906 
W. B. SWITZER. 
well known to make it necessary for me to enumerate them 
here, therefore I beg to briefly call your attention to some 
facts in connection with the treatment, realizing, as I do, that 
this* must be varied according to stage and condition of the 
patient. 
Every practitioner is well aware, although I regret to state 
that some do not always act as if they were, that the only way 
to cure disease is to remove from the system the cause of same. 
Indigestion only comes on when the digestive organs fail to 
do the work they are called upon to perform. This may be 
brought about by either of two principal causes. First, a gradual 
loss of vitality until the organs are unable to accomplish their 
mission, and from some minor cause the digestive process 
ceases, and we have a well-marked case of acute indigestion. 
Then again the same thing may occur by suddenly overtaxing 
these organs, as by feeding a greater amount of food than the 
animal is in the habit of receiving. 
In the great majority of cases we discover a fermenting pro¬ 
cess with more or less gas, in which case we should first direct 
our attention to destroying the gases and preventing further 
formation of same. After which we should proceed to restore 
active digestion, giving careful attention to the diet for some 
time after the appetite is restored. 
Then again we get cases where the undigested food causes 
spasms ; then, of course, our first effort would be to relieve the 
spasms by the use of some of the many antispasmodics, and the 
use of soothing drenches, such as flaxseed gruel, slippery elm 
tea, etc., always giving remedies a reasonable length of time to 
do their work. 
But I imagine I hear some one say “ these mild remedies will 
not always answer; ” this I fully realize, and we must be ever 
ready to meet emergencies with the more active remedies, such 
as aloes, eserine and pilocarpine, or berian chloride. And in 
extremely bad cases the use of the trocar and canula and pro¬ 
bang. 
In connection with this, perhaps it might not be out of place 
