PARAPLEGIA IN THE HORSE. 
737 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF PARAPLEGIA IN 
THE HORSE. * 
By Prof. RigniLreS,France. Translated by A. Riautard, M. D.,V. M. 
■ ■' ■ • 
As you will observe, the study that I have the honor to re¬ 
late to you is not recent. Begun in January, 1895, it was 
continued during the winters of 1896 and 1897. 
I earnestly wished to finish these researches in the silence 
of the laboratory before making the results known; but new 
obligations have come, which may prevent me for a long time 
continuing my investigations, and, besides, the results so far 
obtained seem to me already sufficiently interesting to be made 
public. 
Paraplegia of the horse has received many and various names, 
and especially since the very interesting paper of Mr. Lucet there 
is a tendency to call it hsemoglobinsemia or haemoglobinuria. 
I see no advantage in this change. First of all, the most con¬ 
stant and most striking symptom is the impossibility for the 
animals to use their hind quarters. There is truly paraplegia. 
On the other hand, there exists a group of affections in cattle, 
sheep, horses and even man, related to the hsematozoa, in which 
hoemoglobinsemia is present; but paraplegia has no relation to 
those diseases, and requires a name which will not give rise 
to any confusion. 
Having nothing to add to our classical knowledge of the 
disease, I will not insist, remaining satisfied by saying that I 
have specially in view the classical paraplegia, viz.: that which 
occurs suddenly in winter, in vigorous animals, returned to 
work after a certain rest and in which haemoglobinsemia has or 
has not been found. I will not lose time in recalling all the 
theories advanced to explain the etiology of the disease; for 
this I refer the inquirer to the excellent critical study of Prof. 
Cadeac published in the Jour^ial de Lyon in August, 1897. 
* A paper read before the Societe Centrale de Medec. Vet.' 
