560 
ACUTE RHEUMATISM. 
Concise Account,” has been written without any malignity^' 
to that author. I may remark, too, that I had plenty of line, 
but I did not make use of it, or I might have gone to the 
middle of the ocean; but no, I merely sauntered along the 
sAore, amusing myself now and then in gathering buckies and 
shells for the bairns. 
The author of the Concise Account,” if he would but think 
of it, should attend to his profession, and leave the writing of 
books to others who have, perhaps, less to do ; nor should he ever 
think of beginning to write a book until he has got something 
that will either amuse or interest. His judgment must be more 
solid, and his knowledge, generally, more extensive; and when 
this is so, he would despise to try to lessen the great usefulness 
of the Edinburgh Veterinary School, or tarnish the fair fame of 
its unassuming Professor. 
ACUTE RHEUMATISM. 
By Mr. Thompson, Beith. 
I HAVE had fourteen cases of this disease in Mr. Banner- 
man’s stables. The muscles of the shoulders and arms were 
generally the parts affected : the cure was a good bleeding from 
the jugular, and a sharp purge, and was effected in a few days. 
One of these cases was uncommonly severe. The disease 
was in the back and loins. The horse brought forward his hind 
legs under his flanks, reached his back, and drew up his flanks 
with a convulsive twitch, accompanied by a piteous groan, 
almost every five minutes. 
The sympathetic fever was alarming; the pulse was 90; and 
there was obstinate constipation of the bowels. 
The horse literally roared aloud if any one attempted to shift 
him in the stall, and groaned incessantly when lying. 
He was bled almost to fainting; three moderate doses of 
aloes were given in the course of two days, accompanied by 
small portions of hellebore. Injections were administered, and 
warm fomentations were frequently applied to the back and loins. 
On the third day the physic operated briskly, accompanied 
by considerable nausea and reduction of the pulse. From that 
time the animal gradually recovered, contrary to the expectation 
of the proprietor, who had previously lost, by apparently the 
same complaint, two horses, each of them worth £40. 
These horses are well fed, and always in good condition, but 
are at times worked without mercy, which, perhaps, makes 
them so liable to such attacks. 
