122 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



the coatings or humors of the eye. These were all perfect 

 and natural, as in health ; but that portion of the brain nearest 

 to, and in immediate connection with, the nerve was much 

 inflamed, and patches or lines of red extended in all direc- 

 tions from the point whence the nerve proceeded, showing 

 that inflammation had reached this region also. Here, un- 

 doubtedly, was the final cause of death. Collections of slimy, 

 yellow water had gathered upon tkis portion of the brain. 

 Similar evidences of decomposition w^ere apparent here. The 

 inflammation developed by this malady is of a peculiar char- 

 acter. It is the effect of a poison carried directly to the 

 brain. 



Sometimes there is stoppage of the lacrymal ducts upon 

 only one side of the head, and then the inflammation, for a 

 time, will be confined to that side. Such a horse becomes 

 entirely blind in the eye on the affected side, and partially 

 so, through sympathy, on the other. In this condition he 

 follows the imperfect sight of this eye, which is placed at a 

 considerable angle with the direction of the body, and he con- 

 tinues to turn round and round. As he moves forward, the 

 angle of direction is constantly changing inward, and he de- 

 scribes a circle whose diameter is about sixty feet. Around 

 this circle he pursues his unsteady march as long as he is able 

 to walk. It is an invariable peculiarity of this form of the 

 disease that the poor creature is always in motion. 'Not only 

 is he nearly always blind, but deaf also. There is no question 

 as to his blindness in one eye. You may go up to him on 

 that side, and put your hand on his head, before he appears 

 to know it; and then he jumps and springs away, with every 

 sign of alarm. If approached upon the other side, he con- 

 tinues to sheer off", just as a horse always does that is par- 

 tially blind. We have seen many a circular path, traced by 

 the sufferer from blind staggers, that was beaten almost as 

 hard as the foot-paths of a horse-mill. If interrupted in his 

 rounds, he changes his direction merely, strikes out a differ- 

 ent circle, and in it moves forward as before. 



Occasionally a spasm or fit comes on, when he staggers, 



