THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XLII 
No.499. 
JULY, 1869. 
Fourth Series. 
No. 175. 
Communications and Cases. 
THE THERAPEUTIC ACTION OP STIMULANTS 
IN CONGESTION OP THE LUNGS. 
By Professor Brown. 
•/ 
It is frequently urged, as a reproach against the medical 
art, that it has no principles; and considering that different 
practitioners employ opposite means for tlie cure of the same 
diseases, there is good ground for the charge. Conflictive 
systems of treatment are, however, often, if not always, based 
upon different conceptions of the nature of disease; when 
there exists a common understanding as to the object there 
will not generally be so much variation, and certainly no 
opposition in the means which are used to attain it. 
Among the diseases of frequent occurrence which are dif¬ 
ferently understood by various practitioners is congestion of 
the lungs, an affection which constantly occurs among horses 
that are used in large towns, and in the course of their work 
frequently exposed to changes of temperature and other causes 
of the disease. According to one view, pulmonary conges¬ 
tion is essentially stagnation of blood in the lungs, and 
requires energetic measures to drive the fluid through the 
congested part. In the other view of the disease the accu¬ 
mulation of the fluid is the important element, and all 
remedies which are calculated to cause more blood to be 
pumped^'’ into the congested organs are deprecated. 
Thus, while one school, if school it can be called, of 
XLTI. 35 
