212 The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



should be immediate and ample ; and after bleeding, 

 purgative medicine must next be administered, because 

 the mucous membrane of the bowels and coating 

 o± the stomach are in most instances affected sym- 

 pathetically by a deranged action in any other 

 part of the system. Should this not be the case 

 they may be otherwise irregular, which invariably 

 increases all kinds of inflammation, and fever is 

 induced more especially when there is much 

 retention. In any case purging has the effect of 

 lessening the quantity of blood, by removing from it the 

 serous or watery portion, and by determinating the blood 

 to the bowels. The pressure is necessarily removed from 

 the inflamed vessels, as it is a law of the animal economy 

 that where the circulation is directed to one set of vessels 

 it proportionately diminishes the flow in other parts of 

 the system. Purging, by producing languor and sickness, 

 lessens the general excitement, and hence the pressure 

 upon the circulation is circumscribed. In administering 

 medicine in cases of internal inflammation much caution 

 and consideration is required, because what would be 

 beneficial in some cases may be prejudicial in others. 

 Thus in inflammation of the lungs aloes may be given as a 

 purgative, but in inflammation of the bowels it would be 

 decidedly wrong, from its tendency to gripe, and even in 

 inflammation of the lungs purgative medicine should not 

 be given until after the inflammatory symptoms have 

 abated. In external inflammation, great difference of 

 opinion prevails as to the treatment ; some recommend 

 cold embrocations as the most proper mode of treatment, 

 being most likely to allay the heat in the part, and there 



