PHLEBITIS. 403 
constitute the chief means toward the cure of phlebitis. The sinuses 
must be laid open. The probe should then be most patiently employed, 
for every sinus must be slit up. This may be done at once, when the 
hardness indicates the vessel to be closed above the part which the in- 
cision interferes with. To such an extent the knife may always be 
employed, while blisters after blisters are used, regardless of the severe 
wounds over which they are applied. 
Much relief is afforded by the large and pendulous incision, through 
which the corruption freely finds an exit. Some horses, however, from 
the pain occasioned by the raw and inflamed condition of the neck, will 
not allow the blister to be rubbed in after the ordinary fashion, especially 
when the irritation caused by the former application has not thoroughly 
subsided. In cases of this sort, do not employ the twitch or resort to 
greater restraints. Exercise your reason. Regard the painful aspect 
of the wounds. Ask yourself how you should enjoy the hard hand of a 
groom violently scrubbed over such a part, were the soreness upon your 
own body. Act upon the response. Procure a long-haired brush, such 
as pastry-cooks use to egg over their more delicate manufactures. Go 
then into the next stall. Speak kindly to a sick inferior that is at your 
mercy. Have the creature led forth, and, with the brush just described, 
smear the part with oil of cantharides or liquid blister. The extract of 
the Spanish fly does not occasion immediate agony, and the application 
of oil will cool or soothe the anger of the wounds. 
With the jugular vein inflamed, the horse, during the period of treat- 
ment, should consume no solid food. Hay tea, sloppy mashes, and well- 
made gruel should constitute its diet. However, the gruel must not be 
given in such quantities or made so thick as the same substance would 
be allowed to a healthy horse. Gruel may not be very sustaining to the 
human being, but it is nothing more than the oat divested of the shell 
or refuse part. To the equine species such food, whether given dry or 
boiled in water, is highly stimulating; and, as fever invariably accompa- 
nies inflammation, oats in any form evidently are contraindicated. Should 
the animal, however, become ravenous, a portion of potatoes, being first 
peeled, may be boiled to a mash. Some water and a sufficiency of pol- 
lard ought to be added, and the whole presented in such a state as requires 
no mastication, but in a condition that will allow the mixture to be drawn 
between the teeth. The same thing may be done with carrots and with 
turnips, only all mashed roots, except potatoes, should be passed through 
a colander, and moistened with some of the water in which they are 
boiled. 
Any animal, during treatment, should be placed in a loose box. No 
creature should be turned into the field. It is cheaper to pasture than 
