THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 349 



applied to the head, but all to no purpose, as both animals had to be 

 destroyed. 



569. Organic changes, such as abscesses in the horse's brain, 

 may arise from complicated or ' bastard ' strangles. This pysemic 

 form of strangles, unfortunately, in some seasons is not uncommon. 

 Like the commencement of all brain affections, when the abscesses 

 are developing in that organ, there is great drowsiness and dullness, 

 the horse hangs its head in a sleepy condition, with pulse full and 

 slow, and breathing quiet and deep, and any food that is taken is 

 eaten in a sort of mechanical manner. As the case progresses, the 

 animal commences to wander round the box, presses its head in the 

 manger, or against the wall, the breathing and pulse become quicker, 

 and finally the animal hangs its head on one side, and day after day 

 walks, so to speak, round and round its own head, making it a centre. 

 These cases always end fatally. On post-mortem, the brain is found 

 to be a mass of pus, or matter, thus showing, in cases of simple 

 strangles, how necessary it is that every care and attention should 

 be paid at the commencement, and remedial measures be adopted so 

 as to prevent these fatal terminations. 



570. Hydrocephalus, or water on the brain, I have met with 

 in young foals, their foreheads being, as a result, much enlarged and 

 distended. The little animals were very dull and sleepy, yet they 

 took milk freely. As they grew bigger and stronger, the water 

 became absorbed, and after small doses of bromide and iodide of 

 potassium, with a little exsiccated sulphate of iron, had been given 

 daily, the bones of the head flattened down into their normal condi- 

 tion. These cases are more frequently found in the foetus, before 

 birth — in calves particularly — when the bones of the skull have to 

 be broken down with knife, hook, or forceps, before delivery can be 

 accomplished. 



571. Ectopia Cerebralis is a congenital malformation where the 

 brain is developed outside the bones of the skull, and has been found 

 in cases at parturition, and, although the young animals may be 

 fully developed and born alive, they soon expire. 



