PUTREFACTION. 151 



a livid, or purple-color fluid. The animal is very much de- 

 bilitated, and accompanied with sympathetic fever, not 

 unfrequently, in addition we see swellings of the head, 

 parts of the body, and the legs very thick, and oozing out 

 of them, the same colored fluid. The horse scarcely 

 able to move. The worst form of this disease, is the 

 purpura hsemoragica, or bleeding purpura. The small 

 boils are the result of extravasation from the minute 

 blood vessels under the skin. 



Cause. — Venous congestion of the whole surface of 

 the body, and possibly, a deterioration of the blood 



itself. 



Treatment.— '^xr^^ort the strength, to keep ofi" typhoid 

 symptoms, and enrich the blood, and attend to the surface 

 sores. For this purpose, give the following powders, 

 night and morning : — powdered sulphate of iron, three 

 ounces; gentian root, two ounces and a half; carbonate 

 of ammonia, four ounces. Mix, and divide into twelve 

 powders one to be given twice in the dav. Give 

 occasionally forty to sixty drops of commercial sul- 

 phuric acid in a bucket of cold water. Feed the 

 horse well; and apply to the sores olive oil, three 

 ounces, and creosote, one ounce, once every second day, 

 and wash the sores twice a week. Horses once attacked 

 by this disease, are ever after liable to it again, as the 

 blood vessels are so weakened, and generally remain so. 



PllS^ — This is the material found in abscesses. Pus 

 may be' healthy, or laudable,, as it is called. Unhealthy 

 when it is mixed with blood, and has a stinking smell. 

 Healthy pus is of the thickness and color of cream, and 

 is insoluable in water, and has no smell. 



Putrefaction.— Certain diseases are regarded as 

 putrid, where the discharges ha.ve a black appearance, 



