TETANUS. 
153 
\Othday .—From this period tlie animal began to get better; 
he was turned out to grass in the early part of the summer, and 
soon recovered his former strength. 
The animal had eaten but little food ; his diet was chiefly bran 
and bruised oats, and he drank thin gruel. The patient’s symp¬ 
toms were mitigated as soon as the bowels were acted on ; and 
the discharge was considerable, considering the small quantity 
of food consumed. It appeared to me to consist chiefly of a 
morbid secretion of the alimentary canal, &c. 
The next case happened in the middle of the summer. I pur¬ 
sued nearly the same method of treatment as in the former case, 
with this exception, the former being in good condition, and 
this one a poor miserable, half-starved mare, the remedies that 
were employed were, of course, milder, and 1 bled her only once. 
Two blisters were applied from the first to the sixth day. In the 
course of the sixth night the animal was obliged to be slung to 
prevent her falling, and a liniment composed of olive oil ifej, 
spirits of turpentine 4oz., and sulphuric acid loz. was prescribed, 
a part of which was ordered to be rubbed on the blistered surface 
daily. I had not the slightest idea of the animal’s recovery ; 
and being five miles distance from my residence, I did not see 
her again for six days, when I was agreeably surprised to find 
her out of the slings, the jaws completely relaxed, and the 
spasms altogether subsided, although she was left in a very weak 
and debilitated state. The proprietor informed me, that purging 
had commenced on the evening of the seventh day, from which 
time she began to get better. 
In both these cases the animals had drunk thin gruel, and had 
fed on bran mashes and ground oats sprinkled with water, and 
cut grass. I refrain from drenching with gruel, even when it 
may be easily accomplished, as the effort always brings on a 
violent paroxysm of spasms. Deglutition is, in the most favour¬ 
able cases, diflicult, but more particularly when the patient is 
alarmed. 
The reader will observe the large doses of aloes and opium that 
I have given. It is astonishing how the system, when labouring- 
under a tetanic disease, will resist the operation of these and 
other remedies, which, in ordinary cases, would have been more 
than suflicient to overpower and destroy it. It seems requisite to 
augment the dose rapidly, as the disease presses upon us every 
hour; no time, therefore, should be lost, while there is a chance 
of controlling its fury. The approaching closing of the jaws 
and difficulty of deglutition may increase, so as to render it im¬ 
possible to introduce medicines into the stomach ; and without 
we can act on the stomach and bowels by strong purgatives, and 
V()[.. VlII. Y 
