MEMOIRS OF A VETERINARY SURGEON. 
71 
equivalent or preponderating influence of an opposite or res¬ 
torative character, must be brought to bear upon it, so as to 
shorten the duration of its stages, to diminish its intensity, 
and Anally to remove it altogether. For this purpose, the 
conditions and circumstances must be widely different from 
those required when in health. Those conditions best adapted 
to perpetuate health , are not suitable to these diseases. 
The temperature of the stable best suited to tli3 horse’s 
constitution in health is about 60° Fah.; but a different tem¬ 
perature is now loudly called for; in short, is absolutely 
requisite for his recovery, in order to overcome that concen¬ 
tration of nervous force which has gathered in and around 
the lungs. For this purpose, he must breathe an atmosphere, 
the temperature of which, as I have found from careful 
observation, should be from 40° to 45° Fah. Twenty-five 
years’ practice, has convinced me that this is the temperature 
most conducive to the end we have in view ;—this we shall 
And equal to the task that has to be performed. In the Arst 
place, the excess of nervous force must be dispersed to other 
parts of the system, and this method will accomplish it. We 
shall thus readily relieve the lungs, by employing an influence 
that will calm down these excited organs, like oil thrown upon 
troubled waters. 
But although we cannot call the lungs back to rest and 
quiet instantaneously ; yet, as the inherent power of nature is 
always faithful to her engagements, and especially so in these 
cases, we shall meet with that pristine elasticity which will 
resuscitate all the required energies for recovery, and soon 
behold her silently but surely overcoming in the furious con¬ 
flict. I know 7 nothing that is so heart-cheering, or so grateful 
to the feelings of the practitioner, as to witness how 7 beauti¬ 
fully, yet how decisively, nature rises above this elementary 
strife. She seems as it were to tranquilise the fury of the 
storm, while the enemy retreats, and every organ reassumes 
its wonted functions. We shall And the pulse gradually sink 
six or twelve or even twenty beats in a minute during the 
period of twenty-four hours, and every other symptom to 
diminish in the same proportion ; therefore, on this account, I 
say again, change the location of your patient at once, at your 
Arst visit, into the most favorable place possible. I subordi¬ 
nate all other considerations to this, and then we shall soon 
And that nature is her own restorer, and often without our 
boasted medical aid she will slowly but effectually right her¬ 
self. 
Do I hear some of my readers exclaim, What absurd twaddle 
this is, to place such blind reliance upon nature ! But I 
