THE INFLUENZA OF 1S3G. 
127 
The treatment of the febrile stage is little different from that 
of the prefebrile. I make one copious bleeding, give a laxative, 
and blister the throat. The laxative consists of three, never more 
than four, drachms of aloes. If the pulse is very hard, and the 
fever in its second or third day, I apply the blister to the sides. 
For food, the horse gets raw carrots, mashes, and hay; I do not 
care about his eating much till the disease is declining, when 
there is no objection to coaxing him with articles of delicacy. 
Furze at this season is procurable in some places, and all horses 
eat it. ft is too good when the fever is high. A few stalks of 
broom ( spartium scoparium ) are added when the horse drinks 
much, or when there is cellular effusion. It is a strong and safe 
diuretic. It unloads the bowels and the cellular tissue. In 
hydrothorax it is valuable. For drink, I let the horse have gruel 
or tepid water, as much as he pleases, often given, so as to quench 
his thirst, but not in such measure or temperature as to produce 
colic. The legs are bandaged, even when warm. They should 
not be allowed to cool. The horse is separated, when possible, 
from others ; but unless he can be put into a comfortable box or 
stable, he may be safer in his own stall. A damp outhouse is 
dangerous. 
I endeavour to see these patients every twelve hours ; a few 
require closer attendance. If the pulse is a bove seventy at the first 
bleeding, and rise ten beats higher in the next twelve hours, I bleed 
again. If only sixty or sixty-five at first, I do not much mind a rise 
of five or ten beats ; but if it continue at the same rate till the end 
of eighteen or twenty-four hours, I again bleed. If it be the same 
as when first bled, I wait twelve hours longer ; and if it were 
above seventy before, and be seventy, twenty-four hours afterwards, 
another bleeding is indicated. After two bleedings, or at the end 
of forty-eight hours from the last, I look to the eye more than to 
the pulse. If very red at first, and the pulse high, the treatment 
must produce a change in forty-eight hours ; if paler, and the 
pulse slower at first, there may be no danger, or the horse may 
be doing well at the end of this time, although there may be little 
change. In general, the higher the fever is when it comes under 
treatment, the sooner must the treatment produce a change. 
With a pulse above seventy on the first day, the eye ought to be 
paler on the third ; with a pulse not exceeding sixty, the eye may 
be the same ; and farther treatment must be guided by the pulse. 
As long as the pulse continues to rise above seventy, and the eye 
to redden, a bleeding is indicated every twelve hours. I very 
rarely wait longer ; but I have often rued delay. 
If a second bleeding be indicated, it must produce a more de- 
cided effect than the first. Less blood can be taken, but less will 
