CEREBRO-SPINAL MENINGITIS. 
835 
it is through the food or drinking water or the breathing of 
miasmatic night air, seems to be the general opinion among 
medical men. 
Ti^eatrnent :—So long as the true nature of the disease is 
iinknown, our treatment of it must be purely empirical. No 
method of treatment has proved successful with me in the ma¬ 
jority of cases, though nearly all forms of medication have been 
employed. Purgatives, such as aloes, raw linseed oil in com¬ 
bination with oleum terebinth and oleum tiglii in heroic doses, 
seem not to have the slightest effect in moving the contents of 
the paralyzed bowels. Enemas of warm water containing a 
strong solution of chloride of sodium have given the best re¬ 
sults for this purpose. Nerve tonics, such as strychnia subcu¬ 
taneously or per orem, do not seem to have the slightest bene¬ 
ficial effect. It is simply astonishing the amount of strychnine, 
arsenic and other potent drugs a horse can take with almost per¬ 
fect immunity when suffering from this disease. Some cases at 
first respond in a remarkably favorable manner to large doses 
of the fluid extract of gelsemium, but after taking it for a few 
days this drug also seems to lose all physiological action on the 
animal. 
SpoiitaneoiLS Recovery : —Occasionally an animal will recover 
from a severe attack of the disease without any medicinal treat¬ 
ment whatever. The animal may afterwards eat well, and will 
even become quite healthy ; the mind will become clear, and to 
all appearances the animal will be restored to perfect health, 
with the exception of loss of motor power in the hind extremi¬ 
ties, which renders the animal useless for any kind of hard 
labor. This loss of motor power is a sequelae of the intense in¬ 
flammation of the spinal cord and the effusion of serum between 
the spinal membranes. 
Post-mortem Appearances :—On removing the skin, large 
areas of the subdermal tissue are occupied by masses of coagu¬ 
lated serum of a yellowish color. The blood vessels contain 
blood of a thin, dark color that is non-coagulable. Numerous 
red or bloody spots are seen on the external coat of the dura 
