68 DADDS VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SUBGERY. 



with saliva, and violent convulsions will soLaetimes affect tht 

 whole frame. Such are the principal symptoms attending thi* 

 formidable malady. 



It will be quite a novflty to some of our readers to be .n- 

 formed that the horse is actually subject to the same disease* 

 which afflict his master ; and in view of showing that there is s 

 reality in the author's views on the subject now under consrdera 

 tion, the following quotation from the "Veterinarian" is offereiL 

 It will show, by way of comparison, the features of the disease 

 as it occurs in the horse and in man : 



" In the first place, as to the exciting cause or causes. It is 

 well known that among the exciting causes of epilepsy in the 

 human subject, mental or moral emotions have long been con- 

 sidered as holding a foremost rank. Without going into detail 

 on this subject, or offering illustrations of this statement, it wiU 

 suffice to remark that the experience of all adequately acquainte'.l 

 with medical literature, or tolerably familiar with medical prac- 

 tice, can not fail to supply them with numerous instances wherein 

 this class of causes has been in operation as concerned in the pn^- 

 ^"iction of the disease in question. Over and over again I ha\ e 

 ■yself witnessed cases of epilepsy, either during or after the paj-- 

 jCysm or fit, in which 1 have had good reason fur entertaining 

 the opinion that certain mental or moral emotions had largely, 

 if not entirely, contributed to this result. Now, without deny- 

 ing that, in some instances, fright may so far affect the horse aa 

 to prove an exciting cause of epilepsy in that animal, still, I 

 think that, almost as a general rule, the class of causes now 

 under consideration may be excluded from further notice as tend- 

 ing toward the production of this disease in the horse. 



Assuming this position for the sake of argument, we thus 

 eliminate at once, so far as concerns this animal, most of such 

 reifles of epilepsy as, if speaking in reference to the human sub- 

 je<.'t, would be regarded as cases of epilepsy of centric origin. 

 Without altogether denying that, in some instances, the presence 

 of tumors, or morbid growths, or excrescences of any kind, or 

 of spiculae of bone in certain parts of the brain, or s])inal ccid, 

 or their membranes, may occasionally operate as causes of epi- 

 lepsy, yet I am by no means prepared to admit that their pres- 

 ence in such places, by irritation of these structures, is so frequent 

 ft cau«« of this disease as is affirmed by some medical authorities. 



