It attacks animals under all conditions, whether well cared 

 for in the barn or in the open field ; hence we cannot attri- 

 bute it, as many have, to stable management. This disease, 

 as its name implies, is an inflammation and congestion of the 

 membranes which surround the brain and the spinal cord. 

 Hence the lesion, or seat of disease, will be found upon post 

 mortem examination to be wholly within the nervous system; 

 and therefore the symptoms must of course vary according 

 to the degree of severity of the individual cases, from the 

 mildest forms to those where death, in fact, is your only pre- 

 monition. The invasion of this malady is always sudden, 

 and, as in other epizootics, the earlier cases are extremely 

 fatal. 



In man three well marked forms of this disease occur, 

 which Radcliffe has denominated as the " simple, fulminant, 

 and purpuric," and the same is often observed, with slight 

 modifications, in the equine race. But I shall consider all 

 these forms under two divisions, which I trust will be found 

 to be the most natural and convenient, as we cannot study 

 nervous phenomena in the lower orders of animals with that 

 degree of exactness as among ourselves when aided by the 

 emotions and powers of speech. Hence the necessity of 

 being thorough in our examinations of these affected crea- 

 tures, in order that we may know the extent of these morbid 

 changes, and the probable chances for recovery in extreme 

 cases. 



This disease, in its inception, usually attacks the head or 

 spinal cord only ; but afterwards, in severe cases, involves 

 the entire nervous system, when the symptoms, of course, 

 though different at first, become very similar in the fatal 

 termination of both these forms, from the same cause. 



The cerebral mode of invasion is not of more frequent 

 occurrence than the other, and in mild cases your attention 

 may only be called to a general indisposition of the animal. 

 While in others you will first notice an inability on the part 

 of the creature to swallow, and in attempting to drink will 



