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ANIMAL PATHOLOGY. 
palsy in the human being is the sudden repelling of extensive or 
acute cutaneous eruptions. YVe have occasional elucidations of 
this in our country. There is no more effectual remedy for the 
scab in sheep than the mercurial ointment : I was going to say 
that there is no other remedy on which dependence can be 
placed. It needs not, however, to be used in the concentrated 
state in which it is generally applied. It needs not to be the 
strong mercurial ointment of the Pharmacopoeia. Mixed with four 
or six times its weight of lard, it may not relieve the disease so 
speedily as in its concentrated state, but it will do so more per- 
fectly and more safely. I have known many instances of ptyalism 
and nervous affection from the undue use of mercury, and more 
especially from that of arsenic. The French, however, pay little 
attention to this, and, when palsy eventually occurs, they attribute 
it to the cutaneous eruption, and not to the remedy. They con- 
sider the eruption as the first stage of or preparatory to the 
appearance of palsy, and they bleed and physic, and use tur- 
pentine embrocation on the spine. 
Strange German Operation . — The Germans have somewhat of 
the same notion, and they resort to a very singular and cruel 
method of cure. They judge, and perhaps rightly, that this is a 
disease not simply of the integument, but that the subcutaneous 
cellular tissue is, if not essentially, yet speedily involved. They 
make an incision into the skin of the back at the posterior re- 
gion, and introduce into it a canula; and then, by hard blowing 
and some manipulation, they separate the skin from the subjacent 
tissue, and then inject oil of turpentine. They excite speedy 
inflammation, and enough of it too; and the affection of the 
integument is relieved or disappears, and the spine never becomes 
affected. This seems a butcher-like way of proceeding, and I 
do not think will be speedily adopted in our country ; but we 
may perhaps derive from it a useful hint with regard to the appli- 
cation of stimulants in some cases of scab (for there are several 
distinct kinds of it), and also the possible efficacy of blisters 
along the spine in cases of palsy of this patient : I acknowledge, 
however, that I should not expect much benefit from them, for 
I should rarely, if ever, be able to produce vesication. 
Our Path .— On the whole, our efforts must be directed to the 
prevention of this spinal affection: our prognosis should always 
be very guarded, or distinctly unfavourable, and our advice should 
usually be to cut that short which we may probably be unable 
to cure. 
Desideratum . — Here again we sadly need — the sheepmaster 
and the country demand — the establishment of experimental 
schools. Until we have them, we shall know little of the cause 
