280 
W. H. HOSKINS, D.V.S. 
attempted to give him a drench of whisky, he failed, finding his 
jaws barred as it were, from all entering; his condition grew 
worse until noon, when 1 reached him. On entering the stable 
I found him standing with the fore and hind extremities verv far 
apart; the neck was protruded, his face presenting a very anxi¬ 
ous appearance ; he pawed with the fore feet alternately, and 
struck at the abdomen very violently with the hind ones ; the 
muscles of the neck were noticed to twitch very much, and he 
would occasionally utter a low groan ; he was profusely salivated, 
the saliva running from both commissures of the mouth in 
streams ; the eyes were dull, but their mucous membranes, and of 
the nose likewise, highly injected, the nostrils being widely 
dilated; his tongue appeared very red and swollen ; the ears and 
extremities were very cold ; his pulse beat very hard and about 
seventy to the minute; his respirations were very difficult and 
about fifty in number; his temperature a little above normal; 
upon pandiculation he would not give any whatever. Some of 
these symptoms came on every few minutes, becoming more and 
more violent. At times he would rush forward in his stall, plac¬ 
ing his fore feet in the manger, and then back to the end of his 
halter strap, after which there would appear a period of rest. 
Feeling somewhat uncertain as to what these symptoms indicated, 
though tetanic in character, I told the owner I would prefer to 
wait until the following morning before making a diagnosis, 
though feeling pretty positive in my own mind that it was a case 
of pseudo tetanus, superinduced by an overdose of strychnia; for 
note the absence of the throwing out of the membrane nictitans, 
which could not be forced out by violent motions; the profuse 
salivation ; the severe abdominal pains ; the spasms coming on 
every few minutes, during which the muscles of the neck were 
noticed particularly to twitch; his tail remaining pendant, though 
a general stiffuess of the body prevailed ; the sudden appearance 
of these symptoms and their aggravated character from the first. 
True, I must acknowledge that our learned professor on Materia 
Medica has told us that in poisoning by strychnia we never have 
any trismus, but here it was quite well marked. 
I had the horse moved to a large stall in one corner of the 
