Nos. 620-621] STUDIES IN PALEOPATHOLOGY 



393 



circumstance faithfully, the effect might be too painful, and something 



Opisthotonos has also been described by Falls 6 as occur- 

 ring in the fetus in utero, the cause for which is still 

 unknown. 



It is a matter of great interest to find these same mani- 

 festations represented in the fossilized skeletons of 

 ancient vertebrates. The majority of the attitudes as- 

 sumed by the fossils may be due to the spasm usually inci- 

 dent to death, the Todeskampf of the Germans, or to acci- 



dental Shifting after death. Many of the vertebrates 

 whose skeletons are found in anything like a complete 

 state of preservation do not show these manifestations. 

 It is on the whole unusual for fossil vertebrates to show 

 opisthotonos and much more common in the slender- 

 necked species. It is possible that the animals whose 

 skeletons are preserved in the above-mentioned attitudes 

 had suffered death owing to diseases similar to tetanus, 

 cerebrospinal meningitis, or similar disturbances. 



The skeleton of Mesosaurus brasiliensis from the 



« Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, January, 1917, pp. 65-67. 



