108 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



paniefl by tlie peculiar dread of water. Towards the close of 

 the affair there is genei-ally paralysis, principally of, or generally 

 confined to, the loins and the hinder extremities, or involving- 

 those organs which derive their nervous influence from this 

 portion of the spinal cord ; hence the distressing tenesmus which 

 is occasionally seen." This disease invariably proves fatal in the 

 course of three to six days. 



Ti'eatment, when once the complaint has manifested itself, is 

 perfectly useless : the animal should therefore be shot. 



Preventive treatment, however, may be em[)loyed with success, 

 if we can find out the bitten part. It sliould as soon as possible 

 be excised completely with the knife, or the lunar caustic freely 

 applied to the wound and repeated. I have operated with the 

 caustic on various horses bitten by rabid dogs, and none of them 

 have become mad. The last case was a pony bitten rather 

 extensively. A child bitten by the same dog, but in whom proper 

 treatment was neglected by the surgeon, died in about two 

 months after the bite. 



" The post-mortem appearances," says Mr Youatt, " of rabies 

 in the horse are, to a considerable degree, uncertain. Nothing 

 unusual may be found in the meml)ranes or substance of the 

 brain ; the stomach may be slightly or deeply inflamed, the 

 lungs and the heart may be sound, but, at least in every case 

 that I have seen, the pharynx, the fauces, and the epiglottis 

 have been considerably affected." — Ed.] 



PaJsy. 



[This disease is, as its name implies, a loss of power of tlie 

 nervous system. It is never found complete in the horse, though 

 partial paralysis frequently occurs. There are two descriptions 

 of this affection, hemiplegia and paraplegia. The former is a 

 paralysis of one side of the body, the latter of the hind ex- 

 tremities. The former is extremely rare in the horse, and there 

 are not above one or two cases on record. One case is related 

 by Mr. Bull in vol. v. of the Veterinarian. The symptoms 

 came on without any visible cause ; and, though very severe, 

 disappeared in a few days. The treatment employed was, 

 friction on the affected side, laxative and febrifuge medicine, 

 followed by tonics. 



Paraplegia, or loss of power of the hind extremities, is much 

 more frequent, and generally arises from some sudden injury of 

 the spinal cord, produced by keeping back a loaded waggon, 

 or slipping up, or a severe strain in leaping. It may also be 

 ])roduced by some tumour pi'cssing on the nerves which supply 

 the hind extremities, and is then gradual in its approach. When 

 this injury is produced by an accident, the vertebraj of the loins 



