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AMERICAN VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
the difficulty of lowering the head, and that, when food, solid and 
liquid, Was placed before him on the floor, he was unable to pick 
it up, and pawed actively with his fore feet, until the food or the 
water was brought within his reach. It was also noticed that his 
control of his movements seemed to diminish day by day, and his 
actions to become more difficult and irregular. 
On the morning of the 18th he was found lying down, on the 
left side, unable to rise, and when raised with slings, to be unable 
to stand. Permission to destroy him was then obtained from the 
owner, and a post-mortem was held. 
The skin upon the right side being carefully removed, the 
muscles were dissected, lajmr by layer, until the vertebrae and 
ligamentum nuchae were reached, but nothing was found worthy 
of note, except that the cellular tissue between the muscles was 
more or less infiltrated with serosity. The body was then turned 
over, and the same course followed as on the right side. On this 
side the muscular structure had undergone a thorough change, 
and had become a jelly-like mass, from the infiltration of serum 
throughout, with a softening of the muscular fibres. 
The cranial cavity was then opened, and the brain removed. 
The left hemisphere was somewhat softened and congested; the 
right hemisphere being also slightly congested on the anterior 
part. The bones of the cervical region being boiled and cleaned, 
the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae were found diseased, and 
presenting the following characteristics : In the fourth, which was 
unusually large, the articular cavity of the body was extensively 
ulcerated for more than two-thirds of its extent, and not only was 
the cartilage destroyed, but the bottom of the cavity was irregu¬ 
lar and exposed the spongy substance of the body of the bone. 
In the fifth, the head of the body was irregularly roughened, and 
the cartilaginous covering all destroyed, and even a large amount 
of the spongy substance had disappeared to such an extent that 
the articular part of the bone had become transformed into a 
rough and irregular surface. The inferior face of the bodies of 
both vertebrae, the superior face, which forms the floor of verte- 
brael canal, and the cavities of the traehelian foramen of the fifth 
vertebrae was covered with calcareous deposits, resulting from the 
extensive periostitis which covered the bones. 
