324 
EDITORIAL. 
ents, with anodynes and other approved therapeutic measures. 
Finally the patient ceases the symptoms of distress, his rapid 
pulse and respirations subside, and he is considered out of dan¬ 
ger. His appetite is entirely suspended, however, and the 
practitioner knows that the proper treatment is to allow the 
stomach a good rest until it can regain its normal functions, at 
which time the appetite will return as rapidly as is consistent 
with its condition. He advises his client of this, who remains 
dormant for twenty-four hours, at which time, food still being 
refused, the assafoetida bag is forced into the mouth of the un¬ 
resisting patient, and he is compelled to chew on it for a couple 
of days, when, his stomach having recovered by enforced idle¬ 
ness, the animal begins again to eat. The owner of that horse 
becomes a living testimonial to the value of this remedy, and 
he does not hesitate to make known the fact that his veterina¬ 
rian failed to cure his horse. Or, again : A patient is brought 
to the veterinarian with skin eruptions, or with pimples from 
plethora, and is placed under depletive treatment, inaugurated 
by the exhibition of a brisk cathartic, and possibly followed by 
some alkali or arsenical solution. The blood has been so de¬ 
pleted by the purge that improvement begins, but the pimples 
not disappearing rapidly enough, a friendly neighbor’s advice 
to try some condition powder or slippery elm is taken, and 
after a time the skin clears up. The work of the veterinarian 
is entirely forgotten by the magic of the slippery elm. 
These instances could be prolonged until this issue of the 
Review would be of its usual number of pages, and then only 
half justice would have been done the subject. But these be¬ 
ing taken for samples of many, we submit that the picture is 
not overdrawn. Kvery practitioner has had just such experi¬ 
ences many times over. While the ones cited usually occur 
among the ignorant class of owners, they are not confined to 
them. The rich man, or the one who imitates the rich man, 
does it a little differently. He either sends for another veteri¬ 
narian, or places the case in the hands of some friend of his 
coachman. The difference is in methods, not in results. 
