] 86 
THE EASTERN CAMPAIGN. 
culty. I thus managed to give him eight drachms of purging 
mass and two drachms of opium in combination. After 
which his face, neck, and back were well rubbed with a 
liniment composed of Oleum Tereb. et Liquor Ammonise 
Fort. I thought it was treating an animal under great 
difficulties, but still I persevered, and having once got the 
bowels open I kept my vantage ground, and eventually 
brought my patient round. He was afterwards sent to the 
Crimea, and was ultimately sold to the Russians in Kertch. 
I had not had many horses under treatment before I 
discovered that the doses of medicine which we are in the 
habit of giving in England are absolutely dangerous to 
administer in the East. Frequently have I smiled to myself, 
and fancied that I was becoming a complete veterinary 
homceopathist, when I have directed my farrier-major to 
prepare medicine. Instead of giving six or eight drachms 
of aloetic paste, I found three or four to be ample ; and also 
that half an ounce of diuretic mass was equal in its effects 
to an ounce at home. Nitrate of potass had to be given in 
drachm doses, and sulphate of magnesia in quantities of four 
ounces instead of a pound. 
It is very desirable that this subject should be still further 
investigated, and that an endeavour should be made to 
ascertain what are the effects which climate exerts over the 
action of medicines. Surely the members of our profession 
in different countries, and especially those in the army, might 
throw some light on this subject. 
It is a very important point, when on field service, to pay 
great attention to the picketing of your horses, not only for 
their safety but for the preservation of their health. All the 
horses under my care were fastened by the head, with 
heel-ropes behind ; but the mules were secured by the head 
only. The Russians adopt a better plan than this, but 
which I cannot now more particularly refer to. 
On visiting the camp one morning, in a heavy storm of 
rain, I found the horses making a great noise, and struggling 
with all their might to break away from the heel-ropes. The 
cause of this was at once apparent — they had their faces to 
the storm. I ordered the heel-ropes to be loosened, when 
they immediately reversed their position and became per- 
fectly quiet. Animals should always be picketed so as to be 
able to change their position, and thus protect themselves 
somewhat against both wind and weather. As it was 
impossible to get a wooden shed for my sick horses, and 
finding that they began to suffer from the cold winds and 
rain which prevail in the East at the latter end of Septem- 
