DISEASES OF THE MUSCLES AND TENDONS. 203 



without vouching for its effectiveness, as we never had an 

 opportunity of testing it. It is to take the scab from the 

 fore-leg of the horse and pulverize it very fine. This is done 

 by rubbing it on a coarse file. Put a tea-spoonful of this in 

 each ear of the horse, and dust a little up his nose. This, 

 it is said, will so operate upon his nerves and brain that he 

 will lie down and go to sleep ; and, after remaining thus for 

 about half an hour, he will get up, apparently well, and with 

 his muscles relaxed, and will then commence eating. We 

 know that this scab contains a powerful narcotic principle, 

 and as the authority for its use in lock-jaw was among the 

 best at the South, it will be worth a trial at least. 



A REMARKABLE CASE. 



While the author was engaged in the preparation of this 

 work, he was called upon to treat the most remarkable case 

 of tetanus that was ever brought to his notice. It occurred 

 in the village of Petersburg, Boone County, Kentucky, in 

 August, 1866. A young mare, the property of Mr. H. 

 McWithy, and only partially broken, was put into the hands 

 of a wagon-driver, during some of the hottest days of the 

 season, to gentle before the wagon. She was very fat, and 

 had been worked but little before. Although herself quite 

 small, her companion was a very large, strong horse, and the 

 labor to which she was put — hauling logs — was altogether 

 too hard for her. 



One day we were summoned in haste to come and see her, 

 as she had the lock-jaw. Her condition was pitiable indeed — 

 the jaws firmly set, every muscle in the body drawn to its 

 utmost tension, and the limbs so stiffened that she could 

 move them only with the utmost diflSiculty. It was a case 

 of tetanus, resulting from a rare cause, and one not men- 

 tioned in any work upon the horse. We shall describe the 

 case and its treatment with some minuteness, as its history 

 may be the means of saving the life of a valuable horse for 

 the reader. 



The primary cause of the attack was undoubtedly a dread- 



