470 



PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



mal. It rises gradually and its increase seems to be propor- 

 tionate to the gravity of the disease. There are, however, 

 cases of tetanus in which the temperature does not rise above 

 39° Generally speaking the high temperature is character- 

 istic of grave tetanus in which the rise is rapid. It may reach 

 42", 44° and even 45", continue until death, and still accentu- 

 ate in the corpse. Bayer has referred to an instance of a 

 temperature of 45.5" in fifty minutes after death in a horse 

 having a temperature of 44^" at the moment of death. The 

 thermic curve of tetanus presents no regularity. The 



Fig. 47. 

 Acute Tetanus ; recumbent position. (Cadeac.) 



temperature rises during the convulsions. (Fig. 48). The 

 hyperthermia depends upon the muscular contractions and 

 the toxic products secreted in the wound by Nicolaier's bac- 

 illus and the associated micro-organisms. It also depends 

 upon the disturbance to the thermic centers and upon the 

 complications ; broncho-pneumonia, etc. 



In the greater number of cases the intellect remains clear 

 and the appetite is preserved. In the beginning mastication 

 is possible, but difficult, and in exceptional cases it continues 

 throughout the entire course of the disease. As a rule the 



