primary factor to be employed in the treatment of it. Any
agent which will reduce the blood supply and prevent the excessive
nutrition of the elements of the part will serve as a remedy. The means
employed may be used locally to the part, or they may be constitutional
remedies, which act indirectly.

_Local treatment._--Removal of the cause will frequently allow the part
to heal at once. Among causes of inflammation may be mentioned a stone
in the frog, causing a traumatic thrush; a badly fitting harness or
saddle, causing ulcers of the skin; decomposing manure and urine in a
stable, which, by their vapors, irritate the air tubes and lungs and
cause a cough.

Motion stimulates the action of the blood, and thus feeds an inflamed
tissue. This is alike applicable to a diseased point irritated by
movement to an inflamed pair of lungs surcharged with blood by the use
demanded of them in a working animal, or to an inflamed eye exposed to
light, or an inflamed stomach and intestines still further fatigued by
feed. Rest, absolute quiet, a dark stable, and small quantities of
easily digested feed will often cure serious inflammatory troubles
without further treatment.

The application of ice bags or cold water by bandages, douching with a
hose, or irrigation with dripping water, contracts the blood vessels,
acts as a sedative to the nerves, and lessens the vitality of a part; it
consequently prevents the tissue change which inflammation produces.

Either dry or moist heat acts as a derivative. It quickens the
circulation and renders the chemical changes more active in the
surrounding parts; it softens the tissues and attracts the current of
blood from the inflamed organ; it also promotes the absorption of the
effusion and hastens the elimination of the waste products in the part.
Heat may be applied by hand rubbing or active friction and the
application of warm coverings (bandages) or by cloths wrung out of warm
water; or steaming with warm, moist vapor, medicated or not, will answer
the same purpose. The latter is especially applicable to inflammatory
troubles in the air passages.

Local bleeding frequently affords immediate relief by carrying off the
excessive blood and draining the effusion which has already occurred. It
affords direct mechanical relief, and, by a stimulation of the part,
promotes the chemical changes necessary for bringing the diseased
tissues to a healthy condition. Local blood-letting can be done by