71 
ON PARALYSIS. 
By W. Litt, M.R.C.V.S., Shrewsbury. 
The October number of the Veterinarian contained a com- 
munication on the subject of Paralysis, from Mr. Storrer, of 
Turriff, which appeared to me at the time worthy of parti- 
cular consideration, and I had some hope that the matter 
would attract more attention than seems to have been 
accorded to it. As two months have passed away without 
further notice of the subject, I propose to devote a page or 
two of this journal to a brief consideration of the article 
in question. 
Mr. Storrer’s communication was suggested, it will be re- 
membered, by a report of some very interesting cases of 
paralysis, furnished by Mr. Small, of Newry, in which the 
disease appeared to assume a sort of endemic character ; and 
Mr. Storrer informs us that, in some parts of Aberdeenshire, 
this is by no means uncommon. Here, it seems, the disease 
generally appears about the latter part of June, or in 
July, when the rye-grass is ripening its seed ; and Mr. 
Storrer is of opinion “ that the disease arises from the 
existence of some narcotic or paralysis-producing principle 
in the rye-grass, when it is changing from the green to the 
dry state.” How far this view of the causes may be correct, 
I shall not stay to inquire. The matter is certainly one of 
great interest, and must probably be left to the experiments 
of the laboratory for proof. I shall be satisfied merely to 
assist the investigation by the relation of some cases in 
point. 
On the 7th of July last, I was summoned to attend five 
cart-horses, the property of a farmer residing within a few 
miles of Shrewsbury, all of which were more or less affected 
with paralysis — two of them to such an extent that they 
could not be moved without great danger of falling, and all 
of them staggered very much in their gait. Their pulses 
were somewhat accelerated, and they had a wild staring look 
about the eyes, but their appetites were good, and the 
secretions appeared natural. On inquiry, I found the 
animals had been turned out for several weeks past, and on 
examining their pasture I found it to consist almost wholly of 
very ripe rye-grass . It is not necessary to detail the treat- 
ment, which was merely directed to emptying the bowels 
and restoring the tone of the digestive organs, with a total 
change of diet. Suffice it to say that, in the course 
