Preparations of antimony are extensively used in veterinary practice, generally in combination. In fevers it is particularly useful, and in a fluid preparation is recommended in foul ulcers of the feet, caukers, &c. &c.
Antiseptics, s.
Antiseptics are medicines which prevent putridity, or remove it if begun. The most efficacious are bark and other bitters; opium, wine, ether, ammonia, and camphor.
Horses do not appear to be subject to those fevers which, in the human system, are termed putrid. In gangrene, or mortification of the external parts, antiseptic fomentations are employed, which are made by boiling wormwood, rue, and other bitter herbs in water.
Antispasmodic, a. That which has the power of relieving the cramp.
Antispasmodics, s.
Antispasmodics in veterinary practice possess the power of allaying inordinate or painful motions in the system, particularly those involuntary contractions in parts which are naturally subject to the command of the will.
Medical writers divide antispasmodics into two kinds, viz. stimulants and sedatives. To the former belong arsenic, preparations of copper, zinc, and iron; also, ammonia, ether, essential oils, &c. The latter comprehends opium, musk, camphor, and all the vegetable narcotics.
Medicines of the fœtid kind, such as galbanum, assaœtida, &c., have also an antispasmodic quality.
When spasm arises from irritation, sedatives are to be given; but when it depends merely on debility, tonics are evidently proper. The spasmodic complaints to which horses are liable, are locked jaw and spasmodic or flatulent colic, commonly named gripes, in which the most efficacious antispasmodic is opium; but it is generally joined with others, such as camphor, assaœtida, ether, oil of peppermint, juniper, caraways, or allspice, or other aromatics.