50 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



tears run down the face, the lining membrane of the nostrils is intensely 

 red, and a watery fluid or vomited matter flows from them. In some 

 instances the lips may be greatly swollen, the gums inflamed, and the 

 tongue so enlarged as to be contained in the mouth with difficulty; frothy 

 saliva of a ropy consistence and offensive odour hangs from the lips. The 

 patient will frequently throw himself down in his agony, but towards the 

 end he will endeavour to stand, and when no longer able to keep his feet 

 he falls and dies with a few painful struggles. 



Treatment and Antidotes. — In the chronic or accumulative form of 

 arsenical poisoning not much can be hoped of antidotes, as the drug is 

 already absorbed or out of the reach of chemical agents which might 

 counteract it. Attention should therefore be directed to minimizing its 

 effects and sustaining the patient with suitable nourishment until the poison 

 is eliminated from the system. Milk and eggs, gruel, linseed, barley-water, 

 and alcoholic stimulants may all be employed to support the animal until 

 the vis meclicatrix natures can assert itself. Iron in combination with nux 

 vomica, given in small repeated doses, will aid in bringing about this much- 

 desired result. In the acute form of the disease a dose of the peroxide of 

 iron should be promptly administered. This agent is most effectual when 

 precipitated from a solution of persulphate of iron by the addition of 

 ammonia, and afterwards washed with warm water and given at frequent 

 intervals until enough has been taken to neutralize the poison. The pro- 

 portion of peroxide of iron required to produce this effect is estimated 

 by Mr. Finlay Dun to be twelve times the amount of the arsenic 

 taken. 



Epsom salts in solution, mixed with liquid caustic potash (liquor 

 potassae), produce a gelatinous hydrate of magnesia, which greatly retards 

 the solubility of arsenic, and may therefore be given with advantage. The 

 yolk of eggs, linseed and other fixed oils, charcoal, clay, and starch all 

 help to hinder mechanically the effects of arsenic upon the walls of the 

 stomach and intestine. Long and careful nursing is needed, and the tem- 

 perate use of diuretics is calculated to assist nature in getting rid of the 

 poison by the natural channel of the kidneys. 



ANTIMONY 



This potent drug, which has played so great a part in ancient and 

 modern times as a poison to human beings, is comparatively innocuous to 

 horses. Its uses are referred to in another chapter (see Alteratives, 

 page 12), but poisonous doses have rarely been given, and when this has 

 happened it has been from drenching by mistake with the liquid chloride 



