632 DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



my surprise and gratification, in twenty-four hours I was relieved, 

 and in a few days the trouble had disappeared. 



I give these details, the better to illustrate to my readers the 

 peculiar value of this simple remedy, with the desire to aid them. 

 When, in consequence of a strain, there may be inflammation in the 

 sheath of a tendon, or any muscular injury, this remedy would be 

 certainly indicated. In one instance where I was strained myself 

 in riding a mustang pony, one of the tendons of the right leg was 

 so strained that I was made seriously lame. I supposed of course it 

 would pass off in time, but after a period of three months it became 

 if anything increased, and was a very serious matter. A physician 

 of large experience, whom I consulted, directed me to take small 

 doses of aconite (about six to eight drops of the tincture three times 

 a day). In three days the lameness entirely disappeared, and the 

 pain causing it never returned. 



Whenever afterward any of my horses were so injured or 

 strained as to cause lameness, no matter whatever else I did, I gave 

 this remedy in about the same proportion relatively, and there was 

 in all cases a very satisfactory recovery. The remedy prescribed 

 for pneumonia (p. 485) is about the best preparation, I think, to be 

 used. I used, When obtainable, the " fever medicine" recommended 

 in the same chapter, and given also on page 877 in my large book 

 on the horse, with very full facts of its use and manufacture. When 

 rheumatism is suspected, whatever else is done, I would advise giv- 

 ing from twenty-Ave to thirty drops of this preparation on the 

 tongue; the same as recommended for colds, pleurisy, pneumonia, 

 etc. In one case only that I knew to be a sharp attack of rheuma- 

 tism, did I prescribe this when on the road, when there was en- 

 tire relief. 



The ordinary nature and symptoms of and treatment for rheu- 

 matism, as given by our best authorities, are as follows : — 



Rheumatism is an inflammation of the joints, tendons, ligaments, 

 or muscles, caused by an unhealthy condition of the blood, accom- 

 panied by stiffness and lameness. The inflammation frequently 

 changes its seat, and is "rarely followed by suppuration. It is often 

 a result of influenza, colds, and catarrhs, and sometimes is occasioned 

 by exposure to cold and damp. 



Acute Rheumatism, 



or rheumatic fever, starting with a lameness, with or without swell- 

 ing of a joint, accompanied by dullness, quickened pulse, and heated 

 skin, soon causes a poor appetite, a constipation of the bowels, 

 and high coloring of the urine. An almost constant symptom is 



