480 EASTERN COUNTIES VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
most frequent, but little amenable to treatment, running its course 
rapidly, and usually terminating fatally in from two to five days. 
The latter assumes a more favorable type, is more inclined to be 
partial, and much more under the influence of remedial agents; 
but it is more protracted in its duration, seldom terminating in less 
than two or three weeks, frequently existing four or six weeks, and, 
in very rare instances, two months have elapsed ere recovery has 
been effected. I have deemed it proper to notice the several 
varieties of tetanus usually found in works upon the subject, buc 
they are to be considered merely as symptomatic diversities of one 
and the same disease, for the removal of which the same remedies 
are recommended and the same general principles of treatment are to 
be put in force, while for all practical purposes it will suffice to 
direct our attention to the two forms of tetanus known as opistho¬ 
tonos and trismus, as being the only phases of the disease that are 
likely to be brought under the notice of the veterinary surgeon. 
Causes .—Tetanus may be caused by wounds and injuries of 
almost every description, and especially in those parts in* which 
white fibrous tissue abounds, as the knees, tendons, ligaments, the 
orbit, involving the supro-orbital nerve ; punctures of the foot, open 
joints; operations, as castration, nicking, docking; exposure to cold, 
wet, and even to hot weather, and gastric, intestinal, and uterine 
irritation. But although wounds in M'hich the nerves are injured 
or exposed are said to be a fertile cause, it is worthy of note that 
the operation of neurotomy stands out as a remarkable exception to 
the rule ; so far as my knowledge extends, there is not a solitary 
instance of the kind on record. The period at which the disease 
appears after an injury cannot with certainty be stated; in some 
instances it has shown itself early, before the patient has recovered 
from the nervous shock; in others it appears to have been produced 
by the intense pain and irritation of the wound, but by far the 
most common period is when the wound is nearly healed. To 
satisfactorily explain this circumstance is somewhat difficult; by 
some it has been attributed to the rapid cessation of the suppura¬ 
tive action, but I view this rather as an efi’ect; bj’’ others to an irri¬ 
tation of the nerve-fibrille of the part being included in the con¬ 
tractions of the cicatrix, which, indeed, appears to me as the most 
probable theory, although by no means an established fact. As 
predisposing causes. Professor Spooner gives high nervous tempe¬ 
rament and muscular tonicity, a peculiar atmospheric influence not 
fully understood, adding that when one case occurs others may be 
anticipated; this statement would appear to favour the opinion of 
its enzootic character, and, reasoning from analogy, I think it not 
improbable that in many instances some concurrent predisposing 
cause in addition to an injury is necessary to excite the train of 
symptoms by which we recognise the existence of tetanus; this, 
however, is a controverted opinion, and I must leave its decision 
to those gentlemen whose great abilities, extended experience, and 
scientific investigations, render them much more competent than 
myself to determine the point. 
