BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF OPIUM IN BRONCHITIS. 327 
gestive system — and the blood or vital system is speedily in- 
volved. I am confirmed in this by the fact, that red or black 
water almost never appears in the winter, and, even in the summer 
months, may be said to be confined to July, August, and September. 
[Although we confess that we are not altogether converts to Mr. 
Cox’s opinion or treatment of red-water, there is something 
in this paper which deserves consideration. Will some of our 
country practitioners favour us with their experience? — -Y.] 
THE BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF OPIUM IN BRONCHITIS. 
By Mr. G. M. Marshall, Armagh , Ireland. 
In this month’s number of The Veterinarian Mr. Hors- 
burgh has called the attention of the veterinary profession to the 
question, “ Whether opium can be properly and beneficially em- 
ployed in the inflammations of organs or surfaces essential to 
life alluding, in particular, to inflammation of the mucous 
membranes of the respiratory passages. I now send you a case 
of bronchitis, and to the powerful sedative effect of opium I at- 
tribute its successful termination. Hoping this subject may be 
taken up by some of your highly-talented correspondents, I pro- 
ceed to give you the particulars : — 
Dec. 19 thy 1840. — A bay coach horse, the property of Messrs. 
Anderson and Green, was this day placed under treatment. The 
symptoms were, a frequent, hard, dry cough — difficulty in swal- 
lowing — pain evinced on pressing the larynx — pulse from 40 to 
45 — the pituitary membrane a good deal injected, but no dis- 
charge from the nostrils. 
I commenced my treatment by abstracting nearly four quarts of 
blood, applying a blister to the region of the larynx, extending it 
a short way down the trachea, administering sedative medicine 
consisting of verat. alb. 3j and nit. potassee 3'j in a ball twice 
a-day, ordering mash diet, and giving an infusion of linseed to 
drink. 
20 th. — This morning I was summoned to him rather early, the 
horse-keeper informing me that he was much worse, “ and shak- 
ing all over.” On going to him I soon recognized the symptoms 
of bronchitis, viz., the pulse indistinct at the inferior maxillary 
artery, and scarcely to be felt at the side, owing to the violent 
tremor of the muscles of the left shoulder — respiration quick and 
short — great accumulation of mucus within the bronchi — the 
countenance indicative of anxiety and distress — the extremities 
