DISEASES OF RESPIRATORY PASSAGES AND ORGANS. 117 



ment, that the patient shall be placed in a comfortable shed or 

 barn, where pure air abounds; for, under such circumstances, 

 the cooperation of Nature in the cure of the malady is secured. 

 Should the disease be of an acute character, it will be accom- 

 panied by quick or labored respiration, and a strong, wiry pulse. 

 In that event, I should give two drachms of the tincture of gel- 

 ••eminura. The brisket and sides of the chest are to be rubbed 

 occasionally with mustard and vinegar. This acts as a counter- 

 irritant, and diverts the blood from the lungs to the surface. It 

 was customary, in former years, to bleed and purge almost all 

 animals when attacked with acute pneumonia ; but as the mor- 

 tality was then very great, and less under a more rational sys- 

 tem, we are led to believe that bad treatment was the cause of 

 our want of success. Two or three doses of gelseminum, given 

 at intervals of six or eight hours, will, together with the elapsed 

 time, have a tendency to modify the affection. Then active medi- 

 cation is to be suspended, and we immediately give life-sustaining 

 agents, which consist of pure air, water, proper food, tonics, and 

 stimulants. The best tonics and stimulants that I know of 

 are powdered golden seal and ginger, equal parts. Dose, half 

 an ounce night and morning, as a drench; or two ounces, night 

 and morning, of the fluid extract of resin weed may be substituted. 

 The animal should have one ounce of powdered chlorate of potass 

 every twelve hours, until it is evident that convalescence is ap- 

 proacning, or has actually set in, when it may be discontinued. 

 The best way to administer the chlorate of potass, is to dissolve it 

 in a few quarts of linseed tea, or an infusion of slippery tlm, 

 which should be kept in a bucket before the animal until he has 

 partaken of the whole of it. The chlorate of potass is also indi- 

 cated as a valuable agent in the treatment of all lung affections, 

 including pleuro-pneumonia and pleurisy ; its use is to be discon- 

 tinued, however, when the urinary secretion becomes much aug- 

 mented, or it may overwork the kidneys. Chlorate of potass acts 

 as a sedative to the nervous system and to the circulation, and is a 

 stimulant to the digestive organs and kidneys. For all cases of 

 congestive pneumonia, or when the surface of the body is cold, as 

 well as the limbs and ears, warm stimulants are indicated — ginger 

 and golden seal ; and, if possible, the body and limbs should be 

 clothed, for the purpose of maintaining the natural heat of the skin, 

 and of producing an equilibrium of the circulation ; for when au 



