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TETANUS OH LOCK-JAW. 



This disease to human beings as well as to the 

 horse generally proves fatal, yet as the writer has 

 been successful in two cases, the mode of treat- 

 ment adopted will not be out of place in these 

 pages. This disease does not manifest itself of a 

 sudden, but generally steals over the system by 

 slow and insidious means. It first develops itself 

 by the animal appearing heavy, dull, and unwell 

 for a day or two. It feeds sparingly, frequently 

 half chewing its food, then letting it drop from 

 its mouth. When it drinks, the water is gulped 

 instead of the ordinary mode of taking it. The 

 action of the jaw becomes extremely imperfect, 

 and the saliva trickles from the sides of its 

 mouth. The mouth at length can be but imper- 

 fectly opened, and ultimately the whole of the 

 voluntary muscles of the neck and upper portions 

 of the shoulders become immovably fixed. After 

 this there is no hope of the mouth being opened 

 again, and the horse, if not killed, must die of 

 starvation, in a short time nearly all the muscles 

 of the body becoming spasmodically afi'ected. 

 The cause of this disease proceeds from the 

 nerves being injured in consequence of a wound 

 having been received by one of the ligaments or 

 teudons. It sometimes comes on by an injury to 

 the foot from the puncture of a nail ; nicking and 

 docking are often the cause of it. One case that 

 I had was caused by the waggoner cracking his 

 whip in front of the horse's head, the point of 

 the lash striking the horse on the ball of the eye, 



