376 THE HORSE. 



stagger, and fall to the ground, where it lies, struggling with more 

 or less violence, for a few minutes or longer, and then raises its 

 head, stares about it, gets up, and is apparently as well as ever. 

 It is generally in the hot clays of summer that these attacks occur, 

 and it appears highly probable that the direct rays of the sun 

 playing on the head have something to do with it. Death seldom 

 takes place during the first attack, but sometimes after two or 

 three repetitions the convulsions go on increasing, and the foal 

 becomes comatose and dies. A mild dose of linseed oil is the only 

 remedy which can safely be resorted to, and as it is supposed that 

 worms will sometimes produce these convulsive attacks, it is on that 

 account to be selected. Epilepsy is so very rarely met with in 

 the adult and of its causes and treatment so little is known, that 

 I shall not trouble my readers with any account of them.* 



MEGRIMS. 



This TERM is used to conceal our ignorance of the exact nature 

 of several disordered conditions of the brain and heart. In fact, any 

 kind of fit, not attended with convulsions, and only lasting a short 

 time, is called by this name. The cause may be a fatty condition of 

 the heart, by which sudden faintness and sometimes death are pro- 

 duced, or it may consist in congestion of the vessels of the brain, 

 arising from over work on a hot day, or from the pressure of the 

 collar, or from disease of the valves of the heart. Attacks reputed 

 to be megrims have been traced to each of these causes, and as in 

 every case, the horse, while apparently in good health, staggers 

 and falls, and alter lying still for a minutes (during which there 

 is seldom an opportunity of examining the state of the circulation) 

 rises as well as before, there is no chance of distinguishing the one 

 from the other. The most usual symptoms, are the following : — The 

 horse is perhaps trotting along, when all at once he begins shaking 

 his head as if the bridle chafed his ears, which are drawn 

 back close to the poll. The driver gets down to examine these 

 facts, and observes the eyelids quivering, and the nostrils affected 

 with a trembling kind of spasm. Sometimes the rest will allow 

 of the attack going off, but most frequently, the head is drawn to 

 one side, the legs of that half of the body seem to be paralyzed, 

 and the horse making a segment of a circle goes down, lies a few 

 minutes on the ground, and then rises as if nothing had happened 

 beyond a light sweating, and disturbance of the respiration. Treat- 

 ment can be of little avail, however, unless a correct diagnosis is 

 made, for remedies which would be suited to congestion would be 

 prejudicial to a diseased heart. If the attack has happened while 



* Cerebro-spinal meningitis of some New York writers, will be found 

 treated of in our note on chapter on "Fevers," article " Typhoid Fever" — 

 the so-called choking distemper. — Editor. 



