does not answer so well, and other caustics are not so manageable. In 

 the spring of 1827, four horses were bitten, near Hyde Park, by a mad 

 dog. To one of them the lunar caustic was twice severely apphed — he 

 lived. The red-hot iron was unsparingly used on the others, and they 

 died. The caustic must reach every part of the wound. At the expu'ation 

 of the fourth month, the horse may be considered to be safe. 



TETANUS, OR LOCKED JAW. 



Tetanus is one of the most dreadfal and fatal diseases to which the horse 

 is subject. It is called locked jaw, because the muscles of the jaw are 

 earliest affected, and the mouth is obstinately and immoveably closed. It 

 is a permanent spasm of all the voluntary muscles, and particularly of those 

 of the neck, the spine, and the head. It is sometimes slow and treacherous^ 

 in its attack. The horse, for a day or two, does not appear to be quite 

 well ; he does not feed as usual ; he partly chews his food, and drops it ; 

 and he gulps his water. The owner at length finds that the motion of the 

 jaws is considerably limited, and some saliva is drivelling from the mouth. 



