472 



PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



takes possession of the entire body and death rapidly super- 

 venes. The duration is from one to ten days. In some in- 

 stances tetanus may develop with frightful rapidity and prove 

 fatal in a few hours. 



Chronic tetanus has a much slower evolution. Its period 

 of incubation is long. Localized at first, it is characterized 

 by an incomplete trismus which, admits of slow mastication 

 and easy deglutition for a few days, and sometimes for sev- 

 eral weeks. The extension of the contractions is slow and 

 the temperature does not rise much above normal. The 



1 2 3 4 5 6.7 



FtG. 48. 

 'Phef mic §kel;cb of a Fatal Case ,of Tetanvis,. 



dyspnoea 4oes not become intense and the paroxysms are 

 fare. There may be periods of abatement and return to the 

 normal state. At other times the contractions generalize, 

 .the convulsive fits become more frequent and exhaustion and 

 death supervene. There may be a transfprmatixj-n of the 

 chronic into the acute form, these two varieties not ;b,eing 

 clearly separated. 



When patients have resisted for several weeks a cure 

 may be expected. The cure is manifested by a progressive 

 diminution of the rigidity, chiefly in the region of the jaw!^; 



