CHAP. III.] RIGIDITY REMOVED — HOW. 423 



Remedies have been prescribed, and Mr. Wilkin- 

 son of Newcastle reports several cases of successful 

 practice upon young horses which had acquired 

 locked jaw by being either nicked, or docked, or 

 pricked in shoeing. The chief obstacle to the ad- 

 ministering of any medicine being the closeness of 

 the teeth, which defies the introduction of a horn, 

 it may not be amiss to observe, that profiting by the 

 foregoing experiment, we have in several cases 

 caused a little relaxation in this respect, by placing 

 a piece of wood upon the forehead and striking a 

 smart blow upon it with another piece or a small 

 mallet. Some substance is then to be placed be- 

 tween the teeth to prevent their return to the origi- 

 nal closeness, whereby the remedies recommended 

 by Mr. Wilkinson may be employed with much 

 prospect of success, for he only failed in four cases 

 in which the jaws were immoveable by any means 

 which he then knew of; and as he has treated this 

 particular subject more happily than any veterina- 

 rian of our time, we cannot do better than follow 

 the example of copying his account of a well-marked 

 case successfully treated. 



When called in, he observes, " I found the symp- 

 toms were a spasmodic affection of the muscles of 

 the jaws, head, neck, back, hinder extremities, and 

 abdomen, which occasioned them to become rigidly 

 contracted; the pulse was about fifty, with some 

 irregularity, the breathing a little quickened, the 

 jaws were considerably shut, but not so close but 

 medicine might be administered as a drench with a 



