post-mortem
examination was lost. In some cases I have found spicula projecting from the inner plate of the skull, and pressing upon or even penetrating the
dura mater
. I know not why the dog should be more subject to these irregularities of cranial surface than any of our other patients; but decidedly he is so, and where they have pressed upon the brain, there has been injection of the membranes, and sometimes effusion between them.
In some cases I have found effusion without this external pressure, and, in some cases, but comparatively few, there has not been any perceptible lesion. Hydatids have been found in the different passages leading to the cranium, but they have not penetrated.
I used to recommend that the dog should be destroyed; but I met with two or three favourable cases, and, after that, I determined to try every measure that could possibly be serviceable. I bled, and physicked, and inserted setons, and tried to prevent the utter exhaustion of the animal. When he was unable longer to perform his circumvolutions, and found that he was foiled, he laid himself down, and by degrees resumed his former habits. He was sadly impatient and noisy; but in a few cases he was cured.
We have seen but two or three cases of this disease in dogs, are led to believe that it is quite uncommon with our domestic animals. One case in a valuable setter came on suddenly, and without any apparent cause (except perhaps over-feeding), and terminated fatally in the course of a few days. — L.
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