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Veterinarians as the carbonate of ammonia. As a general diffusible stimulant it seems 
better adapted to veterinary practice than the other drugs in this class of medicines. 
When I used to treat pneumonia with sedatives every patient died; since I have 
learned to use stimulants I have not lost a single case except where there were compli¬ 
cations that resulted fatally. So far as my experience goes I find that the cases do 
better as a rule if placed upon carbonate of ammonia from the commencement of the 
disease. As instructed at College I have tried belladonna, in conjunction with the car¬ 
bonate of ammonia, in the first stage with very satisfactory results. When in this dis¬ 
ease the pulse becomes soft and weak and the temperature high, carbonate of ammonia 
strengthens the heart’s action and reduces the amount of fever present. It is at this 
period that alcohol is of signal service in reducing the temperature, giving strength to 
the weakened heart and supporting the flagging digestion. But in those cases where 
there is imminent danger from the elevation of temperature, these medicines are not 
to be compared with the quick and efficient action of Quinine. I have seen the 
temperature reduced almost three degrees in twelve hour’s time from the exhibition of 
a two dram’s dose of Quinine. I have used Carbonate of Ammonia and Belladonna with 
marked success in a case of Cerebro-spinal Meningitis, and I can see no objection to 
its more general use in this disease. It will support the general strength of the patient 
and assist the Belladonna in keeping up the usual vigor of the circulatory system. I 
gave it in the case above mentioned for several days in gruel, per rectum, and with ap¬ 
parent good results, the only objectionable feature being a slight catarrh of the rectum 
induced by the irritating effects of the Ammonia, but this subsided of itself in a few 
days afier the administration of the medicine in this way was discontinued. The only 
nourishment and medicine the animal took for five or six days was given in the form 
of enemas, and the ultimate recovery of the patient attests the benefit to be derived 
from this method of supporting the system during the period of inability to perform 
deglutition. 
As an experiment I treated five cases of sub-acute Laryngitis with Belladonna and 
Carbonate of Ammonia and had just as complete and early recovery as in those cases 
where the ammonia was not used. The advantage which I at the time thought was 
obtained from its use, was the retention of the appetite to a marked degree and a 
more rapid convalesence. In the treatment of Influenza, no medicine works so well 
as the Carbonate of Ammonia. As a rule I do not think we can commence its use 
too early in this disease. Knowing as we do the clinical history of the affection, we 
aim to prevent the early debility which always occurs, by a vigorous administration of 
general Stimulants from the very onset of the complaint. 
Even in those cases where you. will find with the first symptoms of the disease a 
strong full pulse and membranes highly injected—those cases I was taught positively 
contra-indicated the use of stimulants—they prevent to a great extent the debility which 
would otherwise follow. 
In the summer of 1874, I treated thirty-three cases of Epizootic Pleura Pneumonia 
with Carbonate of Ammonia and Camphor, and of these thirty-three only five died, cer¬ 
tainly as low a percentage of mortality as could be expected in this disease. 
I do not mean to say that this treatment' was more successful than any other 
would have been, but that the results were so favorable as to justify the belief that any 
other treatment would have been attended by at least as great a mortality. 
In some of those diseases where we use stimulants extensively, English Veterin¬ 
arians strenuously oppose their employment. 
