VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
419 
on the recollection of us all. He had at that time a patient that 
had laboured under simple fever. It had assumed the true quoti¬ 
dian type. Every afternoon about four the shivering fit came on. 
There was now determination to the lungs, and he feared the 
result; and he blamed himself for not adopting a more decisive 
plan at the commencement of the disease. 
Mr. IF. Percivall said, that still much depended on circum¬ 
stances, and on one circumstance particularly—whether the pa¬ 
tient was in a surgeon’s own infirmary, where he w r ould be seen 
every hour, or where he would not be seen more than once or 
twice in the twenty-four hours. In the first case, the practi¬ 
tioner might wait to see what form the disease would assume; in 
the other, bleeding was imperative, because local determination 
might otherwise occur, and be established, in the absence of the 
surgeon. He would not, however, take any great quantity ; cer¬ 
tainly to nothing like the extent which he w 7 ould in pneumonia. 
Mr. Mavor would bleed at first copiously : thus only could he 
rationally hope to arrest the disease, especially in an animal so 
subject to sudden local determination. 
The discussion next turned on the medicine to be adminis¬ 
tered. 
Mr. J. Percivall had a great objection to aloes in fever. He 
had seen many cases in which they had done a great deal of 
harm. Diuretics acted far more speedily than aloes. 
Mr. Henderson .—But is it not a great object to open the bowels? 
Mr. J . Percivall. —Certainly; give injections. You would not 
dare exhibit more than two or three drachms of aloes; and what 
would they do ? The croton is a better medicine. Diuretics, 
however, act in less than six hours. 
Mr. Henderson had given aloes, and blamed himself for the 
use of them ; but in the decided majority of cases, aloes had been 
beneficial. He does not give them to purge, but to soften down 
the dung and hasten its expulsion. 
Mr. J . Percivall gave eight or ten grains of the farina of the 
croton nut. It was as certain in its operation, somewhat more 
speedy, and not so likely to produce inflammation. Eight or ten 
grains of the croton were equivalent to a common dose of physic. 
Mr. Field, he thinks, combines the croton with aloes. 
Mr. Slocombe asked, whether it was good practice to bleed 
w T hen the horse had a dose of physic in him ?' 
Mr. J. Percivall thought that it might be justifiable when 
sudden depletion was indicated ; but it was bold practice. He 
was an advocate for bleeding to a greater extent than many sur¬ 
geons earned it. 
Mr. Slocombe had never seen bad effects from copious bleed- 
