25 
TETANUS CURED BY ETHER. 
28 th. —On visiting him this morning, we thought him a shade 
better. The salivation is decreased, the masseters are less con¬ 
tracted, the muscles in general are less tense; the appetite is 
returned; he has eaten with enjoyment a handful of hay*. 
The ether apparatus is once more applied to the nostrils, con¬ 
taining again 11-J. ounces (4 decilitres ) of ether. At the expira¬ 
tion of 35 minutes, although still standing upon his trembling 
limbs, the horse might be said to be sent to sleep. The muscles, 
those even of the neck and jaws, are lax and soft; the head is 
heavy, and is leant upon the manger; the superior lid has fallen 
over the globe of the eye; lifted up by the finger and thumb, it 
falls down immediately, so great is the fiaccidity of the muscular 
fibre; the patient wakes up at the noise of water shaken up in a 
pail, and eagerly drinks of it. Half an hour after he eats, with 
appetite, a little hay put before him. 
At ten o’clock a fresh etherization is practised, the quantity of 
ether being the same. This time sensible effect is produced ; 
several times he reels about during the operation. As soon as 
the apparatus is removed, he empties a pailful of water gruel. 
The appetite returns; he eats his litter. 
At four o’clock the patient lay down and rested for half an hour. 
The muscular tension is considerably diminished. 
29 th. —The amelioration has not been maintained. The mus¬ 
cular contraction has returned almost to its former extent; never¬ 
theless, the appetite continues. Demi-ration is ordered. 
Inhalations of ether thrice in the course of the day, using each 
time 11| ounces of ether. Abundant sweatings are produced, toge¬ 
ther with relaxation of the muscular tension, which, however, lasts 
for no longer than half an hour after the removal of the inhaling 
apparatus. The patient, however, is kept well clothed, in order 
to prolong the effects of the transpiration. 
30 th. —To-day he is more irritable, and tries to strike whenever 
anybody approaches him. 
Three pints of ether have been respired in the course of three 
inhalations made at various times in the day. At each inhalation 
the skin has become bedewed with sweat. 
* If we lay stress on the changes which the sense of hunger undergoes in 
the tetanic animal, it is because this symptom seems to us of importance 
enough to direct the prognostic of the practitioner. In fact, as a general po¬ 
sition, it may be laid down that the animal who refuses, unless it be from 
physical obstacle occasioned by the stiffness of the muscles of the jaws, to take 
solid food, is in serious case; while we may almost premise recovery, if, in the 
course of the disease, the patient searches about for food, and takes hay or oats 
or any other aliment into his mouth. And this is one example more to shew 
the great influence the digestive functions exercise over the organism of the 
sick subject. 
VOL. XXII. 
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