DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND INTESTINES. 
67 
waters must not be estimated ccording to the quantity of a 
particular purgative salt, as sulphate of magnesia, present; but 
rather according to the result observed to follow the exhibition 
of the fluid containing those salts; as it is remarked in the case 
of well-known purgative mineral waters that the actual quan¬ 
tity of the purging salt is quite inadequate to the production 
of catharsis ; but there appears to be something in the com¬ 
bination of a number of saline agents that leads to a medicinal 
action, which is not the mean of the known action of the several 
agents combined : the law which determines this effect is not 
understood; but we have in some measure an exemplification 
in the combination of aloes and sulphate of iron, or aloes and 
gentian. In both cases the purgative action, instead of being 
moderated by the tonic, is markedly increased, and conse¬ 
quently the result is not the mean of the known action of the 
agents combined. The injurious effects of these causes depend 
agood deal upon their constancy ; the animal, suffering from 
their primary effects, is still compelled to exist under the most 
unfavorable circumstances; the disease consequently pro¬ 
gresses unchecked, and a fatal prostration is soon established 
from the incessant drain upon the fluids of the system and 
the interruption to the digestive function, preventing the 
supply of new material being at all adequate to the amount 
of loss sustained. 
Treatment will be regulated by the nature and extent of 
the causes, as well as by the stage of the disease. The most 
simple form of diarrhoea, dependent upon some irritating 
matter consumed in the food, will probably require little in¬ 
terference after the cause has been discovered and removed. 
The sudden arrestation of the purging will not be at all advis¬ 
able, as the removal of the offending matter will be thereby 
prevented; a mild purgative may even be employed at the 
outset, but, remembering the irritable condition of the mucous 
membrane, the practice is not free from danger. Diet com¬ 
posed exclusively of liquid aliment of the blandest and most 
soluble description will be strictly enjoined, to the exclusion 
of the usual provender. Oats and bran should on no account 
be given, and hay only in small quantities and of good age 
and quality. 
Alkaline agents may be exhibited with advantage without 
any fear of a premature cessation of the diarrhoea, which will 
nevertheless subside after the offending matters have been 
removed and the acid secretions corrected. Such agents as 
bicarbonate of potash, solution of the acetate of ammonia, 
and prepared chalk, are all effective in simple cases. The 
acetate of ammonia should never be omitted, as its effects 
