610 
SPASMODIC MUSCULAR CONTRACTIONS. 
longed to the extensors. As she lay, she seemed to experience 
great difficulty in lifting her feet from the ground ; so much so, 
that it seemed as if they were fixed to the ground. She had an 
almost continual balancing motion, from before backwards ; and 
sometimes, but not often, from one side to the other. When 
these spasmodic contractions were most violent, her falling seemed 
almost inevitable: nevertheless the animal never fell all at once, 
neither did she willingly lie down. The spasms seemed to be 
stronger in the posterior than the anterior quarters. The muscles 
all seemed to contract independently of each other, so that some 
one or two of them assumed the appearance of a tightened cord. 
This soon relaxed, and others were violently affected. Some- 
times the muscles on one side were contracted without the cor- 
responding ones on the opposite side being at all affected; and 
then suddenly, and for a few moments, they would contract spon- 
taneously, but violently, on both sides. 
Wishing to ascertain whether the animal could walk, I desired 
one of the servants to endeavour to get her out of the stable. To 
my astonishment she walked without the slightest difficulty. She 
trotted just as if nothing was the matter with her; and one would 
readily believe, when seeing her in action, that she was in perfect 
health and spirits. No sooner, however, did she reach the stable, 
or stand still in the yard, than all these mysterious phenomena' 
again appeared. In other respects the animal seemed to be in full 
possession of its natural powers. She recognised the voice of her 
conductor. Her sensibility did not appear to be in the slightest de- 
gree impaired, but, on the contrary, she shrunk when the least 
pressure was made on the vertebral column. The pulse was 
a little quickened, the respiration agitated, and often cut short 
by spasmodic contractions of some of the abdominal muscles ; 
the mucous membranes were slightly injected ; the animal tried, 
from time to time, to masticate a little hay. The dejections 
were of their natural colour and consistence. She was in this 
state almost the whole of the 1st of September. 
Causes. — The accounts which I have obtained as to the 
cause of the disease are very unsatisfactory. The most probable 
is this: — When she returned from work and was unharnessed, 
and covered as she was with sweat, she was turned out to feed ; 
there consequently was a sudden stoppage of the perspirable 
function, and this is an occasional cause of some of the most 
serious maladies. It is also to be recollected, that at this time of 
the year the days were warm, and the nights beginning to get 
cold ; and, still farther, the rain fell in torrents during the whole 
of this night. 
Treatment . — I could not doubt for an instant that this mare 
