LANCASHIRE VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 783 
subacute class, and all he had done was to keep the animal quiet. 
Hydrocyanic acid was a most valuable medicine, though he had 
discontinued its application for some years. He was very glad to 
take part in this discussion, because it was always desirable that, 
in their experiences and opinions, they should corroborate each 
other, in order that they might together find an effectual remedy. 
From his own experience, he certainly advocated the quiet treat¬ 
ment, and if medicine had to be administered he thought hydro¬ 
cyanic acid was the best. 
Mr. Brown , of Oldham, had adopted Mr. Lawson’s method in 
three cases with success. He used half a drachm of acid twice a 
day. 
Mr. Bray, of Leeds, President of the Yorkshire Y.M.A., expressed 
his regret that he was unable to confirm the good effects of the 
treatment which Mr. Lawson had suggested. He (Mr. Dray) had 
not tried hydrocyanic acid, but he had had several patients that 
had recovered—cases of idiopathic and traumatic tetanus. His 
first case was a valuable mare, the property of the grandfather of 
the present Earl of Harewood. The patient was removed to an 
isolated dark box; but he fell into an error by using sheep-skins 
to the loins, and by endeavouring to rouse the bowels into action 
by exhibiting croton seed in sloppy mash. The mare got well, but 
whether she would have recovered sooner if there had been an 
absence of the excitement which he produced he was not prepared 
to say. He was quite convinced that the profession had been in 
error a long time, and that Mr. Lawson’s opinion was correct, that 
quietude was the main agent to effect a cure. He had treated three 
cases successfully, but he would not presume to say that he cured 
them. Hydrocyanic acid might be of great service, although any¬ 
thing of an exciting nature was highly prejudicial. During the 
whole of his practice he had had six cases that recovered from 
tetanus ; but, on the other hand, the deaths were innumerable. He 
did not agree with Mr. Hunt in considering that the violence of the 
disease had abated of late. Frequently the veterinary surgeon was not 
called in soon enough. The physician was sent for when the 
undertaker ought to have been called in. The veterinary surgeon 
was often sent for as a dernier ressort in these cases. 
Mr. Haycock, of Manchester, said that Mr. Lawson had learned 
one thing from homoeopathy, which was that they, the allopathists, 
were necessarily on the wrong tack so long as they employed vio¬ 
lent remedies. It often took a man half a lifetime to learn an im¬ 
portant fact like that. One of the most important matters was also 
to keep an animal quiet, not in tetanus merely, but in most other 
diseases. Mr. Lawson had spoken of the pathology of the disease. 
He (Mr. Haycock) had found congestion of the nerves and a pecu¬ 
liar change in the spinal cord itself. He had found both the dark 
or gray matter and the white matter in a congested state. He 
believed that in one case these conditions were absent. They could 
not always detect the change by the eye alone. 
The essayist had also stated that he had found the lungs congested. 
