542 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Nervous Diseases. 



kumrbb paralysis op the loins prom spinal congestion 



stringhalt ^australian stringhalt crib-biting and wind- 

 sucking shivering immobilite paralysis of the pace 



megrims, staggers and epilepsy sunstroke. 



Kumree. 



Horses, especially in India, are liable to suffer from paralysis of 

 the loins ; this oomes on as a disease in itself, and is unconnected 

 with mechanical injury to the part. As a rule, there is very little 

 constitutional disturbance. This paralysis appears under two 

 forms : the one being gradual in its approach ; the other, sudden. 

 Although the two forms are almost identical in their results, their 

 natures are entirely different. Tlie paralysis, which comes on 

 without warning, is met with all over the world, and is probably 

 due to spinal congestion ; the other seems to be peculiar to India 

 (where both forms are known as kumree), and, perhaps, Burmah ; 

 I shall reserve for this the term kumree, which, being derived from 

 the Persian word, kumr, the loins, means something affecting 

 that part. 



LOCALITIES IN WHICH KUMREE IS PREVALENT.— Owing 

 to the confusion which has existed in the minds of observers, 

 between the paralysis caused by kumree and that due to spinal con- 

 gestion, it is difficult to specify the localities in which these affec- 

 tions are, respectively, rife. There is no doubt that kumree is 

 frequently seen in Bengal and Behar. The paralysis of the loins, 

 which is very common on the Malabar coast, and is met with in 

 other parts of the Indian Empire, in Burmah, Mauritius, and on 

 the West Coast of Africa, is due to spinal congestion, in the great 

 majority of cases. Although I had formerly observed a large 

 number of instances of paralysis of the loins, among horses, in 



