306 MR. youatt’s veterinary lectures. 
be left to the unassisted power of the organic nerves, but shall 
have that power opposed and almost destroyed by the continued 
spasm and compression of the abdominal muscles. 
Physic, then, is indicated as relieving the intestines, and prin¬ 
cipally the larger ones, of the fecal matter by which they may 
be oppressed,—as possibly removing some source of irritation 
connected either with the origin of the spasmodic action or its 
continuance, or its violence—as lessening to a material degree 
the quantity of the circulating medium, and, when it is fearlessly 
continued, and pushed to its full extent, abating the force of 
almost every nervous affection. 
Clysters .—The action of the purgative should be excited and 
kept up by means of clysters, which we are now enabled readily 
to administer, and in what quantity we please, by means of Read’s 
patent pump. I have not, for many a year, known a more valuable 
addition to our apparatus; and in this disease it will be an indis¬ 
pensable auxiliary, for reasons which I have just stated. Warm 
soap and water—not too strong of the soap, or warm water in 
which 8oz. of Epsom salts have been dissolved, or to which 4oz. of 
the solution of aloes have been added, will form the best clysters; 
and the quantity administered and the frequency of administration 
will depend on the degree of constipation. The feces must, if 
possible, be kept in a pultaceous state; and in order to accomplish 
this, I should not scruple occasionally to throw up a bucketful of 
fluid at a time. I would not only completely fill the rectum, but 
force on a portion of the injection into the colon. The assistant 
must be always prepared with a wisp of hay, and place it on the 
anus the moment the pipe is withdrawn, and hold the tail strongly 
down; for such is now'the pressure of the abdominal muscles on 
the intestines, that the fluid will be immediately expelled with a 
force that would be scarcely thought credible. 
Sedatives .—Next I inquire, have I any drug that possesses a 
general sedative power over the horse, or that exerts a direct influ¬ 
ence on the nervous system? 
Digitalis. —We must know little of horse-practice, if we have 
not witnessed the power of digitalis over the heart and the circu¬ 
latory system; and, in many a chest affection, we have hailed 
with true delight the intermittent pulse, a fearful symptom in 
the opinion of the uninitiated, but to us the certain harbinger of 
returning health. This, however, hardly suits our present pur¬ 
pose. The influence is too indirect—it is too much confined to the 
organic system. There may be pauses in the supply of arterial 
blood; there may be, on the whole, a diminished supply, but 
this wall go only a little w^ay to subdue the dreadful excitation of 
tetanus. 
