s advisable;
the current should be weak, but be continued for half an hour two or
three times daily. If the disease is due to a broken back, caries of the
vertebrae, or some other irremediable cause, the animal should be
destroyed at once.

MYELITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE SPINAL CORD.

This is a rare disease, except as a secondary result of spinal
meningitis or injuries to the spine. Poisoning by lead, arsenic,
mercury, phosphorus, carbonic-acid gas, etc., has been known to produce
it. Myelitis may be confined to a small spot in the cord or may involve
the whole for a variable distance. It may lead to softening abscess or
degeneration.

_Symptoms._--The attack may begin with a chill or convulsion; the
muscles twitch or become cramped very early in the disease, and the
bladder usually is affected at the outset, in which there may be either
retention or incontinence of urine. These conditions are followed by
complete or partial paralysis of the muscles posterior to the locality
of the inflamed cord, and the muscles begin to waste away rapidly. The
paralyzed limb becomes cold and dry, due to the suspension of proper
circulation; the joints may swell and become edematous; vesicular
eruptions appear on the skin; and frequently gangrenous sloughs form on
the paralyzed parts. It is exceedingly seldom that recovery takes place.
In a few instances it may assume a chronic type, when all the symptoms
become mitigated, and thus continue for some time, until septicemia,
pyemia, or exhaustion causes death.

_Pathology._--The inflammation may involve nearly the whole length of
the cord, but generally it is more intense in some places than others;
when due to mechanical injury, the inflammation may remain confined to a
small section. The cord is swollen and congested, reddened, often
softened and infiltrated with pus cells, and the nerve elements are
degenerated.

_Treatment._--Similar to that of spinal meningitis.

SPINAL CONGESTION.

This condition consists in an excess of blood. As the blood vessels of
the pia mater are the principal source of supply to the spinal cord,
hyperemia of the cord and of the meninges usually go together. The
symptoms are, therefore, closely allied to those of spinal meningitis
and congestion. When the pia mater is diseased, the spinal cord is
almost invariably affected also.

_Cause._--Sudden checking of the perspiration, violent exercise, blows,
and falls.

_Symptoms._-