312 INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 



Make the last prescription into a drink, with half a pint of 

 thick gruel. Either of the above drinks is to be given four 

 times daily at the commencement, and to be gradually 

 lessened as the disease abates. 



Great caution is required, in giving a horse with inflam- 

 mation of the lungs any thing in the shape of a drink. 

 Time and patience accomplish wonders. Lower the horse's 

 head the moment it begins to cough. This last direction 

 is most important, and should not be neglected ; or the 

 horse may fall dead from the fluid having fallen upon the 

 lungs, which the examination after death is certain to dis- 

 close. The best plan is to proceed with firmness, and yet 

 gentleness, dividing the drink into four portions if neces- 

 sary, and allowing the animal to take its time over each. 



All food should be removed. No trouble should be ex- 

 pressed because the horse does not eat. The animal, with 

 inflammation of the lungs, generally has no disposition to 

 feed, or if the inclination remain, it should not be gratified. 

 Starvation is one of the most active means of cure, and 

 one of the surest agents in cutting short the complaint. 

 The horse will lose more flesh in one day from the wasting 

 effects of the disorder, than he can in seven days from 

 actual abstinence. Warm mashes, not hot, however, may 

 be placed in the manger, because in inflammation of the 

 lungs it is dangerous to give any physic, lest the bowels 

 sympathize, and the animal perish. Two ounces of Epsom 

 salts may be dissolved in every pail of water, which should 

 be repeatedly changed, and placed continually before the 

 horse. Enemas of simple soap and water, in conjunction 

 with backracking, may also be tried, in order to excite the 

 bowels into action. 



If debility should appear, all tartar emetic should be 

 withheld. If, in spite of this, the weakness increase, the 

 horse may have linseed tea made thick, placed before it, with 

 two quarts of stout per day. The aconite, likewise, should 

 be withdrawn, and attention paid to the legs, rubbing them 

 whenever they are cold. In extreme cases, brandy and 

 ammonia are admissible. 



When the disease abates, which it generally does in 

 forty-eight hours, the care must not lessen ; for the disease 

 is likely to recur, or remain in a chron'c stage as thick or 



