PARALYSIS— STRING HALT. 381 



Sometimes the body of a vertebra is broken, and the parts being 

 separated, their edges press upon the spinal cord and produce the 

 disease. At others the vessels within the canal have received a 

 shock, and the serous membrane secretes (or allows to ooze out) 

 a bloody fluid which presses upon the cord, and produces the same 

 cfl'eet but in a more gradual manner. In India, a disease known 

 there as Kumree causes paralysis of the hinder extremities, and is 

 due to inflammation of the membranes, which secrete a bloody 

 serum. In this country, however, paraplegia is very rare except- 

 ing as the result of accident. 



When a horse palls in hunting, and never moves his hind 

 legs afterwards, but lies with his fore legs in the position to get 

 up, groaning and expressing great pain and distress, it may be 

 concluded that he has fractured or dislocated his spine and that 

 the case is hopeless. Sometimes, however, after lying for a few 

 seconds, he slowly and with difficulty rises and is led to a stable, 

 but after two or three hours lies down and cannot be got up again. 

 Here there will be some difficulty in ascertaining whether the mis- 

 chief is confined to a strain of the muscles or is situated within 

 the vertebral canal. If the former is the case the pain is extreme, 

 and generally there will be some quivering or slight spasm of one 

 or more of the muscles of the hinder extremity, which feel natu- 

 rally firm, while in paralysis they feel soft and are as quiet as they 

 would be after death. By attention to these signs the two cases 

 may be distinguished, but when the case is made out to be true 

 paralysis the treatment is not likely (even if successful in preserv- 

 ing life) to bring about a useful restoration to healthy action. In 

 valuable horses an attempt may be made by bleeding, physicking 

 and blistering, to produce an absorption of the effused serum or 

 blood, but the recovered animal is seldom worth the outlay, and 

 too often as soon as he is put to any kind of work is subject to a 

 relapse.* The most humane and certainly the most economical 

 plan is to put him out of his misery at once by a pistol ball or 

 knife, but if it is determined to try what can be done towards 

 effecting a cure, no better means can be adopted than those I have 

 alluded to. 



STRING HALT. 



This is a peculiar snatching up of the hind leg, and is 

 supposed to depend upon some obscure disease of the sciatic nerve. 

 It however is very doubtful whether this explanation is well 

 founded, and there is evidence that in some cases the hock itself 

 has been affected. The extensor pedis seems to be the muscle 

 most severely implicated, though not the only one which is thrown 



* Use instead, 30 drops of the tincture of nux vomica three times daily, 

 turn the horse from side to side twice in the day to prevent scalding of the 

 skin, and rub well over the loins. — Editor. 



