TREATMENT. 541 



Stamina and external surroundings of the patients are such as 

 hold out fair prospects of success. 



Having determined upon the removal of the fluid by tapping, 

 the exact spot chosen to puncture is usually the eighth or 

 ninth intercostal space, and midway between the bottom of the 

 cavity and what is beheved to be the superior limit of the 

 fluid, this latter being detected by auscultation and percussion. 

 The instruments employed are either the ordinary trocar and 

 canula, or the pneumatic aspirator. It is not needful to 

 remove all the fluid in order to ensure permanent benefit ; the 

 abstraction of a moderate amount may in some instances give 

 an impetus to the energies and hasten the removal of the 

 remainder. When considered needful the operation may be 

 repeated in two or three days. 



In all cases where this operation has been performed we will 

 require for some time to be careful regarding the horse's dietary; 

 it ought to be good, easy of assimilation, and such as is not 

 likely to confine the bowels, while moderate but regular doses 

 of some tonic medicine, with an occasional diuretic, are likely 

 to be beneficial, and when the strength has sufficiently re- 

 covered, a mild dose of laxative medicine. 



This is one of those operations which, in the practice of both 

 human and veterinary medicine, has been viewed and spoken 

 of very differently. By some it has been regarded as a trifling 

 matter, and as usually attended with a large amount of good ; 

 by others it has been unsparingly condemned as one of the 

 most misleading operations which can be performed upon any 

 animal. Very much, Ave suspect, depends on the cases upon 

 which it is performed, their chances of recovery being largely 

 influenced by the character of the disease upon which the 

 effusion depends, as also upon the constitutional vigour of the 

 animals affected, and various other obvious and inappreciable 

 influences. In cases such as we have already marked out, we 

 cannot see there is much or any valid objection to be urged 

 against its adoption, while the certainty that apart from some 

 such treatment the majority of these would die, and the 

 probability that from the operation a proportion might be 

 enabled to outlive the morbid conditions, will ever warrant its 

 adoption in all animals. 



