ACTION AND USES OP MEDICINES. 161 



324. Antiseptics. 



Antiseptics are agents used to prevent or hinder putrefaction. Accord- 

 ing to modern views, Putrefaction is excited or occasioned by living 

 microscopical animalcules or plants, which, floating in the air, feed upon 

 and decompose dead animals and vegetable substances. 



The class of medicines termed antiseptics act as a poison on these bodies 

 and destroy their activity. They check that slow breaking up of organ- 

 ised bodies which is termed putrefaction, by destroying its causes. Sul- 

 phurous acid, common salt, salicylic and boracic acids, astringent metallic 

 salts, vegetable substances rich in tannin, sugar, spirits, creasote and 

 pitch oils, and carbolic acid, are the antiseptics in common use. 



Antiseptics are used in veterinary practice in the treatment of un- 

 healthy sores and wounds, and occasionally with the view of arresting 

 caries and gangrene. 



They are occasionally administered internally in diseases of a septic 

 nature for the purpose of checking the tendency to putrescence. The 

 administration of salicylic acid in doses of from 1 to 2 drachms, in com- 

 bination with tonics, has been strongly advocated in cases of septicaemia 

 and purpura hasmorrhagica. Carbolic acid is also occasionally given. 



825. Mode of delivering a 'ball. 



There is a good deal of knack in delivering a ball. It should be deli- 

 vered by the hand, not at the end of a stick or by a balling gun. The 

 tongue should be slightly drawn forward and turned up within the mouth 

 by the left hand of the operator, but it should not be pulled out of the 

 mouth. The head should be raised while the ball is being put into the 

 mouth, but the moment the ball is at the root of the tongue, the head 

 should be let down level with the body, because it is only in that position 

 that the horse can naturally perform the act of swallowing. 



The head should not be let completely down, because in that position 

 the skin .and muscles of the neck are so relaxed that the passage of the 

 ball down the throat cannot easily be watched. The downward passage 

 of the ball is best seen on the near side, because the gullet lies towards 

 that side. If the ball does not go down at once, a gulp of water or a 

 handful of grass should be given. The throat must not be rubbed or 

 pressed upin with the view of assisting the passage of the ball. Any 

 such " assistance " will probably induce cough, and cause the ball to be 

 ejected. 



To those who have not had much practice a balling iron is useful, 

 because it prevents the possibility of injury to the hand from the horse's 

 teeth. An old kid glove with the fingers cut off will protect the hand 

 from injury from the sharp edges of the molar teeth. 



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