TETANUS ARISING FROM CASTRATION. 
667 
guage too true to be misunderstood, the intensity of his suffering. 
On the least noise, or the slightest approach towards him, the 
membrana nictitans was shot over the eye as if by magic. The 
jaws were so tightly fixed, that, with all the force I could exert, I was 
unable to get a thin coin between the incisor teeth—a constant 
flow of saliva came from each corner of the mouth—nostrils 
widely dilated — respiration short, and fearfully quick — the 
heart beating tumultuously—pulse about 90, but evidencing con¬ 
gestion—the body was bedewed with a profuse sweat—indeed, 
altogether, the horse presented one of the most pitiable objects of 
suffering T can recollect beholding. 
Such I found him, and now for the cause and the treatment. 
I found, on inquiry, that the horse had been castrated about 
fourteen days since. Some considerable swelling still remained, 
about the sheath and under the abdomen. He had been pur¬ 
chased of a dealer about a week previous to my seeing him, with 
a warranty that was to extend to a fortnight: of this I shall here¬ 
after speak. It was plainly a case of acute traumatic tetanus, 
arising from the operation of castration. 
I at once told the owner that the horse would die, and that I 
entertained not the shadow of a hope for him. I also advised him 
to send a note to the dealer of whom he bought the horse, and tell 
him my opinion. This was done at once. 
I bled him until his pulse became softer, and blistered him from 
head to tail. Any attempts to foment the scrotum, or even to 
touch him, brought on such spasms, and rendered him so furious, 
that is was unsafe to go near him, lest he should fall on one; and 
to give any thing by the mouth was a perfect impossibility. I 
removed, but with great difficulty, some hard fseces from the 
rectum, and gave a tobacco smoke enema. I then ordered him to be 
kept quiet until I saw him again. This was about eleven o’clock, 
A.M. I saw him again about five o’clock, P.M., in company with 
my brother. He was rather worse; the respirations were quicker, 
and the heart literally bounding. Query : Was this not through 
the diaphragm being implicated in the spasm I 
What was to be done I “ Desperate diseases require,” they 
say, “desperate remedies.” You could administer nothing in the 
shape of medicine, and I had already tried blistering. Chloroform 
suggested itself as the only chance, and I determined on trying it. 
I had plenty of straw laid down, to avoid the risk of his being 
injured by falling. I then put a clean sponge on the nostril, to let 
him breathe through that first. But the very act of applying it 
produced spasm, and he reeled and fell. When down, he was 
perfectly helpless; for so stiff was every part, that unless he were 
