eltered from excessive light and drafts of air. Anodynes,
belladonna, hyoscyamus, and opium act as antipyretics simply by quieting
the nervous system. As an irritant exists in the blood in most cases of
fever, any remedy which will favor the excretion of foreign elements
from it will diminish this cause. We therefore use diaphoretics to
stimulate the sweat and excretions from the skin; diuretics to favor the
elimination of matter by the kidneys; cholagogues and laxatives to
increase the action of the liver and intestines, and to drain from these
important organs all the waste material which is aiding to choke up and
congest their rich plexuses of blood vessels. The heart becomes
stimulated to increased action at the outset of a fever, but this does
not indicate increased strength; on the contrary, it indicates the
action of an irritant to the heart that will soon weaken it. It is,
therefore, irrational further to depress the heart by the use of such
drugs as aconite. It is better to strengthen it and to favor the
elimination of the substance that is irritating it. The increased blood
pressure throughout the body may be diminished by lessening the quantity
of blood. This is obtained in some cases with advantage when the disease
is but starting and the animal is plethoric by direct abstraction of
blood, as in bleeding from the jugular or other veins; or by
derivatives, such as mustard, turpentine, or blisters applied to the
skin; or by setons, which draw to the surface the fluid of the blood,
thereby lessening its volume without having the disadvantage of
impoverishing the elements of the blood found in bleeding. In many cases
antipyretics given by the mouth and cold applied to the skin are most
useful.

When the irritation which is the cause of fever is a specific one,
either in the form of bacteria (living organisms), as in glanders,
tuberculosis, influenza, septicemia, etc., or in the form of a foreign
element, as in rheumatism, gout, hemaglobinuria, and other so-called
diseases of nutrition, we employ remedies which have been found to have
a direct specific action on them. Among the specific remedies for
various diseases are counted quinin, carbolic acid, salicylic acid,
antipyrene, mercury, iodin, the empyreumatic oils, tars, resins,
aromatics, sulphur, and a host of other drugs, some of which are of
known effect and others of which are theoretical in action. Certain
remedies, like simple aromatic teas, vegetable aci