174 ACUTE DYSENTERY. 
the pain that exhausts the strength, thereby affording nature the better 
chance of vanquishing the irritation. Ether, opium, belladonna, chalk, 
and catechu present the best means of doing this. These agents, when 
combined, support the body, allay the anguish, and check the purgation ; 
blended with thick linseed tea, which will in some measure supply the 
mucus lost to the bowels, they therefore form a good drink for most 
occasions. 
Sulphuric ether. . . 2. . . . . . « « . One ounce. 
Gatdanam: 2). cle SoS aice aie ke ae, a SDhreecounces:, 
Liquor potasse . . . . . . . . . . . . Halfan ounce. 
Powdered chalk . . . . .. . . . . . One ounce. 
Tincture ofcatechu . . . . . . . . . « One ounce. 
Cold linseed tea. . . One pint. 
Give, throughout the acute stage, every quarter of an hour. 
At the same time cleanse the quarters, plait up the tail, and throw up 
copious injections of cold linseed tea. Expect the horse to become 
greatly prostrated when amendment commences. The entire of the irri- 
tating agent must be expelled from the body before improvement can be 
witnessed. The subsequent recovery is announced by a pause in the 
symptoms; the disease appears to be stationary, whereas previously 
everything denoted a hastening termination. 
That pause is one of suspense, for no one can say what will follow; some- 
times the cessation of agony precedes immediate dissolution; sometimes 
recovery dates from that event. The animal, upon the slightest change 
being exhibited, must still be assiduously attended. Care must never 
cease; and, after recovery is confirmed, the food for a week must con- 
sist of linseed tea, hay tea, and gruel. On the expiration of the week, 
a few boiled roots may be added, three of the drinks previously ordered 
being administered every day. Do not bother about the bowels; no 
matter, should the animal be constipated for a fortnight subsequent to 
the thorough emptying of acute dysentery. Upon the termination of a 
fortnight, stop all medicine, and allow some crushed, scalded oats and 
beans; withdraw some of the slops as the solids advance; but let a full 
month expire before a drop of cold water or a mouthful of hay are per- 
mitted to be swallowed. 
To escape the loss of so large a piece of property as a living horse, 
it is imperative the notion should be abandoned which asserts that be- 
cause the horse can swallow most opening medicines with impunity, a 
strong purgative cannot otherwise than benefit the animal; the deduc- 
tion is not fairly drawn. But not to follow up too closely so lame a 
prey: aloes is the general purgative in the stable; it is a drug which 
should never be intrusted to the hands of the groom. The difference 
