742 
A. ,T. THOMPSON. 
without knowing how to apply them. Many remedies, as 
we are all aware, have different actions when applied in dif¬ 
ferent ways. Take for example, the simple drug, potassium 
nitrate, which has no less than four separate and distinct 
actions, neither conflicting with the others, and all depending 
entirely upon the amount given and the mode of administra¬ 
tion. 
The first thing to be looked at, after having diagnosed 
our case and decided upon the remedy to be applied for the 
alleviation of the trouble, is to be sure of the purity of the 
drug which we prescribe. In this day and age, when there 
are so many impurities and adulterations in all commodities, 
and when the adroit head of American genius can so artfully 
imitate nature in the consistency, flavor or odor of almost 
any drugs, it certainly is no small part of our duties to be 
sure that we prescribe only that which we know to be pure 
and reliable. If we prescribe white arsenic, for example, we 
have no assurance that our prescription, when filled, will con¬ 
tain the dose we intended. If on the other hand we prescribe 
arsenious acid manufactured by a reliable firm, we know that 
we always get the same strength. If we prescribe the tincture 
of opium we meet the same difficulty; likewise with all 
tinctures. The strength of tinctures will be found different 
in every different drug house. Fluid extracts are always of 
known strength and consequently can always be relied upon. 
We should therefore use care in prescribing only such prepara¬ 
tions as we know to be of standard strength. 
Having made sure that our drug is a pure one, our 
next consideration is how to prepare it for administration, 
and this is the most important step and perhaps the least 
thought of by veterinary surgeons, in all our treatment. 
In our preparation there are two important objects which 
we must seek to obtain : First: That we may get the full 
and prompt physiological action, and second, that we 
may facilitate the administration of the same. Many will 
prepare almost all bulky drugs in the form of a bolus, 
which is certainly a very unsatisfactory mode of administra¬ 
tion. I have seen practitioners have aloetic balls prepared 
