KO DADD'S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY 



it fail to have this effect, after a lapse of about six hours, the dose 

 may be repeated. This plan of treatment is more rational, and 

 has proved more successful, than that just alluded to. 



Should the disease progress so that the animal manifests symp- 

 toms of coma, or lethargy, then chlorate of potass is the best, 

 agent. It should be given in half-ounce doses, every four or six 

 hours, in the form of drench, or it may be dissolved in the watei 

 which the animal is allowed to drink. A few doses of the fol- 

 lowing preparation must also be given : 



No. 9. Fluid extract of golden seal j ^^ 4 QZ 



Fluid extract of juniper ) 



Mix. 



Dose, two ounces every morning. 



Keep the rectum empty by injections, and, if the case be curable, 

 such treatment as this, followed up by careful nursing, will ac- 

 complish the object. Copeman, who is authority in this disease, 

 fully indorses this treatment, and says : 



" Hitherto the treatment of meningitis (sleepy staggers), whether 

 real or supposed, has been antiphlogistic, but it is impossible to say 

 that any benefit has ever been effected by the practice. The early 

 stages of the disease are probably generally overlooked. So long 

 as the horse retains his appetite and his consciousness, no suspicion 

 of disease arises. It is only when exudation or effusion has been 

 poured out in such quantity as to cause drowsiness and stupor that 

 our suspicions are awakened, and thus it is very difficult to under- 

 stand how blood-letting or purging could facilitate its absorption. 

 Besides, we have seen that the tendency of such effusion is to pass 

 into the circulation. Hence, the treatment which favors the re- 

 absorption of the exudation, as I have previously explained, must 

 be most effectual. For this purpose time is required, and the vital 

 strength, instead of being lowered, should be supported. Iu short, 

 the duty of the practitioner is to support the economy as much as 

 possible, to give nutrients with moderate stimulants, to unload the 

 bowels, from time to time, artificially, by injections, etc., and in this 

 way to gain time, which will enable the effused matters to pass 

 through their natural transformations, to be absorbed and ulti- 

 mately excreted. It has appeared to me that the collection c^ 

 serous fluil, whether in the ventricles or over the surface ot the 

 brain, either with or without exudation, is consecutive m obstruc- 



