TETANUS, OR LOCKED JAW. 



179 



If he tvies lie can only open tlie mouth a very little ■vvay or the jaws are 

 perfectly and rigidly closed ; and thus the only period at which the disease 

 could have been successfully combated is lost. A cut of a horse labourino- 

 under this disease is here given, which the reader will do well to examine 

 carefulljr. 



The first thing that strikes the observer is a protrusion of the rai;zzle, 

 and stiffness of the 

 neck; and, on pass- 

 ing the hand down 

 it, the muscles vnW 

 be found singular- 

 ly prominent, dis- 

 tinct, hard, knotty, 

 and unyielding. — • 

 There is difficul- 

 ty in bringing the 

 head round, and 

 still greater diffi- 

 culty in bending it. 

 The eye is dra^vn 

 deep within the 

 socket on the 

 slightest excite- 

 ment, and, in consequence of this, the fatty matter behind the eye is pressed 

 forward ; the haw is protruded, and there is an appearance of strabismus, 

 or squinting, in an outward direction. 



The ears are erect, pointed forward, and immoveable ; if the horse is 

 spoken to, or threatened to be struck, they change not their position. 

 Considering the beautiful play of the ear in the horse when in health, and 

 the kind of conversation which he maintains by the motion of it, there is not 

 a more characteristic symptom of tetanus than this immobility of the ear. 

 The nostril is expanded to the utmost, and there is little or no play of it, 

 as in hurried or even natural breathing. The respiration is usually acce- 

 lerated, yet not always so ; but it is uniformly laborious. The pulse gives 

 little indication of the severity of the disease. It is sometimes scarcely 

 affected. It will be rapidly accelei'ated when any one approaches the 

 animal and offers to touch him, but it presently' quiets down again almost 

 to its natural standard. After a while, however, the heart begins to 

 sympathise with the general excitation of the system, and the pulse in- 

 creases in frequency and force until the animal becomes debilitated, when 

 it beats yet quicker and quicker, but diminishes in power, and gradually 

 flutters and dies away. 



The countenance is eager, anxious, haggard, and tells plainly enough 

 what the animal suffers. 



The stiffness gradually extends to the back. If the horse is in a narrow 

 stall, it is impossible to turn him ; and, even with room and scope enough, 

 he turns altogether like a deal-boai'd. 



The extremities begin to participate in the spasm — the hinder ones 

 generally first, but never to the extent to which it exists in the neck and 

 back. The horse stands vnth his hind legs straddling apart in a singular 

 way. The whole of the limb moves, or rather is dragged on together, and 

 anxious care is taken that no joint shall be flexed more than can possibly 

 be helped. The fore limbs have a singular appearance ; they are as stiff 

 as they can possibly be, but stretched forward and straddling. They have 

 not unaptly been compared to the legs of a form. 



The abdominal muscles graduallv become involved. Tliey seem to 



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