A SINGULAR CASE OE STKINGHALT. 
433 
There he was cruelly used, and this spasmodic convulsion of his 
hind le^s sadly aggravated his torture. The skin was presently 
rubbed from his shoulders—his hips and haunches were bruised in 
every part—and his stifles were continually and painfully coming 
in contact with the pole. 
In this situation he was seen by Mr. Ainslie, who is now Vete¬ 
rinary Surgeon to “ The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals.'^ There is a fund at the disposal of that society for the 
purchase of worn-out horses, who are immediately released from 
their misery by the pole-axe of the knacker. Mr. Ainslie bought 
him for this purpose, being at the same time influenced by 
another laudable motive—the wish to ascertain what light the 
dissection of an animal who had had stringhalt to such an ag¬ 
gravated extent, and for so long a period, might cast on the na¬ 
ture of this disease. The horse was sent without delay to the 
Veterinary College. 
I saw him a little before he was slaughtered. He was still 
a noble-looking animal, and seemed to possess all his former 
strength and spirit unimpaired ; but he was sadly scarred all over, 
in consequence of his being put to a kind of work for which his 
spasmodic complaint so entirely incapacitated him. His neck and 
his withers were dreadful to look at, and he had bruises on every 
part. So aggravated a state of stringhalt I had never seen. 
Both hind legs were affected, and both in an equal degree; and 
the belly was forcibly struck by the pastern joints every time 
the hind feet were lifted. The belly and the pastern joint 
were both denuded of hair in consequence of this terrible 
battering. 
He was destroyed by the injection of prussic acid into the 
jugular vein. The dissection was conducted by Mr. Spooner, 
occasionally assisted by Mr. Sewell and Mr. Ferguson. The 
following account of it was kindly dictated by Mr. Spooner. 
On dissecting off the skin, all the muscles presented their 
perfect normal character. There was not the slightest enlarge¬ 
ment or discolouration of the fasciee. The muscles of both 
extremities were dissected from their origins to their tendinous 
terminations, and their fibrous structure carefully examined. 
They were all beautifully developed, presenting no inequality 
or irregularity of structure, nor aught that would warrant the 
suspicion that any one of them possessed an undue power or 
influence beyond the others. The only abnormal circumstance 
about them was a rather darker yellow in colour than is usually 
found ; but this referred to them generally, and not to any parti¬ 
cular muscle or sets of muscles. 
The lumbar, crural, and sciatic nerves were examined, from the 
spot at which they emerge from the spinal cord to their ultimate 
