OBSCURE DISEASE IN A HORSE, 
83 
him. He continued a few days in this state, and finally died 
on Sunday the 12th. 
The day being wet and cold, and having no reason to sup- 
pose any extensive internal disease existed, I took the head 
and neck off at the posterior articulation of the fourth ver- 
tebra, and, assisted by Dr. E. F. Thayer, made a careful ex- 
amination of both the head and a part of the neck. We 
found no disease of the muscles; none of the nerves; none 
of the spinal cord ; nor of the teeth ; but we found extensive 
disease of the fauces. The larynx and pharynx, and the 
Eustachian cavities, were of a dark-green hue, with exten- 
sive ulcerations. The uvula was also discolored and ulcer- 
ated, and its inferior margin thickened and indurated. The 
nasal passages w r ere healthy; so also was the trachea, ex- 
cepting some four or five inches of its superior portion, 
which showed evident marks of disease of long standing. 
I observed on the anterior and inferior portion of the 
cranial cavity, two small cone-shaped eminences, not larger 
than a mustard-seed, which could be distinctly felt with the 
finger, and when the dura mater was removed, although 
small, they were easily seen. They were about the size of, 
and as sharp as, the point of a large darning needle. The 
horse, as I have stated, died on the Sunday; the head was 
examined on Monday ; the brain was then placed in alcohol, 
where it remained until the following Wednesday, when it 
was examined by an eminent practitioner of this city, a 
Professor in Harvard Medical College, and one who takes 
great interest in veterinary science, in the presence of Drs. 
Robert Wood, Stickney, Thayer, and myself, and was pro- 
nounced’to be free from disease. The horse during his long 
sickness was repeatedly visited by Professors G. H. Dadd 
and Robert Wood, Stickney, Thayer, Ripley, Scrutton, and 
others ; and it was their opinion generally, that it was a case 
of cerebral disease ; but from my long acquaintance with the 
case, I differed somewhat from them, yet I was unable to 
account for the peculiar paroxysm being produced only in 
masticating hay. 
Remarks . — Although the horse showed at times symptoms 
of trismus, at other times the masseter muscle of one side was 
rigid, while the opposite one was flaccid. Sometimes both 
were rigid, but more frequently both were flaccid. From 
first to last the animal showed no pain ; and with the con- 
tinued drenching from December 24th to April 12th, the day 
on which he died, he suffered no inconvenience from, nor 
offered any resistance to, the bottle, but ate and drank all 
that was put into his mouth with avidity. During all this 
