218 BISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



ing of the head, twitching movemeuts with one or two legs, reg- 

 ular, rhythmic contractions of the mouth, and also an automatic 

 opening and closing of that part; regular movements of the tongue, 

 and an undulating action or movement of the whole body. If 

 the patients are left to themselves, the twitching action is gener- 

 ally less marked, and under physical excitement becomes much 

 more aggravated. For instance, when eating, if any pain is 

 present, and during catarrhal conditions of the air-passages, or 

 the intestines, stomach, etc. The choreic movements lessen 

 during sleep and under the influence of ether, chloroform, and 

 bromo-ether, but morphia and chloral have little or no influence 

 upon them. Sensitiveness and consciousness are not disturbed in 

 any way whatever, but are perfectly normal. The course of this 

 disease is slow, and may extend for months and years ; but, as a 

 rule, the symptoms lessen, and in rare instances may disappear 

 entirely. A fatal termination is only to be feared when compli- 

 cations arise. 



Etiology. Under the name of chorea there are a great many 

 complications of the dog which should really be classed under 

 another head; for instance, nervous distemper, or obscure cerebral 

 diseases, also myelitis, and some cases of symptomatic chorea. 



In, true chorea of man we do not see any pathological alterations 

 of the brain, and in the few cases which the author had to con- 

 sider as true ciiorea on account of the anaemia, absence of any 

 symptoms of distemper, or other diseases of the brain and spine, 

 the convulsions were restricted to certain special muscular groups, 

 and not, as in human chorea, to irregular regions — that is to say, 

 in the various muscular centres of the body. In some of these 

 cases the animals were destroyed, and their post-mortems gave 

 an entirely negative result, there being no apparent pathological 

 change in the central nervous system. As a rule, the affected 

 animals are in an anaemic condition and show all the effects of 

 bad nutrition, and, after some observation, we are convinced that 

 with improvement in the general system the choreic symptoms 

 become very much lessened. 



Theeapeutios. The author has tried all the various agents 

 recommended in this disease, but without any decided results. 

 Arsenic, either in the form of Donovan's or Fowler's solution 

 or alternated with some preparation of iron, has given the best 



