180 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OP 



Directions. — First dissolve the salts in the above amount 

 of water, then add the croton and ginger. Drench the animal 

 by means of a quart bottle ; take time to pour it down the oesoph- 

 agus, and the more speedily will it act. If I have no faith 

 in blood-letting, I may be said to have greai faith in purgation, 

 for as Percivall very truly observes, in regard to the treatment 

 of staggers in horses, ^^ purge a horse and you cure him^'' so I 

 say in regard to the treatment of puerperal fever, purge a cow 

 and she shall he cured ; the bowels must be made to liberate 

 their contents. After having administered the medicine, the 

 patient must be watched, and when she lays down let her have 

 a comfortable bed of hay, and the attendant should occasionally 

 sponge her head with cold water. Wlien down, a good stimu- 

 lating alkaline enema may be thrown into the rectum, com- 

 posed of warm water, two quarts ; ginger, half an ounce ; fine 

 salt, two ounces. 



Supposing that, after a lapse of six or eight hours, the bowels 

 fail to respond to the purgative, half the quantity just recom- 

 mended may be given, and perhaps it may be proper, in view 

 of creating a vaccuum in the rectum, to repeat the enema ; for 

 purgation once established, our patient is safe ; yet, in view of 

 producing this very desirable result, it is not a rational pro- 

 cedure to convert the stomach into an apothecary's shop, and 

 gorge it with useless drugs, as is, unfortunately, too often the 

 case ; for, by this means, a medicijial disease is created, which 

 is generally more uncontrollable than the original one. 



In curable cases it is very rare for the above medicine to 

 fail in exciting catharsis ; however, such remedy is not always 

 at hand (I mean the salts) ; the next best remedy is common 

 table salt, to be substituted for the glauber or epsom salts. 



Other indications to be fulfilled in the treatment of this dis- 

 ease. 7— The palsied limbs require attention. Let them be dili- 

 gently rubbed with tincture of capsicum — hot drops — in view 

 of producing reaction ; by this means we equalize the circula- 

 tion, and thus relieve internal congestion. 



Should the bowels be tympanitic, or distended with gas, a 



