32 
GEORGE I. SMITH. 
At the onset you are unable to approach the horse to give him 
medical aid from the delirious frenzied condition of the animal, 
as he will bite, strike with his legs, and so forth. Believing as 
I do that the trouble is congestion of the brain, I have directed 
my treatment according to conditions. The first thing to do is 
to apply ice packs to the brain, changing them often, and aco¬ 
nite and potassium bromide internally. I have never tried 
chloral hydrate, but believe it would be indicated. 
FISTULA OR POLL-EVIL. 
By George I. Smith, D. V. S., Lexington, Mo. 
Perhaps there is no disease with which the average country 
practitioner comes in contact that is so resisting and obstinate 
in treating as is fistula or poll-evil. 
Its origin being specific or not, it requires good persistent 
treatment and a thorough knowledge of the drugs or chemicals 
used, and also to know when they have been sufficiently used, 
or to know when to quit. Repeatedly cases have come to me 
for treatment when there was absolutely nothing to be done save 
to let them alone and give nature a chance to overcome the 
effects of drastic caustics from the hands usually of u Father Bar¬ 
barism.” In its early or primitive stage it is easy of treatment, 
that is, treatment in line of “ cause and effect.” The nature 
and conditions of the case offer difficulties which only the 
trained practitioner and close observer can readily overcome. 
Through ages untold we have heard of men who are famous in 
curing fistulse ; we read of gun-shot prescriptions that never 
fail, yet there are animals after animals which have been 
treated by this man and by that man and finally passed up as 
incurable from the simple fact that the course pursued, with 
the strongest and most deadly caustics, was in absolute opposi¬ 
tion to the curing effects or removing the cause. Dr. Pence, 
of Troy, Ohio, speaks of tincture of iodine as a reliable treat¬ 
ment, which I can endorse from personal experience. I have 
often used it and at all times with good results. However, there 
