464 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



the clinical aspects are different. '(Splanchnic tetanus). 

 Puerperal tetanus, that which occurs as a consequence of 

 ruptured uterus is always fatal. Binot has experimentally 

 reproduced these forms in the cavy. The incubation is as 

 long as from nine to twelve days, and from the beginning the 

 trismus is very intense and uncontrollable, and deglutition 

 is impossible. The patient raises his hand to the heart and 

 experiences a sensation of torment. Spasms of the tongue 

 lasting three to four minutes then fol1o^v, and produce al- 

 most complete asphyxia. The patient faints as successive 

 spasms occur. Death is inevitable and supervenes at the 

 end of forty-eight hours. In splanchnic tetanus the mortal- 

 ity is ICO per cent. 



If the inoculation is in the face the disease occurs in 

 another form. (Cephalic tetanus). The period of incuba- 

 tion in this event is veiy short. It is constantly four days. 



There is trismus and facial paralysis in the side inocu- 

 lated that do not arouse the suspicion of tetanus until the 

 ninth or tenth day after the wound is inflicted. .\t this time 

 a slight constriction of the throat is observed, a fleeting 

 spasm, that reappears with a period of asphyxia. Death 

 comes with the twentieth or thirtieth spasm, at the end of 

 twenty-four to thirty-six hours. 



The last form is tetanus a frigore, which occurs after a 

 prolonged chill. The trismus first makes its appearance, and 

 in twenty-four to forty-eight hours the tetanus is complete. 

 The duration is always long, and the mortality relatively 

 slight, 25 to 30 per cent. This tetanus, which comes so 

 quickly, is not attributed to tetanus toxin, because the latter 

 requires at least four days of incubation, and, besides, in 

 this form the contractions are not permanent. There is a 

 general stiffness, but the contraction can be overcome. The 

 patients can be made to walk and to sit down, and, moreover, 

 no wound is found. It is always febrile, 38° to 38.5° C. It 



