DRUGS WHICH ACT UPON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 477 



It is an antiseptic, and in the pi'oportion of one hundred grains to the 

 pint of water prevents decom|)osition. It has not the constipating effect of 

 opium, and is a more direct spinal sedative. 



Dose. — From three to six drams, but hrrger ones can be given with 

 safety. Excessive doses produce profound slumber, complete insensibility, 

 and shallow breathing. The pulse, though at first quickened, becomes soft 

 and indistinct, the pupils are contracted, and complete mu.scular relaxation 

 is also observed. In poisonous doses death results from reduced tempera- 

 ture and paralysis of the heart. The .smaller animals can be recovered from 

 excessive doses by stimulants and the application of hot-water bottles, 

 blankets, bandages, and friction to the skin. The same measures, so far as 

 they can be applied to so large an animal as the horse, would be available 

 in case of an overdose. 



It is given to horses in the treatment of meningitis and other irritable 

 conditions of the spinal cord and nerve-centres, and by some it is used as- 

 an ingredient in colic mixtures. Its effect in cases of spasmodic contraction 

 of the bowels is produced through the medium of the nerves by which they 

 are supplied, but chloral is not considered to be an anodyne in the same 

 sense as opium. 



Bromides of Potassium, Sodium, and Ammonium. — These salts 



of bromine, with a base of either of the above, are used where a soporific 

 or mildly-sedative action is desired. The large dose required, an ounce oi" 

 more, to produce any marked effect, and the considerable cost of the drugs,, 

 are practical objections to their use in veterinary practice, while it is pro- 

 bable that better results can be obtained from smaller doses of chloral 

 hydrate. 



NERVE TONICS AND STIMULANTS 



These terms are applied to drugs whose action improves the nutrition 

 of nerve-substance, and thus strengthen and brace up the nervous system 

 generally. 



In our patient, the horse, we have not those hysterical conditions and 

 obscure nervous diseases to deal with that have called into existence a 

 number of specialists among human practitioners, yet it may be said that 

 of all domestic animals the horse is the most "nervous" or excitable. 

 From a variety of causes he is liable to become " run down ", and a nerve 

 tonic or stimulant is often the remedy mo.st calculated to pull him up again. 



It has been observed during recent years that the symptoms of nervous 

 collapse have been very marked in most of the attacks of so-called intiu- 

 enza. The close observer, brought up among horses and familiar with their 

 habits and expressions, can hardly doubt that they suffer from nervous 



