COUP DE SOLEIL. 
297 
It must be confessed, that" perhaps no division of our 
science has been more neglected in this country than that of 
dermatology. It would appear as if the numerous diseases 
to which the skins of animals are liable could all be classed 
as mange, ringworm, and surfeit. 
COUP DE SOLEIL. 
By R. Spooner Hart, M.R.C.Y.S., Indian Army. 
I beg to ask the favour of being allowed to pen a few 
remarks on the subject of Coup de soldi, as affecting horses 
in India. Synonyms.—Heat Apoplexy, Sun Fever, Sunstroke, 
Meyrims, &c. 
Seeing how limited our knowledge is of the nervous system, 
in treating with a disease affecting the main centre of 
that system, we find great difficulty in handling the subject, 
and we must be satisfied to refer for an explanation of the 
symptoms we meet with to hypothetical analogies. For in 
no organ or system of the body is there such an apparent 
' want of accordance and definite relation between the symp¬ 
toms of disease, the structural derangements, and the changes 
produced by it as in the nervous system. Our physiological 
knowledge of the laws governing the nervous functions is 
far from being equal to our acquaintance with the functions 
of other organs. With reference to many diseases, such as 
those of the abdominal and thoracic viscera, we are enabled 
to form a pretty good idea of what is going on. In conse¬ 
quence of our imperfect knowledge of the laws governing the 
nervous system in health, it is manifestly impossible that we 
should be enabled to define deviations from the healthy 
standard. Researches have demonstrated the close relation 
of the state of the vital fluid to cerebral derangements; and 
shown that most fatal effects may be induced without any 
palpable changes being wrought in the cerebral mass. The 
poison that may be in the blood may elude chemical test, 
and yet be productive of death. 
Coup de soleil is a disease characterised by the suddenness 
and fatal nature of its attack, it affects horses that previously 
had given all the signs of good health. The victims to it 
, are observed to stagger and fall, and to rise and fall again. 
The prominent symptoms are vertigo; unsteady gait; partial 
insensibility ; pulse full and infrequent; superficial vessels 
