A portion of the above should be rubbed in twice a day.
The best medicine is the following:—
| Powdered mandrake, | 1 ounce. |
| Powdered lobelia, | 1 ounce. |
| Poplar bark, | 2 ounces. |
| Lemon balm, | 4 ounces. |
| Boiling water, | 3 quarts. |
Let the whole stand in a covered vessel for an hour; then strain, and add a gill of honey. Give half a pint every third hour. If the animal be in poor condition, the diet must be nourishing and easy of digestion. Flour gruel and scalded meal will be the most appropriate. A drink made by steeping cleavers, or hyssop, in boiling water may be given at discretion.
If there is not sufficient vitality in the system to equalize the circulation, (which may be known by the surface and extremities still continuing cold,) the following drink will be found efficacious:—
| Hyssop tea, | 2 quarts. |
| Powdered cayenne, (African,) | 1 tea-spoonful. |
| Powdered licorice, | 1 ounce. |
Mix. To be given at a dose, and repeated if necessary. Should inflammatory symptoms make their appearance, omit the cayenne, and substitute the same quantity of cream of tartar.
The treatment of all the different forms of dropsy is upon the plan here laid down. They are one and the same disease, only located in different parts; and from predisposing causes the fluid is sometimes found in the thorax, at others in the abdomen. Whenever costiveness occurs in dropsy, the following laxative may be given:—
| Wormwood, | 2 ounces. |
| Boiling water, | 2 quarts. |
Set them over the fire, and let them boil for a few moments; then add two ounces of castile soap and a gill of molasses or honey. The whole to be given at one dose.