454 GENERAL DISEASES. 



PRINCIPLES OF TEEATMENT.— In treating this disease, 

 we should, use a mild purgative in order to clear the way for 

 the action of the febrifuge, which should be some antiseptic, 

 such as quinine, cinchonine, carbolic acid, or arsenic. Sulphate 

 of quinine, though the most expensive, is undoubtedly the most 

 useful agent. The antiseptic, whichever one is employed, 

 should be given in large doses at first, and then gradually de- 

 creased ; for if the opposite to this be done, we might uninten- 

 tionally so accustom the germs, whose presence in the blood is the 

 cause of the disease, to the action of the quinine, that the quinine 

 might, to a considerable extent, lose its power of affecting them. 

 Men in India who begin taking quinine in small doses for in- 

 termittent fever, frequently find that, after a time, it loses all 

 power to check the disease. 



" Quinine is destructive only to the mature forms, not to those intermediate. 

 It ought, therefore, to be given during the attack, not in the intervals ; as it 

 is at the time of the attack that the plasmodia exist in the fully-developed 

 condition" [Hamilton). 



TREATMENT. — In treating the Indian variety, administer an 

 enema (p. 632), and give 8 oz. of Epsom salts in a pint of water as a 

 drench. After about twelve hours, give \ oz. of quinine in 

 a pint of water twice a day for the first couple of days, and 

 then gradually diminish it down to 1 drachm, by the end 

 of a week, when it may be discontinued. Ot we may give 

 1^ drachms of carbolic acid in ^ pint of linseed oil twice a day 

 for three days. If linseed oil be used, Epsom salts can be dis- 

 pensed with. Give 1 oz. of sweet spirits of nitre, in a pint of cold 

 water, two or three times a day, as a drench, as well as the quinine 

 or carbolic acid. The sweet spirits of nitre is a good stimulant, 

 and tends to promote the removal of impurities from the blood by 

 acting on the kidneys and skin. It may be given along with the 

 quinine. Allow laxative food ; obtain for the animal, if practicable, 

 a change of air; and nurse him carefully. During the period of 

 convalescence, the patient should be liberally fed, and may have 

 an ounce of liquor arsenicalis mixed in his food daily for a week ; 

 and, also, a quart of beer two or three times a day 



Respecting the South African foim of malarial fever in 

 horses, Mr. Hutcheon states that the following treatment " is in- 

 variably satisfactory, if properly carried out. Give at once: — 



" Powdered chloride of ammonium ... ^ ounce. 



" Extract of belladonna ... ... | drachm. 



" Common mass, sufficient to make a ball. 



" If given as a draught, the ammonium chloride and belladonna 



