PALS/ IN CATTLE. G7 
but they are much more so if they are slung ; and he who is ac- 
quainted with cattle well knows that by this constant pressure on 
the abdomen — the elasticity of the belly which supports the 
enormous and heavy paunch being no longer called into play — 
inflammation of the rumen will occasionally be produced, and 
the animal will perish sooner than it otherwise would do. 
Connexion between Rheumatism and Palsy. — But was not this 
rheumatism — lumbago? Very probably it was, in the first in- 
stance at least, for there is an intimate connexion between 
these diseases in cattle, and some other of our domesticated 
animals. I do not profess satisfactorily to account for this; 
I am merely stating the fact. The disease is often primarily 
rheumatism — inflammation of some of the joints ; and that is 
necessarily connected with a great deal of pain, and lameness as 
the consequence of pain. To this rapidly succeeds structural 
derangement ; the ligaments become thickened and rigid — the 
bursae are loaded with a glairy fluid — the periosteum becomes 
thickened, and the perichondrium too, and the whole joint is 
enlarged. It is still rheumatism essentially, of the stifle, the hip 
joint, or the lumbar vertebrae ; but palsy soon associates itself with 
or succeeds to the complaint, and loss of nervous power follows the 
difficulty or pain of moving. If the limb is but little used, or 
can be but little used, the supply of nervous influence is gradu- 
ally lessened. This is agreeable to an invariable law of nature, 
that the supply of vital energy is proportionate to the demand 
for it ; it may be increased, or it will rapidly diminish, according 
to the changing circumstances of the part. 
Difference between the Causes of Palsy in the Horse and in 
Cattle. — You have then, gentlemen, a useful lesson here. Palsy 
in the horse was traced to injury or inflammation of the spinal 
chord, or certain portions of it, and that injury or inflammation 
producing congestion or disorganization. Palsy in cattle is 
generally attributable to such causes as weaken or destroy the 
irritability or the energy of the nervous system — the direct in- 
fluence of cold and wet upon the spinal chord — or the propaga- 
tion of the chilling debilitating effect from the fibrils distributed 
over the surface of the body to the centre of nervous power — or 
the lessened demand of power, from the inability to flex and to 
use the limbs in consequence of rheumatism or other affections 
of the joints. You will see, then, the importance of these in- 
quiries into comparative pathology : they will provide you with 
interesting facts on which your practice may be securely based, and 
guard you against the false analogies by which you might other- 
wise be led astray. Weshall have sufficient proof of this as we go on. 
Further description of Palsy in Cattle . — There are two periods 
