A DICTIONARY. 



215 



Absinthium. — Common wormwood, used 

 for the purpose of reducing swellings that 

 have resulted from violence. Two ounces 

 of wormwood are steeped in one quart of 

 New England rum ; if a limb of the ani- 

 mal is involved, the wormwood is then 

 bound on with bandages, and the parts 

 occasionally wetted with the fluid. 



Acacia. — Gum arable, used as a demul- 

 cent and lubricant. In poisoning, it is use- 

 ful to sheathe the membranes of the stomach 

 and alimentary canal, and will defend them 

 from the action of drastic purges. 



Acacia Catechu. — Gum catechu. This 

 is a powerful astringent : it is obtained from 

 a tree that grows in Japan. 



Acetabulum. — The socket in which the 

 head of the thigh bone is l5dged. 



AcETATED Liquor of Ammonia. — This 

 has been long known by the popular term 

 of Mindererus' spirit, and is made by pour- 

 ing any quantity of acetic acid, diluted with 

 seven times its amount of water, upon car- 

 bonate of ammonia, until all fermentation 

 ceases, or until a neutral solution has been 

 formed. It is useful in horse practice ; it 

 gently invigorates, is diaphoretic, and some- 

 times it proves mildly diuretic. It princi- 

 pally shows its salutary effects in the com- 

 mencement of the febrile stage, or at the 

 close of lingering febrile diseases, particular- 

 ly of influenza. In the more early stages of 

 epidemic catarrh, it may also be exhibited : 

 the dose is from four ounces to an almost 

 unlimited quantity. The author used this 

 preparation with remarkable success in the 

 treatment of influenza, which prevailed, in 

 Massachusetts, in the fall and winter of 

 1855. The dose for horses and cattle is 

 from three to four fluid ounces. It is gen- 

 erally given diluted with an equal quan- 

 tity of water. 



Acids. — Are distinguished by their sour 

 taste ; they readily combine with alkalies, 

 producing effervescence. Those commonly 

 used in veterinary practice are : sulphuric, 

 nitric, hydrochloric, and acetic. They are all 

 more or less corrosive, and decompose the 

 vital tissues, by uniting with their serous, 

 albuminous, and saline constituents. There- 



fore, when administered to the horse, they 

 should be diluted with water. 



Aconita. — Wolfsbane. — A powerful 

 sedative ; it moderates the action of the 

 heart, and produces depression of the vital 

 energies. It is generally used in the form 

 of tincture. Dose, from ten to fifteen drops. 



Action. — The gait of a horse ; which de- 

 pends on his powers and the mode of 

 training. 



Action of Medicines.* — Every medi- 

 cine is endowed with certain inherent char- 

 acteristic actions, which distinguish it as 

 decidedly as its physical and chemical pro- 

 perties. Thus, some medicines act on the 

 bowels, causing purgation ; others on the 

 kidneys, stimulating the secretion of urine ; 

 and others on the brain and nervous sys- 

 tem, causing insensibility ; in fact, there 

 is no part or organ of the body, except the 

 spleen and pancreas, which is not influ- 

 enced, and that often in several different 

 ways, by some medicinal agent. It is im- 

 possible, however, to explain why a medi- 

 cine should act in one way rather than in 

 another ; why, for example, aloes is purga- 

 tive, and not diuretic, narcotic, or anaesthetic; 

 or why chloroform is anaesthetic, and not 

 vesicant, diuretic, or purgative. The stu- 

 dent must therefore endeavor to conceive of 

 these actions, or dynamical effects of medi- 

 cines, in the same manner as he does of 

 their more familiar properties of color, odor, 

 taste, or density. 



Some medicines, as demulcents, caustics, 

 and astringents, have merely a local or topi- 

 cal action — soothing, irritating, corroding, 

 or altering the animal tissues, but not ex- 

 tending their influence beyond the part to 

 which they are first applied. Others, either 

 with or without such a local effect, have a 

 remote or indirect action on organs at a 

 distance from the part with which they are 

 first brought in contact. Medicines which 

 act thus remotely or indirectly are thought 

 to produce their effects in either or both of 

 the two following ways : (a) They are 

 absorbed into the circulation, and carried 

 by the blood to remote organs ; or (b), The 



* Finlay Dini. 



