792 LANCASHIRE VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
would eat four half-pailfuls of boiled barley in a day ; but be unfor¬ 
tunately got down, and the spasms were frightful. In this case the 
rigidity was most marked in the loins. The violent symptoms in¬ 
creased so alarmingly that the owner begged that the patient might 
be destroyed. The animal was raised up, but was so prostrated that 
he got down again. He was then put into slings, and properly 
steadied upon his legs for half an hour; but the prostration was so 
great that he had to be let down or he would have died in them. 
Both his fore and hind legs failed him. In this stage the slings 
appeared to do more harm than good ; they increased the excite¬ 
ment and brought on more violent paroxysms. Through the kindness 
of the essayist he had been enabled to make an inspection of this 
horse’s brain and medulla spinalis. He found the brain to all ap¬ 
pearance perfectly free from disease, and that the medulla spinalis was 
of one uniform colour throughout its entire length, excepting about 
six inches of it, which was located in the sacrum. Here it was much 
darker in colour, and its structure was completely broken down ; 
in fact, it was approaching putridity. The horse had been dead 
about twenty-eight or thirty hours. 
Soon after this, through the kindness of the same gentleman, he 
had an opportunity of seeing another medulla spinalis from a horse 
in whom tetanus had not existed. In this animal the same length 
of time had elapsed after death as in the case of tetanus ; but he found 
that throughout its whole length the medulla spinalis was of one 
uniform consistency and colour. It was very much denser and 
firmer than the other; in fact, its structure appeared perfect. It is 
true the specimen had been in alum and water for several hours; 
but he could not for one moment believe that that circumstance caused 
the great difference in its condition when compared with the other. 
With regard to Mr. Lawson’s instrument, he could assure the gen¬ 
tlemen present that it is most simple, and it offers the most gentle 
mode of administering medicine ; but even with it, and using all the 
care and gentleness possible, you cannot avoid causing some alarm 
and excitement, and most likely some paroxysms, because you are 
obliged to raise the head a little. He found that he could give the dose 
better when he used a small brass or ivory syringe tipped with a 
quarter of an inch gutta-percha piping, about ten inches long. 
This he quietly passed into the mouth, and gently raised the head and 
injected every drop. The smaller the dose the more easily can it be 
taken, and less will be wasted—say two table-spoonfuls of water and 
half a drachm of the acid as the maximum dose. Experience had 
shown him that any treatment which produced excitement of the 
patient was the worst plan that can be resorted to. The experience 
of gentlemen present has shown that seclusion, quiet, and a dark 
place, are the best remedies; that bleeding, purging, blistering, 
fomentations, and slieep-skins, did much more harm than good. 
Drenching through the nostrils was an act to be deprecated. Slings, 
judiciously applied, so as not to annoy or alarm, might prevent the 
patient getting down, which must always be avoided if possible. 
Where medicine is considered necessary, the use of the drug which 
