351 
CASE OF ACUTE INFLAMMATION OF THE MEM¬ 
BRANOUS LINING OF THE AIR-PASSAGES; 
STRIKINGLY ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE OPERATION AND BENE¬ 
FICIAL EFFECTS OF HELLEBORE. 
By Mr. Wm. Percivall, M.R.C.S., and Veterinary 
Surgeon to the First Fife Guards. 
THERE remains no longer, it would appear, any question about 
the admission of hellebore among our most active and service¬ 
able of remedies in pulmonary affections; and it seems to me, 
as such, to be gradually gaining more extensive regard : in which 
light I would lain take to myself some credit for having, in the 
year 1823, re-introduced it to the notice of the veterinary public, 
and begged their renewed trial of a drug which, in my humble 
opinion, had been very undeservedly discarded from our pharma¬ 
copeia. At that day, I remember, I was told that I had been 
recommending not only a useless, but even a dangerous medicine : 
at the present day I am told, that it was known—certainly not 
generally used, if used at all—by all veterinary practitioners. 
What I said concerning it in the year 1823 stands on record; 
what published accounts we had of it at that period also stand 
on record: I would simply desire that the two be compared ; at 
least that is a much fairer way of arbitrating' on the question than 
appealing indiscriminately to the ipse dixit of individuals, too 
many of whom never discover that they are in possession of any 
thing valuable until some one else comes to inform them of its 
estimation. However, I wish it to be understood that I am not 
going to pick this bone—if it be one—of contention with any one; 
although, as I stated before, in my humble opinion, hellebore, 
as an anti-pneumonic, occupies the first rank—ay, even the very 
first place—among medicinal agents. The following case, I think, 
goes far to confirm this. 
A five-year-old blood-horse, slight in make, and inclined to be 
narrow-chested, caught, on Friday the 10th of last month, a 
common cold. There was a pretty profuse flux of unhealthy- 
looking muco-purulent matter from both nostrils, attended with 
dulness and depression, and defective appetite; but with no 
cough, and hardly any febrile disturbance. The next day, how¬ 
ever, there was some fever; and, in consequence of it, (in addition 
to the febrifuge medicine which had been exhibited yesterday, 
and was to be repeated to-day), and from the discharge having 
assumed a more virulent form—an amber-coloured, serous aspect, 
accompanied with a deep blush upon the pituitary membrane, 
six pounds of blood were abstracted from the jugular, and, after- 
