152 
REPORTS OF CASES. 
turned to the dealer as unsound from the cause named, and 
soon became ill with some climatic disorder, which was of 
long duration, recovery not taking place until October. 
A short time after recovering and resuming his work the 
enlargement upon the off side was noticed, and a veterinar¬ 
ian called, who administered a large purge with good results, 
and the animal again resumed his work. The improvement 
was only of a temporary character and in a few days the vet¬ 
erinarian was again called, and administered a second purge 
with no result; on the contrary, the enlargement continued to 
slowly increase. About six weeks after the enlargement was 
noticed, the curving of the spine became manifest and con¬ 
tinued until it reached its present condition; during this 
period and up to the present time the general health of the 
animal remained good. This being all the history that could 
be obtained, a number of veterinarians of New York and 
Brooklyn were asked to diagnose the case ; their opinions were 
widely apart, and an attempt was made to purchase the ani¬ 
mal in order to confirm someone of the many opinions given. 
The dealer refused to sell the animal for anything like a fair 
price, and the patient was returned. All traces of him were 
lost until March 3rd, when I was called to Long Island by 
letter, which stated that the animal I was to examine was 
affected with thumps continually, and also that this condi¬ 
tion was not aggravated by work. On arriving at the farm Ii 
found my patient to be the same animal that 1 had examinedl 
in January, and in the same condition ; the owner said he 
worked well, and had no difficulty in getting down or up. I 
then purchased him and gave orders for him to be sent to the 
hospital. 
On March 16th he was destroyed for post-mortem exam¬ 
ination, a large number of veterinarians of New York and 
Brooklyn being present. 
All the organs of the abdominal and thoracic cavities were: 
carefully removed and found to be normal, as was the inferior: 
face of thevertebral column. The vertebrae were then removed 
and each vertebra thoroughly cleansed and examined, with the 
following result, viz.: The bodies of the fifth, sixth, seven. 
