202 SPECIAL EQUINE THERAPY 



Aconite Poisoning 



Poisoning of horses with aconite results from over- 

 dosing by laymen in the treatment of colic, fevers, colds, 

 or, in fact, in most any disease. Aconite has a very wide 

 therapeutic field in the minds of laymen. Juggling with 

 the official strength of the tincture of aconite, reducing 

 its strength from thirty-five to ten per cent, may have 

 resulted in some cases of poisoning by the giving of a 

 new-strength dose of old thirty-five per cent tincture. 

 The change made did more good than harm, however, and 

 without question automatically prevented the poisoning 

 of many horses by the use of this drug in the hands of 

 laymen. I have known of instances where half-ounce 

 doses of tincture of aconite were given repeatedly. 



Symptoms. Great weakness. Pulse slow and small. 

 The horse seems to be blind. There is a cold, clammy 

 sweat. Champing of the jaws, producing a foamy sali- 

 vation, and ' ' a peculiar clicking sound in the pharynx. ' ' 

 The horse is bloated ; belches gas. The muscular weakness 

 progresses if the dose has been lethal, and the animal 

 goes down. Motor paralysis, loss of sensation in the 

 skin, rapidly falling temperature, cardiac and respira- 

 tory paralysis, and death. The horse remains conscious 

 to the end. 



Treatment. Use the stomach tube and wash out the 

 stomach. Give nitro-glycerin hypodermically. If this 

 is not at hand, give freely of other rapidly acting stimu- 

 lants. Keep the horse warm, and avoid unnecessary 

 movement. Treat the case as though you were momen- 

 tarily expecting the horse to die from heart failure. 



Gocain Poisoning 



The toxic effects of cocain at times become evident to 

 an alarming degree after the injection of cocain solu- 

 tions for local anesthetic effect. Other cases of poison- 



