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573- Concussion of the Bram, in the horse, is generally the 

 result of the animal rearing up and falling over backwards, or of 

 running away and coming suddenly m contact with some obstruction. 

 When there is no fracture or displacement of the bones, the horse may 

 lie quiet (stunned) for a short while, and then regaining consciousness, 

 get up and seem none the worse. In these cases, care must be used, 

 and the animal kept perfectly quiet for a few days ; little or no food is 

 to be given for the first 24 hours, and then feed sparingly, for a few 

 days after, with easily digested food. In other cases, the animal may 

 lie motionless, with little or no sensation, the eye rolling about with 

 the pupil dilated, pulse small and quick, and breathing slow and 

 heavy. These symptoms may last for three or four days, after which, 

 the patient begins to show signs of consciousness, by attempting to 

 raise its head, and if assisted to a recumbent position, (by the attendant 

 placing his knee behind the horse's shoulder,) it may drink a few 

 mouthfuls of cold water. With such a case there is a chance oi 

 recovery, provided that from the time of the accident, the patient has 

 had every attention, having been carefully turned over from side to side 

 every six or eight hours, and well bedded with clean dry straw, the urine 

 removed with the catheter, and the rectum emptied by the hand every 

 eight hours, a good dose of opening medicine having been given at the 

 outset, VIZ. : — four to six drachms of aloes dissolved in half a pint of 

 hot water, along with 12 to 20 ounces of linseed oil. When the 

 animal shows signs of recovery, by endeavouring to rise, it should 

 be carefully lifted on to its feet, by the aid of slings and chain- 

 blocks ; after the first few minutes' struggle in attemptmg to find 

 its feet, it is astonishing how rapidly recovery ensues. Again, 

 cases have occurred where portions of the occipital bone, which 

 articulate with the first bone of the neck (atlas), have been fractured, 

 but not displaced, until several hours after. In one case, which 

 came under my observation, on the animal falling over backwards, 

 it instantly jumped up, walked about a dozen steps, then fell on 

 its side as if shot, lying with legs extended, eyeballs rolling about, 

 breathing heavily, and giving now and again a few spasmodic 

 struggles with the fore legs ; it never rose again, and finally died 



