CHAPTER I.
THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.
PHRENITIS.
=Phrenitis= implies inflammation of the brain. Madness and extreme violence are the consequences. The animal, in this condition, disregards all recognitions, and, apparently, loses all timidity. It suffers the greatest agony, and no terror can appal it. It would rejoice, could it anticipate the effects, if the mouth of a loaded cannon were pointed toward itself, and would look for relief when the portfire descended upon the touch-hole. Every movement seems designed to end its own existence; but the furor has no malice in it. The creature strives only to injure himself. It may in its efforts shatter and demolish the structures which surround it; but it does so without intention. That is merely the result of its being carried away beyond the things of this world by a mighty anguish. It desires harm to no one; but it cannot remain quiescent, and endure the torment which rages within its skull.
When this stage of the malady appears, the best thing is to anticipate the evident wish of the animal. The teaching of schools, which instructs young men to meddle with the strength of an infuriated horse, is mere prattle. However, if the disease, as it seldom happens, is perceived approaching, something may be attempted. Before the violence commences, the horse is generally dull. It does not obey the rein or answer to the lash. It is heavy beyond man's control. It snores as it breathes. The lids drop; the head sinks; the body is cold; the membrane of the nose is leaden in color; and, from being the obedient, watchful, and willing slave, its entire nature appears to have changed. It does not attend to the goad, and the voice of the driver may bawl in the harshest key, but the sound which used to excite seems unheard and is unheeded.
The remedy for the earlier stage is copious blood-letting. Open both jugulars and allow the current to flow till the countenance brightens or the animal sinks. Bleed again and again, if necessary. Give purgatives of double strength, and repeat them every three hours, till the bowels are copiously relieved or the pulse changes, or the general appearance indicates improvement. Afterward, administer sedatives, always as infusions. A scruple of tobacco, half a drachm of aconite root, or a drachm of digitalis should have a pint of hot water poured upon it. When the liquid is nearly cold, it should be strained, and the dose may be repeated every half hour, until its operation is witnessed in the more quiet behavior of the animal.
In the generality of cases, however, no opportunity for such treatment is presented. The disease is most common in the agricultural districts, and is usually seen where carters indulge their passion in the butt-end of the whip employed upon the horse's head. The cause is, however, carefully concealed, and, after the violent stage has set in, the original wound is generally mistaken for some self-inflicted injury. Thus, the horse, even in the most horrid of deaths, with a generosity characteristic of its nature, contrives to shield the being whom it served and loved, from the consequences of his inhumanity.
Should the animal, by such means, recover, treat it gently; do not excite it; for phrenitis is apt to return. Even recovery is not always to be wished for. The depletion, imperative for the cure, too often engenders the weakness which no care can eradicate; and the animal survives only to change from the willing servant into a troublesome valetudinarian.
ABSCESS WITHIN THE BRAIN.
This sad affection is invariably produced by external injury. A horse runs away and comes in contact with some hard substance. The blow is of sufficient violence to fracture the strong cranium of the quadruped and to smash all that remains harnessed to the animal. Here we have a reason why man should establish more than a brutal mastery over the animal he possesses. The horse is the most timid of creatures. It, however, quickly learns to recognize the voice of its owner. In its vast affection, it soon trusts with confidence to the person who is kind to it. An occasional word thrown to a patient and willing servant, spoken softly to the animal which is putting forth all its strength for our pleasure, would not be cast away. When dread overpowers the horse and it begins to run at its topmost speed, do not pull the reins: the first check should be given by the voice. Speak cheerfully to a timid creature. If the first word produces no effect, repeat it. Watch the ears. If these are turned backward to catch the accents, talk encouragingly to the horse. The voice of one it loves will restore its confidence. The pace will slacken. Talk on, but always in a tone calculated to soothe distress. Then gently touch the reins. The first gentle movement may not be responded to, but the second or the third will be; and the animal, released from terror, is once more under your control.
This is much better than tugging and flogging, which obviously are thrown away upon a body that horror has deprived of sensation. The noise and the resistance but feed the wildness of the fear, and, in the end, the driver is carried to a hospital, the horse being laid prostrate among the ruins it has made.
When led back to the stable, a wound is discovered on the animal's forehead. It is so small it is deemed of no consequence. A little water oozes from it--that is all--it does not send forth matter, or it might deserve attention. However, in a short time the horse becomes dull. It will not eat. Soon it falls down and commences dashing its head upon the pavement. There it lies, and, day and night, continues its dreadful occupation. One side of the face is terribly excoriated, and must be acutely painful; but the horrid labor still goes on, each stroke shaking the solid earth, which it indents. At last death ends the misery, and a small abscess, containing about half a drachm of healthy pus, is discovered in the superficial substance of the brain.
Physic or operation is of no use here. The cranium of the horse is covered by the thick temporalis muscles. This alone would prevent the trephine being resorted to. Blood would follow the removal of any portion of the skull. Besides, what or who is to keep the head still during the operation? and, were the operation possible, who would own an animal with a hole in its skull? The only means of cure would be to afford exit to the matter; and to do that is beyond human ingenuity.
STAGGERS--SLEEPY STAGGERS AND MAD STAGGERS.
=Staggers= means no more than a staggering or unsteady gait; an incapacity in the limbs to support the body. It therefore, by itself, represents only that want of control over voluntary motion which generally accompanies injuries to the brain. =Mad= and =sleepy staggers= represent only different symptoms or stages of cerebral affection. =Sleepy staggers= implies the dull stage, which indicates that the brain is oppressed. =Mad staggers= denotes the furious stage, when the brain has become acutely inflamed.
There is but one origin known for staggers, and that is over-feeding. Carters take the team out and forget the nose-bags. The omission is not discovered till far on the road. No thought is entertained of turning back. The poor drudges, consequently, have to journey far, to pull hard and long upon empty stomachs.
When home is at length reached, the driver thinks to make amends for neglect; the rack and manger are loaded. Such animals as are not too tired to feed, eat ravenously. The stomach is soon crammed; but fatigue has weakened the natural instincts, and domestication has taught the horse to depend entirely on man. The creature continues to feed, till a distended stomach produces an oppressed brain. An uneasy sleep interrupts the gormandizing. The eye closes and the head droops. Suddenly the horse awakens with a start. It looks around, becomes assured and takes another mouthful. However, before mastication can be completed, sleep intervenes, and the morsel falls from the mouth or continues retained between the jaws.
This state may continue for days. The horse may perish without recovering its sensibility; or mad staggers may at any period succeed, and the animal exhibit the extreme of violence.
=Mad staggers= equally results from carelessness in the horse-keeper. The animal which gives itself up entirely to the custody of man, too often experiences a fearful return in recompense for its trustfulness. Any neglect with regard to the feeding of a horse, may entail the worst; and a most cruel death upon the inhabitant of the stable is too often its reward. The groom, perhaps, may slight his work, lock the stable door and hurry to his beer-shop, leaving the lid of the corn-bin unclosed. The horse in his stall, with his exquisite sense of smell, scents the provender and becomes restless. His desire is to escape from the halter. With fatal ingenuity the object is accomplished, and the next moment the animal stands with its nose among the coveted oats. It eats and eats as only that being can whose highest pleasures are limited to animal enjoyments. After a time it becomes lethargic; but from that state it is soon aroused by a burning thirst. The corn has absorbed all the moisture of the stomach, the viscus being dry and distended. Pain must be felt, but thirst is the predominant feeling. Water is sought for. None is to be found; and the sufferer takes his station near the door, to await the appearance of his attendant.
No sooner is the entrance opened, than the quadruped dashes out. With all speed it makes for the nearest pond. There it drinks the long and the sweet draught few in this life can taste; but to know which, is to die a terrible death. The corn swells more with the liquid imbibed. The stomach is now stretched to the uttermost. Continued tension causes inflammation. The brain sympathizes, and the horse speedily becomes acutely phrenitic.
There is, however, a strange symptom, in which the two disorders appear mingled. The sleepy fit is not entirely removed, nor are the violent symptoms fully developed. The horse, in this condition, will press its head against a wall. In doing this, it only displays an impulse common to most animals in the sleepy stage; but the peculiarity is, that the eye may be half unclosed and the limbs vigorously employed, as though a trotting match were going forward. The breath will quicken and the creature be coated with perspiration. This attitude and motion may subside, and recovery may ensue; but commonly the quadruped drops, moves the limbs as it lies upon the ground, and is only quieted by death. In a few instances horses have left the wall to exhibit the utmost violence, and to sink at last.
When corn has been gorged during the night, the animal must be rigidly kept from drinking. A quart of any oil should be immediately administered. A pint of oil is the ordinary dose; but here there exists more than an ordinary disease. Besides, much of the fluid will sink between the grains, and, probably, not half of it will reach the membrane of the stomach.
Oil is preferable to the solution of aloes, which is generally given, inasmuch as it will not act upon or swell the corn so readily as any medicine dissolved in water. Should no amendment be detected, in six hours repeat the dose. In another six hours, give another dose with twenty drops of croton oil in it. When another period has elapsed, should no improvement be noted, give thirty drops of croton in another quart of oil. Should none of these drinks have taken effect, the round must once more be gone over. However, at the slightest mitigation of the symptoms or even suspicion of amendment, stop all medicine at once. The altered aspect of the horse is the earliest symptom that the distention is relieved.
In =sleepy staggers=, the head hangs pendulous or is pressed firmly against some prominence. The pulse throbs heavily--the breathing is laborious, and the animal snores at each inspiration. The eye is closed; the skin cold and the coat staring. The nasal membrane leaden. The mouth clammy; the ears motionless; the tail without movement, and the breathing alone testifies that it is a living animal we look upon.
The signs that announce the advent of mad staggers, from whichever cause the disease may arise, are always alike. The lid is raised, and the eye assumes an unnatural brightness. The nasal membrane reddens; the surface becomes as hot as it was previously deficient in warmth; the movements are quick and jerking. The breath is no longer laborious--it is rapid, sharp, and drawn with a kind of panting action. The whole appearance is altered. The characteristics of approaching frenzy can hardly be mistaken.
Then comes the most painful duty of ownership over life. The proprietor has, then, to make a speedy choice, whether his dumb servant is to take a desperate chance and undergo a torture for which the concentrated pleasure of many lives could not atone, or be deprived of the fatal power to injure others and itself. Humanity would unhesitatingly pronounce for death, and, in this case, there is need of haste. The symptoms are so rapidly matured, that, in ten minutes, the poor horse may be sadly hurt and bleeding, panting and rearing, in the center of a desolated stable. A mad horse is a terrible object! Its strength is so vast that ordinary fastenings yield before it; but the animal, even when deprived of reason, wins our respect. Suffering will find expression in energetic action. Man, when a tooth is about to be extracted, generally clinches something; but what were a hundred teeth to the agony which causes every fiber in the huge framework to quiver? The perspiration rolls off the creature's body. The eye glares with anguish, not with malice; the body is strangely contorted, but there is no desire to injure. Who, contemplating such a picture, could forbear speaking the word which should grant peace to the sufferer, although the order necessitate some violence to the feelings of him who is invested with power to command?
MEGRIMS.
So little sympathy exists between man and horse, so little are the ailments of the animal really studied, that the likeness between certain diseases affecting the master and the servant have not been observed. =Megrims=, evidently, is a form of epilepsy; yet, to speak of an epileptic horse would, probably, induce laughter in any society. Notwithstanding which, man is not isolated in this world: he is associated with the creatures of the earth not only by a common habitation, but by similar wants and like diseases. He is united by nature to every life that breathes. His heart should feel for, and his charity embrace, every animal which serves him. He has his duty toward, and is bound by obligations to, every creature placed under his control. None are so subject to his will as is the horse; none have such powerful claims to his kindness and forbearance. The noble animal is begotten by man's permission; its course in life depends upon his word: for his service it surrenders everything--freedom, companions, and paternity--it relinquishes all. Its owner's pleasure becomes its delight; its master's profit is its recreation. It is the perfect type of an abandoned slave; body and soul, it devotes itself to captivity. It is sad to think how bitter is its recompense, when an obvious similarity, even in affliction, has not to this hour been recognized.
Megrims, like epilepsy in man, will in certain subjects appear only during some kind of exertion. In others, it will be present only during particular states of rest. It is uncertain in its attacks. It is not understood; and of the many theories which have been advanced, none explain it.
All horses may show megrims; some when at work, and some only while in the stable; others in the glare of day, and a few during the darkness of night; but of all, draught horses are the most liable to the malady. This may be because harness horses are subjected to the most laborious and most continuous species of toil. A horse fettered to a vehicle obviously must strain to propel as much or as long as the person intrusted with the whip thinks the animal should draw. Men's consciences, where their own convenience and another's exertions are the stake, generally possess an elastic property. It takes a great deal to stretch them to the utmost. An Arabian proverb says, "it is the last feather which breaks the camel's back;" but the English driver knows the entire pull is upon the collar, and he is moved by no considerations about the back. If the whip cannot flog the poor flesh onward, a shout and a heavy kick under the belly may excite the spasm, which, in its severity, shall put the load in motion.
Age does not influence the liability to megrims. The colt, which has done no work, may exhibit the disease, and the old stager may not be subject to its attacks. One horse may die in the field from exertion and never display the malady; another shall be led through the streets and exemplify megrims in all its severity. One shall be merely dull--the disorder shall never get to the acute stage, though the fits may be repeated. This last, to the surprise of its master, shall every now and then stop, stare about, and proceed as though nothing were the matter. A second, when mounted, will be seized by a sudden impulse and run into shop doors; while a third, being between the shafts, will be possessed with an irrepressible desire to inspect the driver's boots.
The horse often becomes suddenly stubborn. The reins are jagged and the whip plied to no purpose. The animal will only go its own way, which is commonly beset with danger. Perhaps, it may persist upon galloping, head foremost, down an open sewer; probably, it will rush up the steps leading to some mansion, and beat the door in with tremendous knocking.
Then come convulsions, followed by insensibility. If such a scene occur in a city, of course a crowd collects. Opinions are noisy and various; but a majority incline toward bleeding from the mouth. It is only to cut the palate, and a dozen knives, already opened, are proffered for the purpose. However, let the person in charge attend to no street suggestion. Let him at once seat himself upon the horse's head, and remain there till consciousness returns; then speak kindly to the sufferer, loosen the harness, and take care that the animal is perfectly recovered before it is permitted to rise.
Dealers pretend that a horse subject to megrims is to be readily told. A horse, after repeated fits, is easily singled out; but the animal which has experienced only a single attack, no man could challenge. One attack, however severe may be its character, will not necessarily leave its impress upon the countenance. But the creature subject to such visitations soon assumes a heavy, flaccid, and stupid expression. The disease distorts no feature, but it leaves its mark behind; and any man, acquainted with the subject, would have no difficulty in picking from a drove the horse which has endured repeated fits of this disorder.
Another class of knowing ones pretend they can drive a megrimed horse any distance, by simply keeping a wet cloth over the brain. This last experiment is, however, not inviting; and the author has yet to be assured by science that a wet rag over the brain would repose upon the primary seat of the disease.
When a horse has the first fit of megrims, at once throw the animal up. Do not strive to sell the diseased creature, as such a sale is illegal. The law presumes everything sold to be fit for its uses. Thus, a person buying rotten eggs can recover at law, because eggs are sold for human food, and no man can eat a tainted egg. So a megrimed horse is unfit for employment. Recovery in this disease is always doubtful. A chance is best secured by throwing the horse up on the first attack. Do not turn a sick animal out to grass. Keep in a loose box, covered with plenty of straw. Feed liberally, and with the best food. Have the body regularly dressed, and the animal led to, not ridden to, exercise. Allow a quart of stout every morning and half a pint of oil every night. Above all things, attend to the stabling. Let the box be large and well ventilated. Food is eaten but occasionally during the day. Air is as essential as more substantial nutriment to life, and is consumed night and day. Food has to undergo a complicated change, and to travel far, before it joins the blood. Air is no sooner inhaled than it is immediately absorbed by the blood. After such a statement, it is left to the reader's reason to decide upon the importance of pure air toward sustaining health. Probably, were stables erected with a little less regard to the proprietor's expense and the builder's convenience; probably, were they made in some degree proportioned to the magnitude of their future inhabitants, and were the comfort of the captive a very little considered in their construction,--the health of a horse might not be so very telling a proverb; while megrims, under a better treatment, if it did not disappear, might not be so very common.
HYDROPHOBIA.
This is always the fruit of contagion, received from some stable-pet, in the shape of a dog or cat. It is essentially a nervous disorder. From the first, it influences the brain to a degree which no other malady seems capable of exercising. The animal constantly licks some portion of the body. The place appears to itch violently, and the tongue is applied with an energy and a perseverance highly characteristic of an over-wrought nervous distemper. The appetite always is affected; sometimes it is ravenous. The rack is not only emptied with unusual speed, but the bed, however soiled, is also consumed with more than apparent relish. Generally, however, the desire for provender is destroyed. Sometimes, the longing for fluids is morbidly increased. The horse plunges his head to the bottom of the pail, will bite at the groom who endeavors to interrupt the draught, or seize the wood between its teeth and crush it with a powerful gripe. More frequently, water will cause spasm, and be avoided with horror. The animal's likings may be morbidly changed: it will occasionally devour its own excrement, and lick up its emissions.
The nervous system is always highly developed. The horse starts at the smallest sound, trembles violently without a cause, flies backward, hangs upon the halter, stares wildly, and bursts into a copious sweat without any apparent reason being detected. Its voice is also changed, and the expression of the countenance invariably altered. The neigh is squeaking, and the face is at the commencement characterized by immense anxiety, which is soon changed for a peculiar aspect of cunning, mixed with a grinning ferocity.
Rarely, however, all the foregoing symptoms are absent. The horse is harnessed and taken to work. Suddenly it stops, appears stupid, and threatens to fall. In a short time it recovers, and the labor is proceeded with. The fits occur again and again. At length they end in violent shivering. When the tremor ceases, the recognition is not perfectly recovered. The breathing is quick and sharp; the eye bright and wild. The animal is turned homeward, but seldom reaches the stable before the furious stage begins.
=Hydrophobia= is commonly matured before the expiration of the sixth week. A fortnight is the earliest period of its appearance; but writers have asserted that the imbibed virus will remain dormant for twelve months. The author has no experience which justifies the last opinion.
Whenever a suspicion of this incurable and horrible disorder is entertained, place the horse by itself in a building with bare walls, but capable of being looked into through a window. Put food and water in the house, and, if the door be not strong, have it barricaded. Let no one enter for at least three days, as, during this disease, the horse is both mischievous and dangerous. The pain is such that it seeks relief in destruction. All breathing and moving creatures first attract its rage; but, wanting these, its frenzy is expended in breaking, rending, and scattering inanimate objects. Its ability to destroy is only limited by the duration of the disorder.
Let as few people as possible be near the hydrophobic horse. The quadruped's nerves are then alive to every impression. The presence will be detected, though the person be assiduously concealed. The sound of breathing even adds to the torture. Keep all people away but one; and that one should be the best shot in the neighborhood. Let him approach, aim steadily, and pull the trigger; for a bullet well placed is the only remedy the author knows which can stay this fearful disorder.
TETANUS.
=Tetanus= is defined to be spasm of the muscles of voluntary motion. That definition is right, as far as it goes. The disease, however, is the same in man and horse. The human being complains of the breathing being much oppressed, and of pain at the pit of the stomach. Such complaints show the diaphragm to be involved, while the large doses of strong medicine which can be swallowed with impunity prove the abdominal contents have not escaped. Therefore, the author regards tetanus as spasm of the entire muscular system.
A horse of any age may exhibit tetanus. Colts, newly dropped, have displayed the disorder, and all animals are liable to its attacks; but the very aged are least subject to this malady. Animals of a highly nervous temperament are most inclined toward it.
It is said to be of two kinds; but, in truth, it only has two origins. Traumatic tetanus is when it springs from a wound; idiopathic tetanus is when it appears without there being any known lesion to account for its presence. It may display its symptoms immediately or within a month of the injury. From the sixth to the fourteenth day is the most likely period for the advent of the disorder.
Cold, rain, draughts of air, and too much light, are all likely to originate it. Their potency, perhaps, ranges in the order they are placed. A gentleman is apt to dismount at some hospitable house and to leave the animal, which has quickly borne him thither, shivering in the night air. The master enjoys himself, probably, more than is good for his health. The patient steed waits and waits, more quietly than the most faithful of human slaves. It shivers in the night air; its limbs become cramped with the cold. The wind gets up, as the owner, before a cheerful fire, mixes another glass and takes another cigar. Still the horse remains almost in the spot where it was placed. The perspiration which covered the body dries in the darkness; evaporation quickly chills the blood which violent exercise had heated. The pulse sinks; spasms creep over the frame, but there is none near to note them. In solitude and discomfort the most painful of maladies is imbibed: in due time it breaks forth, to the astonishment of the proprietor.
Another man rides far and fast through a heavy shower. He reaches a distant house and flings himself from the saddle, fastening the horse to the door-post. Cordials are ready for the man, and business is discussed over a glass. No one thinks seriously of the poor life fastened to the door-post. "The horse is wet and can take no harm." "The gallop home will warm it," and so forth. Therefore, the animal remains, to be drenched by the rain and to creep as near to the house as it may for partial shelter; the posterior part of the body, however, projects, and the drops fall, heavy and cold as lead, upon the loins of the patient beast. The blood loses its warmth and the limbs their elasticity. When the owner again crosses the saddle he may be jolly; but it needs both spur and whip to cause the dripping and frozen animal to move.
When tetanus originates in some wound, the horse is generally nervous from the first. It fidgets in the stall; it lacks the repose which usually sits so beautifully upon the sick horse's frame. It is excited at the approach of any person, and, commonly, very obstinate when given physic. The wound may, nevertheless, be healthy. Sometimes, as the outbreak draws near, the wound may rapidly close, become morbidly dry, or, instead of pus, send forth only a foul and scanty serum. Instances are narrated of tetanus supervening upon mortification; but such reported cases are, in the horse, very rare. Commonly, the wound presents no appearance by which any man, however profound his knowledge, could guess the consequence to which it had given rise.
Tetanus is announced by an appearance of excitement. The tail is erect; the ears pointed forward; the head elevated; the legs stiffened and stretched out. This aspect of excitement is not temporary. The groom passes through the stable and the attitude is maintained. He wonders "what ails the horse?" It seems all alive; yet, though the groom shout out "come over," the order is obeyed with difficulty. The food is not eaten. It is picked and strewed about, but not devoured. When master returns home, the groom wishes he would "_just look_" at the horse. It is very strange indeed! Why, the tail is quivering and the body feels quite hard--not like flesh. Hopes are expressed and the "veterinary" sent for. He proceeds at once to the manger, observing the animal as he approaches. With one hand he raises the horse's head. The haw is projected over the eye, and a case of tetanus is recognized.
Most persons know what bellyache and cramp are. Well, these are but spasms affecting different parts of the body: tetanus is spasm affecting every part of the body at the same time. The spasm is always present; but it admits of aggravation. Any painful operation, any sudden fright, or the slightest sound, will produce a paroxysm, during which the horse's body is fearfully contorted; and the animal writhes as it falls to the ground. Left alone, however, the horse may rise after some time; for nothing causes the quadruped so much dread as an inability to stand. It may totter or fall about, but it refuses to lie down, even though rest must be greatly needed and would act as the best of medicine. It stands day after day in the same spot. It does not move, as any motion may bring on one of those terrible paroxysms. The matter is rendered worse by the brain, during the entire period, being sensible. Every pain is felt, and the wretched animal has leisure to appreciate its agony. This is bad enough; but the torture is aggravated by the appetite of the animal not being dormant. Hunger still exists, and a sense of starvation augments the suffering. The jaw is closely locked. The creature cannot feed; but the presence of hunger is no supposition, for if a mash be held to the mouth, with a look of piteous gratitude the liquid portion is often drawn through the closed teeth. Hunger frequently impels the horse to make a desperate effort. The jaws are forced a little way asunder; a morsel is seized between the incisors; mastication commences, but cannot be perfected. The agony attendant upon motion forces the famishing creature to desist; and the poor horse is often found with a mouthful of hay firmly clenched and hanging from the mouth.
The animal may have been conspicuous for its beauty. The harmony of form may, in it, have been united to agility of limb. The creature may have been the pride of its proprietor; but a few days of this disease will work a mighty change. The limbs are moved with difficulty; the body has lost all its undulating grace; and the flesh has parted with its elasticity. The master in vain seeks for the object of his admiration in the painful sight which he then looks upon.
One peculiarity of tetanus is too marked not to be noticed. Persons have complained of the wooden appearance of the body; but, in severe cases, the height of the animal seems diminished and the length shortened. This appearance is more than the result of mere imagination. Many of the bones are divided by a fibro-cartilaginous substance: this substance force can compress. For that reason, a man is shorter when he retires at night than when he rises in the morning. No weight, however, can act with the energy of excited contractibility, and of that tetanus is composed: all the muscles are violently in action or energetically contracting. A single muscle, when excited, shortens to that degree, which moves some portion of the body; but, when the entire mass of muscles simultaneously contract, they compress the frame, as in a vice. The grace of the animal is lost; the height is diminished, and the length is lessened, under so powerful and general an action.
All kinds of treatment have been tried for tetanus, and it is said that each has resulted in success. The majority of these popular methods, however, are sheer barbarities; and if they were successful, they were so against probability. The plan at present adopted is much more humane: the animal's shoes are removed, that no sound may follow the tread, and a solitary shed is strewn with refuse tan. Food, in the form of an ample malt mash and a pail of thin gruel, is placed within easy reach. The shed must be approached but once daily--then by the man most accustomed to the horse; and he speaks soothingly as he nears the building to change the provender.
This species of treatment, when preceded by a large dose of purgative medicine, is usually successful. Mix four drachms of aloes or six drachms of aloetic mass, and four drachms of extract of gentian, with one scruple of croton ferina. This tremendous purgative may be confidently given, as everything during this disease depends upon the maintenance of quiet, and upon getting the bowels open.
As all people, however, may not live where solitude can be commanded; then, give the purgative, render the room dark, and allow as few curious visitors as the pleading of sincerity cannot prevent intruding upon the sick and disabled quadruped. Pulling the animal about to administer medicine seems to do more harm than the most powerful drugs can counteract. Permit no blisters; sanction no firing: counter-irritants, however beneficial in other cases, are positive irritants, when applied to a body nervously excited to the highest degree. Grant permission for no operation to be performed, as any person of ordinary imagination may picture the effect of bustle, followed by sharp pain, upon a creature which cannot endure even the slightest sound.
Should, however, the case last so long as to warrant fear of the life sinking through starvation, food may be given even in quantities. Blood-warm linseed gruel should be procured--a gallon will be sufficient. The horse could swallow more; but after a prolonged fast there is danger in loading the stomach. Fix the horse catheter to the stomach-pump; then place the free end of the catheter in the nostril of the quadruped and push it forward, having previously slightly bent the end of the tube downward. Should the insertion provoke coughing, withdraw the catheter and commence afresh. Two feet of the instrument having disappeared, and no alarming symptom being present, begin to pump; do this as fast as possible, till the gallon of linseed gruel has been exhausted: such a resort is, however, better adapted to tetanus of the chronic description.
When applied to the acute form of the disorder, it is too apt to induce violent spasm. The acute disease, however, speedily terminates, and positive starvation is all but impossible during its brief continuance.
STRINGHALT.
=Stringhalt= is the imperfect development of that form of disease which, in man and in dogs, is called chorea, or St. Vitus's dance. In dogs it jerks the whole body, even to the face. The lower jaw will continue moving and the eye twitching, while the animal is prostrate and asleep. In the horse, however, it is seen only in the hind extremities. In the dog it will continue during progression, sometimes shaking the creature from its balance, and it often terminates in death. In the horse it is never fatal; and, save when about to start, is seldom to be detected. Then it causes the hind limbs to be quickly raised in succession. The movement is rapid, full of energy, and entirely involuntary. These motions over, the horse proceeds, nor is the symptom usually witnessed again till the animal has once more to start; although a few exceptional cases are on record where stringhalt was perceptible at every step.
Guilford, the racer, exhibited the disease in its worst form. In that animal, stringhalt was present in such severity as prevented the signal being obeyed before the several eccentric movements had been performed. The horse was esteemed good for its purposes; but the ground lost at starting gave away its chances, and it was consequently sold. From the pampered stable of the race-horse, it descended rapidly through various grades until the creature came to be harnessed to a London omnibus. While in that position, the disease was so aggravated that the pastern used to hit violently against the belly, till the hair of both was partially removed by the repeated blows. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty then purchased the miserable carcass for three pounds, and had the life and the suffering extinguished.
The body was given to the Royal Veterinary College for dissection. Professor Spooner relates that he found blood effused on the sheath of the sacro-sciatic nerve. This, however, must have been an accident produced by the death struggle: that nerve moves the flexor muscles. Stringhalt is the disease of the extensor muscles only; therefore, the condition of the nerve alluded to by Professor Spooner could in no way influence the motions of the limb. Messrs. Percivall and Goodwin both appeal to instances, where, in animals affected with stringhalt, pressure existed upon the posterior portion of the spinal column. The last observation accords much more with the writer's notions of cause and effect.
Nevertheless, the inexperienced reader may ask, how can the posterior portion of the horse's spinal column become affected? Of all the vertebræ, those of the lumbar region are endowed with the greatest motion, and consequently are the most exposed to injury. The uses to which man puts the animal are not so very gentle but a delicate structure, however deeply seated, might be hurt. However, grant all these are harmless, which is indeed to allow a great deal to pass, the stables are enough to provoke stringhalt in half the horses now resident in London. Has the intelligent reader visited these places? He knows the holes in which poor humanity is obliged to stive. Well, any place not good enough for a man to live in is esteemed luxurious lodging for a horse. Many of the places are undrained; frequently have light or air admitted only by the doorway, and the stalls are seldom more than four feet wide. The wretched captives cannot turn their bodies round in the allotted space. A horse being in, when wanted abroad, must be backed into the gangway, and thus made to "face about." It is not creditable to human nature when we perceive its most valuable and willing servant is begrudged the space in which its useful body rests. The labor of the day should at least earn for the horse a sufficient bed.
The exhaustion of the toil--for man has nicely calculated the work a horse can perform, and generally exacts the quotum to the full--has merited the night's repose, which shall fit for the morrow's fatigue; but man is most particular in all that concerns the quadruped. He has reckoned up the food it may eat, the water it may drink, the space it may occupy; the keep, the keeper, the lodging, and the very harness that fastens it to the load,--all are precisely calculated. There is no law to interpose between man and horse, even should the estimate be run "too fine." Against sore shoulders there is some enactment, which is only enforced through a constable specially retained by a private association. No clause teaches man his duty toward his inferiors. The lower animals have no protection against the exhausting labor and inadequate provision that maims a body or wastes a life.
The servant, observing the master to be without feeling, apes his better. A bad example always finds plenty of imitators. The horse may be wanted in a hurry; the groom commands it to "come round." It is too much trouble to back the animal as usual; the master is in haste and the servant has no time to lose. The poor animal endeavors to obey; it squeezes and twists its body: the head is seized, a blow is given, and the difficulty is vanquished. But at what a cost! One bone of the spine has been injured. Bone is slow in its developments. No immediate consequence results; but months afterward, the injured place throws out a spicula of bone, no larger than a needle's point, perhaps, but it presses upon the spinal marrow, and lasting stringhalt is the effect.
Of course no drug can reach the part affected; no cunning preparation can remove even a needle's point from the interior of the spinal canal. The stringhalt, once exhibited, is beyond cure, and never disappears but with the life. However, it mostly affects high-spirited, nervous horses, and not being generally observable during progression, some of the quadrupeds thus diseased sell for large sums.
PARTIAL PARALYSIS.
=Paralysis=, in the horse, save when it appears toward the termination of violent disorders, is never more than partial. It locates itself in the hind limbs, and, though it does not destroy all motion, yet it destroys all strength or utility. The power to move with speed is entirely lost, nor is the ability to progress at a slower pace by any means assured. One hind foot is perpetually getting in the way of the other, and constantly threatening to throw the animal down, whose walk already is rolling or unsteady.
This affection is the property of matured animals; so rarely as to be exceptional is it to be seen attacking colts. Fast trotters, omnibus horses, hunters, and creatures subjected to extreme exertion, are most liable to it. It creeps on insidiously. At first the pace is as fast as ever; but something is suspected wrong in the manner of going. After a time the creature is brought to a veterinary surgeon as a lame horse. The suspicions are then destroyed and the real malady is announced.
The decay of the more showy powers seems to bring forward the gentler qualities of the horse's nature. The animal, which once was dangerous, loses all its dreaded attributes: with paralysis, it becomes meek or tame, as though the big life felt its great affliction and sought to compensate, by amiability, for the trouble it necessarily gave, or, in other words, that the animal was mildly pleading for existence. No doubt much of such a sentiment, if not all, resides in the mind of the spectator, the animal only being subdued by sickness. Still, it is very sad to contemplate the horse, which once could outstrip the sparrow in its flight, reduced to a pace which the tortoise might leave behind; to behold the beast, once powerful and proud of its strength, humbled to a feebleness which the push of any child might overthrow. It is more sorrowful, when we think its hurt was received from him to whom its welfare was intrusted; that its injury was the consequence of an over-anxiety to please and to obey. It may be well doubted whether, when man was given dominion over the beasts of the field, he was invested with an absolute authority over God's creatures, which had no moral duties nor obligations attached to it. At all events, it would be difficult to find an object more suggestive of pity, or better calculated to excite our inward reflections, than a horse suffering under partial paralysis.
Paralysis is generally past all cure; occasionally, however, it admits of relief. It is an eccentric disorder, and it is difficult to say, positively, what medicine will be of use. The horse, however, during paralysis, should enjoy absolute rest. In its disabled state, a little walk is as great an exertion as once was a breathing gallop; and it was over-exercise which induced the disorder. The animal should receive only strengthening physic and the most nourishing of food. The following ball should be administered, night and morning:--
Strychnia, half a grain, gradually, or in six weeks to be worked up to a grain and a half; iodide of iron, one grain; quassia powder and treacle, a sufficiency: to be given night and morning.
The grooming should be persevered with, the animal being carefully dressed twice each day, and the process ending by brushing the quarters thoroughly with a new birch broom. The bed should be ample; the box should be padded and a warm cloth always kept over the loins. A piece of wet flannel, covered with a rug, placed over the lumbar region, has on occasions induced a return of warmth. The bowels should be regulated, if possible, with mashes and green meat; but, when costiveness exists, a pint of oil is to be preferred to even three drachms of aloes. The one exhausts, the other nurtures as well as relaxes the body.
The hope of amendment must, however, be indulged with caution. The disease is of chronic growth, and therefore will be of long duration. At all events, it is not one horse in four which recovers from an attack of partial paralysis; and not one in twenty that is afterward fit for its former uses.
GUTTA SERENA.
=Gutta serena= is fixed dilatation of the pupillary opening, owing to paralysis of the optic nerve; the affection is, consequently, accompanied by permanent blindness.
The causes of this malady are blows upon the head, quick driving, excessive hemorrhage, stomach staggers, unwholesome stables, poor food, exhausting labor, or anything which may decidedly undermine the constitution.
The majority of these causes are inflicted by man, the remainder are within his control. Any person has but to reflect how very precious eyesight is to mankind. Having settled that point, he has only to conjecture how much more dear it must be to a creature forbid to enjoy the pleasures of conversation. To take away sight, is to deprive the animal of a faculty with which it is endowed to perfection, in some measure to compensate for the absence of reason and the deficiency of speech. A horse can see farther than its master. The human eye is, frequently, dormant, when the thought is active: the healthy, equine eye never rests. The creature sleeps so lightly that very seldom is it caught napping. We may imagine, therefore, the gratification bestowed by an organ so constantly employed. To blind a horse, is to deprive a breathing body of half its life's pleasure. It is more, when we consider the natural disposition of the quadruped: it is to deprive timidity of its watchfulness, fear of its protection. It is even yet more, when we think upon the habits of the horse--its spirits, its pleasure, its joy--all are expressed by means of a gallop. But what speed can the horse indulge in, when cruelty has taken away the power to guide with rapidity? To destroy the horse's sight, is to condemn a creature to live on, but to take from life the gayety of existence.
The eye recently afflicted with gutta serena, or rather the eyes, (for this deprivation commonly affects both orbs,) is, to the uninformed inspection, perfect. The internal structures are in their proper places, and the pupil is beautifully dilated. A very little instruction, however, enables the spectator to distinguish between fixedness and dilatation. A trifle more tuition will point out that the pupil is not so dark as in the organ of the healthy animal: that it has an opaque milky cast, accompanied very frequently with a bright light-green shining through it, as though a piece of tinsel were within the posterior chamber. After gaining such information, probably the notion before expressed about beauty may be changed. Most things are most beautiful as nature formed them, and no little expression resides in the ever-changing dimension of the pupillary opening.
The symptoms of blindness are equally pathetic and characteristic. The nostrils are constantly at work and the ears perpetually in motion--life is endeavoring, by exercising other senses, to compensate for the one lost. Then, the movements are peculiar. A blind man commonly shuffles along, endeavoring "to feel" his way. The horny hoof lacks the human faculty, but the horse endeavors to surmount objects by stepping high. A blind man turns the sightless face heavenward; the animal, likewise, raises its head, as it were, to expose its sightless orbs to its Creator. There is another strange peculiarity also, exemplified by the blind horse. The sightless quadruped, contrary to the majority of its species, generally carries a rough coat in summer and a blooming coat in winter.
Now, a high stepper, a well-carried head, a lively ear, and a blooming coat, are great points in a horse, especially about London, and with gentlemen of little information. To prevent imposition, always place the horse in a full light. Should the pupils continue large, have the horse put into a dark house. A quarter of an hour afterward, take a candle, and by its light regard the eye. If the pupil is still dilated, hold the candle near to the eye. The iris will not contract quickly upon artificial light, but in five minutes it ought to move. However, suppose you imagine it to remain stationary; then, placing yourself by the head, have the horse led out into sunshine. If it exhibit no change to mark the passage from darkness to daylight you may certainly conclude the optic nerve is paralyzed.
There are other tests, but these are not satisfactory; such as covering the eye with the hand or a hat. The hand is semi-transparent, and so can only induce partial darkness; the hat does not fit the inequalities of the horse's countenance, therefore it is useless. Of the same nature is aiming pretended blows at, or moving the hand before, the suspected eye. The other senses, by constant exercise, become so very acute during loss of sight, that winking is no proof of vision: the lid may move, and, nevertheless, the horse be stone blind.
Nothing can be done for paralysis of the optic nerve. The injury once established, its effects are lasting. Butchers and other people, who foolishly pride themselves upon their fast trotting steeds, and whose natures are not unpleasantly susceptible, often induce the affection. It lessens the value of the horse, dooms it to a lower class of proprietors, and takes from the creature's life much of the pleasure which otherwise might lighten the animal's existence.
After death, an anatomical peculiarity is observed. The optic nerves, subsequent to leaving the brain, unite and exchange fibers. Neither nerve pursues an absolute course; yet, consequent on decease, if the right eye were blind from gutta serena, the left nerve, or the nerve originating from the left side of the brain, alone is affected: the disease seems confined to that part. The opposite nerve is perfectly white and healthy; but the one affected with paralysis is of a yellowish color, softer nature, and sensibly diminished in bulk. So, if blindness afflict both eyes, both optic nerves are then of diminished size and of a yellowish hue.