200 CURE OF POLL-EVIL AND FISTULOUS WITHERS, 
parts are left with unsightly cicatrices. Under these considera¬ 
tions, after years of experience, he flatters himself with the 
impression of having found in nux vomica a. means of cure, even 
for the most inveterate cases, without using the knife; and that, 
too, in a short space of time, so little as from three to four 
weeks, and without leaving the least signs upon the parts that 
have been affected. 
The dose of the nux vomica is 3j, to be given in the pro- 
vender, or otherwise, morning, noon, and night. This is greatly 
assisted by rubbing some blister ointment on the affected (as 
yet unulcerated) part every three or four days. It may also 
be preceded by an aloetic purge. 
The nux vomica is equally efficacious, given in this manner, 
in the cure of all other tumours, fistulse, &c. whatever may be 
their nature or seat, with the exception of those in the hoof. It 
sometimes occurs in old and debilitated horses, that, after a short 
time, the tumour re-appears. The repetition of the treatment, 
however, for about eight days, will radically remove this un¬ 
favourable recurrence. Those cases which have already been 
operated on, and have many sinuses, are slower in their progress 
of healing, though equally certain : and here it may be necessary 
to attend to the external openings as well. 
A young horse with a large tumour in the withers was, after 
three weeks, by the above treatment, perfectly cured. Another, 
a three-year-old colt, affected with poll-evil, so perfectly re¬ 
covered in the same space of time, that it was soon after sold 
without any suspicion of the affection on the part of the buyer. 
A gelding, twelve years old, had been affected with poll-evil for 
more than three months. There were sinuses in all directions; 
some of them four to five inches deep, extending underneath the 
cervical ligament. This patient was radically cured in the 
space of five weeks by the same treatment. These are but few 
cases out of more than a hundred in which the treatment has 
not been equally successful. Herr Eck has not had an oppor¬ 
tunity to try it on ruminants, but is of opinion that it would 
likewise succeed in the removal of old swellings and sores if 
given in solution and in somewhat stronger doses. It is his 
opinion that poll-evil and fistulous withers, &c. are not caused, 
as is generally supposed, by mere external injuries, but that 
they are more of a constitutional nature, and hence the ra¬ 
tionale of his treatment. He confesses himself unable to give 
a scientific explanation of the modus operandi of his treatment; 
though he is satisfied about having found for a troublesome 
disease a certain cure, to which he recommends his colleagues 
to give an impartial trial. 
Magazin jur die Gesammte Thierheilhunde , Berlin. 
