LECTURES AND ESSAYS READ AT INSTITUTES. 269 



such advice in regard to the theory and practice of the proper treatment of 

 them, as we understand them, and expose the fallacy and injury arising from 

 giving too large doses of poisonous medical agents. 



I want to call your attention to a medicine that has become quite popular 

 among many of late years, and that is aconite. I quote from Dr. Kendall, in 

 his treatise on the horse and his diseases. I refer to him more particularly 

 from the supposition that many of you have his work. "Aconite, an active 

 poison ; the leaves and roots are used. A tincture made from the root is 

 much more active than from the leaves. Tincture of aconite root : This is 

 one of the most powerful and successful sedatives in use. It is one of the best 

 medicines we have for the successful treatment of several diseases of the horse, 

 when properly used. In fact, we have no drug which will so well control 

 the circulation, and action of the heart, as aconite. Caution: In over-doses 

 this valuable drug is an active poison. Never give more than five or six doses, 

 if twenty-five drops are given at each dose, nor more than seven or eight, if 

 twenty drops are given. The dose may vary from ten to forty drops." 



So far, Mr. Kendall. Gentlemen, according to the theory of practice that 

 I have adopted, the principles of which I am endeavoring to explain to you, 

 I would say these doses are very much too large, and might be the means of 

 doing a vast amount of injury to your animal. I value aconite as a medical 

 agent, as much as any one, and rely on it almost entirely, in the first stages of 

 inflammatory action of any kind ; but, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that 

 minute doses of aconite, often repeated, when the drug is indicated as the 

 remedy for the diseased action of the patient, are preferable to large doses ; 

 and wait for the action of the drug to pass off before repeating the dose. 

 Take my advice, and never give aconite in 25-drop doses of the oflicinal 

 tincture or fluid extract. I would reduce the dose twenty-four times, or divide 

 twenty-five by twenty-four, and give what remains. I believe, as a rale, that 

 when the symptoms of the disease are congenial or correspond to the action of 

 the drug employed, that we get a better effect from the small than the large 

 dose. Our aim is to give doses of medicine so small, that while they have a 

 health-giving influence on the disease, they do not prostrate. The animal, 

 having recovered from its first disorder, is not obliged to spend in addition 

 an equal or greater amount of time in recovering from the debilitating 

 effects of violent remedies; from some of which, indeed, they never 

 recover. 



But, brother farmers, ladies and gentlemen, as I said before, my time is 

 limited, and it would be impossible to take up each and every remedy used in 

 veterinary practice, and give you the action of each on the animal system, but 

 would say, beware of giving large doses of medicine, the effects of which you 

 do not understand; and more particularly, beware of oft repeated doses of 

 condition powders when your horse is well, and give them very sparingly if he 

 be sick. It were better, as I before stated, that if your horse is off his feed, 

 and no other symptoms to denote any material ailment, to stop feeding him, 

 and let him get hungry. As I said in the commencement of this article, my 

 system of veterinary practice was based upon the principle that like cures 

 like, and that I believed that science demonstrates this fact. I want you 

 to be patient a little longer. I know that we are a little tedious, but I want to 

 bring to your notice some scientific experiments on certain malignant diseases 

 of animals, considered incurable, and in which you are largely interested. 

 You are aware, gentlemen, that there exists among swine in some sections of 

 this country, a disease that has almost universally proved fatal to herds when 



