TETANUS — LOCKJAW. 271 



(of course without acknowledgement) by the practitioners of the 

 old school in the place, and ranked as a specific." 



Veratnim viride 3X is another agent which, after administration 

 to the healthy in poisonous doses, produces hyperaemia of the brain 

 and cord; among its chief symptoms are muscular spasms and con- 

 tortions. Dr. Hale, of Chicago, esteems it highly under such con- 

 ditions, and compares its action to those of Aconite and Belladonna 

 conjoined. The pulse is a full, bounding one, and the tongue is 

 coated with yellow fur at the sides, having a red streak down the 

 middle. 



TETANUS— LOCKJAW 



Is a disease of the nervous system that is characterized by a con- 

 tinuous spasm of certain muscles, generally in the horse, those of 

 the face; it certainly does at times affect other groups of muscles 

 about the body, as in the case of the neck, when the head is 

 drawn upward and backward; of the body generally when the 

 tendency is to bend forwards; or of one side, when the effect is to 

 draw the whole animal to one side. 



The most recent studies of pathology have led the members of 

 the old school to ascribe the disease to a specific organism; but as 

 the larger number of cases in the horse seem to be the result of 

 some mechanical injury, such as a prick in shoeing or a surgical 

 operation, it is difficult for us to accept the microbe theory; our 

 belief is, that these microbes are to be found in any and every 

 form of disease, and our faith in their absolute powers of disease 

 production receives a considerable shock when we come to try to 

 account for the production of a disease which as a rule seems to 

 depend on such a cause as mechanical injury, like the one now 

 under consideration, and the question at once arises in the mind, 

 is this theory deserving of serious consideration in any form of 

 disease? We find the other school of medicine admitting that 

 symptoms similar to those of tetanus can be produced in the 

 healthy animal by the administration of Strychnine — which is one 

 of the remedies used by homoeopathists to cure tetanus — therefore 

 we agree that though microbes may be discovered in the blood of 

 a tetanic subject, there are causes other than the microbe produces 

 to account for the development of tetanus; and further, we are of 

 opinion that whether recognized or not at the time, some injury, 



