142 DISEASES OF THE LUNGS. 



drachm and a half daily, incorporated with double the 

 quantity of turpentine and aloes, and a sufficiency of honey, 

 divided into two or three doses, and finds it produces copious 

 evacuations of urine, and^ in some cases, slight excoriations 

 about the mouth and inside of the lips. To these observations, 

 D^Arboval very properly subjoins, that as cantharides is one 

 of that class which we denominate irritating poisons, and is 

 sometimes attended with very violent action on the bladder 

 and mucous membranes in general, we ought narrowly to 

 watch its operation. Debaux and Vaison have derived 

 benefit from the exhibition of large doses of tartar emetic : 

 from 4 to 6 drachms [gros] a day have brought hydro- 

 thoracic patients round into a state of convalescence in three 

 days. 



Paracentesis, or tapjnng the chest, has been, by different 

 veterinarians, resorted to as a remedy where a quantity of 

 water is known to have collected. The indications regarded 

 in human medicine for urging the performance of this ope- 

 ration are, cases of acute hydrothorax, in which there has 

 evidently been a rapid and copious effusion of water into 

 the bag of the pleura. Lafosse, years ago, declared it to 

 be a cure for hydrothorax consecutive on inflammation. He 

 recommended that about half the fluid collected should be 

 drawn off, and that then about the same quantity of vulne- 

 rary decoction should be injected. Two hours afterwards 

 he draws off two thirds of the remaining water, but injects 

 only one third. In two more hours he empties the chest, 

 and throws in about 3i pints (2 litres) of the same decoction 

 diluted. Gohier, from unsuccessfulness in many cases, and 

 from often having seen it do mischief, has altogether relin- 

 quished the operation. Massot cured a mare, seven years 

 old, by tapping. 



This mare had, six months previous, been the subject of 

 acute pleurisy, which left these symptoms : — skin dry, coat 

 pen-feathered, gait unsteady, extremities cold, pulse slow, 

 membranes pale and infiltrated ; fits of coughing on the 

 least exercise : pupils dilated, stupor, oppressive breathing, 

 pain of the right side of the chest, elevation of the ribs. 



