SCOTTISH METROPOLITAN VETERINARY ASSOCIATION. 887 
to abstract more than one or two pints, no matter how large 
an orifice we make in the vein, for it is immediately closed up 
owing to the plastic condition of the blood which will even adhere 
to the fingers almost immediately it comes in contact with them, and 
I have seen animals, particularly fat ones, if bled in this stage die 
quietly off without an effort; and even where the circulation has 
been restored by the exhibition of stimulants, and the pulse full 
and strong, the benefit of bleeding is questionable. I have bled 
two cases under such circumstances, but I had cause to repent 
the act in each; local bleeding from the temporal artery may be 
useful, but general bleeding is simply murderous after coma sets in. 
Stimulants now are the most likely to be of benefit, particularly 
carbonate of ammonia and alcohol, but great perspicuity is 
required in the use <of these; they should not be given in too 
large doses or too frequently. Alcohol, especially, if given in 
too large doses, produces its secondary depressing effects and adds 
to the coma ; if, on the contrary, its use is too suddenly discon¬ 
tinued a relapse is inevitable. “ It has been thought that it has 
a tendency to coagulate the blood, but it does not do this. It 
rather has a contrary effect, and in proper doses it stimulates 
the fibres of both systems of nerves. It has even as great an 
effect after the tenth nerves are divided/' (Percy on Alcohol.) 
Alcohol may also do good by stimulating the nerves of the 
eliminatory functions to get rid of it from the system, but large 
doses paralyze these nerves, as proved by its retention for so long 
a period in the textures of the body, especially the brain, after 
its administration, and not only its own retention but that of the 
effete matter with which it comes in contact. Moreover, alcohol, 
for its elimination requires a certain amount of oxygen, which 
it must abstract from the solids.and fluids of the system ; hence, 
in a disease in which carbonic acid is increased in the blood large 
doses must be extremely injurious. 
With regard to ammonia I know of no stimulant to which I 
w r ould sooner trust in any case where the vital powers are at a low 
ebb ; and I have had cases in cattle, after parturition, in which 
the pulse has been absolutely imperceptible, the body cold, and 
the animals almost in extremis recover in a most marvellous 
manner by the use of half-ounce doses of carbonate of ammonia 
with whiskey or brandy every half-hour, gradually lessening the 
dose as the patient rallied. In bad cases of parturient apoplexy 
we may give as much as two ounces of this salt at a dose, suffi¬ 
ciently diluted, and as it is eliminated by the lungs it must be a 
valuable preventive of congestion of those organs. 
In the third stage I should still advise the exhibition of 
purgative medicine, or its repetition if a dose has already been 
administered, and also the administration of the tincture of nux 
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