106 DISEASES OF THE HOKSE. 



rearing up suddenly and falling backwards, hanging back sud- 

 denly upon the halter, and falling back with violence against 

 the wall, or dropping suddenly while at work, as if shot with a 

 pistol, lying motionless some time, then getting up again and 

 appearing quite well. Sometimes when ridden hard, the animal 

 tries to stop suddenly, rambles or staggers, appears confused and 

 lost, and often falls down. Blindness in one eye is a common 

 symptom of this disorder, and always in the eye opposite to the 

 affected ventricle.* Horses with this complaint, when their 

 stomachs are loaded, and their bowels full of excrement, by 

 eating immoderately of hay, have the symptoms much increased, 

 and not unfrequently are attacked with mad staggers from this 

 cause, or, what is not less frequent, the stomach staggers ; for 

 when the stomach has been much distended with hay, and the 

 practice is continued, the organ itself at length becomes para- 

 lysed, which is what may properly be named stomach staggers. 

 Dropsy of the brain sometimes assumes a violent form, producing 

 epileptic fits. The horse falls down, and sometimes remains 

 motionless, at others he struggles violently, and after a time 

 gets up again and becomes violently delirious. Copious bleed- 

 inof often affords relief for a time, but the disorder sooner or 

 later terminates fatally. 



When a horse is attacked with symptoms which come under 

 the name of megrims, giddiness, or vertigo, it indicates either 

 the existence of water in the ventricle of the brain, or an accu- 



* Megrims is a sudden determinntion of blood to tlie head, producing gid- 

 diness, and often insensibility. Old horses are more subject to this diseuse 

 than young ones ; and after several attacks there is usually a predisposition 

 left to receive other attacks. 



The horse is nearly always affected in his work, and more frequently in 

 harness than otherwise. He first shakes his head, and suddenly stops ; and 

 sometimes, if allowed to remain quiet, the symptoms go off, but if not, he 

 staggers, and falls down, and continues struggling for some time in a state of 

 unconsciousness ; the eyes roll, the nostrils are dilated, and the whole frame 

 appears convulsed. The fit may last from five to fifteen minutes. 



The causes are a redundancy of blood in the system, induced by good 

 feeding and little exercise : thus it usually occurs in fat subjects, though 

 sometimes in the ^converse. There is, therefore, in the animal a predisposi- 

 tion for the blood to fly to the head, and perhaps a weakness of the cephalic 

 vessels. It occurs most frequently in the spring or early summer months, 

 •when there is a plethoric state of the system. It may be immediately excited 

 by great exertion, the heat of the sun, or the pressure of a tight collar pre- 

 venting the free return of blood from the head. It has been connected 

 with, if not caused by, worms. 



The treatment must consist in bleeding freely, and if the horse is in good 

 condition a dose of physic will be useful. 



Sometimes a small blood-vessel in the head Is ruptured in this disease, 

 which, if at the base of the brain, generally produces death. 



In cases of very frequent recurrence, where the slightest cause will pro- 

 duce a fit, there is probably some organic disease of the brain, probably, as 

 observed by the author, water in the ventricles. — Ed. 



