APPENDIX B 



Medicines : Their Terms, Actions, Formulas 



and Doses 



1003. On account of the large number of diseases that are now found to arise 

 from the presence of pathogenic or disease -producing germs in the fluids 

 and tissues of the body, the administration of medical agents has, during 

 the last twenty years, undergone a great change. Medical agents act 

 both locally and generally, and are much influenced in their action by 

 climate, temperature, habit, surroundings, susceptibility of the patient, 

 and the nature of the disease. Some medicines, again, have special 

 actions on certain structures and organs of the body, but their influence 

 varies considerably in different classes of animals. To meet these con- 

 ditions, medicines are, therefore, compounded and used in a variety of 

 forms. 



1004. The Allopathic form is the oldest and most general in use, and in it 

 drugs are employed in certain definite proportions in accordance with 

 their action, and they are given by the mouth. The Homoeopathic form, 

 or Homoeopathy — 'like cures like' — is seldom used in veterinary prac- 

 tice ; drugs, however, under this system, are administered in the form 

 of globules and in infinitesimal doses. 



1005. Medical preparations are, as a rule, given by the mouth in the form of 

 Balls, Boluses, Pills, and Draughts, or they are injected into the bowels 

 by an enema. Hypodermic Injections — that is, injections of certain medi- 

 cines under the skin — are now extensively practised with good results ; 

 medical and various other preparations are also frequently directly 

 injected into the blood and into the windpipe. 



1006. The peculiar actions of some of the drugs on the living body are known 

 under special terms, such as Alteratives, Anaesthetics, Anodynes, Anti- 

 septics, Aperients, etc. 



1007. Alteratives have an extensive range, and include the various pre- 

 parations of the bromides, chlorides, iodides, sulphides, and the alkaline 

 carbonates, and also the mercurial, arsenical, and vegetable extracts. 

 It is not exactly known in what manner a number of them establish 



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