630 DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



Caustics * 



are substances which burn away the tissues of the body by decom- 

 position of their elements, arid are valuable to destroy fungous 

 growth and set up healthy action. They are, consequently, often 

 required to destroy proud flesh, kill the virus in poisoned wounds, 

 stimulate old ulcers, excite healthy action in fistula, and remove 

 warts, tumors, etc. 



Corrosive sublimate, in powder, acts energetically ; nitrate of 

 silver is excellent to lower granulation ; sulphate of copper is not 

 so strong as the above, but good ; chloride of zinc is a powerful caus- 

 tic, and may be used in sinuses, in solution, seven drachms in a pint 

 of water ; verdigris, either in powder or mixed with lard, is good as 

 an ointment, in proportion of one to three parts. Carrying this 

 treatment to extreme implies using a hot iron, the actual cautery. 



Vegetable Caustic. — Make a strong lye of hickory or oak ashes, 

 put into an iron kettle, and evaporate to, the consistency of thin 

 molasses ; then remove into a sand bath, and continue the evapora- 

 tion to the consistency of honey. Keep it in a stoppered, ground glass 



This caustic is very valuable in fistulas, cancers, scrofulas, and 

 indolent ulcers, particularly where there are sinuses, necrosis (or' de- 

 cay) of bone, and in all cases where there is proud flesh ;. and also 

 to excite a healthy action of the parts. It removes fungous flesh 

 without exciting inflammation, and acts but little except on spongy 

 or soft flesh. 



Rheumatism. 



When a horse is taken suddenly lame, or appears stiffened, 

 without any apparent cause for it, and especially if the lame- 

 ness seems to shift from one part to another, it may be suspected 

 that it is rheumatism. Horses of a nervous temperament, that are 

 housed closely and pampered, are most liable to this trouble. 



It is very important that there should be iio exposure to rain or 

 cold, especially after being warmed up ; and, in fact, when there is 

 a tendency to rheumatism, the same care, precautions, and princi- 

 ples of treatment are to be observed that are generally used in hu- 

 man practice. 



I may refer here to a point in the treatment of rheumatism, of 

 great value, not only to horse owners, but to the profession generally. 

 In conversation with an old veterinary surgeon, of great experience 

 and skill, in speaking of the virtues of aconite in certain derange- 

 ments of the circulation, he stated that years ago his wife* had been 

 subject to attacks of rheumatism of the most severe character. 



