CONTAGiaUS AND EPIZOOTIC DISEASES. 2t 



If the abdominal organs are the main seat of disease, supple- 

 ment the medicines above named by demulcents (slippery elm 

 mallow, boiled linseed), and anodynes (opium, hydrocyanic 

 acid), with, in some cases, a gentle laxative (olive oil). Nervous 

 symptoms may demand wet cloths to the head, blisters to the 

 •sides of the neck, purgatives, unless contra-indicated, and bro- 

 mide of potassium. The rheumatic complication must be 

 treated like ordinary rheumatism, with colchicum, propylamine, 

 acetate of potassa, turpentine, warmth, counter-irritants, etc. 



TYPHOID, GASTRIC, OR BILIOUS FEVER. 



This strongly resembles the abdominal form of influenza and 

 sometimes occurs in the same place at the same time. It also 

 appears independently in horses weakened by shedding their 

 coats in spring and autumn, in those kept in a hot, close, 

 impure, and unwholesome atmosphere, fed insufficiently or on 

 badly-preserved, musty, or otherwise injured aliment, supplied 

 with water containing an excess of decomposing organic matter, 

 fed irregularly, subjected to over- work, etc Finally, it proves 

 contagious in confined insalubrious buildings, and to a less 

 extent, in those that are wholesome and well aired. Some 

 unknown generally acting influence makes it more virulent at 

 one season than another. 



Symptoms, — There are a few days of dullness and lassitude 

 followed by the general signs of fever : — Staring coat, shivering, 

 alternate heat and coldness of the surface, restlessness, hot dry 

 mouth, and elevation of the internal temperature of the body. 

 There is a yellowish tinge of the mucous membranes, costive- 

 ness, colicky pains, full, tense, tender belly, passage of a few 

 dark, hard pellets of dung covered with a mucous film, urine 

 scanty, reddish, and depositing a sediment, pulse rapid and 

 weak, and there may or may not be sore throat, excited breath- 

 ing, and discharge from the nose. In the more favourable 

 cases, signs of improvement are noticeable in eight or nine days. 



