THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 95 



3. The third variety has been named epidemic bronchitis, be- 

 cause, like other epizootics, it retains its character in every part 

 of the globe, and appears to maintain its influence in certain lo- 

 cations, to the exclusion of other forms of disease. There may, 

 however, be some difference in the severity of the disease at the 

 commencement, height, or decline of the morbid period. 



" The epidemic variety ," says Percivall, " is remarkable for the 

 emission of copious discharges or fluxes from the nose, at one 

 time turning yellow, at another green, and then again white. In 

 this form the disorder is exceedingly apt to assume the chronic 

 type, and, after continuing for a length of time, to leave the ani- 

 mal reduced in flesh, and much debilitated." There is no doubt 

 in the mind of the author, that many of those cases of abdominal 

 respiration noticed among horses in the New England States, 

 and commonly termed " heaves" is the result of bronchitis, which 

 leaves the upper air passages in a contracted state, or else thick- 

 ens their lining membrane. 



Treatment. — Bloodletting has ever been extolled as one of 

 the main dependences in the cure of bronchitis ; but as we have 

 no faith in the curability of such diseases by the fleam, of course 

 we cannot recommend the practice to the reader. To equalize the 

 blood so that there shall be no excess in the membranes of the air 

 passages, seems more rational than to abstract it. In view of pro- 

 ducing so desirable a result, we use drachm doses of powdered lobe- 

 lia seeds twice a day. Most veterinarians, however, recommend 

 powdered hellebore, in half drachm doses, twice a day, preceded 

 by free abstractions of blood. The lobelia is to be continued, to- 

 gether with warmth and moisture to the external surface, until, 

 from the softness of the pulse and moisture on the surface, we 

 are certain that the remedy has taken effect. This is not all 

 that is to be done ; for the mucous membranes must be sheathed 

 by lubricants, so as to protect them from the effects of the morbid 

 secretion continually flowing over their surfaces ; and no better or 

 cheaper article than slippery elm can be found. A small por- 

 tion of the powdered bark is to be stirred into a given quantity 

 of boiling water, until it forms a mucilage just thick enough for 

 a drink ; to a pint of which add two ounces of sirup of garlic ; 

 to be given twice daily. Counter irritants applied in the vicinity 



