212 MANUAL OF EQUINE MEDICINE. 



there is any difficulty in administering liquids, acetate of 

 morphia may be injected hypodermically. 



If the bowels are not acted upon after the lapse of 

 forty-eight hours or so, it is advisable to again administer 

 some purgative medicine, but it is best not to repeat the 

 aloes. Castor oil, in doses of one to two pints, will be 

 found to answer the purpose as efficiently as anything else. 



The treatment of indigestion with coma and cerebral com- 

 plication does not materially differ from that above described. 



Some have recommended the early abstraction of blood 

 in these cases, but we agree wdth the view that this measure, 

 if not harmful and calculated to impede recovery, is rarely 

 of any advantage in the treatment of this disease. An 

 aloetic purge, followed by the administration of sulphuric 

 ether, spirit of chloroform, with full dose of potassium 

 bicarbonate, is generally all that is required. 



In all cases of acute indigestion which come before our 

 notice it is necessary, firstly, to inquire carefully into the 

 dietetic arrangements, and to advise the owner to have them 

 more carefully regulated for the future. 



In the treatment of this disease, as soon as the appetite 

 returns, the diet should be at first of a laxative nature, and 

 limited in amount. 



2. CHRONIC INDIGESTION.— Etiology.— Chronic in- 

 digestion, like the acute form, is chiefly caused by dietetic 

 errors, though these are not always apparent. 



Sometimes the food, though of good quality, is too 

 stimulating and dry ; in other cases it is not sufficiently 

 masticated, perhaps owing to irregularities in the teeth, but 

 in most cases it will be found to be of inferior quality or 

 administered irregularly. 



Dietetic errors in their turn induce changes in the gastric 

 juices and in the movements of the stomach, which, how- 

 ever, are sometimes deficient from impaired nerve-power. 



