BC DADD'S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERF 



it fail to have this cflTeet, aftei a lapse of about six liours, tho does 

 may be repeated. Tliis ])lan of treatment is more rational, and 

 has proved more successfid, than that just alluded to. 



Should the disease progress so Ihat tlie animal manifests symp- 

 toms of coma, or lethargy, then chlorate of potass is the best 

 agent. It should be g'ven in half-ounce doses, every four or sij 

 hours, in the form of drench, or it may be dissolved in the watei 

 which the animal is allowed to drink. A few doses cf the fol" 

 lowing preparation must also be given: 



No. 9. Fhiid extract of crolden seal ) , . 



V} -i * ^ c- ■ t each 4 oz. 



i* luid extract or jumper j 



Mix. 



Dost, two ounces every morning. 



Keep the rectum empty by injections, and, if the case be curable, 

 such treatment as this, followed up by careful nursing, will ac- 

 complish the object. Copeman, who is authority in this disease, 

 fully indorses this treatment, and says: 



" Hitherto the treatment of meningitis (sleej)y staggers), whether 

 real or supposed, has been antiphlogistic, but it is impossible to say 

 that any benefit has ever been effected by the j)ractice. The early 

 stages of the disease are probably generally overlooked. So long 

 as the horse retains his appetite and his < onsciousness, no suspicion 

 of disease arises. It is only when exudation or effusion has been 

 poured out in such quantity as to cause drowsiness and stupor that 

 our suspicions are awakened, and thus it is very difficult to under- 

 stand how blood-letting or purging could facilitate its absorption. 

 Besides, we have seen that the tendency of such effusion is to pass 

 into the circulation. Hence, the treatment which favors the re- 

 absorption of the exudation, as I have previously explained, must 

 be most effectual. For this purj)ose time is required, and the vital 

 gtrength, instead of being lowered, should be sujiported. In short, 

 the duty of the practitioner is to suj)port the economy as nmeh as 

 possible, to give nutrients with moderate stimulants, to unload the 

 bowels, from time to time, artificially, by injections, etc., and in this 

 way to gain time, which will enable the effused matters to pass 

 through their natural transformations, to be absorbed and ulti- 

 mately excreted. It has appeared to nie that the collection of 

 serous fluii, whether in the ventricles or over the surface ot the 

 brain, either with or without exudation, is consecutive >n obstrur;- 



