68 DYSEXTERT. 



putrid, the breath offensive, the respiration more rapid, the eyes sunken, 

 the expression pinched and anxious. The pulse grows weak and feeble, 

 evacuations occur more frequently, and at last are in voluntary and beyond 

 the control of the animal. Paralysis seems to invade the extremities, the 

 skin becomes cold and clammy, the stench intolerable, finally death ensues 

 from exhaustion. 



^Prognosis. — The disease intrinsically tends to recovery. It is a dis- 

 tressing affection, but properly treated need seldom result fatally, provi- 

 ded the system has not been weakened by some previous disease or some 

 co-existing derangement . Exceptionally dysentery eventuates in the 

 chronic form of the disorder. 



Treatment. —It is desirable that as early as possible the contents of the 

 intestines, and more especially the larger, be effectually removed. Nature 

 evidently endeavors to relieve the bowels by a diarrhoea which precedes 

 the dysenteric discharges. The treatment should be commenced with an 

 effective purgative ; castor oil is the more appropriate remedy and a table- 

 spoonful should be given. Following the oil, opium must be relied upon. 

 The following mixture is recommended.— 



R Morph. Sulph. gr.ij 



Sodae Sulphatis £iij 



Aquae Cinnamon. giij 



Ft. Mist. Sig. Dose one teaspoonful every five or six hours. 

 It will be necessary in very many cases to repeat the castor oil espec- 

 ially if fever manifests itself, or the discharges assume an offensive odor. 

 The writer has had too little success in the use of the so-called astringents 

 to advise their administration in the early stage at least. Where the dis- 

 charges assume a character near the normal but watery, then the following 

 mixture may be given. — 



R Misturae Cretae Siijss 



Tinct. Catechu gss 



Ft. Mist. Sig. Dose a dessertspoonful every three or four hours. 



Vomiting sometimes occurs as a prominent symptom at times early in 

 the disease, preventing the administration of medicine by the mouth. 

 In such a case morphine can be given subcutaneously, or thirty drops of 

 laudanum in starch-water be injected into the rectum. These methods 

 need only be employed while the stomach is too irritable to bear what 

 enters it. 



The food should be bland and easily digestible; rather withhold it 

 entirely than unwisely select that which is liable to be vomited, or add to 

 the irritation. 



Milk and lime-water in small quantities given frequently, will be quite 



