OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 79 



Treatment. — There is no specific treatment for pneumonia. 

 Inasmuch as the pneiimococcus is recognized as a specific cause, 

 there will probably sometimes be found a serum which will coun- 

 teract the disease. Now we must treat the symptoms. With 

 the pathology in mind we come to the conclusion that we must 

 stimulate the heart. A strong heart tends to prevent consolida- 

 tion ; a weak heart encourages it. Therefore if you let the heart 

 get weak, the horse will run down rapidly. 



Strychnine comes at the head of the list of stimulants. You 

 cannot treat penumonia successfully without it. I have not 

 much use for digitalis — we do not get satisfactory results from 

 using it in treating the horse. It is all right in the disease of the 

 dog and man. As regards alcohol we get good results from its 

 use. 



Let us suppose a case in the first stage, the short stage. Heroic 

 treatment may abort the disease. I would recommend either lib- 

 eral blood-letting or a fever mixture such as acetanilid, aconite, 

 belladonna and spirits of nitrous ether. The acetanilid will act 

 the same as blood-letting, i. e., lower the temperature. Apply 

 stimulants externally, say a liniment. The ammoniacal liniment 

 is too strong to spread over the broad side of a horse ; the or- 

 dinary white liniment which we use as a sprain liniment is good 

 here. Apply a pint over the surface and then cover it immedi- 

 ately. This warms the animal and seems to act as a special 

 stimulant to the vaso-motor system. Bandage the animal's legs, 

 put him ofiF by himself where he will not have to breathe the air 

 of other animals, — where the air is not impoverished by the 

 fumes of urine and feces. 



With this treatment for 24 hours, if you have been successful 

 in aborting the disease, the temperature will have come down 

 to normal, the pulse 50, though soft and perhaps a little weak. 



If the case comes to you in the second stage, pulse 60-70, 

 mucous membranes yellow, etc., the case is serious. Pulse at 

 60 is the danger point — you cannot abort the disease. With a 

 view to eliminating the consolidation, carry the horse to the crisis. 

 Cut out the aconite on the second day and potash on the third. 

 Give stimulants. 



