OsTEO Porosis. 241 



M. Pasteur, the great French physiologist, has lately 

 perfected a most successful method of vaccination (if I 

 may use the term) for anthrax. If any Cape Colonist 

 chooses to take my advice and go in for "salting" 

 horses a la Pasteur, he may realise an enormous fortune 

 in a very short time. This hint I believe to be quite 



original. 



When in Cachar, I saw among ponies several cases 

 of that strange disease, ostco porosis, or " big head," 

 as it is called in America. It is a spongy condition of 

 the bones, which, in the course of a few months, enlarge 

 in size, become brittle and very porous, so that they 

 are unable to afford firm attachment for the ligaments 

 and tendons ; the result being that these tissues become 

 gradually detached, and the animal dies at length of 

 paralysis. The bones of the face are generally the 

 first to become affected ; hence the name " big head." 

 We have good reason to believe that this disease is 

 due to improper conditions of food and health. It 

 is sometimes met with among ponies which are used 

 in English mines ; while recoveries not unfrequently 

 occur by the simple means of bringing the animal 

 to the surface and feeding him liberally. I saw a 

 pony in Cachar which had got over this complaint, 



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