494 
CASES OF PALSY. 
ting sadly excoriated from crawling about, the owner said he 
would have her shot, and with this I readily acquiesced. 
Post-mortem Appearances . — In the first place, I have to regret 
that it was late in the evening, so that I could not pursue my 
examination so far as I could have wished ; and, secondly, that 
I allowed her to be shot, so that I could not have an opportunity 
of examining the brain. 
On laying open the abdominal parietes the most important 
object that attracted my attention was the large size of the uterus, 
which seemed almost ready to burst from distention. In the 
removal of that viscus (accidentally) a puncture was made, from 
which I would say that two or three gallons of a brown purulent 
serosity escaped, giving forth a highly offensive vapour, and 
mixed with small coagula of blood. The whole substance of the 
uterus was in a high state of decomposition. 
I next proceeded to examine the spinal canal, when both at 
the lumbar and sacral regions there was, at several of the verte- 
bral joints, the same sort of purulent serosity. I did not per- 
ceive any of that bloody decomposed matter mentioned in your 
valuable Lectures on Palsy in Cattle ; but there was a great 
quantity of thick yellow serosity surrounding the spinal mar- 
row, and an evident softening of the marrow itself; also a few 
of the hard concretions attached to the membranes (mention- 
ed in your work) ; the left kidney was much enlarged, and in 
a highly diseased state, also containing a small quantity of 
muco-purulent matter ; the right shewed no trace of disease. 
The muscles of the loins and thighs were much wasted, and the 
parts surrounding the joints of the thigh and haunch of the 
left side were in a gangrenous state. The heart appeared much 
enlarged, but all the rest of the viscera were healthy. 
Case II. — I had a case of palsy of the hind extremities in a 
six-months-old dog, it having lost all power over its hind legs, 
likewise voiding its dung and urine involuntarily ; but at the 
same time it took what food was set before it, crawling about by 
the aid of its fore parts, and at times would make a great noise, 
as if howling for something that it wanted. I commenced this 
case by giving a sharp dose of the castor oil mixture, rubbing its 
loins well with anodyne liniment, with a few doses of the strych- 
nine. In this case 1 was more successful ; but whether from the 
effects of the mixture or the strychnine, I cannot say ; but as 
soon as purging commenced the animal rallied and was soon 
convalescent. 
Now, did the disease of the cow arise from the excitement of 
the difficult parturition, or the irritability of the udder commu- 
nicated to more important parts? 
