RESTORATIVES 133 



The desired object is more practically attained by restricting 

 the cow to dry food, milking her at gradually lengthening 

 intervals, and, where the result has to be quickly secured, 

 giving a dose of purgative medicine. 



REMEDIES ACTING ON TISSUE CHANGE 



RESTORATIVES TONICS HJEMATINICS ALTERATIVES 

 FEBRIFUGES BLOOD-LETTING 



The various structures of healthy animal bodies are con- 

 tinually undergoing reconstruction, change, and devolution. 

 Fresh materials or restoratives, in sufficient abundance, and 

 containing in suitable proportion the constituents of the 

 several tissues, are required. By digestion and assimilation, 

 the food materials are prepared for their special uses. But 

 these complex nutritive processes sometimes become de- 

 ranged. Some fault occurs in the digestive enzymes ; some 

 want of activity or correlation overtakes the presiding 

 nervous centres ; some delay takes place in the prompt and 

 effectual removal of waste products by the bowels, kidneys, 

 or skin. Hence arise muscular and nervous depression, 

 expressed by dulness, debility, and diminished capacity for 

 exertion. For such weakened, relaxed, unfit conditions, the 

 appropriate remedies are tonics. 1 Within the living organs 

 and tissues themselves, further subtle reparative processes 

 constantly occur, and certain drugs, termed alteratives, 

 modify these remoter tissue changes in a manner not fully 

 understood. The maintenance of a tolerably uniform 

 temperature is essential to the performance of normal tissue 

 changes in warm-blooded animals. In fever, however, the 

 temperature is increased, and the agents employed for its 

 reduction are antipyretics, or febrifuges. 



RESTORATIVES. The bodies of all animals, especially when 

 at work, undergo disintegration and waste, and their growth 

 and repair hence require continual recuperation. Food 

 must be provided in sufficient amount, of suitable quality, 



1 Strictly stated, the word tonic refers to an agent which increases muscle 

 tonus, but in therapeutics the term has a wider significance, implying 

 increased functional activity and improved general tone. This latter mean- 

 ing is indicated where the term occurs in this book. 



