KUMREE. 543 



various parts of India, I failed, during a long residence in that 

 country, to draw the distinction which more matured judgment 

 now forces upon me. Kumree is specially prevalent in swampy 

 districts liable to inundations. The disease was very common 

 amongst the Government brood mares at Buxar, where one of the 

 late Bengal studs was situated. The country all round was inun- 

 dated to a considerable extent during the months of July and 

 August, the land gradually drying in September and October. 

 The mares were kept by native farmers, who were bad horse- 

 masters, and, frequently, fed them upon coarse indigestible kinds 

 of grass from the bed of swamps. 



HEREDITARY PREDISPOSITION.— I learn from the Bengal 

 Stud Records that kumree is not transmitted by parents to their 

 offspring. A stallion, therefore, if paralysed to but a slight extent, 

 may be used to breed from. A mare similarly affected will rarely 

 be able to bear the weight of the horse. 



CAUSES. — Kumree is probably caused by parasites which are 

 taken in with the food or water, absorbed into the blood, and 

 deposited in the brain or spinal cord. This form of paralysis is 

 most common in districts which are swampy or subjected to 

 inundations during the rainy season, and this fact increases the 

 probability of its parasitic origin. The theory that a horse affected 

 by " worm in the eye " will subsequently suffer from kumree has 

 been frequently advanced in India. Experience, however, does not 

 bear it out. There is no necessary connection between the two 

 diseases ; although it is quite possible that the presence of one or 

 more filarise (p. 404) in the brain or spinal cord might set up 

 inflammation, which would assuredly cause pressure on the nerves 

 and consequent paralysis. This theory of the origin of kumree is 

 mere supposition, which is, however, to a certain extent, borne out 

 by facts connected with its causes and mode of invasion. Taking 

 for granted the parasitic nature of the disease, there is little doubt 

 but that the worms would be brought to their resting-place in the 

 form of eggs ; these would take some time to become hatched and 

 developed, and would give rise to symptoms that would slowly and 

 gradually manifest themselves. 



Some observers consider that kumree is caused by eating ergo- 

 tised grain, the action of which is specially manifested by impair- 

 ment of the general health, and may be followed by grave derange- 

 ments of the system — paralysis among the rest — a train of symp- 

 toms which does not suggest kumree. The symptoms of kumree 

 in no way prove that this disease is caused by the eating of 

 lathyrus sativus (p. 600). 



