ON THE PRESENT EPIZOOTIC AMONG HORSES. 240 
ing on their centres. It also has the effect of allaying increased 
arterial action. When given repeatedly, it acts as an aperient ; 
and where the bronchial mucous membrane is threatened, or has 
already become implicated, there is no remedy better calculated 
to avert the danger. In the treatment of the present disease, it 
is a great desideratum that its action is not direct upon the mu- 
cous surface, but indirect through the medium of the nerves and 
vessels by which that tissue is supplied. 
In some cases I have combined this medicine, and I have 
thought advantageously, with a little of the nitrate of potass ; 
the dose of the tartrate being 3iss, an( i that of the nitrate 3ij, given 
morning and evening, dissolved in a little water. By giving 
them in water, their action is almost immediate. The moment 
the animal swallows the fluid, it passes at once into his capa- 
cious caecum, very little of it remaining in his stomach. If a ball 
be given instead, it may remain hours in the stomach before it 
becomes dissolved, solution being very tardy in that organ, while 
there is any general derangement. The tartarized antimony, 
when given in its solid state, is very liable to inflame the pre- 
viously irritable villous coat. The horse is, however, a most 
admirable subject for the exhibition of such an agent, he being 
an animal to whom the power of vomition is denied. Nausea 
can, therefore, in his case be carried almost to any extent. 
When an animal is first observed to become affected, it is de- 
sirable to place him in a large box-stall, allowing him to have as 
much air as possible, both throughout the day and during the 
night. Of air, no matter how cool the temperature, he cannot 
possibly have too much. This is an axiom that should never be 
forgotten by the veterinary practitioner. The animal should, 
however, be well clothed, and the legs bandaged, but not too 
tightly, with flannel. These means have a tendency to equalize 
the circulation, particularly where there is a diminution of heat. 
Let one of the principal objects be, to allow the patient to respire 
pure cold air, at the same time keeping the surface of the body 
moderately warm, if the season be at all inclement. 
I am well aware that there are a number of veterinary practi- 
tioners, and some having pretensions to eminence, whose treat- 
ment consists in copious bleeding, blistering the throat and sides, 
and then turning their patients out into a field or paddock, dis- 
regardless of the weather, there to live or die as chance may de- 
cree. To any person of common sense at all acquainted with 
medical matters, such a mode of treatment must appear in its 
true light — a lamentable example of the bigoted ignorance which 
still remains among many members of the veterinary profession. 
Such was the system of the celebrated Professor Coleman, of the 
VOL. xiv. K k 
