REPORTS OE CASES. 
341 
were three black clots, alternating with straw colored ones, a straw 
colored one continued to the foot, so that the inside pastern artery 
was plugged full two inches to the foot, the outside pastern ar¬ 
tery was plugged fully four inches, first a black clot, and then a 
straw colored one down to the foot. The knitting needle 1 used 
was a small one, of not more than the thirty-second part of an 
inch in diameter. 
Several things seem me to call for consideration in connection 
with the subject. Various causes have been pointed out as adequate 
to the production of tetanic spasm, among which are cold, heat, 
wounds, bruises, flattening and softening of the heart, the ravages 
of parasites, shocks to the nervous system and so forth. Amongst 
these causes may we include thrombosis and embolism as causes? 
Does tetanic spasm belong to that class of diseases called embolia ? 
Science teaches us now, that fibrine is not a constituent of the 
blood, but that the elements that under certain conditions produce 
fibrine are constituents of the blood. Thus fibrine, when it does 
exist in the blood, is a foreign body, and has no business there. 
Can fibrine, when it is once produced, be ever restored to its origi¬ 
nal elements (fibrino-plastin and fibrinogen), which exist separate 
in the blood ? I am inclined to think not, but that if the throm¬ 
bus or embolus once formed, no known remedy has the power of 
restoring the blood to its normal condition. Of one thing I feel 
certain, that in every case of hoof or other wound, intelligent 
veterinary advice should he obtained at the earliest possible mo¬ 
ment. 
Every veterinarian of experience knows how rare it is for te¬ 
tanic spasm to set in if the wounds are properly dressed early 
after the accident takes place. If this is correct, it would lead to 
the inference that some peculiar inflammatory action is the cause 
of clot in the arteries near the wound, and that this diseased con¬ 
dition of the blood is as likely to occur from the simplest as from 
the most complex wound or injury ; therefore the most sensible 
thing the horse owner can do, in the event of his animal becoming 
wounded or injured in any way, is to call for competent advice 
at once 
