50 
OPENED JOINT. 
owner noticed that it neither moved about nor fed so well as be- 
fore. This I attributed to the sores; but on a more careful exa- 
mination I found the action of the muscles of the jaws very limited, 
those of the neck and trunk much contracted, and the rumen 
distended : TETANUS had got a strong hold of the poor suffering 
creature. The very extensive wounds that yet existed in this 
case unavoidably kept up a degree of irritation that rendered a re- 
mission of the spasms highly improbable ; and after three days’ 
treatment without arresting the progress of the disease, humanity 
dictated that its sufferings should be abridged by the knife. 
Having read the very able essay on this disease that appeared 
in your October number*, I shall not presume to expatiate on its 
nature ; but, with a view to extend information, allow me to state 
that in Cumberland it is most prevalent from November to March 
inclusive. During that period the stirks are mostly housed at 
nights, and subsist on straw with an allowance of hay, and, in some 
instances, turnips. On some farms the disease is of much less fre- 
quent occurrence than formerly, although the management of the 
soil and of the stock is superior at the present day. 
I have long entertained an opinion that the disease depends on 
an abnormal condition of the blood, and have for some years pre- 
scribed a preventive with much success; but the circumstances 
above alluded to do not appear to bear out the idea that the error 
in the blood is essentially connected with plethora. Of the exist- 
ence of inflammatory fever, or of extensive local inflammation, 
with a due performance of the functions of digestion, secretion, ex- 
cretion, and locomotion, which the spirited appearance of the ani- 
mal often indicates but a few hours before death, I have no con- 
ception. 
OPENED JOINT SUCCESSFULLY TREATED WITH 
BICHLORIDE OF MERCURY. 
By Mr. T. Johnson, Wath-upon-Dearne. 
On the 24th of December, 1844, I was requested to go to Mr. 
John Wilby, of Mexbro, near Doncaster, quarry man, to see a 
brown cart horse, aged nine years, which had fallen down the 
quarry with a cartload of stones about three yards high, and injured 
himself very much. On my arrival I was informed the accident had 
occurred about a week ago, and that he had been bled and a dose 
of physic given him ; that he had injured his hock very much, and 
* Is not Mr. Relph in error in this reference ? — E. V. 
