26 
TETANUS. 
by the translation of inflammation, and, consequently, irritation, 
to a different part. I have had numerous cases of tetanus; in¬ 
deed, it has been my lot to witness a great many, for I believe 
that the climate of our country is favourable to its production: 
but I never witnessed such terminations before or since. I sup¬ 
pose that the disease occurs so frequently in the west of Cornwall 
on account of the land being surrounded almost by the sea, and 
bordering so closely upon it. I have likewise observed that this 
disease is more prevalent in marshy situations than in places 
which are dry and elevated; and I have more easily succeeded 
in effecting cures when they have happened to horses living in 
high, dry, and elevated spots. 
The cases that I have succeeded in curing have been all idio- 
pathic. I have met with several instances of traumatic tetanus, 
but was never so fortunate as to produce a recovery. I have seen a 
case of the latter kind occur, when the skin underneath the eye 
has merely been broken by the lash of a whip. In this case the 
wound had entirely cicatrized. 
I recollect, just after I had commenced practice, that I was at¬ 
tending a horse for a slight wound on the inside of the thigh, in a 
village called Perran. The farm of the proprietor was bounded 
by the Atlantic; the stable was situated on a low, marshy, damp 
soil. The wound was nearly healed, and, it being the summer 
season, the animal was turned to grass ; when, in three days, 
tetanus supervened, and on the next day the animal died. The 
following were the appearances of the body on a post-mortem 
examination, transcribed from my case book. 
Sectio Cadaveris .—On removing the skull, the dura mater was 
found slightly vascular; the pia mater was likewise so. The 
cineritious portion of the cerebrum was considerably inflamed, 
particularly on the right side. The plexus choroides in the right 
ventricle, which contained some serous effusion, was loaded with 
blood. The thalamus on that side also slightly vascular. Left 
ventricle perfectly healthy. A small quantity of limpid fluid 
escaped on opening the arachnoid membrane. The immediate' 
covering of the chord was vascular; but the spinal chord itself 
was firm, and not at all inflamed. On examining the thorax, I 
found the lung highly vascular, and full of red Jiorid blood; and 
I particularly observed the sympathetic nerve and its ganglia to 
be decidedly inflamed*. The sensible portion of the stomach 
* Mr. Alexander Henderson, V. S. to the Queen, describes similar cases 
in The A^eterinarian, vol. v:—“The horse,’' he says, “ was excessively 
irritable, became rapidly worse, and died in about thirtif hours. On open¬ 
ing him I found the stomach unusually distended with food, and an in¬ 
creased redness on its surface, with several crimson spots on the pyloric 
