304 MR. youatt’s veterinary lectures. 
but that, the contents of the nose-bag being consumed, he 
had had nothing but an occasional wisp of hay, and not always 
that, where the fellow stopped to bait himself; and, in fine, that 
the animal was in the most dreadful state of exhaustion: but 
they knew the brutal character of their master, and that he 
would sacrifice a dozen horses, and this among the rest, although 
he was his very best, rather than delay his vengeance an instant. 
In fact, they were as bad as himself: they put the driver into 
the cab, and whipped on the poor horse, and accomplished 
their journey home—thirty-six miles—in little more than three 
hours, and with merely pulling up once to water the exhausted 
animal fora few minutes. The scoundrel-master did not expect 
them so soon, and was out of town; and as the horse was dis¬ 
tressed to a most pitiable degree, and in the opinion of the 
ostler something worse was coming upon him, I was sent for. 
I saw him within a quarter of an hour after his arrival, and he 
was perfectly tetanic. 
The Case continued ,—Did I act upon my system of bleeding 
here? No; but I ordered him to be made as comfortable as 
possible, and I gave him a good cordial drink in a half pint of 
the oldest and strongest ale I could procure. I saw him again 
in half an hour. I fancied that the reaction which I wished 
to produce had commenced. I staid a little longer, until I was 
assured of it, and then I bled him, and took as much blood 
as the pulse would allow. The effect was magical; the tetanic 
spasm was not only relieved, but it disappeared ; and I immedi¬ 
ately took advantage of it, and threw in a mild dose of physic. 
In the meantime the owner returned. We had previously dif¬ 
fered about horse-matters, and, as I expected, I was dismissed. 
Tetanus returned, and the horse was ultimately lost: he possibly 
would have been so under my treatment. 
Bleeding in after Stages .—The propriety of bleeding in the 
after-stage of the disease much depends on the circumstances of 
the case. In sudden exacerbation of the spasm, or the evident 
appearance of fever, I would bleed without scruple ; and I would 
be guided by the same rule : the blood should flow until the 
pulse indicated the desired constitutional affection. If I can 
lessen this furious working of the muscular fibre, if I can re¬ 
duce this tearing along at full speed to a little more moderate 
pace, or if I can obtain a slight interval of comparative rest, 
the expenditure of animal power which I prevent far more than 
counterbalances the loss of blood. 
Mr. Saunders, of Wolverhampton, has related two instructive 
cases of the successful treatment of tetanus by repeated bleed¬ 
ings. He took from each horse 56lfe.. of blood in the course of 
