480 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



a moderate allowance of more solid food. Crushed linseed and malt flour 

 are valuable adjuncts to the food allowance at this period, and should 

 be given in small but frequent portions. 



A good deal may be done by supplying medicines from both the vege- 

 table and mineral kingdoms, bitter tonics, as quinine, gentian, calumba, and 

 chamomile, the sulphates of iron and copper. As iron is the element most 

 wanting in the blood of the anaemic, and necessary to rebuild the red 

 corpuscles, it enjoys a reputation as being almost a specific for this form of 

 the malady. In the case of horses it has to be given with caution, as, with 

 the extremely debilitated, it is too irritating and astringent to be borne 

 in full doses. For the very weak and emaciated the saccharated carbonate 

 or the ammonio-citrate is preferable to the more commonly employed 

 sulphate. 



PLETHORA 



This abnormal condition is now seldom described in works on veterinary 

 medicine, and some authorities have even denied its existence. 



The better management of horses has greatly reduced the number of 

 cases met with, but the condition can scarcely be forgotten by anyone who 

 has witnessed it. It is an almost precisely opposite state of the blood to 

 that described under the heading of ansemia. The subject is usually fat, or 

 else has been so suddenly placed upon a too liberal diet that the circulatory 

 fluid has become rapidly loaded with red corpuscles, and what has probably 

 more to do with the symptoms presently to be described is the accumula- 

 tion of effete material in the blood which the emunctories fail to eliminate. 

 Urea and other deleterious products of combustion circulate in the blood 

 stream, producing efl'ects varying with the quantity, and the idiosyncrasy 

 of the individual. 



Causes. — Idleness conjoined with over-feeding upon highly nitro- 

 genous food. Close stabling and want of exercise. Inactivity of the liver, 

 kidneys, and skin ; but these latter are usually secondary and dependent on 

 bad hygienic conditions. 



Symptoms. — Trembling and blowing are sometimes present, but closer 

 inspection shows, in addition, engorgement of the vessels of the conjunctiva 

 and more or less cerebral disturbance, denoted by excitement, followed 

 sooner or later by a dull, heavy expression. The pulse is full and hard at 

 one time and quick and irritable at others. The extremities are variable 

 as to temperature, but the ears are commonly hot and the appetite fastidi- 

 ous or altogether in abeyance. 



Treatment. — This is one of the few disorders for which the veteri- 

 narian may, with advantage, resort to venesection. It is attended with 



