TETANUS. 243 
is fond of connecting together, in influence at least, the most 
distant links of that chain. 
The Causes resumed. —The undeniably symptomatic causes of 
tetanus, then, are, irritation or inflammation of some nervous fibril, 
cut or injured by means of an operation or accidental wound ; 
and oftener in the feet than any or every other part of the 
frame. 
Wounds in the Feet. —With regard to wounds of the feet, I 
have often thought that we treat them far too carelessly. We 
open them, give free vent to the effused matter, apply a poultice 
or two, and then endeavour to heal the wound as quickly as we 
can by the application of the Friars’ balsam, or the tincture of 
myrrh. The old farrier goes to work in a very rude way, but 
a much better one; he also opens the foot and gives vent to the 
pus, and then he places a pledget of tow on the w ound, satu¬ 
rates it w’ith spirit of turpentine, and sets fire to it. This 
leaves a crust upon the wound, which rarely separates from it, 
and gradually changes into good horn. He makes a summary 
business of it, and, what is most important of all, he either 
destroys the lacerated or injured nervous fibril, which might 
by-and-by be the focus of mischief, or sets up a degree of tem¬ 
porary irritation in the part inconsistent with, or preventing the 
access of, that irritability which runs on to tetanus. 
The Treatment of Wounds in the Feet continued. —It would be 
a good rule that the surface of every wound in the foot should 
be exposed to the power of some caustic. The chloride of 
antimony is the most manageable and the best. We should 
generally gain time by causing a disposition in the part to throw 
out new and good horn ; w'hile, at the same time, we should 
destroy or deaden the exposed fibril of the nerve. The last case 
of tetanus which I had I could plainly trace to neglect of this 
kind. The horse was lame four or five days after shoeing; and 
after some protracted examination, a very small stub of a nail 
was discovered, which the careless smith had suffered to remain, 
and close upon which he had driven the new nail. It was ex¬ 
tracted, and I satisfactorily ascertained that there was no wound, 
but that the lameness had been occasioned by the pressure of 
the two nails on the sensible laminae. The shoe was put on 
again, the bearing taken from the place, no nail driven there, 
and the horse did not go lame afterwards : but on the 7th 
day subsequent to the examination, he began to exhibit symp¬ 
toms of tetanus. He recovered after a hard struggle ; but had I 
freely opened the foot, and applied the chloride of antimony, 
he would not have been endangered at all. 
Docking and !\irking .—Next to the injuries of the foot we 
