122 DADD'S VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



»vas involved iu disease. The animal had no appethV, yet waa 

 thirsty ; and when urged to move, would utter a grunt, indicative 

 of pain. It was evident that the relapse was, or might be, con- 

 sidered a case of pleurisy, ending in effusion into the chest. The 

 worst feature of the case was that the animal purged violently 

 (liquid stools), having a very strong odor of linseed oil; it covered 

 a large space on the floor, and ran down his hind extremities 

 This seemed to me to render the case hopeless ; for super-purgation 

 of itself will often cause the death of an otherwise well animal. 

 But this poor creature was laboring under a malady from which 

 few ever recover. However, I thought that while "there is life 

 there is hope," and I commenced the treatment by performing 

 the operation of tapping for dropsy of the chest. 1 drew off 

 three and a half gallons of fluid, of a light straw cohjr, from the 

 right cavity of the chest. On auscultating the chest, both sides 

 appeared resonant, showing that the waters must have occupied 

 both cavities; hence, the mediastinum (the membrane which di- 

 vides the thorax into two equal cavities) must have been ruptured 

 thus permitting an influx and reflux of the fluid. Next, counter- 

 irritants were applied to both sides of the chest. The patient was 

 properly clothed, tonics and astringents were given, and the case 

 was left in the care of an attendant for the night. Next day I 

 found the patient was respiring very comfortably. The tapping 

 of the chest seemed to have done much good, yet the purging still 

 continued ; so I ordered scalded milk and charcoal, and adminis- 

 tered tonics and stimulants, as before. But it was very evident 

 that the animal must die of super-purgation, and next morning I 

 received word that death had taken place. It was unfortunate, 

 under the circumstances, that the owner should have given linseed 

 oil ; for it is a very powerful irritant and cathartic, and produces 

 much irritation and inflammation on the surface of the interior 

 of the stomach and intestines, as well as uncontrollable purga- 

 tion. It is a remedy which is very quickly absorbed, and finds its 

 way into the blood in a very few minutes, as the following case 

 will show : I once gave a horse a dose of linseed oil for the pur- 

 pose of experiment. (He happened to be in good health, or I 

 should probably have lost him.) Ten minutes after administer- 

 ing the dose, I applied a linen handkerchief to the highly organ- 

 ized membrane lining the eyelid, and both the odor and color of 

 the oil could easily be detected. On exposing the handkerchief 



