DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 105 



warm water, 3 quarts ; mix all together and give at once as a drench. 

 About 2 quarts of warm water or warm soapsuds should be injected 

 with a syringe into the rectum every three or four hours. It is best 

 to keep the animal in a quiet, sheltered place, where it will be free 

 from noise or other cause of excitement. All the cold water the ani- 

 mal will drink should be allowed, but food must be withheld, except 

 bran slops occasionally in small quantities, or grass, if in season, 

 which may be cut and carried fresh to the j^atient. 



The skull must be examined, and if sign of injury is found, appro- 

 priate surgical treatment should be given. 



During the convulsions all possible efforts should be made to pre- 

 vent the animal injuring itself. The head should be held down on 

 the ground and straw kept under it. Cold Avater may be continu- 

 ously poured on the head, or bags filled with ice broken in small 

 pieces may be applied to the head. Different authors recommend 

 different remedies to allay the convulsions, but for two reasons it will 

 be found extremely difficult to administer medicines during the con- 

 vulsions: (1) ^Miile the animal is unconscious the power to swallow 

 is lost, and therefore the medicine is more liable to go down the wind- 

 pipe to the lungs than it is to go to the paunch; (2) the convulsions 

 are often so violent that it would be utterly useless to attempt to 

 drench the animal; and furthermore it must be borne in uiind that 

 during this stage the functions of digestion and absorption are sus- 

 pended, and as a consequence the medicine (provided it finds its way 

 to the paunch) is likely to remain there unabsorbed and therefore 

 useless. 



A blistering conqjound, composed of mustard, 1 ounce: pulvei-ized 

 cantharides, one-half ounce; hot water, 4 ounces, well mixed togetiier, 

 may be rubbed in over the loins, along the spine, and back of the 

 head on each side of the neck. This is occasionally attended with 

 beneficial effect, and especially so in those cases when paralysis is 

 present. 



If the purgative acts and the animal shows signs of improvement 

 in the course of two or three days, 2 drams of iodid of potassium may 

 be given every night and morning, dissolved in a half bucketful of 

 drinking water, if the animal will drink it, or it may be dissolved in a 

 half pint of water and given as a drench. Great care must be ob- 

 served in regard to the food, which should be nutritive, but not coarse, 

 and at first in small quantities, gradually increased as the patient 

 improves. After some progress is made toward recovery 1^ drams of 

 pulverized nux vomica may be given twice a day, added to the iodid 

 of potassium drench. This should be administered so long as a stag- 

 gering gait continues. 



In those rare cases when recovery takes place it is only partial as a 

 rule, as there is generally a sequel which remains, such as partial 



