129 
THE INFLUENZA OF 1836. 
but it was the sixth day ere I considered it safe to arrest the pur- 
gation. Water, for which he was very eager, was withheld : it 
always, and immediately, increased the purging. A third horse 
purged for eight or ten days after a bottle of oil. The fever was 
gone a day or two before purgation commenced ; and acetate of 
lead, combined with ginger and gentian, was given every day. I ap- 
prehend more from the pain which usually accompanies purgation, 
than from the purgation alone. When arising from cathartic 
medicines, it must be checked by the stimulant which allays it 
under other circumstances. Acute pain, with or without purga- 
tion, usually destroys the horse in about two hours. 
Of Febrifuge Medicine I use very little. Tartrate of antimony, 
digitalis and hellebore, are apt to excite colic or purgation, espe- 
cially when given two doses in a day. I use them only when I 
think the bleeding has not all its usual power in softening the 
pulse and blanching the eye. I give none till I am sure the tax- 
ation has done all it can do ; and 1 never give more than one dose 
in twenty- four hours. I use only the digitalis and the tartrate. 
The hellebore seems to have no certain effect. 
Blisters , I think, are of more service. If I get the patient 
early, I blister the throat ; if at a later period, or if the bronchial 
inflammation appears too extensive, I apply it to the sides. For 
setons, tents, and rowels, I have the most perfect contempt. How- 
ever large or numerous, a blister has a more rapid, more exten- 
sive, and more permanent effect ; and if only one or two setons are 
employed, the pain of inserting merely them agitates the horse to 
no purpose. I can hardly refrain from despising a man who 
talks of their utility in a disease like this. 
Frequently the blisters will not rise. In such cases I give sti- 
mulants, chiefly ginger. They render the eye redder, and per- 
haps aggravate the bronchial inflammation ; but when the horse 
is so ill that the blister will not operate, something must be 
hazarded. The stimulant seems to have considerable power in 
rendering the skin more irritable. 
Stimulants, however, are to be dispensed with when possible. 
Except for allaying abdominal pain, or rousing a blister, they are 
not admissible when the eye is red or the pulse hard. I have 
tried them in several other cases, and in different stages, but do 
not like them. I cannot believe that they will cure bronchitis. 
When the fever and inflammation are declining, they may be 
given with safety. In convalescence the horse is often very dull ; 
he is recovering slowly, and is looking ill, and his owner is in a 
hurry ; or perhaps the horse has no appetite, or his belly is out of 
order, the dung pale, and the bowels noisy. In such cases sti- 
mulants do good, though not much. Gentian, allspice, and tar 
vol. x. s 
