94 The Management and Treatment of the Borse, 



action again establishes the inflammation 



By combining depletion with depressing remedies, we 

 save blood and avert chronic disease. The great 

 principle to be observed in acute inflammation is to 

 subdue it at once, so as not to allow reaction, and give 

 the small blood-vessels time to contract to their proper 

 size. Aconite, given in ten-grain doses in half-a-pint 

 of cold water every hour, diminishes the vascular and 

 nervous excitement after two or three doses ; the 

 patient seems inclined to lie down and sleep, which 

 seems to be the desideratum so strongly urged by Mr. 

 Greaves — viz., get the weight off the feet. Large doses 

 of aconite produces alarming symptoms and considerable 

 excitement, but in small doses I have often seen its 

 sedative effects almost instantaneous. Aconite being a 

 most powerful medicine, should be always used with 

 great caution ; Fleming's tincture is by far the safest, if 

 it is thought advisable to give large doses. The largest 

 should be given first, and this must not exceed twenty 

 minims, in one ounce of liq. ammonia acet. and a pint of 

 water ; in four hours half the quantity, and in five hours 

 after one quarter. Over-doses of aconite are known by 

 a great depression, anxious countenance, accelerated 

 breathing, increased rapidity, and diminished volume 

 of the pulse, and contracted pupils. I well recollect 

 Professor Spooner saying that belladonna was unequalled 

 as a sedative, for you to have two objects in view in 

 administering it, it being the best sedative, and also 

 a laxative, which power no other sedative possesses. 

 Mr. Brown says of aconite that, given with caution 

 in small doses and well diluted, it has proved in his 



