404 
EDITORIAL. 
dragged away from it at once , with all care, to avoid danger from 
the electric current. 
I was personally very much interested in witnessing the first 
effect of the electric stroke. I have had an opportunity to see 
two horses who had been struck with lightning. One had re¬ 
cuperated from it, although he remained ailing for some, time 
with paralytic effects, but in the other I saw death ; he was in 
the position in which he had fallen at the time he was struck, 
viz., with his fore legs flexed under him , Jus hind ones stretched 
backward and apart , and with the neck stiffened , the head was 
powerfully flexed upon it and the teeth were dug into the ground 
as if gnawing it with rage. This very condition I observed 
again in the three animals that were knocked down by the elec¬ 
tric current. 
The result of the post-mortem has not been as satisfactory as 
had been expected. Nothing very positive, nothing pathogno¬ 
monic could be found, but, as remarked by several of those pres¬ 
ent, this absence of characteristic lesions can be of great assist¬ 
ance in establishing an almost positive diagnosis as to the cause 
of death. Bet us, for instance, have an animal who will present 
typical lesions of some form of other disease, and let it be ex¬ 
posed to an electric current insufficient to kill him on the spot; 
if his death occurs but a few hours or even a few days after, the 
electricity could not be considered as the direct cause of death. 
It is doubtful if it would be, even if he had died on the spot. 
But, again, let an animal receive an electric stroke, fall on the 
pole, remain in contact with it and die ; the fact that there are 
no characteristic lesions of any kind, all other organs being 
sound, will be a strong, yes, a positive evidence, that electricity 
has been the cause of the fatality. 
These results thus obtained by those experiments are of 
great value, specially in the cases where legal disputes are likely 
to occur in relation to the responsibility for the death of the ani¬ 
mal, and I think they will prove of great advantage to veteri¬ 
narians who as experts may be called to give their scientific testi¬ 
mony in such cases. 
