ON MURRAIN, OR THE VESICULAR EPIZOOTIC. 33 
Its course may be regulated, and the bad consequences resulting 
from it mitigated or prevented ; but its cure is frequently to be 
ascribed, not to the remedies or officinal agents of the practi- 
tioner, but to the “vis medicatrix naturae” 
From this assertion, however, it must not be inferred that the 
services of the practitioner can be altogether dispensed with. 
We must not rush from a morbid, meddling activity into the 
equally reprehensible error of careless supineness, and so neglect 
the due application of known and approved remedies. In many 
cases, opportune and judicious assistance may support the 
vigour of the system, where the natural strength might other- 
wise fail ; and the employment of preventive measures may 
avert the evil consequences which might ensue from carelessness 
and neglect ; while, even in milder cases, the symptoms may 
be alleviated, and the comforts of the animal much increased. 
But we must now pass from the general principles to the 
particulars of practice. And, first, with respect to general 
blood-letting. This remedy, in the great majority of cases, is 
not at all requisite. In many instances its adoption is worse 
than useless; for, by abstracting blood, the strength is unneces- 
sarily reduced, and, thus debilitated, the animal suffers from the 
disease more severely than it would otherwise do. If venesec- 
tion is ever advisable, it is only in a few cases, and in the earlier 
stages of the disease ; and it is only to be practised when the 
fever is unusually high, and when there is a tendency to local 
inflammation; and, even then, blood must be taken warily, and 
only in such quantities as to produce the desired effect. In 
cases where blood-letting seems requisite, its beneficial effects 
may generally be secured by the use of sedatives, as, for example, 
tartar emetic. Extreme febrile action may be thus more safely 
abated, and without so much expenditure of the strength of the 
animal. But although, in the great majority of cases, general 
blood-letting is decidedly injurious, still local bleedings are some- 
times advantageous. Thus the pain of the mouth and the feet 
sometimes experienced, especially in the earlier stages of the 
disease, is often much alleviated by the judicious use of local 
blood-letting. When the mouth is hot and painful, and the 
consequent irritation giving rise to fever, these symptoms may 
be relieved either by placing leeches on the gums or palate, or 
perhaps, more conveniently, by the use of the lancet. But in 
this disease local blood-letting is more useful in assuaging the 
pain of the feet than that of the mouth. The indications for its 
employment are heat, swelling, and pain. 
In some cases the bowels are very torpid. This tendency to 
constipation must be counteracted by the exhibition of laxatives. 
These, however, must be used cautiously, for the mucous mem- 
VOL. XXIV. F 
