SUPPOSED DISLOCATION OF THE CERVICAL VERTEBRAS. 191 
above and below the neck, with a view of endeavouring to 
detect a crepitis, or any malposition of the cervical bones. In 
a short time, and after a few varied and uncertain move¬ 
ments had been effected, to my very great surprise we were 
enabled to force the head downwards towards the breast, 
having obtained a relaxed condition of the muscles of the 
neck. Lateral motion, however, was still painful, and brought 
on convulsions of the limbs as before. Pressure, also, forcibly 
applied downwards on the lower bones of the neck, appeared 
to cause great pain. The horse at this stage of my pro¬ 
ceedings broke out into a sweat, and most unexpectedly he 
got up without assistance, in less than ten minutes afterwards, 
and soon began to feed. He was kept perfectly quiet, and 
was watched during the night. 
On the following day some slight effusion was present at 
the lower part of the neck; but beyond this and the bruises 
arising from his being so long down, he gave no evidence of 
suffering, excepting when lateral movements of the neck 
were made, and when these were attempted even to the 
slightest degree, they caused him to crouch in such a manner 
that it was evident he would fall if they were persevered 
in. 
A blister was applied to each side of the neck, with a view 
to ensure its being kept quiet, and also to obtain an effusion 
externally to the spinal cord. This constituted the chief 
treatment adopted. The horse from this time had no un¬ 
toward symptoms, and presently returned to his work, doing 
it as well as before the accident. 
I am afraid I may have proved rather tedious in my de¬ 
scription of this case, but it seemed to me to be necessary to 
go thus much into detail, for the information of any who 
might be disposed to take a different view than that of its 
being a partial dislocation of the neck. I have never seen a 
case like it; and I feel that I have even now not been able 
sufficiently to represent its urgency or its precise appear¬ 
ance. Unless there had been an amount of displacement of 
the bones, so as to cause such positive indications of pressure 
on the spinal cord, why should the symptoms so speedily 
have passed away on the application of force ? It looks 
like a reduction of a dislocation accidentally effected by 
the examination I was instituting. 
To remove any impression that the horse might have been 
only “cast,” I would add that there is not a stall or partition 
of any hind in the stable, in which, also, there is room for 
upwards of thirty horses standing side by side. 
