32 
R. H. HARRISON. 
The case being a peculiar one, the owner was advised to leave 
the animal with us for a few days for observation, before a diag¬ 
nosis or prognosis was given. This was readily consented to, and 
the animal was at once placed in slings and carefully 
watched. Nothing abnormal could be detected by external man¬ 
ipulation ; one side compared with the other perfectly ; careful 
rectoral examination betrayed no lesion ; the posterior aorta and 
the iliacs were apparently healthy, the appetite was good, and the 
functions seemed all active and in good working order, except this 
peculiar alteration in locomotion. The subsequent history of the 
case, rather imperfect, was found out a few days afterwards. The 
animal had been used in a lumber truck, and had worked well un¬ 
til lie sustained a heavy fall and violent bruises over the loins b\ 
the load of lumber falling upon him ; afterwards, when recovered 
from the shock and bruises, was left in his present condition. 
Dr. Robertson, on seeing the case in the hospital, recalled having 
seen it several months before, and, after having made a hasty ex¬ 
amination, had pronounced it one of locomotor ataxia; after 
that he had lost sight of it. 
The owner was notified that the animal ought to be destroyed, 
and Dr. Liautard purchased him, so that a careful autopsy might 
be made for the benefit of the students. 
Several opinions were advanced by different members of the 
profession ; as a rule it was considered to be a nervous affection, 
the exact nature of which was not known. Prof. Liautard thought 
that a tumor, possibly bony, was pressing on the cord ; taking 
into consideration the fact that the horse had sustained a seveie 
fall, and was partially paralyzed afterward, it was reasonable to 
suppose that there has been a partial fracture of one of the lum¬ 
bar vertebrse. In the repairing process a bony deposit had taken 
place within the vertebral canal, causing pressure on the cord. 
The animal was pithed, and a post-mortem examination of the 
spinal cord revealed that upon one of the main branches of the pos¬ 
terior portions of the lumbar plexus there was a melanotic tumor 
of the size of a large hickory nut imbedded into the bony struc¬ 
ture surrounding and pressing upon that nerve. Little melanotic 
deposits were also found here and there on the other branches of 
the plexus. The other organs were not examined. 
