BULL’S VETERINARY INSTRUCTION. 
235 
It is necessary whenever a blister is applied to be careful as to the 
temperature or heat of the part. I f it feels the least hot, we should 
omit its application, for fear an excessive degree ofinflammation 
should follow, and a blemish be the ultimate consequence. 
“ In nine cases out of ten, however, this is the effect of some 
caustic ingredient in the blister, and not the heat of the part. 
No form of blister can be better suited for general application 
than the unguentum lytta, or cantharides ointment.” 
We will next take an article of the materia medica. 
“ Question. — Of what service is Fox-glove in veterinary 
medicine ? 
“Answer. — Its virtues have,perhaps,been too highly extolled 
by some, while, on the other hand, they have been unfairly under- 
rated by others ; it will, however, if seasonably employed, and 
administered in suitable proportions, be found exceedingly ser- 
viceable in inflammatory affections of the lungs and chest, by 
sensibly diminishing the frequency of the pulse. In pneumonia 
the dose should be about one drachm with three drachms of 
nitre and a drachm and a half of emetic tartar. It may like- 
wise be administered both in the acute and chronic cases of 
catarrh, in smaller quantities, combining it in the latter stage with 
the expectorating medicines already noticed under that head.” 
Part of an article on the treatment of disease shall finish our 
extracts. 
“Question. — Whatremarks have you to offer concerning 
that frequent disease called Grease ? 
“Answer. — Grease consists in a discharge of ichorous and 
offensive matter from the heels, accompanied by swelling and 
other symptoms, too well known to need comment. Its causes 
are plethora, insufficient or total want of exercise, bad grooming, 
and constitutional predisposition. Plethora is a general fulness 
of the vessels, or a state in which more blood is formed than is 
required to supply the demands of the animal’s system; this 
circumstance surcharges the capillary vessels with more fluid 
than they are able properly to propel, and consequently an imper- 
fect circulation, or a local debility, takes place in the heels, and 
grease follows. Insufficient or total want of exercise , combined 
with confinement in a stable whose atmosphere is polluted, and 
an undue supply of nutritious food or hard meat, is almost sure 
to produce it. Bad grooming is, perhaps, the most frequent of 
all the causes. The filth and dust accumulated about the heels 
are allowed to remain on their surfaces unremoved, or, if washed 
off, the legs are suffered to remain wet and undried, and this 
suddenly checks the circulating fluid in these parts. Predispo- 
sition is another cause. Some horses have had it even at grass ; 
and such subjects are sure to have it if brought into artificial 
