DISEASES OF THE BONES. * 71 



done, too, at the expense and trouble of the poor practitioner 

 himself, on the terms of " no cure, no pay ;" and very often, 

 indeed, it was no cure and no pay. Such were some of the 

 difficulties which, at the outset, met the author of this work. 

 At the very threshold of research,' this terrible malady, big 

 head, presented its most formidable front, and the curt lan- 

 guage of the people of the country was commonly such as 

 this : " Take that old horse with the big head, and try your 

 hand on him. If you can cure him, you can cure any of them." 

 But the work was entered upon with the determination to 

 succeed in clearing up the mysteries enshrouding the subject, 

 and, if possible, to discover some rational means of cure. 

 That this was accomplished may now be seen, and thousands 

 at the South will attest. 



Old horses are much more likely to be attacked by the 

 disease than the young and vigorous, though no age or 

 condition is wholly exempt. The sucking colt, the yearling, 

 the two-year old — in fact, all ages of both horses and males — 

 may show the enlargement or protrusion of the frontal bone, 

 which is the unmistakable feature of big head. Within the 

 author's observation, though the bones of the head and upper 

 jaw were frequently enlarged, there were no cases of bona fide 

 big jaw among colts. The disease does not appear to affect 

 the colt to the same extent as the old horse; the general 

 system is but little involved, and nature sometimes effects a 

 cure without other assistance. The mule, though less subject 

 to it than the horse, often has the big head, but is always 

 much more easily treated. The author recollects no case 

 of the mule colt having it. 



It is a remarkable fact that the region of country best 

 adapted to the culture of cotton is also that most favorable 

 to the development of big head. The disease is the most de- 

 structive in malarious districts, and, indeed, may be said to be 

 almost 'entirely confined to them. The cotton plant attains 

 its most perfect growth in precisely the same localities. 



In limestone regions it is much less frequent, even where all 

 other predisposing agencies are the same. 



