220 DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



vulsive closing of the mouth, making the animal utterly unable 

 to eat, bark or drink; great fretfulness, and hardness of the mus- 

 cles, which when touched no symptoms of pain are shown by the 

 animal. Consciousness is not affected, and the temperature is 

 generally normal. The translator has observed two cases in 

 which the temperature rose to 43°. 



The therapeutic treatment consists in lessening the irritation by 

 narcotics, especially morjjhia, clysters, chloral; and if there is any 

 wound present, it must be treated with poultices or anything to 

 lessen the irritation. It is almost certain that a great majority of 

 cases are due to diseased wound-infection and the presence of 

 microbes (tetanus bacilli). These bacilli remain in the wound or 

 in the neighborhood of it. It is generally advisable, therefore, to 

 cauterize, or, better still, to excise the wound with its entire sur- 

 roundings. The author does not consider it impossible for the 

 bacillus of tetanus to enter the organism in other ways than directly 

 throui^h the skin. 



Eclampsia. 



Eclampsia, which is not a very good definition, is a tonic-clonic 

 convulsive spasm which is observed iu bitches, and, as a rule, 

 during the attacks the animal is perfectly conscious. 



Etiology. The causes of this disease are very little known. 

 According to Hertwig, it may be caused by cold, stagnation of 

 the milk in the udder, taking away the young, and sometimes by 

 worry. In one-third of the cases of true eclampsia which were 

 observed by the author, all the young were still with the mother. 

 The translator has observed a large number of cases of this 

 disease, and invariably found the animal weak, inclined to be 

 delicate, light in bone, but to be excellent mothers, and the litters 

 were generally strong, healthy pups. They laid on flesh very 

 quickly while the mother lost it. The onset of the disease was 

 generally at the end of the second or third week. In the rest of 

 the cases, either one or more had been taken away from the 

 mother. In the onset of the disease the mammary glands contain 

 very much milk. The animals are generally small, delicate 

 (house dogs and pet animals), and, as a rule, have a light coat. 

 Friedberger and Frohner are of the opinion that the disease may 

 originate from anaemia of the spinal cord, or in a reflex way from 



