THERAPEUTICS.-A CRITICISM. 
687 
necessary or even once tried to treat any of the diseases men¬ 
tioned without the use of purgatives? Take, for example, 
lymphangitis. I dare say ninety-nine out of a hundred start 
their treatment of that disease with a purgative, either aloetic 
or saline. Does it not take a certain number of days for recov¬ 
ery, say 4 to 6 or 8 days for the fever to abate and another week 
or ten days, and may be more, for the swelling to leave ? It 
does; now, the diseases mentioned will get well just as quickly, 
if properly treated, without the use of purgatives, proving that 
their use is merely on a theoretical basis, and is still being fol¬ 
lowed out by thousands of veterinarians simply because some 
author said it was the proper thing, and you have not stopped to 
think. 
Then, there is azoturia. Don’t they die even when purga¬ 
tives are administered, and get well just as often when they are 
omitted? They certainly do ; then why this promiscuous use 
of purgatives? 
Forty years ago we were in the “ bleeding age,” and now 
we’re in the “physicking age.” 
Purgatives or laxatives are prescribed by all of us in some 
diseases (that do not need them), and by some of us in all dis¬ 
eases. I’ve seen them prescribed in sprains of joints, simple 
diseases of the eye, and other instances where they did and 
could not do any possible good. Why is this ? Have you ever 
stopped to think whether their general use is necessary, or are 
you using them simply because Profs. Williams or Robertson 
advise it ? Have you ever tried to treat the above mentioned 
diseases without the use of purgatives ? If not, do so at your 
first opportunity, and I am sure you will be just as success¬ 
ful without them as with them, and in many instances more 
so, for I am sure many a horse would recover from colic 
where death ensues, as a result of the purgative, by virtue of 
its causing greater irritation of the bowels, bringing on enter¬ 
itis. The motto, viz medicatrix natural, should be carried 
constantly in the mind of every veterinarian. The greatest 
abuse of drugs in veterinary practice lies in the too general and 
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