324 
ON THE USE OF CANTIIARIDES IN ANASARCA 
AND GENERAL DEBILITY. 
By Mr. J. W. Hales, Oswestry. 
In a previous communication to The Veterinarian, I 
stated that I had not found Mr. Vines’s plan of treatment recom- 
mended for glanders to be successful when that disease had esta- 
blished itself in the constitution of the horse; and I am sorry 
to say, that subsequent experience has not altered that opinion : 
but whilst I consider that we have, as yet, no cure for genuine 
glanders, I feel compelled by candour to acknowledge the advan- 
tages I have derived from Mr. Vines’ treatment in cases of 
debility, oedema, &c.; more particularly in those anasarcous 
swellings of the limbs and abdomen which every now and then 
succeed to strangles or catarrhal affections, and which are some- 
times accompanied by red or purple spots on the lining mem- 
brane of the nose, it, perhaps, will be said, that these cases, 
if neglected or improperly treated, would degenerate into gland- 
ers or farcy: that this may occasionally happen, I will not take 
upon myself to deny; but by far the majority of them, when 
they terminate fatally, do so by effusion into the chest or abdo- 
men, or as being concomitant with some internal organic dis- 
ease ; and, indeed, an anasarcous state of the extremities is not 
very unfrequently one of the symptoms produced by chronic 
disease of some internal organ (the viscera of the chest, perhaps, 
most commonly), and is in these cases an indication of the break- 
ing up of the constitution, and a pretty sure harbinger of the 
fell monster death. There are, however, many cases of ana- 
sarca, either idiopathic or following catarrh or strangles, unac- 
companied with organic disease, and in these instances (espe- 
cially the cases following catarrh and strangled) I consider Mr. 
Vines’ treatment preferable to any other with which I am 
acquainted. I have seen purgatives and diuretics do decided 
harm — the constitution becoming impaired, and the swellings 
increased by the employment of them ; and when the treatment 
has been reversed, and the stimulant plan adopted, the pa- 
tients have sometimes rapidly and at other times more tardily 
recovered. 
I am fond of endeavouring to illustrate my meaning by cases 
in point, and shall, upon the present occasion, give a brief 
sketch of two cases, selected from amongst others, which I 
think will shew the efficacy of the treatment I am recommend- 
ing. 
In the summer of 1834, I was requested to visit a fine four- 
