74 



The horse is now well, and completely recovered. 



We have also used this valuable salt in cattle. A cow had beem 

 constipated for four days, and had during that period absolutely no passage.- 

 She had received full doses of Epsom salts, linseed oil, castor oil, aloes,, 

 jalap, calomel, and other aperients. Half a grain of sulphate of eserine was 

 injected into the jugular vein, with no other results, than pain manifested 

 by frequent moanings, gurglings in the bowels, and restlessness. After an 

 interval of half an hour, three-quarters of a grain were injected. In nine 

 minutes the cow passed hard lumps, and fluid fiEces. On the following day,, 

 three-quarters of a grain was again injected with good results. The animal 

 had two or three passages afterwards during the day, and then made a 

 gradual but complete recovery. 



We have tried it in three or four other cases, and find that unless from 

 three-quarters to one grain is given, and that by intra-venous injection, little or 

 no action is produced. It is well to bear in mind that this drug should never 

 be given except in very severe cases, as the action is so extremely excessive. 



DIARRHCEA. 



Diarrhoea is the general term applied to abnormal fluidity, and increased 

 amount of the alvine discharges. The proximate causes of diarrhoea are 

 excessive secretion from the walls of the gut, combined with increased action 

 of its muscular coats. These conditions are in their turn either due to direct 

 irritation of the lining membrane from without, as, for instance, by food, 

 foul water, parasites, or to indirect nervous influences. Perhaps, of all causes 

 of diarrhoea, the most frequent in the adult animal are injudicious and irregular 

 dieting. Sudden changes in the diet, especially from a dry to a moist or 

 laxative one, ingestion of certain substances, copious draughts of cold water, 

 when the animal is heated after exposure to the sun's rays or exertion, and 

 feeding immediately after severe work or exposure to cold and damp, may be 

 mentioned as specially liable to induce diarrhoea. In plethoric horses, doing 

 very little work, a small amount of exercise will often bring on an attack of 

 diarrhoea. In some cases of diarrhoea there is great prostration, the 

 breathing becomes more rapid, and pain in the belly is not uncommon.- 

 The pulse is usually not much altered. 



In the young, diarrhoea in many instances differs from that of the adult,, 

 having characteristic features of its own. The form of diarrhoea to which we 

 refer is a specific catarrh of the bowels which, though not contagious in foals, 

 as it is probably in the bovine tribe, is, nevertheless, a far more serious 

 affection than ordinary diarrhoea of the adult. It owes its origin to defective 

 sanitary arrangements, and also to changes in the quality of the milk. Such 

 changes are traceable in some instances to the fact that the mare is worked 

 hard during the day, and returns at night to her foal, which, after its fast 

 during the day, is apt to take more milk than it can well digest. The 

 symptoms of this diarrhcca of foals usually appear during the first two or three 



