THE strp:ngth of drugs and thp: dose. 39 



administer from ten to fifteen drops per dose whatever the at- 

 tenuation, being guided more by the condition of the malady — 

 whether the same is acute or chronic — than by the precise at- 

 tenuation of the drug. In very acute cases such as those of 

 simple fever brought on by exposure to the sun on a very hot day 

 in which the temperature runs up rapidly as high as io6 degrees 

 or even 107 degrees — though the latter is considered extremely 

 suggestive of danger — the drug may satisfactorily be given in the 

 crude form, when ten drops should suffice; but these are rare 

 cases, and we may possibly account for their useful administra- 

 tion in this form from the fact that the excessively high tempera- 

 ture renders the tissues more susceptible and hence better capable 

 of appropriating the remedial qualities of the drug, but as soon 

 as a turn takes place, the drug should be given in gradually 

 higher and higher attenuations, and this same principle applies 

 with equal force when the malady to be treated is not of so acute 

 and exalted a character, and the ordinary attenuations of 3X or 

 6x as prescribed in the body of the work are administered in the 

 earlier stages of the case; it will be found extremely useful to 

 commence with these and as convalescence is becoming established 

 to administer the same drug in a higher attenuation, by which is 

 meant, commencing with 3X then 6x and finish off with i2x. 



In all cases therefore, where the dose is not referred to under 

 the various prescriptions given it should be understood that ten 

 minims (or drops) of a tincture and ten grains of a powder for 

 trituration) are the doses to be given. In cases of acute illness 

 the repetition of such doses must depend upon the seriousness of 

 the case and the nature ot the malady. If the animal is in verj^ 

 acute pain, the doses may be repeated as often as every quarter of 

 an hour for a time until some relief is obtained, after which the 

 intervals between the doses may be extended to an hour, three 

 hours and so on7 but in ordinary cases of illness three or four 

 doses daily at intervals of four hours are sufficient. 



In administering these medicines the tinctures are best mixed 

 with a .small quantity — say a wineglassful — of quite clean water; 

 rain water that has been filtered is the best if it is not practicable 

 to obtain distilled water; if the latter is available, by all means use 

 it; a .strong soda water bottle is far the most useful instrument for 

 drenching the horse with, because the glass does not absorb the 



