474 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



diseased conditions of the integument, as grease, cracked heels, mud fever, 

 as well as obstructions and inflammatory swellings in the lymphatic or 

 other vessels, diuretics are of great value. 



The abuse consists chiefly in giving diuretics to healthy animals with 

 a view to saving labour and making the skin glossy. In this connection 

 it may be well to remind readers that a horse's urine being thick occa- 

 sionally, more especially when green food is substituted for dry, is not 

 necessarily a symptom of disease — but the majority of grooms would seem 

 to regard it as such. 



The error is also frequently committed of giving diuretics to horses 

 whose kidneys are already too active, and passing too much urine, with 

 the common result that a harmless excess of secretion is converted into 

 active disease. 



The diuretic drugs most generally approved for horses are nitrate of 

 potash (nitre), resin, soap, turpentine, spirit of nitrous ether (sweet spirit 

 of nitre), balsam of cojjaiba, and the oils of juniper and aniseed. There 

 are many drugs having more or less diuretic action, but the above list in- 

 cludes all those in common use and of well-proved therapeutic value. 



REMEDIES WHICH SOOTHE THE KIDNEYS 



Of an opposite class to diuretics are the remedies which suppress excess 

 of function, and relieve the kidneys of pain and pressure by withdrawing 

 blood from them and lessening the volume and rapidity of the circulation 

 within them. When the kidneys are excited from any cause, the human 

 jjractitioner is able to afford them direct and immediate relief by causing 

 a free action of the skin. In order to " soothe the kidneys " the veteri- 

 nary practitioner has to resort to large and frequently renewed cataplasms, 

 and with these he incorporates emollients and sedatives, as belladonna 

 extract, opium, or poppy -head infusions, hyoscyamus, hops, chamomile 

 flowers, and possibly soft-boiled turnips or other " roots ", as they are 

 commonly called. To these measures he adds the frequent use of enemas 

 of warm water and belladonna extract with glycerine. A very soothing 

 effect is often apparent from this mode of internal " fomentation " when 

 the precaution is taken by a good nui\se to use the fluid at a correct 

 temperature and cause it to be retained by holding the tail down. (See 

 Administration of Medicines.) 



DRUGS WHICH ACT ON THE BLADDER 



These for the most part are such as act also upon the kidneys; but 

 some few, as copaiba, and the balsams of sulphur, cubebs, buchu, and bear- 



