MEDICINES USED IN THE TREATMENT OF CATTLE. 457 



by opium, irritation is allayed, while the natural action of the bowels 

 is promoted. 



Bichloride or Mercury. Corrosive Sublimate. — This drug 

 may almost be dispensed with by the practitioner on cattle. It can 

 never be administered internally ; it is highly dangerous used exter- 

 nally in considerable or efficient quantity for the cure of mange or any 

 cutaneous eruption ; and as a caustic there are many as good. 



Mint. — An infusion or decoction of this plant will be a useful vehi- 

 cle in which other medicines may be administered for the cure of 

 diarrhcea or colic. 



Myrrh. — The tincture of myrrh is a useful application to wounds, 

 and is also applied to the cankered mouth ; but it contains nothing to 

 render it preferable to the tincture of aloes in the former case, or a 

 solution of alum in the latter. 



Nitre — See Potash. 



Nitrous Ether, Spirit of. — A favorite medicine with many prac- 

 titioners in the advanced stages of fever. It is said to rouse, to a 

 certain degree, the exhausted powers of the animal, while it rarely 

 brino-s back the dangerous febrile action that was subsiding, ^t is 

 not, however, a stimulant to which the author has often dared to 

 have recourse, except in the advanced stages of epidemic catarrh, or 

 the malignant epidemic. The dose should not exceed half an ounce. 



Nux Vomica. — This is not introduced from any experience which 

 the author has had of its efficacy, but from the favorable opinion 

 which some continental veterinarians have expressed of it in the cure 

 of palsy. The doses which they gave consisted of more than an 

 ounce. The author has tried the nux vomica, and its essential prin- 

 ciple, the strj'chnine, as a cure for palsy in the dog, but never with 

 success. 



Opilm. — As an anti-spasmodic, an allayer of irritation, and an 

 astringent because it does allay irritation, opium stands unrivalled. 

 It is that on which the chief, or almost the only dependence is placed 

 in locked-jaw. A colic drink would lose the greater part of its effi- 

 cacy without it ; and if it were left out of the medicines for diarrhoea 

 and dysentery, almost every other drug would be administered in 

 vain. It is most conveniently given in the form of powder, and held 

 in suspension with other medicines in thick gruel. 



The tincture of opium (laudanum) is useful in inflammation of the 

 eyes ; and a poultice of linseed meal made with a decoction of poppy- 

 heads, often has an admirable eflfect when applied to irritable ulcers, 

 or to parts laboring under much inflammation. 



Pitch. — This is only useful as the principal ingredient in charges, 

 so useful in cases of palsy, or sprain, or chronic local debility. 



Plasters. — See Charges. 



Potash. Nitrate of Nitre. — As useful to cattle as to the horse. 

 It has an immediate effect in abating inflammation, and it is a mild 

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