THE 
VOL. YllI, No. 90 .] JUNE 1835. [New Series, No. 30 , 
MR. YOUATT’S VETERINARY LECTURES, 
DELIVERED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. 
LECTURE XLVIII. 
The Treatment of Tetanus. — Bleeding .— Purging. — Opium. 
Treatment. —I HAVE to speak this evening, gentlemen, of the 
cure of tetanus. This is a most unsatisfactory portion of my 
subject. The indication of cure is plain enough : the system 
must be tranquillized. Ay! but how ? I have found—every 
veterinary surgeon, 1 believe, has found—this to be an exceedingly 
difficult affair; and we have failed oftener than we have succeeded. 
There is one exception, indeed—that of Mr. Wilkinson, who, in 
a treatise which he published on this disease, gives us a list of 
cases in which the successful ones were almost or quite (for I 
have not the book now at hand) three to one. Mr. Wilkinson 
was a respectable and skilful practitioner, and here, it would seem, 
a fortunate one too; and far more fortunate than you will be, 
especially if you pursue the whole of his plan of treatment, which 
is seriously objectionable on various accounts. 
Venesection. —You will anticipate me in the first thing which 
I should recommend. Bleed—bleed copiously—abstract as 
much blood as you can get. Nothing is so likely to lessen such 
an extreme state of nervous erythisra as this. There is no more 
powerful sedative than venesection carried to its proper extent 
in cases of muscular spasm. We effect a double purpose—we 
lessen the determination of blood to the common sensorium and 
to the origins of the nerves ; and by which they were enabled, if 
I may so express myself, to secrete and to pour out this torrent 
of nervous influence ; and we lessen the supply of blood to the 
muscular system, and by the vivifying power of which alone that 
system is enabled to respond to the stimulus of the blood. There 
are many diseases in which we may well hesitate as to the pro- 
jiriety of bloodletting, at least to the extent which J recommend 
VOL. VIII. Tt 
