SUPERPURGATION 215 



operation to bring about a fatal result. It is in these 

 last two facts that the danger of using aloes exists. 

 Every veterinary surgeon, I might say without excep- 

 tion, is aware of them, and he still persists in an indis- 

 criminate use of the drug. 



Williams himself says : ' Superpurgation does not 

 always depend upon the strength of the dose. In some 

 instances as little as 4 drachms have been followed by 

 fatal consequences. Again, horses in an obese con- 

 dition . . . are easily acted upon by purgative medicines, 

 and are apt to sink from superpurgation.' 



Be that as it may, whether a large dose is necessary 

 or not, or whether any predisposing circumstance at all 

 is needed, it still remains that often the purge does not 

 cease, but gives rise to the following and more aggravated 

 symptoms : 



The appetite fails to return ; the discharge becomes 

 more fluid, more frequent, and extremely offensive, and 

 the mucous membranes become injected. The mouth 

 is dry, furred, and foetid, and the respirations hurried. 

 After each evacuation the animal shows evident colic 

 pains, manifesting them by crouching movements, and 

 occasionally lying down. Usually, however, he stands 

 quiet, and only exhibits his pain by wandering round the 

 box or pawing with one foot on the ground. The pulse 

 has become thready, weak, and quick, and prostration 

 becomes alarmingly evident. The extremities turn cold, 

 and the belly appears abnormally tucked up — in some 

 cases tympanitic. Everything points to a speedy 

 collapse. The practitioner is only too painfully aware of 

 the danger of his case, and understands full well that the 

 most prompt and energetic measures are necessary to 

 combat the condition. 



Diagnosis. — The history of the case and the evidence 



