952 
THE HORSE PLAGUE. 
bran, wetted or scalded, with a little salt added. Hay in 
limited quantities may be allowed. 
In regard to remedies, I wish to say that heroic treatment 
should not be tolerated. Bloodletting, cathartic nauseants, 
and arterial sedatives, are, all of them, either injurious or 
uncalled for. Next, whatever medicines are administered 
should not be given in the form of draughts or drenches, 
as the animal is sure to be thrown into a paroxysm of 
coughing the moment the drench is attempted, and some of 
the medicine will, in such event, be almost sure to find its 
way into the windpipe and bronchial tubes, thus inducing 
fatal bronchitis or pneumonia. Balls should not be given, 
as they will be coughed back or out, and the irritability 
of the throat will be increased in attempting to pass 
them over with the hand or fingers. Powders are well- 
nigh useless, as when mixed with the food the patient will 
usually refuse both food and powders. Electuaries, syrups, 
or pastes, are the only forms in which medicines may be 
safely and successfully administered in cases where the throat 
is tender and irritable, and coughing easily induced. 
Saline medicines I regard as the most useful in this dis¬ 
ease. Any of the following will answer: Chlorate of potash, 
muriate of ammonia, or hyposulphate of soda. As an ano¬ 
dyne to relieve the cough, fluid extract of belladonna maybe 
added. The proper dose of either of these medicines may be 
rubbed up with two or three ounces of honey or molasses, 
and these poured in the mouth from a small bottle, or placed 
on the tongue with a spoon. Given in this way the medi¬ 
cines will be readily lapped up and easily swallowed. But 
little trouble is required to give it, and no danger of getting 
any medicine in the trachea will be incurred by this method. 
About the throat and over the windpipe a sharp stimulating 
liniment should be well rubbed in. In cases that prove 
severe, or are complicated with other and more serious dis¬ 
eases, a competent veterinarian should be employed. 
The epidemic struck Rochester about the first of last 
week, and it has spread with astonishing rapidity. It is 
supposed that seven tenths of the horses in the city are 
more or less affected by this epidemic. 
The source of the disease, as we have before stated, was 
in Canada, where it has raged with peculiar virulence, and 
its ravages have by no means abated. In Toronto, while 
this epidemic was at its height, it was almost impossible to 
secure a horse for any purpose; the street railroads were 
obliged to suspend operations; carriages, both public and 
