296 MERCUROUS CHLORIDE 



irregular and the discharges malodorous. In such cases, 

 like other mercurials it owes its good effects to its combina- 

 tion of antiseptic and eliminative properties. Although 

 useful in biliousness and congestion of the liver, and, along 

 with laxatives, removing waste bile from the duodenum, it 

 has no special remedial effect in jaundice, arrested secretion 

 of bile, or chronic liver complaints. Such cases are fittingly 

 treated by nitro-hydrochloric acid and other liver stimulants. 

 That type of influenza in horses complicated with gastric 

 derangement and yellow mucous membranes is often success- 

 fully treated in the early stages with calomel grs. xx., and 

 opium 3 ss -> with or without oil, repeated twice or thrice, at 

 intervals of twelve hours, and alternated with or followed by 

 salines. 



It is a useful adjuvant cathartic. Four drachms of aloes, 

 with half a drachm of calomel, purge most horses as effectu- 

 ally as eight drachms of aloes. Such a combination is 

 advantageously used in lymphangitis and other cases where 

 prompt and full catharsis is desired. But as an adjuvant 

 purgative it is more serviceable in cattle than in horses. As 

 an anthelmintie, combined sometimes with santonin, and 

 followed by a laxative, it removes entozoa. In acute 

 rheumatism calomel is given with a purgative ; in chronic 

 cases, and also in malarial disorders, small doses are some- 

 times used with quinine sulphate. Dogs and pigs frequently 

 have calomel conjoined with jalap or with oils as a cathartic 

 and febrifuge, and occasionally with ipecacuanha as an 

 emetic. 



As an alterative and febrifuge it is not as much used as 

 formerly, but some practitioners still prescribe it hi acute 

 localised inflammation, particularly in pneumonia, pleurisy, 

 peritonitis, laminitis, iritis. It is most effectual when such 

 cases are complicated with gastric derangement, and its 

 curative action probably depends upon its combination of 

 antiseptic, cathartic, and diuretic effects, these latter being 

 increased by the laxatives and salines with which it is usually 

 conjoined. In chronic inflammation it reduces enlarged 

 glands, removes recently formed deposits, and sometimes 

 prevents adhesions, in iritis and pleurisy. For such objects, 

 small, frequently repeated doses are used, conjoined with 



