THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. IX, No. 98.] FEBRUARY 1836. [Now Scries, No. 38. 
ANIMAL PATHOLOGY. 
By Mr. You att. 
LECTURE II. 
Palsy in Cattle. 
If, gentlemen, you should hereafter practise on the dis- 
eases of cattle, as I imagine and hope is your intention, you will 
meet with plenty of cases of palsy : few or none of them, however, 
will be referrible to any cerebral influence or cause, and I am 
not aware that the records of veterinary medicine will afford one 
case of hemiplegia in these animals. You will not be surprised at 
this, when you recollect the distinction which I endeavoured to 
draw, in thelast lecture, between the prevalentcauses of hemiplegia 
and paraplegia — palsy of one side and one extremity of the frame 
— or, in other words, disease of one or both of the motor columns : 
the first produced by some change in the structure or functions 
of the brain — the latter referrible to injury of the spinal chord. 
Why not Hemiplegia in Cattle. — Comparing the aver- 
age weight of the ox with that of the horse, the brain of the 
former is not more than one-half so large as that of the latter ; 
but the medulla oblongata of the former is larger thau this origin 
of the spinal chord in the latter, and the relative increase of bulk 
in the ox is, agreeably to the destiny of that animal, made up of 
evidently greater development of the lateral portions of the supe- 
rior (posterior) superficies of the part — that portion of it which is 
devoted to the involuntary and never-ceasing movements of 
organic life. If we next proceed to compare the spinal chord of 
these two animals, we shall find that the breadth of that of the 
ox is somewhat smaller than in the horse ; and that the differ- 
ence consists in the lesser development of the motor columns 
on the inferior (anterior) superficies of the chord. If, then, in the 
horse, comparatively few cases of hemiplegia occur, we can 
VOL, IX. K 
