248 



DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



may evince pain. The back is turned or crooked to one side, the hind legs 

 being carried forward under the abdomen (Fig. 95). Frec^uently the 

 animal may cry out, howl or show great pain on certain movements or 

 positions of the body, the same movement apparently he may have done 

 a few moments before without showing the slightest pain. This condition 

 is frequently mistaken for acute muscular rheumatism. In rare cases the 

 animal carries the hind quarters in the air and balances the body on the 

 anterior limbs (Fig. 90) , and gradually there is a great increase in the mus- 

 cular development of pectoral and thoracic muscles; as a rule there is a 

 tendency to retention of the fseces and urine, but there may also be invol- 

 untary passage of urine and faeces. The appetite is generally impaired, 

 the reflexes are impaired and the penis may either be erected or protruded 



Fig. 96. — Dog with pachymeningitis ossificans. Characteristic position of body in walking. 



beyond the prepuce. The disease may vary to a certain extent in inten- 

 sity, but sooner or later the paralysis increases, either involving one leg 

 more than another or the entire hind quarters are affected; gradually the 

 sensibility decreases and the animals show entire loss of muscular power 

 and pain in the affected parts. 



Therapeutic Treatment of the Diseases of the Spinal Cord. — In the 

 early stages of the disease when fever, hypersesthesia, and convulsions 

 give pronounced evidence of the disease, it is advisable to give anti- 

 phlogistic treatment, consisting of cold compresses (ice bags) upon the 

 spinal cord, and vigorous purgatives (calomel), saline purgatives, and 

 lastly enemas. In cases where the paralytic symptoms predominate, 

 we use irritants along the spinal column, such as painting with can- 

 tharidal, collodion, or dilute croton oil, viz., oleum crotonis 0.5, ol. tere- 

 binthin 15.0; this j^reparation is rubbed into the skin along the vertebral 



