154 THE CANADIAN HOKSE 



eyes become staring wild and excited, and he runs at any- 

 thing that comes in his way. 



At other tinies it comes on suddenly, with all the fury of 

 genuine madness; he becomes wild and frantic, bites and 

 tears at everything within his reach ; he rears up, kicks 

 and plunges, presently gets down, gnaws at his own legs or 

 sides, snaps at anything that is pushed towards him, gets up 

 and runs with open mouth at any one who goes near him ; 

 palsy of the hind legs is apt to supervene ; thirst is exces- 

 sive ; and the act of swallowing apparently difficult." 



Treatment. — Curative treatment is hopeless, hence our 

 efforts rnust be directed to preventing it. 



, When an animal is known to have been bitten by a mad 

 dog, a string should at once be tightly tied above the injury, 

 and the bitten part cut out or burned with the cautery or 

 nitric acid, and some stimulant, such as good brandy, freely 

 given ; the same treatment is applicable to all animals. 



STEINGHALT. 



This peculiar and unsightly action of the hind leg is gen- 

 erally supposed to depend on " irregular action of the ner- 

 vous energy" supplying the muscles of the leg. Various 

 views of its nature have been promulgated, but its patho- 

 logy is not well understood. It is said to arise from " some 

 obscure disease of the sciatic nerve," or " local irritation, or 

 of pressure on some nervous fibril." According to Mr May- 

 hew, it is the imperfect development of that form of disease 

 which in man and dogs is called chorea, or St Vitus' s dance, 

 arising too, he thinks, from " the pressure of a spicula of 

 bone on the spinal marrow." 



We are not prepafed to venture an opinion on the nature 

 of this peculiar affection. We have frequently seen, in colts 

 suffering from worms, and in horses from derangements of 



