260 THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 



Spirits camphor, 2 ounces, 



Tincture of Indian hemp, ... 1 ounce, 

 Olive oil, 4 ounces. 



Mix ; and lubricate the stiff and painful regions daily, and cover 



them with flannel. 



The diet during the inflammatory stage should \>e light, con- 

 sisting of sloppy mashes. Linseed tea, and water acidulated 

 with cream of tartar, form the best drink for fever patients. An 

 acute case may generally be treated somewhat after this fashion. 

 There is, to be sure, much diversity of opinion as regards the 

 means ; for while one recommends us to bleed with one hand and 

 give opium with the other, (by which means the system is pros- 

 trated,) another recommends stimulants, to exalt the circulation, 

 and thus secure its equilibrium, so that there shall be no excess 

 of blood in any part ; a third advocates cold water ; and a fourth, 

 homoeopathy. Finally, in many cases the subjects get well with- 

 out one particle of medicine. The physician who has studied his 

 profession with care will know when to give and when to with- 

 hold medicine : at all times he should endeavor to see how little 

 medicine he can get along with, for by so doing he studies the 

 interests of all concerned. 



The diagnostic symptoms of acute rheumatism are, great pain 

 elicited by pressure or motion ; swelling of the limb or body, as 

 the case may be; febrile symptoms are present ; some thirst; the 

 urine has a very pungent odor ; the pulse is full and hard, and 

 peristaltic action is slow. Some other portions of the case de- 

 serve notice. The disease occurs very suddenly in subjects not 

 far advanced in years ; there are regular periods in the course of 

 the twenty-four hours, from day to day, when the patient will be 

 worse. In the human subject, night is the period when the pains 

 and fever are greatest ; and in four-footed subjects, confined in ill- 

 ventilated stables, we have noticed the same thing ; yet in many 

 cases the disease leaves the subject very suddenly, or migrates to 

 other tissues, so that this feature is not so persistent as in man. 

 The disease has, to our certain knowledge, gravitated to the feet ; 

 it is then called acute laminitis — another name, in a majority of 

 cases, for founder in its acute stage. 



The diagnostic symptoms, when the heart becomes affected, are, 

 palpitation, difficult breathing, and great oppression. These 



