STOMACH-STAGGEES IN THE HOESE. 187 



see a very large number of cases attributed to the same 

 cause. Scarcely a day passed but one or more cart-horses 

 were literally dragged to the Veterinary School. They moved 

 along with hanging head, sunken eye, depressed lip, and 

 tottering gait, suffering from pain in the abdomen, with con- 

 siderable tympanitis; partial sweats bedewed the body, the 

 visible mucous membranes were of an intensely yellow colour, 

 and the urine dark. On reaching the loose box, the horse 

 was tied to a centre post, which turned as he moved round; 

 thus keeping him from dashing his head against the wall 

 The muscles twitched, the horse writhed with pain, and 

 dashed about in fits of delirium. Two hundred and forty- 

 nine cases of this sort were admitted into the Infirmary from 

 August 1854 to August 1855. The disease raged as an 

 epizootic from the month of September 1854, and not only 

 in the neighbourhood of Lyons, but in many departments of 

 France. A large number of animals suffered from colic and 

 skin diseases at the same time, and all referable to the same 

 cause. The stomach-staggers which prevailed in Scotland in 

 1856 was often followed by partial paralysis of the hinder 

 extremities." 



I have before alluded to the ill effects of new wheat on 

 sheep. Horses are remarkably prone to gastric derangement 

 from the use of wheat, unless given in small quantities, and 

 in combination with other foods. Even wheaten flour thrown 

 in water instead of oatmeal has induced violent colic, but 

 when, by accident, a horse gets at some whole wheat, a com- 

 paratively small quantity will induce a firm impaction, though 

 not necessarily inordinate distention of the stomach, which 

 usually proves fatal, and has a strange tendency to induce 

 laminitis if the animal lives beyond a few hours. Keeping 

 horses long without food, and then allowing them a large 

 quantity of oats or bran, and, indeed, any food capable of 



