192 
REPORTS OF CASES. 
Ohio, telephoned me to meet him in consultation on a case of 
a bay mare, Norman breed, 7 years old, that he had been treat 
ing for some time, but was receiving no benefit from his treat¬ 
ment. 
The history of the case was given by Mr. Otis, the owner. 
She had done her usual amount of work on the farm during the 
summer and fall, and being a large and strong animal was kept 
at work regularly. She did not seem to lose any flesh until late 
in the fall, when he consulted Dr. McClain about the case, and 
for which the doctor prescribed tonics, alteratives, etc., for some 
derangement of the digestive organs. She was kept under this 
kind of treatment for several weeks, but was found to lose more 
flesh with all the food she was consuming, which was a fair 
amount of oats, corn, and some ground food, with good hay ; in 
fact, the owner said she was fed better than while at work. The 
doctor had also changed his treatment several times, but with 
no better results ; had also, in the meantime, made an examina¬ 
tion of the urine, which proved to be normal and to have the 
normal specific gravity. 
At the time of my seeing her she was standing with front 
feet back and hind feet forward, as if to balance herself, the 
position of laminitis of the hind feet; her coat looked well and 
smooth ; eating all that was given her, but was greatly ema¬ 
ciated. I made a careful examination of her faeces and urine; 
the respirations were normal and pulse 80, strong; temperature 
103.8°. 
Had her taken out of the barn ; her walk was weak and some¬ 
what staggering in the hind extremities, but after a few steps to 
all appearances walked all right. Examination of her faeces 
proved that the feed was thoroughly digested. As she had been 
feeding on corn at the time for several days there was but little 
assimilation of food, and a physical examination absolutely re¬ 
vealed nothing. I, therefore, told the owner that I could not 
make a diagnosis and that my prognosis was unfavorable ; that 
I thought she would die in a few days. She, however, lived a 
week, the doctor still giving her some treatment. 
Dr. McClain made an autopsy of the case, and says that he 
made a careful examination, but failed to find anything abnor¬ 
mal ; also had the brain and spinal cord examined microscopi¬ 
cally, which still failed to reveal the cause of the wasted and 
emaciated condition. 
Probably some of the readers of the Review may give us 
some light on the case from the history as given above. 
