OX THE KUMREE. 255 
will endeavour to prove that it is pressure that produces these 
effects. 
“It must be allowed that there is a fluid in the spine, 
having had proof of it both on the 3d May, 1823, from 
its flowing out from the horses’ heads on their being se¬ 
parated from the body; and also on the 22d of the same month, 
from its exuding from the orifice made in the head of the grey 
Arab*. This fluid presses on the whole of the medulla spinalis 
in the lumbar and sacral vertebrae, and affects the nerves going to 
the hind legs, producing kumree, or this weakness of the hind 
legs. This weakness is in proportion to the pressure from the 
quantity of fluid there is in the spine. It is known that the 
pressure of a fluid is regulated by its column, and the distance 
it has to fall, which serves to prove that kumree is occasioned by 
the pressure of the continued fluid on the nervous mass; for you 
observe, a horse with kumree will go tolerably well on even 
ground, but immediately you attempt to force him up-hill, he will 
stagger, lose the use of his hind legs, and even fall. Why is this? 
because the fluid will actually, of its own gravity, gain the lowest 
point, and, the pressure at this time being greater, the degree >f 
weakness is greater, producing a total loss of the use of the Vi nd 
legs, and bringing him to the ground. The consequences»i 
going down-hill are precisely the same as going up-hill; but it 
must be recollected, that it is only in very bad cases they are 
unable to ascend or descend a hill. Notwithstanding the ina¬ 
bility of such horses to go up-hill, they are perfectly able to 
cover mares; but probably the influence of the mind renders 
them so. Another proof in favour of the pressure of the con¬ 
tained fluid being the cause is, that the grey horse walked better 
after a portion of the fluid had been evacuated. 
“ Allowing what I have stated to be the cause of kumree, I 
am of opinion that any attempts made to relieve it will be futile, 
unless we could evacuate the fluid without fear of producing a 
fresh inflammation. The method adopted on the grey horse was 
pregnant with danger, as the event proved ; and I am afraid will 
never succeed, even were we able to remove the whole of the serum ; 
for a fresh inflammation is produced, and a greater effusion 
takes place: however, the subject should not be relinquished. 
Medicaments taken internally, or applied externally, might pro¬ 
duce absorption : in the first stages, Mr. Morecroft’s plan of 
bleeding, &c. will probably do good to a certain extent.” 
That the seat of this disease generally exists in the head, I 
think there is not a doubt, and not in the back or loins, as has 
* Vide Veterinarian, vol. i, p 312, in which the operation performed on 
the horse in question is fully described. 
