ON THE TREATMENT OF TETANUS. 545 
ease on May 14th: she was put under precisely the same treat¬ 
ment as the colt, with precisely the same result. 
“ I had another case, a chesnut horse belonging to Mr. Pritt, 
which 1 first saw on the 7th March, 1829; he underwent similar 
treatment. I first took away about lOtbs. of blood, gave power¬ 
ful opening medicine, say aloes, 5 viii. 7u hydrarg. sub. sij• with 
frequent injections, followed up by opium, camphor, &c. I also 
applied the embrocatio sinapii from the head to the tail, as in the 
former cases, sheep skins daily renewed, See.; but notwithstand¬ 
ing all my endeavours, he died on the 17th from obstruction in 
the bowels. The jaws had become so far relaxed, that he could 
eat hay tolerably well.” 
Remarks .—We all have heard, and I dare say we all acknow¬ 
ledge, that “ one fact is worth a hundred theories.” Now, it is a 
fact (and there are many similar instances), that those two ani¬ 
mals affected with tetanus perfectly recovered, and that one re¬ 
medy employed was a vesicatory or blister, applied along the 
course of the medulla spinalis, but I cannot satisfactorily explain 
to myself t the “ modus operandiin fact, I must confess that I 
am somewhat sceptical about the utility of blisters in cases of 
tetanus. When, however, I make this confession, I wish it to be 
understood that I do so with considerable reluctance and timidity, 
because I am well aware that the converse opinion is entertained 
by most of those whose talents and practical experience entitle 
them to great influence on professional subjects; nevertheless, I 
have too great an abhorrence of quackery to be content without 
inquiring why and wherefore such and such treatment produces 
beneficial results. I will, therefore, venture to make an observa¬ 
tion or two upon the practice of blistering in cases of tetanus; and 
I am the more inclined to do so, because many other curative 
means are employed in conjunction therewith, to which, perhaps, 
the recovery may be attributed. In the first place, let us inquire 
what is the object of applying a vesicatory along the spine ? I am 
told it is expected to act on the principle of counter-irritation, and 
that the discharge produced by it will have some depletive effect. 
Now admitting, for the sake of argument, the necessity of coun¬ 
ter-irritation, I would question the efficacy of any external appli¬ 
cation; and I would do so on the ground of the great mass of 
muscles, &c. intervening between the vertebral canal and the in¬ 
tegument, which muscles are supplied with blood by arteries dis¬ 
tinct from those which supply the medulla spinalis, inasmuch as 
the dorsal and posterior cervical arteries, together with unimpor¬ 
tant twigs from the carotids, principally ramify through the former, 
whilst branches from the intercostals and vertebrals are distributed 
to the latter: as to depletion, I do not think that any advocate 
