TRAUMATIC TETANUS. 
203 
Both the owner and the groom imagined that the cradle 
which was on the neck was the cause of the stiffness observed 
in the animal’s head and neck. The latter individual also 
stated that the horse had exhibited the same symptoms for 
two days past, but no notice was taken of it. I became 
naturally anxious about the case, and at once instituted a 
careful examination, when I was of opinion it was a true case 
of tetanus, produced by the irritation of firing ; the skin 
having separated and produced sloughing of the parts, and 
the animal in two days after was, so to speak, like a wooden 
one. 
The treatment pursued in the absence of a Turkish bath 
was that of hot water and blankets. Several blankets were 
put into hot water, and when taken out wrapped upon every 
part of the horse, and kept in this state for several hours, 
until the animal could bear it no longer. He was then 
allowed to rest for two hours, and the application repeated 
alternately every two hours, of course attending to his bowels 
at the same time. The hot water caused copious sweats, 
which much relieved him. The muscles became relaxed, 
and I w r as in hope of saving my patient. In tw r o or three 
days, the sheath, together with the abdominal integument, 
anterior to the pelvis, as far forward as the ensiform car¬ 
tilage, became oedematous, as did also the thighs and other 
parts of the body. The fourth day I had some blistering 
ointment applied along the course of the spinal column, from 
the occiput to the coccyx, all of which tended to produce a 
remission of the symptoms. I did not lose sight of the 
abraded legs during the treatment, as I, felt convinced that I 
should not be able to relieve the suffering animal unless I 
could succeed in establishing a healthy state of the parts. 
As the legs proceeded towards restoration so did the tetanic 
symptoms abate. The case progressed so favourably that I 
ordered walking exercise in a paddock, allowing the horse 
the privilege of partaking of some herbage during his stay 
there. 
This state of things continued up to February 17th, when 
I saw T the horse for the last time. He w^as then doing ex¬ 
ceedingly well, and was, in fact, considered out of danger. 
I have learned since that he is so far recovered that he has 
not required any attention from me since the above date. 
If my memory serves me, I recorded a case of traumatic 
tetanus some three or four years since, after the operation of 
subcutaneous periosteotomy in the front leg, which case ter¬ 
minated fatally; and, I think, I took occasion to remark that 
that animal looked (even when in an apparently healthy 
