228 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 
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 cold 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 PARALYSIS.—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, 
