^3 



often drool as though something was the matter with the 

 throat ; soon there will appear a copious discharge of saliva 

 with more or less mucus, and on opening the mouth food 

 will usually be found on the tongue and between the teeth, 

 and the sides of the buccal cavity. At this stage, if the 

 horse is continually masticating, as is often the case, you 

 may be sure that the power of deglutition is entirely lost, so 

 that no particle of solid or liquid food can be swallowed. 



This symptom, though often mistaken for diptheria, is but 

 the consequence of the partial paralysis of the glosso-pha- 

 ryngeal and pneumogastric nerves which supply sensation 

 and motor power to these parts ; and therefore it serves to 

 indicate the degree of disturbance which has already taken 

 place in the medulla oblongata^ at the base of the brain, from 

 which these cranial nerves arise. 



SPINAL MENINGITIS. 



In the spinal mode of the attack the animal at first appears 

 unsteady in action, and there is great tenderness on pressure 

 along the spine, which is not the case in the early symptoms 

 of the other form. Very soon the horse loses all power of 

 co-ordination, and thus falls prostrate from the inability to 

 use the posterior extremities, which in many cases are com- 

 pletely paralyzed from the congestion and effusion that has 

 taken place in the spinal cord within the lumbar region. At 

 this time the sphincters that guard the outlets of the bowels 

 and bladder are also relaxed, so that the creature has no 

 control over these passages, and not unfrequently, as the 

 inflammation extends forward, the muscles of the anterior 

 portions of the body and of the neck become rigidly con- 

 tracted, for a while, similar to that of lock-jaw. But as the 

 head becomes involved the paralysis is apparently complete, 

 when death by coma or insensibility soon follows. Thus 

 we see the difference in these two modes of attack. The 

 respiration, in the first form, becomes affected early^ or as 

 soon as the medulla is involved, but not until latei' in the 



