486 
T. B. RODGERS. 
I have nothing to say about tetanus. 
The discharge during healing should be first serous, then 
purulent, should not be large in amount or ill-smelling. The 
oedema should be greatest about the fifth or sixth day ; if in 
large amount scarify the parts smartly, and use hot applica¬ 
tions and exercise. I have seen a horse swollen from scro¬ 
tum to head ; he looked like an exaggerated case of purpura, , 
but got well. Occasionally great oedema is followed by 
sloughing of skin, usually beneath the belly or on the sheath. 
Peritonitis .—My cases have come like lightning out of a 
clear sky ; the colt does well until about the fifth day and is 
then found with his feet bunched together, hair standing to¬ 
ward his ears, pulse first wiry, then soft and often intermittent, 
temperature of rectum hardly reliable (on account of contig¬ 
uity of wound surfaces), extremities cold, or alternately hot 
and cold rigors occur. The wound secretion ceases, or be¬ 
comes sanious and ill-smelling. The hippocratic visage is as 
marked as in man ; the drawn face, distended nostrils and 
staring eyes, once seen are not readily forgotten. 
Make pressure on the body and you almost lift the patient 
off his feet. The respiration is performed as quickly as pos¬ 
sible and is as nearly thoracic as the suffering brute can make 
it. Urine is passed infrequently and not till the demand is 
urgent, on account of the pain incurred in stretching out to 
make it. 
The rectal discharges are at first normal, afterward often 
coated with mucous, or with caste of fibrin material. Sud¬ 
denly the pain ceases, the breath becomes cold, the surface 
clammy, the animal may eat listlessly. Sometimes at this 
stage you may have a full, soft, steady pulse, and there is no 
surer precursor of the death that will certainly come than 
this steadily beating heart when all else points to disaster. 
I have had a case recover under heroic doses of opium 
with calomel (I am old-fashioned enough to believe that cal¬ 
omel is of service, of great service in peritonitis); aconite is 
useful early, in comforting, not depressing doses, and I think 
hot applications to the belly are grateful to the patient. Dur¬ 
ing convalescence great care must be used in regard to diet 
