684 
REMARKS ON DRENCHES, AND THE INFLUENZA. 
By R. H. Dyer, M.R.C.V.S. Waterford. 
To the Editor of “ The Veterinarian " 
On looking over the fifteenth volume of The Veterina- 
rian, I read with much interest some remarks written by the 
late Mr. Price, of Cork, relative to the dangerous mode of 
giving medicine to horses. That gentleman stated, that he had 
known several horses destroyed by the administration of 
drenches, and he honestly acknowledged having caused the 
death of two in a similar manner. Having seen but one case 
in the course of mv practice which T could conscientiously own 
to be such as Mr. P. described, I will relate it. 
On the 2d January, 1851, G. Courtney, Esq. requested me 
to send a few powders for his bay horse, which had a cough. 
I made up a half-dozen, composed as follows : — R Ant. pot. tart. 
3j, pulv. digital, 3j, pot. nit. 3ij, M. fiat. pulv. j, to be given 
night and morning in a bran mash. The horse ate two powders; 
the third he refused. On the following morning the man in 
charge asked me if he might mingle the powder with a liquid, 
and drench the horse with it. I recommended him to mix a 
powder with but half a pint of water, and then drench him 
with it. This he attempted to do. The operation produced 
much coughing. The man persevered in forcing down the 
potion, and the consequence was, the greater part of the mix- 
ture went into the larynx and trachea, and produced very 
alarming symptoms. My presence was immediately sought. 
I saw the suffering patient within a few minutes afterwards, 
and found him coughing violently, and portions of the powder 
trickling down the Schneiderian membrane. I confess I was 
puzzled for the moment, knowing what aversion the owner had 
to bleeding : I therefore contented myself by giving a dose of 
ol. lini combined with pulv. opii. At this time the horse was 
suffering the most intense agony. I believed all the internal 
structures of the chest and abdomen were more or less affected. 
I administered soothing medicaments, and made attempts to 
produce counter-irritation. All to no purpose, however : the 
horse continued to get worse up to the 6th, when be suddenly 
fell down in his box, and died without a struggle. 
The following morning, eight hours after death, I examined 
him, and the result proved as follows : — The viscera of the abdo- 
men much inflamed ; the lungs, heart, and pericardial sac, 
