100 CONGESTION OF THE BRAIN. 



they pass. All the voluntary and involuntary motions of the 

 body are performed by the alternate contractions and relaxa- 

 tions of the fibres ; and the food is masticated, swallowed, 

 and moved through the system by the same process. To 

 relax, to contract, to stimulate, and to furnish the system 

 with the proper materials for nutrition, constitute the whole 

 modus operandi of the medical art." 



" All experience has proved that warmth and moisture relax 

 all animal fibre ; that dry heat or dry cold contracts it ; and 

 that some medicines do one, and some the other ; that cer- 

 tain articles and processes stimulate the organs to high action, 

 and that nutritious food aids them in building up the wastes 

 and restoring injuries. 7 ' 



Congestion of the Brain, 8fc. — In diseases bearing a prox- 

 imity to apoplexy, they manifest themselves in different forms, 

 according to the amount of vital resistance that the animal 

 possesses. Thus we have stomach staggers, congestion of 

 the brain, vertigo, disease of the brain called hydrocephalus. 

 Now, although we observe alarming symptoms in the region 

 of the brain, it is no more a disease of that organ than it is 

 of impaired digestion, circulation, absorption, secretion, &c. ; 

 for the latter are all involved in a deficiency of physiological 

 action, and the cure of stomach staggers is the cure of every 

 other form of disease. The different forms of disease sup- 

 posed to be in the brain of horses, are, nominally, impaired 

 digestion, and result from overtaxing the latter function, 

 constipation, want of pure air and sufficient exercise, bad 

 food, &c. : these are chiefly the causes that produce staggers. 

 A primary congestion of the brain, or spinal marrow, is often 

 produced by vitiated and irritating mucous secretions, and 

 indigestible and feculent matter in the intestines, producing, 

 in common parlance, " a determination of blood to the head." 

 (For treatment, see Appendix.) 



The author has consulted several works on the treatment 

 of apoplexy, congestions, &c. : they all agree in bleeding, 

 blistering, and purging. Mr. Youatt says, " The treatment 

 adopted by the best practitioners is too often unsuccessful. 



