•276 INFLUENZA. 



and debilitates while it excites. The seat of the disease is a miicous 

 membrane, and nature's cure for a disease of a mucous membrane is to 

 increase its secretion, and thus throw off the morbific cause. Will bleeding 

 assist the debility, or enable the membrane to increase its functional 

 discharge ? It will, so far from it, prostrate the powers of nature and 

 disable her from having recourse to those health-restoring measures on 

 which hfe itself may depend. 



The treatment of catai'rh should consist of giving a fever draught con- 

 taining an ounce of spirits of nitric ether, Avith six or eight ounces of hquor 

 ammonice acetatis, in a pint of water, tivice a day. It has been objected 

 that no medicine whatever should be given while the throat is so inflamed 

 and sore ; but so far from this being an objection, it is the very reason why 

 a di^aught should be administered ; for, however small a quantity may be 

 BwaUowed, it acts as a gargle to the throat, and soon modifies the diseased 

 action of the mucous membrane. Counter- irritation to the throat is most 

 important ; for as sure as the outer skin becomes sore the internal surface 

 of the thi'oat becomes less so. The best application is the infusion or 

 tincture of Spanish flies diluted with a little soap liniment and spirit of 

 turpentine. This should be well i-ubbed in, enough having been appHed 

 to well moisten the skin, till the horse shakes his head at you as the indi- 

 cation of feeling it ; and may be repeated night and morning till the thick 

 scurf is thrown out on the skin. Should this fail in giving relief in forty- 

 eight hours, the throat should be blistered ; and if the cough continues 

 troublesome, the insertion of a seton for a fortnight or three weeks will 

 generally remove it. Can fomentations be ap23hed to relieve the inflamed 

 and turgid membrane of the mouth, nostrils, and fauces ? Yes, and to the 

 very parts, by steaming the head. For this purpose a pail or nose-bag 

 should be half filled with hay, boihng water poured on it, and the horse's 

 head kept steadily over it as long as the steam ascends, turning the hay 

 occasionally. The hay is a much better medium for applying the steam 

 than bran, and is not so hkely to clog the nostrils. 



The appetite is seldom altogether lost, although the horse may refuse to 

 eat the two or three first days ; this, however, is more from inability than 

 from disinclination ; and, generally, on the third day tonics may be had 

 recourse to. The best of these is the suljihate of iron, which may be 

 given in 5ij. doses, dissolved in a pint of water twice a day, or it may be 

 alternated mth the tincture or infusion of gentian or columbo. 



From the first hour a pail of chilled water should be jilaced within his 

 reach ; and if this is refused do not hesitate after a slioi-t time to give 

 him cold — anything to relieve the intolerable thirst. He will be paddhng 

 in it with his lips and tongue hours during the day, even if he cannot 

 drink. A little mash of scalded oats and bran in one corner of the manger, 

 a few dry oats and bran in another, a little damp hay or green meat 

 thrown on the litter, to induce him to hold his head low, so that the 

 increased secretion may the more readily escape. The green meat should 

 be oSered early, — grass, tares, lucerne, and carrots, — varying the material 

 so as to tempt his fastidious palate. A stricter attention must be paid to 

 diet than the veterinarian usually enforces, or the groom dreams of. 



The practitioner will often and anxiously have recourse to auscultation. 

 He will listen for the mucous rattle, creeping down the windpipe, and 

 entering the bronchial passages. If he cannot detect it below the larynx, 

 he will apply a strong blister, reaching from ear to ear, and extending to 

 the second or- third ring of the trachea. If he can> trace the rattle 

 in the windpipe, he must follow it, — he must blister as far as the disease 

 has spread. This will often have an excellent efiect, not only as a counter- 

 u^ritant, but as rousing the languid powers of the constitution. 



