VETERINARY SCHOOL AT ALFORT. 
155 
or, more properly speaking, without appearing conscious of it ; 
and when once imbibed, in by far the greater number of cases, the 
contact of the medicine with the mucous membrane of the stomach 
and intestines is attended by no outward symptom. 
In some few exceptional cases, however, the administration of 
tartarised antimony has been followed by slight and transient at- 
tacks of colic; it has also, occasionally, induced some intestinal 
irritation, followed by mucous secretions and diarrhoea. Lastly, in 
some, but happily rare, cases, the administration of a very small 
dose of emetic tartar has been known to be followed by the most 
fatal consequences, and to produce death. This strange result sin- 
gularly contrasts with the innoxiousness of enormous doses of 
the medicine, and ought not to be lost sight of, but render us cau- 
tious how we use it, even in the smallest doses. 
The two following cases will forcibly demonstrate the truth of 
this assertion : — 
Case I. — An entire draught horse, about thirteen years old, 
small in size, black, marked on the head, belonging to M. B., 
plasterer, was brought to the school to be treated for a catarrhal 
affection of the bronchia, which had lasted several weeks. 
When first brought into the hospital, its general condition was ex- 
cellent. A muco-purulent discharge flowed abundantly from one or 
the other nostril, accompanied by a hoarse quinsy-like cough, tolera- 
bly violent ; though, with the exception of a slight degree of vascu- 
lar injection, the nasal membrane was in its natural state. The 
subglossal lymphatic glands were somewhat puffy and indolent. 
The other functions were normal. On the 27th of March, the day 
after the patient was received into the hospital, four grammes of 
emetic tartar were administered in a drench of white water, which 
the animal drank off without disgust : regular rations. Through- 
out the day the horse ate with appetite, and the action of the medi- 
cine was imperceptible. According to the report of the pupil on 
duty, nothing worthy of mention occurred during the night. 
On the morning of the 28th, alarming symptoms were suddenly 
observed. Might they not have arisen in the course of the night ? 
The animal was suffering from violent colic, without throwing 
himself into convulsions. The belly was much puffed up ; the 
pulse small, and almost imperceptible ; the mucous membranes 
pale, and the nostrils considerably dilated ; the respiration plaintive 
and much accelerated, and the animal subject, almost without in- 
termittence, to violent tenesmus. A bleeding, resorted to under 
the supposition that all these symptoms might arise from some in- 
testinal congestion, scarcely produced 3 lbs. of blood. Twenty 
grammes of laudanum were administered internally. Attempts 
made to re-animate the heat and circulation of the skin by vigorous 
