610 
CRAMP. 
gentian have been serviceable to a certain extent; but they have 
never cured the complaint. The nitrate of silver will be the 
sheet-anchor of the practitioner, and if early used it will seldom 
deceive him. If, which I should be very cautious of doing, I 
might apply the term specific to any medicine, I should say 
that the nitrate of silver was one for chorea in dogs. It should 
be combined with ginger, and given, morning and night, in doses 
varying from one-sixth to one-third of a grain, according to the 
size of the dog. 
Prognosis .—The circumstances which should guide your prog¬ 
nosis, and which will seldom lead you into error, are these:— 
the condition and strength of the dog, and the season of the 
year. If the patient has not lost much flesh, and is not losing it 
at the time that you have to do with him, and has few symptoms 
of general debility, and spring or summer are approaching, you 
may with tolerable confidence predict a cure ; but if he has been 
rapidly losing ground, and is doing so still, and staggers and falls 
about, you have no medicine that will restore that animal. 
Shaking Palsy, 
Chorea neglected, or improperly treated, or too frequently pur¬ 
suing its natural course, degenerates into paralysis tremens. 
There is a tremulous or violent motion of almost every limb ; the 
spasms are not relaxed—they are even increased during sleep; 
and when the animal awakes, he cries with agitation and alarm. 
There is not a member under the perfect control of the will— 
there is not a moment’s respite. The constitution soon sinks 
under this, and the animal dies. Never be induced to under¬ 
take such a case; but endeavour to persuade the owner to permit 
you to put a speedy termination to that which no skill can 
remedy, or even palliate. 
CRAMP. 
Py Professor Vatel. 
By cramp is understood, involuntary contractions, almost al¬ 
ways sudden, of short duration, and very painful, of one or more 
muscles. 
They oftenest occur in the muscles of the thigh or hind leg, 
generally, of the horse. When first going out of the stable the 
animal is unable to flex his leg : this generally passes over when 
he has proceeded a few paces; but, sometimes, it continues a 
quarter of an hour or more. 
