200 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



Treatment. Treatment demands, first, the removal of the cause. 

 Then, if the suffering and fever are high, 2 to 4 quarts of blood may 

 be abstracted from the jugular vein ; in weak subjects or unless in 

 high fever this should be omitted. Next relieve the kidneys so far as 

 possible by throwing their work on the bowels and skin. A pint of 

 castor oil is less likely than either aloes or salts to act on the kidneys. 

 To affect the skin a warm stall and heavy clothing may be supple- 

 mented by dram doses of Dover's powder. Pain may be soothed by 

 dram doses of bromide of potassium. Boiled flaxseed may be added 

 to the drinking water, and also thrown into the rectum as an injec- 

 tion, and blankets saturated with hot water should be persistently 

 applied to the loins. This may be followed by a very thin pulp of 

 the best ground mustard made with tepid water, rubbed in against 

 the direction of the hair and covered up with paper and a blanket. 

 This may be kept on for an hour, or until the skin thickens and the 

 hair stands erect. It may then be rubbed or sponged off and the 

 blanket reapplied. When the action of the bowels has been started 

 it may be kept up by a daily dose of 2 or 3 ounces of Glauber's saltsv 



During recovery a course of bitter tonics (nux vomica 1 scruple, 

 ground gentian root 4 drams) should be given. The patient should 

 also be guarded against cold, -wet, and any active exertion for some 

 time after all active symptoms have subsided. 



CHRONIC INFLAMMATION OP THE KIDNEYS. 



Causes. Chronic inflammation of the kidneys is more com- 

 monly associated with albumen and casts in the urine than the acute 

 form, and in some instances these conditions of the urine may be the 

 only prominent symptoms of the disease. Though it may supervene 

 on blows > injuries, and exposures, it is much more commonly con- 

 nected with faulty conditions of the system as indigestion, heart 

 disease, lung or liver disease, imperfect blood formation, or assimila- 

 tion ; in short, it is rather the attendant on a constitutional infirmity 

 than on a simple local injury. It may be associated with various 

 forms of diseased kidneys, as shrinkage, increase in size, softening, 

 red congestion, white enlargement, etc., so that it forms a group of 

 diseases rather than a disease by itself. 



Symptoms. The symptoms may include stiffness, weakness, 

 and increased sensibility of the loins, and modified secretion of urine, 

 or the flow may be natural. Dropsy, manifested in swelled legs, is a 

 significant symptom, and if the effusion takes place along the lower 

 line of the body or in chest or abdomen, the significance is increased. 

 A scurfy, unthrifty skin, lack-luster hair, inability to sustain severe 

 or continued exertion, poor or irregular appetite, loss of fat and flesh, 

 softness of the muscles, and pallor of the eyes and nose are equally 

 suggestive. So are skin eruptions of various kinds. 



Treatment. Treatment of these cases is not always satisfactory, 

 as the cause is liable to continue in disorders of important organs else- 

 where. If any such coincident disease of another organ or function 

 can be detected, 'that should be treated first or simultaneously with 

 this affection of the kidneys. In all cases the building up of the 

 general health is important. Hence a course of tonics may be given 



