90 TREATMENT OF DISEASES 



tion. Therefore, if the fecal accumulations can be got rid of under 

 the exhibition of so safe and desirable an agent as grass, it is cer- 

 tainly to be preferred to the tripe-scouring compounds of the day. 



The grass may perhaps act as a cathartic, especially if the sub- 

 ject has been accustomed to corn and oats. If this should be the 

 case, a sufficient quantity of dry food should be allowed to supply 

 the waste of the body, and promote the living integrity; for with- 

 out oil the light will go out, and food is to the system what oil is to 

 the light. Therefore, in such case, a liberal allowance of nutritious 

 food will be indicated. 



When green food cannot be obtained, a sort of substitute can be 

 compounded, consisting of boiled carrots, beets and turnips, thick- 

 ened with shorts, or fine feed, and the whole pounded up together, 

 to which a tablespoonful of salt may be added. 



As regards the drink, we need only observe that pure water, in 

 small quantities, is perhaps the best ; yet if the patient be in exceed- 

 ingly poor condition, he may then be allowed two quarts of hay tea, 

 and a pint of fresh cow's milk twice a day. 



Animals suffering from either glanders or farcy, should have a lib- 

 eral supply of common salt.* A quantity should be placed in a 

 situation where the animal can help himself; in addition to which 

 the food should be salted. 



Medicines. — These must possess the following properties : 



1. Antiseptic. To preserve the system from putrescence. The 

 principal one is pyroligneous acid; dose, one ounce twice a day, iu 

 a pint of sage tea. 



2. Alterative. To change morbid action ; the following is an . 

 example : 



Phosphate of Lime 1 ounce. 



Powdered Sarsaparilla, ) f i, *> " 



" Sassafras, j 



" AsafoBtida 1 " 



Mix, and divide into twenty-four powders ; one to be given, night 

 and morning, in thin gruel. 



3. Utimulant. To arouse vital action ; the chief are capsicum 



* Saline matterg are essential constituents of the blood, of the organized tispues, and of the secre- 

 tions. They are, therefore, necessary components of our food, for without them, liealth and vitality 

 cannot be maintained. 



Tlie alimentary salts, which, on account of their occurring more frequently and l.irgrly in the sys- 

 tem, may be rcfjarded of the most importance, in a dietetical point of view, are common salt, and 

 the earthy plinsphates. Ferrughious compounds (salts?) and probably salts of potash, are also indis- 

 pensable iiiiireilients of our food. 



1. Common Salt {Chloride of Sodium). Though salt is a constituent of most of our foods and 

 drinlcs, we ilo not, in tliis way, obtain a sufficient supi)lv of it to satisfy the wants of the system ; and 

 nature has accordingly furnished us with an appetite for it. The salt, therefore, which we consume 

 at our table as a condiment, in reality serves dther and far more important purposes in the anim.Xl 

 economy than that of merely gratifying the palate. It is a necessary article of food, being essential 

 for the preservation of health, and the raainteniini-e of life. 



It forms an essential constituent of blood, which fluid doubtless owes many of its important quail- 

 ties to it. Thus it probably contributes to keep the blood corpuscles unchanged ; for when these are 

 put into water, a powerful and rapid endosmose tal^es place, in conse<|uence of wliich they swell up 

 and assume a globular form ; whereas in a v^enk solution of salt they remain unchanged. In maliii- 

 nant cholera, and some other diseases in which there is a deficiency in the saline ingredients of the 

 blood, this fluid has a very da rl;, or even bbick appearance; whence it has been assumed by .some 

 writers that the red color of the blood i< dependtni on the presence of its saline ingredients. I'rom 

 the salt of the blood, aided by water, the gastric juice derives its hydrochloric acid, and the blood 

 and tne bile their soda. Ihe soda which exis'sin the blood, in combination with alliumen, passes out 

 of the system in uniop with organic matter, represented by chloric acid. In other words, 

 bile contains the elements of chlorate of snda, though not necessarily arranged as such. Lastly 

 "the soda" which has been used in the vital processes, and any excess of soda, must be expelled in 

 the form of salt, after being soparalcd fjora the blood by the kidney. — Liehig. 



