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Was it an Electric Shock?
Was it an Electnc Shock ~
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spores may be developed not sooner than twenty-four hours after death, and these at best are, as a rule, rather sickly specimens with no great tenacity of life. With a lower temperature of, say, from 380 to 500 they may be developed not sooner than forty hours after death. Thus to get strong, healthy spores the carcase or some part of it must lie opened and exposed to the atmosphere at a given temperature for about forty hours. Consequently, wh ere an outbreak of anthrax comes into the hands of the veterinary inspector without the carcase having been interfered with, there should not be much difficulty in destroying any possible source of contamination. This being so, if importation of the disease could be put a stop to, I am certain we would lose sight of it altogether in certain districts where the ground is not already impregnated with it. As far as East Lothian is concerned, I am perfectly certain that nineteen out of every twenty outbreaks can be traced to foreign feeding stuffs, cakes or meals. This is so strongly impressed upon our County Council that they have appointed a committee to go into the subject along with the veterinary inspector, and I hope at some future date to give you the result of the inquiry. Gentlemen, I must thank you for again having elected me President for another year. I assure you I shall do my utmost for the good of the Society. There is room for improvement in the attendance at our meetings. I am sure that many of our professional brethren round about would be greatly benefited by joining us. There is one suggestion I wish to make, and that is, that a communication should be read by a member at each meeting. It would be the means of opening up a good discussion, and I understand the Secretary has some difficulty in procuring a paper for each meeting.
W AS IT AN ELECTRIC SHOCK? ON Saturday evening, 26th May, as a man named Crook, in the employ
of Mr. J. Gibbons, coach proprietor, was driving a pair of horses attached to a waggonette along Piper's Row, Wolverhampton, one of the animals suddenly jumped into the air, fell down, and shortly afterwards expired. It was supposed that the animal had received an electric shock by coming in contact with one of the studs which are laid between the rails, and from which electric motive power is conveyed to the car. The officials connected with the Lorain Company, who are laying down the traction system, however, deny that the animal met its death by being electrocuted, as the studs in the locality of the occurrence, on being examined after the accident, were found to be "dead," or in their proper condition, and a veterinary surgeon who made a post-mortem examination failed to discover that death was due to electric shock. Earlier in the day two horses attached to a Great-Western Railway Company's waggon also fell to the ground in Bilston Road as if they had received an electric shock, and one of the drivers was affected in a like manner, and to such an extent that he sought relief from a sensation, as he described it, like" pins and needles running into him," at the hospital. He was there examined by one of the resident surgeons, who came to the conclusion that he had received a shock, but was not N.S. VOL. VI.
4
50
The Veterz'nary Journal.
seriously injured, and was advised to remain quiet for an hour or two. He was not detained at the institution, and on making inquiries at his home yesterday we were informed that he was none the worse for his mishap. Mr. Alex. P. Trotter stated in his report :-" The tramways are worked on a surface contact system: blocks are placed at intervals in the street containing a contact which is worked by powerful magnets carried on the car. When the car passes, the pieces of iron which produce the contact are allowed to drop. Should one of these fail to drop, a horse treading on the block would probably be killed, but a foot passenger treading on it would receive a shock which would not be dangerous to life, but which would make him stumble and be run over. I have examined the details of the contacts, and I think an accident to a horse is unlikely, and the risk of an accident to a foot passenger very remote, but as there is no experience in the use of this system, I recommend, subject to the report of Colonel Yorke, that sanction be given for the working of this system for twelve months." The Board of Trade, in forwarding these reports to the Town-Clerk of Wolverhampton, intimated that they were prepared to grant a licence for twelve months for the working of the lines on the Lorain surface contact system.
18J:tracts. OLD STANDING CASE OF PUS IN THE SINUSES OF THE HEAD-CURE-REMARKS ON THE IRRITANT NATURE OF SOME OF THE ANTISEPTICS USED. BY MM. GUILLEMAIN AND CADlX,
v.s.,
FRENCH ARMY.
THE subject of this case was a handsome English thoroughbred, the property of an infantry officer. In April 1899 he began to suffer from a discharge from the right nostril and enlargement of the glands in the intermaxillary space. He was at once placed in charge of a veterinary surgeon and tested with mallein without result. The right sinus was then trephined, and he remained under treatment for five months. At the end of this time, although the discharge was still profuse, the owner was advised to use him, and see if work combined with antiseptic injections would not effect a cure. This advice was followed till the end of December without the slightest improvement, when we were called in and the case came under our care. The first step taken was to trephine the superior maxillary sinus, the others being already opened. This operation was performed only as an explanatory one, but we discovered in it some plugs of cotton wool in a fretid condition, which were removed with forceps. The sinus was well washed out with a warm boracic solution, and the lining mucus membrane seen to be thickened, very vascular, and covered with small irregular ulcerations of a bright red colour. The treatment prescribed was a warm solution of cresyle I per cent. morning and evening, for fifteen days, and then daily for another like period. Under this treatment the discharge decreased, but not so much as we had expected; so on 1st February a warm boracic solution was substituted
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spores may be developed not sooner than twenty-four hours after death, and these at best are, as a rule, rather sickly specimens with no great tenacity of life. With a lower temperature of, say, from 380 to 500 they may be developed not sooner than forty hours after death. Thus to get strong, healthy spores the carcase or some part of it must lie opened and exposed to the atmosphere at a given temperature for about forty hours. Consequently, wh ere an outbreak of anthrax comes into the hands of the veterinary inspector without the carcase having been interfered with, there should not be much difficulty in destroying any possible source of contamination. This being so, if importation of the disease could be put a stop to, I am certain we would lose sight of it altogether in certain districts where the ground is not already impregnated with it. As far as East Lothian is concerned, I am perfectly certain that nineteen out of every twenty outbreaks can be traced to foreign feeding stuffs, cakes or meals. This is so strongly impressed upon our County Council that they have appointed a committee to go into the subject along with the veterinary inspector, and I hope at some future date to give you the result of the inquiry. Gentlemen, I must thank you for again having elected me President for another year. I assure you I shall do my utmost for the good of the Society. There is room for improvement in the attendance at our meetings. I am sure that many of our professional brethren round about would be greatly benefited by joining us. There is one suggestion I wish to make, and that is, that a communication should be read by a member at each meeting. It would be the means of opening up a good discussion, and I understand the Secretary has some difficulty in procuring a paper for each meeting.
W AS IT AN ELECTRIC SHOCK? ON Saturday evening, 26th May, as a man named Crook, in the employ
of Mr. J. Gibbons, coach proprietor, was driving a pair of horses attached to a waggonette along Piper's Row, Wolverhampton, one of the animals suddenly jumped into the air, fell down, and shortly afterwards expired. It was supposed that the animal had received an electric shock by coming in contact with one of the studs which are laid between the rails, and from which electric motive power is conveyed to the car. The officials connected with the Lorain Company, who are laying down the traction system, however, deny that the animal met its death by being electrocuted, as the studs in the locality of the occurrence, on being examined after the accident, were found to be "dead," or in their proper condition, and a veterinary surgeon who made a post-mortem examination failed to discover that death was due to electric shock. Earlier in the day two horses attached to a Great-Western Railway Company's waggon also fell to the ground in Bilston Road as if they had received an electric shock, and one of the drivers was affected in a like manner, and to such an extent that he sought relief from a sensation, as he described it, like" pins and needles running into him," at the hospital. He was there examined by one of the resident surgeons, who came to the conclusion that he had received a shock, but was not N.S. VOL. VI.
4
50
The Veterz'nary Journal.
seriously injured, and was advised to remain quiet for an hour or two. He was not detained at the institution, and on making inquiries at his home yesterday we were informed that he was none the worse for his mishap. Mr. Alex. P. Trotter stated in his report :-" The tramways are worked on a surface contact system: blocks are placed at intervals in the street containing a contact which is worked by powerful magnets carried on the car. When the car passes, the pieces of iron which produce the contact are allowed to drop. Should one of these fail to drop, a horse treading on the block would probably be killed, but a foot passenger treading on it would receive a shock which would not be dangerous to life, but which would make him stumble and be run over. I have examined the details of the contacts, and I think an accident to a horse is unlikely, and the risk of an accident to a foot passenger very remote, but as there is no experience in the use of this system, I recommend, subject to the report of Colonel Yorke, that sanction be given for the working of this system for twelve months." The Board of Trade, in forwarding these reports to the Town-Clerk of Wolverhampton, intimated that they were prepared to grant a licence for twelve months for the working of the lines on the Lorain surface contact system.
18J:tracts. OLD STANDING CASE OF PUS IN THE SINUSES OF THE HEAD-CURE-REMARKS ON THE IRRITANT NATURE OF SOME OF THE ANTISEPTICS USED. BY MM. GUILLEMAIN AND CADlX,
v.s.,
FRENCH ARMY.
THE subject of this case was a handsome English thoroughbred, the property of an infantry officer. In April 1899 he began to suffer from a discharge from the right nostril and enlargement of the glands in the intermaxillary space. He was at once placed in charge of a veterinary surgeon and tested with mallein without result. The right sinus was then trephined, and he remained under treatment for five months. At the end of this time, although the discharge was still profuse, the owner was advised to use him, and see if work combined with antiseptic injections would not effect a cure. This advice was followed till the end of December without the slightest improvement, when we were called in and the case came under our care. The first step taken was to trephine the superior maxillary sinus, the others being already opened. This operation was performed only as an explanatory one, but we discovered in it some plugs of cotton wool in a fretid condition, which were removed with forceps. The sinus was well washed out with a warm boracic solution, and the lining mucus membrane seen to be thickened, very vascular, and covered with small irregular ulcerations of a bright red colour. The treatment prescribed was a warm solution of cresyle I per cent. morning and evening, for fifteen days, and then daily for another like period. Under this treatment the discharge decreased, but not so much as we had expected; so on 1st February a warm boracic solution was substituted