588 PLEUEISY. 



with half an ounce of nitre, and made into a ball with soft 

 soap. One of these balls to be given every four hours until 

 four had been given; and as the result of this, there has been 

 a copious discharge of urine, and marked relief. A mild 

 dose of aloes then proves of great service. The animal must 

 be kept warm, and its limbs hand-rubbed. Since the New 

 Veterinary College has been established, though I have had 

 eight and ten cases of severe pleurisy under treatment at a 

 time, I have never lost one. I attribute this to the active 

 evacuant treatment, and avoiding the use of the fleam. 



HYDEOTHOEAX DROPSY OF THE CHEST. 



In describing the disease pleurisy, I have mentioned that 

 effusion occurs in the chest. This complication is so im- 

 portant that it merits separate consideration. 



Dropsy of the chest ^occasionally occurs from debility, 

 when there is a tendency to effusion in the serous sacs gene- 

 rally, and also beneath the skin. It is then only a sign of 

 a general weakness, which is usually overcome by astringents 

 and tonics. The exudation of pleurisy may, however, vary 

 in character from the grumous and highly albuminous to a 

 diluted serum ; and in the one case the pleura is so covered 

 with false membranes and modified by disease, as to interfere 

 with that active absorption which may be induced in any 

 purely dropsical state. 



Whenever or wherever attacks of pleurisy are frequent, 

 cases of hydrothorax are to be expected. The effusion is 

 very rapid in animals that have been much depressed by 

 blood-letting, or when other injudicious treatment has been 

 adopted. The last two fatal cases of hydrothorax I have 

 witnessed followed after treatment by blood-letting, in one 

 case, and in the other from the disease assuming a very 



