50 BOVINE PATHOLOGY. 



nerves, by sustaining the falteri'ng action of the heart, by 

 keeping the inflamed parts at rest '' (Watson). 



In nursing a patient suffering from severe inflammation 

 we must select such food as is very easy of digestion, and 

 therefore not likely to aggravate the disordered condition 

 which the stomach shares with other organs of the body 

 in such cases. The appetite of the patient must be 

 tempted, for it is generally difficult to make him take 

 anything which will assist in husbanding the strength 

 against the emergencies of the attack. Some practitioners 

 rely almost wholly on stimulants in the treatment of in- 

 flammation ; these, they urge, foster the strength, and 

 hasten the local changes to a favorable issue, while they 

 prevent all those unsatisfactory effects, such as ulceration 

 and gangrene, of deficient local power which are apt to 

 result from the depletory system of treatment ; they also 

 prevent the attack from lapsing into a chronic character. 

 There certainly is much feasibility in this line of argu- 

 ment, and the benefit of the system is proved by the un- 

 doubted fact that under it cases of true hydrothorax less 

 often result from pleurisy. But we must exercise judgment 

 and discriminate when we can afford to run the risk of 

 plastic results of an acute attack, and when haste is less 

 essential than thorough ultimate recovery. In all cases 

 where vital organs are inflamed stimulating treatment is 

 likely to be of value. With regard to local conditions, 

 too, sometimes stimulation is beneficial. This is well 

 shown in many cases of so-called counter-irritation, as in 

 application of vesicants to the sides in cases of pleuritis. 

 Undoubtedly many cases of supposed inflammation, are at 

 first simply congestion, and nowhere does this more often 

 occur than in the pleura ; the stimulus arouses the activity 

 of the congested blood-vessels, and enables them to expel 

 their contents, and thus immediate relief follows. Again, 

 undoubtedly deficient nervous energy in a part is a potent 

 cause of inflammation ; stimulation removes this cause. 

 It is even possible that when stasis has occurred a sti- 

 mulus may so strengthen the blood-current as to enable 

 it to break down the obstruction, and so alter the local 



