448 GENERAL DISEASES. 



TREATMENT. — If possible, remove the animal to some healthy 

 situ.ition, if the sanitary conditions of his abode are defective. 

 Nurse him carefully, allow him soft food to eat, and an unlimited 

 amount of cold water to drink. Give him the following draught 

 three times a day for two or three days : — 



Nitre ... ... ... ... ... 3 drachms. 



Sweet spirits of nitre ... ... "... 1 oz. 



Cold water 1 pint. 



If the sweet spirits of nitre be not at hand, give daily | oz. of 

 nitre dissolved in the drinking water. If constipation be present, 

 back-rake, administer an enema, and give ^ lb. of Epsom salts iu 

 water as a drench. 



If the skin feels dry and hot, sponge it over with vinegar and 

 water from time to time. If there be great heat about the fore- 

 head and temples, cover them over with wet cloths. 



In hot countries, care should be taken that a free current of air 

 is maintained through the stall, and that the animal is well pro- 

 tected, by a thick roof overhead, from the direct rays of the sun. 

 In India, if the weather be very sultry, a couple of men may be 

 employed to keep the horse cool by means of large hand fans. 



When the severity of the attack has subsided, the horse should 

 be fed liberally; green meat, if possible, being freely supplied. If 

 he shows much debility, he may have a couple of quarts of beer a 

 day, or other suitable vegetable tonic. As .these fever cases, in hot 

 countries, are often complicated by derangement of the liver, no 

 salt of iron should, as a rule, be employed in their treatment. 



Stable Fever. 



For convenience' sake, under this heading is placed the form of 

 fever to which young horses are particularly liable when taken up 

 from grass, or put into unsanitary stables, in most of which the 

 virus of this fever seems to have a permanent abode. The great 

 improvement in stable sanitation during late years, has been 

 accompanied by a marked decrease in the frequency of this disease, 

 and in that of equine influenza. I am strongly of opinion that 

 this ailment is due to the entrance into the system of disease 

 germs that find a rich and suitable so'il in many of the dirty, 

 crowded, and ill-ventilated stables which are to be met with in 

 large towns. This view is strengthened by the fact that one or 

 more previous attacks confer, to a certain extent, immimity from 

 it. The better the sanitary conditions, the freer, as a rule, are 

 stables from this complaint, which may be treated as simple 

 fever, see above. 



