276 DIFFUSED OR GENERAL INFLAMMATION. 



have been led to consider this as erroneous. But it is pro- 

 bable that in attempting to prove too much, jas is usually 

 the case, they prove too little ; for daily observation of 

 plain facts convince us tliat the application of cold, under 

 various forms and circumstances, is an active agent in the 

 production of inflammation. The predisposing cause is, 

 however, of the most consequence, and to this the gene- 

 rality of people pay little attention. Few persons think at 

 all about an agency, which though fatal in its ultimate 

 result, is followed by no immediate effect. The predispo- 

 sition, however, once established, any circumstance may 

 become the exciting cause ; but because this last is nearer 

 to the effect, it attracts the attention, and fixes the observa- 

 tion of the great majority of horse-owners. 



The treatment of general or diffused inflammation. — In 

 attempting the reduction of diffused inflammation, whether 

 existing in the form of inflammatory fever, or in the inflam- 

 mation of some vital and important organ, the first remedy 

 formerly employed was bleeding. The practitioner was so 

 confident in this resort, that he drew blood with the 

 same complacency he would extract beer from a barrel, and 

 quite as often, even supposing him to be very fond of the 

 exhilarating beverage. In the present day, however, either 

 the character of disease has changed, or it is perceived the 

 practice alluded to was founded upon a mistaken basis. 

 Horses could not now bear the loss of half that quantity of 

 vital fluid, which is on good authority believed to have 

 been formerly taken from them. Many an animal now, 

 having influenza has been bled into hydrothorax. Many 

 an animal has been so reduced by repeated bleedings, that 

 he has ultimately sank, not from the disease, but in conse- 

 quence of the measures pursued for its reduction. Bleeding 

 had better now be entirely put out of the means of cure ; 

 for any disturbance of the circulation is easier and more 

 safely equallized by the administration of a stimulant, than 

 only apparently tranquillized by the abstraction of a fluid, 

 of which the animal very rarely has a drop too much. 



Purgatives, in the human subject, form the next active 

 agent in combating arterial excitement ; but there are some 

 peculiarities in the structure and functions of the horse, 

 which render these medicines less eligible than in man. To 



