G1.2 TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 
are performed regular!y, and one that is labouring under a 
morbid irritation, is very striking; both these animals live in 
the same manner at the expense of their own substance, but 
one consumes any internal ration five times equal to that of 
the other; this is a highly important fact. If Ave analyse the 
ration of the sick horse, according to the chemical data, ad¬ 
mitting that fat is consumed in the proportion of 1 to 4 of 
muscle, we shall find that this animal consumed per diem, 418G 
grammes of carbon, instead of 787; 59G grammes of hydrogen, 
instead of 115 ; 470 grammes of nitrogen, instead of 75 ; 135 
grammes of salts, instead of 21; and 9GOO grammes of water, 
instead of 3000. This enormous consumption is explained by 
the febrile excitement. A horse in repose, Avhich, according to 
jNI. Lassaigne, burned 2241 grammes of carbon, burned not 
less than 4887, Avhich is more than double, Avhen he is under 
the influence of exercise. Tever increases the consumption of 
the combustible material taken from the interior, the same 
as exercise increases the combustible matter taken from the 
aliment; the chemical results are the same under both cir¬ 
cumstances. It is evident, moreover, that in the animal in 
Avhich combustion was so active the pulmonary and cuta¬ 
neous exhalations must have been A^erv abundant, so as to 
restrict the elevation of the temperature; and it is not less 
evident, on the other hand, that the biliary and urinary 
secretions, the office of Avhich is to evacuate the hvdro- 
carbonic and nitrogenous products, which have not been 
destroyed by respiration, must also carry off a great pro¬ 
portion of the fixed matter. We find by this that there is 
a vast difference betAveen a healthy horse and one labouring 
under irritative fcA’^er—one is the calm furnace, Avhere the 
combustion goes on sloAAdy, and the other the fierce furnace, to 
AAdiich oxygen has free access. In the first, life may be pro¬ 
longed ; in the second, it is soon exhausted. That which hap¬ 
pened to the sick horse happens likewise in a great many cases. 
One is often struck with the rapidity with which some animals 
lose flesh; they seem to melt aAvay as it were, at sight; in a 
few Aveeks, or even days, they cannot be recognised. It is 
the same in the human subject. It is, therefore, with good 
reason that the treatment in illness is directed to moderate 
the febrile reaction. Though Ave cannot ahvays act on the 
malady itself, it is advisable to Combat its eftects. What is 
called the medicine of the symptoms might often find its justi¬ 
fication in physiology, if a little more care were bestoAved on 
the relations Avliich exist betAveeii maladies and the normal 
phenomena of the organism. The results obtained by ex¬ 
perience on the horse are reproduced with the same cha- 
