228 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 



EPILEPSY, OR FALLING FITS. 



The cause of epilepsy is seldom traceable to any special brain 

 lesions. In a few cases it accompanies disease of the pituitary body, 

 which is located in the under surface of the brain. Softening of the 

 brain may give rise to this affection. Attacks may occur only once 

 or twice a year or they may be of frequent recurrence. 



Symptoms. — No premonitory symptoms precede an epileptic fit. 

 The animal suddenly staggers; the muscles become cramped; the 

 jaws may be spasmodically opened and closed, and the tongue be- 

 come lacerated between the teeth ; the animal foams at the mouth and 

 falls in a spasm. The urine flows involuntarily, and the breathing 

 may be temporarily arrested. The paroxysm soon passes off, and the 

 animal gets on its feet in a few minutes after the return of con- 

 sciousness. 



Treatment. — Dashing cofld water on the head during the paroxysm. 

 After the recovery 1 dram of oxid of zinc may be given in the feed 

 twice a day for several weeks, or benefit may be derived from the 

 tonic prescribed for chorea. 



PARALYSIS, OR PALSY. 



Paralysis is a weakness or cessation of the muscular contraction 

 by diminution of loss of the conducting power or stimulation of the 

 motor nerves. Paralytic affections are of two kinds, the complete 

 and the incomplete. The former includes those in which .both 

 motion and sensibility are affected; the latter those in which only 

 one or the other is lost or diminished. Paralysis may be general 

 or partial. The latter is divided into hemiplegia and paraplegia. 

 When only a small portion of the body is affected, as the face, a 

 limb, the tail, it is designated by the term local paralysis. When the 

 irritation extends from the periphery of the center it is termed 

 reflex paralysis. 



Causes are much varied. Most of the acute affections of the brain 

 and spinal cord may lead to paralysis. Injuries, tumors, disease of 

 the blood vessels of the brain, etc., all have a tendency to produce 

 suspension of the conducting motive power to the muscular struc- 

 tures. Pressure upon, or the severing of, a nerve causes a paralysis 

 of the parts to which such a nerve is distributed. Apoplexy may 

 be termed a general paralysis, and in nonfatal attacks is a frequent 

 cause of the various forms of palsy. 



General paealtsis. — This can not take place without producing 

 immediate death. The term is, however, usually applied to paralysis 

 of the four extremities, whether any other portions of the body are 

 involved or not. This form of palsy is due to compression" of the 

 brain by congestion of its vessels, large clot formation in apoplexy, 



