84 DADDS VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



the animal so mutilated be pinched, he still persists in his retro- 

 grade course. Injuries of the medulla oblongata had the same 

 effect. Pigeons, into which he forced a pin through that part, 

 constantly receded for more than a month, and even flew back- 

 ward. A section of the medulla oblongata, where it approaches 

 the anterior pyramid, gives rise to a movement in a circle like 

 that of a horse in a mill, the animal, in its walk cr its flight, 

 bearing round continually to the injured side. Surely we have, 

 in these facts, supplied by experiments on living animals, and by 

 observation of the phenomena of disease in the living human 

 body, some of the materials for a more exact knowledge, both of 

 the physiology and of the pathology of the nervous system, than 

 we have reached. M. Magendie supposes that different portions 

 of the encephalon are endowed with energies which tend to cause 

 motion in various directions ; that in the healthy state these bal- 

 ance each other, and that a preponderating impulse can be given 

 to any one of these forces by tre will; but that when the equilib- 

 rium is destroyed by disease, tne will is not sufficient to counter- 

 act the tendencies which are then brought into play. Mr Mayo 

 offers a different explanation of the phenomena. He supposes 

 that the injuries inflicted on the nervous matter produce a sensa- 

 tion analogous to vertigo, and that the animal conceives itself 

 either to be hurried forward, and makes an exertion to repel im- 

 aginary force, or to be moving backward, or turning round in 

 one direction, and endeavors to correct this by moving the corre- 

 sponding muscles." 



Treatment. — In stringhalt, it is nearly always safe for us to 

 conclude that it must be treated on the same general principles 

 which obtain in the management of other nervous disorders of a 

 chronic character, viz .: in the use of tonics and anti-suasmodics 

 Take, for example : 



No. 10. Fluid extract of valerian... j , tg 



Fluid extract of poplar bark j ^ r 



Dose, one ounce, morning and evening; to be placed on the 

 tongue. The spine and affected limb or limbs should be rubbed 

 evsry night, for a couple of weeks, with a portion of the following 



No. 11. Fluid extract of poppies 6 oa. 



Proof spirit » 1 < int. 



Mix. 



