102 



HYDROCEPHALUS, OR WATER IN THE BRAIN. TUMOURS 

 IN THE BRAIN. 



\V.\ti-:r in the brain or hydrocephalus is not uncommon as a congenital 

 defect in foals, but is only rarely met with in older animals. The 

 hydrocephalic head is recognised by the great enlargement of the volume of 

 the skull. In the early stages, the foal is irritable and feverish. Afterwards 

 he becomes weak, and the sensibility is impaired. Paralysis and convulsions 

 precede death in fatal cases. The largest amount of fluid recorded as having 

 accumulated in a foal's brain, is two and a half gallons. Recovery in this 

 disease is very rare, and even in the most favourable instances, there is little 

 profit to be derived from keeping hydrocephalic foals, as they never thrive. 

 Tumours in the cavities of the brain of the horse arc very common, but 

 as they grow very slowly, and do not occasion severe symptoms until they 

 have attained a size about as large as a pigeon's egg, their presence is rarely 

 suspected until shortly before leading to a fatal result. At the autopsy of 

 the famous racer Macgregor, ?vlr. Charles Gresswell, of Nottingham, found a 

 large tumour in each of the lateral cavities of the brain. 



