484 
PARALYSIS OF THE HIND EXTREMITIES. 
On the other hand, that form of paralysis affecting the hind-quarters 
during hsemoglobinuria is dependent less on change in the spinal cord 
than in the muscular tissue. The fact that haemoglobinuria is always 
accompanied by paralysis of the hind-quarters has not only led to the 
incorrect description “ rheumatic paraplegia,” but also to the erroneous 
view that disease of the kidney may produce paraplegia. 
Idiopathic inflammation of the spinal cord and of its membranes has 
also been seen in horses. Friedberger found two areas of softening a 
little in front of the lumbar swelling of the spinal cord, and a watery 
fluid in the sub-arachnoid space in an eighteen to twenty year old horse 
which for some days had been affected with incomplete paraplegia, and 
later had shown symptoms of paralysis about the head (lips and tongue). 
Dieckerhoff describes a case of meningitis spinalis purulenta in a horse. 
Axe discovered, on making a post-mortem of a horse which, after 
recovering from strangles, had suffered from paraplegia, oedema and 
capillary haemorrhage in the pia mater spinalis and infiltration of the 
spinal cord with pus corpuscles, whilst the spinal column itself was quite 
intact; possibly in such cases metastasis may sometimes have occurred. 
Johne reports having seen haemorrhagic pachymeningitis and lepto¬ 
meningitis of the lumbar portion of the cord in a horse which, whilst 
standing in the stable, became completely paratysed in its hind-quarters, 
and died twenty-four hours later. The spinal cord was more than half 
torn through between the first and second lumbar vertebrae, though the 
vertebrae themselves were free of injury. The epizootic paraplegia 
described in books is probably to a great extent only haemoglobinuria. 
This seems also true of the condition described by Comeny, which 
occurred in isolated divisions of a troop, and appeared mostly to affect 
mares. Signol reports an epizootic form of paraplegia amongst horses 
of Arabian blood, which also generally affected mares. The post-mortem 
gave no indications of the cause. 
In dogs affected with paraplegia, anaesthesia of the hind-quarters, and 
paralysis of the bladder, Ivitt and Stoss found circumscribed pachy¬ 
meningitis externa chronica, with formation of cartilaginous material, 
thickening of the dura, dilatation of arterioles, accumulation of spinal 
fluid, leading to excessive distension of the dura mater; though in the 
spinal cord itself no change whatever could be detected. 
(3) In consequence of tumour formation in the vertebral canal. 
Pfister found in a cow, which had shown gradually increasing symptoms 
of paraplegia, a lipoma 3J inches long and 1J thick in the anterior end 
of the sacral portion of the vertebral canal, which was dilated, whilst 
the spinal cord appeared flattened. Johne detected meningomyelitis 
tuberculosa in the spinal cord of an ox, whilst in a horse which had 
died with symptoms of paraplegia, Hertwig found a melanotic tumour. 
