THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. VII, No. 84.] DECEMBER 1834. [New Series, No. 24. 
MR. YOUATT’S VETERIN A R Y LE CTURE S, 
DELIVERED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. 
LECTURE XLV (continued). 
Hydrocephalus .— Congenital . 
ANOTHER cause of compression of the brain is the presence 
of an unnatural quantity of fluid, either between the arachnoid 
membrane and the dura-mater, or beneath the arachnoid, or in 
the ventricles. It is oftenest congenital, and much more frequent 
in the calf than in the foal. In congenital hydrocephalus, the 
fluid is usually between the membranes ; and it exists in so great 
a quantity, and enlarges the cranium to such a degree, that par¬ 
turition is difficult, and it is generally necessary to destroy the 
progeny in order to save the mother. M. Taiche relates a case, in 
the Journal Pratique , in which a calf was born with an enormous 
tumour on the anterior and inferior portion of the frontal bone. 
The young animal was weak, and it staggered as it walked; but 
it sucked heartily when it was held to the teat and its head sup¬ 
ported. The tumour evidently contained a fluid. M. Taiche 
punctured it, and two pints and a half of limpid fluid escaped. 
After the operation, the calf walked of its own accord to its 
mother, held up its head for the first time, and sucked its fill. 
During the first three days it seemed to be doing well; but then 
bloody pus began to flow from the wound, and on the seventh 
day a very unpleasant smell proceeded'from it; the animal re¬ 
fused to suck, lay with its head extended, and breathed with 
difficulty. On the following day tetanus supervened, and the 
poor beast was destroyed. The left side of the cranial cavity 
was considerably larger than the right; the walls of the cranium 
on that side seemed to have been long and forcibly compressed ; 
two-thirds of the anterior wall of the lateral ventricles had 
disappeared, but the rest of the brain was well formed and sound. 
Here is the cranium of a calf that was born with water in the 
head. It died on the second day. There is no distinct and sepa- 
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