57 



each inspiration attended with pain ; the power of swallow- 

 ing food interrupted or lost for the time ; liquids especially 

 cannot be let down without some returning through the nos- 

 trils ; the face is dull and heavy looking ; there is also a sort 

 of short suppressed cough, more like a grunt ; the head is 

 held in a stiff position, and the nose protruding — any attempt 

 to handle the part is instantly resisted with an eye that says, 

 "Hands off;" there are at times spasms of the throat, with 

 danger of asphyxia, in which case tracheotomy must be per- 

 formed ; the throat may be noticeably swollen, and the mem- 

 brane of the nose of a scarlet hue; together with the labored 

 inspiration, the pulse rises from 50 to 60 beats per minute, 

 and the temperature to 103-4. As we said in a former 

 article, the mucus secretion of the membrane is first arrested 

 by inflammation; so here there are no signs of improvement 

 until the secretion is increased and flows from the nostrils, 

 when the animal is considerably relieved ; the cough becomes 

 freer and louder, the membrane more natural in color, with 

 other symptoms of improvement for the time being. 



Trealment. — Early and proper measures are to be taken 

 in this case. All attempts at steaming the nostrils are use- 

 less and mischievous; they do little good — after many trials 

 it has been proved only to irritate and distress the patient. 

 Blood-letting also is here quite out of place. 



Let the animal be removed to some cool, airy place, where 

 he has the greatest liberty to do as he pleases, with plenty 

 of bedding. Bandage the legs nicely, so as to equalize the 

 heat of the body, and put on light, warm clothing. There 

 will be some difficulty in giving medicine to the patient in 

 this case, for the simple reason that any motion of throat 

 and neck causes much pain, besides the difficulty of swallow- 

 ing. The best thing to do in this state of things is to pre- 

 pare an electuary : Take of extract of belladonna half an 

 ounce, extract of opium half an ounce, camphor two drachms, 

 liquorice two drachms, and treacle seven ounces. This is 

 generally called a compound cough mixture. When this 



