116 
VARIETIES OF DISTORTION OR THE NECK. 
A horse mentioned bj Grams had hung back on a halter; when its 
head was turned towards the right the middle of the neck sprang 
outwards, when towards the left the dislocation was reduced* The animal 
recovered after the application of a special splint. 
The case described by Mr. Martin (The Veterinarian, 1896, p. 89) as 
dislocation of the cervical vertebrae may have been a subluxation or 
only a muscular injury. The pony had been ‘‘cast ” with its off hind 
shoe fixed in the head collar, probably for a considerable time. When 
released and got up it presented the appearance shown. Attempts at 
replacing the parts produced staggering, strabismus, convulsive picking 
Up of the hind legs, and spasms of the body muscles. Splints were 
applied to the neck and the animal was tied up, but fell during the night 
and pulled down a beam. On the sixth day after the accident 
improvement was noticeable and the splints were readjusted. In less 
than three weeks recovery was complete. 
Hering’s failure to produce the condition artificially in the horse 
does not disprove the occurrence of such subluxations and fractures, but 
Only shows that simple injuries to the muscles produce changes in 
the manner of carrying the neck. Gerlach observed the disease in cows 
ahd horses, and described it as distortion of the cervical vertebrae. 
With incomplete displacement of the latter, the head is directed 
sometimes to one side (abduction-luxation) ; but sometimes the neck 
Undergoes more or less pronounced rotation (rotation-luxation) which, 
Strictly speaking, alone corresponds with torticollis. The condition is 
seen most frequently in horses, which, when scratching the head, get the 
hind-fOot fixed in the halter and are thrown, or in jibbers, around whose 
neck is passed a rope or chain, to which another horse is harnessed. 
Diagnosis. The conditions described cannot always be differentiated, 
even on careful examination. Cognisance must be taken not only of the 
symptoms, but of the history of the case. Distortion produced by 
mUscular diseases is usually distinguished by pain, swelling, and other 
inflammatory changes, while the neck, although it may be brought into 
its normal position, reverts to its distorted state when force or pressure 
is removed. Cicatrices are a rare cause in the lower animals. When 
inflammatory appearances are absent, paralysis of the muscles on the 
convex aspect of the neck may be suspected, especially if cicatricial 
contraction can be excluded as a cause. 
Distortions arising from fractures and subluxations may be dis¬ 
tinguished from those connected with muscular lesions by crepitation, 
and still more notably by the fact that the parts, even if difficult to bring 
into position, retain that position when once reduced. Many observers 
state that in subluxation the neck is excessively mobile; hut although 
it may be so in certain directions, general freedom of movement is 
