506 MEDICINE. 



tive ; so is the tincture of aloes, and the tincture of myrrh. The best digestive 

 ointment is one composed of three parts of calamine ointment (Turner's cerate) 

 and one of common turpentine. 



Digitalis. — The leaves of the common foxglove, gathered about the flower- 

 ing time, dried carefully in a dark place, and powdered, and kept in a close black 

 bottle, form one of the most valuable medicines in veterinary practice. It is a 

 direct and powerful sedative, diminishing the frequency of the pulse, and 

 the general irritability of the system, and acting also as a mild diuretic ; it is 

 therefore useful in every inflammatory and febrile complaint, and particularly 

 in inflammation of the chest. It is usually given in combination with emetic 

 tartar and nitre. The average dose is one drachm of digitalis, one and a half of 

 emetic tartar, and three of nitre, repeated twice or thrice in the day. 



Digitalis seems to have an immediate effect on the heart, lessening the number 

 of its pulsations ; but effecting this in a singular manner — not by causing the 

 heart to beat more slowly, but producing certain intermissions or pauses in 

 its action. When these become marked — when at every sixth or seventh beat, 

 the pulsations are suspended while two or three can be slowly counted, this 

 is precisely the effect that is intended to be produced, and, however ill the 

 horse may appear to be, or however alarming this intermittent pulse may seem 

 to the standers-by, from that moment the animal will frequently begin to amend. 

 The dose must then be diminished one-half, and, in a few days, it may be 

 omitted altogether : but the emetic tartar and the nitre should be continued 

 during some days after the practitioner has deemed it prudent to try the effect of 

 mild vegetable tonics. 



There is no danger in the intermittent pulse thus produced; but there is 

 much when the digitalis fails to produce any effect on the circulation. The 

 disease is then too powerful to be arrested by medicine. Digitalis requires 

 watching ; but the only consequence to be apprehended from an over-dose is, 

 that the patient may be reduced a little too low, and his convalescence retarded 

 for a day or two. 



In the form of infusion or tincture, digitalis is very useful in inflammation of 

 the eyes. It is almost equal in its sedative influence to opium, and it may 

 with great advantage be alternated with it, when opium begins to lose its power. 

 The infusion is made by pouring a quart of boiling water on an ounce of the 

 powder. When it is become cold, a portion of the liquid may be introduced 

 into the eye. One or two drops of the tincture may be introduced with good 

 effect. This may be obtained by macerating three ounces of the digitalis in a 

 quart of spirit. 



The infusion has been serviceable in mange ; but there are better applications. 



Diuretics constitute a useful but much abused class of medicines. They 

 stimulate the kidneys to secrete more than the usual quantity of urine, or to 

 separate a greater than ordinary proportion of the watery parts of the blood. 

 The deficiency of water in the blood, thus occasioned, must be speedily supplied 

 or the healthy circulation cannot be carried on, and it is generally supplied by 

 the absorbents taking up the watery fluid in some part of the frame, and carrying 

 it into the circulation. Hence the evident use of diuretics in dropsical affections, 

 in swelled legs, and also in inflammation and fever, by lessening the quantity of 

 the circulating fluid, and, consequently, that which is sent to the inflamed parts. 



All this is effected by the kidneys being stimulated to increased action; but 

 if this stimulus is too often or too violently applied, the energy of the kidney 

 may be impaired, or inflammation may be produced. That inflammation may 

 be of an acute character, and destroy the patient ; or, although not intense in 

 its nature, it may by frequent repetition assume a chronic form, and more 

 slowly, but as surely, do irreparable mischief. Hence the necessity of attention 



