ON IDIOPATHIC TETANUS. 
677 
13^^.—The horse was turned into a paddock for a few hours 
during the middle of the day, and this practice was pursued 
whenever the weather would admit of it. He travelled a little 
stiff on his hind legs for a few days, but that soon disappeared, 
and on about the 20th of the month he was pronounced cured. 
The good effect of the blisters was strikingly manifested in 
this case, particularly in the two last that were applied; for 
the tetanic symptoms appeared to subside in exact ratio as the 
swelling or discharge from the blistered surface increased. 
The reader will recollect the circumstance which occasioned 
my applying blisters to the abdomen instead of the spine, as is 
usually done. Two cases of idiopathic tetanus were treated by 
me in the usual manner, i. e., blisters and sheep-skins to the spine, 
copious bleedings, setons over the medulla oblongata and on 
each side of the cervical and dorsal vertebree, active purgatives, 
and opium in large doses. But the disease in neither instance 
yielded to any of these; the symptoms were augmented, and 
were rapidly approaching to a crisis, when, about the eighth 
or ninth day of the attack, slight anasarcal swellings were ob¬ 
served underneath the abdomen : at about the same time the 
symptoms are observed to be mitigated, and they gradually dis¬ 
appeared in exact ratio as the oedema increased in volume. 
Here were two extraordinary instances of the removal of this 
disease by metastasis. Nature herself led the way ; and, in con¬ 
formity with her plan, I endeavoured to produce the same effect 
artificially as she accomplished by natural means. Accordingly 
I applied strong blisters to the sides of the chest, and over the 
whole surface of the abdominal viscera. My plan was success¬ 
ful. Another case happening shortly after, it was again tried 
with success; and now I have submitted a third, as a further 
proof of the method of treatment which I have recommended. 
My method is founded on that well-known law of the animal 
economy, that two distinct inflammations are seldom found in 
parts situated near to each other; but a part or proximity may 
become susceptible of the increased action, in a superior degree, 
to the part first affected; in which case, as it takes on the in¬ 
flammation, it very generally produces the effect of removing it 
from the other, and this termination is called metastasis. It is not 
often that this termination is produced in the horse, except by 
artificial means. In a pneumonic state of the lungs, for instance, 
by raising an active inflammation on the sides of the chest ex¬ 
ternally by blisters, many horses are saved; for a removal of the 
affection takes place from a part essential to life, and with which 
the system sympathizes largely, to a part not essential to life. 
In the post-mortem examination that I have made on horses 
VOL. vm. 4 z 
