668 
TETANUS ARISING FROM CASTRATION. 
raised by main strength, and put flat upon his four feet, he could 
neither get up nor move. I tied the'sponge upon the nostril, and 
closed the other with my hand, and as he continued to breathe, 
I poured chloroform upon the sponge. About three ounces were 
thus used, but without any appreciable effect. It neither produced 
stupor nor relaxed the spasm in the slightest degree; neither did 
it alter the respirations, or increase or diminish the pulse. Being 
a heavy animal, and a perfectly dead weight to lift, it was more 
than we could accomplish to raise him up; so I left him for 
the night, down, and warmly clothed. I saw him again early in 
the morning, but sadly changed. “ His quivering fibres speak his 
inward pains;” and every symptom told, but too truly, that death 
had laid his iron grasp upon him. A cold sweat bedewed the 
whole surface of his body; his respiration was quick, weak, and 
fluttering—pulse indistinct at the jaw—the eye glassy and 
fixed, so different from the almost unnatural brightness that it 
had a few short hours before. At intervals of two or three 
minutes a violent spasm would come on, and then he would groan 
most piteously. That he could linger much longer in this state of 
suffering was quite beyond doubt; and as the purchaser wished 
him to be put out of pain, I consented that he should be destroyed. 
This was at once done, and I immediately made a 
Post-mortem Examination .—The scrotal wounds were both 
closed; but the end of each cord from which the testicle had been 
removed was black; indeed, almost approaching to a state of gan¬ 
grene. Abdominal viscera healthy. The lungs terribly congested ; 
no doubt, the immediate cause of approaching death. Heart filled 
with black, coagulated blood. The brain was so much injured by 
the blow in killing that I could not examine it, and the spinal cord 
I had not time to examine. He was exceedingly fat, five years old, 
of the cart breed, and bred in France : iron-grey in colour. 
Remarks .—So much for a hasty recital of the most rapid and 
acute case of tetanus I ever saw. That it was traumatic, and arose 
from the previous operation, I, in my humble opinion, feel perfectly 
certain: the horse never shewed any previous illness, but fed well 
up to Thursday morning, when he was first observed to be a little 
off his feed, though no notice was taken of it. The following day 
he was in the state I have previously described. 
Why it was that chloroform had no influence whatever in this 
case I must leave others to theorise upon : I confess I am at a loss 
for a reason. That it was good, I am fully convinced ; and that he 
breathed it I feel equally certain. 
This horse was purchased about a week before the appearance 
of tetanus, as I have before said, of a dealer, being castrated only 
