76 
HYDATID IN' THE DllAIN OF A HORSE. 
was found that he still as forcibly leaned towards the off side, 
bearing; so heavily against the pole that it was with great 
difficulty he was made to complete his journey. As before 
stated, after being unharnessed and placed in the stable, no¬ 
thing appeared to be wrong with him, and, consequently, it 
was thought by tlie attendants that it was unwillingness and 
not inability to perform his work that induced him thus to 
act. It was nevertheless observed that there was a peculiarity 
in his expression which was unusual. 
Early in the month of August last Mr. VVoodger was called 
to see the horse, when the first symptom that attracted his 
attention was a constant disposition to swerve to the right, 
and while turning in this direction he would firmly press 
against anything that might happen to be in his way. He 
would also frequently walk round his box, always turning to 
the right side. Full doses of cathartic medicine were given, 
which, however, had the effect only of temporarily mitigating 
the symptoms. Setons and other counter-irritants were like¬ 
wise applied over the region of the poll, but no benefit 
resulted from their use. 
In consequence of this, the horse was now' turned into a 
meadow, when, although he improved very much in condi¬ 
tion, his incapability for doing any work became more and 
more evident. He w’as again taken into the stable and most 
carefully examined, but no satisfactory evidence of disease 
to account for the symptoms could be detected. He gra¬ 
dually became unconscious of surrounding objects, and 
shortly afterwards died. 
The upper surface of one hemisphere of the cercb/rmn had 
been removed previous to Mr. Woodger bringing the brain 
to the College, by which means the cause of the cerebral dis¬ 
turbance was brought to light. 
It appears that Mr. Woodger, junior, had partially exa¬ 
mined tlie brain in this stage of the dissection, and had 
expressed his opinion that the ventricle contained a hydatid, 
which, upon more complete investigation, proved to be cor¬ 
rect. With a view to further determine the true character of 
this cyst, I proceeded to remove it from its situation, which 
was easily effected. It was found to be enclosed in a mem¬ 
brane, which at one point was continuous with the plexus 
choroides, but at no other part was it in any way attached. 
This membrane being removed, the acephalocyst (for to this 
variety of hydatids I believe the entozoon to belong) was 
found to have no attachment to it. It was as large as a 
moderate-sized orange, and the pressure it had imparted to 
