344 THE HORSE. 



man or horse, nevertheless few cases of genuine pneumonia will be 

 saved without it. Sufficient blood must be taken to make a decid- 

 ed impression on the circulation, without which the inflammation will 

 not be mastered. The quantity necessary for this cannot be fixed, 

 because the effect will vary so materially, that the abstraction of 

 three or four quarts of blood in one case will do more than double 

 or treble that quantity in another. A large orifice must be made 

 in the vein, and it must not be closed until the lining membrane 

 of the nose or the white of the eye is seen to have become con- 

 siderably paler. It may possibly even then be necessary to repeat 

 the operation six hours afterwards, or next day, according to the 

 symptoms. The rule should be followed of taking enough but 

 not a drop too much, for blood removed from the circulation takes 

 a long time to replace. With regard to medicine, tartar emetic is 

 the only drug which seems to have much influence over pneu- 

 monia, and it must be given every six hours in drachm doses, 

 with from half a drachm to a drachm of powdered digitalis, or 

 white hellebore, to keep down the pulse, and two or three 

 drachms of nitre, to increase the action of the kidneys. Unless 

 the bowels are confined no aperient should be given, and if neces- 

 sary only the mildest dose should be used. The diet should con- 

 sist of bran mashes, gruel, and a little hay, or green food if the 

 season of the year allows. A cool airy stable and warm clothing 

 are indispensable in this disease. When the first violence of the 

 attack has subsided, a large blister on the side of the chest will 

 afford great relief, and when it ceases to act, if the disease is not 

 entirely cured a second may be put on the other side. 



SUB-ACUTE PNEUMONIA differs in no respect from the acute form, 

 excepting in degree, and the symptoms and treatment will vary 

 only in proportion. 



THE TERMINATIONS of pneumonia may be death, or resolution 

 (by which is to be understood a disappearance of the symptoms 

 without leaving any mischief behind), or hepatization, or abcess. 

 The last-named sequel may be very serious in extent, but if an 

 opening is made by nature for the discharge of its contents into 

 the bronchial tubes the horse may recover, and his wind may be 

 sufficiently good for any purposes but the racecourse or the hunt- 

 ing field. Hepatization is always attended with thick wind, but 

 in other respects the health may be good, and the horse may be 

 suited to ordinary work. In process of time some of the lymph is 

 absorbed, and a considerable improvement takes place, but it never 

 entirely disappears, and a horse which has once suffered from 

 pneumonia attended by hepatization remains permanently unsound. 



