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KENELM WINSLOW. 
to merge into the latter, it seems as if the cold treatment 
should be as applicable in one case as in the other. This an¬ 
tipyretic measure is indicated as a rule in all septic or essen¬ 
tial fevers, when the vital processes are endangered by the 
continued high temperature. It is contra-indicated in symp¬ 
tomatic or catarrhal and other self-limited febrile disorders 
when the system is not thus threatened. 
It is not within our province or scope here to discuss 
what such dangers, occurring in the course of fevers, are ; 
but they may be said briefly to include general inanition due 
to excessive tissue waste, and loss through exudative pro¬ 
cesses ; cardiac failure owing to increased functional activity, 
degeneration of the myocardium, and possibly to the direct 
effect of the blood poison on the heart; disturbances of the 
sensorium occasioned by the great heat of the blood; and 
finally, parenchymatous degeneration of various organs, as 
of the heart, kidneys, liver, spleen, and muscles. The cold 
bath, ice-cradle, and like measures, are ostensibly unsuited 
for veterinary purposes. The employment of the wet sheet, 
sprinkled occasionally with cold water and maintained in 
position till the temperature falls, and followed by vigorous 
rubbing and dry blanketing, or the method of which the cold 
wet blanket is covered by a rubber sheet, and then with dry 
blankets, forming what the Germans know as the “ Priessnitz” 
application, seem the most practicable procedure. For the 
latter is claimed the advantages belonging to both refriger¬ 
ants and counter-irritants. First; cooling occurs from the 
physical abstraction of heat and then reaction takes place 
with vascular dilatation, revulsion of blood to the surface, and 
a soothing effect follows, which the moist warm heat pro¬ 
duces, resembling altogether in its secondary action, a hugh, 
light poultice. As far as the objections to the use of such 
cold applications are concerned, it seems that the only par¬ 
ticular difference between its adaptability in veterinary prac¬ 
tice and in human medicine, lies in the fact that the bodies of 
our patients are completely covered with hair, and therefore 
need to be more carefully protected for a longer time against 
the danger of too long-continued evaporation. 
The writer feels that it is rather humiliating to be unable 
