78 SPECIAL EQUINE THERAPY 



at such times as the symptoms (chiefly the heart action) 

 call for it. If strychnin alone is used throughout, the 

 appetite does not remain so good as it does when nux 

 vomica is used, and the eifeet of strychnin alone is not 

 so constant. 



I would give second place to spartein sulphate as rou- 

 tine internal medication. Given in about twenty-grain 

 doses, orally, it has shown evidence of producing some 

 fine results. I do not think that it gives as uniformly 

 gratifying results as nux vomica.. Spartein sulphate 

 seems to greatly relieve the heart in those cases marked 

 by a genuine crisis; but apparently it exacts the limit 

 of heart power from the very beginning, leaving no re- 

 serve force that can be called into action when it is of 

 the most vital importance. In this reserve force and its 

 being called upon and brought into action at just the 

 proper time lies one secret in the successful handling of 

 pneumonia cases. It is doubtful whether it is possible 

 to gain this knowledge in any other manner than by 

 actual contact with the disease in practice. 



It is good practice to inject every patient in pneu- 

 monia cases with a moderate dose of polybacterins. This 

 has clinically been shown to be of great worth for the 

 prevention of complications that might result from the 

 activity of pus-producing micro-organisms. The bac- 

 terins should be given on the day that treatment is begun. 

 All other medication in pneumonia patients takes the 

 form of symptomatic treatment. 



If constipation develops, fluid extract of cascara sa- 

 grada is given in half -ounce doses morning and evening 

 as long as necessary. The effect of the cascara in these 

 cases is enhanced if each dose is given with two ounces 

 of sodium thiosulphate, in aqueous solution. 



A troublesome diarrhoea is most easily subdued with 

 hourly thirty-grain doses of sulphoearbolates compound 



