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DISEASES OF THE HORSE

AND

How To Treat Them

A Concise Manual of Special Pathology

FOR THE USE OF
Horsemen, Farmers, Stock-Raisers, and Students
in Agricultural Colleges in the
United States.

BY

Robert Chawner and J. H. Walsh, F.R.C.S.
With an Introduction by Henry T. Coates

NEW AND REVISED EDITION

Philadelphia:
THE JoHN C. WINSTON COMPANY
1905.

LIBRARY of CONGRESS
Two Copies Received
FEB 19 1906

ee i

Copyright by HENRY T. Coates, 1880 and 1882

Revised [dition,
Copyright by THE Joun C. Winston Co., 1905.

INDE ERODUET lON:

When, in 1856, “The-Manual of British Sports by ‘Stone-
henge’ ” was published, the reading community recognized the
appearance of a master mind,—+the authority on the many sub-
jects of rural life, handled with consummate ability in its
_closely-printed, double-column pages.. Whatever subject
“Stonehenge” touched upon he adorned. His charming style,
thorough knowledge ‘of -his subject, evident enjoyment of his
work and his entire sympathy with that outdoor life which
has made England the beau ideal home of the country gentle-
man the world over. So great was the success of the work that
sixteen editions, thoroughly revised and brought up to date,
were issued in the next thirty years, when the thirty vol-
umes of the Badminton Library took its place, a monument
to the interest Stonehenge’s work had created.

In no portion of the work was the author’s genial erudition
more apparent than in the portions dealing with the breeding
and care of horses, and when, five years later; his “Horse in
the Stable and the Field; His Management in Health and Dis-
ease” appeared, its success was instant and complete. In his
modest Preface the author says: “We believe it may be as-
serted without fear of contradiction that no book has yet
been published in the English or any other language which
even professes to give a complete description of the Natural
History, Physiology, Pathology, and General Management of
the Horse in a form and style suited to the country gentle-
man of the nineteenth century. It is true that some of these
departments are adequately described in separate works; but
they are generally written in technical language, suited rather

; 5

6 INTRODUCTION.

to the veterinary student than for the use and comprehension
of the ordinary reader. . . . For these reasons the author
of this work has thought that a book, combining all the above
subjects, treated in a practical manner, and a style popularly
intelligible, yet containing the most recent views of eminent
authorities in veterinary knowledge, would supply a deficiency
which has long been complained of by all who are interested
in the proper management of the horse.”

The success of this work was as great as its predecessor, and
though many years have elapsed since then and many works
on the same subject have appeared on both sides of the ocean,
it has never been superseded. The reason of its success and
endurance is that the author was peculiarly fitted for his work.
In the Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. LIX, his biog-
raphy is thus given:

Walsh, John Henry (1810-1888), writer on sport under
the pseudonym of Stonehenge, son of Benjamin Walsh, was
born at Hackney, London, on October 21, 1810, and edu-
cated at a private school. In 1832 he passed as a member of
the Royal College of Surgeons,-and became a fellow of the
college by examination in 1844. For some time he was sur-
geon to the Ophthalmic Institution, and lectured on surgery
and descriptive anatomy at the Aldersgate School of Medi-
cine. or several years he was in practice at Worcester, but
left that city for London in 1852. He always had an intense
love of sport, he rode well to hounds, kept greyhounds, and
entered them at coursing meetings, broke his own pointers
and setters, and, what is less common, also trained hawks.
In the management of dogs he became an especial adept, and
few veterinary practitioners could compare with him in the
treatment of dogs’ diseases. He was also fond of shooting,
and, owing to the bursting of his gun, lost a portion of his
left hand. In 1853, under the pseudonym of “Stonehenge,”
he brought out his work on “The Greyhound, on the Art of
Breeding, Rearing, and Training Greyhounds for Public

INTRODUCTION. 7

Running, their Diseases and Treatment” (3d ed. 1875).
This treatise was based on articles he had written in “Sell’s
Life,” and it remains the standard text-book on the subject.
Three years later, in 1856, appeared “Manual of British
Rural Sports,” which treats of the whole cycle of sports,
and, among other things, deals with the breeding of horses in
a scientific manner. Sixteen editions of this work were pub-
lished up to 1886, in the later editions articles on special
subjects being furnished by other writers. In 1856 he orig-
inated the “Coursing Calendar,” and conducted it through fifty
half-vearly volumes. About 1856 he became connected with
the “Field,” and at the end of 1857 accepted the editorship.
He brought out “The Shot Gun and Sporting Rifle, and the
Dogs, Ponies, Ferrets, ete., used with them in Shooting and
Trapping,” in 1859; “The Dog in Health and Disease,” 1859
(4th ed. 1887) ; “The Horse in the Stable and in the Field,”
in 1861 (13th ed. 1890); and “The Dogs of the British
Islands,” in 1867 (3d ed. 1886). In the two books last men-
tioned he had also the assistance of other writers. In 1882-4
the “Modern Sportsman’s Gun and Rifle” appeared, Vol. I
being devoted to shot guns, while Vol. II treated of rifles.
His activity in conducting the “Field,” with the aid of many
able coadjutors, was remarkable. He soon instituted the first
“Field” trial of guns and rifles, which was carried out in
April, 1858, in the Ashburnham grounds at Chelsea, adjacent
to the famous Cremoine Gardens. This trial wound up the
controversy as to the merits of breech-loaders and muzzle-load-
ers, but before the final decisions two other trials were made,
one at the old Hornsey Wood Tavern in July, 1859, and the
third at the Lilie Arms, Broughton, in 1866.

“He was a good chess player, and on the managing commit-
tees of several clubs. He died at 43 Montserrat Road, Put-
ney, Surrey, on February 12, 1888, and was buried in the old
cemetery at Putney Common. He married, first, in August,
1833, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Stevenson, of Claines,

8 INTRODUCTION.

Worcestershire, who died nine months later ; secondly, in 1835,
Susan Emily, daughter of Dr. Malden, of Worcester, who died
eight months later, and, thirdly, in 1852, Susan, eldest daugh-
ter of the Rev. William Parker, who survived her husband.
He left two daughters.”

In conclusion, the writer desires to pay a personal tribute
to the memory of one whom he has never seen or known,
save in his writings, for an unexpected and kindly act of
courtesy at a time and under circumstances which made it
especially grateful to the recipient, and which none but a
noble-minded gentleman would have done.

GON FENES:

CHAPTER I.

THE DISEASES AND INJURIES OF BONE.

PAGE

General Remarks—Splints—Ringbone and Sidebone—Ossifica-
tion of the Lateral Cartilages—Bone Spavin—Exostosis of
the Humerus and Seapula, or Shoulder-Joint Lameness—Fis-
tula of the Withers, or Thiselo—Poll Evil—Caries of the
Jaw—Osteo Sarcoma, or Big Head—Fractures.............

CHAPTER * TY.

INJURY AND DISEASES OF THE JOINTS, MUSCLES, AND TENDONS.

Diseases of Muscle, Tendon, and Ligament—Of Cartilage and
Synovial Membrane—Inflamed Tendinous Sheaths—Inflamed
Bursze Mucoss—Strains—Those of the Back and Loins—
Of the Shouider—Of the Knee—Of the Fetlock—Of the Cof-
fin Joint—Of the Suspensory Ligaments—Of the Back-
Sinews—Breaking Down—Strains of the Hip-Joint, Stifle,
and Hoeck—Curb—Dislocation—Wounds of Joints .........

CHAPTER III.
DISEASES OF THE THORACIC ORGANS AND THEIR APPENDAGES.

General Remarks—Catarrh, or Cold—Influenza, or Distemper—
Bronchitis—Chronice Cough—Laryngitis, Roaring, Whistling,
ete—Pneumonia and Congestion of the Lungs—Pleurisy
Pleurodynia—Phthisis—Broken Wind—Thick Wind—Spasm
of the Diaphragm—Diseases of the Heart—Diseases of the
Blood Vesgels in the Chest and Nose-..2 0... 6.0. .... cence ces

13

10 CONTENTS.

PAGE
CHAPTER IV.

DISEASES OF THE ABDOMINAL VISCERA AND THEIR APPENDAGES.

General Remarks—Diseases of the Mouth and Throat—Gas-
tritis—Stomach Staggers—Dyspepsia—Bots—Inflammation
of the Bowels—Colic—Diarrhea and Dysentary—Strangula-
tion and Rupture—Calculi in the Bowels—Worms—Disease
of the Liver—Of the Kidneys—Of the Bladder—Of the
Organs of Generation. aie wie soe e on he 4 ints phar hatctornpeee ate 66

CHAPTHE 7 Y¥.

DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.

Phrenitis, or Mad Staggers—Epilepsy and Convulsions—Meg-
rims—Rabies, Hydrophobia, or Madness—Tetanus, or Lock-
jaw—Apoplexy and Paralysis—String Halt—Coup de Soleil,
or ‘Sun-siroke \.’..< .2422 5 2 She Se eee Pe, a a

CHAPTER VL
DISEASES AND INJURIES OF CERTAIN SPECIAL ORGANS.

Diseases of the Ear—Inflammation of the Eye—Cataract—
Amaurosis—Buck-eye—Surfeit— Hidebound—Mange—Lice—
Mallenders and Sallenders—Warbles, Sitfasts, and Harness-
Galls—Grubs—bBites and Stings of Insects—Swelled Legs—
Chapped Heel—Grease, or Scratches—Warts—Corns—Sand-
crack—lTalse Quarter—Quittor—Thrush—Canker—Laminitis
—Seedy Toe—Contraction of the Foot—Navicular Disease—
Accidents “To: the eas, Git MeRee a. arots ome creas wiatiae alee . 99

CHAPTER VII.
CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES.
Fevers—Anasarca—Glanders—Farcy ........2.cccceccees sana ehs IF 54
CHAPTER VIIL.. 3
SHOEING.

BGein? “ve capes see waa C Thbl pPe ee et el eee eee OT

CONTENTS.

1]

PAGE

CHAPTER IX.
OPERATIONS.

Administration of Chloroform—Methods of Confining the Horse
—Bleeding—Firing—Setons and Rowels—Blistering—Cas-
tration—Docking and Nicking—Unnerving—Reduction of
Hernia—Adninistration of Physic—Clysters—Back-Raking,

CHAPTER X.

THE PRINCIPAL MEDICINES, AND THE DOSES IN WHICH THEY
SAFELY BE ADMINISTERED.

Alteratives—Anesthetics—Anodynes—Antacids—Anthelmint-
ics—Aperients—Astringents—Blisters—Caustics—Charges—
Clysters— Cordials— Demulcents— Diaphoretics— Digestives
— Diuretics — Embrocations — Emulsions — Expectorants —
Febrifuges — Lotions—Narcotics—Refrigerants—Sedatives—
Stimulants—Stomachics—Styptics—Tonics—Vermifuges, or
SOE Wty RESCUING) S255. 9. choy. vay. vy wastaraty Bow aw lara eae a eee) oat a

CHAPTHE - XT:

On SOUNDNESS, AND ON THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF HORSES....

147

CAN

163

179

os rd -
rl aes
a Oe eor ee

i +g
tad
Me

THE

DISEASES OF THE HORSE,

AND

THE ACCIDENTS TO WHICH WEIS LIABLE
WITH THEIR TREATMENT.

CHAPTER’ «i.
THE DISEASES AND INJURIES OF BONE.

General Remarks—Splints—Ring bone and Sidebone--Ossificatior
of the Lateral Cartilages—Bone Spavin—Exostosis of the Hu-
merus and Scapula—Fistula of the Withers—Poll Euil—Caries
of the Faw—Osteo Sarcoma—Fractures.

GENERAL REMARKS.

THE DISEASES OF BONE are not commonly attended by any con-
stitutional disturbance, and neither require an examination of
general symptoms, nor the adoption of any but local treatment,
beyond that attention to the health which is always necessary.
They may all be included under the heads of,—1st. Exostosis, or
increased growth of bone. 2d. Caries, or ulceration. 3d Anchy-
losis, or unnatural union of two bones, in consequence of exostosis,
or caries, or both. 4th. Fractures, or disunion by external force.
Malignant diseases of the bone also occur very rarely in the horse,
so that it will be scarcely necessary to occupy any space with their
description, especially as they are perfectly incurable.

Exosrtosts is the result of increased action in the nutriuon of
the part, and is much more prevalent in young horses than in old
Indeed, after six or seven years of age it is very rarely met with,
and never attacks the bones at that age for the first time. It may
be recognised by a hard swelling of the part, which in recent cases
is painful on pressure; but sometimes its site cannot be reached
with the finger, and the disease can then only be dete...- by its
effects. A blow upon any of the bones, when unprotected by any
thing but skin, will produce inflammation followed by exostosis;

(13 )

14 THE HORSE.

but the most ordinary cause is the over-stimulus of hard work
Heavy horses are more prone to exostosis than light ones, partly
from the weight of their bodies and their high lumbering action
jarring their limbs in a greater degrce, but also from the more
spongy and open texture of their bones, which admit of the pres-
gure of large blood-vessels within them, and are thus more liable
to congestion, and consequent morbid secretion. Hxostosis is shown
in the fourm of splints, ring and sidebone, and ossified lateral car-
tilayes, as well as in the growths which occur occasionally in other
parts of the body which have received no distinguishing name
The vitality of the new growth in exostosis is less than that cf
healthy bone, and as a consequence, when excessive inflammation is
set up in the part, it will often die and be separated by absorption.

CARIES (ulceration) occurs as a consequence of inflammation, and
in the horse either results from external injury, as in poll evil and
fistulous withers, or from mismanagement, as in navicular disease,
which latter affection will be considered under the diseases of the
foot. It is always attended with pain, and in severe cases with the
formation of sufficient matter to reyuire an outlet, but in very re-
stricted ulcerations, such as occur in navicular disease, the pus
passes into the joint, and is reabsorbed with the synovia.

ANCHYLOSIS, when it is the result of caries in the two aljacent
surfaces of a joint, produces union between them, but in the horse
it is generally of a secondary kind, the result of bony growths
(exostosis), thrown out from the surfaces of the two bones near
the joint, which coalescing, unite into one mass, and thus destroy
all motion.

SPLINTS.

THE STRICT DEFINITION of this disease is “an exostosis from
the lower part of the small metacarpal bone, connecting it by bony
union with the large metacarpal bone,” but among horsemen, any
bony growth from the cannon bone is considered a splint, and the
latter ig almost as common as the former. The regular splint rarely
attacks the outer small metacarpal bene alone, but sometimes in
very bad cases both are implicated in the disease. It is difficult
to give a valid reason for this greater frequency of splint on the
inside than on the out, but it is commonly said that the inner
splint bone receives more of the weight of the body than the outer
one, and that it is more under the centre of gravity, but as it is
merely suspended from the carpus, and is not supported from below
(in any way, mediately or directly), this can produce no injurious
effect upon it. The fact is so, however, whatever may be the cause.

The symptoms of splint are generally a greater or less degree of
sameness during its formation, but sometimes it may go on to attain
a large size without any such result, especially if its growth is slow,

SPLINTS. 15

and the horse is not severely worked. It is commonly remarked
that a splint is of no consequence unless its situation is such as ta
interfere with the back sinews, or suspensory ligament, and although
it is quite true, as has been asserted by learned veterinarians, that
the splint is far removed from the former, and seldom interfcres
with the latter, yet it is almost always directly connected with the
attachments of the sheath of the tendon, and this being stretched
every time the leg is extended will occasion the pain which is ex-
pressed by the limp in the action. The size of the morbid growth
has no relation with the amount, or even with the existence of
lameness, for a very small splint will often be far more productive
of this symptom than a very large one. In examining a leg it is
often only after careful manipulation in the flexed condition that
a small bony tumor (of the size perhaps only of a garden pea) can
be detected, but when once the finger presses upon it, the horse
will almost invariably be found to flinch, and usually it will be
thrown out just where the sheath of the tendon is attached. Here
there is no union between the small and large metacarpal bones,
and the injury is confined to the inflammation produced in the
sheath, which will generally go off after proper treatment and rest.
These small bony growths are not very uncommonly met with in
the hind legs, but they are not recognised there as splints. No
constitutional symptoms are met with in these cases, and they must
be ascertained by the local symptoms alone. Unless the splint is
in the way of the action of the other foot, and the skin on its sur-
face is bruised by repeated blows, there is seldom any swelling of
the soft parts, but when this occurs, the skin and cellular mem-
brane become puffed and hot, and extreme lameness is the result,
temporarily aggravated by every blow.

The treatment of a splint will depend upon the state in which
it exists, and upon the purpose to which the horse possessing it is
destined. If no lameness exists, and the blemish is not objected
to, it is far better not to meddle with it, for in the course of a few
years it will disappear by absorption as a matter of course.
Moreover it often happens that in attempting to remove a splint
by some irritating application, extensive inflammation is set up in
the fibrous strictures attached to it, and lameness, which was not
previously in existence, is thenceforth a most troublesome attend-
ant. If, however, the horse is for sale, in which case the exist-
ence of a splint would be regarded with suspicion, or if lameness
has shown itself, it will be necessary to adopt measures likely ta
effect the absorption of the morbid growth, and these are chiefly
two :—-1st, Sub-cutaneous scarification, or without, a seton, or the
seton alone; and 2d. Counter-irritation by means of some form of
blister. If the soft parts covering the splint are much inflamed,
the horse should have his corn taken away, and a dose of physic

16 THE HORSE.

piven him, during which a wet bandage should be kept constantlp
applied, and indeed, in any case of splint severe enough to require
operation, the cooling remedies mentioned above should be adopted
peforehand. ‘he operation is performed with a probe-pointed
narrow knife, shaped like a scimetar, with the cutting edge on the
convex side. A small opening is made in the skin about an inch
below the splint, and just large enough to admit the knife, which
is then introduced and pushed upwards with its flat side towards
the skin, till it reaches the tumor, when the convex edge is turned
towards this, and several extensive scarifications are made in the
periosteum covering it, after which the knife is withdrawn and a
fine setonsneedle is introduced in its place, and passed upwards
until it reaches above the splint, when it is pushed through, and
the tape drawn out, and properly secured with a bandage. Of
course the horse must be cast and properly secured before resorting
to the knife. In the course of ten days or a fortnight, the tape
may be withdrawn, and the splint will almost invariably disappear.
Sometimes the seton is tried without the scarification, but it is not
nearly so successful, and is nearly as troublesome an operation. In
most cases both of these operations are unnecessary, and the
application of the following blister (which has a tendency to
produce absorption, independently of its counter irritative powers)
will have the desired effect.

Take of Biniodide of Mercury . . . . 1drachm
Dead id Fee a OG a Ges SN Gmmcere ave.

and after cutting the hair short, rub a little into the skin covering
the splint, every night, until a free watery discharge is produced
from the surface. To facilitate this the leg should be fomented
with very hot water every morning and afternoon, and this should
be continued for several days after the ointment has been dis-
continued. ‘The horse will not gnaw the skin after this applica-
tion, and it is a very useful one for general purposes, when
counter-irritation is required to produce absorption. If, after a
week’s interval, the splint does not appear much reduced in siza
the ointment should be re-applied, and repeated at similar inter.
vals till the swelling is removed. When the bony growth is very
extensive, neither scarification nor counter-irritation will be of
much service, and the leg must be fired, and afterwards repeatedly
blistered, but even with the best and most energetic treatment.
the part will seldom become sufficiently sound to stand anything
but slow work.
RINGBONE AND SIDEBONE.

RUNGBONE AND SIDEBONE both consist in the throwing out of
bony matter about the joints of the os coronz; the former name
being given to the disease when it attacks that between it and

RINGBONE--OSSIFICATION OF CARTILAGES. a RP

th: os suffraginis, and the latter when the seat is the parts around

its union with the os pedis or coffin bone. Very often and espe-
cially in heavy cart or dray horses, ringbone and sidebone co. exist
in the same leg, where the three bones are completely anchylosed,
and in which, during life, the only action was in the fetlock joint.
The disease attacks the hind leg as well as the fore; but it is
more common in the latter than in the former.

The symptoms are a greater or less enlargement of the leg, of a
hard and unyielding nature, either immediately above the coronet,
as in sidebone, or a little higher, as in ringbone. In the latter
case, if thoroughly estab ished, it surrounds the joint, whence the
name of ringbone; but in the early stages it appears at certain
points from which it spreads all round. Sidebone is seldom so
extensive, and usually attacks the postero-lateral parts of the os
coron, where the swelling is defined, and, except in very hairy-
legged or gummy-heeled horses, can easily be felt. In the early
stages the action is not impeded, but there is more or less soreness
or lameness. After much bone is thrown out, the joints are either
completely fixed or their movements are extremely limited.

The treatment in the early stage is precisely similar to that for
splint; but the opsration of scarifying the periosteum requires
great care and some knowledge of the anatomy of these joints, or
the knife will pierce the capsular ligament, and increase the evil
it was intended to relieve. A seton without the scarification will
often be of service, and for sidebone, firing in the early stage will
be serviceable, though it is objectionable on account of the blemish
it leaves behind. The binicdide of mercury ointment already
described is most useful in slight cases, but in severe ones it will
rather tend to aggravate the growth, and when anchylosis has
taken place, nothing but time and patience for the subsidence of
the inflammation will avail. When this has taken place, and the
joint is fixed, a high-heeled shoe will enable the horse to work,
with some awkwardness it is true, and the addition of a leather
sole, will to some extent take off the jar, which occurs in a greatly
increased ratio when the elastic action of the pastern joints is

dustroyed.

OSSIFICATION OF THE LATERAL CARTILAGES.

THIS IS COMMONLY KNOWN as ossification of the cartilages, er
false ringbone, no other cartilages being subject to ossification,
und these being therefore known par excellence as the cartilages.
In heavy cart-horses it often co-exists with ringbone and sidebone,
especially the latter; but it also attacks well-bred carriage-horses,
and high-actioned hacks, which are comparatively free from those
diseases.

The symptoms are more or less enlargement of the back of the

D

18 THE HORSE.

eoronet, and heel, the part feeling unnaturally hurd and irregu-
lar or lumpy. If recent, there is generally increased heat ox
careful examination with the hand; but in old standing cases
there is nothing of the kind to be detected. Lameness is not
always present, but if the horse is rattled over hard ground, he
will be more likely to show the effects on the next day, by going
short and sore, than if he were free from this disease.

The treatment should be confined to recent cases, for in old
btanding ones, unless lameness shows itself, it is better to avoid
any interference. A seton, with rest, has sometimes proved very
efficacious, even in confirmed ossification, and repeated dressings
with the Liniodide of mercury ointment, will, in those cases where
the inflammation does not run very high, afford the best chance
of causing the ab3orption of some of the bone, for a complete cure
is never effected. When there is much heat in the part, bleeding
from the foot may be adopted, and afterwards, the application of
cloths dipped in cold water, with the addition of a glass of tincture
of arnica to quart of water. In confirmed cases, where the parts
have become callous, a leather sole to the shoe will take off the
vibration, and should be used during the summer season. Seari-
fication of the skin covering the enlargement with a lancet, encour-
aving the bleeding by warm water, and followed by the use of
cold water as soon as the bleeding has ceased, will sometimes do
wonders in recent cases. The scarification should be repeated at
intervals of five or six days, taking care to avoid injury to the
coronary substance near the hoofs, which is sometimes followed
by troublesome sores.

BONE SPAVIN

THIS DISEASE, so frequently the cause of lameness in those
horses which use their hocks severely (as for example race-horses,
hunters, carriage-horses, and more particularly cart-horses), con-
sists in exostosis from the adjacent external surfaces of the tarsal
bones, always showing itself at the inner side of the hock joint,
on the scaphoid and cuneiform bones, and extending to the head of
the internal small metatarsal bone. As in the case of splint, the
occurrence of exostosis on the internal rather than on the external
side of the hock has been accounted for by the supposition that
increased weight is thrown upon the internal small metataisal one,
from the turning up of the outer heel of the shoe, which is the
common practice of smiths. It appears to me, however, that the
contrary is the case, and that though more stress is laid upon the
foot on that side, there is less weight on the inner side of the hock,
which has a tendency to spring open in that direction. This will
eause a strain upon the ligaments connecting the tarsal bunes, and
nature coming to their aid throws out bone, which ultimately sub-

BONE SPAVIN. 19

stitutes anchylosis for ligamentous union Letween these bones In
all the actions of the hind leg, from the natura) shape of the hock,
aud more especially in those horses which are naturally ‘“ cow-
hocked,” there is a tendency to yield inwards rather than in the
opposite direction. The consequence is that there is more strain
upon the ligamentous fibres which connect the scaphoid with the
two cuneiform and the internal metatarsal, tnan upon those uniting
the cuboid with the os calcis and external metatarsal bone. Hence,
although exostosis does sometimes show itself in other parts of the
tarsal hones, it here, as in the fore leg, is almost always confined
to what is called the ‘“spavin place,’ namely, the contiguous sur-
faces of the scaphoid, cuneiform, and internal metatarsal bones.
In very bad cases the articular cartilage becomes involved, and
there is not only an external casing of new bone, but the internal
surfaces absolutely coalesce or anchylose.

THE SYMPTOMS of spavin are a hard substance showing itself
beyond the proper level of the hock joint. ‘There may or may not
be lameness, but if bone is thrown out the disease is established.
In recent cases whenever the horse is worked he will after rest
limp in his action, but the lameness soon goes off, and does not
show itself again until the part has been suffered to become stiff
by a rest of an hour or two. The lameness is very remarkable,
and differs greatly from that shown in any other disease. The leg,
is drawn up with a quick catch, and yet there is a drageing of the
limb, indicating not only pain in the joint, but a want of action in
it. In the early stages the latter is not clearly developed, but
afterwards it is so well marked that a spavin may be pronounced
to exist without an examination of the joint. Where lameness is
not established, great care should be exercised in pronouncing on
the existence of spavin, for some hocks are naturally formed with
prominent heads of the internal metatarsal bones, and the inexpe-
rienced eye and hand are very apt to mistake these for exostosis.
In such eases, by comparing the two hocks it will generally be
seer that they are both exactly alike, while in spavin, although
both joints may be the seat of mischief, yet they will seldom mani-
fest che disease to the same extent.

The treatment should be directed to the abatement of the inflam-
mation which gives rise te the pain, and also to promote absorption
of the new growth. Veterinary surgeons are very apt to assert
that the disease cannot be cured, and that a spavined horse will
always remain the subject of it, and therefore unsound. But prae-
tivally it is known that many a hock which has been the seat of
undoubted spavin loses all external enlargement, and no lameness
is shown in it, although tried most severely through a series of
years. Still on dissection after death, the ligaments wil) not show
their navural white and glistening structure, and the tarsal bones

20 THE HORSE.

will be to a certain extent united by anchylosis. In very bad
eases there will be also caries of the articulatory surfaces, and with
it inflammation of the synovial membranes, which may and often
does exist without the caries. Now as these are much more for-
midable diseases than exostosis, and far more difficult either to
cure or palliate, it follows that although certain remedies will be
generally successful with genuine bone spavin (exostosis), yet they
wii fail when the above complication exists. The treatment must
therefore be adapted to the exact nature and extent of the disease.
Prior to the adoption of any plan the joint should be rested, the
outer heel of the shoe should be lowered, the corn should be taken
away, and the system cooled by appropriate treatment. After
there precautions are taken, the next thing is to decide upon the
remedies which will be suited to the case. They consist in—I.
Blisters, which have a tendency to cause absorption ; 2. Firing; 3.
Setons, with or without subcutaneous scarification ; 4. Division of
the nerve. If there issimply aslight exostosis, with little lameness,
and no evidence of the joint being implicated, the biniodide of mer-
cury may be applied as described at page 300. Repeated dressings
will be necessary, and the joint must have at least two months’ abso-
lute rest, the horse being placed in a loose box. This remedy is
often successful, but it will fail utterly where the exostosis is ex-
tensive, or there is caries, or even severe inflammation of the
synovial membrane. Arsenic, sulphuric acid, and other causti¢
applications, have been counted as infallible cures; but while tley
are just as certain to produce a blemish as firing, the extent to
which the inflammation and sloughing, caused by them, go is ‘ar
more completely beyond our control. Arsenic has been known to
destroy the joint, by producing a slough of the synovial membrane,
and it is said that the sulphuric acid, which, however, is often ve ry
successful, has had a similar unfortunate result; but of its being
followed by serious blemishes there is abundant proof. Firing is
che safest, and, therefore, the usual plan adopted for spavin, and
on the first intimation of the disease it is often adopted without
any necessity for having recourse to so disfiguring a process. Its
chief advantage is, that while it is a certain means of establishing
a strong counter-irritation, it has no tendency to cause any increase
of inflammation in the structures beneath the skin, and therefore
the good it does is unalloyed by any counterbalancing evil. It is
now the fashion to deny its use. and horsemasters are often tempted
to try some substitute for it in the hope of escaping a blemish; but
too often they are compelled to submit to it at last, and probably
after the disease has been aggravated by some ‘‘ unfailing” remedy.
If there is a strong desire expressed to avoid a blemish, the vete-
rinary surgeon is perfectly warranted in doing all in his power tc
effect a cure without the use of the irons; but the mere fashion of .

SPAVIN—SHOULDER JOINT LAMENESS. 21

the day should not induce him to decry a plan which has for sc
nny years been proved to be successful. In human surgery the
same course has been adopted, and for the last thirty or foity
years the actual cautery has been voted “barbarous’’ in this
country. Now, however, a counter current is setting in, and it ta
the general opinion of the first hospital surgeons of the day that,
in certain diseases of the joints, no remedy is nearly so efficacions
All sorts of attempts are made to render the use of the hot lon
less repugnant to the senses; but in the case of the horse it is only
necessary to measure its comparative utility and the amount of
pain which it gives. The former has been already considered, and
as to the latter, if the irons are properly heated, I much doubt
whether their action is not less painful than that of any other
counter-irritant. Setons, perhaps, give less pain if skilfully im-
serted, and they are admirable remedies, having nearly the same
beneficial effects as firing, and leaving a far slighter blemish. They
should be passed beneath a considerable track of the skin, covering
the ‘‘spavin place,” and the tape requires to be smeared with blis-
tering cerate to produce sufficient irritation. ‘Their use by them-
selves is often sufficient, but when preceded by subcutaneous
scarification they seem to act even more certainly than firing.

The method of operation is similar to that described for splints,
but it requires more knowledge of the anatomy of the parts to
avoid doing mischief by cutting into one of the joints. There is
always afterwards considerable effusion into the subcutaneous
cellular membrane, demanding two or three months for its removal ;
but as the spavined horse requires that interval of rest, this is of
litt!e or no consequence. When the disease has gone so far that
no method of treatment will remove it, the nerve above the hock
may he divided, which will enable the horse to work without pain
fur a time, but the disease goes on the faster, and the benefit
derived is only temporary.

Mr. Holmes, of Beverly, has obtained great celebrity for his
treatment of spavin on this plan. and undoubtedly not without
founlation. Some of his cures have been very remarkable, as
even old standing and extensive growths of bone have been re-
duced, and the hocks have remained sound afterwards.

EXOSTOSIS OF THE HUMERUS AND SCAPULA.

THE HEADS OF THE BONES adjacent to most of the joints of the
body are more or less subject to exostosis, though not so frequently
as those of the pastern bones and tarsus. Next to these probably
comes the shoulder joint, the neighborhood of which is often the seat
of this disease. The left scapula and humerus of a horse are often
completely anchylosed, and of course there co-exists a proportionate

rap) THE HORSE.

amount! of lameness during the progress of the disease, while aftar
the an:hylosis takes place the want of action is complete. An
examination by the hand of the point of the shoulder would readily
detect so large a growth of bone as this; but smaller ones are often
thrown out beneath the mass of muscles surrounding the shoulder
joint, and consequently beyond the reach of the most accomplished
finger. The treatment should be on the same principle as fur
spavin, omitting the subcutaneous scarification, which is not hera
}racticable on account of the nature of the joint. Blisters, and
us pecially with the biniodide of mercury, will be the most likely to
succeed, but in most cases the cure will be only partial.

FISTULA OF THE WITHERS.

WHEN A SADDLE has been allowed to press upon the spinous
processes of the dorsal vertebrae, it produces inflammation, which,
if neglected, leads to the formation of an abscess. But the situa-
tion of the part is such that the matter cannot escape, even if the
skin over the points of the bones’is perforated, and it has a ten-
dency, by the force of gravity, to burrow down among the muscles
which connect the shoulder-blade with the trunk. ‘The conse-
quence is, that there is extensive inflammation, and often lameness
of the shoulder, which could readily have been prevented by using
proper care before the mischief was done, or removed by the adop-
tion of suitable treatment afterwards before the disease is con-
firmed.

The symptoms in the early stage (that is, before a fistula is
established) are merely an enlargement of the ends of. the spinous
processes, accompanied by Beaks and tenderness, but these go on
until an abscess forms, which may be known to the touch by the
fluctuating nature of the sensation which it gives on pressure
by the fingers of each hand. As svon as this is made out, an
opening should be made as low down as possible on the right side,
taking care that it will allow all the matter to rur out as fast as it
forms. ‘The reason why the right side should be chosen is, that
most horses lie down on that side; but if the subject of fistulous
withers is in the habit of lying om the left side, the opening
should be made there in preference. When an actual fistula has
been established, and the matter points before or behind the
shvulder-blade, a sufficiently large opening should at once be made,
taking care again that there is no pouch below it which will
permit any accumulation. It is better to divide even important
snuscles than to suffer this to exist. In recent cases the establish-
ment of this dependent opening will alone suffice to effect a cure ;
but in those of long standing, the lining of the fistulous passage

POLL EVIL—CARIES OF THE JAW. 25

or passages has become converted into a substance aln ost resem-
bling cartilage, and refuses to throw out healthy granulations, sc
us to lead to adhesion of its walls. Here a stimulus must. be
applied to their interior, which may be either mechanical, in the
shape ef a seton tape passed through from end to end and lett
there, or chemical, by means of injections. The latter are best
composed of chloride of zinc diluted with water. One drachm af
this should be mixed ina pint of water, and carefully injected
into every part of the sinus twice or thrice a week.

POLL EVIL.

Po. EVIL is exactly similar in its nature to fistulous withers,
being produced by a blow on the prominent ridge, which is situ-
ated on the top of the poll. The blow is generally produced in
the stable, by the horse suddenly lifting his head and striking it
against a low beam or the lintel of the door. Or it may be caused by
frequently straining against the halter rein, and thus producing
irritation and inflammation of the part. As the ligamentum colli
is attached above, and anterior to, the inflamed part, when matter
forms it is confined and g1ves intense pain; besides which, it is a long
time before it opens a passage by natural means. The symptoms
are a painful swelling on the poll, of a soft nature, accompanied by
the seuse of fluctuation on examination, just like that described as
accompanying fistulous withers. The treatment must be precisely
similar to that described in the last section; but as the matter
when formed lies very close to the spinal cord, some caution must
be exercised in adopting stimulating injections, which are apt to
produce severe inflammation, likely to extend to these important
structures. So also in opening it, the knife should not be carried
deeply into the situation of the spinal marrow, which here les
exposed, and is easily divided (as in the operation known by the
name of pithing), but it should be used in a slanting manner, again
selecting the right side in preference to the left. A seton is here
the safest plan for promoting granulation and adhesion, and as the
fistulous track is seldom very long, the tape will work. its way
pradually out, by which time the cure is effected.

CARIES OF THE JAW.

Tre UPPER JAW, FROM ITS EXPOSED SITUATION, and the
lower from the same cause, and also from the abuse of the bit,
are liable to mechanical injury, which ends in caries (ulceration),
or sometimes in necrosis (mortification) of the part. Caries of
the lower jaw, between the tushes and grinders, is extremely
common, Owing to the barbarous punishment which 1s inflicted hy
the use of lone levers to curb bits, together with light curb chains.
The bony plate — the roof of the mouth is also often injured

2A. THE HORSE.

by the pressure of the part when a tight noseband is employed tc
keep the mouth shut. Either may be known by the existence of a
sore of a peculiar character ; there is a depression indicating a loss
of substance, and in this lies a mass of unhealthy granulation
(proud flesh), which is not attached to the surrounding surface,
being only fixed to the bottom of the cavity, or perhaps partially on one
side. A watery and offensive discharge goes on constantly, but
this is lost in the saliva, and very often the only circumstance that
draws attention to the disease is the constant bleeding from the
mouth, on the slightest contact of the bit. When this occurs, the
mouth being full of pink froth, it should be carefully examined,
and the state of things here described will generally be found te
exist. The treatment should consist in the adoption of a bit
pressing upon another part of the mouth, changing the curb for a
snaffle. The wound should be kept open by the use of caustic
(lunar) daily, which should be pushed deeply into it for couple of
seconds, and will destroy the unhealthy granulations. By con-
tinuing these measures, taking care not to do more with the
caustic than necessary to keep down the fungous growth, a cure
can always be effected in course of time, without the aid of the
trephine or chisel to cut away the diseased bone.

OSTEO SARCOMA.

THE JAWS are occasionally attacked by a malignant growth from
(neir cellular structure of a substance partaking of the nature both
of cartilage and bone. It increases sometimes to an enormous size,
and forms a large irregular tumor, which interferes terribly with
their functions, often growing so as to prevent the closure of the
teeth. The symptoms are entirely local, and when a large, unwieldy,
and irregularly hard swelling on either of the jaws is met with, it
may safely be set down as belonging to this class of disease. No
treatment is of any avail except excision, which can rarcly be carried
through without rendering the horse unserviceable for his ordinary
duties.

FRACTURES.

Bones are not unfrequently broken in the horse; but as the
accident generally occurs either during the violent exertion of the
muscles of the limb, or from great external force, it follows that in
most cases the injury to the soft parts is so great as to forbid the
hope of a perfect reparation. When, for instance, a canna or
pastern boue gives way duriug the shock sustained in coming down

FRACTURES. 20

on hard ground from a leap, either at the moment of the fracture
or before the horse can be stopped, the upper end pierces the skin,
and also tears or bruises the tendons which alone connect it to the
part below. In surgical language, the fracture is a compound one;
and from the ereat tendency to contraction of the muscles, the
difficulty of bringing the disunited ends into apposition (or sctting
them) is immense. Moreover, the horse is very unmanagexzble
when an attempt is made to confine him, and the means which are
adopted to keep the fracture set must therefore be very complete
as compared with those which will serve for the restoration of the
human being who has sustained a similar accident. Hence, unless
the animal is wanted for stud purposes alone, or unless the fracture
is a simple one, with little displacement, it will seldom be worth
the attempt to procure the union of a broken bone in the horse.
Many cases are on record in which after a fracture of a canna or
pastern bone a complete cure has been effected, but they must be
considered as exceptional, and not as affording as much encourage-
ment.

THE SYMPTOMS OF SIMPLE FRACTURE are a greater or less
degree of deformity of the limb, swelling, pain on motion, and a
peculiar grating or jarring which is felt rather than heard, and
which has received the name of ‘“ crepitus.” The last symptom
can only be made out when the broken ends of the bone can be
brought together; but when this is impossible, the alteration of
form is in itself sufficient to lead to a detection of the nature of
the accident. In fractures of the head and spine there is no
erepitus felt, and the effect upon the brain and spinal cord of
pressure will be often the sole means of coming to a correct
diagnosis. Fractures of the pelvis are very difficult to make out,
unless the ala of the ilium is broken off, which is a common acci-
dent, for here the unnatural flatness of the hip, showing itself
without any great difficulty of moving the hind leg of that side,
plainly marks that there is no dislocation, and that the case can
only be one of fracture. It is always the result of a blow, either
when the horse is cast in a stall or in passing through a narrow
door-way, or from a similar cause ; and there will therefore be some
swelling of the soft parts which will interfere with the examination
at the time, but as nothing can be done to restore the broken
portion to its place, and as there is no doubt about the diagnosis
from dislocation, this is of little consequence. Fractures of the
ribs cannot be readily detected; but as they almost always follow
a kick on the part, and as they do not require any treatment
unless their broken ends press upon the important viscera of the
thorax or abdomen, it will be well to wait for the symptoms which
are caused by this mechanical irritation before resorting to band>
ages, &c. When a fracture occurs in any of the bones of the

>

26 THE HORSE.

extrumities, which are concealed by a large mass of muscle, the
total inability to use the limb, and the loose way in which it is
connected to the body, so as to allow it to be moved in any direc-
tion, indicate the general nature of the case without difficulty,
thouzh a careful examination must be made by a skiiful surgeon
before the exact particulars relating to it can be ascertained.

The treatment will depend upon the bone which is broken, and
whother the fracture is simple or compound. In most cases of
the latter description none will avail, and the horse had better be
destroyed; but if the owner is averse to this, it will be on the
whole the best surgery, though apparently not very scientific, to
encase the parts with adhesive plasters and tow, and then treat
it as a simple fracture.

IF THE BONES OF THE SKULL are fractured, unless there are
symptoms of pressure on the brain, it is advisable to leave all to
nature, simply keeping the patient quiet and low, and if in a high
state of plethora, bleeding and physicking.

A BROKEN LOWER JAW is by no means uncommon as the result
of a kick. The best treatment is to set the fracture, and then
mould some gutta percha to it, which may be confined behind by
strips round the forehead and poll, and before by a padded strap
passed through the mouth. between the nippers and tushes, and
beneath the tongue. The horse must be fed upon mashes and
steamed food.

IN FRACTURES OF THE SPINE AND PELVIS nothing can be done
beyond rest and lowering, if necessary, by bleeding and physic.

BroKEN RIBS, when they cause inflammation of the lungs or
liver by their sharp ends pressing upon these organs, may be
treated by buckling two or three ordinary rollers abreast of one
another tightly round the chest, so as to prevent the natural dila-
tation of the thorax, which takes place in inspiration, and which
keeps up the irritation by constantly moving the ends of the ribs.
The general means necessary to adopt to relieve the internal mis-
chief will depend upon its extent.

WHEN EITHER THE SCAPULA, HUMERUS, OR FEMUR is broken,
all that can be done is to sling the horse, and by bandages endeavor
to bring the limb into as natural a position as possible, and keep it
there. There must of necessity be great displacement of the ends
of the bones, and these cannot by any means be brought into appo-
sition; but the sides in contact with one another, as they over-
ride, will unite in course of time, and this is all that can be
achieved by the utmost efforts of the veterinary surgeon.

Fractures of the lower part cf the tibia, of the radius, of the
canna bones and the pasterns, if simple, must be treated by adjast-
ing the ends (which is the chief difficulty, and will often require
strong extension to be employed), and then adapting to the sides

FRACTURES—DISEASES OF MUSCLES, ETC. rare

of the bones splints of wood or gutta percha. If, by the aid of
assistants, the parts can be brought into a good position, these may
ve caretully adjusted to maintain it, and may be kept in place by
tapes or straps fastened moderately tightly around them. It is
uscless, however, to attempt a minute description of the means tc
be employed, which can hardly be understood without a demon.
stration. Many horses have recovered a fair use of tlie limb by
the application of splints, without slinging, as they will take care
to avoia resting on that foot in consequence of the pain it gives ;
but under the care of an accomplished veterinary surgeon, slings
will afford the best chance of recovery.

GHA. PTHE:. if,

INJURY AND DISEASES OF THE JOINTS, MUSCLES, AND TENDONS.

Diseases of Muscle, Tendon, and Ligament—Of Cartilage and
Synovial Membrane—Inflamed Tendinous Sheaths—Inflamed
Bursa Mucose—Strains— Those of the Back and Loins—Of
the Shoulder—Of the Knee—Of the Fetloch—Of the Coffin
Foint— Of the Suspensory Ligaments—Of the Back-Sinews—
Breaking Down—Strains of the Hip-Foint, Stifle, and Hock—
Curb—Dislocation—W ounds of Fonts.

DISEASES OF MUSCLE, TENDON, AND LIGAMENT.

MUSCLE is subject to simple atrophy, with or without fatty de-
generation. The disease shows itself by a wasting away of the
part, accompanied by a flabby feel to the touch. It should be
treated by friction, gentle but regular work, and steel given inter-
nally, one drachm of the sulphate of iron powdered being mixed
with the corn twice a day.

RHEUMATIC INFLAMMATION of a muscle or muscles is one of
the most common of all the diseases to which the horse is subject.
Most frequently it attacks the muscles of the shoulder, or of the
loins, sometimes both those parts being involved at the same time.
. When acute it receives the name of a chill, and is generally brought

on by exposing the horse to a draught of air after work, or by im-
mersing him in cold wat« up to fils belly, with a view either to
refr esh” him, or when the groom is lazy, to save him the trouble of
cleaning. The symptoms are lameness or inability to use the part,
the horse, when forced to do so, giving expressions of severe pain.
If the shoulder is affected, the foot is not pat to the ground, and
when the leg is moved backwards and forwards by the hand, great

>

28 THE HORSE.

p..n is evidently experienced. In severe cases there is fever with
accelerated pulse (70 to 80), accompanied often by profuse sweat-
ing, and heaving at the flanks, the legs remaining warm. After a
short time the part swells, and is excessively tender. The treats
ment should be by a copious bleeding, if the horse is of a mode-
rately strong constitution; indeed, in severe cases it should be
carried on till the pulse is greatly reduced, and repeated the neat
day, if it returns to its original hardness and fulness. The bowels
should be acted on as soon as it is safe to do so, and if the dung
is very hard, backraking and clysters should be used, to accelerace
the action of the medicine. The best aperient is castor oil, of
which a pint may be given with an ounce of sweet spirits of nitre.
When this has acted, if the kidneys are not doing their duty, a
quarter of an ounce of nitre and a drachm of camphor may be
made into a ball and given twice a day.

CHRONIC RHEUMATISM of the muscles is similar in its nature
to the acute form, but, as its name implies, it is more lasting, and
of less severity. It often flies from one part to another, attacking
the ligaments and tendons, as well as the muscular fibres. It is
seldom much under control, and attention should be paid rather to
improve the general health than to subdue the local affection.

SMALL TUMORS, of about the size of a pea, often form upon the
tendons, espevially the “‘ back sinews”’ of the fore legs. They may
or may not occasion lameness, but they are always to be regarded
with suspicion. As long as they remain indolent, they are better
left alone; but when they produce inflammation and pain, the
best remedy is the biniodide of mercury ointment, described at
page 300.

DISEASES OF CARTILAGE AND SYNOVIAL MEMBRANE.

CARTILAGE is subject chiefly to ulceration. When this occurs,
its cells become enlarged and crowded with corpuscles, which burst
and discharge their contents; the intercellular structure at the
same tine splits into bands, which, together with the corpuscles,
form a fibro-nucleated membrane on the face of the cartilage. In
old horses, the ulcerated cartilage covering the tibial surface of the
astragalus is sometimes converted into a soft fibrous substance,
abich ultimately assumes the appearance of hard and dense bone,
commonly known as “ porcellaneous or ivory deposit.” It is ac-
companied by no symptoms of inflammation; the sole evidence of
disease, during life, being a stiffness of the joint, and a peculiar
grating or crackling noise during all attempts at movement. When
caries of the head of a bone has caused a loss of substance, the
cartilage dies, and is gradually broken down by decomposition :
but this cannot be said to be a disease of the cartilage itself. With
the exception of navicular disease (which will be included under

DISEASES OF CARTILAGE AND SYNOVIAL MEMBRANE, 29

the diseases of the foot), ulceration of cartilage is not very com-
mon in the horse.

ACUTE INFLAMMATION OF THE SYNOVIAL MEMBRANE Is seldom
met with; but a chronic state, inducing an excessive secretion of
pynovia, is extremely common. ‘The most usual situation is at the
hock, where the swelling has received the name of pog-s -spavin and
thoroughpin ; but they “also occur at the fetlock and knee joints ;
in the former case being sometimes confounded with windgalls,
which are inflamed bursa mucose.

Bou-sPAVIN is very apt to attack young horses, when they are
over-worked, before being fully seasoned; but it may occur at all
ages. It shows itself at the inner side of the joint, because here
the ligaments are wider apart, and there is more room for disten-
sion. Its seat is the capsule between the tibia and astragalus,
which is here unprotected by any strong fibrous covering, and
readily yields to the gradual pressure of the secrction from its in-
ternal surface.

THOROUGHPIN may be either an increased secretion of the syno-
vial capsule, between the astragalus and os calcis, or between the
scaphoid and cuneiform bones, or of the bursa mucosa lying be-
tween the tendo Achillis and the tendo perforatus. — In the first
of these cases, it often coexists with bog-spavin, and the synovia
may be made to fluctuate from one bag to the other, the only line
of demarcation being the astragalo- calcanean ligament.

Both bog-spavin and thoroughpin may exist, or either separately,
without occasioning lameness; but where they are just established,
there is generally some small degree of active inflammation, which
causes a slight lameness on first going out of the stable, but soon
disappearing.

Lhe treatment should be by pressure, kept up for a long time,
by means of a carefully-adjusted truss, alternated with cold affu-
sion, and the use afterwards of tincture of arnica, diluted with
water, as a wash. Subcutaneous scarification has succeeded in
some few cases in causing the secretion to cease; but it has so
often produced extensive inflammation of the joint, that the opera-
tion is by no means to be recommended. Blistering with biniodide
of mercury has also occasionally answered ; but no plan is so sue-
cessful, on the whole, as pressure, alternating with cold affusion

DELICATE YOUNG FOALS are subject to a rheumatic inflammia-
tion of their synovial membranes, specially displayed in the knees
and hocks, and apparently caused by exposure to cold. It seldoin
goes on to produce disorganization of the cartilages, but the capsu-
lar ligaments are distended with thin yellow synovia, causing
considerable stiffness. The cellular tissue around the joints also
becomes cedematous, and the legs fill all the way down io the feet.
It is commonly known among ‘breeders as the joint evil,” and

30 THE HORSE.

though in itself it is not dangerous, yet it marks the existence of
constitutional weakness which is likely to occasion some more fatal

malady. The ¢reatment should consist in attending to the geucral
health by strengthening the mare, which is best ‘done by , giving
her a drachm of the sulphate of iron in her corn twice a day.
The joints of the foal should be rubbed with equal. parts of soap
liniment, and spirit of turpentine, and it should be assisted to stand
for the purpose of sucking at regular short intervals if unable to
help itself. In aggravated cases, however, the foal is not likely
to recover its general strength, and it may be better to destroy it,
but so long’as it can stand and feeds well hopes may be entcr-
tained of the joints recovering.

INFLAMED TENDINOUS SHEATHS.

EVERY PRACTICAL HORSEMAN is aware that the sheaths in
which the back sinews and other tendons are lodged are liable to
inflammation and thickening, without the tendon itself being
involved. By passing the hand down the leg, an irregular network
may be felt surrounding the tendons, which move up and down
without disturbing it; and the surrounding cellular membrane is
ulso thickened, and becomes hard and unyielding. There may be
considerable heat about the part, but often it is quite cool; and
the disease may continue for months without any great lameness,
and with nothing to draw attention to it (excepting a slight
stiffness on leaving the stable) but the sensation communicated to
the hand. At length, an unusually severe day’s work sets up
active inflammation, the Jeg rapidly fills, and there is so much
lameness as to cause the horse to be thrown by.—The treatment in
the early stage, should be the use of bandages, constantly kept
wet with arnica and water, and nothing but walking exercise.
After the thickening is fully established, no remedy short of
blistering, or a charge, will be of the slightest avail, with a rest of
two or three inonths.

INFLAMED BURS/E MUCOSA.

THESE SYNOVIAL BAGS are liable to inflammation, either from
hard work, as in windgalls and thoroughpin, or from blows, as in
gapped hock and elbow. The latter are said by some veterina-
rians to be serous abscesses; but there is no doubt that in all
horses a subcutaneous bursa exists on the cap of the elbow and
hock; and these become inflamed and filled with a very thin
synovia, when they are bruised. They never extend beyond a
certain size, and have no tendency to burst; nor are they inclined
toa healthy termination of their own accurd, but go on in the
same conditicn from vear to year.

WENDGALLS, OR PUFFS, are the most usual forms of these en-

e

INFLAMED BURSZ MUCOSA, at

iaryements, and may be observed in the legs (hind as well as fore)
of nearly every hard-worked horse, after a time. Great care in the
management of the legs by bandaging will sometimes keep them
off, and some horses have naturally no tendency to form them ;
but in most cases, On examining the legs, just above the fetlock
joints, of horses at work, a little oval bag may be felt on each
side, between the back-sinew and the bone. If recent, it is soft
and puffy; but if the work is hard, and the windgall is of long
standing, it will be as tense asa drum. The synovial bag has no
communication with the fetlock joint; but there is another sac in
frent of the joint, and beneath the tendons of the extensors, which
is often enlarged, though not so much so as the seat of the true
windgall, and which is generally, though not always, continuous
wich the synovial capsule of the joint.—The treatment consists in
pressure by means of bandages, and the application of cold lotions,
if the less are hot and inflamed. Blistering and rest will remove
them entirely ; but no sooner is the horse put to work again, than
they return as badly as ever. There is no radical cure but subcu-
taneous puncture and searification, and this will produce too much
adhesion to be advantageously applied.

THE FORM OF THOROUGHPIN in which the bursa mucosa be-
tween the tendo Achillis and the tendo perforatus is inflamed and -
filled with synovia, has been alluded to at page 313, and its ¢treat-
ment is there described.

CAPPED HOCK is often the result of a bruise of the superficial
bursa, which is situated on the point of the hock, immediately
bencath the skin. It indicates either that the possessor has kicked
in the stable or in harness; but it is more frequently caused in
the former way than in the latter. The swelling is sometimes
slicht, being then just sufficient to show the point slightly enlarged,
and to give a soft, puffy sensation to the fingers, where there ought
to be nothing but bone felt beneath the skin. The bursa always
rolls freely on the bone, and when large, it can be laid hold of and
shaken like a bladder of water.—The treatment should be directed
to abate any slight inflammation that may exist, if the case is
established ; but in recent ones, it is doubly necessary to apply cold
fotions, which, however, there is some diffeulty in doing, owing to
the prominent nature of the part. <A piece of stout calico or fine
¢anvas may, however, be shaped into a cap, carefully fitting the
point of the hock; and this being tied by several pieces of tape in
front of the leg, will allow not only of the application of cold
lotions, but of pressure also By this plan, continued for some
weeks, considerable enlargements have been removed, but they
are very apt to return on the slightest bruise. Setons through the
bursa, and injections into its cavity of stimulating applications,
have often been tried; but they generally do more harm tban

By THE HORSE.

good, aud nothing can be relied on but the conjoint use of pressure
and cold applications. The best lotion is the following :—

Take of Tincture of Arnica . . « 3 ozs.
Muriate of Ammonia os a ee
Methylated sue of Winew site. is, eS ee
Water . . > Ee eceeed- mt 3 pints. Mix.

CAPPED ELBOW is precisely similar in its nature to capred
hock, and must be treated in the same way. It is also known by
the name of capulet.

OF STRAINS.

THE FIBRES OF MUSCLES, LIGAMENTS, AND TENDONS, AND THE
FASCIA covering them, are all liable to be overstretched, and more
or less mechanically injured. This is called a strain, the symptoms
of which are similar to the inflammation of the part occurring
ideopathically. They are heat, swelling, and pain on pressure or
movement, shown by flinching in the one case, and lameness in the
other. In some cases there is considerable effusion of blood or
serum, the former occurring chiefly in the muscles, and the latter
among the torn fibres of the tendons or ligaments. The symptoms
and treatment will depend upon the part injured, which will be
found described under the following heads; but in most cases an
embrocation composed of equal parts of laudanum, olive oil, spirit
of turpentine, and hartshorn, will be beneficial if applied after the
first active inflammation has subsided.

STRAIN OF THE BACK AND LOINS.

WHEN A YOUNG HORSE has been hunted or ridden with hounds
over any kind of fence, he is very apt to over-exert himself in his
awkward attempts to clear the obstacle, and next day he will often
show a stiffness of the loins and back, which is seated in the large
muscles connecting the pelvis with the thorax. He is said to have
‘“‘ricked his back,” in the language of the stable, and if the mis-
chief is confined to the muscles alone, he may generally be per-
manently cured, though he will be more liable to a return than an
auimal which has never suffered from any accident of the kind.
if, however, the spinal cord is injured, either from fracture of tha
vertebrae, or from effusion of blood or serum pressing upon it, the
case is different, and a perfect cure is seldom obtained. It is,
Lowever, very difficult to form a correct diagnosis between the one
vase and the other, and the treatment may generally be conducted
‘with the hope that the more important organ is uninjured. When
there is complete palsy of the hind extremities, so that the horse
can neither feel nor use them in the slightest degree, the case is
hopeless. For the management of the strain of the loins, a full
bleeding should be adopted, as it generally happens that the horse

STRAINS, 33

is plethoric and full of corn. Then apply a double fold ot thick
funnel or serge, dipped in warm water, to the whole surface of the
loins, cover this over with a layer of indiarubber shecting, and let
it remain on, taking care to renew the water if it has become dry.
It generally produces a copious sweating from the part, followed
by a slight irritation of the skin, both of which afford relief. Iw
three or four days the flannel may be removed, and the embroca
tion alluded to above rubbed in two or three times a day, which
will generally relieve the muscles so much that at the end of a
week or ten days the horse is able to move quietly alout in a
loose box, and the cure may be left to time, aided by a charge cn
the back.
STRAIN OF THE SHOULDER.

SHOULDER STRAIN was formerly very often chosen as the seat
of lameness in the fore extremity, solely because the case is so ob-
scure that it is beyond the knowledge of the unskilful examiner.
Nevertheless, it is by no means so uncommon as is supposed by
some writers, and perhaps it may be asserted that it is now more
frequently passed over when it really exists, than the reverse. It
generally is seated in the serratus magnus, or pectoralis transversus
muscles, but it may also occur in the triceps, or, indeed, in almost
any of the muscles around the shoulder joint. The symptoms are
very peculiar, and cannot well be mistaken by a careful observer
who has once seen a case of shoulder lameness. In all other kinds
(except the knee), the limb is freely moved while in the air, and
no pain is expressed until the foot is about to touch the ground;
but here the lameness is greatest while the knee is being protruded,
and the limb is slung forward sideways, in a circular manner, which
gives an expression of great imbecility. It also occasions great
pain when the foot is lifted and drawn forward by the hand, just
as in rheumatism of the part (already described at page 312).
When the serratus magnus has been strained by a fall from a drop
leap, or the pectoralis transversus by a slip, causing the legs to be
widely separated, there is often great obscurity in the case; but
the history of the accident will generally assist in forming a cor-
rect diagnosis. The treatmené in the early stage will consist in
bleeding from the plate vein, to the extent of five or six quarts of
blood, followed by fomentations with hot water, if there is much
heat and swelling, and giving a dose of physic as soon as the
bowels will bear it. When the heat has disappeared, or at once,
if there is none, apply the embrocation described at page 315; and
if this does not produce relief, add to it one quarter of its bulk of
tincture of cantharides.

STRAINS OF THE KNEE.
THE KNEE, unlike its analogue in the human subject (the wrist}
3

21) THE HORSE.

is seldom strained in the horse, in consequence? of the strong liga
ments which bind the bones of the carpus together. Still it some-
times happens that the internal lateral ligaments are overstretched,
or, in calf-kneed horses, the posterior common ligaments, or that
connecting the scaphoid with the pisiform bone, or probably all
these will suffer from over-extension. The accident may be re-
cognised by the heat and swelling of the part affected, as well as
by the pain given on using the joint. ‘The anterior ligaments are
seldom strained, but are liable to injury from blows received in
various ways. The treatment should be conducted on the same
principles as those of strains in the shoulder. Cold applications
will seldom do anything but harm in the early stage; but after
hot fomentations have relieved the active mischief, by encouraging
the effusion of scrum into the surrounding cellular membrare, the
former may be used with advantage. When the heat and other
signs of active inflammation have disappeared, the biniodide of
mercury ointment may be rubbed in, avoiding the back of the joint.

STRAIN OF THE FETLOCK.

Tifs ACCIDENT shows itself at once, in consequence of the super-
ficial nature wf the joint, by swelling, heat, soreness to the touch,
and lameness. It may be very slight or very severe, but im the
latter case it is generally complicated by strain of the back sinews,
or suspensory ligament. The treatment will be precisely on the
saine plan as for strain of the knee. When the anterior ligaments
of the fetlock joint are strained and inflamed, as so often happens
with race-horses, the condition is known as ‘‘shin sore.”

STRAIN OF THE COFFIN JOINT.

DISSECTION PROVES that this joint is sometimes the seat of
strain; but it is almost impossible to ascertain its existence with
certainty during life. The diagnosis is, however, not of much
consequence, as the treatment will be the same, whether the coffin
joint, or the navicular joint is the seat of the mischief. In any
case, if severe, bleeding from the tue should be had recourse to,
followed by cold applications around the coronet, by means of a
strip of flannel or felt, tied loosely around the pastern, and kept
constantly wet. Wher the heat has subsided the coronet should
be blistered.

STRAIN OF THE SUSPENSORY LIGAMENTS.

THE SUSPENSORY LIGAMENT not being elastic like the back
sinews (which, though not in themselves extensible, are the pro-
longations of’ muscles which have that property), is very liable to
strains, especially in the hunter, and to a less degree.in the race-
horse. The accideut is readily made out, for there is local swelling

STRAINS. 35

and tenderness, and in the well-bred horse, which is alone likely
to meet with a strain of this kind, the leg is rarely suthciently
gummy to prevent the finger from making out the condition of the
ligaments and tendons. There is no giving away of the joints as
in ‘ break-down,” but on the contrary the leg is flexed, and if the
ease is a bad one, the toe only is allowed to touch the ground. In
ordinary cases, however, there is merely slight swelling of the
suspensory ligament in a limited spot usually near its bifurcation,
or sometiimes in one division only close above the sesamoid bone to
which it is attached. The horse can stand readily on that leg,
but on being trotted he limps a good deal. Sometimes. however,
there is a swelling of the feet without lameness, but in this case
the enlargement is generally due to an effusion of serum into the
ecilular covering of the ‘igamént, and not to an actual straix of its
fibres.—The treatment will depend greatly upon the extent of the
misehief; if there is no great injury done, and the enlargement
is chiefly from effusion of serum, rest and cold applications by
means of bandages or otherwise will in the course of two or three
months effect a cure. Generally, however, the case will last six
or eight months before the ligament recovers its tone; and in a
valuable horse no attempt should be made to work him before that
time. Where the swelling is small, as it generally is, bandages
have no power over it, as the projection of the flexor tendons keeps
the pressure off the injured part. Here, dipping the leg in a
bucket of water every hour will be of far more service than a
bandage, and the sudden shock of the cold water will be doubly
efficacious. After all heat has disappeared the biniodide of
mercury may be used as a blister two or three times, and then the
horse may either be turned out, or put into a loose box for three
or four months, after which walking exercise will complete the
cure.
STRAIN OF THE BACK SINEWS.

IN THIS ACCIDENT the position of the leg is the same as in
strain of the suspensory ligament, and there is no giving way of
the joints. ‘The flexor tendons are enlarged, hot, and tender, and
there is great lameness, the horse having the power to flex the joints
below the knee, but resolutely objecting to extend them, by bearing
what little weight is unavoidable upon his toe. The case is often
confounded with a “break-down,”’ but it may readily be distin-
guished by the fact that in the latter the joints give way on putting
the weight upon them, whilst in mere strains they do not, and
the tendency is to the cyposite extreme. Frequently after a bad
strain of the flexor tendons, the fetlock is ‘“‘over shot,” or beyond
the upright, in consequence of the continued flexion of the joint,
to prevent pressure upon the injured fibres, and in the manage:
ment this result should be carefully guarded against. The injury

36 THE HORSE.

is generally confined to the sheath of the tendons, which in most
cases gradually puts on an inflammatory condition for some time
before actual lameness is observed. In bad eases, however, the
ligamentous fibres which are given off by the posterior carpal
ligament to the flesor tendons are ruptured, greatly increasing the
amount of inflammation and subsequent loss of strength. In any
ase the tendon feels spongy, and slightly enlarged, and there is
more or less soreness on pressure and on being trotted, but in the
latter case exercise removes the tenderness, and very often tempo-
rarily causes an absorption of the effused fluid, which is again
deposited during rest. ‘This state of things goes on for a time, the
proom doing all in his power to alleviate it by wet bandages, Xc.,
but at last a severe race or gallop brings on an extra amount of
inflammation, with or without actual strain of the fibres of the
tendon, and then there can be no doubt about the propriety of
rest and severe treatment. It often happens that both legs are
slightly affected, but one being more tender than the other, the
horse attempts to save it by changing legs, the consequence of
which is that the comparatively sound tendons are strained, and
he returns to his stable with both legs in a bad state, but with one
of them requiring immediate attention.—The treatment should be
by lucal bleeding (from the arm, thigh, or toe), followed at first by
warm fomentations, and in a few days by cold lotions. A high-
heeled shoe (called a patten) should be put on the foot, so as ta
allow the horse to rest part of the weight upon the heel without
distressing the tendon, and this will have a tendency to prevent
him from over shooting at the fetlock joint, which he will other-
wise be very apt to do from constantly balancing his leg on the toe.
After three or four days the hot fomentations will have done what
is wanted, and a cold lotion may be applied by means of' a loose
linen bandage. The best is composed as follows :—

Take of Muriate of Ammonia . ..... 20%

Vinegar . brits We) i pint.
Methylated Spirit of Wage iiietl leks ar (eee
Wiatet fo lites 2 quarts. Mix.

With this the bandage should ss ies cee wet, the applica-
tion being continued for a fortnight at least, during which time
the patient must be kept cool, by lowering his food, and giving
hin. a dose of physic. At the end of three weeks or a month
from the accident, the leg must be either blistered or fired. the
choice depending upon the extent of injury, and the desire to avuid
a blemish if such a feeling exists. The former is the more effica-
cious plan no doubt, but blistering will frequently suffice in mild
cases. If, however, the tendons at the end of a month continue
ereatly enlarged, a cure can hardly be expected without the use of
» the “irons.”

BREAKING DOWN. at

BREAKING DOWN.

(GREAT CONFUSION exists among trainers as to the exact nature
vf this accident, which is considered by the veterinary surgeon to
consist in an actual rupture of the suspeusory ligament either
nhove or below the sesamoid bones, which, in fact, merely separate
this apparatus of suspension into two portions, just as the patella
intervenes between the rectus femoris and the tibia. Whichever
part of the suspensory apparatus is gone (whether the superior or
inferior sesamoidal ligament is immaterial), the fetlock and pastern
joints lose their whole inelastic support ; and the flexor tendons,
toyvether with their ligamentous fibres which they receive from the
carpus, giving way, as they must do, to allow of the accident
taking place, the toe is turned up, and the fetlock joint bears
upon the ground. This is a complete ‘‘ break down ;” but there
are many cases in which the destruction of the ligamentous fibres
is not complete, and the joint, though much lowered, does not
actually touch the ground. These are still called breaks down,
and must be regarded as such, and as quite distinct from strains
of the flexor tendons. The accident generally occurs in a tired
horse, when the flexor muscles do not continue to support the liga-
ments, from which circumstance it so often happens in the last
few strides of a race. Zhe symptoms are a partial or entire giving
way of the fetlock joint downwards, so that the back of it either
tcuches the ground, or nearly so, when the weight is thrown upon
it. Usually, however, after the horse is pulled up, he hops on
three legs, and refuses altogether to put that which is broken down
to the ground. In a very few minutes the leg “ fills” at the seat
of the accident, and becomes hot and very tender to the touch.
There can, therefore, be no doubt as to the nature of the mischief,
and the confusion to which allusion has been made is one of names
rather than of facts. Treatment can only be directed to a partial
recovery from this accident, for a horse broken down in the sense
in which the term is here used can only be used for stud purposes
or at slow farm work. A patten shoe should at once be put ou
alter bleeding at the toe to a copious extent, and then fomenta-
tions followed by cold lotions should be applied, as directed in the
last section. As there must necessarily be a deformity of the leg,
there can be no objection on that score to firing, and when the
severe inflammation following the accident has subsided this opera-
tion should be thoroughly performed, so as to afford relief not only
by the counter irritation which is set up, and which lasts only for
a time, but by the rigid and unyielding ease which it leaves behind
for a series >f years.

21

38 THE HORSE

STRAINS OF THE HIP JOINT, STIFLE, AND HOCK

THE HIP JOINT, OR ROUND BONE, is liable to be strained by
the hind feet slipping and being stretched apart, or by blows
against the side of the stall, when cast, which are not sufficient to
dislocate the femur, but strain its ligaments severely. The conse.
quence is an inflammation of the joint, which is evidenced by a
dropping of one hip in going, the weight being thrown more upon
the sound side than upon the other. This is especially remarkable
on first starting, the lameness soon going off in work, but return-
ing after rest. The case, however, is a rare one, and its descrip-
tion need not, therefore, occupy much of our space. When it does
happen, it is very apt to lead to a wasting of the deep muscles of
the haunch, which nothing but compulsory work will restore to a
healthy condition. The-only treatment necessary in the early
stage of strain of the hip joint is rest and cooling diet, &c.; but,
after six weeks or two months, a gradual return to work is indis-
pensable to effect a cure.

STRAINS OF THE STIFLE. independently of blows, are rare; but
the latter often are inflicted upon this joint in hunting, leaving
little evidence externally, so that it is almost always “Gaebatal
whether the injury is the result of a blow or strain. The symptoms
are a swelling and tenderness of the joint, which can be ascer-
tained by a careful examination ; and on trotting the horse, there
is manifested a difficulty or stiffness in drawing forward the hind
Icg under the belly. The treatment must be by bleeding and
physicking in the early stage, together with hot fomentations to the
part, continued every hour until the heat subsides. After a few
days. if the joint is still painful, a large blister should be applied,
or, what is still better, a seton should be inserted in the skin
adjacent.

THE HOCK ITSELF is liable to strain, independently of the pecu-
jiar aceident known as “curb.” When it occurs, there is some
heat oi the part, with more or less lameness, and neither spavin,
thoroughpin, nor curb to account for them. The injury is seldom
severe, and may be relieved by fumentations for a day or two,
followed by cold lotions, as presented at page 320, for strain of the
hack sinews.

CURB.

TILE LOWER PART OF TITE POSTERIOR SURFACE Of the os ealecis
is firmly united to the cuboid and external metatarsal bone by twa
strong ligamentous bands, called the calcaneo-cuboid and ealeanco-
metatarsal ligaments. The centre of these ligaments is about
seven or eight inches below the point of the hock, and when a soft
but clastic swelling suddenly makes its appearance there, it may

CURB. 39

with certainty be asserted that a ‘‘ curb” has been thrown out. The
accident uvccurs somewhat suddenly; but the swelling and inflain-
mation do not always show themselves until after a niyht’s rest
when the part is generally enlarged, hot, and tender. The previse
extent of the strain is of little consequence; for whatever its
nature, the treatment should be sufficiently active to reduce the
ligaments to their healthy condition. Some horses have naturally the
head of the external small metatarsal bone unusually large, and
the hock so formed that there is an angle between the large meta.
tarsal bone and the tarsus, leaving a prominence, which, however,
is hard and bony, and not soft and elastic, as is the case with carb.
Such hocks are generally inclined to throw out curbs; but there
are many exceptions, and some of the most suspicious-looking
joints have been known to stand sound for years. Curbs are seldom
thrown out by very old horses, and usually occur between the com-
mencement of breaking-in and the seventh or eighth year, though
they are not unfrequently met with in the younger colt, being occa-
sioned by his gambols over hilly ground. The treatment should
at first be studiously confined to a reduction of the inflammation ;
any attempt to procure absorption till this is effected being inju-
rious in the extreme. If there is much heat in the part. blood
may be taken from the thigh vein, the corn should be removed,
and a dose of physic given as soon as practicable. The curh
should then be kept wet (by means of a bandage lightly applied)
with the lotion recommended at page 316 for capped hocks, and
this should be continued until the inflammation is entirely gone.
During this treatment, in bad cases, a patten shoe should be kept
on, so as to keep the hock as straight as possible, and thus take
the strain off the ligaments which are affected. After the part
has become cool, it may be reduced in size, by causing absorption
to be set up; which is best effected by the application of mereury
and iodine (both of which possess that power), in such a shape as
to cause a blister of the skin. ‘The biniodide of mereurr has this
double advantage, and there is no application known to surgery
which will act equally well in effecting the absorption of a curb.
It should be applicd in the mode recommended at page 300, and
again rubbed on at an interval of about a week, for three or four
tines in successisn, when it will generally be found that the ab-
sorption of the unnatural swelling is effected; but the ligaments
remain as weak as before, and nothing but exercise (not too severe,
or it will inflame them again) will strengthen them sufficiently to
prevent a return. Friction with the hand, aided by a slightly
stimulating oil (such as neat’s-foot and turpentine mixed, or neat’s-
{oot and oil of origanum, or, in fact, any stimulating essential oi)),
will tend to strengthen the ligaments, by exciting their vessels te
throw out additional fibres; and in course of time a curb may be

40 THE HORSE.

considered to be sufficiently restored to render it tolerably safe te
usc the horse again in the same way which originally produced it.

DISLOCATION.

By DIsLocaTION is meant the forcible removal of the end of a
bone from the articulating surface which it naturally occupies.
In the horse, from the strength of his ligaments, the accident is
not common; those that do occur being “chiefly i in the hip joint,
and in that between the patella and the end of the femur.

DISLOCATION OF THE HIP JOINT is known by the rigidity of
the hind leg, which cannot be moved in any direction, and is
carried by the horse when he is compelled to attempt to alter his
position. There is a flatness of the haunch below the hip, but
the crest of the ilium is still there, and by this the accident
may be diagnosed from fracture of that part. No treatment is of
the slightest avail, as the part cannot be reduced, and the horse
is useless except for stud purposes. The accident is not very
common.

DiSLOCATION OF THE PATELLA sometimes becomes habitual,
occurring repeatedly in the same horse, apparently from a spas-
modic contraction of the external vastus muscle, which draws the
patella outwards, and out of the trochlea formed for it in the
lower head of the femur. When the cramp goes off, the patella
drops into its place again as soon as the horse moves, and no
treatment is required. Occasionally, however, the dislocation is
more complete, and nothing but manual dexterity will replace the
bone in its proper situation. Great pain and uneasiness are
expressed, and the operator must encircle the haunch with his
arms and lay hold of the patella with both hands, while an assist-
ant drags forward the toe, and thus relaxes the muscles which are
inserted in it. By forcibly driving the patella into its place it
may be lifted over the ridge which it has passed, and a snap
annuunces the reduction.

WOUNDS OF JOINTS.

THE KNEE is the joint most frequently suffering from wound,
being liable to be cut by a fall upon it, if the ground is reugh ;
and if the accident takes place when the horse is going ata rapid
pace, the skin, ligaments, and tendons may be worn through by
friction against the plain surface of a smooth turnpike | road.
Whother the joint itself is injured, or only the skin, the accident
is called a “broken knee,’ and for convenience sake it will be
well to consider both under the present head.

WHEN A BROKEN KNEE consists merely in an abrasion of the
skin, the attention of the groom is solely directed to the restora-
tion of the hair, which will grow again az well as ever, if the

WOUNDS OF JOINTS. 41

libs or roots are not injured. These are situated in the mternal
layer of the true skin, and therefore, whenever there is a smooth
red surface displayed, without any difference in the texture of its
parts, a confident hope may be expressed that there will be no
blemish. If the skin is penetrated, either the glistening surface
of the tendons or ligaments is apparent, or there is a soft layer uf
cellular membrane, generally containing a fatty cell or two in the
middle of the wound of the skin. Even here, by proper treat
ment, the injury may be repaired so fully, that the space uncovered
by hair cannot be recognised by the ordinary observer, and not
by any one without bending the knee and looking very carefully
at it. The best treatment is to foment the knee well with warm
water, so as to remove every particle of grit or dirt; go on with
this every hour during the first day, and at night apply a bran
poultice to the knee, which should be left on till the next morn-
ing. Then cleanse the wound, and apply a little spermaceti oint-
ment, or lard without salt, and with this keep the wound pliant
until it heals, which if slight it will in a few days. If the skin is
pierced there will generally be a growth above it of red flabby
granulations, which should be carefully kept down to its own
level (not beneath it), by the daily use of blue stone, or if neces-
sary of nitrate of silver. As soon as the wound is perfectly
healed, if the horse can be spared, the whole front of the knee
and skin should be dressed with James’ blister, which will bring
off the hair of the adjacent parts, and also encourage the growth
of that injured by the fall. In about three weeks or a month
from its application, the leg will pass muster, for there will be no
difference in the color of the old and new hair as there would
have been without the blister, and the new will also have come
on more quickly and perfectly than it otherwise would.

WHEN THE JOINT ITSELF is opened the case is much more
serious, and there is a risk not only of a serious blemish, which
can seldom be avoided, but of a permanent stiffness of the leg, tke
mischief sometimes being sufficient to lead to constitutional fever,
and the local inflammation going on to the destruction of the joint
by anchylosis. The treatment should be directed to cleanse and
then close the joint, the former object being carried out by a
careful ablution with warm water, continued until there is no
doubt of all the dirt and grit having been removed. Then, if
there is only a very small opening in the capsular ligament, it
may be closed by a careful and light touch of a pointed iron
heated to a red heat. Generally, however, it is better to apply
sume dry carded cotton to the wound, and a bandage over this,
leaving all on for four or five days, when it may be removed and
reapplied. ©The horse should be bled largely and physicked, taking
care to prevent all chance of his lying down by racking him up

42 THE HORSE.

He will seldom attempt to do this, on account of the pain occa
- Sioned in bending the knee, but some animals will disregard this
when tired, and will go down somehow. When the cotton is
reapplied, if there are granulations above the level of the skin,
they must be kept down as recommended in the last paragraph,
and the subsequent treatment by blister may be exactly the same.
By these means a very extensive wound of the knee may be often
speedily cured, and the blemish will be comparatively trifling.

THE KNEE IS SOMETIMES punctured by a thorn in hunting,
causing great pain and lameness. If it can be felt externally, it
is well t) cut down upon it and remove it; but groping in the dark
with the knife among important tendons in front of the knee is
not on any account to be attempted. The knee should be well
fomented, five or six times a day, until the swelling, if there is
any, subsides, and, in process of time, the thorn will either show
its base, or it will gradually free itself from its attachments and lie
beneath the skin, from which position it may be safely Ss
with the knife.

CHAPTER III.
DISEASES OF THE THORACIC ORGANS AND THEIR APPENDAGES.

General Remarks—Catarrh—Influenza or Distemper—Bronchitis
— Chronic Cough— Laryngitis— Roaring, Whisthng, Etc.—
Pneumonia and Congestion of the Lungs— Pleurisy — Pleuro-
dynia—Phthisis—Broken Wind—Thich Wind—Spasm of the
Diaphragm—Diseases of the Heart—Diseases of the Blood Ves-
sels in the Chest and Nose.

GENERAL REMARKS.

‘THE IMPORTANCE OF SOUNDNESS in the respiratory apparatus
is so fully recognised, that in common parlance it is put before the
organs of locomotion, a popular expression being “sound, wind and
limb.” It is true that good wind is useless without legs: ; but the
diseases of the latter are known to be more under control thag
those of the chest, and hence it is, perhaps, that the wind is sc

carefully scrutinized by all purchasers of horses. There is, also,
much greater difficulty in ascertaining the condition of the lungs
and their appendages, and the ordinary observer can only judge
of them by an absolute trial; while the state of the legs may be
seen and felt, and that of the feet can be tolerably well ascertained
by a very short run upon hard ground. So, also, with the acute
diseases of’ these parts; while the legs and feet manifest the

CATARRH. 43

slightest inflammation going on in them by swelling and heat, the
nir-passages may be undergoing slow but sure destruction, withort
giving out any sign that can be detected by any one but the prac-
tised veterinarian. In most of the diseases of the chest there is
disturbance of the breathing, even during a state of rest; but in
some of them, as in roaring, for instance, no such evidence is
afforded, and the disease can only be detected by an examination
during, or immediately after, a severe gallop.

CATARRH, OR COLD.

CATARRH may be considered under two points of view; either
as an inflammation of the mucous membrane of the nasal cavities,
accompanied by slight general fever; or as an ephemeral fever of
three or four days duration, complicated with this condition of the
nose. The latter is, perhaps, the more scientific definition, but
for common purposes it is more convenient to consider it as mainly
consisting in the most prominent symptom. There is invariably
some degree of feverishness, sometimes very considerable, at others
so slight as to be easily passed over. Usually the pulse is accele-
rated to about forty or fifty, the appetite is impaired, and there is
often sore throat, with more or less cough. On examining the
interior of the nostrils, they are more red than natural, at first dry
and swollen, then bedewed with a watery discharge ‘which soon
becomes yellow, thick, and, in bad cases, purulent. The eyes are
generally involved, their conjunctival coat being injected with
blood, and often some slight weeping takes place, but there is
always an expression of sleepiness or dulness, partly owing to the
local condition of the organ, and partly to the general impairment
of the health. The disease is caused in most instances by a chill.
either in the stable or out, but sometimes, even in the mildest form,
it appears to be epidemic. The treatment will greatly depend upon
the severity of the seizure; usually, a bran-mash containing fron,
six drachms to one ounce of powdered nitre in it, at night, for two
or three consecutive periods, will suffice, together with the abstrae-
tion of corn, and, if the bowels are confined, a mild dose of physiv
should be given. In more severe cases, when there is cough and
g ns iderable feverishness, a ball composed of the following i ingTre-
dients may be given every night :—

Take of Nitrate of Potass- . . . s « « « 2 drachms.

Tariarized Antimony << 0a 008.0 8 1 drachm,
Powdered Digitalis’... 2... °s . 9 drachm.
Camphor. . 5 eat i drachm.

T.inseed meal and boiling Sohtex enough to make into a ball.

If the throat is sore, an embrocation of equal parts of oil, tur.
pentine, tincture of cantharides, and hartshorn, may be rubbed in
night and morning.

44 THE HORSE.

chould the disease extend to the bronchial tubes, or sulistance
of the lungs, the treatment for bronchitis or pneumonia must be
adopted.

The stable should be kept cool, taking care to make up for the
difference in temperature by putting on an extra rug; water should
be allowed ad libitum, and no corn should be given.

Sometimes the discharge becomes chronic, and it is then known
by the name ozena.

INFLUENZA, OR DISTEMPER.

THIS MAY BE CONSIDERED TO BE an epidemic catarrh, but the
symptoms are generally more severe and leave greater prostration
of strength behind them. They also require more careful treat-
ment, which must be specially adapted to the attack, for remedies
which will arrest the disease in one year will totally fail the next
time that the-epidemic prevails. The fever of late years has had
a tendency to put on the typhoid type, and bleeding, which for-
merly was often beneficial, is now completely forbidden. The symp-
foms are at first similar to those already described as pertaining to
common catarrh, but after a few days the accompanying fever is
more severe than usual, and does not abate at the customary period.
The appetite is altogether lost, and the appearance of the patient
is characteristic of severe disease rather than of a trifling cold. It
is, however, chiefly from the fact that a number of horses are scized
with similar symptoms, either at the same time or rapidly follow-
ing one another, that the disease is recognised. It usually prevails
in the spring of the year, or in a wet and unhealthy autumn.
Sometimes almost every case runs on to. pneumonia, at others the
bronchial mucous membrane alone is attacked ; but in all there is
extreme debility in proportion to the apparent nature of the disease.
The ordinary appearances exhibited in recent epidemics have been
as follows :—The first thing observed is a general slight shivering,
accompanied by a staring coat. The pulse is weak, and slightly
accelerated, but not to any great extent; the mouth feels hot; the
eyes and the nostrils are red; the belly is tucked up; there is no
appetite; cough, to a varying extent, begins to show itself; and
there is generally a heaving of the flanks. ‘The legs and feet are
not cold as in pneumonia, but beyond this they afford no positive
signs ‘The cellular membrane around the eyes, and of the legs,
gencrally swells about the second day, and often the head and
limbs become quite shapeless from this cause. In the early stave
the bowels are often relaxed, but afterwards they are as frequently
zonfined. Sore throat is a very common complication, but it is not
by any means an invariable attendant on influenza. It is, however,

INFLUENZA—BRONCHITIS. 45

somewhat difficult to ascertain its existence, as in any case there
is no appetite for food. The treatment should be conducted on the
principle uf husbanding the strength, and, unless urgent symptoms
of inflammation show themselves, “the less that is dove the better,
If tke trachea or larynx is involved only slightly, ¢ muter irrita-
tion, by means of a liquid blister, must be tried, without resorting
£0 strong internal medicines ; but if serious mischief ensu res, the
cuse must, to a certain extent, be treated as it would be when
soming on without the complication of influenza, always taking
care to avoid bleeding, and merely acting on the bowels by gentle
aperients, and on the skin and kidneys by the mildest diaphoretie and
diuretic. The following is the ordinary plan of treatment adopted :

Take of Spirit of Nitric Ether . ... . - 1 ounce.
Laudanum . . ree. tats Sc es “auGirniG his:
Nitrate of botass i/o veers nah 7. ole Sdenchins:
Water zartita «<0 diepint.

Mix, and give as a drench night and morning.

By constantly offering to the horse thin gruel (taking care that
it does not become sour), and no plain water, sufficient nourish-
ment may be given, as his thirst will induce him to drink.

During the stage of convalescence the greatest care must be
taken. At first, as soon as the cough has somewhat subsided, a
mild stomachie ball will be desirable, such as

‘Takeo. extract of Gentian... . ©. «.« 6 drachms.
Powdered “Ginger ©. «.) 0's). 2 2 drachms. Mix:

Afterwards, if the case goes on favorably, and the appetite returns,
the restoration may be left to nature, giving the horse by degrees
his usual allowance of corn, and adding to his morning and evening
feed one drachm of sulphate of iron in fine powder. It must not be
attempted to give this until the appetite is pretty keen, or the horse
will be disgusted, and will probably refuse his corn altogether.

Should typhoid symptoms be clearly established, the case must
be treated according to the directions hereafter laid down fo:
ty. hus fever.

BRONCHITIS.

BRONCHITIS is an inflammation of the mucous membrane lining
(he bronchi, and almost invariably extending to these parts through
the trachea, from the larynx and nasal passages, which are pri-
marily affected as in ordinary cold. The membrane in the early
stage becomes filled with blood, and as a consequence the diameter
of the tubes is diminished, attended by some difficulty and in-
ereased rapidity of breathing. After a time a frothy mucus is
poured out from it, and this “still further interferes with respira-
tion, and necessitates a constant cough to. get rid of it. These
symptoms are always present, but they will vary greatly in inten-

46 THE HORSE,

sity, and in the rapidity with which they progress, from which cir-
cumstanves bronchitis ts said to be acute or chronic, as the case
may be. ln the acute form there are also several variations, and
veterinary writers are in the habit of again subdividing it into
acute and sub-acute, but the two leading divisions are sufficient
for a'i practical purposes. It begins with the usual premonitory
appearances of a severe cold, accompanied by a staring: coat, and
entire loss of appetite. The breathing is somewhat quicker than
natural, and the pulse is raised to sixty or seventy. The legs re-
main of the usual temperature, and there is a hard dry cough, the
liming membrane of the nostrils being intensely red, and in severe
cases dry and swollen. On auscultation there is a dry rattling
sound, very different from the crepitation of pneumonia, and as
soon as mucus is secreted, succeeded by gurgling, and soap-bubble
sounds, easily distinguished when once heard. If the attack goes
on favorably, the cough becomes loose, and there is a free dis-
charge of mucus, both from the lungs, as evidenced from the
nature of the cough, and from the nostrils, as shown by the run-
ning from them. On the other hand, the prognosis is unfavorable
when the breathing is very laborious, with the legs extended, and
the cough constant and ineffectual in affording relief. Should no
rclicf be afforded, death takes place a week or ten days after the
onset of the disease, from suffocation. The treatment should de-
pend greatly upon the urgency of the inflammation, which only an
experienced eye can judge of. If slight, nitre and tartar emetic
internally, and a blister (to one or both sides, according to the
extent of bronchi involved), will suffice, but in very severe cases
blood must be taken at the onset, or it will be impossible to control
the inflammation. Bleeding should be avoided if it is judged
prudent to do so, for of late years the type of diseases has changed
so much in the horse, that he is found to bear loss of blood badly.
Nevertheless, it is not wise to lay down the rule that it is never
desirable. The bowels must be acted on by the ordinary physic
ball, resorting to raking and clysters, if the time cannot be afforded
for the usual laxative preparation. For the special control of the
morbid state of the membrane the following ball will be found
advantageous :—

Take Ce Svurtquigs ie we Sos wm Ce yak =. a) area
Calomel a ge RS eee cee ae See eer en
Tartar Emetie og Ve esi oe 40 Se oOteeOrgraine,
INGER O } yo Arey Sa Ga egies te Shes ote eee eS
Mix with treacle, and give twice a day.
Should the disease continue after the blister is healed, a large seton
may be put in one or both sides with advantage.
CHRONIC BRONCHITIS seldom exists except as a sequel to the
acute form, and after adopting the balls recommended for that

CHRONIC COUGH. 47

state, it may be treated by attention to the general health, a seton
in th side, and the exhibition of an expectorant ball twice a day,
zomposed of the following materials :—

Take of Gam Ammoniacum . .°. - « « « #$ Ounce.
Powdered Sqmll’ 5 os cas ee sw Pe rchm.
ushie sdapeciee "eet ten) sos ee 8 s OPRCRING.

Mix and make into a ball.

rf CHRONIC COUGH.

By Tr1s TERM is understood a cough that comes on without
any fever or evidences of the horse having taken cold. It differs
in this respect from chronic bronchitis, which generally supervenes
upon the acute form, and is always attended in the early stage by
feverishness. It appears probable that chronic cough is dependent
upon an unnatural stimulus to the mucous membrane, for it almost
always makes its appearance when much “orn is given without due
preparation, and ceases on a return to green food. It is, therefore,
very commonly termed a stomach cough. The symptoms are all
summed up in the presence of a dry cough, which is seldom mani-
fested while in the stable, but comes on whenever. the breathing is
hastened by any pace beyond a walk. Two or three coughs are
then given, and the horse perhaps is able to go on with his work,
but after resting for a few minutes, and again starting, it comes on
again, and annoys the rider or driver by its tantalizing promise of
disappearance followed by disappointment. Very often this kind
of cough is caused by the irritation of worms, but any kind of dis-
order of the digestive organs appears to have the power of pro-
ducing it. The usual treatment for chronic bronchitis seems here
to be quite powerless, and the only plan of proceeding likely to be
attended with success, is to look for the cause of the irritation, and
remove it. Sometimes this will be found ina hot stable, the horse
having previously been accustomed toa cool one. Here the altera-
tion of the temperature by ten or fifteen degrees will in a few days
effect a cure, and nothing else is required. Again, it may be that
the corn has been overdone, in which case a gentle dose of physic,
followed by a diminished allowance of corn, and a bran-mash twice
a week, will be successful. If the stomach is much disordered,
green food will be the best stimulus to a healthy condition, or in
its absence a few warm cordial balls may be tried. The existences
xf worms should be ascertained in doubtful cases, and if they are
present, the proper remedies must be given for their removal.
Linseed vil and spirit of turpentine, which are both excellent worm
remedies, are highly recommended in chronic cough, and whether
or not their good effect is due to their antagonism to worms, they
may be revarded as specially useful.

A very successful combinatiun is the following mixture :—

48 THE AORSE.

Take of Spirit of Turpentine . . 2 ounces.
Mucilage of Acacia . . : 6 cunces.
Gum Ammoniacum . . . 4 ounce.
handanami o.oo. see . 4 ounces.
Waters = 6s 2 quarts.

Mix, and give half-a-pint as a drench every night: the bottle must be
well shaken before pouring out the dose.

LARYNGITIS, ROARING, WHISTLING, &c.

ONE OF THE MOST COMMON diseases among well-bred horses cf
the present day, is the existence of some mechanical impediment
to the passage of the air into the lungs, causing the animal to
‘make a noise.” ‘The exact nature of the sound has little or no
practical bearing on the cause that produces it; that is to say, it
cannot be predicated that .roaring is produced by laryngitis; nor
that whistling is the result of a palsy of some particular muscle,
but undoubtedly it may safely be asserted that all lesions of the
larynx, by which the shape and area of its opening (rima glottidis)
are altered and diminished, are sure to have a prejudicial effect
upon the wind, and either to produce roaring, whistling, wheezing,
or trumpeting, but which would result it might be difficult to say,
although the precise condition of the larynx were known, which it
cannot be during life. Until recently veterinary surgeons were
puzzled by often finding on examination of a roarer’s larynx after
death no visible organic change in the opening, and many were led
to imagine that this part could not be the seat of the disease. On
a careful dissection, however, it is found that a muscle or muscles
whose office it is to dilate the larynx is wasted and flabby (crico-
arytenoideus lateralis and thyro-arytenoideus). The other muscles
are perhaps equally atrophied, but as their office is to close the
opening, their defects are not equally snjurious, and at all events
are not shown by producing an unnatural noise. ‘The cause of this
wasting is to be looked for in pressure upon the nerve which sur-
plics these muscles, and which passes through an opening in the
posterior ala of the thyroid cartilage, so that whatever causes a dis-
jlacement of that part will mechanically affect the nerve. For
these several reasons it will be necessary to examine first of all into
the several kinds of inflammation, &c., to which the lary1x is sub-
ject, and then to investigate as far as we may, the nature, mode
of detection. and treatment of the several conditions known to
horsemen by the names of roaring, whistling, &c., which are only
symptoms of one or other of the diseases to which allusion will
presently be made.

By ACUTE LARYNGITIS is meant a more than ordinary inflam-
mation of the larynx, and not that slightly morbid condition in
which the mucous membrane of that organ is always involved in
“the passage of a ecld into the chest.” Jn the latter state the ear

CHRONIC LARYNGITIS, . 49

detects no unusual sound, and indeed there is plenty of room for
the air to pass. But in true laryngitis, on placing the ear near the
throat, a harsh rasping sound is heard, which is sufficient at once
to show the nature and urgency of the symptoms. ‘The mucous
membrane is swollen, and tinged with blood; the rima glottidis is
almost closed, and the air in passing through it produces the sound
above described, which, however, is sometimes replaced by a stridu-
lous or hissing one. In conjunction with this well-marked symp.
tom there is always a hoarse cough of a peculiar character, and
some considerable fever, with frequent respiration, and a hard, wiry
pulse of seventy to eighty. The treatment must be of the most
active kind for not only is life threatened, but even if a fatal result
does not take place, there is great danger of permanent organic
mischief to the delicate apparatus of the larynx, generally from the
effusion of lymph into the submucous cellular membrane. <A full
bleeding should at once be practised, and repeated at the end ot
vwelve hours if there is no relief afforded and the pulse still con-
tinues hard. The hair should be cut off the throat, and the tinc-
ture of cantharides brushed on in a pure state until a blister arises,
when the part may be constantly well fomented, to encourage the
discharge. Large doses of tartar emetic, calomel, and digitalis,
must also be given, but their amount and frequency should be left
to an exper'enced veterinarian, the preliminary bleeding and blis-
tering being done in his absence to save time. It is a case in
which medicine must be pushed as far as can be done with safety,
and this cannot well be left to any one who is not well acquainted
with its effects, and with the powers of the animal economy. Gruel
is the only food allowed during the acute stage, and there is seldom
time to have recourse to aperient physic until the urgent symp-
toms are abated, when an ordinary dose may be given. During
convalescence the greatest care must be taken to prevent a re-
lapse, by avoiding all excitement either by stimulating food or fast
exercise.

CHRONIC LARYNGITIS may occur as the result of the acute form
above described, or it may ceme on gradually, without any violent
inflammation preceding it. in either case the symptoms are simi-
lar in their nature to those met with in the acute form, but less in
degiee. The noise made is iiot nearly so harsh, and can often
hardly be heard on the most careful examination. The peculiar
harsh, grating cough is, however, always present, and by it the
nature of the vase may generally be easily made out. The disease
often accompanies strangles, although in nine cases out of ten it
is overlooked by the careless attendant. Very commonly, how-
ever, if makes its ravages in so insidious a manner that no suspi-
cion is felt of its presence, until the horse begins to make a noise,
though he must in all probability have shown by the cough peculiar

4

50 THE HORSE.

to the complaint, that it has been working its way for some weeks
at least. Such cases chiefly occur in the training stable, and are
due, according to my belief, to the enormous quantity of oats
which it is now the fashion to give to colts from the earliest period
of their lives, increased to seven and eight feeds a day during the
second year. Continued spirit-drinking has precisely the same
effect upon the human being, and the harsh stridulous cough of
the confirmed drunkard marks the existence of ulceration of the
larynx, in the only way which he will allow it to be displayed, for
he is not, like the horse, made to exert his powers ef running,
whether his wind is good or bad. There is, of course, a consider-
able difference between the two diseases, but there is sufficient
analogy between them tu explain why the stimulus of over-corning
should affect the larynx in preference to any other part. It would
be ditkcult to show the connection between the two in any other
way, beyond the simple fact that roaring has become general in an
exact proportion to the prevalence of the present fashion of feed-
ing. ‘The advocates of the plan will say that though the two have
come in together, yet it is merely a coincidence, and not a conse-
quence the one of the other; but if it can be shown that in man
a similar cause produces a similar effect, the argument is strength-
ened to such a degree as to be almost unanswerable. But what-
ever may ve the cause there can be no doubt that the treatment is
most. troublesoine, and often baffles the skill of the most accom-
plished veterinarian. Blistering is not so useful ds counter-irrita-
tion by a seton, which must be inserted in the loose skin beneath
the jaw, as close as possible to the larynx. ‘This alone will do
much towards the cure, but no pains must be spared to assist its
action by a cooling regimen, consisting of bran mashes, and if in
the spring or summer, green food, or in the winter, carrots. Corn
must be entirely forbidden, and the kidneys should be encouraged
to act freely by two or three drachms of nitre given in the mash
twice a day. When the case is very intractable, the nitrate of
silver may be applied to the part itself by means of a sponge fast-
ened to a piece of flexible cane or whalebone. The mouth should
then be kept open with the ordinary balling iron, and the sponge
rapidly passed to the situation of the top of the larynx, and held
there for a second, and then withdrawn. I have succeeded in ecur-
ing two obstinate cases of chronic laryngitis by this plan, but some
sittle risk is incurred, as in one of them imminent symy.toms of
suffocation presented themselves, but soon went off. I should vot,
therefore, recommend the application excepting in cases where al}
other means have failed, and in which there is reason to believe
that the patient is likely to become a permanent roarer or whistler.
The nitrate of silver has great power in producing resolution of
inflammation in mucous surfaces, and in this disease little or

ROARING. 51

withing can be effected by general measures. The solutiun should
be from ten to fifteen grains in the ounce of distilled water.

ROARING is the bugbear of the purchaser at the hammer, and
not without good reason. The most experienced veterinarian or
dealer will often fail to ascertain its existence, in spite of all the
artifices he may call into play. Not the sligh test sound is heard
during a state of quiescence, or even when the horse is trotted ar
galloped for the short distance which “the ride” will afford. The
blow on the side given with due artistic effect elicits no grunt, and
yet the animal is a confirmed roarer, and not worth a shilling per:
haps for the purpose to which he is intended to be devoted. On
the other hand, many a sound horse is condemned as a roarer for
giving out the obnoxious grunt; and though there is no doubt
that this sign way bs relied on in a great many cases, yct it can-
not be accepted as either negatively or positively a certain proof.
The only real trial is the noiseless gallop on turf or plough, when
the ear can detect the slightest sound, and can distinguish its ex-
act nature, and the precise spot from which it proceeds. Many a
horse will, when he is excited, make a harsh noise in his breathing,
accompanied by a kind of “ gluck,” proceeding from a spasmodic
flapping of the velum palati; but on galloping him all this goes
off, and he may probably exhibit excellent wind Such cases [
have many times known, and they would be condemned as unsound
by those who have had little experience, or are content with a
careless and inefficient trial. Stallions are particularly prone to
make this kind of noise, and it is extremely difficult to ascertain
their soundness in this respect by any means which can be safely
resorted to. The causes of roaring are of three kinds: Ist, In-
flammation, which has left a thickening or ulceration of the mucous
membrane, or a fungous growth from it; 2d, Paralysis of the mus-
cles; and 3d, An alteration of the shape of the cartilages of the
larynx, produced by tight reining.

In roaring produced by an ulcerated or thickened condition of
the mucous membrane, or by a fungous growth, the sound elicited
is always the same in proportion to the rapidity of respiration.
None of the ordinary expedients by which the breath is introduced
in a modified stream (such as a full meal, or pressure on the nos-
trils or windpipe), will be of much avail, and the horse rears
sturdily whenever his pace is sufficiently accelerated. If a horse
so affected can be made to grunt by the blow on the side, the
sound will always indicate the disease, for it will be harsh and
rough, and not the natural grunt of the animal. It is usually
supposed that ne treatment can he of thc slightest avail here; but
[ believe that sometimes the continued application of nitrate of
silver, a3 recommended at page 33+, would be followed by a cer-
tain amouct of ainelioration, the extent of which it is impossible

52 THE TORSE.

to guess at without a trial. In any case, when the animal is ren-
dered almost worthless by disease, it is fair to try experiments
which are neither expensive nor cruel; and from the effect of the
remedy in those cases in which it has been used, I am led to ex-
pect thit it may prove beneficial in those of longer standing.
Setons, blisters, and embrocations are all useless, as has been proved
in numberless cases; and bevond the palliation whick can be
afforded by employing the hore only at such a pace as his state
will allow, nothing else can be suggested. In some cases the
roaier will be able to do ordinary harness work, which, however,
in hot weather, will try him severely; in others he may be so
slightly affected as to be fit to hunt in a country where, from its
nature, the pace is not very severe; but by confirmed roarers the
slow work of the cart is all that can be performed without cruelty.

Where paralysis of the muscles that open the rima glottidis is
the seat of the roaring, no plan has yet been suggested which is
of the slightest avail. In the first place, it is extremely difficult,
and indeed almost impossible, to diagnose the affection, and I know
of no means by which paralysis can be ascertained to exist during
life. Hence, although it is barely possible that by the use of
strychnine the nerve might be stimulated into a restoration of its
functions, yet as the case cannot be ascertained, it is scarcely wise
to give this powerful drug in the hope that it may by chance hit
the right nail on the head. This paralytic condition seems chiefly
to attack carriage horses, and probably arises from the pressure
made by the over-curved larynx upon the laryngeal nerve as it
passes through the opening in the thyroid cartilage. Many vete-
rinary writers have looked to the recurrent branch of the par
vagum to explain the loss of power, but I believe it is rather to
the laryngeal nerve that the mischief is due. It must be remem-
bered that carriage-horses are not only reined up for hours while
doing their daily work out of doors, but they are also often placed
in the same position, or even a more constrained one, by the eoach-
man in the stable, in order to improve their necks. One horse of
his pair perhaps has naturally a Lead better set on than the other,
and he wishes to make nature bend to his wishes by compelling
the other to do that which the shape of his jaw forbids without a
sacrifice. ‘The mouthing tackle is put on in the stable with this
view, and the poor horse is ‘kept on the bit” for three or fou
hours early in the morning, during which time his larynx is pressed |
between his narrow jaws into a most unnatural shape. The con-
sequence is either that the nerve is pressed upon, and the muscles
to which it is supplied are paralyzed, as in the condition which we
are now considering, or the cartilages are permanentiy disfigured,
which is the subject of the next paragraph. When the paralysis

RCARING. es

is established, I believe no means but the internal use of strych
nine are at all likely to be beneficial.

An alteration in the shape of the cartilages, so as to permanently
change their form, is, I believe, the least common of all the causes
of roaring. Pressure for a very long time will be required to
effcet this, and far more than suffices to paralyze the nerve. Cases,
however, are recorded, and the parts have been preserved, sv that
there can be no doubt of their occasional occurrence. No treat-
ment can be of the slightest service.

Although roaring, in all its varieties, may be said to be gencrally
incurable, yet it may be greatly palliated by general attention to
the state of the lungs and stomach, by proper food, and by the
use, while the horse’ is at work, of a special contrivance, of a
most ingenious nature, published by Mr. Reeve, of Camberwell,
in the Veter/‘narian for 1858, but said to have been in use for
many years among the London omnibus and cab men. At all
events, Mr. Reeve deserves the credit of having laid the matter
before the profession, and of explaining the true principle upon
which it acts. He says, in his paper on the subject: “I thought
it possible to so modify the atmospheric supply to the lungs, that,
during exercise, the volume of air, when it arrived at the glottis,
ehould not exceed that which passed through its opening when the
horse was tranquil, and which (from the fact of the sound being
absent) does not at that time produce roaring. A strap was accord-
ingly made to pass around the nose of the horse, just over the
region of the false nostrils, and buckle beneath the lower jaw.
To the inner surface of this strap, and immediately over the false
nostril on each side, was fixed a body resemblmg in shape the half
of a hen’s ege, cut longitudinally. When applied, these bodies
pressed upon the triangular spaces formed by the apex of the nasal
bones and upper jaw, thus closing the false nostrils, and partly
diminishing the channel of the true ones. The result was highly
gratifying ; for the patient, which previously could not travel with-
out stopping every minute to take breath, now travelled, to all
appearance, without inconvenience or noise. At first, the strap
seemed slightly to annoy the horse; and whenever it became dis-
placed, the roaring would again commence. A slight modification,
however, overcame every difficulty: the strap, instead of being
buckled around and under the jaw, was fastened on each side of
the bit; and, to prevent its descent, another was carried from its
ecntre, and fastened to the front of the harness-bridle.” Mr
Keeve asserts that the effect was all he could have wished, avd
that the horse on which he tried the plan, “‘ which previousiy had
been entirely useless, now performs his work in a heavy brougham,
and gives great satisfaction. The roaring is stopped, and, with
the usual speed, there appears no impediment to respiration ‘3

54 THE HORSE.

He concludes: ‘I have paid particular attention to this case, and
am inclined to think, that when by the compression we have neu-
tralized the action of the false nostrils, the object is effected with-
out the necessity of further narrowing the nasal passage.”

Kew people would care to drive a roarer, if they could help it,
even with the aid of the nasal compress; but if necessity compels
such a proceeding, it is well to know how the poor aniinal may 3¢
used with least annoyance to himself and his master.

HIGHBLOWING is a perfectly healthy and natural habit, and
eannot be confounded with roaring by any experienced horsemar.
Jt is solely confined to the nostrils; and the noise is not produced
in the stightest degree during inspiration, but solely during the
expulsion of the air, which is more forcible and rapid than usual.
and accompanied by a vibratory movement of the nostrils, which
is the seat of the noise. Roaring, on the contrary, continues dur-
ing inspiration, as well as expiration; and by this simple test the
two may readily be distinguished. Most highblowers have par-
ticularly good wind, of which the celebrated Kclipse is an exam-
ple; for there is no doubt that he was addicted to the habit.

WHISTLING (AND PIPING, which is very similar to it), are pro-
duced by the same causes as roaring, in an exaggerated condition.
hus, a roarer often becomes a whistler as the rima glottidis is
more and more closed by disease; on the other hand, the whistler
is never converted into a roarer. ‘The noise made is seldom a
decidedly shrill whistle, but it has more resemblance to that sound
than to roaring, and the name may well be retained as descriptive
of it. Whistlers are always in such a state of confirmed disease,
that treatment is out of the question—indeed, they can only be
put to the very slowest kind of work.

WHEEZING is indicative of a contracted condition of the bron-
chial tubes, which is sometimes of a spasmodic nature, and at
others is only brought on during occasional attacks after exposure
to cold. The treatment should be that recommended for chronie
bronchitis, which is the nature of the disease producing these
symptoms.

TRUMPETING is not very well defined by veterinary writers, and
f confess that I have never heard any horse make a noise which
could be compared to the trumpet, or te the note of the elephant
so called.

THE QUESTION RELATING TO THE HEREDITARY NATURE of roar-
ing is one which demands the most careful examination before a
reliable answer can be given to it. It would be necessary to select
at random a number of roaring sires and dams, and compare their
stock with that of an equal- proportion of sound animals, which
would be a Herculean task, beyond the power of any private indi-
vidual. Nothing short of this could possibly settle the divpute:

PNEUMONIA. 55

but, as far as opinion goes, it may be assumed that there are strong
authorities against the hereditary nature of the diseases which pro-
duce roaring. That it is often the result of ordinary inflamma-
tion, which ‘in itself can scarcely be considered hereditary, is plain
enough ; ; and that it is also produced by mismanagement in sok
reining is also admitted, which latter kind can scarcely be supposed
to be handed down from sire to son; but that it is safer, when
fracticable, to avoid parents with any disease whatever, is patent
io all

_ PNEUMONIA AND CONGESTION OF THE LUNGS.

THE THEORETICAL DEFINITION OF PNEUMONIA is that it con-
sists of inflammation of the parenchyma of the lungs, independently
both of the mucous lining to the air passages, and of the serous
covering of the whole mass. The mucous membrane ccases ab-
ruptly at the terminations of the bronchial subdivisions, and
consequently the air-cells are not lined with a continuation from
it. lence there is an extensive cellulo-fibrous area, which may
be the subject of inflammation, without implicating the mucous
surface. Until within the last fifteen or twenty years, it was com-
monly supposed that the air-cells were all lined by mucous mem-
brane, and that the parenchyma was confined to an almost infini-
tesimally thin structure, filling up its interstices; but the microscope
has revealed the true structure of the lungs, and has shown that
there is a well-founded distinction between bronchitis and pneu-
monia, upon the ground of anatomy, as well as observation. Still,
it cannot be denied that the one seldom exists to any great extent,
er for any long period, without involving the adjacent tissue; and
oroncho-pneumonia, as well as pleuro-pneumonia, are as common
as the pure disease.

PNEUMONIA, OR PERIPNEUMONY, must be examined, with a
view, first, to its intensity, whether acute or sub-acute; and
secondly, as to its effects, which may be of little consequence, or
they may be so serious as to completely destroy the subsequent
usefulness of the patient. It is not, therefore, alone necessary to
provide against death by the treatment adopted, but due care must
also be taken that the tissue of the lungs is not disorganized by a
deposition of lymph, or of matter, so as ‘to lead, in the one case, to
a consolidation of the air-cells, and, in the other, to the formation

56 THE HORSE.

of a large abscess, and consequent destruction of substance. The
former is a very common sequel of pneumonia; and probably there
are few attacks of it without being followed by a greater or iesn
degree of hepatization, by which term the deposit of !yryh is
known, from its causing the lungs to assume the texture of liver
(jzap). In very severe cases, gangrene of the lungs is induced ;
but as death almost always speedily follows this condition, it is not
necessary to consider it, excepting as bearing upon the fatal result.

The cause of pneumonia may be over-exertion, as in the hunting.
field, especially in an unprepared horse; or it may come on as a
primary disease after exposure to cold; or it may follow upon
bronchitis when neglected and allowed to run on without check.
In the two first cases it appears to be produced by the great con-
gestion of blood which takes place in the fine network of vessels of
which the lungs are in great part composed The blood in the
one case is collected by the increased necessity for its aeration with
a failing circulation, as in over-exhaustion, or in the other it is
forced inwards upon the vital organs by the chill which the skin
has received. The capillaries are then roused to act beyond their
strength, and an inflammatory condition is established as a repara-
tory effort of nature, which may possibly stop short as soon as the
object is accomplished, but more frequently goes on beyond this,
and an attack of pneumonia sets in with more or less intensity,
according to circumstances. For these reasons, when the lungs
are evidently congested, no pains should be spared to relieve them
by causing the skin to act, before the aid of nature is invoked,
since it can never be certain that she will stop short at the proper
point.

CONGESTION OF TIIE LUNGS is too often neglected and allowed
to go on to inflammation. Veterinary surgeons, indeed, are sel-
dom ealled in before this stage has run its course and inflammation
is established. It is true that every hunting man endeavors to
ascertain all the particulars relating to it, because he is constantly
in fear of having to treat it, and he would gladly benefit by the
advice and experience of those more competent to treat it than
himself. But the great mass of horsemasters are wholly ignorant
of its action, and I shall therefore endeavor to lay down instrue.
lions which may be beneficial to those who are so unlucky as to
have a horse with congested lungs, either caused by over-exertion
or by a chill, or by a combination of the two, as most frequently
happens.

When a fat “ dealer’s horse,” that is, one made up for sale and
not for use, is ridden in a sharp burst across country, his lungs are
most unfortunately tried, for he is not only loaded with blood con-
taining an excess of stimulating materials (or in a state of plethora,
as it is called), but bis heart and blocd-vessels are not prepared by

PNEUMONIA. 5

ptevious exercise to carry on the circulation when unusual demands
upon them are made. The consequence is that, as soon us he has
gone half a dozen miles, he not only tires, but, if pressed, his gal-
lant spirit carries him on until the blood collects and staynates in
his lungs, from a defect in the circulating apparatus, and he be.
comes absolutely choked from a want of that decarbonization whieh
is necessary to his very existence. Air is taken freely into his
lungs, but the circulation almost ceases in them, and in spite of
hig hurried breathing, as shown by his panting sides, he is almost
as completely suffucated as if a cord was tied round his neck. On
examining his eyes and nostrils they are seen to be turgid and
purple, the vessels being filled with carbonized blood, while the
heart beats rapidly but feebly, and the countenance is expressive
of anxiety and distress. In this state many a horseman finds his
steed every winter, and a preity dilemma he is in. The question
of treatment is a serious one, even to the most experienced in such
luatters, but one thing is quite clear, that the more urgent the
case the more danger there is in having recourse to the lancet.
Bleeding to the extent of a few pounds will sometimes relieve a
trifling case of exhaustion, but in a really severe one it will take
away the only chance which remains. The best plan is to give the
animal plenty of air, turn his head to the wind, and if any kind
of fermented liquor can be obtained, give him a little at once.
Neat spirits are apt to cause increased distress from spasm of the
larynx, but it is even better to risk this than to let the exhaustion
continue If, therefore, the horse is incapable of walking to the
nearest farm-house or inn, the better plan is to leave him with a
light covering on him of some kind, and at once proceed to pro-
cure a quart of ale or wine, or spirits and water, whichever can be
obtained the most easily. One or other of these, slightly warmed
and spiced, if possible, should be poured down his throat, which
can readily be done, as he has no power to resist, and then in a
few minutes he may generally be induced to move quietly on to-
wards the nearest stable. Here he must remain all night if the
attack is a bad one, or if he recovers soon he may be walked
quietly home. When he reaches his stable he may be treated
according to the directions given at page 188, and in the evening
or the next morning early, if the pulse rises and is hard and jerk-
ing, he may be bled with advantage, but rarely should this be done
fur some hours after the first attack. Congestion is essentially
produced by debility, and although an abstraction of blood relieves
the vessels of a part of their load, it increases their weakness in
a still greater degree, and they are less able to do their work,
diminished though it may be, than they were before. Hundreds
of over-worked horses haye been killed by the abuse of the lanect

58 THE HORSE.

in the hunting-field, but the principle on which then treatment
should be conducted is better understood now than formerly.
WHEN CONGESTION shows itself as the result of a chili, the
following symptoms are displayed :—First and foremost there 1s
rapid and laborious breathing, the horse standing with his legs
wide apart, his head thrust straight forward, and his flanks heav.
mg. The skin is generally dry, “but if there is any sweat it is a
coll one. The legs are icy cold, and alsothe ears. The whites of
the eyes and lining of the nostrils are of a purplish hue, but uot
very deep in colour ‘The pulse is slightly accelerated (from forty
to fifty), but not hard and incompressible; and lastly, the attack
is of recent duration. These signs, however, are not to be fully
relied on as marking congestion rather than inflammation, without
having recourse to an examination of the lungs by means of the
ear. Placing it against the side of the chest, in inflammation
there would be certain marked sounds, presently to be described,
whilst in the state we are now considering they are wholly absent,
and all that is heard is the usual respiratory murmur slightly
increased in intensity. It is of the utmost importance to make
out exactly the nature of the case, for the treatment should be
very different in congestion and inflammation. If in the former
condition the blood can only be drawn into the skin, relief is at
once afforded and all danger is at an end; but in the latter,
though some slight advantage would be gained, the progress of
the disease would not be materially checked. To produce this
determination of blood to the skin without loss of time, is some-
times very difficult; but by the application of hot water and
blankets it may ¢ generally be accomplished. Two men, supplied
with a tub of very hot water and plenty of clothing, should be
rapid in their movements, and proceed as follows:—Have an
assistant ready to strip the patient when ordered, then, dipping
a blanket in the water, it is taken out and partially wrung, leaving
as much water in its meshes as it can hold without dropping 4s
soon as it is cool enough for the human hand to bear its pressure
it should be gently, but quickly, laid upon the horse’s back, and
the rug, which has just come off, while still warm, placed over
it, with two or three more over all, the number depending upon
the temperature of the air. Another smaller rug may in the same
way be wetted and applied to the neck, covering it with two or
three hovds, but taking care to avoid pressure upon the windpipe.
The legs also should be wrapped in flannel bandages, made as hot
as possible before the fire, but dry. In the course of ha.f an hour.
if the skin of the parts uncovered does not become warm, and
show evidences of sweating coming on, another rug must he
dippel in the same way, and substituted quickly for the frst

PNEUMONIA. 59

Usually, however, the desired effect is produced within twenty
minutes, and then great care and some little tact are required to
manage the operation. If the sweating is allowed to go on
beyond a certain point exhaustion is produced, attended by almost
as much danger as inflammation; while on the cther hand, in
attempting to moderate the action of the skin, risk is incurred of a
chill, and thus upsetting all the benefit which might otherwise
have beer derived. But by throwing open the “doors to the
external air, which may freely be admitted as soon as the skin
acts, aud by reducing the number of additional rugs, the amount
of sweat given off may be kept within due bounds, and in the
course of two or three hours the previously wetted rug or blanket
may be removed, and a dry, warm one substituted for it, but the
assistants must be quick and handy in effecting the change.
Many a case of inflammation of the lungs, kidneys, or bowels might
be stopped in limine by the adeption of this plan; but the misfor-
tune is that it requires all the skili and tact of the veterinary surgeon,
first of all to diagnose the case, and afterwards to manage its treat-
ment. Still, if a master will undertake the superintendence ot
the operation himself, and is accustomed to disease, there is little
risk of failure.

THE SYMPTOMS OF ACUTE PNEUMONIA are a quick and dis-
tressed respiration, averaging about sixty inspirations in the
minute. Pulse quick (from seventy to eighty-five); hard, often
small, but always compressible. Nostrils distended, and the
lining membrane red (except in the last stage, when suffocation is
imminent). Cough short, and evidently giving pain, which occa-
sions it to be checked as much as possible. Legs and ears gene-
rally cold, often icy. Feet wide apart; evidently with an instinc-
tive desire to dilate the chest as much as possible. On _ putting
the ear to the chest, if the attack is very recent, there will he
merely a greatly increased respiratory murmur; but when fully
developed there may be heard a crepitant rattling, which is cum-
nared to the crackling of a dried bladder; but I confess tnac I
could never make out the similarity between the two sounds. Jn
the later stages, this is succeeded by an absence of all sound,
owing to the consolidation of the lungs, or by mucous rattles
dependin upou the secretion of mucus. On tapping the exterior
of the cl«st with the ends of the finwers (percussion), the sound
_giv2n out is dull in proportion to the extent of mischief, tne effect
of pneumonia being to convert the spongy texture of the lungs
into a solid substance like liver. The treatment will greatly
depend upon the stage of the disease, the age and constitution of
the horse, and the nature of the prevailing epidemic, if there is
one. In modern days bleeding is very badly borne, either by

60 “THE HORSE.

man or horse, nevertheless few cases of genuine pneumonia will be
saved without it. Sufficient blood must be taken to make a decid.
ad impression on the circulation, without which the inflammation will
not be mastered. The quantity necessary for this cannot be fixed,
Uacause the effect will vary so materially, that the abstraction of
three or four quarts of blood in one case will do more than double
or treble that quantity in another. A large orifice must be made
iu the vein, and it must not be closed until the lining membrane
of the nose or the white of the eye is seen to have become con-
siderably paler. It may possibly even then be necessary to repeat
the operation six hours afterwards, or next day, according to the
symptoms. The rule should be followed of taking enough but
not a drop toe much, for blood removed from the circulation takes
a long time to replace. With regard to medicine, tartar emetic is
the only drug which seems to have much influence over pneu-
monia, and it must be given every six hours in drachm doses,
with from half a drachm to a drachm of powdered digitalis, or
white hellebore, to keep down the pulse, and two or three
drachms of nitre, to increase the action of the kidneys. Unless
the bowels are confined no aperient should be given, and if neces:
sary only the mildest dose should be used. The diet should con-
sist of bran mashes, gruel, and a little hay, or green food if the
season of the year allows. A cool airy stable and warm clothing
are indispensable in this disease. When the first violence of the
attack has subsided, a large blister on the side of the chest will
afford great relief, and when it ceases to act, if the disease is not
entirely cured a second may be put on the other side.

SuB-ACUTE PNEUMONIA differs in no respect from the acute form,
excepting in degree, and the symptoms and treatment will vary
only in pruportion.

THE TERMINATIONS of pneumonia may be death, or resolution
(by which is to be understood a disappearance of the symptoms
without leaving any mischief behind), or kenatization, or abscess.
The last-named sequel may be very serious in extent, but if an
opening is made by nature for the discharge of its contents into
the bronchial tubes the horse may recover, ‘and his wind may be
sufficiently g good for any purposes but the racecourse or the bunt
ivg field. ‘Hepatization is always attended with thick wind, but
in other respects the health may be good, and the horse may be
suited to ordinary work. In process of time some of the Ivmph 1s
absorbed, and a considerable improvement takes place. but it never
entirely disappears, and a horse which has ouce suffered from
pneumonia attended by hepatization remains permanentiy nnseuud

PLEURISY—PLEURODYNIA. 61

PLEURISY.

THIS LISEASE is characterized by a very peculiar respiration,
th2 expirations being much longer than the inspirations, owing te
the pain which is given by the action of the muscles necessary for
the latter, while the former, if the chest is allowed quietly to fall,
is almost painless. Nevertheless, the breathing is quicker on the
whole than natural, being from forty to fifty per minute. The
pulse is quick, small, and incompressible. Nostrils and eyes of a
natural color, and the former are not dilated. The countenance is
anxious, and the legs are rather drawn together than extended, as
in bronchitis and pneumonia, and they are not colder than usual.
There is a short hurried cough, with great restlessness, and the
sides are always painful on pressure; but this symptom by itself is
not to be relied on, as it is present in pleurodynia, which will be
presently described.

The treatment should consist of copious bleeding, followed by a
mild purgative, and the same ball as recommended for pneumonia,
with the addition of half a drachm of calomel. Blisters are not
desirable to be applied to the sides of the thorax, as there is so
little space between the two surfaces of the pleura and the skin
that they are apt to do harm by immediately irritating the former,
rather than to act beneficially by counter-irritation of the skin. A
large rowel, may, however, be placed in the breast with advantage.

H[ypDROTHORAX, or water in the cavity of the chest, is one of
the sequels of chronic pleurisy, the serum thrown out being the
means by which a serous membrane relieves itself. It can be
detected by the entire absence of respiratory murmur, and by the
dullness on percussion. No treatment is of any avail but tapping,
which may be readily and safely: performed (if the diagnosis is
correct) by passing a trocar between the eighth and ninth ribs,
near their cartilages. If, however, an error has been committed,
the lung is wounded, and death will probably ensue.

PLEURODYNIA.

BeErwEEN THIS DISEASE AND THE LAST there is some simi-
larity in the symptoms; but in their nature, and in the treatment
required, they are widely separated. It is, therefore, necessary
that they should not be confounded, for in the one case blood-
letting and ‘other active measures may be unnecessarily adopted.
and in the other a fatal 1asult wiJ] most probably occur for want

62 THE HORSE.

vt them. In pleuritis there is a quick pulse, with gencra! consti-
tutional disturbance, which will serve to distinguish it from pleuro-
dynia, besides which, it is rarely that we mect with the former
without some other affection of the lungs co-existing. When,
therefore, a horse is evidently suffering from acute pain in the
walls of the thorax, unaccompanied by cough, hurried breathing,
quick pulse, or fever, it may safely be diagnosed that the nature
of the attack is a rheumatism of the intercostal muscles (pleura-
dynia), and not pleurisy. In ¢reating it, bleeding and tartar emetiu
must be carefully avoided, and hot mustard and vinegar rubbed
into the sides will be the most likely remedy to afford relief.

PHTHISIS.

WIEN A HORSE HAS LONG BEEN SUBJECT TO A CIIRONIC colIGH,
and, without losing appetite, wastes away rapidly, it may be assumed
that he is a victim to phthisis, and especially if he is narrow-
chested and has long shown signs of short wind. On examining
the chest by the ear, it will be found to give out sounds of various
kinds, depending upon the exact state of the lungs; but in most
cases there will be great dulness on percussion, owing to the
deposit of tubercles, in which the disease consists. In a confirmcd
ease no treatment will avail, and the poor animal had better be
destroyed. When the attack is slight, the progress of the disease
may be stayed by counteracting inflammation in the ordinary way,
avoiding ioss of blood when possible. Haemorrhage, from the
breaking down of the substance of the lung, by which a large
blood-vessel is Gpened, is a common result of phthisis, and will be
alluded to under the head of diseases of the vessels of the lungs,
at the end of this chapter.

BROKEN WIND.

A BROKEN-WINDED HORSE can be detected at once by any
horseman possessed of experience, from the peculiar and forcible
double expiration. Inspiration is perforined as usual, then comes
a rapid but not violent act of expiration, followed by a forciblu
repetition of the same, in which all the muscles of respiraticn,
auxiliary and ordinary, are called into play. This is, of course,
most marked when the horse has been gallopped, but even when
he is at rest the double expiration is manifest at almost any ordi-
nary distance from the-observer. The disease almost (if not quite!
invariably consists in emphysema, or entrance of the air inte
unnatural cells, which is retained there, as the urine is in the
bladder, from the valvular nature of the openings, and cannot be
entirely expelled, nor in tke slightest degree, without calling into
play all the muscles of the chest. The presence of unchanged air
is a constant source of irritation to the lungs, and although suffi-

BROKEN WIND—THICK WIND. 63

cient may be expired easily enough to carry on their functions
while the body is at rest, yet instinctively there is a desire to vet
rid of the surplus, and hence the two acts of respiration. Imme-
diately after this second act the muscles relax, and the flank falis
in, and this it 1s which catches the eye in so remarkable a manner.
On examination after death, the lungs are found to remain en-
larged, and do not collapse as in the healthy condition. They are
distended with air; and this is especially the case when the em-
physema is of the kind called interlobular, in which the air has
escaped into the cellular membrane. In the most common kind,
however, the cells are broken down, several being united together,
while the enlargement pressing upon the tube which has opened
into them diminishes its capacity, and prevents the ready escape
of air. - This is the vesicular emphysema of pathologists. The
former is generally suddenly produced by a severe gallop after a
full meal, while the latter is a slow growth and often occurs at
grass, aS a consequence of neglected chronic cough, the constant
muscular efforts appearing gradually to dilate the cells.

The treatment can only be palliative, as there is no recognised
cure for the disease, though M. Hew, of Chaumont, has lately pub-
lished a report of ten cases in which treatment by arsenie given
with green food or straw, and in some cases bleeding, was perfectly
successful. The arsenic was given to the extent of fifteen grains
daily, and at the end of a fortnight the symptoms of broken wind
were completely removed; but as the horses were not subsequently
watched, it is impossible to say whether the cure was permanent.
It is known, however, that one of them relapsed after three months,
but speedi'y yielded to a repetition of the treatment. It may cer-
tainly be worth while to try the experiment of the effect of arsenic
where a broken-winded horse is valuable in other respects. The
medicine is not expensive, and the length of time necessary for the
treatment is not very great. Broken-winded horses should be care-
fully dieted, and even then confined to slow werk. The food should
be in small compass, consisting chiefly of wheat-straw chaff, with a
proper quantity of oats, and beavs may be added if the animal is
not very young. The water should never be given within an hour
of going out of the stable, but it is better to leave a constant sup-
ply, when too much will never be taken. Carrots are peculiarly
suited to this disease, and a diet of bran mixed with carrots, sliced,
has sometimes been known to relicve a broken-winded horse most
materially.

THICK WIND.

THICK WIND is the horseman’s term for any defective respira-
tion, unaccompanied by a noise, or by the signs of emphysema just
alluded to. It usually follows pneumonia, but it may arise from

64 THE HORSE.

chronic bronchitis, occasioning a thickening of the mucous mem
hrane lining the bronchial tubes, and thus lessening their diameter,
or it may accompany phthisis when the deposit of tubercles is ex-
tensive. No treatment will be of any service except such as wil
aid the play of the lungs mechanically, by avoiding overloading
the stomach, as mentioned in the last section.

SPASM OF TIE DIAPHRAGM.

SoME WORSES, when at. all distressed by the severity of their
gallops, communicate to the rider a most unpleasant sensatior, as
if some internal part was giving a sudden blow or flap. This 1s
not only a sensation, but a reality, for the diaphragm being na-
turally weak, or overstrained at some previous period, acts spas-
modically in drawing in the air. If the horse thus affected is rid.
den onwards afterwards, he will be placed in danger of suffocation
and death, either from rupture of the diaphragm, or from its cessa-
tion to act, or from its permanently contracting and refusing to
give way during expiration. There is no cure for the weakness
which tends to produce the spasm, and all that can be done is to
avoid using the horse affected with it at any very fast pace, and
over a distance of ground. Urgent symptoms may be relieved by
a cordial-drench, such as the following :—-

Take of Laudanum . . . . . . © « 6 drachms.
Ether . > aa eas 15 ounce.
Aromatie Spirit of Ammonia . . 3 drachms.
Tincture of Ginger . . - «» 9 drachms.
Aue thy ah ee we ee ge Ds

Or if there is any difficulty in giving a drench, a ball may be
made up and given—

Take of Carbonate of Ammonia . . . . 1 drachm.
Camphor 7 ¢ieiiss a.) Soe Sees edraebime:
Powdered Ginger . . «th diese a rach is

Linseed meal and boiling water sufficier: to make into a ball.

Hither of the above may be repeated at the end of three hours,
if relief is not afforded. Increased strength may he giveu to the
diaphragm by regular slow work, and the daily mixture ct a drach
of powdered sulphate of iron with the feed of corn

DISEASES OF THE HEART.

THE HORSE is subject to inflammation of the substance of the
heart (carditis) of a rheumatic nature, and of the fibro-serous ¢o7er-
ing (pericarditis), but the symptoms are so obscure that no one but
the professional veterinarian will be likely to make them out.
Dropsy of the heart is a common disease in worn-out horses, and
hypertrophy, as well as fatty degeneration, are often met with
axong well-cunditiored animals.

DISEASES OF BLOOD-VESSELS. 65

DISEASES OF THE BLOOD-VESSELS OF THE CUEST
| AND NOSE.

THE HORSE IS VERY SUBJECT TO HAMORRIIAGE from the nose,
coming on during violent exertion, and many a race has been lost
from this cause. Fat over-fed horses are the most likely to suffer
from hemorrhage; but most people are aware of the risk in-
curred in over-riding or driving them, and for this reason they
are not so often subject to this accident (for such it is rather than
a disease) as they otherwise would be. It is unnecessary to de-
scribe its symptoms, as the gush of. blood renders it but too appa-
rent, and the only point necessary to inquire into is, whether the
lungs or the nasal cavities are the seat of the rupture of the vessel.
In the former case the blood comes from both nostrils, and is
frothy; while in the latter it generally proceeds from one only,
and is perfectly fluid. The treatment should consist in. cooling the
borse down by a dose of physic and a somewhat lower diet; but if
the bleeding is very persistent, and returns again and again, a
saturated solution of alum in water may be syringed up the nostril
daily, or, if this fails, an infusion of matico may be tried, which is
far more likely to succeed. It is made by pouring half a pint of
boiling water on a drachm of matico-leaves, and letting it stand till
cool, when it should be strained, and is fit for use.

H®MORRHAGE FROM THE LUNGS is a far more serious affair,
and its control requires active remedies if they are to be of any
service. It may arise from the existence of an abscess in the
lung of a phthisical nature, which implicates some considerable
vessel; or it may be caused by the bursting of an aneurism, which
is a dilatation of'a large artery, and generally occurs near the heart.
‘The treatment can seldom do more than prolong the life of the
patient for a short time, and it is scarcely worth while to enter
upon it. Bleeding from the jugular vein will arrest the internal
hemorrhage, and must often be resorted to in the first instance,
and there are internal medicines which will assist it, such as digi-
talis and matico; but, as before remarked, this only postpones the
fata. termina ion.

66 THE HORSE.

CHAPTER IV.
DISEASES OF THE ABDOMINAL VISCERA AND 1HEIR APPENDAGES

(senerai remarks—Diseases of the Mouth and Throat—Gastritis— —
Stomach Staggers— Dyspepsia — Bots—Inflammation of the
Bowels—Colic—Diarrhea and Dysentery—Strangulation ana
Rupture—Calcul in the Bowels—Worms—Disease of tke
Liver—of the Kidneys—of the Bladder—of the Organs of
Generation.

GENERAL REMARKS.

THOUGH NOT OFTEN PRODUCING what in horse-dealing.is con-
sidered unsoundness, yet diseases of the abdominal viscera con-
stantly lead to death, and frequently to such a debilitated state of
the body, that the sufferer is rendered useless. J*ortunately for
the purchaser, they almost always give external evidence of their
presence, for there is not only emaciation, but also a staring coat
and a flabby state of the muscles, which is quite the reverse of the
wiry feel communicated to the hand in those instances where the
horse is ‘‘ poor” from over-work in proportion to his food. In the
latter case, time and good living only are required to restore the
natural plumpness; but in the former, the wasting will either go
on until death puts an end to the poor diseased animal, or he
will remain in a debilitated and wasted condition, utterly unfit for
hard work.

DISEASES OF THE MOUTH AND TIIROAT.

SEVERAL PARTS ABOUT THE MOUTH are liable to inflammation,
which would be of little consequence in itself, but that it inter-
feres with the feeding, and this for the time starves the hurse,
and renders him unfit for his work, causing him to “quid” or
return his food into the manger without swallowing it. Such are
lampas, vives or enlarged glands, barbs or paps, gigs, bladders,
and filaps,—all which are names given to the enlargements of the
salivary ducts,—and carious teeth, or inflammation of their fangs.
Besides these, the horse is also subject to sore throat, and stran-
zies, which are accompanied by constitutional disturbance, and
not only occasion “ quidding,” if there is any slight appetite, Lut
they are also generally accompanied by a loss of that function.

Sore THROAT.—When the throat inflames, as is evidenced by
fulness and hardness of this part, and there is difficulty of swal-
lowing, the skin covering it should immediately be severely sweated,
or the larynx will be involved and irreparable injury done. The
tincture of cantharides diluted with an equal part of spirit of tur-

STKANGLES—LAMPAS. 6%

pentine and a Hettle oil, may be rubbed in with a piece of spunge.
until it produces irritation of the skin, which in a few hours will
pe followed by a discharge from the part. Six or eight drachms
of nitre may also be dissolved in the water which the horse drinks,
with some difficulty, but still, as he is thirsty, he will take it.
Sometimes eating gives less pain than drinking, and then the
uitre may be given with a bran mash instead of the water.

STRANGLES.—Between the third and fifth year of the colt’s life
he is generally seized with an acute swelling of the soft parts
between the branches of the lower jaw, accompanied by more or
Jess sore throat, cough and feverishness. These go on increasing
for some days, and then an abscess shows itself, and finally bursts.
The salivary glands are often involved, but the matter forms in
the cellular membrane external to them. The treatment should
be addressed to the control of constitutional symptoms by the
mildest measures, such as bran mashes with nitre in them, abstrac-
tion of corn, hay tea, &c. At the same time the swelling should
be poulticed for one night, or thoroughly fomented two or three
ties, and then blistered with the tincture of cantharides. As
soon as the matter can plainly be felt, it may be let out with a
lancet; but it is very doubtful whether it is not the best plan to
permit the abscess to_break. The bowels should be gently moved,
by giving a pint, or somewhat less, according to age, of castor oil ;
and afterwards two or three drachins of nitre, with half a drachm
of tartar emetic, may be mixed with the mash twice a day, on
which food alone the colt should be fed, in addition to gruel, and
a little grass or clover if these are to be had, or if not, a few steamed
earrots. The disease has a tendency to get well naturally, but if
it is not kept within moderate bounds it is very apt to lay the
foundation of roaring or whistling. Any chronic swelling which
is left behind, may be removed by rubbing in a weak ointment of
biniodide of mercury (one scruple or half drachm to the ounce;
see page 300).

LAMPAS is an active inflammation of the ridges, or “bars,” in
tle hoof of the mouth, generally occurring in the young horse
while Le is shedding his teeth, or putting up the tushes. Some-
times, however, it comes on, independently of this cause from
ovcr-feeding with corn after a run at grass. The mucous mem-
brane of the roof of the mouth swells sc much that it projecta
bel.w tke level of the nippers, and is so tender that all hard and
dry food is refused. The treatment is extremely simple, consist:
ing in the scarification of the part with a sharp knife or lancet,
after which the swelling generally subsides, and is: gone in a day
or two; but should it obstinately continue, as wi!l sometimes
happen, a stick of lunar caustic must be gently rubbed over the
part every day until a cure is completed. This is far better thay

68 THE HORSE.

the red-hot iron, which was formerly so constantly used, with
good effect it is true, and not accompanied by any cruelty, as the
mucous membrane is nearly insensible, but the caustic is more
rapid and effectual in stimulating the vessels to a healthy action.
and on that score should be preferred. If the lampas is ow.ng ta
the cutting of a grinder, relief will be afforded by a crucial inci
sion across the protruding g gum.

Barss, PAPS, Xe. —The swelling at the mouth of the ducts

nay generally be relieved by a dose ‘of physic and green food, but
should it continue, a piece of lunar caustic may obo held for a
wnoment against the opening of the duct every second day, ard
after two or three applications the thickening will certainly
disappear.

WHERE VIVES, or chronically enlarged submaxillary glands, are
met with, the application of the ointment of biniodide of mercury,
according to the directions given at page 300, will almost certainly
cause their reduction to a natural state.

GASTRITIS.

GASTRITIS (acute inflammation of the stemach) is extremely
rare in the horse as an idiopathic disease ; but it sometimes occurs
from eating vegetable poisons as food, or from the wilful introduc-
tion of arsenic into this organ, or, lastly, from licking off corrosive
external applications, which have been used for mange. The symp-
toms from poisoning will a good deal depend upon the article
which has been taken, but in almost all cases in which vegetable
poisons have been swallowed, there is a strange sort of drowsiness.
so that the horse does not lie down and go to sleep, but props him-
self against a wall or tree with his head hanging almost to the
ground. As the drowsiness increases he often falls down in his
attempt to rest himself more completely, and when on the ground
his breathing is loud and hard, and his sleep is so unnaturally
sound that he can scarcely be roused from it. At length con-
vulsions occur and death soon takes place. This is the ordinary
course of poisoning with yew, which is sometimes picked up with
the grass after the clippings have dried, for in its fresh state the
taste is too bitter for the palate, and the horse rejects the mouthful
of grass in which it is involved. May-weed and water parsley will
also produce nearly similar symptoms. The treatment in each
zase should be by rousing the horse mechanically, and at the same
time giving him six or eight drachms of aromatic spirit of ammonia,
in a pint or two of good ale, with a little ginger in it. This may
be repeated every two hours, and the horse should be perpetually
walked about until the narcotic symptoms are completely gone off,
when a sound sleep will resture him to his natural state.

ARSENIC, when given in large doses, with an intention to destroy

STOMACH STAGGERS. 69

life, produces intense pain and thirst ;—the former, evidenced by an
eager gauze at the flanks, pawing of the ground, or rolling; and
sometimes. by each of these in succession. The saliva is secreted
in increased quantities, and flows from the mouth, as the throat is
venerally too sore to allow of its being swallowed. The breath
soon becomes hot and fetid, and purging then comes on of a bloody
mucus, which soon carries off the patient by exhaustion, if death
does not take place from the immediate effects of the poison on the
stomach and brain. Treatment is seldom of any avail, the most
likely remedies being large bleedings, blisters to the sides of the
chest, and plenty of thin. gruel to “sheathe the inflamed surface
of the mucous membrane, which is deprived of its epithclial
scales.

CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE is sometimes employed as a wash in
mange, or to destroy lice, when it may be licked off, and will occa-
sion nearly the same symptoms as arsenic. The treatment consists
in a similar use of thin starch or gruel; or, if the poison has
recently been given wilfully, of large quantities of white of egg.

STOMACH STAGGERS.

THE EXACT NATURE of this disease has never been clearly
made out, and it is now so rare, that there is little chance of its
being satisfactorily explained. The symptoms would chiefly lead
one to suppose the brain to be implicated ; but there is so close a
sympathy between that organ and the stomach, that we can easily
account in that way for the cerebral manifestations. A theory has
been propounded, that it is seated in the par vagum, or pneumo-
gastric nerve; and as all the parts with which that nerve is con-
nected are affected, there is some ground for the hypothesis ; but
It is not supported by the deqonstranion of anatomy, simply, per-
haps, because of the difficulty in the way of prosecuting the
pathology of the nerves. The first onset of the disease is marked
by great heaviness of the eyes, soon going on to drowsiness; the
head dropping into the manger, even while feeding is in progress.
It generally makes its appearance after a long fast ; and it is sup-
posed by some writers to be owing to the demands made by the
stomach on the brain, when in an exhausted condition for want of
its usual supplies. This theory is supported by the fact that, in
the present day, when every horsemaster knows the danger of
working his horses without fecding them at intervals of five, or at
most six hours, the stomach staggers are almost unknown. Even
when the disease shows itself at grass, it is almost always mani-

val) THE HORSE.

fested directly after the horse is first turned out, when he gorges
himself with the much-coveted food, which has long been withheld,
aud his brain is affected in a manner Similar to that which follows a
long fast from every kind of fuod. In a short time, if the affection
of the brain is not relieved, that organ becomes still more severely
implicated, and convulsions or paralysis put an end to the attack.
D-ring the course of the disease, the breathing is affected, and
‘here is generally an almost total cessation of the secretions of bile
aud ur.ne, which may either be the cause or the effect of the con-
dition of the brain. With this state of uncertainty as to the
essence of the disease, it is somewhat empirical to lay down any
rules for its treatment; and, as I before remarked, it is now so
rare, that they are scarcely necessary. If care be taken to feed
the horse properly, he will never suffer from stomach staggers in
the stable; and at grass, the attack is seldom observed dntil he
is beyond the reach of any remedies. Still, it may be as well to
observe, that the usual plan of proceeding has been to take away
blood, so as to relieve the brain, and to stimulate the stomach
to get rid of its load, by the use of warm aperients, such as the
following :—
Take of Barbadoes Aloes . . . . . + 4 to 6 drachms.
Tincture of Ginger . . . 3 drachms.

Dissolve the aloes in a pint of hot water, then ‘add the tincture, and when
nearly cool give as a drench.

DYSPEPSIA.

EVERY DOMES1*0 ANIMAL suffers in health if he is constant!y
fed on the same articles, and man himself, perhaps, more than
they do. Partridges are relished by him early in September, but
toujours perdrtix would disgust the most inveterate lover of that
article of food. Dogs are too often made to suffer from being fed
on the same meal, flavored with similar flesh or broth. from one
month to another. It is well known that cattle and sheep must
change their pasture, 0. they soon lose condition ; and yet horses
are expected to go on eating oats and hay for years together with-
out injury to health; and at the same time they are often exposed
to the close air of a confined stable, and to an irregular amount of
exercise. We cannot, therefore, wonder that the master is often
told that some one or other of his horses is “a little off his feed ;”
nor should we b2 surprised that the constant repetition of the
panacea for this, ‘‘ a duse of physic,” should at length permanently
establish the condition which at first it would always alleviate.
It is a source of wonder that the appetite continues so good as it

DYSPEPSIA—BOTS. V1

dues, in the majority of horses, which are kept in the stable on
the same kind of food, always from July to May, and often
through the other months also. The use of a few small bundles
of vetches, lucerne, or clover in the spring, is supposed to be
quite sufficient to restore tone to the stomach, and undoubtedly
they are better than no change at all; but at other seasons of the
ear something may be done towards the prevention of dyspepsia,
y varying the quality of the hay, and by the use of a few carrota
once or twicé a week. In many stables, one rick of hay is made
to serve throughout the whole or a great part of the year, which
is a very bad plan, as a change in this important article of food is
as much required as a change of pasture when the animal is at
grass. When attention is paid to this circumstance, the appetite
will seldom fail in horses of a good constitution, if they are regu-
larly worked; but without it, resort must occasionally be had to a
dose of physic. It is from a neglect of this precaution that so many
horses take to eat their litter, in preference to their hay; for if the
game animal was placed in a straw-yard, without hay, for a month,
and then allowed access to both, there would be little doubt that he
would prefer the latter. Some horses are naturally so voracious,
that they are always obliged to be supplied with less than they
desire, and they seldom suffer from loss of appetite; but delicate
feeders require the greatest care in their management. When the
stomach suffers in this way, it is always desirable to try what a
couplete change of food will do before resorting to medicine ; and,
if it can be obtained, green food of some kind should be chosen,
or if not, carrots, or even steamed potatoes. In place of hay,
sound wheat or barley straw may be cut into chaff, and mixed
with the carrots and corn; and to this a little malt-dust may be
added, once or twice a week, so as to alter the flavor. By con-
tinually changing the food in this way, the most dyspeptic
stomach may often be restored to its proper tone, without doing
harm with one hand while the other is doing good, as is too often
the case with medicine. The use of the fashionable “ horse-
fecds” of the present day will serve the same purpose; and if
the slight changes I have mentioned do not answer, Thorley’s or
Henri’s food may be tried with great probability of success.

BOTS.

THE LARV# of the estrus equi, a species of gadfly, are often
found in large numbers, attached by a pair of hooks with which
they are provided, to the cardiac extremity of the stomach; they
are very rarely met with in the true digestive portion of this
organ, but sometimes in the duodenum or jejunum in small numbers.
A group of these larvae, which are popularly called bots, are repre-
sented on the next page, but sometimes nearly ali the cardiac ex.

V2 THE HORSE.

tremity of the stomach is occupied with them, the interstices being
vecupied by little projections which are caused by those that have
let go their hold, and have been expelled with the food. Several
of these papillee are shown on the engraving, which delineates alsa

the appearance of the bots themselves, so that no one can fail to
recognise them when he sees them. ‘This is important, for it often

“ “% WY eo
- ‘ai
Fre. 18.—Grour OF BOTS ATTACHED TO TBE STOMACH.

happens that a meddlesome groom when he sees them expelled
from or hanging to the verge of the anus, as they often do fora
short time, thinks it necessary to use strong medicine; whereas in
the first place he does no good, for, none is known wkich will kill
the larva without danger to the horse, and in the second, if he will
only have a little patience, every bot will come away in the natural
course of things, and until the horse is turned out to grass, during
the season when the cestrus deposits its eggs, he will never have
another in his stomach.

THE @STRUS EQUI comes out from the pupa state in the middle
and latter part of summer, varying according to the season, and
the female soon finds the proper nidus for her eggs in the hair of
the nearest herse turned out to grass. She manages to glue them
to the sides of the hair so firmly that no ordinary friction will get
rid of them, and her instinct teaches her to select those parts
within reach of the horse’s tongue, such as the hair of the fore
legs and sides. Here they remain until the heat of the sun hatches
them, when, being no larger in diameter than a small pin, each
iarva is licked off and carried down the gullet to the stomach, to
the thick epithelium of which it soon attaches itself by its hooks.
Ilere it remains until the next spring. having attained the size

INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. 73

which is represented in the engraving during the course of the
first two months of its life, and then it fulfils its allottc 1 career,
by letting go and being carried out with the dung. On reaching
the outer air it soon assumes the chrysalis condition, and in three
or four weeks bursts its covering to become the perfect insect.
FRoM THIS HIsTORY it will be evident that no preventive
measures will keep off the attacks of the fly when the horse is af
grass, and, indeed, in those districts where they abound, they will
deposit their ova in the hair of the stabled horse if he is allowed
to stand still for a few minutes. The eggs are, however, easily
recognised in any horse but a chestnut, to which color they closely
assimilate, and as they are never deposited in large numbers on
the stabled horse they may readily be removed by the groom.
Unlike other parasites, they seem to do little or no harm, on
account of the insensible nature of the part of the stomach to
which they are attached, and, moreover, their presence is seldom
discovered until the season of their migration, when interference
is uncalled for. On all accounts, therefore, it 1s unnecessary to
enter into the question, whether it is possible to expel them; and
even if by chance one comes away prematurely it will be wise to
avoid interfering by attempting to cause the expulsion of those left

behind.
INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS.
(Peritonitis and Enteritis.)

A &EFERENCE to the cut of the abdomen and its contents, oppo-
site page 350, will explain that there are two divisions of the
abdominal serous sae, one of which lines the walls of the cavity,
and the other covers the viscera which lie in it. In human medi-
cine, when the former is inflamed, the disease is termed peritonitis,
and when the latter is the subject of inflammatory action it 1s
ealled enteritis. But though in theory this distinction is made, in
practice it is found that the one seldom exists without the other
being developed to a greater or less extent. Veterinary writers
have generally taken the nomenclature adopted in human ana-
tomy and pathology, but in regard to the inflammations of the
bowels they define peritonitis as inflammation of the peritoneal or
serous coat, and enteritis as inflammation of the muscular coat.
My own belief is, that during life it is impossible by anv known
symptoms to distinguish the exact Joca/e of any inflammation of
the bowels but that of their mucous lining, which will presently
he described, and that wherever the actual serous covering of the
bowels is involved the muscular fibres beneath it will be implicated,
but that the serious and fatal symptoms manifested in such cases
are not dependent upon the latter, but are due entirely to the
lesions of the serous coat. I have examined numberless fatal

v4 THE HORSE

cast of supposed enteritis, and have uniformly found signs of
inflammation of the serous investment, sometimes implicating the
muscular fibres beneath, and often extending to the peritoneal
lining of the walls of the abdomen, but I have never yet seen
marks of inflammation in the muscular tissue without their serous
covering being affected toa much greater extent. I believe there-
fure that the distinction is erroneously founded, and that, theoreti-
eally, the same definition should be made of the two diseases as is in
use by human pathologists, though practically this is of little im
portance. There is no well made out inflammation of muscular
tissue (except that of the heart) in which the symptoms are so
urgent and so rapidly followed by a fatal issue as in the latter stages
of the disease described by Mr. Percivall under the head enteritis,
as follows:—‘‘'The next stage borders on delirium. The eye
acquires a wild, haggard, and unnatural stare—the pupil dilates—
his heedless and dreadful throes render approach to him quite
perilous, he is an object not only of compassion but of apprehen-
sion, and seems fast hurrying to his end—when all at once, in the
midst of agonizing torments he stands quiet, as though every pain
had left him and he were going to recover. His breathing becomes
tranquillized—his pulse sunk beyond all perception—his body
bedewed with a cold clammy sweat—he is in a tremor frum head
to foot and about the legs and ears has even a dead-like feel. The
mouth feels deadly chill—the lips drop pendulous, and the eye
seems tnconscious of objects. In fine, death, not recovery, is at
kand. Mortification has seized the inflamed bowel—pain can no
longer be felt in that which a few minutes ago was the seat of
most exquisite suffering. He again becomes convulsed, and in a
few more struggles less violent than the former he expires.”
Analogy would lead any careful pathologist to suppose that such
symptoms as these are due to some lesion of a serous and not a
muscular tissue, and, as I before remarked, I have satisfied myself
that such is really the case. I have seen lymph, pus, and serum
etfused in some cases of enteritis, and mortification extending toa
large surface of the peritoneal coat in others, but I have never
examined a single case without one or the other of these morbid
results. It may be said that so long as the symptoms are correctly
described their exact seat is of no consequence; but in this
instance it is probable that the ordinary definition of enteritis as an
inflammation of the muscular coat may lead to a timid practice in
its treatment, which would be attended with the worst results. I
have no fault to find with the usual descripticns of the twe
diseases, or with their ordinary treatment, but I protest against
the definition which is given of them.

AN EXAMINATION OF THE CAUSE of inflammation of the bowels
38 the ouly means by whieh the one form can be distinguished

INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. ve

Frura the other. If it has been brought about from exposure te
ceuld, or from over-stimulating medicines given for colic, the proba-
bility is that the serous covering of the intestines themselves 3s
chiefly involved ; while if it has followed castration it may gener:
ally be concluded that the peritoneal lining of the abdominal
muscles has taken on inflammatory action by an immediate exten
sion from the serous lining of the inguinal canal, which is con
tinuous with it. In each case, however, the symptoms are as
nearly as may be the same, and without knowing the previous
history I believe no one could distinguish the one disease from the
other—nor should the treatment vary in any respect.

''HE SYMPTOMS of peritoneal inflammation vary in intensity,
and in the rapidity of their development, but they usually show
themselves in the following order :—At first there is simple loss of
appetite, dulness of eye, and a general uneasiness, which are soon
followed by a slight rigor or shivering. The pulse becomes rapid,
but small and wiry, and the horse becomes very restless, pawing
his litter, and looking back at his sides in a wistful and anxious
manner. In the next stage all these signs are aggravated; the
hind legs are used to strike at but not touch the belly; and the
horse lies down, rolls on his back and struggles violently. The
pulse becomes quicker and harder, but is still small. The belly is
acutely tender and hard to the touch, the bowels are costive, and
the horse is constantly turning round, moaning, and regarding his
flanks with the most anxious expression of countenance. Next
comes on the stage so graphically described by Mr. Percivall in
the passage which I have quoted, the whole duration of the attack
being from twelve to forty eight hours in acute cases, and extend-
ing to three or four days in those which are denominated sub-
acute.

In the treatment of this disease, as in all those implicating serous
mombrane, blood must be taken largely, and in a full stream, the
quantity usually required to make a suitable impression being
from six to nine quarts. The belly should be fomented with very
hot water, by two men holding against it a doubled blanket, dipped
in that fluid, which should be constantly changed, to keep up the
teraperature. The bowels should be back-raked, and the follow-
ing drench should be given every six hours till it operates, which
should be hastened by injections of warm water.

Dake of himseed ois te. 8. Pe ee”) pint,
Pandan Ose ae) 3. ehh ke) eB Ooumcese

If the drst bleeding doves not give relief in six or eight hours, it
must be repeated to the extent of three or four quarts, and at the
same time some liquid blister may be rubbed into the skin of the
abdomen, continuing the fomentations, at short intervals, unde

>

76 THE HORSE.

that part, which will hasten its operation. The diet should be con.
fined to thin gruel or bran mashes, and no hay should be allowed
until the severity of the attack has abated.

To DISTINGUISH this disease from colic is of the highest import-
ange, and for this purpose it will be necessary to describe the
symptoms of the latter disease, so as to compare the two together

COLIC.

IN THIS DISEASE there is spasm of the muscular coat of the
intestines, generally confined to the caecum and colon. Various
names have been given to its different forms, such as the fret, the
gripes, spasmodic colic, flatulent colic, &e , but they all display the
above feature, and are only modifications of it, depending upon
th. cause which has produced it. In spasmodic colic, the bowels
are not unnaturally distended, but in flatulent colic their distension
by gas brings on the spasm, the muscular fibres being stretched to
so great an extent as to cause them to contract irregularly and
with a morbid action. Sometimes, when the bowels are very cos-
tive, irritation is established as an effort of nature to procure the
dislodyment of the impacted faecal matters, and thus a third cause
of the disease is discovered. The exact nature and cause are
always to be ascertained from the history of the case, and its
symptoms, and as the treatment will especial:y be conducted with
a view to a removal of the cause, they ure of the highest import-
ance. The symptoms in all cases of colic, by which it may be
distinguished from the last-described disease, are as follows: In
both acute pain is manifested by stamping, looking at the flanks,
and rolling; but in enteritis the pain is constant, while in colic,
there are intervals of rest, when the horse seems quite easy, and
often begins to feed. In both the poor animal strikes at his belly;
but in the former he takes great care not to touch the skin, while
in the latter (colic) he w'll often bring the blood by his desperate
efforts to get rid of his annoyance. In enteritis the belly is hot
and exquisitely tender to the touch, but in colic it is not unnatur-
ally warm, and gradual pressure with a broad surface, such as the
whole hand, always is readily borne, and generally affords relief.
The pulse also is little affected in colic; and, lastly, the attack is
very much more sudden than in peritoneal inflammation.

SuCH ARE THE GENERAL SIGNS by which a case of colic may be
distinguished from inflanimation of the bowels, but beyond this it
is necessary to investigate whether it is pure spasmodie colic, or
produced by flatulence, or by an obstruction in the bowels.

COLIC. WY

IN SPASMODIC COLIC all the above symptoms are displayed, with-
put any great distension of the abdomen ; and if the history of the
ease is gone into, it will be found that after coming in heated the
horse has been allowed to drink cold water, or has been exposed
iv an exhausted state to a draught of air.

IN FLATULENT CoLtc the abdomen is enormously distended ; the
attack is not so sudden, and the pain is not so intense, being rather
to be considered, in the average of cases, as a high degree of un-
easiness, occasionally amounting to a sharp pang, than giving the
idca of agony. In aggravated attacks, the distension is s0 enor-
mous as to leave no doubt of the nature of the exciting cause.
Here also the spasms ave often brought on by drinking cold water
while the horse is in a heated and exhausted state.

WHERE THERE IS A STOPPAGE IN THE BOWELS to cause the
spasm, on questioning the groom, it will be found that the dung
for some days has been hard and in small lumps, with occasional
patches of mucus upon it. In other respects there is little vw dis-
tiuguish this variety from the last.

The treatment must in all cases be conducted on a totally differ-
ent plan to that necessary when inflammation is present. Bleeding
will be of no avail, at all events in the early stages, and before the
disease has gone on, as it sometimes will, into an inflammatory
condition. On the other hand, stimulating drugs, which would be
fatal in enteritis, will here generally succeed in causing a return
of healthy:mustular action. The disease is indeed similar in its
essential features to cramp in the muscles of the human leg or
arm, the only difference being that it does not as speedily dis-
appear, because it is impossible to get_at the muscular coat of the
intestines, and apply the stimulus of friction.

AS SOON AS A CASE IS CLEARLY MADE OUT TO BE OF A SPAS-
MODIC NATURE, one or other of the following drenches should be
given, the choice being made in proportion to the intensity of the
aAymptoms :—

F.Sulphuric. Ether. oso 5" 6 eS a oe VF Qpnee.
Laudanum .. . Sees A Pap New "ate A ZIGOUNICES

Compound decoction of Aloes . . . « + + 95 ounces
Mix and give every half hour until relicf is afforded.

9; Spirit of Turpentine. . <0. 72 « s © « « 4 ounces.
Linseed Qil eG es seeGt fie t: oul "s cop: PZ Owmees,
Tena niin gies ee OS beh ie Ais oe 4. es LE OULCRs

Mix and give every hour till .he pain ceases.

8. Aromatic Spiritof Ammonia . . . . - ~ 14 ounce.
Tamganmtis bat et eb ee A ae et ee et, «2 OUNEUS.
Tinctireof Ginger . «.« « .«.» «> +. .« ,14-ounee.
a es ee ees se ess ey 10. al QUAEbs

Mix and give every hour.

"8 TUE HORSE.

Hot water should also be applied to the abdomen, as described
under the head cf Enteritis, and if an enema pump is at hand,
large quantities of water, at a temperature of 100° Fahrenheit,
should be injected per anum, until in fact the bowel will hold no
more without a dangerous amount of force.

IN FLATULENT COLIC the same remedies may be employed, but
the turpentine mixture is here especially beneficial. The use of
warm water injections will often bring away large volumes of wind,
which at once affords relief, and the attack is cured. Sometimes,
however, the distension goes on increasing, and the only chance
of recovery consists in a puncture of the caecum, as it lies high in
the right flank, where, according to French veterinary writers it
may often be opened when greatly distended, without dividing the
serous covering. The operation, however, should only be per-
formed by an experienced hand, as it is one of great danger, and
a knowledge of the anatomy of the parts concerned is required to
select the most available situation.

THE TREATMENT OF IMPACTION must be completely a pos-
terior’, for all anterior proceedings with aperient medicines will
only aggravate the spasms. Injection of gallons of warm water
or of cruel containing a quart of castor oi] and halfa pint of spirit
of turpentine, will sometimes succeed in producing 2 passage, and
at the same tite the spasm may be relieved by the exhibition at
the mouth of one ounce of laudanum and the same quantity of
sulphuric ether. If there is any tenderness of the abdomen, or
the pulse has a tendency to quicken, it will be better to resort to
bleeding, which alone will sometimes cause the peristaltic action
to be restored in a healthy manner. The case, however, requires
great paticnce and judgment, and as no great good can often be
effected, it is highly necessary to avoid doing harm, which can
hardly be avoided if the remedies employed are not at once suc-
cessful.

WHEN THE URGENT SYMPTOMS of colic in any of its forms are
reliuved, great care must be exercised that a relapse does not take
place from the use «f improper food. The water should be care-
fully chillod, and a warm bran mash should be given, containing in it
half a feed of bruised oats. Nothing but these at moderate inter-

vals, in the shape of food or drink, : should be allowed for a day
or two, and then the horse may gradually return to his customary
treatment, avoiding, of course, everything which may appear to
have contributed to the development of colic.

DIARRHG@A AND DYSENTERY.

A DISTINCTION is attempted to be made between these two dis-
eases,—the forincr name being confined to an inflammation of the
muccus membrane of the small intestines, while the latter is said

mw

DIARRHG@A AND DYSENTERY. oo

to reside in the large. It is very difficult, however, if not impos:
sible, to distinguish the one from the other by the symptoms dur-
ing life, and in ordinary practice they may be considered is one
disease, the treatment depending in great measure on the exciting
vause. his in most cases is to be found in the use of too violent
“physic,” or in not resting the horse after it has begun to act
until some hours after it has completely “set.” Sometimes it
depends on the cells of the colon having long been loaded with
feeces, which causes, at length, their mucous lining to inflame, the
consequent secretion having a tendency to loosen them and pro-
cure their dismissal, either by solution or by the forcible contrac-
tion of the muscular coat. This last disease is known by the name
of ‘‘ molten grease” to old-fashioned farriers, the clear mucus which
envelopes the lumps of feeces being supposed to be derived from
the internal fat that is generally plentifully developed in the highly
fed horses that are especially subject to the attack. For practical
purposes, therefore, we may consider the different forms under the
head of superpurgation, diarrhoea, and dysentery, meaning by the
Jast name that condition which is brought about by and attended
with a discharge of lumps of hard fecal matter enveloped in
mucus.

SUPERPURGATION is sometimes so severe as to place a delicate
horse in great danger. When the action of the bowels has gone
on for three or four days consecutively, and there is no disposition
to “set,” the eyes become staring and glassy, the pulse is feeble,
and the heart flutters in the most distressing manner; the mouth
has a peculiarly offensive smell, the tongue being pale and covered
with a white fur having a brown centre. The abdomen is gene-
rally tucked tightly up, but in the later stages large volumes of
gas are evolved, and it becomes tumid.

The treatment should cousist in the exhibition of rice, boiled
till quite soft, and if not taken voluntarily, it should be given as a
drench, mixed into a thin liquid form with warm water. If the
case is severe, one or two ounces of laudanum may be added to a
quart of rice milk, and given every time the bowels act with vio-
lence. Ora thin gruel may be made with wheat meal, and the
jaudanum be mixed with that instead of the rice. A perseverance
in these remedies will almost invariably produce the desired effect,
if they have not been deferred until the horse is very much ex-
hausted, when a pint of port wine may be substituted for the
Jaudanum with advantage.

IN PtARRHEA resulting from cold, or over-exertion, the treat
“ment should be exactly like that prescribed for superpurgation,
but it ~vill sometimes be necessary to give chalk in addition to the
remed gs there alluded to. The rice or flour-milk may be admin

>

80 THE HORSE.

istered as food, and the following drench given by itself every
time there is a discharge of liquid faeces :—
Tako of Powdered Opium . .. . . « 1 drachm.
Tincture of Catechu . a0 SO ee ounte.
Chalk: Mixture? 2.3 ..3.48 a6 x6 sAwil spine.
Mix and give as a drench.

During the action of these remedies the body must be kept
warm by proper clothing, and the legs should be encased in flan-
nel bandages, previously made hot at the fire, and renewed as they
become cold.

IN DYSENTERY (or molten grease) it is often necessary to take
a little blood away, if there is evidence of great inflammation in
the amount of mucus surrounding the faeces, and when apetient
medicine does not at once put a stop to the cause of irritation by
bringing the lumps away from the cells of the colon. Back-raking,
and injections of two ounces of lzudanum and a pint of castor oil
with gruel, should be adopted in the first instance, but they will
seldom be fully efficient without the aid of linseed oil given by the
mouth. A pint of this, with half a pint of good castor oil, will
generally produce a copious discharge of lumps, and then the irri-
tation ceases without requiring any further interference.

Whenever there is diarrhoea or dysentery present to any extent,
ricc-water should be the sole drink.

STRANGULATION AND RUPTURE.

MECHANICAL VIOLENCE is done to the stomach and bowels in
Various ways, but in every case the symptoms will be those of
severe inflammation of the serous coat, speedily followed by death,
if not relieved when relief is possible. Sometimes the stomach is
ruptured from over-distension—at others the small intestines have
been known to share the same fate, but the majority of cases are
duc to strangulation of a particular portion of the bowels, by being
tied or pressed upon by some surrounding band. This may hap-
pen either from a loop of bowel being forced through an opening
in the mesentery or mesocolon, or from a band of organized lymph,
the result of previous inflammation—or from one portion of the
bowels forcing itself into another, like the inverted finger of a
glove, and the included portion being firmly contracted upon by
the exterior bowel, so as to produce dangerous pressure (intussus-
ception), or, lastly, from a portion or knuckle of intestine forcing
its way through an opening in the walls of the abdomen, and then
ealled hernia or rupture, which being pressed upon by the edges
of the opening becomes strangulated, and if not relieved inflam&s,
and then mortifies. None of these cases are amenable to treat-
ment (and indeed they cannot often be discovered with certainty
during life, the symptoms resembling those of enteritis), exenpt

CALCULI IN THE 30WELS. 81

strangulated hernia, which should be reduced either by the pres.
sur+ of the hands, or by the aid of an operation with the knife—
which will be described under the chapter which treats of the seve-
ral operations. Whenever inflammation of the bowels is attended
with obstinate constipation, the walls of the abdomen should be
carefully examined, and especially the inguinal canal, scrotum, and
uavel, at which points in most cases the hernia makes its appear-
ance. A swelling at any other part may, however, contain a
knuckle of intestine, which has found its way through the abdo-
minal parietes in consequence of a natural opening existing there.
or of one having been made by some accidental puncture with a
spike of wood or iron. The swelling is generally round, or nearly
so, and gives a drum-like sound on being tapped with the fingers.
It feels hard to the touch in consequence of the contents being
constricted, but it gives no sensation of solidity, and may be gene-
rally detected by these signs. None but an educated hand can,
however, be relied on to distinguish a ventral hernia from any
other tumor. When it occurs at the scrotum or navel the case is
clear enough.

CALCULI IN THE BOWELS.

A STOPPAGE IN THE BOWELS sometimes obstinately persists, in
spite of all kinds of remedies, and, death taking place, it is found
on examination that a large calculus has blocked up the area of
the canal. Sometimes one of these calculi is found in the stomach,
but this is extremely rare. On making a section they are found
to consist of concentric layers of bran, chaff, and other hard par-
ticles of the food, mixed generally with some small proportion of
earthy matter, and arranged around some foreign body, such as a
piece of stone from tke corn, or the head of a nail, Treatment is
out of the question, 2s it is impossible to discover the calculus
during life, and even if it could be ascertained to exist, no remedy
is known for it. Those who are curious about the composition of
these calculi, will be pleased with the following letter by Mr. Buck-
land, surgeon to the 1st Life Guards, in reply to an inquiry made
in The Ficld as to the composition of a calculus found in a horse
belonging to a correspondent :—

“Mr. C. Pemberton Carter having, in his interesting letter, re-
quested me to throw some light upon this subject, | have great
pleasure in giving what little information I am able to afford, with
apologies for delay, as Aldershot camp is by no means a favorable
spot for'scientific investigations or literary pursuits. As regards
the actual composition of calculi such as he has sent, we learn
from the catalogue of the museum of the Royal College of Sur-
econs that they are composed for the most part of the phosphate
of magnesia and ammonia, with small quantities of phosy hate of

ce

82 THE HORSE.

time. They also contain an animal and extractive matter, to wnich
the brown color of the calculus is owing. ‘They also contain mu
riates of soda, and various alkaline salts derived from the intestinal
juices. The animal matter resembles that of all other concretions,
and separates in concentric laminze when the calculus is dissol red
in an acid. In more impure varieties, grains of sand, portions of
hay, straw, &c., are frequently found imbedded in the calculus,
and there is one specimen in the museum which contains an entire
layer of vegetable hairs. Mr. Carter remarks that ‘ his impression
is that the calculus is made up of bran’ (chemically speaking).
H[e is not far wrong, for we read in the College catalogue, ‘ Most
authorities agree that these calculi are formed from phosphate of
magnesia, coutuined in wheat, oats, hay, &c., and this opinion de-
rives confirmation from the circumstance that they occur most fre-
quently in mél/ers’ and brewers’ horses, whish are fed upon grains,
bran, and substances known to contain a much larger proportion
of magnesian salts than other vegetable matters.’ Mr. Carter has
detected minute portions of wheat, oats, and hay in the calculus,
which therefore may be said to consist of two substances, viz., the
vegetable and the mineral. So much, then, for the composition
af the calculus; now for its mechanical structure. Most decidedly
it may be compared to an onion, layer being packed over layer, so
as In section to present a ringed appearance. We may also liken
it to other objects. It has lately struck me to examine the struc-
ture of a common ericket-ball, which combines hardness, light-
ness, and elasticity in such an admirable way. Upon making a
section, I found the cricket-ball to be composed of layers, one over
the other, round a central nucleus. The layers are composed of
leather, alternated with a vegetable fibre, the nucleus being a bit
of cork. The caleulus in the horse is formed in a similar way.
The nueleus in Mr. Carter’s specimen is a bit of flint; in a capital
instance I have in my own collection, of a eommon shot, about
No. 5 size, which has been crushed by the horse’s teeth, and sub-
sequentiy swallowed; in another instance, of a chair nat! of brass;
in another of a single oat-seed; in another of a minute bit of
cinder, and so on, as it seems to be aLsolutely necessary that these
calculi should have a commencement—a starting-point. Where
is the school-boy who can make a gigantic snowball without be-
ginning with a small lump of snow or a stone, as a nucleus upon
which he builds all the rest?

‘Mr. Carter seems to wonder at the weight of the specimen, 5
ibs.; this is by no means a large size; in the museum of the
Royal College of Surgeons we have a very fine collection of eai-
euli, the largest, taken from the intestines of a horse, weighs no
less than 17 Ibs , and is about the size and shape of an ordinary
skittle-ball. In the case where this is contained he will see many

CALCULI IN THE BOWELS—WORMS. 83

othar specimens, cut in sections to show the nuclei; he will ob-
serve that caleuli also form in the intestines of the camel and of
the elephant, and even in the wild horse, for there is a good specl-
men from the intestines of a Japanese wild horse. Stones, not
true calculi, are sometimes found in animals, which have been
actually swallowed by them, and have not been chemically formed
in this walking laboratory. There is a case containing several
pebbles—thirty in number—found in the stomach of a cow at
Barton-under-Needwood, Burton-on-Trent. These stones belong
to the geological formation of the neighborhood ; it is curious to
see how they have been acted on by the action of the stomach. for
they are highly glazed and polished. I have seen specimens of
gravel pebbles which I took from the gizzard of an ostrich, which
are as highly polished as an agate marble. The bird swallowed
the stones to assist its digestion; the cow out of a morbid appe-
tite. I know of a somewhat similar instance that lately happened :
A young lady was taken ill, and died of very strange symptoms ;
it was subsequently ascertained that the stomach was quite filled
with human hair, which had moulded itself into the shape of the
interior of that organ. The poor girl had naturally very long and
beautiful hair, and she had an unfortunate habit of catching the
loose hairs with her lips and swallowing them; in time they felted
together, became a solid mass, and killed her—a warning to other
young ladies which should not be neglected. In the lower animals
we frequently find rolled balls of hair from the creatures licking
themselves. I have seen one at Bristol from a lioness; it is formed
of hairs licked with her rough tongue from her cubs. Curious
concretions are found in goats, &c., called ‘bezoar’ stones ; they
were formerly supposed to have medicinal virtues: of this at an-
other time. ¥. T. Buckianp.”

WORMS.

INTESTINAT, WORMS in the.horse are chiefly of two species, both
belonging to the genus ascaris. Bots, as inhabiting the stomach,
have already been described with that organ; and, moreover, they
should never be confounded with what are called properly and
scientifivally, ‘“ worms.”’ f these, the larger species resembles
the common earthworm in all respects but color, which is a pinkish
white. It inhabits the small intestines, though it is sometimes,
but very rarely, found in the stomach. The symptoms are a rough,
staring, hollow coat-—a craving appetite—more or less emaciation—
the passage of mucus with the faeces, and very often a small por-
tion of this remains outside the anus, and dries there. That part
generally itches, and in the attempt to rub it the tail is denuded
of hair; but this may arise from vermin in it, or from mere irri-
tation of the anusdrom other causes. When these several symp-

84 THE TORSE.

toms are combined, it may with some degree of certainty be sup-
posed that there are worms in the intestines, but before proceeding
to dislodge them, it is always the wisest plan to obtain proof’ posi-
tive of their existence, by giving an ordinary dose of physic, when,
en watching the evacuations, one or more worms may generally be
discovered if they are present. When the case is clearly made
out the plan of treatment is as follows :—

Paks of. Tortar:P mee? \.%, de masiecn Salers metas ; drachm.
Powdered Ginger .. . : - 4 drachm.
Linseed Meal sufficient to make into a ball with boiling water.

One should be given every morning for a week, then a dose of
physic; linseed oil being the most proper. Let the stomach rest
a week; give another course of balls and dose of physic, after
which let the horse have a drachm of sulphate of iron (powdered)
twice a day with his feed of corn.

There is no medicine which is so effectual for removing worms
in the horse as tartar emetic, and none which is so entirely innocu-
ous to the stomach. Calomel and spirit of turpentine were formerly
in use as vermifuges, but they are both dangerous drugs; the
former, if given for any length of time, causing great derangement
of the stomach and liver; and the latter often producing consi-
derable inflammation after a single dose, if sufficiently large to
cause the expulsion of the worms. Linseed oil given in half. -pint
doses every morning is also an excellent vermifuge, but not equal
to the tartar emetic. If this quantity does not ‘relax the bowels
it may be increased until they are rendered slightly more loose
than usual, but avoiding anything like purgation.

The smaller species of intestinal worm chiefly inhabits the rec-
tum, but is occasionally found in the colon and caecum. It pro-
duces great irritation and uneasiness, but has not the same preju-
dicial effect on the health as the larger parasite. It is about one
to two inches in length, and somewhat smaller in diameter than a
crow quill. These worms are commonly distinguished as ascarides,
but both this species and the round worm belong to the genus
ascarts. The term thread worm is more correctly applied, as they
are not unlike sections of stout thread or cotton. The only symp-
tom by which their presence can be made out is the rubbing of
the tail, when if, on examination, no vermin or eruption is found
in the dock, it may be presumed that worms exist in the rectum,
The remedy for these worms is by the injection every morning fer
a weck of a pint of linseed oil, containing two drachms of spirit of
turpentine. This will either kill or bring away the worms, with
the exception of a few which are driven by it higher up into tha

DISEASES OF THE LIVER AND KIDNEYS. 85

solon, but by waiting a week or ten days (during which time they
will have re-entered the rectum) and then repeating the process,
they may generally be entirely expelled. The sulphate of iron
must be given here, as before described.

DISEASES OF THE LIVER.

THE LIVER OF THE HORSE is less liable to disease than that of
any other domestic animal, and the symptoms of its occurrence
are so obscure that it is seldom until a post-mortem examination
that a discovery is made of its existence. This unerring guide,
however, informs us that the liver is sometimes unnaturally en-
larged and hard, at others softened, and in others again the sub-
ject of cancerous deposits. It is also attacked by inflammation,
of which the symptoms are feverishness; rapid pulse, not hard and
generally fuller than usual; appetite bad; restlessness, and the
patient often looking round to his right side with an anxious ex-
pression, not indicative of severe pain. Slight tenderness of the
right side; but this not easily made out satisfactorily. Bowels
generally confined, but there is sometimes diarrhoea. Very fre-
quently the whites of the eyes show a tinge of yellow, but any-
thing like jaundice is unknown. The treatment must consist in
the use of calomel and opium, with niild purging, thus :—

Take of Calomel,
Powdered Opium, of each one drachm.
Linseed Meal and boiling water enough to make into a ball,
which should be given night and morning. Every other day
a pint of Linseed Oil should be administered.

The diet should if possible be confined to green food, which will do
more good than medicine; indeed, in fine weather, a run at grass
during the day should be preferred to all other remedies, taking
eare to shelter the horse at night in an airy loose-box.

DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS.

THESE ORGANS are particularly prone to disease, and are subject
to inflammation ; to diabetes, or profuse staling ; to hematuria, or
a d'scharge of blood, and to torpidity, or inaction.

INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS (vephritis) is generally pro-
duced by an exposure of the loins to wet and cold, as in carriage.
horses standing about in the rain during the winter season. Some-
times it follows violent muscular exertion, and is then said to be
caused by a strain in the back, but in these cases there is probably
an exposure to cold in a state of exhaustion, or by the rupture of
a branch of the renal artery or vein, as the inflammation of one
organ can scarcely be produced by the strain of another. The
symptoms are a constant desire to void the urine, which is of a
very dark color—often almost black. Great pain, as evidenced by

24

86 THE HORSE.

the expression of countenance and by groans, as well as by frequent
wistful looks at the loins. On pressing these parts there is some
tenderness, but not excessive, as in rheumatism. The pulse is
quick, hard, and full. The attitude of the hind quarters is pecu-
liar, the horse standing in a straddling position with his back
arched, and refusing to move without absolute compulsion. It is
sometimes difficult to distinguish nephritis from inflammat::n of
the neck of the bladder, but by attending to the state of the urine,
which is dark brown or black in the former case, and nearly of a
natural color in the latter, the one may be diagnosed from tho
other. To make matters still more clear, the oiled hand may be
passed into the rectum, when in nephritis the bladder will be found
contracted and empty (the urine being so pungent as to irritate
that organ), while in inflammation or spasm of its neck, it will be
distended, often to a large size. The treatment to be adopted must
be active, as the disease runs a very rapid course, and speedily ends
in death if neglected. A large quantity of blood must at once be
taken. The skin must be acted on energetically, so as to draw the
blood to its surface, and if a Turkish bath (see page 215) is at
hand, it will be highly beneficial. If not, the application of hot
water, as recommended at page 342, may be tried, and in many
cases it has acted like a charm. Failing the means for carrying
out either of these remedies, the loins should be rubbed with an
embrocation consisting of olive oil, liquid ammoniz and laudanum
in equal parts, but cantharides and turpentine must be carefully
avoided, as likely to be absorbed, when they would add fuel to the
fire. A fresh sheepskin should be warmed with hot (not boiling)
water, and applied over the back, and the liniment should be
rubbed in profusely every hour, restoring the skin to its place im-
mediately afterwards. Mustard is sometimes used instead of am-
wonta, and as it is always at hand, it may form a good substitute,
but it is not nearly so powerful an irritant to the skin as the latter,
especially when evaporation is prevented by the sheepskin, or by
a piece of any waterproof article. A mild aperient may be given,
linseed oil being the best form, but if the bowels continue ob-
stinate, and it is necessary to repeat it, eight or ten drops of croton
oil may be added to a pint of the oil, great care being taken to
assist its action by raking and injection, the latter being also use-
ful as a fomentation to the kidneys. The diet shonl1 consist of
scaided linseed and bran mashes, no water being allowed without
containing sufficient linseed tea to make it slightly glutinous, but
not so much so as to nauseate the patient. If the symptoms are
not greatly abated in six or eight hours, the bleeding must be re-
peated, for upon this remedy the chief dependence must be placed.
A mild and soothing drench, composed of half an ounce of ear.
bonate of soda, dissolved in six ounces of linseed tea, way be given

DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS. 87

every six hours, but little reliance can be placed upon it. The
inflammation either abates after the bleeding, or the horse dies in
a very tew hours.
DIABETES of late years has been much more frequent than was
formerly the case, and especially among race-horses and hunters,
probably owing to the enormous quantities of corn which they are
allowed in the present day. But whatever may be the cause, the
symptoms are clear enough, the horse constantly staling and_pass-
ing large quantities of urine each time. he treatment should be
conducted on the principle that the cause should if possible be
asvertained and removed. Mowburnt hay will often bring on dia-
betes, and new oats have a similar tendency in delicate horses. In
any case it is wise to make a total change in the food as far as it
can possibly be done. Green meat will often check it at once, and
a bran-mash containing a few carrots has a similar chance of doing
good. With these alterations in the quality of the food attention
should also be paid to the quantity of the corn, which should be
reduced if more than a peck a day has been given, and beans should
be substituted for a part of the oats. Half a drachm of the sul-
phate of iron (powdered) should be mixed with each feed (that is,
four times a day), aud the horse should be well clothed and his legs
warmly bandaged in a cool and airy (but not cold and draughty)
loose box By attention to these directions the attack may gener-
ally be subdued in a few days, but there is always a great tendency
to its return. Should it persist in spite of the adoption of the
measures already recommended, the following ball may be tried :—

Take of Gallic Acid aa oY nee eee Se Unena.
Optam-— 4.02 ; : 8 sah didrwehm:
Treacle and Linseed Meal enough ms ails pa a ball, which should be
given twice a day.

HamatTurFA, like diabetes, is easily recognised by the presence
of blood in greater or less quantities passed with the urine. — It is
not, however, of the bright red color natural to pure blood, but it
is more or less dingy, and sometimes of a smoky-brown color, as
occurs in inflammation. Bloody urine, however, may often be
passed without any sign of that condition, and therefore unaccom-
panied by pain, or any other urgent symptom. The causes are
exceedingly various. Sometimes a parasitic worm (Strongylus

igas) has been discovered, after death from hzematurea, in the
Gey, and was apparently the cause of the mischicf, At others,
this organ has been found disorganized by cancer or melanosis—
and again a sharp calculus has been known to bring on considcr-
able bleeding, and this last cause is by no means unfrequent., The
symptoms are the existence of bloody urine unaccompanied by pain
or irritation, marking the absence of nephritis. As to treatment,
littl: cam be done in severe cases, and mild ones only require rest,

88 THE HORSE.

a dose of physic, and perhaps the abstraction of three or four
quarts of blood. Green food should be given, and the diet should
be attended to as for diabetes. If the urine is scanty, yet evidently
Shere is no inflammation, two or three drachms of nitre may be
given with the mash at night, but this remedy should be employed
with great caution.

INACTION OF THE KIDNEYS is so common in every stable that
the groom seldom thinks it necessary even to inform his master of
its occurrence. An ounce of nitre is mixed and given with a brar-
mash as a matter of course, and sometimes more violent diuretica
are resorted to, such as powdered resin and turpentine. Very
often the kidneys are only inactive because the horse has not been
regularly watered, and in those stables where an unlimited supply
is allowed this condition is comparatively rare. There is no harn
in resorting to nitre occasionally, but if it is often found necessary
to employ this drug, the health is sure to suffer, and an alteratier
in the diet should be tried in preference. At all events, if it is
given, the horse should be allowed to drink as much and as often
as he likes, without which the stimulus to the kidneys will be
doubly prejudicial, from being in too concentrated a form.

DISEASES OF THE BLADDER.

THE BLADDER is subject to inflammation of its coats or neck-.
to spasm—and to the formation of calculi.

INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER (cystitis) is not very common.
excepting when it is produced by irritants of a mechanical or chemi-
eal nature. Thus, when the kidneys secrete a highly irritating
urine, the bladder suffers in its passage, and we have the two
organs inflamed at the same time. Again, when cantharides have
been given with a view to stimulate exhausted nature, or when
they are absorbed from the surface of the skin, as sometimes hap-
pens in blistering, the bladder is liable to become inflamed. The
symptoms are—a quick pulse—pain in the hind quarter, evinced
by the looks ot the animal in that direction—and constant strain-
ing to pass the urine, which is thick and mixed with mucus, or
in ageravated cases with purulent matter The treatment®to be
adopted if the case is severe will consist in venesection, back-rak-
ing, and purgation with linseed or castor oil, avoiding aloes, which
have a tendency to irritate the bladder. Linseed tea should be
given as the sole drink, and scalded linseed mixed with a bran-
mash as food. The following ball may also be given, and repeated
if necessary :—

° Take of Powdered Opiam . <5 = s = «© © 1 Grachm.
Tartar emetic ~.. *. ° 1 drachm.

To be made up into a ball with Eivaeed Meal and boiling water, and
given every six hours.

D{SEASES OF TIIE BLADDER, ETC. 89

RETENTION OF URINE may be due either to inflammation of the
neck of the bladder, occasioning a spasmodic closure of that part,
or there may be spasm unattended by inflamm tion and solely due
to the irritation of some offending substance, such as a calculus,
or a small dose of cantharides. The treatment in either case must
be directed t) the spasmodic constriction, which is generally ander
the control of large doses of opium and camphor, that is, from
one drachm to two drachms of each, repeated every five cr six
hours. If the symptoms are urgent, bleeding may also be resorted
to, and when the bladder is felt to be ereatly distended, no time
should be lost in evacuating it by means of the catheter, which
operation, however, should only be intrusted to a regular practi-
tioner accustomed to its use.

CALCULI IN THE BLADDER are formed of several earthy salts, and
present various forms and appearances, which may be comprised
under four divisions. Ist. The mulberry calculus, so named from
its resemblance to a mulberry, possessing generally a nucleus. 2d.
A very soft kind resembling fuller’s earth in appearance, and being
chiefly composed of phosphate of lime and mucus. 3d. Calculi
of a white or yellowish color, rough externally and easily friable.
And 4th. Those which are composed of regular layers, and which
are harder than the second and third varieties.

The mulberry calculus, from its extremely rough surface, occa-
sions more irritation than other forms, but during life it is impos-
sible to ascertain the exact chemical nature of the calculus which
may be ascertained to exist. These calculi sometimes attain an
immense size, weighing several pounds. The symptoms are a dif-
ficulty of voiding ‘the urine, which generally comes away in jerks
after creat straining and groaning. The horse remains with his
legs extended for some time afterwards, and evidently indicates
that he feels as if his bladder was not relieved. Often there is
muco-purulent matter mixed with the urine, which is rendered
thick and glutinous thereby, but this only happens in cases of long
standing. The treatment must be either palliative or curative. If
the former, it should consist in the adoption of the means employed
for subduing irritation and inflammation of the bladder which
have been already described. The cure can only be effected by
removing the stone. This requires the performance of a difficult
and dangerous operation (lithotomy), the details of which can be
only useful to the professed veterinary surgeon, and I shall theree
fore omit them here.

DISEASES OF THE ORGANS OF GENERATION.

BALANITIS, or inflammation of the glans penis (fdAavos, glans),
is very common in the horse, being brought on by the decomposi-
tion of the natural secretions, when they have been allowed to

9() THE WORSE.

collect for any length of time. At first there is merely a slight
discharge of pus, but in process of time foul sores break out, and
very often fungous growths spring from them, which block up the
passage through the opening of the sheath, and cause considerable
swelling and inconvenience. These are quite distinct from warts,
which occur in this part just as they do in other situations. The
treatment requires some skill and experience, because mild reme-
cies are of no use, and severe ones are not unattended with danger.
The parts must first of all be well cleansed by syringing, or if ‘the
end of the penis can be laid hold of, by washing with a sponge.
The following wash may then be applied. and it should be repeated
every day :-—
Take of solution of Chloride of Zine . . « . « 2drachms.
WaGOe er ca ae in ht «eee artes Be Mix.

If the morbid growths are very extensive, nothing but amputa-
tion of the penis or the use of corrosive sublimate will remove
them. Severe hemorrhage sometimes follows both of these mea-
sures, but it seldom goes on to a dangerous extent. Still it is
scarcely advisable for any one but a professional man to undertake
the operation.

IN THE MARE THE VAGINA Is sometimes inflamed, attended with
a copious yellow discharge. An injection of the wash mentioned
i, the last paragraph will generally soon set the matter right. At
first it should be used only of half the strength, oradually i increas-
ing it, until the full quantity of chloride of zine is employed.

INVERSION OF THE UTERUS sometimes follows parturition, but
it is very rare inthe mare. The uterus should be at once replaced.
using as little force as possible, and taking care before the hand
is withdrawn, that it really is turned back again from its inverted
position.

_NYMPHOMANIA occurs sometimes in mares at the time of being
‘in use,” and goes on to such an extent as to render them abso-
lutely regardless of pain, for the time being, though not to make thei
lose their cousciousness. They will kick and squeal till they be-
come white with sweat, and no restraint will prevent them from
trying to continue their violent attempts to destroy everything
behind them. These symptoms are especially developed in the
presence of other animals of the’ same species, whether mares or
geldings; but the near proximity of an entire horse will be still
worse. If placed in a loose box, without any restraint whatever,
they generally become more calm, and when the state is developed,
such a plan should always be adopted. It is chiefly among highly-
fed and lightly-worked mares that the disease is manifested ; and
a dose of physic with starvation in a loose box, away from any
other horse, will very soon put an end to it in almost every instance

MAD STAGGERS—EP1LEPSY. 91

CHAPTER. V.

DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.

Phrenitis, or Mad Staggers—Epilepsy and Convulsions—Meg rims
—Rabies, Hydrophohna, or Madness— Tetanus, or Lock-jaw—
Apoplexy and Po ae Halt—Coup de Soieil, cr Sun
stroke.

PHRENITIS, OR MAD STAGGERS.

PHRENITIS seldom occurs, except in over-fed and lightly-worked
horses, nor-among them is it by any means a common dlis-
ease. The early symptoms are generally those of an ordinary
cold; there is heaviness of the eyes, with a redness of the con-
junctiva, and want of appetite. After a day or two occupied by
these premonitory signs, which will seldom serve to put even the
most experienced observer on his guard, the horse becomes sud-
denly delirious, attempting to bite and strike every one who comes
near him, regardless of the ordinary influences of love and fear.
He plunges in his stall, attempts to get free from his halter rein, and
very often succeeds in doing so, when he will stop at nothing to

gain still further liberty. If unchecked he soon dashes himself to
pieces, and death puts an end to his struggles. The only ¢reat-
ment which is of the slightest use is bleeding till the horse abso-
lutely falls, or till he becomes quite quiet and tractable, if the case
is only a mild one. Immediately afterwards a large dose of tartar
emetic (two or three drachms) should be given, followed in an
hour or two by a strong physic ball; or, if the case is a very bad
one, by a drench, containing half a pint of castor oil and six or
eizht drops of croton oil. Clysters and back-raking will of course
be required, to obviate the risk of hard accumulations in the
bowels, but where there is great violence, they cannot always be
employed and the case must take its chance in these respects.
The diet should be confined to a few mouthfuls of hay or grass,
with a plentiful supply of water.

EPILEPSY AND CONVULSIONS.

TMESE DISEASES, or symptoms of disease, are not often met
with in the adult. ae in the foal they sometimes occur, and are
not unattended with danger. The young thing will perhaps gallop
after its dam ronnd and round its paddock, and then all at once stop,

92 THE HORSE.

atagger, and fall to the ground, where it lies, struggling with mons
or less violence, for a few minutes or longer, and then raises its
head, stares about it, gets up, and is apparently as well as ever.
It is generally in the hot days of summer that these attacks occur,
and it appears highly probable that the direct rays of the sun
playing on the head have something to do with it. Death seldom
takes place during the first attack, but sometimes after two or
tnree repetitions the convulsions go on increasing, and the foal
lecomes comatose and dies. A mild dose of linseed oil is the only
remedy which can safely be resorted to, and as it is supposed that
worms will sometimes produce these convulsive attacks, it is on that
account to be selected. Epilepsy is so very rarely met with in
the adult and of its causes and treatment so little is known, that
I shall not trouble my readers with any account of them.

MEGRIMS.

THIS TERM is used to conceal our ignorance of the exact nature
of several disordered conditions of the brain and heart. In fact, any
kind of fit, not attended with convulsions, and only lasting a short
time, is called by this name. The cause may be a fatty condition of
the heart, by which sudden faintness and sometimes death are pro-
duced, or it may consist in congestion of the vessels of the brain,
arising from over work on a hot day, or from the pressure of the
cullar, or from disease of the valves of the heart. Attacks reputed
to be megrims have been traced to each of these causes, and as in
every case, the horse, while apparently in good health, staggers
and falls, and after lying still for a minutes (during which there
is seldom an opportunity of examining the state of the circulation)
rises as well as before, there is no chance of distinguishing the one
from the other. The most usual symptoms are the following :—The
horse is perhaps trotting along, when all at once he begins shaking
his head as if the bridle chafed his ears, which are drawn
back close to the poll. The driver gets down to examine these
facts, and observes the eyelids quivering, and the nostrils affected
with a trembling kind of spasm. Sometimes the rest will allow
of the attack going off, but most frequently, the head is drawn to
one side, the legs of that half of the body seem to be paralyzed,
and the horse making a segment of a circle goes down, lies a few
minutes on the ground, and then rises as if nothing had happened
beyond a light sweating, and disturbance of the respiration. Treat-
mené can be of little avail, however, unless a correct diagnosis 1s
made, for remedies which would be suited to congestion would be
prejudicial to a diseased heart. IPf the attack has kappened while

WYDROPHOPBIA. 93

n harness, the collar should always be carefully inspected, and if
at all tight it should be replaced by a deeper one. A diseased
state of the valves of the heart ought to be discoverable by
auscultation, but it requires a practised car to do this, and the
directions for ascertaining its presence are beyond the scope of this
book. he only plan which can safely be adopted, is to take the
subject of megrims quietly home to his stable, and carefully ex-
amine into the condition of all his functions with a view to im-
prove the action of any organ which appears to be out of order,
whatever it may be. If all seems to be going on well—if the appe-
tite is good, and the heart acts with regularity and with due force,
while the brain seems clear, and the eye is not either dull or suf-
fused with blood—nothing should be attempted, but the horse
being subject to a second attack, as proved by manifold experience,
should be put to work in which no great danger can be appre-
kended from them. He is not safe in any kind of carriage, for it can
never be known where the fall will take place; and asa saddle-
horse he is still more objectionable, and should therefore be put to
some commercial purpose, in executing which, if he falls, the only
injury he can effect is to property, and not to human life.

RABIES, HYDROPHORTA OR MADNESS.

ONE REASON ONLY can be given for describing this disease,
which is wholly beyond the reach of art ; but as the horse attacked
by it is most dangerous, the sooner he is destroyed the better ; and
for this reason, every person who is likely to have any control ove1
him, should be aware of the sysaptoms. As far as is known at
present, Rabies is not idiopathieally developed in the horse, but
must follow the bite of a rabid individual belonging to one or other
of the genera canis and felis. The dog, being constantly about our
stables, is the usual cause of the development of the disease, and
it may supervene upon the absorption of the salivary virus without
any malicious bite, as has happened according to more than one
earefully recorded case. ‘The lips of the horse are liable to be
ulcerated from the action of the bit, and there is reason to believe
that in the early stages of rabies these parts have been licked by a
dog, the saliva has been absorbed, and the inoculation has taken
place just as it would do from any other wound. It is difficult to
prove that this is the true explanation of those cases where no bite
has been known to have occurred, but as the mouth has in each
instance been shown to have been abraded, there is some reason
for accepting it as such. To proceed, however, to the symptoms,
Mr. Youatt, who has had great opportunities for examining rabies,
both in the dog and horse, describes the earliest as consisting 10
“a spasmodic movement of the upper lip, particularly of the angies
of the lip. Close following on this, or coutemporancous with it,

94 THE HORSE.

are the depressed and anxious countenance, and inquiiing gaze,
suddenly, however, lighted up, and becoming fierce and menacing
from some unknown cause, or at the approach of a stranger. From
time to time different parts of the frame, the eyes, the jaws, par-
ticular limbs, will be convulsed. The eye will occasionally wander
after some imaginary object, and the horse will snap iain and
again at that which has no real existence. Then will come the
irrepressible desire to bite the attendants or the animals within its
reach. To this will succeed the demolition of the rack, the manger,
and the whole furniture of the stable, accompanied by the peculiar
dread of water, which has already been described. Towards the
close of the disease there is generally paralysis, usually confined to
the loins and the hinder extremities, or involving those organs
wl ich derive their nervous influence from this portion of the spinal
cord; hence the distressing tenesmus which is occasionally seen.”
How paralysis can produce tenesmus is not very clear, but of the
very general existence of this symptom there can be no doubt. The
dread of water, as well as of draughts uf cold air, is also clearly
made out to exist in this disease (as in human rabies), and the
term hydrophobia will serve to distinguish it better than in the
dog, where it is as clearly absent. Whenever, therefore, these
symptoms follow upon the bite of a dog, unless the latter is un-
questionably in good health, rabies may be suspected, and the bare
suspicion ought always to lead to the use of the bullet, which 1s
the safest way of killing a violent horse. There is only one disease
(phrenitis) with which it can be confounded, and in that the
absence of all consciousness and, in milder cases, of fear, so that
no moral control whatever can be exercised, marks its nature, and
clearly distinguishes it from rabies, the victim to which is con-
scious to the last, and though savage and violent in the extreme,
is aware of the power of man, and to some extent under his
influence.
TETANUS—LOCK-JAW.

TeTANuS, one form of which is known as lock-jaw, has its seat
apparently in the nervous system, but, like many other diseases of
the same class, the traces it leaves behind are extremely uncertain,
and are displayed more on the secondary organs, through which it
is manifested, than on those which we believe to be at the root of the
mischief. Thus the muscles, which have been long kept in a state
of spasm, show the marks of this condition in their softened and
apparently rotten condition. They in fact have had no interval
of rest, during which nutrition could go on, and have lost much
of the peculiarity of structure which enables them to contract.
The stomach often shows marks of inflammation, but as all sorts
of violent remedies are employed, this may be due to them rather
than to idiopathic disease. The lungs also are generally congested,

LOCK-JAW. 95

put here, like the state of the muscles, it may be a secondary effect
of the long-continued exertions of the Jatter, which nothing but
the absence of all important lesions of the brain and spinal cord
would induce the pathologist to pay the slightest attention to.

TETANUS may be either idiopathic or symptomatic, but the
former condition is somewhat rare. It almost always follows some
Gperation, or a severe injury in which a nerve has been implicated.
the most frequent causes being the piercing of the sole by a nail,
or a prick in shoeing, or the operations of docking, nicking, castra-
tion, &e.

THE SYMPTOMS are a permanent rigidity of certain voluntary
muscles, and especially of the lower jaw (whence the popular
name, lock-jaw). The mouth is kept rigidly shut, the masseter
muscles feeling as hard as a deal board. One or both sides of the
neck are rigid, in the former case the head being turned to one
side, and in the latter stretched out as if carved in marble. The
nostrils are dilated; the eyes retracted, with the haws thrust for-
ward over them; the ears erect and stiff, and the countenance as
if horror-struck. At first the extremities are seldom inyolved,
but as the disease progresses their control ts first lost, and then
they become rigid, like the neck and head. The patient is scarcely
able to stand, and plants his feet widely apart to prop himself up,
while at last the tail also becomes a fixture. The pulse varices a
good deal, in some cases being quick, sinall, and hard, and in
others slow and labored. The bowels are generally costive, and
the urine scanty; but this last symptom is not so well marked as
the state of the bowels alluded to. The treatment should be of a
two-fold nature, partly palliative and partly curative. Since the
introduction into use of chloroform we have possessed a drug which
invariably enables us to remove the spasm for a time, and if it
does nothing more, it gives room for other remedies to act and
relieve the patient from the horrible tortures which are occasioned
by the spasin, while it also allows the muscular and nervous powers
to be recruited. When, therefore, a case of tetanus occurs in a
horse of any value, an apparatus for applying chloroform (described
under the chapter on Operations) should be procured, and tie
animal at once placed under its influence. This done, the whole
length of the spine snould be blistered with tincture of cantharides,
and an active aperient should be given, consisting, if practicable,
of a pint of castor oil, and six or eight drops of croton oil. This
may be pumped down the throat by the usual syringe and tube,
if the front teeth can be separated; but if this cannot be done,
some solid cathartic must be selected, though there is often as
much difficulty in forcing a ball down as in passing an elastic tube.
Failing in either of these, two drachms of calomel, and the same
quautity,of tartar emetic should be slightly damped, and placed in

96 THE HORSE.

the mouth as far back as possible, in the hope that they may be
gradually swallowed; the bowels should be raked, and copious
injections of castor oil and turpentine, mixed with several quarts
of gruel, should be thrown up. If these remedies fail, nature must
be left to her own resources, and they will sometimes be found
equal to the task, for many cases have recovered after having been
given up «3s beyond the reach of our art. Opium, hexbane,
digitalis, hellebor2, and a host of other drugs have been tried,
sometimes with, and sometimes without success, and perhaps it is
worth while, after the bowels have been well relieved, to give a
full dose of one or other of these powerful remedies, such as two
drachms of solid opium; but I confess that I think little reliance
is to be placed on them, and I prefer the adoption of chloroform
every six hours, continued for about two or three hours and gra-

dually withdrawn, leaving the cure to the action of the bliste: and
purgatives

APOPLEXY AND PARALYSIS.

Usvuay these are only different degrees of the same disease,
but there are exceptions in which the latter is produced by some
chronic affection of the spinal cord or brain. As a rule both de-
pend upon pressure made on the brain by an overloaded state of
the vessels) commonly known as congestion, or by extravasation
of blood, in which it escapes from them.

APOPLEXY, known among writers of the old school as sleepy
stagvers, is not often met with in the present day, owing to the
improvement in the management of our stables, and specially to
their better ventilation. It is marked by great sleepiness, from
which the horse can be with difficulty roused, soon going on to
absolute unconsciousness, attended by a slow snoring respiration,
and speedily followed by death. The only treatment likely to be
successful is copious bleeding, purgation, and blisters to the head
and neck.

PaRatysts is marked by a loss of power over the muscles of a
part, and may be confined to one limb or organ or extend to more.
It is a symptom of pressure on, or disorganization of, some pait of
the nervous system, and must be considered as such, and nut as a
disease of the affected muscles. Thus it requires a knowledge of
anatomy to trace it to its seat, without which its treatment would
be conducted on false principles. By far the most common form
of paralysis is hemiplegia, or paralysis of the muscles of the hinder
extremities and loins, generally arising from an injury to the spine.
Sometimes the body of a vertebra is broken, and the parts being
separated, their edges press upon the spinal cord and produce the
disease. At others the vessels within the canal have received a

PARALYSIS—STRING HALT. 97

shock, ani the serous membrane secretes (or allows to ooze out)
a bloody fluid which presses upon the cord, and produces the same
effect but in a more gradual manner. In India, a disease known
there as Kumree causes paralysis of the hinder extremities, and is
due to inflammation of the membranes, which secrete a bloody
serum. In this country, however, paraplegia is very rare except-
ing as the result of accident.

WHEN A HORSE FALLS in hunting, and never moves his hind
legs afterwards, but lies with his fore legs in the position to get
up, groaning and expressing great pain and distress, it may be
concluded that he has fractured or dislocated his spine and that
the case is hopeless. Sometimes, however, after lying for a few
seconds, he slowly and with difficulty rises anu 1» ‘ed to a stable,
but after two or three hours lies down and cannot be got up again.
Here there will be some difficulty in ascertaining whether the mis-
chief is confined to a strain of the muscles or is situated within
the vertebral canal. If the former is the case the pain is extreme,
and generally there will be some quivering cr slight spasm of one
or more of the muscles of the hinder extremity, which feel natu-
rally firm, while in paralysis they feel soft and are as quiet as they
would be after death. By attention to these signs the two cases
may be distinguished, but when the case is made out to be true
paralysis the treatment is not likely (even if successful in preserv-
ing life) to bring about a useful restoration to healthy action. In
valuable horses an attempt may be made by bleeding, physicking
and blistering, to produce an absorption of the effused serum ot
blood, but the recovered animal is seldom worth the outlay, and
too often as soon as he is put to any kind of work is subject to a
relapse. The most humane and certainly the most economical
plan is to put him out of his misery at once by a pistol ball or
knife, but if it is determined to try what can be done towards
effecting a cure, no better means can be adopted than those I have
alluded to.

STRING HALT.

THIS IS A PECULIAR SNATCHING UP of the hind leg, and is
supposed to depend upon some obscure disease of the sciatic nerve.
It however is very doubtful whether this explanation is well
founded, and there is evidence that in some cases the hock itself
has been affected. The extensor pedis seems to be the muscle
most severely implicated, though not the only one which is thrown
into spasmodic action. No treatment is of the slightest avail.
Horses with string halt are able to do any kind of work, but it is
considered to be a form of unsoundness.

7

98 THE HORSE.

[SUNSTROKE—COUP DE SOLEIL.

THIS DISEASE of late years has become of so frequent occar
rence, that although not mentioned by previous veterinary writers, it
demands a notice from us. The chicf symptoms are exhaustion
and stupidity, the animal usually falling to the ground and being
unable to go further.

TO PREVENT IT, allow the horse at short intervals a few mouth
fuls of water, and fasten a wet sponge over the forehead. The
sun-shades now used by extensive owners of horses, will go very
far in lessening the occurrence of this affection.

The following treatment, when attended to at once, in the majority

of cases will prove effectual.
_ First. Remove the horse from the harness to a cool shady
place. Second. Give two ounces of sulphuric ether ; 20 drops of the
tincture of aconite root and a bottle of ale or porter as a drench te
sustain the vital powers, and to act as a powerful stimulant in
equalizing the circulation throughout the body; whilst, 7'hird/y.
Chopped ice is to be placed in a coarse towel, cloth or bag, and
laid between the ears and over the forehead, secured in any way
the ingenuity of the person in charge may suggest. If the levs
be cold, bandages will be of advantage. Do not put the horse to
work again until he is completely restored. Dumbness is the
usual result of sun-stroke—a species of coma—for which there is
no vure. Tlorses so affected are of little use in warm weather but
are useful in winter.

INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE 99

CHAPTER Vi.
DISEASES AND INJURIES OF CERTAIN SPECIAL ORGANS.

Diseases of the Ear—Inflammaton of the Eye—Cataract—Amau-
rosis — Buck-eye— Sur feat — Hidebound —Mange-—Lice— Mal.
lenders and Sallenders—Warbles, Sitfasts and [Harness-Galls-~
Grubs—Bites and Sings of Insects—Swellea Legs—Chapped
Heels ~— Grease and Scratches —W arts —Corns — Sandcrack —
Fatse Quarter—Quittor— Thrush—Canker—Lam:nitis—Seedy
Loe—Contraction of the Foot—Navicular Disease—Accidents

to the Legs and Feet.

DISEASES OF THE EAR.

DEAENESS is sometimes met with in the horse, but I know-of no
symptoms by which its precise nature can be made out; and with-
out ascertaining the seat of the disease, it is useless to attempt to
treat it.

SOMETIMES FROM A BLOW on the external ear inflammation is
set up, and an abscess forms ; but all that is necessary is to open it,
so that the matter can readily flow out as fast as it forms, without
which precaution it will not readily heal.

INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE.

THIS IMPORTANT ORGAN is subject to three forms of inflamma-
tion, to opacity of the lens, and to paralysis of the nerve, called
amaurosis.

SIMPLE INFLAMMATION is the most common of all the diseases
to which the horse’s eye is subject, and it precedes most of the
others. It is always the result of any injury of this part, or of
eold; and it shows itself if there is a tendency to inflammation
of this organ, whenever the horse is in a state of plethora. The
symptoms are an intolerance of light, so that the eye is kept half
closed, by which it looks smaller than the other; a gummy secre-
tion glues the lids together at the angles; the eyelids are slightly
swollen, showing a distended state of their veins; and there is
more or less watering or overflowing of tears When the lids are
separated, their internal surface looks more red than natural, and
the white of the eye is covered with a net-work of fine red ves-
sels. After the second day the transparent cornea leses its clear-
ness, and becomes muddy, sometimes over the whole surface, and
at others in specks. If the disease is allowed to go on unehecked,
the cornea is involved, and the lining membrane of the aqueous
humor follows; a secretion of pus takes place into the chamber,
or the cornca ulcerates, and the con‘ents of the eye escape. The

‘

100 THE MORSE.

treatment should ye a copious bleeding from the jugular vein, fol-
lowed by a ball, such as—

Take of Common’ Physie. Ball . < -... ., ., 2 drachms.
Dattat ISmMeue: oor o' a eaee a eat eenl
Mix and give every six hours.

rhis not only acts on the intestines, but it keeps up a constant
ba'tsea, and so tends to lower the action of the heart. The eye
should be bathed with warm water frequently; and, if the mischief
be sev re, a seton should at once be put into the skin covering the
upper jaw, about two inches below the eye. On the next day, if
“the white” still looks red, the bleeding must be repeated; and,
if the bowels are much moved, the tartar emetic may be continued
without the aloes, while if they are obstinate, the dose of the lat-
ter may be increased. When the acute symptoms have somewhat
diminished, a camel’s-hair brush may be dipped in wine of opium,
and the eye gentiy touched with it daily, which will generally com-
plete the cure. The diet must be Jow, corn being forbidden en-
tirely, and the stable should be kept very cool and airy.

PURULENT OPHTHALMIA is confined to the conjunctiva, and it
may be recognised by the profuse discharge of purulent fluid
which takes place. The eyelids are much swollen, and the white
of the eye is covered with a puffy red membrane, which rises up
above the level of the cornea, sometimes in fungoid excrescences.
This form of inflammation is generally epidemic, and sometimes
runs through a stable without a single exception. The treatment
should be, at first, similar to that recommended for simple inflam-
mation; but when it reaches the chronic stage, a more powerful
stimulus is required to restore the vessels to a healthy condition.
A wash composed as follows, must therefore be applied :—

Take of Nitrate of Siiver oii ga i ioe, a voll dial coun ta ie eet
Distilled Water \.. on; pa, Ay, 3 oe ane ae ae
Mix, and drop a little into the eye from a quill daily.

Trirts. or inflammation of the iris, generally known as specific
ophthalmia, is the most formidable of all the diseases to which the
eye 1s subject, and, if not checked, rapidly disorganizes it; while
it also, even when renning an unusually favorable course, is very
apt to produce opacity of the lens or its capsule (cataract). This
pest of the stable is, undoubtedly, often brought on by over stimu-
lation, first of the whole body, through the food, and secondly, of
the cyes themselves, through the foul emanations from the acc

DISEASES OF THE EYE. 101

mulated urine and dung. But these would produce no such effect
in a horse, unless he were predisposed to ophthalmia ; and we fina
that cattle and sheep are often fed to an enormous degree of obe-
sity, in far closer and worse ventilated stalls, without any prejudi
cial effect upon their eyes. It may, then, be assumed, that these
organs in a horse have a tendency to put on inflammation; but
though these words are true they explain nothing of the real cause,
and only serve to conceal our ignorance of it. There is another
qnestion bearing upon this subject, which is of the highest import-
auce. Is the stock of blind horses more liable to blindness than
that of sound ones? This has been discussed so often, that it is
scarcely possible to throw any fresh light upon it, chiefly because
it is so difficult to rely upon the facts adduced pro and con. Blind.
ness is often the result of accident, and such cases are believed to be
exceptional, and not at all likely to hand down the disease ; but, on
the contrary, I am inclined to believe that many of them show a
marked tendency to its development; for an accident never destroys
both eyes, and when one follows the other, it is a pretty sure sign that
there is a tendency to ophthalmia. On the whole, it may, I think, be
assumed, that the tendency to specific ophthalmia is handed down
from generation to generation, and, consequently, that the offspring
of a horse who has gone blind from that cause Is peculiarly prone
to it. Its symptoms appear very rapidly, the eye having been
quite right over night, looks contracted and almost closed next
morning, and on inspecting it closely “the white’ looks of a deep
red, the cornea looks muddy, and the colored part of the eye (the
iris) has lost its bright color, and often shows one or two white specks
upon it (these must not be confounded with specks on the cornea).
As the disease advances, the intolerance of light is very great, the
cornea and iris become gradually more muddy, and either lymph
is thrown out on the latter in the shape of white patches, or pus
‘s secreted and fills the chamber of the aqueous humor, in part or
whollv. If the treatment 1s sufficiently energetic, these signs
abate, the pus or lymph is absorbed, and the eye recovers its trans-
parency ; but there are generally some traces left behind. Bleed-
ing (either from the jugular or the angular veins of the face),
moderate purging, and a seton, are the remedies best calculated to
effect this object, conjoined with an airy stable and a light diet.
Unfortunately, however, iritis is almost sure to return on the
restoration of the usual food, and exposure to the elements ; and
hence it is of the utmost consequence in purchasing a horse ta
examine his eyes for the marks lett behind by it. If the case 1s
hopeless, it becomes a question whether or not it will be wise te
put an end to the inflammation by destroying the affected eye, for
it is well known that if it goes on for any length of time the other,
sound eye, becomes affected. The only difficulty consists in feel-

102 THE HORSE.

ing assured thal, there is really no chance of recovery; for when
once the eye is finally condemned, the sooner it is opened and its
contents evacuated, the sooner will the horse return to his work, and
the more chance has the other eye of escaping. The operation is
very simple, and merely requires a sharp-pointed knife to be passed
into the anterior chamber from one edge of the cornea, and driven
hack till it cuts into the lens, when it is to be brought out on tha
other side uf the cornea, and the whole of the humors will escape
on making pressure upon the upper eyelid.

In INJURIES of the eye, fomentation with warm water should
be carried on for half an hour, and then omitted for three or four
hours; after which it may be repeated again and again, at similar
intervals. Great care should be taken to remove any extraneous
bodies, such as particles of dust, &c.

CATARACT, or opacity of the lens, is very commonly the result
of iritis, its capsule having been coated with a layer of white lymph,
deposited by the inflamed vessels; but it also sometimes makes its
appearance without being preceded by any of the signs of inflam-
mation. In the former case, the early symptoms are those of iritis ;
but in the latter, the opacity often goes on increasing, without the
owner of the horse, or his groom, having his attention drawn to
the eyes, until he finds that he is nearly blind. This progress is
generally marked by the development of an unusual timidity; the
previously-bold animal is alarmed at objects advancing on the road,
and covered carts and wagons, of which he formerly took no notice,
vecasion him to shy in the most timid manner. On examining his
eyes carefully, instead of the beautifully clear pupil, with the re-
flection of tapetum lucidum shining through it, there is seen either
amass of dull white, generally more opaque in the centre, or an
appearance of mottled, semi-transparent soap, or, lastly, one or two
distinct white spots, not quite circular, but with irregular edges.
In confirined cataract, the white pupil can been seen at any dis-
tance; but in the very early stage, only a practised eye can detect
the opacity, which, however, is so manifest to him that he wonders
it is not visible to every one else. The reason of this difficulty of
detecting the alteration of structure seems to be, that inexperienced
examiners look at the eye in such a manner that they are confused
by the reflection on it of their own faces, hiding all beneath. If,
however, they will turn their heads a little more on one side, this
wil. disappear, and they cannot fail to perceive the disease. When
eataract is clearly proved to exist, all idea of treatment may be
abandoned, as nothing but an operation can procure a removal of
_ the opacity ; and that would leave the horse in a more useless con-
dition than before, since he could see nothing clearly, and would
only be subject to continual alarms. In the human being, the
operation is performed with great success, becausc the lens whi zh.

AMAUROSIS—BUCK EYE. ‘ 103

{a sacrificed can be replaced externally by means of convex glasses ,
but in the horse, nothing of the kind can be done. Hence, it 1a
useluss to dream of effecting any improvement in this disease; and
if both eyes are the subject of cataract, the horse is incurably
blind. But supposing there is a cataract in one eye only, is the
other sure to go blind, or may a reasonable hope be entertained of
ifs remaining “sound? Here the history of the disease must be
examined before any opinion can be formed If the oracity ful
lowed an accident, there is no reason for concluding that the othes
eye will become diseased; but if it came on idiopathically, either
preceded by inflammation or otherwise, there is great risk of a
repetition in the sound eye. Nevertheless, instances are common
enough of one eye going blind from cataract, while the other re-
mains sound to the end of life; and those are still more frequent
in which the one sound eye continues so for six or seven years.

AMAUROSIS.

Tits 18 A PALSY of the nervous expansion called the retina,
produced by some disease, either functional or organic, of the optic
nerve, which is generally beyond the reach of our senses, in ex-
amining it after death. The symptoms are a ful] dilatation of the
pupil, so that the iris is shrunk to a thin band around it, and is so
insensible to the stimulus of light, in confirmed cases, that, even
when the eye is exposed to the ‘direct rays of the sun, it does not
contract. In the early stages, this insensibility is only partial ; and
though there is such complete blindness that the horse cannot dis-
tinguish the nature of surrounding objects, yet the pupil contracts
slightly, and the inexperienced examiner might pass the eye as a
sound one. The unnaturally large pupil, however, should always
create suspicion; and when, on closing the lids and re-opening
them in a strong light, there is little or no variation in its size, the
nature of the disease i is at once made apparent. The treatment of
amaurosis must depend upon the extent to which it has gone, and
its duration. If recent, bleeding and a seton in close proximity
to the diseased organ will be the most likely to restore it. Some-
times the disease depends upon a disordered condition of the sto-
mach, and then a run at grass will be the most likely means to
restore both the affected organs to a sound state. Generally, how-
ever, an amaurotic eye in the horse may be considered as a hope-

Jess case.
BUCK EYE.

A BOCK EYE is, strictly, rather a congenital malformation than a
disease ; but practically, in reference to the utility of the animal,
it matters little. It depends upon an excess of couvexity in the
eorneay by which the focus of the eye is shortened too much, the
image being thus rendered indistinct as it falls on the retina. Nu
treatment cau be of the slightest use.

104 THE HORSE.

SURFEIT.

AN rRuPTION of the skin, which shows itself in the form of
humerous small scabs, matting the hair, and chiefly met with on
the Joins and quarters, is known by this name. Doubtless, it has
been supposed to arise from an excess of food, causing indigestion ;
bu: it often comes on in horses which, apparently, are quite free
from that disorder. The most common cause appears to be, sweat-
ing the horse when he is in a gross or plethoric condition, and then
exposing him to a chill. Colts are very subject to surfeit while
being broken, as are horses fresh from grass during the summer,
when they are usually over-fat, and require great care in reducing
this plethorie condition. The usual course of the eruption is for
the scabs to dry and gradually loosen, when the hair of the part is
slightly thinned by being pulled out in dressing, a fresh crop of
pustules forming, and, to the casual observer, keeping up the ap-
pearance of a permanent state of the original scabs. Surfeit is
not confined to gross horses, as it sometimes makes its appearance
in those which are low in condition, exhibiting the same appear-
ance to the eye; but, on examination, the secretion from the skin
will be found to be thinner, and of a more purulent nature. The
treatment must greatly depend upon the state of the general health.
If the horse is very gross, it may be desirable to take a little blood
away; but this will ‘seldom be necessary. and never is desirable.
Physic seems to do little immediate good; and, indeed, it is very
doubtful whether any treatment is of much service, excepting such
as will gradually bring the horse into working condition. The
disease, in most cases, has its origin in obstruction of the seba-
ceous and perspiratory pores; and until these are restored to their
proper functions, by gradually exercising them, little good can be
done. Unfortunately, the very means which will accomplish this
object are apt to increase the disease for a time; but still this
must be put up with, as a matter in which no choice can be made.
Regular exercise and grooming must be fully attended to, using
the whisp only in dressing the skin, when the eruption shows
itself, and carefully avoiding the brush and currycomb. By acting
on the kidneys, mure eood will be done than by purging physic,
which seems to be of little or no service in any case but when the
stomach is greatly out of order. An ounce of nitre may be given
with a mash twice a week, or the following balls may be ad-
mil.istered :—

Tuke of Nitre,
itl PMU, Ol CHON” res. co, ei ot ee ee eee 83 drachms.

Sulphuret of Antimony... . . 2 drachms.
Linseed Meal and Water cnough to form two balls.

HIDEBOUND—MANGE. 105

HIDEBOUND.

THIS {8 ESSENTIALLY a disorder of the skin produced by sym-
pathy with the stomach. It rarely occurs in any horse but one
sadly out of health from a deficiency either in the quantity or
quality of the food. Sometimes it comes on in the latter stages of
consumption or dysentery, without any previous mismanagement;
but in the vast majority of cases the cause may be laid to the
food. The skin of a horse in health feels supple, and on his sides
it may readily be gathered up by the hand into a large fold, but
in hidebound it is as if it were glued to the ribs, and were also too
tight for the carcase which it invests. The name, indeed, is
expressive of this state, and the disease can scarcely be mistaken
when once seen, or rather felt. Coincident with this condition of
the skin, there is also, generally, either a distended state of the
abdomen from flatulence, or a contracted and “tucked up” appear-
ance from diarrhoea. The treatment should be addressed to the
digestive organs, the state of which must be carefully examined,
and if possible rectified. A pint of linseed, scalded, and mixed
with a bran mash every night, or scalded malt given in equal
quantities with the corn; or in the spring time, vetches, clover, or
lucerne, will do more than any medicine; but when there is a
deficient appetite, or the bowels or stomach, or either of them,
are evidently much weakened and disordered, a stomachic ball
once or twice a week will do good. The remedies appropriate to
these several conditions will be found under their respective heads
at pages 304, and 363, 364.

MANGE.

MANGE corresponds with the itch of the human snbject in
being produced by a parasitic insect, which is an acarus, but of a
different species to that of man, and of a much larger size, so as to
be readily visible to the naked eye. It is generally produced by
contact with horses previously affected with the same disease, but
it appears highly probable that a poor, half-starved animal, allowed
to accumulate all kinds of dirt on his skin, will develop the para-
site, though how this is done is not clearly made out. The whole
subject of parasites is wrapped in mystery, which modern researches
appear likely to fathom, but hitherto little progress has been made
except in the history of the metamorphoses of the tape-worm,
from the analogy of which some idea may be formed of the prob-
able modes of production of other parasites. When caused by
contagion, as certainly happens in the vast majority of cases, the
first symptoms noticed will be an excessive itching of the skin,
which is soon followed by a bareness of the hair in patches, partly
eaused by constant friction. The disease usually sl.ows itself on

106 THE HORSE.

the side of the neck, just at the edges of the mane, and on the
insides of the quarters near the root of the tail. From these
parts the eruption extends along the back and dovn the sides,
seldom involving the extremities excepting in very confirmed
easez. After a time the hair almost entirely falls off, leaving the
skin at first bare and smooth, with a few small red pimples scat
tered over it, each of which contains an acarus, and these are con-
nected by furrows, along which the acari have worked their way
to their present habitation. In process of time the pimples
increase in number and size, and from them a matter exudes
which hardens into a scab, beneath which, on examination,
several azari may readily be seen, moving their legs like mitcs in
a cheese, to which they are closely allied. At first the mangy
horse may keep his health, but after a time the constant irritation
makes him feverish ; he loses flesh, and becomes a most miserable
object; but such cases of neglect are happily rare in the present
day. he treatment must be addressed to the destruction of the
lite of the acarus, which, as in the human subject, is rapidly
destroyed by sulphur, turpentine, arsenic, hellebore, and corrosive
sublimate. Some of these drugs are, however, objectionable,
from being poisonous to the horse, as well as to the parasite which
preys upon him, and they are, therefore, not to be employed
without great and urgent necessity, in consequence of the failure
of milder remedies. |The following recipes may be relied on :
perfectly efficacious, the former being sufficient in mild cases, and
the latter being strong enough in any.

1. Take of Common Sulphur ..... 602.
Sperm or Train Oil oe de id om occ Es
Spirit of Turpentine . . . . 8oz.
Mix and rub well into the skin with a flannel, or in preference with a
painter’s brush.

-2. Take of Compound Sulphur Ointment . . 8 oz.
Train or Sperm Oil. reer et ee
Spirit of ‘Iurpentine*-.. 4)... i. Sen
Mix and use as above.

One or other of the above dressings should be well rubbed in
every third day for at least three or four weeks in bad cases, and
two in trifling ones, when the inflammation resulting from the
avari and also from the application may be allowed to subside in
the hope that all the parasites are killed, in which case the erupe
tion disappears, but the hair does not always come on again as
thickly as ever. All the stable fittings around the stall or box in
which the horse has been standing should be thoroughly washed
over with a solution of corrosive sublimate, made as follows :-=

MANGE—LICE—MALLENDERS, ETC. 107

Take of Corrosive Sublimate . . . . » 1 oz.
Methylated Spirit of Wine . . . 60z.
WERECE gr aprtete tase a) ek mies ma Ballons
Dissolve the sublimate in the spirit by rubbing in a mortar, then mix with
the water, and use with a brush, stirring it up continually to prevent its
settling.

The clothing should be destroyed, as it is scarcely possible ty
cleanse it completely from the parasites; but if it is determined ta
risk a return of the disease, it should be thoroughly washed, ard
when dry, saturated with spirit of turpentine.

When the health has suffered from the irritation of mange. a
few tonic balls may be required, but generally the remcval of the
cause will be sufficient.

LICE.

IN FORMER DAYS LICE were not uncommon in the horse, but
they are now comparatively rare. Still they are occasionally met
with, and their presence is readily ascertained, being of a consi-
derable size, and easily seen with the naked eye. They may be
destroyed by rubbing into the roots of the hair white precipitate,
in powder, taking care to avoid sweating the horse or wetting his
skin for some days afterwards.

MALLENDERS AND SALLENDERS.

THESE ERUPTIONS are both of the same nature, differing only
in the locality where they are displayed. The former shows itself
in the flexure at the back of the knee, and the latter at the bend
of the hock. The symptoms are shown in the appearance of a foul
scurf mixed with a few thin scabs, the skin underneath being stiff
and unyielding. They are generally brought on by washing the
legs and leaving them undried. The treatment required is merely
- the application of the following ointment, which should be well
rulbed in every night :—

Take of Cerate of Superacetate of Lead . 2 2.
Crecsete: oa a) ect ao ee or FOdrops:. “Mine:

If the skin continues to be very hard and stiff, a little glycerine
sbould be brushed on two or three times a weck.

WARBLES, SITFASTS, AND HARNESS GALLS.
WHEN THE SADDLE HAS GALLED the skin beneath it, the ja-

108 THE HORSE.

flammation resulting is called a “warble,” and if this is neglected,
so an t) cause a troublesome sore, the term ‘‘sitfast” is applied.
The effect produced is similar to a harness gall, and there is not
the slightest necessity for inventing names to distinguish each stage
of cruelty in the rider, for if attention is paid to the warble no sit-
fast will ever m: ke its appearance. Prevention is better than cure,
and it may almost always be effected by the adoption of the plan
of always keeping the saddle on (after loosing the girths) for a
quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. Sometimes, however, in
spite of this precaution, the skin of the back swells, and when a
heavy man has been riding for six or eight hours on a horse unac-
customed to his weight, the cuticle will perhaps peel off, bringing
the hair with it. When the swelling is considerable it should be
well fomented for an hour, and then bathed with a lotion composed
of one drachm of tincture of arnica in half a pint of water. The
saddle should never be re-applied until the skin is quite cool and
free from all inflammation, even if considerable inconvenience is
thereby suffered. The same treatment will also apply to harness
galls. Oiling the inside of the collar will often prevent the shoulder
from suffering excoriation.

GRUBS.

THE LARVA OF SOME BEETLE, but of what species I do rot
know, is occasionally met with in the horse, causing a small luinp,
about the size of a raisin, and usually on the back. This obsti-
nately continues for months, if its nature is not understood, in
spite of all ordinary applications. At last a white larva or grub,
with a black head, and very similar in everything but size to the
maggot found in the nut, makes its appearance, and either escapes
to fall on the ground and become a chrysalis, or else it is squeezed
out by the groom, which is easily done as soon as the head is visi-
ble. When discovered previously, an opening may be made with
the point of a penknife, and then the larva may be gradually
squeezed out. avoiding too much haste in the operation, which will
only retard the process.

BITES AND STINGS OF INSECTS.

IToRSES ARE IIABLE TO BE STUNG by hornets, wasps, and bees.
Ii there are only one or two stings made, no interference is neces-
sary; but sometimes a larger number of poisonous puvctures have
been effected, and then the best treatment is the application of
spirit of turpentine and laudanum in equal proportions.

THE BITES OF THE GADFLY are so troublesome in their effects
that it is sometimes desirable to prevent them if possible. This is
effected by making a strong infusion of the green bark of the elder,
end washing the flanks, &c., with it before going out.

SWELLED LEGS. 109

SWELLED LEGS.

THE SKIN OF THE LEGS AND THE CELLULAR MEMBRANE be.
neath it are liable to two kinds of swelling, one of which is of an
infiammatory character, while the other is solely due to a deposit of
serum (cedema), owing to the non-performance of their office by
the kidneys. Both kinds are much more frequent in the hind legs
than the fore, but especially the former. —

INFLAMMATORY SWELLED LEG, sometimes called weed, is gene-
rally accompanied by a certain amount of feverishness, and comes
on suddenly, almost always showing itself on the inside of the hind
lez which is hot and extremely tender. It is not a very common
disease, and merely requires the ordinary low treatment, by purging
physic, and, if necessary, bleeding. Should it continue for more
than two or three days after these are tried, an ounce of nitre may
be given every night in a bran mash.

ORDINARY SWELLING OF THE LEGS, OR @DEMA, occurs in every
degree, from a slight ‘filling,’ to which many horses are always
subject, whether they work or stand in the stable, to an enlarge-
ment extending up to the stifles and elbows, sometimes rendering
the legs almost as round and as hard as mill-posts. When horses
are first brought in from grass their legs almost always fill more or
less, and until they are regularly seasoned to their work there is
seldom that clean condition of the suspensory ligaments and back
sinews which one likes to see even before the daily exercise is given.
The oedema appears to depend partly upon a deficient action of the
kidneys, but chiefly on the vessels of the legs not acting sufficiently
without constant walking exercise, such as is natural to the horse
when at liberty, and which he takes at grass. Half an hour’s walk-
ing will generally produce absorption completely, so that a daily
remedy is forthcoming; but asa rule, whenever there is this ten-
dency to ‘filling’ of the fegs, the cellular membrane is not the
only tissue in fault, but the tendons and joints are also liable to
inflammation. The treatment will greatly depend on the exact
eause. If the swelling is only due to the change from grass to
the confinement of a warm stable, time alone is wanted, taking care
not to overwork the horse in the mean time. Bandages will always
assist in keeping down the swelling; but they should not be used
without necessity, as when once the horse becomes accustomed tu
them his legs can hardly be kept fine without their aid. If weak-
ness is the cause, a drachm of sulphate of iron given in the corn
twice a day will often strengthen the system, and with it the legs.
Diuretics may be adopted as an occasional aid to the kidneys, but
they should be of the mildest kind, such as nitre, or they will do
more harm, by: weakening the body generally, than good by their
stimulus to the kidneys. Indeed, they are often the sole cause of

110 THE HORSE.

the legs filling, for some grooms use them so continually, whether
they are wanted or not, that the kidneys become diseased and refuse
to act, which is a sure forerunner of oedema. Where swelling of
the legs is confirmed, bandages must be regular’7 applicd as recom-
mended at page 196.

CHAPPED HEELS.

WHEN A HORSE SUFFERS FROM CDEMA Of the legs, he is par
ticularly prone to an eruption of a watery nature in the cleft
between the heels and behind the lesser pastern, Those also
whose legs are washed and not dried are still more prone to it,
especially if the hair is white. The skin cracks, and, in bad cases,
1s so inflamed and swollen that the leg cannot be bent without great
pain, and often there is a bleeding from the cracks, caused by the
action of the limb, but only to a sufficient extent to show that blood
has escaped. The treatment must be local as well as general if the
eruption is not entirely due to mismanagement. In any case, the
part should be dressed with cerate of acetate of lead, a little of
which should be rubbed in every night. Next morning some gly-
cerine should be brushed on an hour at least before the exercise,
and renewed before the daily work is commenced. This will pre-
vont all risk of the skin cracking, while the ointment will act bene-
ficially on the vessels of the part. ._In addition to these applica-
tions, the general health should be attended to if in fault, and
tonics or diuretics should be given, as the case may require.

GREASE.

TNE ERUPTION KNOWN AS GREASE is sometimes only an agera-
vated form of chapped heels, and is often preceded by them. At
others the appearance of the disease is ushered in by constitutional
symptoms, such as feverishness, oedema of the limbs and hide-
bound. The first local symptom is a slight swelling of the skin
ot the heels and adjacent parts, which soon cracks, and from the
fissures there exudes an offensive discharge which looks greasy, but
is really watery, being of a scrous nature. It inflames every part
that it touches, and has a tendency to cause a spread of the eruption ©
tn all directions, but chiefly downwards. The legs go on swelling to
a frightful extent, and are thereby rendered so stiff and sore that
great lameness is produced. If this stage is neglected the whole
surface ulcerates, and a fungous growth makes its appearance,
chiefly from the original cracks. The discharge becomes purulent
aud has a most foul smell, and the leg ean with difficulty be bent
at all. nally, the fungoas exerescences cover the whole of the
diseased skin, being of a bright red color, and slightly resembling
grapes in form, from which circumstances this stage has been

GREASE, OR SCRATCHES. Tt

called ‘the grapes.” It is now very rare to mect with grease In
any of its forms except in the eart-stable, where the hairy legs of
its inmates render them peculiarly prone to its attacks, from the
time required to dry them when wet. They are so difficult to clean
without water that the carters may well be excused for using it,
but if they do they ought carefully to dry the legs afterwards.
The treatment when grease is established must be founded upon
the same principle as in chapped heels. The skin must be kept
supple, and at the same time stimulated to a healthy action. For
the former purpose glycerine is most valuable, being far more effi-
cacious than any greasy dressing, such as we were obiiged to employ
before the discovery of this substance. In all the stages of grease,
this latter agent may be employed, and as it is readily soluble in
water it can be washed off and renewed as often as it may be desired.
The discharge is so foul and irritating that it ought to be thoroughly
removed at least once in twenty-four hours, and one of the chief
advantages of the use of glycerine is that it so greatly assists this
cleansing process from its solubility in water. In addition to this
emollient plan, some stimulus must be selected, and none answers
so well (in all stages but the very earliest) as chloride of zine.
When, therefore, the heels are in that state that it is almost doubt-
ful whether the disease is the mere chap or absolute grease, the
trentment recommended for the former may be tried, but should
this fail, the groom should at once proceed to cut the hair of the
skin which is diseased as short as possible. Then let him take
some soap and warm water and gently wash the parts with a sponge
till the skin is perfectly clean and free from scab or scurf, taking
care to remove every particle of soap by well rinsing it. Next dry
the lez, and then with a small paint-brush rub gently into the in-
flamed parts enough of the following lotion to damp them, but not
to wet them thoroughly :—

Take of Chloride of Zinc . « «© © © © © » © SO grs.
Water e e ° s J s e se e e s e 1 piut. Mix.

A quarter of an hour afterwards apply a little glycerine over the
whole, and keep the parts sufficiently supple with it. If there is
much discharge the cleansing may be repeated night and morning,
followed by the chloride of zinc, but in most cases once a day will
be sufficiently often. If the ulcerated or inflamed skin does not
put on a healthy appearance in a few days, the lotion may be in-
creased in strength, using forty, fifty, or sixty grains to the pint,
as required; but the remedy will be found to be almost a specific. ex-
cept for the grapy form, if properly proportioned in strength. When
the fungoid growths are very extensive, nothing but their removal,
either by the knife or by the actual or potential cautery, will suffice.
The least painful plan is to slice them off to a level with the skir

Tt? THE HORSE.

and then just touch the bleeding surface with a hot iron, which
will have the double good effect of stopping the bleeding and in-
ducing a healthy action. ‘The glycerine may then be applied, and
next day the leg may be treated in the same way as for ordinary
grease described above. When the disease is of long standing
local applications may cure it for a time, but either it will return,
or there will be some other organ attacked, unless the unhealthy
wtate of the blood is attended ‘o. It must be remembered that
during the existence of grease this vital fluid is called upon to
supply the materials for the secretion which is constantly going on.
Now if on the cessation of the demand for them the blood still
goes on obtaining its supplies from the digestive organs, it becomes
overloaded, a state of plethora is established, which Nature attempts
to relieve in some one or other of her established modes by setting
up disease. To avoid such a result arsenic may be given internally,
for this medicine has a special power in counteracting this ten-
dency. How it acts has never yet been made out, but that it does
exert such a power is thoroughly ascertained, and if the doses are
not too large it is unattended by any injurious effect. Indeed for a
time it seems to act as asa tonic. ‘The arsenic should be given in
solution and with the food, so as to procure its absorption into the
blood without weakening the stomach. <A wine-glassful of liquor
arsenicalis (14 oz.) should be poured over the corn twice a day,
and continued for a couple of months, when it may be discontinued
with a fair hope of its having had the desired effect. Should the
skin, however, look inflamed, a second course of it may be given,
and it will be found that if it is given with the corn it will not be
followed by any injurious consequences.

WARTS. /

Warts are, generally, only to be considered as eyesores; for,
unless they appear on the penis, they are not injurious to health ;
nor do ‘hey interfere with work unless they happen to appear on
the shoulders beneath the collar in a harness horse, which is very
rare indeed. They are, doubtless, very unsightly, and, for this
reason, it is often desired to remove them, which may be done by
first picking off the rough outer surface, so as to make them bleed,
and then rubbing in, with a stiff brush, some yellow orpiment,
wetted with a little water. This will cause considerable inflam-
mation, and in a few days the wart will drop off, leaving a healthy
sore, which soon heals. ‘Sometimes the whole wart docs not come
away on the first application, in which case a second must he
made. When the glans penis is completely covered with warts,

WARTS AND CORNS. ba

the best plan is to amputate it, as it requires the greatest caution
and tact to remove them by arsenic or any other caustic without
destroying, also, as much of the penis as is taken away by the
knife.

CORNS.

THESE TROUBLESOME results of bad shoeing, or subsequent
neglect of the fect, make their appearance in the sole of the foot,
in the angle formed between the crust and the bar (see fig. 20 (K),
Chap. XXVI.). Where the foot is properly prepared for the shoe,
and the smith seats the heel of the crust and the bar on a
level surface, no corn will make its appearance in a healthy foot ;
but if a corn has previously existed, or if the shoe is allowed to

ress upon the sole at E (see fig. 20, Chap. XXVLI.), the delicate

lood-vessels of the sensible sole are ruptured, and, instead of se-
creting a sound horn, capable of bearing the slight strain upon it
which is required, a fungoid growth is formed. presenting a reddish
appearance, and exquisitely sensitive. This morbid substance
does not at all resemble the hard corn of the human subject, which
is a thickened secretion of cuticle, but it bears some comparison
with the soft corns that form so often between the toes, and give
so much trouble in their removal. It is, in fact, a new growth of
a semi-fungoid character, partly made up of granulations and
partly of horny matter, the two being closely united. The corn
may arise from improper pressure made on this part of the sensible
sole, either directly from the shoe, or indirectly by pressing a thin
brittle crust inwards upon it. Generally, however, it is met with
at the inner heel, from the shoe being overgrown by that part of
the foot when kept on too long. The outer nails do hot allow it
to work in the contrary direction, and if there is a clip on the
outer quarter this is rendered still more improbable. If, there-
fore, shoeing is properly managed, corns may always be prevented,
and we shall see in the directions for shoeing, at Chap. XXVL.,
how this is to be managed. At present I have to consider how
they are to be relieved or cured when they are already established.

THE ORDINARY MODE OF TREATING CORNS is simply to cut
them out, leaving the bar and heel of the crust full, and thus
taking all pressure off them. This enables the horse to do his work
for about ten days, but then the shoe must be removed, and the
paring-out repeated, a process which weakens the already weak
erust by making additional nail-holes in it. The shoe at the same
time is generally “sprung,” that is, it is so bent or filed that the
heel does not fully bear upon it; but this does not last many
hours, and is of little real utility. The plan answers well enough
for the purposes of fraudulent sellers, as the horse runs sound for
about ten days; and when he fails, and on taking off his shoe he

R

114 THE TORSE.

is discovered to have a corn, it is impossible to prove that it ex-
isted at the time of sale by any evidence but that of the smith
who shod him previously to it. Hxcepting, therefore, in very
slight and recent cases, in which it will sometimes be followed by
success, this plan of treatment is only palliative, and what is worse,
it tends to increase the weakness of the foot and consequent ten-
dency to the disease.

l’oR THE CURATIVE PLAN we must do something more thau
micrely take the pressure off the sole; the bar and heel of the
crust must also be relieved, and the sensible sole must be stimu-
lated, by a proper application, to secrete healthy horn, as well as
by pressure on the frog. If the horse is to be rested, this can be
done easily enough by taking off his shoes, but he may be kept at
work by putting on a bar-snoe, and cutting down the bar and crust,
so as to throw all the pressure off them upon the frog. A double
purpose is effected in this way. First, the sensible sole is relieved
of the constant pressure which the crust bears upon it laterally ;
and, secondly, the jar on the frog, communicated through the shoe,
from the ground, induces a healthy action in the foot, and the sole
has a greater tendency to secrete healthy horn. There is no doubt
iu my mind that all horses would work much better, and keep their
feet in much sounder condition, if their frogs could be brought into
use, without being guarded as they are by the ordinary shoe. This
part is intended by nature to take upon itself great pressure; and
if it has not its natural stimulus it becomes weak itself, and, more-
over, it does not stimulate the surrounding parts to a healthy action,
as It ought todo. The bar-shoe is inconvenient for many purposes,
and, therefore, it is not generally applied; but as a curative agent
_ these objections are to be dispensed with, and then it will be found
tu be extremely valuable, not only in relieving the diseased part (the
corn) but in giving a healthy action to its seat, the sole. The smith
should, therefure, pare down the crust at the heel, so that when the
bar-shoe is applied it will allow a penny-piece to be insinuated be-
tween the two surfaces. With this the horse does his work com-
fortably on the road ; and in process of time, that is, in two or three
months, the heel grows up, and takes its own share of pressure, or
a part of it, becoming gradually accustomed to the amount which it
will have to bear when the bar-shoe is discontinued. In the mean
time a little of the following lotion may be applied daily to the
Bituation of the corn by means of a feather.

Take-.of Chloride of ‘Zine |< «5 s)-. -«- «om 1 Orackm,
WWeater 05.05) ee ease OZ
Glycerine =. ole” “a "a ke Ba vee OR ne Ses

In every case, the bar-shoe must be continued until the heel of the
erust and the bar grow duwn strongly; and then a common shoe
may be applied. —

SANDCRACK—FALSE QUARTER 115

SANDCRACK.

IN THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE FOOT, at page 291,
it will be seen that the crust is composed of fibres, runuing paral-
lel to each other in a direction from the coronet to the ground sur-
face. These fibres are glued-together firmly in a sound and strong
hoof; but, in a weak one, it sometimes happens that the gelatinous
matter is not in sufficient quantity, and then the fibres separate,
and leave a crack of greater or less extent, according to circum.
stances. This, called a sandcrack, happens at the thinnest part,
which is the inner quarter in the fore foot, and the toe in the hind.
To cure it, the foot must be rested, or at least that part of it where
the crack occurs, which in the fore foot may be effected by the use
of a bar-shoe, throwing the pressure entirely on the frog, as recom-
mended in the last section on corns, and taking care that the crust
behind the crack is not in contact with the shoe. By adopting
this plan, I have succeeded in curing sand-cracks during moderate
work; but if it happens in the hind foot, complete rest must be
given, as the toe cannot be relieved by any possible contrivance.
The next thing to be done is to open the erack slightly, so that
any grit getting into it shall not cause its further expansion; and
in doing this, if there is any little cellular cavity, it should be ex-
posed. If the crack extends to the coronet, which it rarely does,
nothing can be done until it has grown out for at least half an
inch from that part, when the point of a hot iron may be applied
to the angle of the crack for a second, so as to keep out water,
which has the effect of causing the fibres to split by the capillary
attraction which is exercised. The burn should be very slight,
and should not be carried deeply into the substance of the horn.
A fine nail should then be driven from below through the crust,
the shoe being removed ; and when brought out at the usual place,
should be left projecting. The shoe should be put on, and the
innermost nail also left projecting. These two should then be
firmly bound together by fine wire, so as to bring the edges of the
crack together ; and the foot should be left in this state for at least
a month or five weeks, when the shoe may be taken off, and the
operation repeated. This is far better than binding wire or twine
round the whole foot, as it acts more completely on the erack,
without confining the growth of the remainder of the foot. Of
course, after the wire is twisted on, the nails must be clenched, and
there will be a greater projection than usual; but this is of no im-
portance whatever. In cracks of the hind foot the nails in each
quarter will keep the two sides frum separating, but the horse can.
not he worked.

FALSE QUARTER.

WHEN, FROM AN ACCIDENT, the coronary substance is perma
nently injured, it ceases to secrete sound horn, and a stripe of the

116 THE rIORSE.

crust, defective in strength, runs all the way down from the coro-
net to the plantar edge. This generally happens at the inner
quarter, and is owing to the horse treading on his coronet; but 16
may also occur on the outside, either from the tread of another
horse, or from some kind of external violence. The result is simi-
lar to that of a sandcrack ; there is no strength in the affected heel,
and lameness is produced. The treatment is very much the same
as for sandcrack. In the first place, the pressure must be taken
off the quarter, and a bar-shoe applied, so as to convey the weight
on the frog, as described under the head of Sandcrack. The heel
of the affected quarter should be lowered, and thus further injury
will be prevented. The next thing to be done is to stimulate the
coronet to a healthy action by blistering it, which must be doue
two or three times, taking care that the blister is not of too violent
a nature, and that the skin heals before a second is applied. By
these means, a cure may sometimes be effected ; but it takes a con:
siderable time, and until the quarter is reproduced in full strength,
or nearly so, the bar-shoe should be continued. By its use, any
horse with a sound frog can travel very well on the road, even if
the quarter is entirely and permanently separated from the toe by
inefhcient horn; and without it, the chance of a cure is not to be

reckoned on.
QUITTOR.

By THIS TERM IS UNDERSTOOD a chronic abscess of the foot,
the matter always forming sinuses, from the difficulty which nature
has to overcome in finding a way for it to reach the surface.
Generally, the mischief is occasioned by an overreach, or a bruise
of the sole, or by the inflammation resulting from a neglected
thrush, or, lastly, from a nail-prick. From any of these causes,
inflammation of the delicate investment of the coffin-bone is set up,
pus is secreted, and, in working its way to the surface, it burrows
between the horn and the bone, and forms one or more sinuses, o1
pipes, as these fistulous tubes are called by the farrier. A quittor
is recognised by the eye and nose detecting an opening in the
horn, from which a foul discharge proceeds ; and on introducing a
probe, it will generally pass freely in two or three directions, some-
times giving a grating sensation to the finger, showing that the
bone is denuded, and most probably carious. There is generally
a considerable increase of temperature in the foot, and always
more or less lameness, with, in most cases, swelling of the bulbous
heels and coronet. On examining the sole carefully, some part
will either show a difference of color from the adjacent horn, or
there will be a yielding on pressure, owing to its being undermined.
The treatment must be conducted on the same principle as for
fistulous sores. In the first place, a dependent opcuing must be

QUITTOR- THRUSH. 117

formed, so that no matter shall be confined, but it shall be allowed
to come away as fast as it forms. This can only be done by prob-
ing; and if the original opening is in the coronet, the probe must
be passed down as low as possible, and then the sole should be
pared away till the end can be reached. In tolerably recent quit-
tors, this plan alone will allow the sinus ‘e heal; but in old ones,
the internal surface has kecome callous, and no granulations are
thrown out. Here an injection should be thrown in every day
with a syringe, a saturated solution of sulphate of zine being that
generally recommended; but I have found the chloride answer
still better, using one drachm of the salt to a pint of water at first,
and going on up to twodrachms. By injecting this daily, and in-
troducing a piece of lint, wetted with it, into the superior opening,
leavinz the lower one free, I have cured many bad quittors, even
vhen there was evidence of caries of the coffin-joint. The disease
requires a careful adjustment of the remedies to its extent and
nature, and a theoretical description of it is of little use.
THRUSH.

ANY OFFENSIVE LCISCHARCS FROM THE FROG is called by this
name, although the cause and treatment may be as different as
possible. It varies greatly in the fore and hind feet; and, indeed,
it must never be forgotten that, in every case, the cause which
has produced the discaarge must be clearly made out before any
plan of treatment can be carried out with any prospect of success.
Sometimes thrush is merely the result of the decomposition of the
horny frog, from the foot being constantly kept wet with urine,
which is most cominon in the hind foot. Here the surface becomes
soft, and is gradually dissolved; while the cleft, from its retaining
the moisture, is increased in size. This state is often brought on
by the too frequent use of cowdung-stopping in horses with soft
frogs; and, instead of doing good by his treatment of the foot, the
groom is really destroying it by encouraging the decomposition of
the healthy defence which Nature has given to it. For this kind
of thrush, very little treatment is required, if the cause v hich
produced it is withdrawn. Still it is not always easy to keep the
frog dry, and stop the decomposition, without the application of
some astringent; and if the mere use of dry litter, and the appli-
cation of tar ointment, do not seem to harden the frog at once, it
may be touched with a wash composed of ten grains of bluestone
to the ounce of water. This will soon dry it; or, if it fails by any
chance, the chloride of zine may be used in the same way, by
dissolving five grains in an ounce of water.

THE SECOND KIND OF THRUSH is that in which from a gross
habit of body there is a simple inflammation of the sensible frog,
and instead of sound horn being secreted, a spongy substance 1s

x

118 THE HORSE.

depozited, which breaks away in places, and the frog Icoks raged
and uneven, with a greasy surface, smells very foul, and feels hot
to the touch. Here the treatment must be general as well as local.
A dose of physic should be given, the food should be of a less
stimulating quality, and care should be taken that regular exercise
is allowed every day. ‘The stable should be kept cool, and of
course attention should be paid to cleanliness both of the foot and
the litter. As to local remedies, they must not be of the stimu-
lating kind, which will suit the thrush from decomposition, or that
presently to be described. The foot should be placed in a bran
poultice, and kept in it for some days, till the united action of the
local and general treatment have reduced the inflammation. After
a few days it will be well to dress the frog with tar ointment, or
the poultice will do more harm than good, by causing the decom-
position of its horny covering, and indeed it is seldom that this
wet application should be employ ed for more than a week. After
this time has elapsed. all the good to be derived from it has been
accomplished, and the subsequent treatment may generally be
effected by attention to the health, and dressing the frog with tar
ointment. Sometimes it may be necessary to employ a slight
stimulus, and then the solution of chloride of zine will be found to
be the best.

THE THIRD KIND OF THRUSH occurs in contracted feet, and is
due to the same cause, namely, chronic inflammation of the sensi-
ble frog, produced by overwork, aided in many cases by negleet in
shoeing. There is a tendency to the secretion of unsound horn
over the whole foot, sometimes too thick and hard, and at others
of a cellular structure, without sufficient strength to bear the pressure
of the road. The horny frog generally locks shrunken and withered ;
and in its cleft there is a foul discharge, on wiping which out a
solt spongy matter may be seen at the bottom, which is the sensible
frog itself, but in a diseased condition. In bad cases, the sides of
the horny frog have separated, and even the toe is sometimes defi
cient of its covering; but generally the horn has only disappeared
in patches, and there are ragged portions remaining. The disease
here is of too chronic a nature to be easily cured, “and if there is .
much disorganization of the laminz it will be almost impossible to
effect a perfect cure. The first thing te be done is to clear away
all the ragged portions of horn, so as to be able to reach the sensi-
ble frog. ‘Some tow is then to be smeared with the following oint-
ment :—

Take of Ointment of Nitrate of ae okt tie via ee cOTSGURS,
Zine Ointment : o's Werle one ae tare eos
Creosote: 5 2: 50l Se as ew oe ate gee oe ee

and presse into the cleft of the frog, where it can best be retained

THRUSH--CANKER—LAMINITIS 119

by a lar-shoe lightly tacked on, and in this case taking its bearing
on the heels and not on the frog. Sometimes a wash answers
better than a greasy application, and then a strong solution of the
chloride of zinc may be employed, about six grains to the ounce
of water. ‘l'ow dipped in this may be applied in the same way as
with the ointment, and either one or the other should be re-ap-
plisd every day. As the new horn grows, it must be kept supple
by tar ointment, and until it is fully developed the bar-shoe should
be kept on, applying some degree of pressure by means of the tow,
which should be stuffed in so as to compress the frog, beginning
with very light pressure, and, as the horn increases in substance,
augmenting it in proportion. By attention to these directions a
thrush of this kind may be cured, if the foot is not damaged
throughout, and even the frog may be restored to a comparative
state of health.

: CANKER.

CANKER is generally an extension of the third form of thrush,
the ulceration spreading to the sensible sole, and afterwards to the
coffin-bone itself. At first the ulcerated surface is concealed by the
old horn, but gradually this breaks away, and then the extent of
the mischief may be seen. A part or the whole of the sole and the
frog may be in a state of ulceration, generally depending upon the
time ducing which the disease has been in existence, and the care
which has been taken of it, or the reverse. The only treatment te
be adopted is the careful removal of every loose piece of horn, so
as to expose the unsound surface to the action cf remedies, and at
the same time to avoid poisoning it by the decomposing horn, which
has a most irritating effect. The sulphate of copper, and chloride
of zine, are the best applications, and they must be used in fuil
streneth. These cases, however, require an experienced eye to
enable the prescriber to judge of the proper amount of caustic re-
quired; and beyond suggesting the kind of remedy required, no
good can be done by written prescriptions. If it is impossible to
obtain the advice of a veterinarian, it will be better to begin by
using a mild caustic, and then increase the strength as it is found
to be wanted. Pitch ointment forms the best greasy application to
the adjacent sound surfaces to protect them from the irritation of
the discharge.

LAMINITIS.
(Founder or Fever of the Feet.)

YE TERM LAMINITIS is now familiar with every one at al! ac-
ustomed to horses, though it has not long been introduced into
the vocabulary of the professional man. The disease, however,
has been recognised for many years under the terms ‘“ founder”
and “fever of the feet.” It consists in an inflammation (which

120 THE HORSE.

may be acute or chronic) of the parts between the crust or wai)
and the pedal bone, including the lamiuze, whence the name by
which it is now distinguished. These parts are suppliea with a
profusion of blood-vessels (see page 29+), and when inflammation
is set up in them. the progress which it makes is rapid, and the
constitutional disturbance is unusually great, owing prebably te
the want of space for the swelling which accompanies all inflamma.
tions, and especially of vascular substances. The causes are either,
Ist. Localization of fever, whence the name “ fever in the feet.”
2d. The mechanical irritation of hard roads upon feet not accuse
tomed to them; and 3d. Long confinement in a standing position
on board ship. When it is recollected that in our system of shoe-
ing, the lamin are made to support the whole weight of the body
in consequence of the shoe being in contact with the crust only, it
ean only occasion surprise that this disease is not more frequent.
Nature framed the horse’s foot so that an elastic pad should inter-
pose between its back parts and the ground, intending that the
edge of the crust should take its share, but not ald of the weight.
The laminze are therefore called upon to do far more than their
structure is designed for, and when there is the slightest weakness
or tendency to inflammation, they are sure to suffer. Acute lami-
nitis is not very often met with, because horsemen are aware of
the risks they run, and take their measures accordingly; but the
chronic form is common enough, and hundreds of horses are more
or less lame from this cause. Too often it is not suspected until
irreparable mischief is done, the elasticity of the lamin being de-
stroyed, and the foot having assumed a shape which utterly unfits
it for bearing the pressure of the shoe upon hard roads. When
the disease has been going on for a long time, the elastic substances
between the lamine and the pedal bone, as well as the fine horny
lamellae between them and the crust, lose the property of extension,
and the horn of the crust is scereted by nature of a more spongy
vharacter, and much thicker in substance, than in health. On
making a section of such a foot, the arrangement of parts will be
such us is here delineated in fig. 19, in which 1 is the os suffraginis,
2, the os corona, and 3, the pedal bone, with its anterior surface
separated from that of the crust (7) by a wide space occupied by
spongy matter. Here the tue of the pedal bone projects into the
sole and renders it convex, instead of being concave, and correspond
ing with the lower surface of the pedal bone.

The laminz and elastic substances between them and thei
gontiguous structures no longer suspend the pedal bone to the
grust, but the weight falls partly uz2n the sole by means of the
toe of the pedal bone, and partly on the frog, which descends se
low that in spite of the thickness of the shoe it touches the ground

LAMINITIS. 121

This descent of the frog is a very
marked feature in laminitis, and
whenever it is apparent that dis-
ease may be suspected.

But TO PRODUCE SUCH A
MARKED ALTERATION OF FORM
as is here delineated and de-
scribed takes a long time, and 7
even then it is only in a few (7
cases that the disease reaches to '
this stage. It will, therefore, be
necessary to trace its progress from
the commencement, and the effects
which are exhibited as it goes on,

WHEN ACUTE LAMINITIS SETS N
IN; there is a considerable amount Fid.19.—SECTION OF THE FOOT IN CONFIRMED
of fever, indicated by a rapid aerate

1. Os suffraginis.
pulse, usually full and hard, and 2 0s corone.
. : cogs 3. Pedal bone.
hurried respiration. There is a 4 Navicuiar bone.
general look of restlessness from 5. Frog.
S ° . wole.
palin, the horse stamping gently 7. Wall or crust greatly thickened.

with his feet, and constantly

lying down and then getting up again. When, as usually happens,
the fore feet only are affected, the hind feet are brought under the
body to bear as much weight as possible, and the fore feet are so
carried forwards that the heels support the legs rather than the
toes. On examining the fect, there is great reluctance to allow
one to be picked up, on account of the necessity which is thrown
upon the other of taking the whole weight of the fore quarter.
The coronet and hoof feel very hot, and, when wetted, may be seen
to steam very perceptibly. If this state of things is not speedily
stopped, the laminz cease to secrete horn, and the connection be-
tween them and the hoof ceases, causing the latter to separate, and
the sensible parts to be exposed, covered with a thin scaly horn.
This has happened in many cases which have afterwards secreted
new hoofs; but the horn is not so strong and useful as before, and a
horse with such feet is not fit for hard work on the road. If proper
treatment is adopted, the inflammation either subsides entirely,
leaving no mischief behind it, or there is a chronic infiammation
left which induces the alterations of structure which have been
alluded to. The treatment should be by first removing the shoes,
and then, after paring down the sole so as to allow of the expansion —
of the sensible parts, a large quantity of blood is taken from the
toc, making sure that a vessel of sufficient size is opened to produce
a strong shock on the heart and arteries, as well as to relieve the
lucal affection. If the blood does not flow freely, the foot may be

122 THE HORSE.

placed in a pail of warm water, but when the operation ts properly
performed there is never any difficulty in obtaining any quantity
of blood which may be cequired. Next tack the ehgcs on lightly
again, and then give a smart dose of physic, or else, what is per-
haps a better plan, give the following :—
Take of Barbadoes Aloes
Tartar Emetic, of each. . . « «© » « 1 drachm.

Powdered Digitalis . . . « « «© » «+ g drachm.
Syrup enough to form a ball,

which should be given every six hours, until the bowels act, when
the other materials may be continued without the aloes. The feet
should be kept constantly wet and cool by tying a piece of felt or
flannel around each pastern, and allowing it to fall over the hoof,
when it is to be continually wetted. If “the inflammation is not
abated next day, the bleeding may be repeated, and it will be well
al7n to act on the kidneys by adding two or three drachms of nitre
to the tartar emetic and digitalis.

CHRONIC LAMINITIS is generally first shown by a slight soreness
or lameness, generally appearing in both fore feet, and, therefore,
being often overlooked by casual observers. In coming in from,
work the coronets feel warmer than natural; but this goes off dur-
ing the night, and, for a time, no great fears are entertained of the
feet recovering their former condition, the blame being, perhaps,
laid upon the ‘shoe. Ina month or two, however, the smith (who
has, perhaps, been ordered to take off the shoes two or three times,
by which the injury is increased) finds that his nails do not hold,
and the quarters break away; while the action of the horse be-
comes more shambling every day, and he cannot make a sound trot
on any hard road, especially with a weight on his back. In many
cases a horse with chronic laminitis can run in hand sound enough
for an ordinary observer; but when the extra weight of a rider is
placed on him the feet cannot bear the pain, and the gait 1s sham
bling in the extreme. Such animals have a strong propensity to
save their toes, and prefer (if their shoulders will allow it) bring-
ing their heels to the ground first, so that, although their action is
excessively low and shambling , they seldom fall. An experienced
horseman at once detects this peculiar style of going, and con-
demns its possessor for laminitis. Indeed, it may be assumed as a
rule, that wherever the heel is put carefully down upon the ground
with low action, the foot is the subject of laminitis to some extent.
When the heel is naturally brought to the ground first, the knee
is well bent, and the foot is raised high in the air; but in process
of time work tells on it, the laminze become inflamed, and then the
action is reduced in height, and the feet are moved in the manner
peculiar to foundered horses, including those which before they
were foundered perhaps exhibited ‘toe action,” or, at all events,

LAMINITIS. 123

a level fall of the foot. This state of disease ought to be well
studied, and compared with the remarks on sound action at page
82 et seq., which it will serve to illustrate and explain. The foot
itself is changed in form, and the toe and sole have more or less
altered their relations, as explained already Sometimes there is
a large space or cavity between the outer surface and the irner,
shown at 7, fig. 19, page 405. This hollow in the crust is more of
less cellular, and the disease is called a “seedy toe,” but for what
reason I am ata loss to know. The sole, moreover, is always either
flatter than natural or absolutely convex, and its horn is brittle and
spongy, constituting what is termed the ‘pumiced foot.” The
frog is generally large and spongy ; and on placing a straight-edge
across the shoe, from heel to heel, it is found to touch that part,
or nearly so, indicating that the relations between it and the crust,
as well as the sole, are altogether changed from a natural state.
The laminze are no longer slings for the foot, but the whole pres-
sure is taken by the parts lying beneath the pedal or coffin bone
and the navicular bone. Such being the symptoms, the next thing
+s to consider what can be done. If the disease is of long stand-
ing, little hope can be given of a perfect recovery. ‘The shape of
the external parts may be partially restored, but the internal deli-
cate structures no longer have the power of performing their offices ;
and the elastic action of the horse suffering from the effects
of laminitis can seldom be restored on hard ground. After proper
treatment, he may, and generally does, go on turf well; but either
on hard ground or on plough (on the latter of which, though soft
enough for the laminz, the sole has to bear considerable pressure)
he is dreadfully sore and lame. This is shown after all inflamma-
tion has ceased, the foot being as cool as possible, and sometimes
exhibiting very slight evidences of previous mischief.

[n treating such cases, if there is no heat or other sign of in-
flammation, bleeding and similar lowering measures will be of no
avail. They may be required soon enough, it is true, for a foun-
dered foot is always in danger of inflammation when battered ;
but until symptoms of this kind of mischief are exhibited it is
better to avoid all depletory measures. At the same time, every-
thing which will tend to keep off increased action should be
avoided; the horse should be fed on the least heating food which
will serve the purpose for which he is intended, and his stable
should be kept as cool as possible. Beans ought never to be
allowed to the possessor of feet with the slightest suspicion of
founder; and no more oats should be used than are necessary for
‘the condition required. For horses at slow work, bran mashes
and nitre, with small doses occasionally of physie, will serve ta
keep down the tendency to inflammation, and by their use, joined
to cold applications after work (they are of no use at other times)

124 THE HORSE.

and a rool stable, the horse may be enabled to do moderately fast
work. If the frog is not very prominent, a leather sule, put on
in the usual way, will save the jar, and in some measure supply
the place of the natural elastic tissue, destroyed in this disease.
Usuaily, however, it only adds to the mischief by inereasing the
pressure on the frog, and then the leather must be introduced
hetween the foot and the shoe, but cut to the same shape as the
latter, so as not at all to bear on the frog. Many horses with slight
traces of laminitis can work for years with leather applied in th's
way, and it may be said to be the most useful mode of treating
this disease when exhibited in a mild form. Sometimes by throw-
ing a horse by for six months, taking off his shoes, and blistering
his coronets two or three times, a great deal of good may be done,
but he must be put to stand on tan or sawdust during the whole.
time, and never allowed to go on hard ground, even for half a mile
at a walking pace. By this plan, and by very careful and gradual
increase of exercise at the end of that time, I have succeeded in
restoring an elastic condition of the foot; but I have never known
one so patched up bear hard work, and I should never advise the
risk incurred by submitting him to it. Hunting and racing, or,
indeed, any kind. of work on soft ground, will do no harm; but
battering on the roads, especially without leather, applied as above
described, is sure to bring back the inflammation.

THE SEEDY TOE.

THIs TERM is so generally employed among horsemen, that
though the state which it describes is one of the ordinary con-
sequences of laminitis, I prefer to give it a distinct section. I
have already described its nature in the preceding page, and have
only now to allude to its treatment. This may generally be so
conducted as to restore the shape of the foot, if the inflammation
has not lowered the toe of the pedal bone, as shown at fig. 1; for
if this has taken place, although it is perhaps possible to get rid
of the cavities in the horn, the relative positions of the bony parts
cannot be changed. When, however, as is often the case, a
moderately small hollow has been formed between the layers cf
the wall, and the foot retains a tolerably healthy shape, by cutting
away ail the external horny walls, exposing the parts in contact
with the laminz, and resting the horse in a loose box, the secret-
ing surface will form a new wall, without any spongy texture, in
the course of three or four months, if the coronary band is con-
stuntly stimulated by external applications. To effect this, the
horse should be put to stand on red deal sawdust, without shoes ;
and his coronets, after being gently stimulated by a mild liquid
blister, should be kept dressed with tar ointment, which should
also be applied to the exterior of the horn. It is seldom, how.

CONTRACTION OF THE FOOT—NAVICULAR DISEASE. 125

sver, that a foot which has been’thus treated is sufficiently sound
to bear hard work.

CONTRACTION OF THE FOOT.

THIS REPUTED DISEASE has been long the bugbeat of the horse-
master ; but it is now discovered to be a complete mistake. Some
ot the most contracted feet in point of width are particularly free
{yom all risk of disease, and on the other hand many open ones
are as liable to it. The donkey, whose heels are shaped exactly
like those of the contracted horse’s foot, is so seldom lame, thai
few can recall having seen one in that condition, and, therefore,
reasoning from analogy, one would be led to doubt that this shape
renders the horse prone to lameness. At the same time it is quite
true that in the disease which will next be investigated, the frog
withers and contracts, and the heels are thereby drawn in; but
here the contraction is a consequence and not a cause of disease,
and certainly cannot be considered as a disease in itself. Bad
shoeing will do much to cause either laminitis or navicular disease,
and it will certainly produce corns and inverted heels, but it will
not waste the frog, or induce that condition of the foot where the
sole is arched so high that the frog does not touch the ground
when the shoe is off. Such a state of things can only be brought
on either by thrush or navicular discase, and is never the result
of the mechanical mismanagement of the foot, to which what used
to be called contraction was generally attributed. All sorts of
plans have been suggested for expanding the heels and for alluw-
ing them to expand; but the real truth is that so long as the frog is
sound and the parts above it, allowing the proper amount of pres-
sure to be communicated to the sole, bars and heel of the crust,
these latter divisions of the foot have no room to contract, and of
a certainty they never do.

NAVICULAR DISEASE.

THIS FORMIDABLE DISEASE, called also the navicular joint
lameness, and navicularthritis, is the chief danger to be appre-
hended from a good-looking strong foot, just as the open flut one
is prone to laminitis, and is rarely subject to disease in the navicu-
lar joint. The reason of this immunity on the one hand, and the
eontrary on the other, is this. The open foot, with a large spongy
frog, exposes the navicular bone and the parts in contact with if
to constant pressure in the stable, so that these parts are always
prepared for work. On the other hand, the concave sule and well-
formed frog are raised from the ground by our unfortunate mode
of shoeing, and when the whole foot is exposed to injury from bat-
tering, and in addition the tendon which plays over the navicular

126 TIE WORSE.

Lone presses it against the os coronx, the unprepared state in
which this part is allowed to remain is sure to produce inflamma-
tion, if the work is carried far enough. Thus in cech case the
weak part suffers, but occasionally, though very rarely, the foot
with an arched sole contracts laminitis, and the flat one is attacked
by navicular disease; the exceptions, however, are so few that
they may be thrown out of the calculation, and from the shape of
the foot alone it may almost invariably be pronounced, when a
horse is known to be subject to chronic lameness, whether its scat
is in the laminz or in the navicular joint.

WHEN A FOOT IS EXAMINED AFIER DEATH which is known to
have been the subject of navicular disease, the parts implicated
are invariably either the navicular bone, or the soft parts in con-
tact with it, or often all together. Most frequently on dividing
the tendon of the flexor perforans and turning it down so as to
expose the back of the joint between the navicular and coronal
bones, that part will be greatly thickened and inflamed, the tendon
being often adherent to it. In the healthy condition there ought
to be no adhesion of the fibres of the tendon to any part of the
navicular bone but its postero-inferior edge, to which the tendon
is fixed by some few fibres, the bulk passing on to be inserted in
the os pedis. The posterior face of the navicular bone should be -
beautifully smooth, and lined by synovial membrane which forms
a lubricating sac for it to play upon, and thus take off the friction
between the tendon and the bone. Such is nature’s provision
against mischief in this delicate part of the machinery of the foot,
which she keeps in order by the constant supply of synovia or
joint oil. But when the sac is not stimulated to a healthy action
by the pressure of the frog below it in doors and out, synovia is
no longer secreted in proper quantity, and as soon as the horse is
put to hard work inflammation takes place for want of it. The
result is some one of the consequences of. inflamed joints. Hither
ulceration takes place in the postero-inferior surface, where the
tendon glides over it, sometimes ending in caries of the bone itself;
or adhesion takes place without ulceration of the tendon with the
surface of the bone, or there are small exostoses thrown out, or
lastly there is simple inflammation without either adhesion or
ulceration, and in this stage the disease is amenable to treatment
without leaving any trace behind.

The synyptoms of navicular disease are the same, whether the
mischief has extended to ulceration or not; but the history will
guide us in ascertaining how far it has gone. Of course they vary
in degree, for there may be only a slight extent of ulceration, or a
high degree of sirple inflammation; but in the former case the
lameness will not be so marked as in the latter, though the prospect
of recovery will be much less There is always more or les: lame

NAVICULAR DISEASE. 127

ness; but, in consequence of its affecting both feet, it is not so
marked to the careless observer as in some much more trivial cases
where only one is diseased. The distinguishing sign, though not
absolutely infallible, is the pointing of the toe, and a peculiar
rounding forward of the fetlock joint, so as to relieve the navicular
bone cf any weight. In laminitis, the object of the sufferer is to
relieve all pressure as much as possible, by bringing the hind legs
uoder the body, and by bearing the weight of the fore quarter on
the heels. Here, the reverse of the latter attitude is observea—
the heels are not allowed to take any pressure, and the toes alone
are placed at all firmly on the ground. This is marked in the
stable by the pointing of the toe (in each foot alternately, if both
are diseased, but in the one only, if they are not both affected).
Out of doors, the toes dig into the ground, the heel never being
brought firmly down, and frequent stumbles mark the difference
between this species of lameness and laminitis. The subject of
navicular disease generally walks sound; but the moment he is
trotted, he goes as if his legs were tied together, his stride being
shortened in a remarkable manner, but without exhibiting the pe-
culiar fumbling gait of the foundered animal. As in his case, soft
ground suits him, and he has no fear of plough, because his sole
is hard and unyielding. Many tolerably confirmed cases of navicu-
lar disease may, therefore, be hunted, except when the ground is
hard, supposing, of course, that they are kept off the road; but no

lan of management will enable them to bear the jars incidental to
aioe ao or hacking. When one foot only is the subject of na-
vicular disease, it often happens that it is smaller altogether than the
other; but it is somewhat difficult to say whether this is a cause
or a consequence of inflammation. One thing is quite clear, that
many horses are met with, still perfectly free from lameness, in
which there is a difference of size in their fore feev; but whether
or no these are afterwards invariably the subjects of navicular dis-
ease, 1t is almost impossible to ascertain. It is, however, the gene-
ral opinion, founded on experience, that when this variation exists,
navicular disease is extremely likely to attack the smaller foot, if
it is not already there; and for this reason, horses with such feet
are generally avoided by the intending pur chaser.

The treatment of navicular disease, as before remarked, is only
successful in the early stage, pefore either ulceration or adhesion
has taken place. If a horse with strong concave soles suddenly
becomes lame, points his toe, and shows other signs that his navicu-
lar bone is inflamed, he should be treated in the usual way suited
to inflammation, and at the same time liberty should be given te
the vaszular tissues to expand, by reducing the substance of the
horn. Bleeding at the toe has the double good effect of abstract-
ing blood, and at the same time weakening the sole, so as to allow

128 THE HORSE.

ot the expansion which is desired. The operation should, there.
fore, ac once be performed; at the same time, the whole sole may -
be reduced in thickness, and the heels lowered in proportion. The
foot should then (after the shoe is tacked on) be placed in a cold
bran poultice, which will soften the horn; and the system should
ve reduced by the exhibition of the medicines recommended under
Laminitis, at page 406. Next day, if the pulse continues high,
more blood may be taken; but, in ordinary cases, it is better at
once to insert aseton in the frog (see OPERATIONS, Chap. XXY.),
and trust to this for relieving the chronic inflammation remaining,
by its counter-irritation. But when the disease itself is mastered,
there is still a good deal to be done to prevent the injurious effects
which are so apt to follow. The horse contracts a habit of step-
ping on his toes, to prevent hurting his navicular structures ; and
hence the frog is not used, the heels of the crust and the bars are
not strained, and there being no stimulus to the soft parts which
secrete them, they waste and contract in size. Jf the human hand
is allowed to lie idle, the palm and the insides of the fingers are
covered with a delicate cuticle, which affords so poor a protection
to the cutis, that, on using it with any kind of hard work, it actu-
ally separates, and leaves an exposed surface, which speedily in-
flames. But by gradually exposing the same hand to pressure, a
thickened and tougher cuticle is secreted; and this will bear any
moderate amount of pressure or friction without injury. Never-
theless, even the hand so prepared must be continually stimulated
by work, or the skin returns to its original delicate state, and is
then exposed to the same risk of injury as before. So it is with
the horse’s foot, even in a scate of health; but this is far more
marked after an attack of disease. The tendency then is to pro-
duce the natural horny growths of a smaller substance than before;
and if the secreting surfaces are not stimulated by pressure, they
become doubly idle, and the frog, as well as the adjacent parts be-
neath the navicular bone, shows a wasted and shrivelled appearance.
To avoid the risk of these ill consequences, the horse should be
placed, for two or three hours daily, on a bed of wet clay, which
will allow the shoe to sink into it, but will yet be tenacious enough
‘o make firm and steady pressure on the frog, while its low tem-
perature will keep down inflammation. No plan is of so much ser-
vice in producing what is called expansion of the heels and growth
of the frog as this; not, as is commonly supposed, from the clay
mechanically pressing the heels cout, but from the stimulus of its
pressure causing the soft parts to secrete more horn, and of a
sounder quality than before.

SHOULD THESE REMEDIES FAIL in restoring the foot affected
w th navicular disease to a healthy state, recourse can only be had
to the operation of neurotomy, which is perfectly efficacious in re:

ACCIDENTS TO THE LEGS AND FEET. 129

moving the lameness; and if there is no ulceration, ard merely an
adhesion of the tendon to the bone, it will, by causing the horse te
step more on his heels, effect an absolute improvement in the shape
of the foct, and hence it has sometimes been considered to have
produced a cure. Where, however, there is caries of the bone,
or even ulveration of the synovial membrane, the disease progresses
even faster than before the operation, and in process of time the
joint becomes mechanically unfit to perform its duties.

ACCIDENTS TO THE LEGS AND FEET.

THESE PARTS ARE SUBJECT to a variety of accidents, trifling
“perhaps in the cause which produces them, but serious in their
effects, from the lameness which ensues. ‘The chief of these are
ordinary cutting, speedy cutting, and pricks of the foot either
from putting the sole down upon a nail or a piece of glass, or driv-
ing a nail improperly in shoeing. Bruises and over-reaches also
come under this head.

ORDINARY CUTTING may occur either before or behind, the lat-
ter being the more common. It is often met with in poor horses,
where the flesh is so reduced in substance that the legs are brought
nearer together than in a proper condition. Here all that is re-
quired is patience, till the legs are restored to their proper relative
position, taking care in the mean time that there is no permanent
injury done. Usually the inside of one or both feet strikes the
the fetlock joint of the other leg in passing it, but sometimes the
blow is given higher up, and it may occur anywhere on the cannon
bone except just below the knee, when it is called “ speedy cut-
ting,” which will be separately considered. Sometimes this blow
on the side of the cannon bone is either the cause or the effect of
a splint, the blow of the foot having a tendency to produce exos-
tosis (See SPLINTs, page 298). But if a splint is thrown out on a
part of the cannon bone which comes in the way of the natural
action, the horse whose foot previously passed clear of that part
of the other leg will hit it, and not only give pain, but cause a
considerable access of inflammation in the previous enlargement.
In the treatment, therefore, of cutting, it is necessary to prevent
the habit being continued from the swelling produced either by a
splint or by previous blows. A horse perhaps, either from weak-
ness or bad shoeing, hits his leg and produces considerable swell-
ing and soreness. Here, unless the swelling is reduced or pro-
tected, there is no chance of preventing the cutting, because there
is a projection of the swollen soft parts right in the way of the
other foot. No alteration of the shoeing, and no increase of
strength or flesh, will be of service until the inflammation is re-
duced, and the sore, if any exists, is healed, and this can only he
done either by rest or by protecting the leg with a boot ‘The

9

130 TUE HORSE.

satter is the better plan, and wherever a horse cuts, it is, in mz
opinion, advisable to let him wear a boot for some weeks, until the
skin is quite sound again and reduced to its proper thickness. A
piece of an old rug folded round the leg so as slightly to overlap,
and then tied with a tape and turned down over the fetlock joint,
is quite sufficient to serve this temporary purpose, and being soft
it is wel’ calculated to protect a swollen joint; but if it is worn
lor any -ength of time, the pressure of the tape and the fricti n
of the grit from the road wear away the hair, and cause an un-
sightly appearance, which is sometimes permanent. If, therefore,
the cutting 1s not rectified completely in the course of a month or
six weeks, a leather or india rubber boot should be nicely adapted
to the joint and buckled round it, the flat surface of the strap not
having so injurious an effect as the tape of the cloth boot. When
the cutting takes place above the joint, a pad must be adapted te
its inside, and fastened round the cannon bone by two or three
buckles, according to the height at which the injury takes place.
SucH IS THE BEST MODE of guarding against the injury done
by cutting, but we must also consider how it can be entirely pre-
vented. In the first place it should be carefully ascertained by
what part of the foot or shoe the blow is given. Most commonly
it will be found, by chalking the inside of the foot, that a small
patch is rubbed clear of chaik, about half an inch above the mid-
dle of the quarter, and corresponding with the hindermost nail
tole, especially when four inside nails are used. When this is the
hitting point, if great care is taken to avoid driving in a nail there,
the tendency to cut can never be increased as it often is by a raised
clench, and at the same time the rasp may safely be used to reduce
the thickness of the hoof at least the eighth of an inch, or often
much more. The crust is usually here about three-eighths of an
inch thick, and very often it is so sound that it will bear to be
rasped down till there is only one-eighth left, provided it has not to
bear the pressure of a nail near tt, and that the reduction is not
carried up too near to the coronet. In the hind foot the quarter
is fully half an inch thick, and it therefore will bear reduction
better even than the fore foot. Sometimes the blow is given by
the shoe itself, which is fixed on so as to overlap the crust, and
then the remedy is simple enough, for this ought never to cecur,
and can easily be prevented by any smith. But supposing, in spite
of these precautions, the cutting still continues after the horse is
restored to his natural strength and flesh, can anything be done
by shoeing? In most cases this question may be answered in the.
affirmative, by the use of what is called a feather-edged shoe. By
its aid the heels are both raised, not the inner one only (which is
entirely useless and even prejudicial, for then the ground surface
of the choe is not a true plane), but both heels, the inner oue be

ACCIDENTS TO THE LEGS AND FEET. 151
ing narrow, and having no nail holes beyond the two near the toe,
so that there is no danger of the web projecting ; nor is there any
nail hole required, with the fear of a clench rising, or of the crust
being weakened so as to prevent its being thinned to a proper de-
gree. By thus raising the heels (in the hind foot especially), the
fetlock is less bent, and as in horses that cut there is almost always
a tendency in their fetlock joints to bend inwards as well as back-
wards, this diminution of the angle will not only straighten the leg
in a forward direction, but will also increase the distance betweex
the joints, which is the object to be desired. In the fore foot the
obliquity in this direction is not so frequent, and then the high
heel will be of no use; indeed, it is only when the toes are much
turned out that this plan of shoeing the fore foot is ever successful.
When cutting occurs before, unless there is this turn out, it is bet-
ter to put the shoes on in a perfectly level manner, and trust to the
reduction of the thickness of the quarter, and the absence of the
third nail. If, with these precautions, the horse, when in good
condition, still strikes his fore legs, it will be better to put up with
the constant use of a boot. Generally, however, if the inflammation
is first subdued, and the foot is shod in a perfectly true and level
manner, taking care to rasp away the particular part which strikes
the other leg, it will be found that the cutting is avoided.

SPEEDY CUTTING is more dangerous than ordinary cutting, be-
cause the pain given by the blow is generally more severe, and is
often so great that the horse falls as if he were shot. On exam-
ining the leg of a confirmed speedy cutter there is always appa-
rent a small scab or bruise on the inside of the cannon bone, im-
mediately below the knee; but in slight cases rest may have been
used to allow the skin to heal, and then no mark may possibly be
left. A careful examination will, however, generally detect a small
bare place, partially concealed by the growth of the adjacent hair.
In bad eases the periosteum is swollen, and there is a considerable
enlargement of the surface of the bone. In the management of
slight cases of this kind of cutting, the action should be examined
while the hcof is covered with chalk, and the latter should be
treated in the same way as already described. If, however, this fails,
as it generally does in this form of cutting, there is no remedy but
to put or. a regular speedy-cut boot, iu which there is a pad buckled
op the inside of the leg, and reaching from the knee te the fetlock
it must be of this length, because otherwise it cannot be kept in
its place, as the leg allows it to slip down until it reaches the
larger circumference presented by the joint. Where there is pain
and swelling caused by the contusion, it must be treated in the
ordinary, way, by the application of cold water and tincture of
arnica, a wine-glassful of the latter in two quarts of water.

PRIcKS IN SHOEING occur from the want of skill in the smith,

1a2 THE HORSE.

who drives the nail too near the laminze, and sometimes even abso-
lutely wounds them. It may be that the nail in its passage
upwards is not within an eighth of an inch of these delicate parts,
and the horse may not have flinched during the driving of it, but
when he is put to work the nail opposes a hard unyielding line to
the soft parts, inflammation is established, and possibly even matter
is formed which may end in quittor. When, on the day after
shoeing, a horse which was previously sound, goes lame, and the
foot is hot to the touch, it may generally be assumed that a nail
or nails have been driven too near to the quick, unless there 1s
evidence of laminitis from other causes. On tapping the crust with
a hammer, the horse will flinch at some particular spot, and there
is the nail which is in fault. Sometimes there is little inflamma.
tion as yet set up, but the pressure of the nail is sufficient to cause
lameness, and in cither case the shoe should be taken off. Then,
if there is reason to suppose that matter has formed, the opening
from which the nail came out should be enlarged, and the matter
allowed to escape. If, however, the foot has been merely ‘“ bound,”
it may be either left to nature, with a shoe lightly tacked on, and
a wet “swab” round the coronet, or it may be placed in a bran
poultice, which is the safest plan.

WHEN A NAIL IS PICKED UP ON THE ROAD, the prognosis
will depend upon the part which it has penetrated If it has
entered deeply into the toe of the frog, tne probability is that the
navicular joint has been wounded, or probably the tendon of the
flexor at its insertion into the pedal bone, either of which are very
serious accidents. Ifthe wound is further back, there is less risk
of permanent injury, as the bulbous heels or cushion of the frog
will bear a considerable amount of injury without permanent
mischief. In any case the treatment should consist in cutting
away the horn round the opening, so as to allow of a free escape
of matter if it forms. At the same time inflammation should be
kept under by cold ‘“‘swabs’’ to the coronet, or by putting the whole
foct into a bran poultice.

OVER-REACHES, when slight, may be treated by tue application
of friar’s balsam, or tincture of arnica in full strength, which will
nave a tendency to dry them up and prevent suppuration. If,
however, the heel is very much bruised, a poultice must be applied,
bit even then a little tincture of arnica should be sprinkled on it.
When the bruise is so severe that a slough or core comes away,
ths wound may be dressed with a piece of lint, dipped in a solution
of nitrate of silver, eight grains to the ounce of distilled water,
and over this a bran poultice. In most cases, however, it is better
to foment the part well and then apply the tincture of arnica neat

A BRUISE on a thin sole will sometimes cause matter to form.
in which case the horn must be cut away, and the case treated at

FEVERS. 133

fur quittor. Before matter forms, the horn should be reduced, and
the foot should be placed in a cold bran poultice.

CHAPTER VII.

CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES.
Fevers—Anasarca—Glanders—Farcy.

FEVERS.

THE HORSE is very rarely subject to fever as a disease of itself,
independently of inflammation, under which head I have already
described catarrhal fever, both of the simple kind and when cpi-
demic, and known as influenza. Indeed, all the important inflam-
mations of the body are attended with fever; but in them the
local affections are evidently more serious than the general disturb-
ance of the system, which we call by the name of fever. By many
veterinarians it is doubted whether fever ever shows itself in the
horse without inflammation; but occasionally it may be observed
under the form of simple fever, presenting all the symptoms
which accompany ordinary inflammation, but without any such
complication, and more rarely of the typhoid form, which now
sometimes attends influenza and other epidemics.

SIMPLE FEVER shows itself by dulness and reluctance to move,
a staring coat, and cold legs and feet, with increased warmth of
the body. The pulse is quick, soft, and variable—breathing a little
accelerated, but not much—appetite entirely lost—bowels confined,
and urine scanty. These symptoms continue for two or three
days, and then either go on into the typhoid form, or they are
complicated by inflammation in some organ of the body. The
treatment merely consists in giving a mild dose of physic, followed
by « febri:uge drink, such as the following :—

Take of Spirit of Nitrous Ether
INTETCK 5) gta ace BE Sao
Tincture of Ginger. .
Camphor Mixture . .

° e e ° ° ] OZ.
Se S25) eS to: Sedrachms.
a ry ey alt MP ACHNES
aa ee bees calc ONO Ls
Mix, and give twice a day.

TYPHOID FEVER sometimes appears as an epidemic, occurring
either as a sequel to influenza, or in its pure form, without any

134 THE HORSE.

gomplieation The latter condition is, however. extremely rare.
In its early stage, it can scarcely be recognised or distinguished
from simple fever; but in the course of two or three days the
strength is so much reduced, the breath is so fetid, and the mouth
is loaded with such a black discharge from the tongue and gums,
that the nature of the disease is clearly manifested. The pulse is
very low, the languor increases, and there is often more or less
delirium. ‘The sourse of the disease is extremely rapid, and in
five or six days a strong horse vill sink beneath its powers, refusing
food, and dying without ary attemy;t to rally. The treatment
should be of the most generous kind, as soon as the bowels have
been gently moved, which should be effected, if possible, by injec-
tion. Then give a ball two or three times a day, composed thus :—

Take of Carbonate of Ammonia . . . . 4 to 7 drachm.
Powdered Ginger... < *s .«. ») =, esdrachai;

Powdered Yellow Bark . . . . 3 drachms.
Syrup enough to make into a ball.

This should be washed down with a quart of ale caudle, and hay
tea should be allowed as the drink ad libitum; or, if there is
diarrhoea, rice-water may be used in the same way. Few cases,
however, will recover, in spite of every exertion and careful treat-
ment oa the part of the attendant.

ANASARCA.

ANASARCA, OR MOOR-ILL, occurs chiefly among horses turned
out in marshes or low commons, and may readily be known by the
general swelling of the body, increasing by gravitation in the legs
during the standing posture, but showing itself chiefly in the lower
side of the body in the early morning, when the horse has been
lying down all night. The disease is now rare, but it occasionally
appears under the circumstances above described. The treatment
must be by acting on the kidneys, the following being a useful
recipe for the purpose :—

Takevof Nigre: (2 h0 6 %e so 0! ve a Se ee) “a irachs,
Powdered Resin . . +. ¢ « « » + Sdrachms.
Ginger, 2.8 ls, 0s. decane Gin a eb taaeee, eee
Spirit of Nitrous Ether. . . . . + 13 02.

Warm Water. . ate uae oleate 2 pints.
Mix and give as a drench every night.

GLANDERS.

THIS FRIGHTFUL CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASE appears to cons.st
in the gencration of some poisonous matter in the blood, which
nature attempts to throw off by estaklishing a discharge in the
vostrils. It is perfectly incurable, and therefore it is only neves

GLANDERS. 135

sary to study its symptoms, with a view to distinguish it from
ozena, with which alone it ‘s liable to be confounded. Its chronic
character and insidious onset will serve to distinguish it from
catarrh and strangles.*

Avr ITS COMMENCEMENT, it scems to be confined to the internal
lining of the nostrils, which is not reddened, as in chronic catarrl
(ozena), but presents a leaden or purple colour, sometimes of a deep
shade, but at first generally very light and pale. ‘his is accom-
panied by a thin acrid discharge, transparent, and without odor.
Generally, one nostril only is affected, which in this country 18
more frequently the left, and in France the right; but why this
should be so has never yet been even conjectured with any appear-
ance of probability. This state of things usually only lasts for a
fow weeks, but it may go on for an indefinite time, and 1s recog-
nised as the first stage; during which the health does not suffer,
and the horse can, and often does, go on with his ordinary work.
It may be distinguished from ozena by the purple color of the lin-
ing membrane, and by the transparency and freedom from smell
of the discharge.

IN THE SECOND STAGE, the discharge increases in quantity, and
though still watery and transparent, it is slightly sticky, indicating
the presence of mucus. The lymphatic glands below the jaw en-
large, and become adherent to the bone, feeling nard to the touch,
and almost like exostosis. Here the permanent character of the
discharge and the adherence of the glands to the bone are the
diagnosti¢ signs from ozena.

IN THE THIRD STAGE, the discharge increases rapidly, and be-
comes yellow and opaque—in fact, it is pure pus. If the nose 13
carefully examined, its lining membrane will be seen to present
one or more sores, with depressed centres and ragged edges, and
surrounded by small varicose vessels leading to them from all
directions. In proportion to the extent of the local mischief, con-
stitutional disturbance is displayed. ‘The appetite fails—the horse
loses flesh and spirits—the coat 1s turned the wrong way—the
skin is hidebound, and the legs fill slightly during the day, but go
down at night—the nose is, at last, frightfully ulcerated, the sores
spreading to the larynx—uleers break out on the body—and the
horse finally dies, worn to a skeleton.

When the diagnosis of the disease ts con firmed, as it 18 undoubt-
edly highly contagious, both to other horses and to man himself,
the patient ought to be destroyed. By the use of green food, his
life may be prolonged for a time, and a certain amount of work
may be got out of him; but the risk of contagion is too great to
be incurred, and no man who regards his own welfare, and that
of his neighbors, should keep. a glandered horse.

136 THE HORSE.

FARCY.

THIS DISEASE appears to depend upon the development of the
same poison as in glanders; but the attempt at elimination is made
in the skin, instead of the mucous membrane lining the nose. <A
horse inoculated with glanders may exhibit farcy, and vice versa ;
so that the essence of the disease is the same, but its seat is «
different tissue.

T’arcy usually shows itself first by one or two small hard knots
in the skin, called ‘“ farey buds.” ‘These soon soften, and contain
a small quantity of pus; but as this is rapidly absorbed, the lym-
phatics which convey it into the circulation inflame; and at a
short distance another bud is formed, and then another, and
another. These buds are usually met with in the thin skin cover-
ing the inside of the thighs and arms, or the neck and lips. They
vary from the size of a shilling to that of a half-crown; and as.
they increase in numbers, the skin becomes cedematous. In pro-
cess of time, the general system suffers, as in glanders, and the
horse dies, a miserable, worn-out object. No treatment can be
relied on to cure the disease; and as it is equally contagious with
vlanders, every farcied horse ought at once to be destroyed. The
hard nature of the buds, and the thickened lymphatics extending
like cords between, clearly make known the nature of the disease

SHOEING. 137

CHAPTER VIiIil.

SHOEING. .

Tik art of shocing appears to have been unknown to the ancients,
although the need of it was greatly felt, especially in the rough
campaigning and long marches constantly recurring in those warlike
times. In several campaigns the cavalry was rendered worthless
and was disbanded on account of the bad condition of their horses’
feet, and the animals themselves were relieved from duty until
their hoofs were restored. The value of a horse depended more
upon the soundness and strength of his hoof than upon any other
qualification, and various methods of rendering it harder and more
serviceable were proposed by Xenophon and other early writers.
But while acknowledging the importance of a sound, vigorous hoof,
and striving to harden and preserve it, it does not seem to have
occurred to them to protect it by fastening to it by nails, a band
or shoe of iron, although Beckman states that horse shoes and
nails have been found in the graves of some German and Vandal
tribes of unknown antiquity in the northern part of Germany.
'o William the Conqueror tradition ascribes the introduction of the
practice of shoeing into England, whence it has remained until the
present time.

When the delicacy of organization of the foot of the horse is
considered, its extreme sensitiveness and wonderful adaptability for
the purpose of locomotion, the enormous wear and tear incident
upon constant use in the service of man, its liability to abuse and
injury, and the consequent suffering of the dumb animal and pecuni-
ary loss to the owner, it is surprising that there has been so little real
improvement in the art. While the past half century has been
so fruitful of results in almost every other branch of industry, it
has witnessed few or none in this. This is due in great measure
to the indifference of the artisan to whom the care of the horse's
foot is committted, who, ignorant of the nature and structure
of the living member before him, so recklessly handles and
- mutilates it, in much the same manner as his ancestors years
before him.

The feet of most of the horses of the present day, and especially
those used for drafty purposes and heavy work in our large cities,
are in bad condition, and more subjects are brought to the knack

138 THE HORSE.

er’s yard from this cause than all others combined. A healthy,
vigorous foot is the exception even among horses used for lighter
work. Brittle, shelly hoofs, ridged and dished, indicating internal
derangement, withered frogs with the centre arch or stay entirely
abserbed, high heels bound up by hard; unyielding crust, all <hese
deformities and many others are chargeable in some degree to bad
shoeing. Sometimes injuries are attributed to the blacksmith that
are due to accident or brutality of the driver, but in as far as our
system of shoeing interferes with the natural functions of the fvot,
it will induce disease.

The question then presents itself, Why not teach the mechanie
the design of the structure, to the repair of which his lifetime is
devoted? You may command him to treat your horse as you direct,
but you must convince his judgment, if you expect obedience at all
times ; as well dictate to a physician what medicines he shall give
your child at some stages of disease, and depend on him at others ;
he will treat the case in his own way, or not at all; the head, heart
and hand must accord to make perfect work.

Our public schools have been a great power in the advancement
of the mechanical arts; much of the labor-saving machinery now
building up great wealth in the country, is the fruit of the philo-
sophical truths there disseminated, and the improved social condi-
tion of the laboring classes is due to their influence. We have
schools of science, and colleges for the instruction of students in
the treatment and cure of horses, yet we expect those whose daily
business is to perform important surgical operations upou a deli-
eately organized member, to be reasonably successful, without
having learned the alphabet of their profession. There are among
them, individuals, intelligent and ingenious, who would be glad
of an opportunity of testing the validity of their practice by an
appeal to the condition of the hidden springs, levers, pulleys,
cushions, and powers comprising the mechanism of the feet and legs
explained by those who have made such their lifelong study. Many
of these have, by long experience, discovered for themselves a fair
system of shoeing, and are successful in the treatment and preven-
tion of injury, but, ignorant of physiology, are unable to transmit
their knowledge to others with sufficient reason to establivh its
truth.

To such fully educated to their profession, we must look for im-
provement in the art, and we hope that the day is not far distant
when America may be able to boast of her veterinary colleges and
schools for farriers, as of her other institutions of learning.

A small proportion of the pecuniary loss annnally sustained in
eur large cities alone, would support such an institution, the good
results of which would be inealeulable. But while ail thinking
nen admit the benerts which must result from its establishment,

SHOKING. 39

it is too eustomary to regard the idea as visienary and impracticable,
and maintain that the craft would not avail themsclves of its advan-
tazzes.

At first, doubtless, only the most intelligent would do so, but
these, applying the theoretical knowledge received there to the
commonest details and every-day experience of the smithy, would
convince the most unreasoning that labor, when directed by skill
and judgment, is more saving of money, strength, and material,
than when unenlightened and unreasoning ; and soon public |
opinion would force their more ignorant brethren to follow their
example. A great painter was once asked how he mixed his colors.
“ With brains, sir,’ was the apt reply. When this is the rule
and not the exception. we may indeed look for decided improve-
ment in the art, the dumb animal be relieved of much suffering,
and the community trom unnecessary loss.

Veterinarians may propose theories, but lack the practical expe-
rience and opportunity of observation which the workmen alone
can have, while the number of the latter who have combined scien-
tific education with a thorough knowledge of the details of their
profession, has been too small to stamp any decided character
upon it.

With but very few exceptions the entire literature of shoeing is
European, and to these writers the American public is indebted
for all knowledge outside of that which an inquiring mind will
gather from individual observation.

If horse owners would resort to the books for physiological facts,
study their own horses, and use their own judgment, they would in
most cases discover the best style of shoeing for their particular
use.

Countries and sections differ greatly in the fashion of horse-shoes,
and the manner of fitting them to the foot, but the general princi-
ples are the same.

We do not pretend to advocate any particular form of shoe, nail,
or system of shoeing as an ultimatum of success, but wish to draw
the attention of horse owners to the importance of the subject, that
they may judge for themselves, the practice best suited to their
own animals, and may arrive at a more accurate conception and a
better appreciation of the hazard of a sole dependence on the gene-
ral ignorance of blacksmiths.

A careful study of the construction of the foot, as explained in
this work, will show the necessity of great caution and intelligence
in its treatment; more than is usually displayed by our mechanics.
This will be better understood by a reference to the member itself
by dissection, which 1s practicable to most farmers, as they may
frequently obtain specimens in their vicinity, and are possessed of
the facilities for examination.

140 THE HORSE,

Sever the foot at the upper joint of the pastern bone, trave the
veins, arteries and tendons, as suggested by the description ; note
the principal resistant parts affected by locomotion, the position of
the coronary bone and its inclination within the hoof (not as fre-
quently engraved entirely without or above it, and vertical when
at. rest), the navicular bone and joint, the tendons and sheath, with
the action of each, the elastic property of the fatty heels, the
tough, springy frog, its shape and position, the structure of the
coffin bone, sol>. crust and bars, and their mutual relations. Let
the examinatiou be careful, and guided by reflection, with due
regard to each particular hoof, fore and hind, near and off, and
condition of health. Furm no hasty conclusions from partial in-
vestiyations, and study for practical benefit, not for a show of wis-
dom. A wooden vice, butcher’s saw, chisel, knives and nippers,
are about all the instruments necessary, and after becoming ac-
quainted with the natural tone of the crust, the operation may be
facilitated by the use of warm water to soften the horn.

If this has excited an interest in the subject, let the student ex-
periment with the shoeing of his own, horses, young and old ; having
the entire control and supervision of their working, driving, stabling,
pasturing and shoeing, he must learn something, if but his own
ignorance. If resident of a country of light sandy soil, and the
nature of the work will allow, the hind feet, if not all, might be
left unshod to illustrate natural development; we have seen such
with hard glossy hoofs, that could travel! over turnpike roads with
a light load, without breaking the crust or flinching on the frog.

The detail of horse-shoeing has been subjected to such adverse
teachings by different authors (many of whom have but repeated
palpable errors of their predecessors without attempt at originality),
that it would be impossible to produce positive rules that will not
meet with opposition, but the indications of disease, may be related
without assigning their particular cause, of which there is much
difference of opinion and uncertainty.

The conditions of a good, sound foot as apparent, are a smooth,
glossy, resilient crust, almost circular were it continued around at
the bars, but fuller on the outside quarter, which difference is sel-
dom seen on a fovt that has been shod a dozen times; a concave
sole not too dry and hard; a full frog elastic throughout, with its
centre or frog stay complete; heels sufficiently low and free from
crust to bear their share of the springiness of action, and full ard
well developed to allow freedom to the bones and tendons in their
movements. In horses the general rule is that dark hoofs are
harder than light ones. The internal organization is in conformity
with the external, the healthy state has been already described
under the heads of bones, muscles, &c. In disease, we find within
a concave, furrowed crust, the elastic process or bed of the same

SHOEING. 141

a

HI
Mis

Fig. 20.—A SOUND FORE FOOT PREPARED FOR THE SROE.

A. The heel of the crust. E E. The angles between the heels and burs.
B Tbe toe. where corns appear.
CC. The quarters of the crust. F F. The concave surface.
DD. The burs as they should be left with GG The bulbous heels.
frog between them. H. Cleft.

form, and a dished coffin bone; under a convex sole a coffin bone
turned up in front by absorption and flattened like the hoof, spongy
and deficient in bony matter, the sensible sole diminished and the
horny sole increased in substance; in long-standing cases of con-
tracted heels, the interior organizations are alike reduced. Which-
ever may be the primary change, internal or external, or whether
either be a result of bad shoeing, no satisfactory solution has yet
been given. Veterinarians wrangle over their favorite theories,
charge one another with causing the diseases they profess to pre:
vent, and are so completely antagonistic in their doctrines, that
the public cannot be confident of truth, in implicit reliance upon
the assertions of any.

In comparing the horse’s foot with the human, we must be care-
ful not to fall into error; their relations to the body are the same,
but to understand the comparative structures, w2 must imagine
ourselves upon all fours, resting upon the finger and toe nails, ous

142 THE HORSE,

wrist and heel corresponding to the knee and hock-joints of the
horse, though the bones are of different relative lengths and shape.
The crust of the hoof is secreted in much the same manner as our
naiis, and growing downwards, or towards the extremities, slides
over a laminated and highly sensitive bed, which, when injured,
produces intense pain, on account of the unyielding nature of the
crust, and the swelling consequent to inflammation. We may then
realize the suffering produced Ly the prick of a horse-shoe nail.
under a horn so much thicker thin our finger or toe nails.

As qualifications of resistance, and ease to superincumbent
structures, we have, of the human foot, the main arch of the soles
(which must be taken together to establish their completeness),
and the transverse arch of the ball of the foot, displayed when the
toes are brought to the ground. Of the horse there is the arch
of the sole, and those formed by the heels and frog. Thé sole and
coffin bone of the mule are more concave than those of the horse.

As propellers and levers, we find the same action from heel to
toe, as the body moves forward in progression. The horse having
two sets of levers, one for the fore part of the body and one for
the hind, all working in connection, must make exactly the same
length of step with each foot to avoid interference. From this
fact, we account for a frequent cause of forging and stumbling.
Both horse and man accustom the motion of the body to the length
of step; if we then attempt to walk in a pair of shoes so much
shorter than usual, as to cramp the toes and shorten the foot, we
will be unable to carry the body as far with each motion from heel
to toe, to correspond with our ordinary forward spring of the body ;
the tendency, therefore (until we learn better), is to a short, quick,
stumbling gait. Now, take a horse whose hoofs have been slowly
growing in length for a month, every motion of his body trained to
accord, pull off his shoes, which will be found (owing to the for
ward growth of the hoof’) farther from the heels than when first
applied, pare away the crust down to the sole, cut out a big notch
at the toe for a clip, set the new shoe back within the front of the
fot (more on the fore feet, as they are supposed to grow faste:).
then rasp off the outer part of the toe back to the shoes, and clench
the nails as tight as possible. This is a common mode of shoeing ;
his shoes are too small for him; he swings into a trot with the
asnal body motion, but the feet, all shortened, fail their part,
whils the fore feet, diminished more thin the hind, are not thrown
out quite as far, and the horse, unaccustomed to the change, dwells
too long on them to escape a blow from behind. Weariness and
laziness will also cause forging, by a tardy movement in front, and
stumbling, by a failure to raise the toe sufficiently to avoid scrub-
bing the ground when thrown forward.

It is too common, especially in cities, among draught-horses, to

SHOEING. 143

use up the lower part of the crust too fast for its growth. If the
human finger-nail be pierced with a fine needle in the manner of
a horse-shoe nail driven through the crust of a hoof, it will be ob-
served that the hole will remain, until the growth of the rail has
carried it beyond the flesh ; that is, the fibres of horn once sepa-
rated will never unite. Horses used for heavy work are shod with
heavy shoes, thick toe and quarter clips, high calks and steel toes,
and either because of the severe strain on the stones, the weight ot
the shoes and nails, the leverage of calks and toes, waste of crust to
accommodate clips, or of all combined, they require shoeing about
once in three weeks, and frequently oftener. At each shoeing, a
little more crust and sole is taken off of the ground surface, a few
more holes made (or nails driven into old ones, enlarging the aper-
ture by working about and bending under the clenching iron).
The surface of the crust is again rasped, diminishing the thick-
ness, new furrows made to accommodate the clenches, ard the horn
burned and softened by a hot shoe each time. The blacksmith
will insist that all these operations are necessary, but the fact is,
he is using up material too fast, and we leave it to horse owners
to judge by experiment, how these operations may be modified.
The French method of bringing the points of the nails out low
down on the surface of the hoof, appears rational, as it destroys
the vitality of the crust to a less degree than our custom, and
leaves a greater proportion of sound foot to bear the shocks.

Our practice has been, after removing the old shoes (with care
not to enlarge the old holes by dragging crooked nails through
them), to pare off the crust and bars well down to the outer edge
of the sole, without taking a shaving from the sole, frog, or inside

i of the bars. If the crust has
not been broken by wear,
this leaves the foot as near
its natural shape as possi-
ble, and a shoe must be
made to fit it. For road-
sters, a narrow, light shoe
is fitted to the crust in
length and width, then
made perfectly level, with-
out twist or pritchell burs
| at the nail holes, and while

BHOEING. sufficiently hot, slightly
touched to the crust, to mark any inequalities that may have been
left after pariag. Six nails are used, three on each side, dividing
the space from about an inch from the centre of the toe, to the
eentre of the quarters. The nail-holes are set well back from the
outside edge, and made straight through the iron; the rails are

144 THE TORSE.

small, smoothed off with the hammer, and slightly bevelled on one
side of the point; the position of the holes in the shoe brings
the nails out low down on the surface of the crust, but care must
be taken to start them in the centre of the holes, that the foot
may not be cramped or forced out of its natural shape. The pro-
jecting nail points are filed close to the hoof, that they may be
broken off without twisting the nail, or enlarging the hole in the
crust; the nails are then driven up, and the clenches turned over
and hammered down.

No rasp has been used, no crust wasted by mutilation for clips,
and but little injury by nail holes; if the nails be of good iron,
they are sufficient in number, and the light clenches on a sound
foot, will hold the shoe perfectly tight, and will not cause abrasion
of the legs in travelling.

The foot presents what we might call a beautiful fit, the tender
part of the frog is protected by the thickness of the shoe, while as
it is renewed from within, the outside will be worn off by friction,
and nature will keep it exactly low enough to obtain its necessary
exercise ; moreover, by driving the nails straight through the mid-
dle of the hole in the shoe, the foot will be free from that dis-
agreeable, cramped feeling, we have imagined a horse to experience,
when the nails are started at either side of the hole in the iron,
forcing the more yielding fibres of horn to its centre.

There have been many forms of shoes recommended by different
authors, but few of which are used in this country. The French
shoe has a convex ground surface, and the foot is fashioned to it,
by leaving the quarters full, and the crust sloped off towards the
toe and heels. Why the bearing should be taken off the heels we
cannot imagine, and forcing the quarters to bear an undue amount
of concussion would apparently induce quarter crack, but having
had no experience with this shoe we may be wrong in our
conclusions.

Another fashion imitates an old shoe worn off at the toe, which
is certainly an advantage to roadsters, as it would be to us, if we
could buy new shoes to fit our feet exactly like the old ones. Some
writers advocate nailing the shoe only upon the outside quarter, or
with but two nails on the inside, toward the toe, with the idea of
allowing unimpeded expansion of the crust when the foot strikes
the ground. Inasmuch as nails injure the crust, the practice of using
as few as possible is wise, but we have been unable to discover any
expansion of the anterior half of the ground surface in hoofs that
have never been shod. A careful examination will convince any one
that there is no mechanical necessity for such spreading, and from
the nature of the organization of the foot, it is simply impossible; all
the spring needful to the front of the crust is gained by the elasticity
of its fibres. The line of bearing of the lower part of the fore leg,

SHOEING, 145

is directed behind the centre of the foot, and the yielding points
of the framework are the pastern, coronary and navicular joints ;
as the upper part of the coronary bone works backward and down-
ward, it, with the action of the tendon, slightly spreads the heels
laterally, and the whole crust partakes of the movement, diminish-
ing in effect towards the toe; were the foot completely inelastic, the
motion might be detected at the quarters, but the whole of a healthy
foot is of a yielding nature; the fatty heels, in particular, may be
compressed like cork, while the frog resembles a piece of india-
rubber, and there is a spring in every fibre of the crust. These
conditions so far distribute motion, that there is practically none
in the ground surface of the crust forward of the centre.

From the fact of this style of shoe allowing free expansion, its
advocates proclaim it a preventive of contracted heels (which, un-
fortunately, is so prevalent among shod horses) ; but if, as we sup-
pose, there be no spreading of the front part of the crust by pressure,
a shoe nailed only at, and forward of the quarters, will not-interfere
with any natural movement of the heels.

This disease (contracted heels), which has been described on
page 409, appears to be an absorption or waste of a portion of
the frog and fatty heels, accompanied by an undue secretion of
crust at the posterior part of the foot, encroaching upon the pro-
vince of the softer tissue of the heels. :

Many reasons have been assigned for this disturbance of the
natural nutrition of the different parts, all or none of which may
be correct, for no theory has yet been so clearly demonstrated and
proven, as to leave the causes and nature of the disease beyond a
doubt, but we have never known any tendency to contraction, in
horses that have been shod in such manner as to allow the frog a
fuir amount of exercise, indicated by its position.

An india-rubber shoe intended to be used as a cushion between
the iron and the foot, has been designed, patented and tried, within
the last two or three years, but we believe has failed to give gene-
rai satisfaction. The rubber mashes out in a short time by con-
cussion, and leaves a loose shoe. Good sole leather is much more
durable.

Until recently, the whole process of making the shoe was per-
formed by hand, but now in the United States, the greater bulk is
made by machinery, and at one immense establishment.

The manufactory of Messrs. Burden & Sons, at Troy, New York
state, with its six forging machines. turns out six shoes per second,
and in four years made twenty-five thousand tons; or calculating
one and a half pounds to the shoe, thirty-seven million shees
These shoes are of the very best iron, warranted to bend double
cuid, and to wear as long as any made by hand; the iron used in

10

146 THE HORSE.

their manufacture bearing a tensile strain of sey enty-eight thousand
pounds to the square inch.

The power of the factory is gained by a large stream of water,
with a head of seventy-two feet, acting on an overshot wheel sixty
feet in diameter, with buckets twenty-two feet long and six feet
four inches deep, the whole wheel weighing over three hundred
tons. Connected with the establishment is a horse-shoe museum,
comprising many hundred specimens of shoes of all ages and all
countries, collected together at much expense with a view to im-
provement upon the old types. There are now three different
patterns manufactured, and they will furnish any other pattern
desired, if ordered in sufficient quantities. The cost of the shoe to
the blacksmith, is about a cent and a half per pound above the
price of the iron.

Independent of the immense curtailment of expense, the advan-
tage of machinery directed by one master mind over the old sys-
tem, or rather want of system of individual effort and incongruous
labor, is great; and it should be the aim of the manufacturer,
as self-interest will dictate, to study and experiment to attain the
wost desirable pattern, in width of web, seating, fullering, position
of nail holes, and quality of iron, and the mechanics will necessarily
adopt his improvements.

In short, it should be an aim in shoeing a horse, as in man, to
make a fit as neat and easy, and of as light material as would be
adapted to its use, and experience has proven, that heavy shoes
with high calks and toes, are not necessary for successful hauling
over our city cobble stones, or hard roadways.

{n this article we have given no positive directions for shoeing,
judging the art in its present state too imperfect to satisfy this
progressive age, but have sought rather to stimulate inquiry and
experiment, that may lead to improvement in the system.

ADMINISTRATION OF CHLOROFORM, 147

CHAPTER IX.

OPERATIONS.

Admimstration of Chioroform—Methods of confining the Horse--
Bleeding —Firing—Setons and Rowels—Blhstering—Castraton
—Docking and Nicking—Unnerving—Reduction of Hernia
Administration of Physic—Clysters—Back-Raking.

ADMINISTRATION OF CHLOROFORM.

THE USE OF CHLOROFORM to procure insensibility to pain is a
great aid to the operator on the horse, who without it acts under
great difficuities, owing to the nervous twitch which the poor ani.
mal gives at each touch of the knife. Under chloroform, however,
he lies as if dead; and as long as its effects continue, the most
elaborate dissection may be conducted with comparative ease.
There is some little danger of overdoing this powerful agent, but
the risk is not so great as is generally supposed, and with ordinary
eare it is more than one thousand to one that no injurious effects
are produced.

THE BEST AND MOST SIMPLE APPARATUS for the purpose of
administering chloroform is a common wire muzzle, to the upper
edge of which a strip of leather six inches deep is stitched, and
so arranged that it may be buckled round the upper part of the
jaws. ‘This insures that all the air inspired shall pass through the
wires, and by covering them with a cap of very loose. flannel, in
which a few holes are cut to facilitate respiration, the muzzle may
be made ready for use. The horse is first cast, after which the
above apparatus is put on and buckled round the jaw, when on
sprinkling the chloroform over the cap of flannel, it may be applied
or removed in an instant, and the amount of anesthesia eet
aecerdinely. Without some guard such as the wire affords, the
chloroform runs over the nostrils and lips, and blisters them to a
serious extent; but when it is used, such an accident can only
occur from over-s saturating the flannel, The necessary quantity of
this powerful agent must ‘be employed; but when once it is found
that a prick of a pin or other pointed instrument is borne without
shrinking, the flannel may be withdrawn, and the operation quickly
commenced, taking care to have an assistant ready to put it on
again if the horse shows signs of returning sensibility to pain.
Six or eight ounces of chloroform must be provided, as the quantity
required i is rather uncertain, the average dose being about three
ur four ounces.

IF CASTING is objected to, either from the absence of hobbles.
or froza fear of injury to the horse, a soft bed of straw should be

148 THE WORSE,

provided, and a strong halter must be put over the muzzle with
two corus, one of which should be held by a man on each side.
These will serve to guide the horse in falling; but it is extremely
difficult to make sure of his going down where he is wanted to lie;
and there is also considerable time Jost in securing him after he is
down, which the safety of the operator imperatively requires.
The effect of the chloroform must therefore be kept up for a much
longer time than if it is given after the horse is cast and secured.

METHODS OF CONFINING THE HORSE.

THERE ARE VARIOUS PLANS adopted by veterinary surgeons te
bind the horse’s limbs, so that he cannot injure himself or them
when undergoing an operation. Even when chloroform is em-
vloyed, some coercion of this kind must generally be adopted, as
directed in the last section ; for if it is given in the standing posi-
tion, the horse is very apt to injure himself in falling, which ig
often accompanied by powerful convulsive motions, and moreover
he cannot with certainty be placed in a suitable position. The
plan adopted by Mr. Rarey is seldom suitable, because it can only
be employed on subjects previously taught to go down without

sistance, for the severe struggle which the untaught horse makes

afore he submits is calculated to produce injurious constitutional
disturbance, and, moreover, it would sadly increase any of the
various diseases of the limbs for which operations are so often per-
formed. Sometimes, however, it might advantageously be intro-
duced into veterinary surgery, as for instance in castration, when
the colt will not suffer his hind legs to be touched, but even then
it will be necessary to throw him two or three times, or he will be
in such a state of arterial excitement that intlammation will be
likely to follow. The usual methods of confinement are: Ist.
The hobbles. 2d. The side line. 3d. The trevis, or break. 4th.
The twitch and barnacles.

HosBLEs consist of four broad padded leather straps, provided
with strong buckles, and long enough to encircle the pasterns. To
each of these an ircn ring is stitched, and to one of them a strong
soft rope, six yards in length, is securely attached. Provided with
four, or, if possible, five assistants, the operator buckles the hob-
ble with the rope attached to the near fore leg, and the remaining:
three to the other legs. Then passing the rope through their rings,
and through the first also, it is held by three assistants, the nearest
of whom stands about a vard from the horse, so as to pull upwards
as well as away from him; a fourth assistant holds him by the
head to keep him quiet, and to be ready to fall on it as soon as he
is down, and the fifth stands at his quarters, ready to push him
over on his off side. This place is sometimes occupied by the
operator himself when he is short of hands. Casting should never

METHODS OF CONFINING THE HORSE. 149

be attempted on any hard surface, a thick bed of si:aw being ne-
sessary tu prevent injury from the heavy fall which takes place.
The hind legs should be brought as far forward as possible before
beginning to pull the rope, and when the men do this they should
do it ‘with a will,” but without jerking, so as to take the horse
off his guard, when he will resist much less stoutly than if he is
allowed more time. As soon as the legs are drawn up together ,
the man at the quarters is quite safe from injury, and he may lean
forcibly against that part, and force the horse over to the off side,
upon which he falls: the assistant at the head keeping that part
down, no further struggling takes place, and he is secured by pass-
ing the end of the rope under the hobble rings between the fore
and hind legs, and securing it with a hitch. Something more,
however, is necessary to be done before any of the usual operations
can be performed, as all of the legs are at liberty to a zertain
extent and the scrotum cannot be reached in safety. The fol-
lowing further precautions must therefore be taken, varying ac-
cording to the part to be operated on.

For CASTRATION the horse should be cast on his near side, with
a web halter in the usual place of a collar. The rope of the halter
is then passed through the ring of the hobble on the off hind leg,
and using it as a pulley the foot is drawn forcibly forward beyond
the arm and firmly secured to the webbing round the neck, and
bringing it back again it may be passed round the thigh above the
hock (which should be guarded from friction by a soft cloth or
leather), and again secured to the webbing. By these precautions
the scrotum is completely exnosed, and the hind legs cannot be
stirred beyond the slight spasmodic twitch which extends to the
whole body.

To PERFORM ANY OPERATION ON THE FORE LEG, it must be
taken out of its hobble, and drawn forward upon the straw by a
webbing attached to its pastern, where it must be held by an assist-
ant, the horse having 1ittle or no power over it in this position.

Nik HIND LEG 1S SECURED in the same way as for castration,
unless the fetlock is to be fired, when webbing must be applied to
the thigh above the hock only. With most horses, however, firing
can be performed without casting, by buckling up the fore leg, or
by having it held by a competent assistant.

WueEN THE HoRSE is to be released, the hobbles are quietly un-
buckled in succession, beginning with the undermost hind leg.

SEVERAL IMPROVED HOBBLES have been invented, but they are
suited rather for tbe vetcrinary surgeou than for the ordinary
horsemaster. who will only require them for castration and minor
or erations. |

Tue SIDE LINE is sometimes used for securing one hind leg
thus :— the Jong repe and single hobble only ure required, the lat

150 THE HORSE.

ter being buckled to the hind pastern, which is to be seowed. The
rope is then passed over the withers and brought bi ck round the
bosem and shoulder of the samme side as the leg to which it is
secured, and then passed inside the first part of the rope. By
pulling at the end of this cord the hind leg is drawn up to the
shoulder, and secured there with a hitch, but the plan is not nearly
s0 safe as casting.

THE TREVIS OR BREAK Consists of four strong posts driven inte
the ground, at the corners of a space six feet long by three feet
wide. They are strongly braced together by wooden stays, three
feet six inches from the groand on three sides, the fourth being
left open for the horse to enter, after which this also is made good
by a padded bar passed through stout iron rings fixed at three feet
from the ground to the uprights. By means of this framework, to
which sundry rings are bolted, the body of the horse is first
securely confined by two broad bands under the belly aud two
above the shoulders and croup. Thus he can neither rear nor kick
to any extent sufficient to free himself, and all that is necessary is
to lay hold of any limb selected for operation, and confine it to one
of the uprights, or to some other convenient point. This is the
best plan to be adopted for firing and other operations on the legs,
and if the belly-bands are wide, strong, and secure, chloroform may
be administered in it, without the horse going down.

Tne TWITCH is a short stick of strong ash, about the size of a
mopstick, with a hole pierced near the end, through which is passed
a piece of strong but small cord, and tied in a loop large enough
to admit the open hand freely. This is passed over the upper lip
close to the nostrils, and then, by twisting the stick, compression
is made to a painful extent, which will keep horses quiet for any
slight operation. Sometimes it is placed on the ear in preference,
but in either case the effect is dependent on the pain produced.

BARNACLES consist in the application of pressure by means of
the handles of a pair of pincers enclosing the muzzle, and held
firmly by an assistant. They are, however, not so useful as the
twitch.

BLEEDING.

IN TIE EARLY PART OF THE PRESENT CENTURY bleeding was
resorted to on every appearance of the slightest inflammation, and
often without the slightest necessity. Many horses were regularly
bled “ every spring and fall,”’ to prevent mischief, as was supposed ;
but at last it always happened to every horse which lived long
enough, that the more frequently blood wag taken the more the
operation was required, aud when it was absolutely wanted to lower
the heart’s action, such a quantity of blood must be taken that
the system was reduced to a danzerous degree. Stallions were

BLEEDING. . 151

constantly submitted tv this treatment, and mares as long as they
were worked, so that in course of time it has happened to the
horse, as it has also to man himself, that the horrible abuse of the
lancet for two or three consecutive generations has completely
changed the type of the diseases to which they are both subject.
Inflammation does not now follow the same course that it used to
do, but is of a much milder type, and the attendant fever is in-
clined to assume a typhoid character, if lowering measures are
pushed to any great extent. An attempt has been made to account
for this change in human diseases by the alteration in the habits
of the present generation, which are certainly more temperate than
those of the previous one; but in the case of the horse the reverse
holds good, for he is now stimulated by more corn than ever. The
only point, as far as I can make out, in which the horse and his
master have been similarly maltreated, is in the abuse of the lan-
cet, which undoubtedly may account for the change in the type
of their diseases to which I have alluded, and it is, therefore, rea-
sonable to refer it to this cause. But though this powerful agent
has been thus abused, we must not be deterred from having re-
course to it when severe inflammation occurs in the horse. Some:
times there is no time to wait for the effects of a slower remedy
even if there is one which will be sufficiently powerful to control
the heart’s action. The only sensible plan in such case is to choose
the lesser of the two evils, and to save life, or the integrity of the
organ attacked, as the case may be, by abstracting blood, always
remembering that this is to be avoided as long as it is safe to do
so, but that when it is decided on, a sufficient quantity must be
taken to produce a sensible effect, without which there is no at-
tendant good to counterbalance the evil.

BLEEDING is either performed in the jugular vein, when the
whole system is to be affected ; or when a part of the body only is
inflamed, it may be desirable to abstract blood locally, as for in-
stance from the toe or from the plate vein, in inflammation of the
foot, and in ophthalmia from the vein which lies on the face just
below the eye.

THE INSTRUMENTS USED are either the lancet or the fleam. the
former being the safer of the two, but requiring some practice to
manage it properly. In bleeding from the jugular vein a string
is sometimes tied round the neck below the part to be opened,
which is four or five inches below the fork in the vein in the upper
part of the neck. ‘The skilled operator, however, makes pressure
with lis left hand answer the purpose of causing the vein to rise,
and during this state either uses the lancet with his right or the
fleam with the aid afforded by the blow of a short stick, called a
“blood stick.” When the blood begins to flow, the edge of the
bucket which catches it is pressed against the same part, and ag

152 THE HORSE,

long as this is continued a full stream will run until faintness
occurs. After sufficient blood has been taken, the tio lips of the
wound are raised between the fingers, and a sma// common pin
passed through both, when the point is cut off and some tow is
twisted round, by which the edges are kept together and the pin
is retained in position. In a couple of days the pin may be with-
drawn without disturbing the tow, and the wound will heal witb
little or no deformity. Sometimes the blood continues to flow
beneath the skin after it is pinned, and a swelling takes place in
consequence, which is called ecchymosis. When this happens,
cold water should be freely applied and the head kept up by rack
ing to the manger.

THE QUANTITY OF BLOOD necessary to be taken will vary accord
ing to circumstances, and ean scarcely be fixed from the appearanee
of the blood drawn, but a repetition of the operation may be de-
cided on if the clot of the blood, after standing, is very concave
at the top (cupped), or if itis very yellow (buffed), and especially
if both these signs are present. In inflammation of a severe char-
acter less than six quarts of blood will seldom lower the pulse
sufficiently to be of much service, and sometimes seven or eight
quarts even must be taken from a large plethoric animal.

INFLAMMATION OF THE VEIN will sometimes supervene upon
bleeding, the symptoms being a slight swelling appearing in the
evening, or the next day, with a little oozing from the wound.
These are soon followed by a hard cord-like enlargement of the
vein, which feels hot to the touch, and the parts at the angle of
the jaw swell considerably. The consequence generally is that the
vein 1s obliterated, occasioning some disturbance to the circulation,
especially when the head is held down, as it is at grass. The
treatment consists in cold applications as long as there is heat, the
1otion recommended at page 316 being generally useful. When
the heat has subsided, and the vein remains enlarged, the binio-
dide of mercury will procure the absorption of the new deposit, by
rubbing it in as recommended at page 300.

FIRING.

THE PURPOSE for which the heated iron is employed is twofold ;
first, to produce immediate counter-irritation, by which the pre-
vious inflammation is reduced; and secondly, to cause the forma-
‘ion of a tight compress over the part, which lasts for some months.
It is the fashion to deny the existence of the latter effect of this
operation ; but every practical man must be aware that it follows .

FIRING. 1535

upon filing to a greater or less extent, according to circumstanves,
but always lasting for a few months, until the skin stretches to its
previous condition. The blemish which it leaves, and the pain
which it occasions, both during and after the application of the
irons, should cause it to be avoided when any equally useful substi-
tute can be employed; but, unfortunately, there are many cases
where it stands without a rival, as being at once the safest and tiie
most efficient remedy which can be adopted. Blisters and setors
can be made to cause the same amount of counter-irritation ; but
the inflammation accompanying the former often extends beneath
the skin, and increases the mischief it was intended to relieve;
while the latter has no effect whatever in producing pressure upon
the parts beneath. The pain of firing can be relieved entirely at
the time of the operation by chloroform ; but the subsequent
smarting is quite as bad, and this is beyond the reach of any
angesthetic. Independently, however, of the interests of the master,
it is also to the advantage of the horse to get thoroughly cured ;
for if he is not, he will either work on in misery, or he will be con-
signed to the knacker’s yard; and, therefore, the adoption of the
most efficacious plan of treatment, even if somewhat the most pain-
ful, is the best for both.

FIRING MAY BE PERFORMED STANDING, by the use of the side
line for the hind leg, or by fixing up one fore leg when the other
is to be operated on. There is, however, nothing like the break or
trevis, where more than a slight extent of surface is to be lined.
The firing-iron should have a smooth edge, about the thickness of
a worn shilling ; ; and it should be heated ‘to the point when it shows
a dull red in the dark. When the disease for which the irons are
used is slight, the skin should not be penetrated ; but in bad eases,
where the mischief is great, and particularly when it is wanted to
have a good permanent bandage, the cauterization must be deeper ;
but this requires some practical knowledge to decide. The hair
of the part should be cut very closely with the scissors, or shaved ;
then, having secured the leg. the iron is to be steadily but rapidly
passed in parallel lines over the skin, making just the proper pres-
sure which is required to burn to the requisite depth. A light
brown mark should be left, which shows that the proper effect has
been produced; and the color should be uniform, unless it is de-
sired to penetrate deeper at certain parts, which is sometimes
practised with advantage. The lines are sometimes made in 4
slanting direction round the leg, and at others straight up and
dcwn,; but it is useless to describe the details of this operation,
which can only be learned by watching its performance by another
hand. ‘Badly done firing is always an eyesore ; but when the lines
are evenly drawn, and they have healed without any sloughs,
caused. by irregular or excessive pressure, they show that a master:

154 THE HORSE.

hand has been at work, and that the poor beast has been treated
scientifically. In very severe diseases, a blister is sometiines ay
plied over the part, immediately after the firing; but this can
seldom be required, and as it aggravates the pain tenfold, it should
be avoided, if possible. On the following day, a little neat’s-foot
oil should be gently rubbed, or brushed with a feather, over the
leg; and this should be repeated daily, until the swelling which
comes on has nearly subsided. Less than three months’ rest
should never be allowed for the operation to have its full effect, as,
if the horse is put to work before that time has elapsed, the dis-
ease will almost certainly return. Indeed, it is far better to allow
double this time, especially if the horse is wanted for fast work.

SETONS AND ROWELS.

SETONS are pieces of tape or lamp cotton, passed through and
beneath the skin, leaving the two ends hanging out, either tied
together or with a knot upon each. The latter is the safer plan,
as the loop is always liable to be caught on a hook or other pro-
jecting body. The needle with which the passage is effected has
a Spear point, slightly turned up, and an eye at the other end (see
fig. 22), through which the tape or cotton is threaded. The

Fic. 22.—SETON NEEDLES ONE QUARTER SIZE.

ordinary one is about nine or ten inches long, and by its means a
tape or piece of lamp cotton, smeared with blister cerate, may be
passed through a long track of the cellular membrawe, by pinching
up the skin into a fold, and piercing this close to the body with
the needle, which is then to be carried straight through. On
drawing the tape out of the eye, it must be tied in a large knot at
each end, which will prevent its slipping out. Jn three or four
uays, a profuse discharge will come on, and it must ke kept up, if
necessary, by repeated applications of blister cerate, or digestive
ointment, as may be necessary. The ends should be sponged
occasionally, to remove the accumulated matter.

A SMALLER CURVED NEEDLE, about five or six inches long (see
lower figure, 22) is used for introducing a seton into the frog, or
beneath the eye. For the former operation, a twitch is first
applied, and the foot is then buckled up to the arm, as described
at page 167 +The needle then, armed with the tape, greased with

ROW ELS—BLISTERING. 155

blister cerate, and a little oil to lubricate the surface, 1s thrust in
at the heel and out at the cleft of the frog, taking care not to 20
deep enough to wound the tendon as it passes over the navicular
bone. The needle is then forcibly drawn through, and the tape
knotted, as already described. The openings must be kept clean
by sponging daily ; and in three or four weeks the tape will have
nearly worked its way out, when it may be withdrawn.

RoweExs are now seldom employed, being very unmanageable
plans for causing counter-itritation. An incision, about an inch
long, is made in the skin, selecting a part where it is loosely at-
tached, and into this a blunt instrument, called a “cornet,” is
pushed, and worked about in all directions, until the skin is sepa:
rated from the subjacent parts for a circle with a diameter of from
two to three inches. Into this a piece of thick leather of that
diameter, with a hole in the middle, is inserted, previously having
smeared it with blister cerate ; and the part is then left to nature.
In a few days, a discharge of matter comes on, which must be
washed off occasionally; and in the course of time, the leather, if
allowed, would find its way out by ulceration. Before, however,
this takes place, it is generally removed.

BLISTERING.

WHEN IT IS DECIDED TO BLISTER any part, the hair should be
cut off as closely as possible ; the ointment is then rubbed in with
the hand for ten minutes, leaving a good quantity smeared on the
surface. If the legs are to be blistered, the heels should be pro-
tected by lard. Considerable itching is caused after the first two
or three days, and many horses, if allowed, gnaw the part to such
an extent as to cause a serious blemish. It is therefore necessary
to keep the head away, which is done by putting a “cradle” on
the neck. The irritation of loose straw 1s very agoravating, and
the stall or box should either be bedded with tan, or sawdust, or
with used litter, so damp as to lie smoothly. It is generally the
practice to put the blistered horse on a bare floor; but he will often
do great harm to his legs and feet (which are of course unsound,
or they would not be treated in this way), by constantly stamping
from the pain occasioned while the blister is beginning to rise.
When tke legs are stiff and sore from the swelling, he stands still
enough, but at first there is nothing of this kind to keep him quiet.
James’s blister, which is very mild, and useful for trifling diseases
of the legs, or for bringing on the hair after. “ broken knee,” can
generally be used without a cradle; but even with it, horses will
sometimes gnaw themselves, and it is better not to run any risk.
At the end of a week, some neat’s-foot oil should be applied every
morning, with a feather or soft brush, to keep the scabs as supple

156 THE HORSE,

as possible. The various formulas for blisters will be given 1n the
list of materia medica.

CASTRATION.

FoR REMOVING THE TESTICLES several methods of operation
have been proposed; but hitherto none has been tried which ts sé
successful as the old plan, in which the division of the cord is per-
formed by a heated iron with a sharp edge. In human surgery
the spermatic artery is tied, and all danger of hemorrhage is over,
because the small amount of bleeding which takes place from the
artery of the cord is of no consequence, as it cannot enter the cavity
of the peritoneum. In the horse, on the other hand, the inguinal
canal communicates with that cavity, and if the ligature i is used,
there is a double danger of inflammation—first, from " effused blood,
and secondly, from the irritation of the ends of the ligature. This
plan, therefure, is now generally abandoned, though some few prac-
titioners still adhere to it, and the choice rests between two methods
of removal by cautery, namely, the actual and potential,—the
former giving more pain at the moment when the heated iron is
applied, past the latter being really far more severe, as the caustic
is a long time in effecting a complete death of the nerve and other
sensitive parts. Torsion of the vessels has been also tried, but it
is often followed by hemorrhage, and, moreover, the pain which
is caused during the twisting of the artery is apparently quite as
great as is given by the heated iron. We are all inclined to fancy
that fire occasions more agony than it really does, but those whe
have in their own persons been unfortunately able to compare the
effects of the two kinds of cautery, have uniformly admitted that
the actual is less severe than the potential, if the two are used se
as to produce the same amount of cauterization.

THE BEST PERIOD FOR PERFORMING THE OPERATION on the
foal is just before weaning, provided the weather is mild. If, how-
ever, his neck is very light. and the withers low, its postponement
till the following spring will give a better chance for the develop-
ment of these parts. The cold of winter and heat of summer are
botk prejudicial, and the months of April, May, September, or
October should always be selected.

No PREPARATION IS REQUIRED in the “sucker,” but after wean-
ing the system always requires cooling by a dose of physic and
light food before castration can safely be. performed. Horses which
have been in training, or other kind of work attended with high
feeding, require at least three weeks’ or a montn’s rest and lower-
ing, by removing corn, mashing, &c., together with a couple of
doses of physic, before they are fit to be castrated.

FOR THE ORDINARY }.ETHOD OF OPERATING, a pair of clams
should be provided, lined at the surfaces wkere the compressior

CASTRATION, 15%

is made, with thick :ayers of vuleanized india-rubber. This ma-
terial gives a very firm hold without bruising the cord, and causing
thereby inflanimation. A large scalpel and a couple of irons will
complete the list of instruments, over and above the apparatus
necessary for casting the horse (see Casting, page 433). The horse
being properly secured according to the directions there given, and
a twitch being put on the lip ir case he should struggle much, the

Fase Pe TDEEE:
AOE LN NC WW

Fig. 28.—CLAMS LINED WITH VULCANIZED INDIA-RUBBER.

operator, kneeling on the left side, grasps the testicle so as to make
the skin of the scrotum covering it quite tense. A longitudinal
incision, about three inches long, is then made down to the testicle,
which, if care has been taken ‘that there is no rupture, may be
rapidly done—a wound of its surface not being of the slightest con-
sequence, and giving far less pain than the slow niggling dissection
of its coverings, which is sometimes practised to avoid it. The
testicle can now be cleared of its coverings, and the hand laying
hold of it gently, the operator raises it from its bed, and slips the
clams on each side the cord, at once making the proper pressure
with them, which should be sufficient to prevent all risk of the
part enclosed slipping from between its jaws. Great care should
be taken that the whole of the testicle, including the epididimis,
is external to the clams; and as soon as this is satisfactorily ascer-
tained, the cord may be divided with tke ordinary firing-iron at a
red heat. To make sure that no hemorr hage shall occur, some
operators sear the artery separately with a pointed i Iron 5 but if the
division is slowly made with the heated iron, and avoiding any
drag upon the cord, no such accident will be at all likely to follow,
though very rarely it will happen in spite of every care. The
clams may now be removed, and the other testicle treated in the
game way ; after which the hobbles are cautiously removed, and the
patient is placed in a roomy loose box, where he can take sufficient
exercise to insure the gravitation of the discharge, but no more.
THE FrRENci PLAN, by means of caustic, requires two pieces
ef wood, each about six inches long and an inch square, with a
notch or neck at each end, to hold the twine by which they ara
tied together, and a groove in the two opposite surfaces, to hold
the caustic. This is composed of one part of corrosive sublimate
end four of flour, made into a paste with water, and it is intro
:

158 THE HORSE.

duced while moist into the grooves, whici it should completely fil.
The horse is then secured as before, the cord is exposed, the pieces
of wood are adjusted on each side, and firmly held together with
pincers by an assistant, while the operator binds their ends together
with waxed string. ‘The testicle may now be removed with the
knife, if the string has been tied sufficiently tight; but unlvss the
operator has had some experience, it is safer to let it remain on till
it comes away by the ulceration of the cord. This is the uncovered
operation, the covered one being performed with the same instru-
ments, as follows. The scrotum is grasped, and opened, taking
care to avoid wounding the tunica vaginalis reflexa, or outer serous
investment, but cutting down to it through the skin, dartos muscle,
and cellular membrane. These are tu be carefully dissected back,
until the cord can be isolated without wounding its serous invest-
ment (tunica vaginalis), which is so thin that it is easy to ascertain
with certainty the nature of its contents by examination with the
fingers. If there is no hernia, the caustic can at once be applied
to its outside in the same way as before; and if there is, it must
be pushed back into the cavity of the abdomen, by a little careful
manipulation.

SOME VETERINARY SURGEONS operate in a similar way to one
or other of the two last described plans, with the omission of the
caustic, Which they maintain is wholly unnecessary, for there mus¢
be sufficient pressure to cause a sloughing of the cord There is
certainly some truth in this argument, but if the pressure has not
been sufficient to cause the sioughs, the caustic will assure that
essential process, and thus it renders the operation safer, though
it somewhat increases the subsequent local inflammation. The
plan without caustic is almost precisely the same, as far as safety is
concerned, as that formerly adopted by country farriers, called
“twitching,” in which two pieces of wood were applied on each
side the base of the scrotum, and tied firmly at each end. The
pain, however, occasioned by the pressure on so large a surface
of skin is intense, and the operation is on that account indefensible,
besides which it is not nearly so successful as either the ordinary
Kinglish or French operations.

DOCKING AND NICKING.

THESE OPERATIONS ON THE TAIL are subject to the fashion
of the day, the former being used for the purpose of shortening
its length, which is inconvenient to the rider or driver in dirty
weather, and the latter for altering its carriage, when this is too
iow for the taste of the owner. Nicking, is, however, very seldom
practised in the present day, and never to the extent which was

the fashion fifty years ago.

DOCKING AND NICKING, * 159

DochinG is very rapidly performed by the aid of the docking:
knife, which is made on the principle of the guillctine. As the
tail is removed at one sudden and forcible chop, the horse need
not be confined in any way beyond fixing up his fore leg, unless he

Fig. 25—DOCKING-KNIFE.

is a very violent animal, when he must be placed in the break (see
page 435). The exact length of the dock to be left being fixed
upon, the hair is cut off close below, and the remainder tied back
to the root of the tail. The situation of the joint, which may be
ascertained from its greater prominence, is then marked, by care-
fully removing the hair with the scissors, and then laying it in the
rounded groove of the wooden frame in which the knife plays, so
that the edge of the latter shall exactly correspond with the part
to be cut, the handles are suddenly and forcibly brought together,
and the end is removed at one blow. A pointed iron should have
been previously heated, and then raising the tail toa level with
the back, the arteries are first seared, which a very slight touch
will effect, and then the point is pushed into the sheath of the
tendons lying at the top of the stump, so as to cause them to
adhere in that position, and effect a handsome carriage cf the tail.
Lastly, a little resin is melted over the end of the stump with the
iron now pretty nearly cooled, and the operation is concluded by
untying the hair.

Nick1NG@ was formerly carried to such an extent that the poor
horse could not lower his tail, but was always obliged to carry it
yver his back. Several deep cross-cuts were made in the under-
side after being docked, and then a cord was fastened to the hair,
and being carried over a pulley attached to the cciling, the tail
was kept drawn up over the back by a weight at its end. The
horse coald lie down by raising the weight, but by no possible
means eculd he lower his tail, and in course of time the wounds
healed by granulation filling up their spaces, and the nicking was
eomyleted. When a horse now carries his dock too low, a sub

160 THE WORSE.

cutaneous incision of the flexor tendons is made, which is generally
sufficient, but if not the pulley is adopted for a few days. Some-
times the tail is carried on one side, and then a similar operation
by subcutaneous division of the tendons on the side to which the
tail is carried will have the desired effect, always taking care in
each case to keep the knife clear of a joint.

UNNERVING.

THE NERVES distributed to the foot are sometimes divided for
navicular disease, as they lie on each side of the bone above the
fetlock joint. No one, however, should attemps this operation
without having previously seen it performed, as it requires cop-
siderable dexterity for its due execution. I have described such
operations as may be wanted in the parts of the country where a
veterinary surgeon cannot always be reached, but unnerving is but
seldom required, and I shall therefore omit any detailed account
of it.

REDUCTION OF HERNIA.

HERNIA 1s sometimes strangulated; that is to say, the protrud-
ing portion of bowel is confined in its situation by such ee
on its neck as to cause danger of mortificaticn. Under such ¢
cumstances, if it is found to be impossible te return the bowel bs

careful manipulation, an operation must be performed. This con-

sists in carefully dissecting through the coverings of the bowel,
and when it is exposed, a long and narrow cuarded knife (Bistouri
caché) is passed by the side of the intestine thiough che opening
into the abdomen, and then making the blade prominent it is with-
drawn, and the fibres causing the pressure are divided. This
usually allows of the bowel being passed back wgain into the
abdomen, when the operation is completed by briuging the parts
together with one or two stitches.

WHEN HERNIA OCCURS IN THE COLT either at the navel or
scrotum, it is often desired to effect a cure by returning the bowe!
and causing the opening to close by adhesive inflammation. If
the colt is uncut, the performance of the covered operation on the
Freneh plan (see page 443) will generally succeed, great care
being of course necessary to return the intestine before the clams
are applied. In umbilical hernia a similar plan has been tried,
but the adhesion is too superficial to be of much use; and the only
successful method is the passage of one or two skewers through
the opposite edges of the opening, and then winding some waxed
twine round them, with a moderate degree of force. This should
not be sufficient to cause mortification, « or the opening will only be
increased in size, and the bowel will protrude without any covering
e€ skin; but it should be just sufficient to cause adhesive inflam.

ADMINISTRATION OF PHYSIC. 161

mation ; experience in such matters alone enabling the operator to
hit upon the right amount.

IN ALL OPERATIONS FOR HERNIA chloroform is of great assist-
ance, as it prevents the risk of a protrusion of the bowel while the
knife is being used, which will otherwise sometimes happen during
the struggles of the horse.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF PHYSIC.

MEDICINE may be given to the horse either in the solid form
as a ball, or liquid, and then called a drench, or as a dry powder,
when in small compass and with little taste, mixed with the corn
or mash. Sometimes also a small quantity of a tasteless liquid,
such as liquor arsenicalis, may be given with the food.

IN GIVING A BALL, place a halter on the head with a knot, so
that the jaws may be widely opened. Then turn the horse round
in the stall and back him up to the manger, lay hold of the tongue
and draw it out of the mouth, grasp it with the left hand, which
must also hold the halter-cord so short that the strain is partly
taken off the tongue, and then holding the ball in the right hand
with the fingers enclosing it like a cone, and, the arm bare, it
should be rapidly carried to the back of the mouth and deposited
there, holding the head up till it is seen to pass down the gullet.
Cautious grooms use a balling iron, which gags the mouth and
protects the arm, but a handy man will have less difficulty in intro-
ducing his hand than in inserting the gag, unless the horse is a
determined biter, when it may be absolutely necessary. In that
case the gag is insinuated with as much ease as a bit in a flat
direction, and the handle being suddenly depressed, the mouth
gapes and the teeth cannot be brought together. Then holding
its handle together with the halter in the left hand, the right
easily introduces the ball into the pharynx.

IN GIVING A DRENCH, two persons are necessary, the operator
standing at the right shoulder, while the assistant is ready to steady
the head and aid him on the left. The operator raises the head
witn his left hand beneath the jaw, and with his right he forces
the lip of the horn into the side of the mouth, and, raising the
small end, pours the contents in. If the horse is violent, a twitch
must be placed on the nose. and held by the assistant. The horn
must not be passed far into the mouth, or any unnecessary violence
used, fur fear of producing a cough; in which case, the hand must
be instantly lowered. A neglect of this precaution will probably
cause sonie of the liquid to pass into the larynx.

CLYSTERS
ARE MOST VALUABLE AGENTS, if properly administered. The
best syringe for the purpose is Read’s, by which any quantity may
| 11

162 THE HORSE.

be thrown up; and in colic, some gallons of warm water are some-
times required to produce the desired effect. For an ordinary
opening clyster, a handful or two of common salt may be dissolved
iu five or six quarts of warm water.

BACK-RAKING

Js EFFECTED ly passing the greased hand and arm into the
rectum, and withdrawing any hardened feeces which may have
accumulated there. When the quantity of these is great, the hand
must be passed several times, until it cannot reach any more.
Whenever physic is given to an unprepared horse, as is sometimes
necessary in severe discase, this precaution should never be
neglected. Mr. Gamgee, of Edinburgh, is of opinion that this
operation is more safely and easily performed by the aid of instru-
ments, supporting his views by the assertion that the introduction
of the hand gives unnecessary pain. On one or two occasions I
have certainly seen a shoulder of mutton at the end of a human
arm, and this would perhaps cause some little difficulty; but no
hand of average size is nearly so large as the mass of dung usually
passed ; and those who are not above doing a dirty job when duty
requires it, well know by experience that the hand and arm may be
passed to the shoulder without giving any pain whatsoever. In.
struments are uscful when they cannot be dispensed with, but they
ure always liable to cause laceration.

ALTERATIVES. 163

CHAPTER X.

fHE PRINCIPAL MEDICINES, AND THE DOSES IN WHICH THEY
CAN SAFELY BE ADMINISTERED :—

«i lteratives—A nesthetics—A nodynes—A ntactds—A nthelmintivs
—Aperients —Astringents — Blisters —Caustics — Charges—
Ciysters — Cordials —Demulcents —Diaphoretics —Digestives
Diuretics —Embrocations —Emulsions —Expectorants —Feb-
rifuges—Lotions—Narcotics—Refri, ugerants—Sedatives—Stim-
ulants—Stomachics—Styptics— Tonics —Vermifuges, or Worm
Medicines.

(The Formule enclosed in [ ] are by the American Editor )

ALTERATIVES.

THIS TERM IS NOT VERY SCIENTIFIC, but it is in very general
use, and easily explains its own meaning, though the modus operandi
of the drugs employed to carry it out is not so clear. The object is
to replace unhealthy action by a healthy one, without resorting, to
any of the distinctly-defined remedies, such as tonics, stomachiva,
&e. Asa general rule, this class of remedies produce their effect
by acting slowly but steadily on the depuratory organs, as the liver,
kidneys, ané@ skin. The tollowing.may be found useful :—

i. In DIsoRDERED STATES OF THE SKIN—

Emetic Tartar . ‘ P ; - 2 ounces.
Powdered Ginger ¥ é p » 3s ounces.
Opium 2 2 . 1 ounce.

Syrup ea to form 16 balls : one to be given every night.

2. SimpLty Coo LING—

Barbadoes Aloes ° ° 2 - | ounce.
Castile Soap. . ° . 1% ounce.
Ginger. 4 ounce.
Eyrup enough to form 6 balls : one to be giv en every morning. Or,
3. Barbadoes Aloes . : 2 « 13 drachm.
Emetic Tartar . ° ° . . 2 drachms.

Castile Soap. é ° : - 2 drachms. Mix

4. ALTERATIVE BALL FOR GENERAL UsE—

Black Sulphuret of Antimony . . 2 to 4 drachms.
Sulphur . : ° “ ° » 2 drachms.
Nitre : - 2drachms.

Y.inseed meal and water enough to ‘aii a ball

164 THE HORSE.

5. For GENERALLY DEFECTIVE SECRETIONS—

Flowers of Sulphur . . ; : 2 ounces.
Emetic Tartar . : A f - 5to 8dr achms
Corrosive Sublimate . “ : . 10 grains.

Linseed meal mixed with hot water, enough to form Si balls, ore of
which may be given two or three times a week.

6. In DEBILITY OF STOMACH—

Calomel . = - - =, | .« . 1d seruple:

Aloes ; . ° ° - 1 drachm.

Cascarilla Bark,

Gentian Root, of each in powder . 1 drachm.

Ginger,

Castile Soap. 4 . - 3drachms.

Syiup enough to make a ball, which may be given twice a week, or
every other night.

AN ESTHETICS.

ANMsTHETICS (a, not, privative; a?oOyots, sensation) produce
insensibility to all external impressions, and therefore to pain.
They resemble narcotics in their action, and, when taken into the
stomach, may be considered purely as such. The most certain and
safe way of administering them is by inhalation, and chloroform
is the drug now universally employed. The mous operandi of the
various kinds has never yet been satisfactorily explained; and
when the comparison is made, as it often is, to the action of intox-
icating fluids, we are no nearer to it than before. With alcoholie
fluids, however, the disorder of the mental functions is greater in
proportion to the insensibinty to pain; and if they are taken in
sufficient quantities to produce the latter effect, they are dangerous
to life itself. The action of aneesthetics on the horse is very sim-
ilar to that on man.

ANODYNES,

SoMETIMES CALLED NARcortics, when taken into the stomach,
pass at once into the blood, and there act in a special manner on
the nervous centres. At first they exalt the nervous force; but
they soon depress it, the second stage coming on the sooner accord-
ing to the increase of the dose. They are given either to soothe
the genera! nervous system, or to stop diarrhoea; or sometimes to
relieve spasm, as in colic or tetanus. Opium is the chief anodyne
uzed in veterinary medicine, and it may be employed in very large
dost.s :—
7. ANODYNE DRENCH FOR CoLIc—
Linseed Oil - ° ° ° e 1 pint.
Oil of Turpentine . : - 1 to 2 ounces.

Laudanum - 1 to 2 ounces.
Mix, and give every hour till relief i is afforded.

ANODYNES—ANTACIDS—ANTHELMINTICS, 165

8. AnopyNne BALt For Cotrc (only useful in mild cases) —

Powdered Opium . ‘ s . 4 to 2 drachms.
Castile Soap. ~ ° - 2 drachms.
Camphor . ‘ “ : : .- 2 drachms.
Ginger. - 13 drachm.

Make into a ball with Tiquorice powder and ‘Treacle, find give every
hour while the pain lasts. It should be kept in a bottle or bladder.

9. ANopyneE Batt (ordinary)—

Opium. . . . ° - 3 to1drachm.
Castile Soap. a - . 2to 4 drachms.
Ginger. S - “ : i to 2 drachms.
Powdered Aniseed . z - 4 to 1 ounce.
Oil of Caraway Seeds : x drachm.

Syiup enough to form a ball, to be dissolved in 1 half’ a a of warm ale,
and given as a drench.

10. ANODYNE DRENCH IN SUPERPURGATION, OR ORDINARY DIARRH#A—
Gum Arabic E : s A . 2 ounces,
Boiling Water . . ° ° - 1 pint.

Dissolve, and then add—
Oil of Peppermint . - , . 25 drops.
Laudanum : - ¥ tol ounce.
Mix, and give night and morning, : necessary.

11. In Curonic DrarRHeA—
Powdered Chalk and Gum Arabic, each 1 ounce.
Laudanam ; : : F - % ounce,
Peppermint Water. ° ° - 10 ounees.
Mix, and give night and morning.

ANTACIDS.

AS THE TERM IMPLIES, these remedies are used to neutralize
acids, whether taken into the stomach to an improper extent, or
formed therein as products of diseases. They are often classed as
alteratives when used for the latter purpose. They include the
alkalies and alkaline earths, but are not much used in veterinary
medicine.

ANTHELMINTICS. ;

Druas which are used to destroy worms receive this name in
medical literature when the auther is wedded to the Greek Jan-
vuage. The admirers of Latin call them vermifuges, and in Kng-
lish they receive the humble name of worm medicines. Their
action is partly by producing a disagreeable or fatal impression on
the worm itself, and partly by irritating the mucous lining of the
bowels, and thus causing them to expel their conteuts. Failing the
remedy recommended at page 511, the following may be useful :

12. Worm BAL (recommended ba Mr. GAMGEE)—

Asafetida a . 2 ‘ 2 drachms.
Calomel 2 a ; : 3 1) drachm.
Powdered Eaerd ‘ : F é 4 drachm.
Oi] of Male Fern . 3 : : . 30 drops

_

166. THE HORSE.

Treacle enough to make a ball, which should be given at night, aad |
followed by a purge next morning.

13. Minp DreNcH FoR WormMs—
Linseed Oil : : ° . °
Spirit of Turpentine . . : . .
Mix and give every morning.

ANTISPASMODICS are medicines whick are intended to counteract
excessive muscular action, called spasm, or, in the limbs, cramp.
This deranged condition depends upon a variety of causes, which
aré generally of an irritating nature; and its successful treatment
wil’ often depend upon the ‘employment of remedies calculated to
remove the cause, rather than directly to relieve the effect. It there-
fore follows that, in many cases, the medicines most successful in
removing spasm will be derived from widely separated divisions of
the materia medica, such as aperients, anodyncs, alteratives, stim-
ulants and tonics. It is useless to attempt to give many formulas
for their exhibition; but there are one or two medicines which
exercise a peculiar control over spasm, and I shall give them with-
out attempting to analyze their mode of operation.

14. In Conic—

Spirit of Turpentine + . : . - 33 ounces,
Laudanum . . : 4 5 - 14 ounce.
Barbadoes Aloes . 2 “ . lounce.

Powder the Aloes, and dissolve in warm water : then add the other
ingredients, and give asa drench.

15. CLYSTER IN CoLiIc—

Spirit of Turpentine. 3 : ; 6 ounces,
Aloes.. : ; 2 drachms,
Dissolve in three quarts of warm a water, and stir the turpentine well
into it.
16. ANTISPASMODIC DrRENCH—
Gin Sean wie Tat es incur gt aie 0 TOG
Tincture of Capsicum : ‘ : : 2 drachms
Laudanum . , : , ; : 3 drachms,
Warm Water : 13 pint.

Mix and give as a drench, when there is no inflammation.

APERIENTS.
(Physic Balls and Drenches.)

APERIENTS, or purges, are those medicines which quicken sr
werease the evacuations from the bowels, varying, however, a good
deal in their mode of operation. Some a:t merely by exciting the
muscular coat of the bowels to contract; others cause an immense
watery discharge, which, as it were, washes out the bowels; whilst
a third set combine the action of the two. The various purges
also act upon different parts of the canal, some stimulating the

APERIENTS. 167

en.all intestines, whilst others pass through them without affecting
them, and only act upon the large bowels ; and others, again, act
upon the whole canal. There is a third point of difference in
purges, depending upon their influencing the liver in addition,
shick mercurial purgatives certainly do, as well as rhubarb and
some others, and which effect is partly due to their absorption into
the circulation, so that they may be made to act, by injecting inte
the veins, as strongly as by actual swallowing, and their subse.
quent passage into the bowels. Purgatives are likewise classed,
according to the deyree of their effect, into laxatives acting mildly,

and drastic purges, or cathartics, acting very severely.

17, OrpinarRyY Puysic BaLtts—

Barbadoes Aloes ‘ ° - . 38to 8 drachms.
Hard Soap : : ; : . 4drachms.
Ginger. ; é - 1 drachm.

Dissolve in as small a quantity of boiling water as will suffice ; then
slowly evaporate to the proper ccnsistence, by which means griping is
avoided.

18. A Warmer Puysic BaLit-—

Barbadoes Aloes < + . . 8to 8 drachms
Carbonate of Soda . 2 : « 4 drachm.
Aromatic Powder : . “ - 1 drachm

Oil of Caraway 2 . ° . 12 drops.

Yissolve as above, and then adé the oil.
19, GentLy Laxative BaLt—

Barbadoes Aloes - e A . 3to 5 drachms
Rhubarb Powder F 5 : . to 2 drachma
Ginger. Z ° . , . 2 drachms.

Oil of Caraway : ° : . 15 drops. |

Mix, and form into a ball, as in No. 1.
90. Sromacuic LAXATIVE Batis, FOR Wasiy Horses—

Barbadoes Aloes : A A . 3drachms.
Rhubarb . - ° ° A ».. 2 drachms.
Ginger. : . ° ° - 1drachm.
Cascarilla Powder . . 5 - 1 drachm.
Oil of Caraway : ° : . 15 drops.
Carbonate of Soda. - ° . 13 drachin.

Dissolve the Alves as in No. 1, and then add the cther ingredients.
21. Purginc BALLs, with Ca LOMEL—

Barbadoes Aloes - ~ C . 306 drachms
Calemel . ~ ° ° ° - 4.0 1 drachin.
Rhubarb . . e e . » 1to 2 drachms,
Ginger . : ° ° ° - $to 1 drachm.
Castile Soap» e ° ° . 2 drachms.
Mix as in No. 1.
92, LAXATIVE DRENCH—

Barbadoes Aloes e ° = . 8to + drachms.
Canella Alba . ° . ; e 1 to 2 drachms.
Salt of Tartar . e ° a - 1 drachm.
Mint Water e ° . Sounces. Min.

168 THE HORSE.

23. ANOTHER LAXATIVE DRENCH—

Castor Oil . - . e - 38to 6 ounces.
Barbadoes Aloes e = - 38to5 drachms,
Carbonate of Soda . ‘ : - 2drachms.
Mint Water ; 8 ounces.

Mix, by dissolving the Aloes in the Mint Water by the aid of heat, and
then adding the other ingredicnts.
24, A M:ip Opening Drencu—

Castor Oil . ; ~ 2 - 4 ounces.

Epsom Salts. ° ° ‘ - 3 to 5 ounces.

Gruel “ . “ . ° - 2 pints. “Dix.
95 A veERY MiLp LAXATIVE—

Castor Oil 3 “ - « 4 ounces.

Linseed Oil ‘ 5 5 : - 4 ounces.

Warm Water or Gruel ° - Il pint. Mix
26. Usep IN THE STAGGERS—

Barbadoes Aloes s P e . 4 to 6 drachms.
Common Salt . : s A - 6 ounces.
Flour of Mustard . ‘ é - 1 ounce.

Water : : j s ; . 2pints. Mix.

297. A GENTLY CooLtiInGc Drencu In SLIGHT ATTACKS OF COLD—
Epsom Salts. é ° - 6 to 8 ounces.
Whey ° . . . ° - 2pints. Mix.

28. PurGativp CLysteER—

Common Salt . = . . . 4 to 8 ounces.
Warm Water . ° ° ° - 8 to 16 pints.
ASTRINGENTS.

(For Diarrhea and Dysentery.)

ASTRINGENTS appear to produce contraction on all living ani
mal tissues with which they come in contact, whether ‘n the
interior or on the exterior of the body; and whether immediately
applied or by absorption into the circulation. But great doubt
exists as to the exact mode in which they act; and, as in man
other cases, we are obliged to content ourselves with their effects,
and to prescribe them empirically. They are divided into astrin-
vents administered by the mouth, and those applied locally te
external ulcerated or wounded surfaces.

29 For Bioopy Urine—

Powdered Catechu . ° ° e 4 ounce.
Alum ‘ ° : 04 aUnece.
Cascarilla Bark i in aemaae : - 1 to 2 drachms.
Liquorice Powder and Treacle enough to form a ball, to be given twice
a day.
30. For DiaBetes—
Opium, . ° ° » 4 drachm.,
Ginger powdered - , - « 2 drachms.
Oak Bark powdered . 4 1 ounce.
Alum, as much as the tea will discal:
Cis dnailp Tea . : o» 1 put:

Mix for a drench.

ASTRINGENTS—BLISTERS, OR VESICANTS. 169

81. EXTERNAL ASTRINGENT POWDERS FOR ULCERATE D SURFACE8S—

Powdered Alum 3 ‘ . 4 ounces.
Armenian Bole = 3 - 1 ounce
oa. White Vitrio! . = - - - 4 ounces.
Oxide of Zine . ‘ . : - lounce. Mix.
83 AsiRINGENT LoTION—
Goulard Extract - - - . 2 to 3 drachms.
Water : ° ° ° 3 pint.
34. Sulphate of Copper . = 5 . 1 to 2 drachms
Water : : ‘ ° . » 4 pint. Mix
85. ASSRINGENT OINTMENT FOR SorE IHEELS—
Acctate of Lead : g a - 1drachm.
Lard ; : 5 3 . - l1ounce. Mix.
386. ANOTHER FOR THE SAME—
Nitrate of Silver powdered . - 4 drachm.
Goulard Extract 5 : - . 1 drachm
Lard : = e 1 ounce.

Mix, and use a very small portion every night.

BLISTERS, OR VESICANTS.

Busters are applications which inflame the skin, and produze
a secretion of scrum between the cutis and cuticle, by which the
latter is raised in the form of small bladders; but in consequence
of the presence of the hair, these are very imperfectly seen in the
horse. They consist of two kinds—one, used for the sake of coun-
ter-irritation, by which the original disease is lessened, in consc-
quence of the establishment of this irritation at a short distance
from it; the other, commonly called “ sweating” in veterinary sur-
gery, by which a discharge is obtained from the vessels of the part
itself, which are in that way relieved and unloaded. There is alse
9. subsequent process of absorption in consequence of the peculiar
atimulus applied.

37. Mitp BiistTER OINTMENT (CoOUNTER-IRRITANT)—

Ilog’s Lard : ‘ . : . 4 ounces.
Venice Turpentine. S - - 1 ounce.
Powdered Cantharides : : - 6 drachms.

Mix, and spread.

38. GTRONGER BiisTER OINTMENT (COUNTE2-IRRITANT )—

Spirit of Turpentine . : : «; ounce:

Sulphuric Acid, by measure ‘ - 2 drachms.
Mix carefully in an open piace, and add—

Hog’s Lard : . ° . » 4 ounces.

Powdered Cantharides ° ‘ - 1 ounce,

Mix, and spread.

170 THE HORSE.

39, Very StRonG BuisteR (CounTER-I RRITANT)—

Strong Mercurial Ointment : - 4 ounces,
Oil of “Origanum . : - ¥% ounce.
Finely-powdered Euphorbium ‘ - 38drachms
Powdered Cantharides . s - 4% ovnce.

Mix, and spread.
40. Rapipty ActinG BuiisTER (COUNTER-IRRITANT)—

Best Flour éf Mustard : : - 8 ounces.
Made into a paste with water; then add—

Oil of Turpentine : : . 2 ounces-

Strong Liquor of Ammonia : . 1 ounce.

This is to be well rubbed into the chest, belly, or back, in case: of
acute inflammation.

41, SwEATING BLISTER—

Strong Mercurial Ointment : . 2 ounces.

Oil of Origanum : : - . 2drachms.
Corrosive Sublimate : : . 2 drachms.
Cantharides powdered 5 : . 38 drachms,

Mix, and rub in with the hand.

42. Stronc SWEATING BuIsTER, FOR Spiints, Rinc-BoneEs, SPaviys,
&c.—
Biniodide of Mercury ; «. 1 to-1$ drachm.
Lard : - 1 ounce.
To be well rubbed into the legs, after cutting the hair short; and followed
Ly the daily use of Arnica, in the shape of a wash, as follows, which is ¢
be painted on with a brush :—

Tincture of Arnica . Ped - 1 ounce.
Water 4 A : ° 5 . 12 to 15 ounces.
Mix.
48, Liquip SWEATING BLISTERS—
Cantharides ‘ : : 6. | pa onnee:
Spirit of ‘Turpentine ° - 2 ounces.

Methylated Spirit of Wine 4 «A pimt.
Mix, and digest for a fortnight ; then strain.

44, Powdered RHEL c ; e - 1 ounce.
Commercial Pyroligneous Acid .- <a pint
Mix, and digest fer a fortnight: then strain.

CAUSTICS, OR CAUTERIES.
(To destroy Proud Flesh in Wounds.)

CausTICcs are substances which burn away the living tissues of
the body, by the decomposition of their elements. They are of
two kinds, viz.: First, the actual cautery, consisting in the appli.

cation of ‘the burning iron, and called firing; and, secondly, the
potential cautery, by means of the powers of mineral caustics, such
as potassa fusa, lunar caustic, corrosive sublimate, Xe.

FRING is described in the chapter on Operations, at page 438.

The following are the ordinary chemical applications used as
potential cauterics :—

CAUSTICS, OR CAUTERIES—CHARGES. de

45 Fusrep Porass, difficult to manage, because it runs about in all
directions, and little used in veterinary medicine.

46. Lunar Caustic, or Nitrate of Silver, very valuable to the veterinary
surgeon, and constantly used to apply to profuse granulations.

47. SuLPHATE OF CopPeER, almost equally useful, but not so strong ae
Lunar Caustic. It may be well rubbed into all high granulations,
as in broken knees, and similar growths. ft

48. CorrosivE SUBLIMATE in powder, whieh acts most energetically
upon warty growths, but should be used with great care and dis-
cretion. It may safely be applied to small surfaces, but not with
out a regular practitioner to large ones. It should be washed off

after remaining on a few minutes. For the mode of applying it in
castration, see page 442.

49. YELLOW ORPIMENT is not so strong as Corrosive Sublimate, and may
be used with more freedom. It will generally remove warty
growths, by picking off their heads and rubbing it in.

50. Murrate oF ANTIMONY, called Butter of Antimony; a strong but

rather unmanageable caustic, and used either by itself or mixed
with more or less water.

51. CyLorIpE oF Zinc is a most powerful caustic. It may be used in
old sinuses in solution—7 drachms in a pint of water.

MiipEeR CaustTIics :—
52. Verdigris, either in powder or mixed with Lard as an ointment, in

the proportion of 1 to 3.
53. Red Precipitate, ditto, ditto.
54. Burnt Alum, used dry.
55. Powdered White Sugar.
MiLp Liquip Catvstics :—
56. Solution of Nitrate of Silver, 5 to 15 grains to the ounce of dis-

tilled water.
57. Solution of Blue Vitriol, of about double the above strength.
58. Chloride of Zinc, 1 to 3 grains to the ounce of water.

CHARGES

ARE ADHESIVE PLASTERS which are spread while hot on the legs,
and at once covered with short tow, so as to form a strong and un-
yielding support while the horse is at grass.

59. ORrinaRY CHARGES—

Burgundy Pitch ia i a 4 ounces.
Barbadoes Tar . P ‘ : : 6 ounces.
Beeswax . é ; : ‘ . 2 ounces.
Red Lead . a ; 4 ounces.

The three first are to be melted together, and afterwards the Lead is to
be added. The mixture is to be kept constantly stirred until sufficiently
cold to be applied. If too stiff (which will depend upon the weather), 18
may be softened by the addition of a little Lard or Oil.

>

172 THE HORSE.

60. ARNICA CHARGE—
Canada Balsam, “ “ ° ° . 2 ownese
Powdered Arnica Leaves. $ ounce.
The Balsam to be melted and worked up with the leaves, adding Spirite -
of Turpentine if necessary. When thoroughly mixed, to ‘be well rubbe 3
into the whole leg, in a thin layer, and to be covered over with the Charge
No. 59, which will set on its outside and act as a bandage, while the Ar
nica is a restorative to the weakened vessels. This is an excellent appli
cation.
CLYSTERS, OR ENEMATA.

CLYSTERS are intended either to relieve obstruction or spasm of
the bowels, and are of great service when properly applied. They
may be made of warm water or gruel, of which some quarts will
be required in colic. They should be thrown up with the proper
syringe, provided with valves and a flexible tube.

For the turpentine clyster in colic, see Antispasmodics.

Aperient clysters, see Aperients.

61. ANODYNE CLYysTER IN DIARRH@A—
Starch, made as for washing . : ‘ 1 quart.
Powdered Opium . ; 2 drachms,
The Opium is to be boiled in water, and added to the starch.

CORDIALS

ARE MEDICINES which act as temporary stimulants to the whole
system, and especially to the stomach. ‘They augment the strengtk
aud spirits when depressed, as after over-exertion in work.

62. CorpiAL BALLsS—
Powdered AES, Seeds. : - 6 drachms.
Ginger . 4 4 A “ i 2 drachms.
Oil of Cloves” : : ° . : 20 drops.
Treacle enough to make into a ball.
63. Powdered Aniseed x ‘ 6 drachms.
Powdered Cardamoms . > 2 drachms.
Powdered Cassia P 1 drachm.
Oil of Caraway . . - 20 drops.
Mix with treacle into a ball.
64. CorDIAL DRENCH—
A quart of good ale warmed, and with plenty of grated
ginger.
63, CoRDIAL AND EXPECTORANT—
Powdered Aniseed 2 - ; 3 ounce.
Powdered Squill . - ‘ ° - 1 drachm.
Powdered Myrrh . : ‘ . ° 13 drachm.
Balsam of Peru, enough to form a ball.

66. Liquorice Powder : ° . : 3 ounce,
Gum Ammoniacum = ; ” 3 drachms,
Balsam of Tolu- . 4 ; - ‘ 5 arachm.
Powdered Squill . : : 1 drachm,

Linseed meal and boiling water, enough to form into a riass.

DEMULCENTS—-DIAPHORETICS —DIGESTIVES, 173

DEMULCENTS

ARE USED for the purpose of soothing irritations of the bowels,
kidneys, or bladder, in the two last cases by their effect upon the
secretion of urine.

67, DEMULCENT DRENCH—
Gum Arabic . A ° : ‘ e ¥ ounce,

Water . , 1 pint.
Dissolve and give asa drench night and morning, ‘or mixed witha mash,
68. Linseed . : : = 5 : : 4 ounces.

Water . 1 quart.

Simmer till a strong and anick decoction is " obtained, ad give as above
69. MARSHMALLOW DRENCH—
Marshmallows : : - <A double hand-
Water . : : : 1 quart. (ful.
Simmer, as in No. 68, and use in the same way.

DIAPHORETICS

\{AVE A SPECIAL ACTION on the skin, increasing tke perspiration
sometimes to an enormous extent.

70. ORDINARY DIAPHORETIC DRENCH—
Solution of Acetate of Ammonia . 2 3 to 4 ounces,
Laudanum : : 5 ‘. ‘ 1 ounce.
Mix, and give at night. Or,
tke Solution of Acetate of Ammonia . 2 onces,
Spirit of Nitric Asther . : ° « 2 ounces.
Mix, and give as above.

72. In H1ipE-BouND—

Emetic Tartar 4 “ ‘ : 13 drachm.
Camphor . : : : a ‘ 3 drachm.
Ginger . : : : : . : 2 drachms.
Opium . ; : : . : 3 drachm,

Oil of Caraway : i 15 drops.
Linseed meal and boiling water, to form a ‘ball, which is to be given
twice or thrice a week.

73. Ly HipkE-BounD (but not so Heys:

Antimonial Powder ; : . 2 drachms,
Ginger . : - . ° . 1 drachm.
Powdered Caraways 5 : : ° 6 drachma
Oil of Aniseed - . ° » 20 drops.

Mix aa above.

These remedies require moderate exercise in clothing to bring
out their effects, after which the horse should be w hisped till quite

dry.
DIGESTIVES.
DiGEsTIVES are applications which promote suppuration, and the
healing of wounds or ulcers.

174 THE HORSE.

44 DIGEST(vE OINTMENT—

Red Precipitate . . . . . 2 © 1nces,
Venice Turpentine 4 - ° : 3 ounces,
Beeswax. - ° ° ° ° . 1 ounce.

Hog’s Lard =); 5 4 ounces.

Melt the three iast ingredients over a slow fire, and when nearly cold
stir in the powder.

DIURETICS.

DrIvRETICS are medicines which promote the secretion and dis-
charge of urine, the effect being produced in a different manner by
different medicines; some acting directly upon the kidneys by
sympathy with the stomach, while others are taken up by the
blood-vessels, and in their elimination from the blood cause an
extra secretion of the urine. In either case their effect is te
diminish the watery part of the blood, and thus promote the absorp-
tion of fluid effused into any of the cavities, or into the cellular
membrane in the various forms of dropsy.

75. STIMULATING DiuRETIC BALL—
Powdered Resin -
Sal Prunelle . F
Castile Soap. 7
Oil of Juniper . :

« 3drachms.
3 drachms.
- §& drachms.
- ldrachm. Mix

76. A MORE CooLiInG DiureETIC BALL—

Powdered Nitre ; : ° - 4 to 1 ounce.
Camphor . . : . “ - 1 drachm.
Juniper berries . : : * - 1 drachm.
Soap . 38 drachms.,

Mix, adding linseed meal enough to form a ball.

77. DiurRETIC POWDER FOR A MAsH—
Nitre : : : 5 ° - 4 to # ounce.
Resin . : ° ° ° - ¥ to 2 ounce. Mix.

78, ANOTHER MORE ACTIVE PowbDER—
Nitre . . 4 ° : e 5 drachms.
Camphor . ° . : « « I$drachm. Mix.

EMBROCATIONS.

fi MBROCATIONS, OR LINIMENTS, are stimulating or sedative
external applications, intended to reduce the pain and inflamma-
tion of internal parts when rubbed into the skin with the hand

79. MustTarpD EMBROCATION—

Best Flour of Mustard . ° - 6 ounces.
Liquor of Ammonia . ° : - 13 ounce.
Oil of Turpentine. : . 134 ounce.

Mix with sufficient water to form a thin paste.

EMBROCATIONS—EMULSIONS—EXPECTORANTS. 175

“80 SrimuULATING EmBROCATION—

Camphor . ; ‘ 7 : - #4 ounce.
Oil of Turpentine. B - . 4 ounce.
Spirit of Wine . - : - 3 ounce. Mix.

8]. Sweatine Emprocation ror WINDGALLS, &¢.—-
Strong Mercurial Ointment . . - 2 ounces.
Camphor . ? . P 2 - § ounce.
Oil of Rosemary . . » 2drachms.

: Oil of Turpentine, 2 ~ » lounce. Mix.

82. ANOTHER, RUT STRONGER—
Strong Mercurial Ointment ° - 2 ounces.
Oil of Bay : 5 : ° - 1 ounce.
Oil of Origanum ‘ : . - 4 ounce.
Powdered Cantharides . *» 3 Ounce. Mix.

83. A most Active SWEATING EMBROCATION—
Biniodide of Mercury F : - % to 1 drachm.
Powdered Arnica Leaves . 4 . 1 drachm.
Soap Liniment . : - - - 2ounces. Mix.

EMULSIONS,

WHEN OILY MATTERS have their globules broken down by
friction with mucilaginous substances, such as gum arabic or yelk
of egg, they are called emulsions, and are specially useful in sooth-
ing irritation of the mucous membrane, of the trachea, and bronchi

34. SIMPLE EmMULston—

Linseed Oil . F ; P 2 : 2 ounces.
Honey . : - : : ° - 3dounces.
Soft Water. : : . ; : : pint.
Subearbonate of Potass . s : 1 drachm.

Dissolve the honey and potass in the water ; then add the linseed oil by
degrees in a large mortar, when it should assume a milky appearance.
It may be given night and morning.

85. ANOTHER MORE ACTIVE EMULSION—

Simple Emulsion, No. 84 : ° » 7@ ounces.
Camphor ; A : : ste | vidyachm,
Opium in Powder . : : a {4 -drachm.
Oil of Aniseed : : . 380 drops.

Rub the three last ingredients together in a mortar with some white
sugar; then add the emulsion by degrees.

EXPECTORANTS.

F.XPECTORANTS excite or promote a discharge of mucus from
tLe lining membrane of the bronchial tubes, thereby relieving in-
flammation and allaying cough.

86. EXPECTORANT BALL IN OrpInNARY CovuGH WITHOUT INFLAI&

MATION—
Gum Ammoniacum . 2 : . 4 ounce.
Powdered Squill . ; ° ; . 1 drachm.
Castile Soap . : - ° . ; 2 drachms,

ffoney enough to form a ball.

176 THE HORSE,

57. IN Otp Stanpina Coucu (StomAcH)—

Asafeetida . ; 2 F : : 3 drachms.
Galbanum . ‘ - : 1 drachm.
Carbonate of ranean : A ‘ 4 drachm
Ginger . - = ‘ 4 13 drachm,

Honey enough to ‘form a ball.
88. A Strona ExPrecTORANT BALL—

Emetic Tartar ; ; “ : ° 4 drachm,
Calomel . ; : ° ° . ° 15 grains.
Digitalis : 3 : ° ol: as 3 dracim.
Powdered Squills . 4 drachm.

Linseed meal and water enough to ferns a 1 ball, winch is not to be re
peated without great care.

FEBRIFUGES
(Fever Bulls and Powders),

GENERALLY CALLED fever medicines, are given to alley the arte-
rial and nervous excitements which accompany febrile action.
They do this partly by their agency on the heart and arteries
through the nervous system, and partly by increasing the secre-
tions of the skin and kidneys.

89. FEvER Bati—

Nitre : ° ° ° ° « 4drachms.
Camphor . . <1’ arachm.
Calomel and Opium, on each - 1 scruple.
Linseed meal and water enough to form a ball. Or,
90. Emetie Tartar . . 14 to 2 drachms,

Compound Powder of Tragacsath . 2 drachms.
Linseed meal as above. Or,

91. Nitre = . + is . e 38drachms.
Camphor . ° ° e e e 2 drachms.
Mix as above. :

92. Cootinc PowvER FoR Masn—
Nitre a 4 ° e e 6 drs. to 1 ounce.
May be given in a bran mash.

93. CooLinc Drencu—

Nitre - I ounce.

Sweet Spirit of Witre . : - 2 ounces.
Tincture of Digitalis . ° - 2 drachms,
Whey 5 . - ° ° - 1 pint.

LOTIONS, OR WASHES

Gonstst in liquids applied tc the external parts, either to coos
them or tv produce a healthy action in the vessels.

LOTIONS, OR WASIIES, KTC. Ne

94, Coolmine SOLUTION FOR EXTERNAL INFLAMMATION-—

Goulard Extract : : 5 - 1 ounce.
Vinegar. ‘ : “ : . 2 ounces.
Spirits of Wine, or Gin. : .» 38 ounces.
Water. ; ° ° «Id pint.

Mix, and apply with a calico bandage.

95. ANOTHER, USEFUL FOR INFLAMED LEG8, OR FOR GALLED SHOUL
DERS OR Back—

Sal Ammoniac . ° ° e - 1 ounce.
Vinegar. . ° ° . - 4 ounces.
Spirits of Wine : : . » 2 ounces.
Tincture of Arnica . e ° « 2 drachms.

Water= + ¢. ° ° ° ° e 4#pint. Mix.

96. LoTION FOR Fout Utcers—

Sulphate of Copper . ° ° - 1 ounce.
Nitric Acid : ° ° ° ° ¥% ounce.
Water ; ° ° : ° - 8 to 12 ounces.

Mix.

97. LoTION FOR THE EyEs—
Sulphate of Zinc ° ° : - 20 to 25 grains.

Water 6 : : : a - 6ounces. Mix,
98. Very STRONG ONE, AND ONLY TO BE DROPPED IN—

Nitrate of Silver : : ; . 5 to 8 grains.

Distilled Water : ‘i ° - i ounce.

Mix, and use with a camel-hair brush.

NARCOTICS.

A DISTINCTION is sometimes made between anodynes and narcot-
128, but in veterinary medicine there is no necessity for separating

them. (See Ancdynes.)
REFRIGERANTS

].OWER THE ANIMAL HEAT by contact with the skin, the ordinary
ones being cold air, cold water, ice, and evaporative lotions. (See
Lotions.)

SEDATIVES

D.4PRESS THE ACTION of the circulatory and nervous systems, withe
out affecting the mental functions. They are very powerful in their
offects; and digitalis, which is the drug commonly used for this
purpose, has a special quality known by the name of cumulative--
tliat is to say, if repeated small doses are given at intervals for a
certain time, an effect is produced almost equal to that which would
follow the exhibition of the whole quantity at once. Besides digi-
talis, aconite is also somctimes used to lower the action of the heart,
aud by many it is supposed to be equal in potency t) that drug,
without the danger which always attends its use,

12

178 THE HORSE,

STIMULANTS.

By THIS TERM is understoud those substances which excite ‘he
action of the whole nervous and vascular systems. Almost al!
medicines are stimulants to some part or other, as, for instance,
aperients, which stimulate the lining of the bowels, but to the
general system are lowering. On the other hand, stimulants, so
called par excellence, excite and raise the action of the brain and
heart.

99, Old Ale . 4 - ® < A-qQuart.

Carbonate of Ammonia . . .» 4 to 2 drachms.
Tincture of Ginger . ° ° - 4 drachms.
Mix, and give as a drench.
For other stimulants, see Cordials.
STOMACHICS,

STOMACHICS are medicines given to improve the tone of the
stomach when impaired by bad management or disease. ©

100. Stomacn Batt—

Powdered Gentian . ° e e 4% ounce.
Powdered Ginger. ° ° e 13 drachm.
Carbonate of Soda . ° e e 1 drachm.,
Treacle to form a ball. Or,
101. Cascarilla, powdered 4 ° e 1 ounce.
Moyrrit.. /: - . ° ° - 13 drachm.
Castile Soap. ; . é - =] drachm:
Mix, with syrup or treacle, into a ball, Or,
102; Powdered Colombo . ° ° - 4% to 1 ounce.
Powdered Cassia ° ° e - 1 drachm.
Powdered Rhubarb , - ° . 2 drachms.

Mix as in No. 2.
STY PTICS.

Sryptics are remedies which have a tendency to stop the flow
of blood either from internal or external surfaces. They are usea
either by the mouth, or to the part itself in the shape of lotions,
etc.; or the actual cautery, which is always the best in externa!
bleeding, may be employed. Sometimes, however, the part cannot
be reached with the heated iron, and is yet within the influence of
an injection, as in bleeding from the nostrils, for which the fol
lowing may be employed:

103. Matico Leaves ; 5 - : - ounce

Boiling Water ; : ° ° ; 1 pint.
Infuse, and when cold strain and inject into the nostrils.

For internal styptics, sec Astringents.

TONICS. 179

TONICS

AvaMENT the vigor of the whole body permanently, while stimu-
lants only act for a short time. They are chiefly uscful after low
fever.

104. Tonic Batt—
Sulphate of Tron ° e e 4% ounce.
Extract of Camomile e ° » 1 ounce.
Mix, and form into a ball. Or,

105, Arsenic e e ° ry e e 16 grains.
Ginger. . ° ° ° - 1 drachm.
Powdered Aniseed . : - 1 ounce.

Compound Powder of Tragacanth . 2 drachms.
Syrup enough to torm a ball. It is a very powerful tonic.

VERMIFUGES, OR WORM MEDICINES,

ARE DESCRIBED under the head of Anthelmintics, which see.

CHAPTER XI.

ON SOUNDNESS; AND ON THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF HORSES.

THE ELASTIC CONSCIENCE OF A HORSEDEALER has become a
byword; but I confess that my experience does not lead me to con-
clude that the class is more open to charges of unfair dealing than
many others whose proceedings have lately been exposed in the
Bankruptcy and Nisi Prius law courts. Few intending purchasers
of a horse will be content with anything less than what they believe
to be absolute perfection in him; and if the seller tells the truth
about the animal he has to dispose of, his chance of a sale would be
a poor one, The dealer is, therefore, placed in the dilemma of being
compelled either to give his horse a character which he does not
deserve, or to forego all chance of a sale; and hence it is not sur-
prising that he draws rather extensively upon his imagination.
According to my experience, however, amateurs are not exempt
from this failing; and if I were compelled to purchase a horse from
character alone, [ should far prefer relying upon that given by a re-
spectable dealer. The latter class are, no doubt, more skilled in
hiding defects and disease, and therefore it requires a more prac-
tical knowledge of the horse to detect their artifices where they are
sufficiently shortsighted to adopt them. On the whole, however, it
may generally be concluded that unless a gentleman has had an ex-
tensive experience in purchasing horses, he will do well to place
himself in the hands of a dealer, felling him exactly what he wants,
und not pretending a knowledge which he does not possess.

1 THE HORSE. Ae

In all large towns there are men of some character and standing
who may be selected for this purpose; and in London, Dublia,
Edinburgh, Birmingham, Liverpool, Cheltenham, and Leamington,
there are repositories, where horses are sold by auction on stated
days. These auction-marts save the vendor from all responsibility,
whether pecuniary or moral, unless a warranty is given, cither of
soundness or freedom from vice, and then the stipulation only lasts
fur forty-eight hours. If the horse is returned within that time,
accompanied by a certificate of unsoundness or vice, the auctioncer
must take him back, and return the purchase-money, unless he is
prepared to dispute the evidence which is forwarded to him.
Under ordinary warranties there is no limitation of the time to
which they shall extend, and a horse warranted sound may be re-
turned at any subsequent time if the purchaser can prove that he
was unsound at the time of sale. But the lapse of several weeks
vr months without doing so is generally considered to be a strong
argument that the purchaser did not consider the animal to be un-
sound until he gave notice to the vendor; and this is strong pre-
suinptive evidence that the unsoundness did not exist.

THE DEFINITION OF UNSOUNDNESS is, “the existence of dis-
ease or alteration of structure which does or will impair the horse’s
natural usefulness.” Vice also may be defined, on a similar prin-
ciple, as “the prevalence of a habit which interferes with the
horse’s natural usefulness.” But these definitions must be taken
with some modifications, for there is not one horse in a hundred
which does not possess some disease or vice likely to impair his
veneral usefulness to some slight extent ; indeed, the proportion of
strictly sound horses may be considered to be much smaller even
than this. A bad feeder is so generally from a disordered state of
stomach, and such a horse cannot stand work like one which will
consume double the quantity of corn, yet he would not be consid-
ered unsound; nor would a horse be returnable as vicious if he
showed the usual symptoms of being “fresh,” though they might
impair his usefulness in carrying a timid rider. But subject to
such modifications, the above definitions may be accepted as suf-
ficient to make intelligible the terms, Unsoundness and Vice.

THE FOLLOWING DISEASES and accidents are generally consid-
ered not to render their possessors unsound :—

Boa spaviy, in a slight degree only.

A BROKEN KNEE, unless the joint is injured so as to impair its
functions, is not considered to be unsoundness.

CAPPED HOCKS AND ELBOWS do not produce any lameness, nor
do they in any way interfere with the action of the joints to which |
they are adjacent.

CONTRACTION OF THE FOOT is no evidence of disease, and, taken
by itself, is not sufficient to prove it to be unsound. :

ON SOUNDNESS. 181

CRIB-BITING was decided, in the cases of Broennenbury ¥. Hay-
tock and Scolefield v Robb, not to be unsoundness; but Baron
Parker ruled in the latter that it came within the meaning of the
word “vice.” Undoubtedly this is a habit which is generally at-
tended by impaired digestion, and, as such, it comes strictly within
the definition given above; but the law is as [ have stated it.

CurnBY Hocks, though experience may tell us they are likely te
be attended by curbs, are decided not to be unsoundness. In
Brown v. Elhington, the attention of the vendor was directed te
the hocks by the purchaser before the sale, as likely to spring curbs ;
but in the action on the warranty it was held by Lord Abinger that
‘“‘a defect in the formation of the horse, which had not occasioned
Jameness at the time of sale, though it might render the animal
more liable to be lame at some future time, was no breach of war-
ranty;’ and the Court of Exchequer confirmed this view of the
law, by refusing a rule for a new trial.

CuTrTING, on the same principle, is no breach of warranty, unless
the horse is lame from it at the time of sale.

A SPLINT is not, in itself, evidence of unsoundness ; but if it is
s0 situated as necessarily to interfere with the suspensory ligament
or tendons, or if it has already produced lameness, it is to be
accepted as a mark of unsoundness.

THOROUGUPIN, when existing to a moderate extent, is not suf-
ficient to render the horse unsound ; but this will always be a ques-
tion of opinion, and a horse with thoroughpin is, therefore, not to
be warranted with safety.

THRUSH, occurring from mismanagement only, and not from any
defect in the horse, is clearly not to be considered as unsoundness.

SorENEsSS of the joints from work, as it soon goes off aftcr a
short rest, is not accepted as unsoundness.

WINDGALLS are also only evidences of work, and do not usually
cause lameness. When this coexists, it is sufficient to produce
unsoundness, without resorting to the windgalls.

THE FOLLOWING LIST comprises the diseases and injuries which
have been settled as sufficient to entitle the purchaser to return a
horse warranted sound :—

Boa SPAVIN, when it is so severe as clearly to interfere with the
action of the joint; and BLOOD SPAVIN, as marking an aggravated
form of the same disease.

BREAKING DOWN, even though the horse is restored so as to run
without lameness.

BROKEN WIND.

CATARACT, in any degree.

Corns, unless very trifling ; but they should be discovered within
u few days of the sale, or it may be alleged that they have been
produced by subsequent mismanagement.

30

>

182 THE HORSE.

CuoGH, as long as it lasts. A horse with chronic cough ip
elearly returnable.

CURBS constitute unsoundness; but they must be shown to cxist
at the time of purchase, for a horse may throw one out immediatcly
after he is transferred to the purchaser.

DrsEAses of the organic kind in any of the internal viscera.

Farcy.

TFOUNDER, or LAMINITIS, whether it produces lameness or not,
if it manifestly has existed, is to be accepted as unsoundness; for
when there is evidence of its previous occurrence, the laminge are
injured so much as inevitably to lead to lameness when the horse 1s
put to work.

GREASE, and GLANDERS.

MANGE.

MxrGrRIMSs, when the attack comes on subsequently to the sale,
and can be shown to have occurred before it.

A NERVED HORSE is unsound from the existence of the disease
for which the operation has been performed, as well as from the
division of the nerves.

OrnTHALMIA, if it can be proved to have previously existed,
and comes on soon after the purchase, is to be received as unsound-
ness. So, also, when any of the evidences of its previous presence
can be detected, and are proved by a veterinary surgeon, the horse
is returnable.

OssIFICATION of any of the structures adjacent to the joints is
unsoundness, and hence ossification of the lateral cartilages will be
considered so, without doubt.

PUMICED FOOT, as evidence of laminitis.

QUIDDING.

QUITOR.

RINGBONES, and SIDEBONES, whether large or small, are un.
doubtedly sufficient to constitute a horse unsound.

RoaRIn@, whistling, &c., as evidence of contraction of the rima
glottidis, and therefore interfering with respiration.

RUPTURES OF ALL KINDS.

SPAVIN (bone), although it may not have occasioned lamcne3s,
if it is clearly the disease so named.

STRINGHALT has been decided to be unsoundness ( Thompson v.
L’atterson).

THICK WIND, as marking some impediment to respiration.

THRUSH, when it is in one of its severe forms, and not caused
by mismanagement.

THICKENING OF THE BACK SINEWS, or suspensory ligament,
when existing to any extent easily appreciable, is to be received aa
a proof of unsoundness.

RETURNABLE VICEs are comprehended in the following List: —

ON SOUNDNESS. 183

Brrina, when carried to any unusual extent.

BouTinG or running away.

CRIB-BITING.

Kick1NnG, when more than usual.
ReEstIvENEss, or refusal to proceed in the desired direction.
REARING.

Suy1nG, when marked.

WEAVING in the stable

WHEN A HORSE IS PURCHASED with the conditions that he is
warranted sound, or free from vice, or quiet to ride and drive, the

warranty must either be in writing, or given in the presence of a

disinterested third person. The form of warranty is as follows, and

‘+ is better that it should be on the same paper as the stamped

receipt, though this is not absolutely necessary if it is shown that

the receipt is preperly given.
Date.
Received of A. B. C. fifty pounds for a bay gelding, by Small-
hopes, warranted five years old, sound, free from vice, and quiet to

ride and drive.
500. x: VK

Any one or more of these points may be omitted, or the horse may
simply be warranted “a good hack,” in which case he must fairly
answer that description. The terms “ has been hunted,” or “ has
carried a lady,” are not to be trusted, as it is only necessary to
prove in defence that the horse has seen hounds, and had a woman
on his back.

WHETHER THE HORSE UNDER EXAMINATION is to be wars
ranted or not, the intending purchaser should never omit to look
over every point where unsoundness is likely to occur. ‘To do this
effectually it should be done regularly, by which there is less chance
of passing over any serious defect. The usual mode of proceeding
is as follows. Under no circumstances, if it can possibly be avoided,
should the horse be looked at immediately after having been out of
doors; and if he is of necessity brought to the purchaser, let him
be put in the stable and quietly rested for one or two hours at the
least. by which time the effects of most of the “coping” tricks
will s.ave gone off.

BEFORE THE HORSE PASSES THE STABLE-DOOR, stop him with
Lis head just inside, and in that position carefully examine his eyes.
The light is exactly suited to this, and the sensibility of the iris
may be well judged of. Any specks or opacities are also here
readily seen. ‘Then let fim be led toa level surface, and then pro-
ceed to look over every part, beginning with that nearest the one
already inspected, namely, the mouth, Then “cough” him by
tightly grasping the larynx, by which some idea may be formed of

184 THE HORSE.

the state of his respiratory organs, after which the usual manoeuvre
with the stick may be practised if there is no opportunity of ex.
amining into his freedom from roaring in the saddle. When these
points are satisfactorily disposed of, look to the position of the fore
legs, that is, whether they are turned in or out, and if the latter
feel the elbows, and see if they are confined or “tied,” that is too
close to the ribs, also look for marks of cutting and speedy cutting.
Pass the hand down the back sinews and suspensory ligaments, ex-
amine the knees for any marks, and then carefully feel the coroneta
and heels for any marks of exostosis or ossification. Lastly, take a
good look at the front of the foot, and then lifting it inspect the
frog, heels and sole. This will complete the front half uf the body,
after which the form of the middle and loins should be regarded,
and then, lifting the tail, the openness or otherwise of the space
round the anus will give some idea of the strength of constitution,
while the resistance afforded by the dock will be a sign of the mus-
cular strength of the back. Then look carefully at the hocks, ex-
amine the spavin and curb places, and finish the whole by passing
the hand down the hind cannon bones to the fetlocks, and feel
them in the same order as in the fore legs. Now let the horse rest
a minute if his groom will let him, with his head quite at liberty,
and you will be able to judge of his ordinary habit of standing,
when unexcited. At the conclusion of this careful examination
while at rest, the action must be as minutely investigated, by first
having the horse walked with a loose vein, and then trotted in the
same way slowly, when if he is sound he will put his feet down
rezularly and firmly. Grooms, when they want to conceal defects,
will not let the head be loose, nor will they trot slowly, but bustle
the horse along with their hands as close as possible to the mouth,
s0 as to prevent any nodding of the head as much as they can. A
very geod judge will be perhaps able to select a pleasant pack or
harness horse by seeing him thus run, and afterwards ridden, but a
far better test is to ride or drive him yourself, when his freedom
from vice, or disease, may be ascertained, as well as his manners,
and the ease of his various paces. No trouble should be spared to
get this real trial, which is worth ten per cent. on the purchase-
money, for many a horse which /ooks to go well does not fee/ so, and
it is well worth that sum to be saved the trouble attending upon the
possession of a horse which does not su't. When, however, after
such a careful examination by a competent judge, and subsequent
trial in the saddle or in harness, the horse is fourd to be really
likely to answer all the purposes for which he is wanted, a few
pouuds should never prevent his being obtained.

GLOSSARY.

By Ropert CHAWNER AND J. H. WALSH.

A

ABNORMAL. Unnatural, irregular, unhealthy.

ABRASION. Removal of a portion of skin, by violence or ulceration.

ACCLIMATIZE. To inure to a new climate.

AcINEsIA. Loss of muscular power.

Acne. <A pustular disease of the skin, involving the sebaceous
follicles.

Acutr. Active, recent, of brief duration.

ApENOoID. Glandular, or gland-like.

AprposE. Fatty.

ApDYNAMIC. Prostrate; without power.

AFFLUX. Flow toward a part.

ALBUMINURIA. The presence of albumen in the urine.

Atgip. Cold.

Amauvrosis. Partial or total blindness from an affection of the
retina, optic nerve. or brain; i. ¢., nervous blindness.

AMBLYOPIA. Dim, or obscure vision.

AMENORRHEA. Absence or arrest of menstruation.

AmorPHOUsS. Shapeless; without definite form.

Ampuoric. Pitcher-like, or decanter-like. Applied to sounds
heard by auscultation or on percussion.

AMYLOID. Resembling starch.

ANEMIA. Deficiency of red blood.

ANESTHESIA. Absence or loss of sensation and perception.

ANALEPTIC. Invigorating, restorative.

ANASARCA. General dropsy of the areolar tissue.

ANEuRISM. Morbid dilatation of an artery, with or without rup-
ture of its coats.

ANFRACTUOUS. Tlaving an irregular, grooved, or broken surface ;

applied to a cavity in the lung.

Anoina. A choking or suffocating disease.

ANOoDYNE. Tending to relieve pain.

ANOREXIA. Loss of appetite.

ANTHELMINTIC. Destructive of, or tending to cause the removal
of, worms.

ANTI-ARTHRITIC. Curative of gout.

ANTI-LITHIC. Solvent of stone or gravel.

185

186 GLOSSARY.

ANTI-PHLOGISTIC. Tending to arrest or mitigate inflammation.

ANTI-Psoric. Curative of itch. ”

ANTI-ToxIc. Antidotal to poison.

APEX. The uppermost point.

APHONIA. Loss of voice.

APHTHE. Small whitish ulcers, originating in vesicles; frequently
found in the mouth.

APLASTIC. Inorganizable.

APNEA. Arrest of respiration. :

APPLICATA. Things applied to, or brought into contact with, the
exterior of the body.

APYREXIA. Intermission.

ARACHNITIS. Inflammation of the arachnoid membrane.

ARTHRITIS. Gout.

ASCARIDES. Round worms.

ASCITES. Peritoneal dropsy.

ASPHYXIA. Suspension of breathing, or of the aeration or circu-
lation of the blood.

ASTHENIA. Debility.

ASTHENIC. Without strength; feeble; attended by prostration.

ATAxIc. Irregular; out of order.

ATELECTASIS PULMONUM. Imperfect expansion of the lungs.

ATHEROMA. A pulp-like or pap-like formation or degeneration.

ATony. Loss of tone.

ATROPHY. Absence or defect of nutrition.

B

BALANCIVE. Promotive or restorative of balance, proportion, har-
mony.

Brotocy. The science of life, and of the functions of living beings.

BLASTEMA. Material out of which tissue is or may be organized.

BiLEs. See Bulla.

BorsoryeMus. Intestinal gurgling.

BRIGHT’s DIsEASE. Tatty or other degeneration of the kidney.

BrRONCHOPHONY. Resonance of the voice, in the lung, like that
normally heard-in the bronchial region.

BRONCHORRHEA. Excessive discharge of mucus from the bronchial
tubes.

BuuiMiA, BouLimMIA. Excessive appetite.

Butta. A blister; i. e., an elevation of the cuticle, containing
serum.

C

CAcHEXIA. A depraved or diseased habit of system.

CADAVERIC. Belonging to the dead body.

CALCAREOUS. Containing or resembling chalk or lime.

CALCULUS. Stone.

CALVARIA. The cranium.

CARCINOMA. Cancer.

CARDIALGIA. -Heart-burn.

CATALEPSyY. A nervous affection, characterized by paroxysmal
rigidity of the muscles.

GLOSSARY. 187

CAaTARRH. An affection of a mucous membrane, characterized by
increased secretion.

CAVERNOUS. Connected with or indicative of a cavity.

-CrreEsrRITIS. Inflammation of the brain.

CHALYBEATE. Containing iron.

CHEOASMA. Liver-spot; a yellow discoloration of the skin.

CHOLAGOGUE. Tending to increase the flow of bile.

CHONDROMA. A cartilaginous tumor.

CHoREA. St. Vitus’ dance.

CuHronic.. Protracted; continuing, without much change, for a
considerable period.

CINCHONISM. The production of characteristic effects of Peruvian
bark, or of its alkaloids, upon the system.

CircuMFusa. Things surrounding the body; e. g., air, light,
moisture, ete.

CrrrHosis. Waxy degeneration of the liver.

Ciavus. A corn.

CLtonic. Successive, interrupted, alternating.

CoLtica PictoNuM. Lead colic.

COLLIQUATIVE. Copious, exhaustive.

CoLLoi. Jelly-like.

Coma. Completely unconscious stupcr.

CONGENITAL. Existing at the time of birth.

CONGESTION. Accumulation of blood.

CONSONANCE. Repetition or reduplication of sound, by the sonor-
ous vibration of a body upon which it impringes.

CoNTACTIVE. Contagious.

ConTAGIOUS. Conveyed by touch or actual contact,

CONTRA-INDICATE. To prohibit.

CONTRO-STIMULANT. Sedative.

CorNEITIS. Inflammation of the cornea.

CoryzaA. A cold in the head.

Cosmic. Belonging to the universal system or order of nature.

CouP DE SOLEIL. Sun-stroke.

CoxALGtA. Disease of the hip-joint.

CREPITANT. Crackling; applied technically to the fine crackling
keard on auscultation in pneumonia.

CRETIFY. To convert into a chalky substance.

CUTANEOUS. Pertaining to the skin.

CyraNnosis. Blueness, from imperfect circulation or aeration of
the blood.

CYNANCHE. Angina.

Cyst. A sac, cell, or bag, formed of membrane, and containing
more or less fluid.

CysTiIT1s. Inflammation of the urinary bladder.

D

DecusiTis. The manner of lying down.

DECUSSATION. Crossing X-like from side to side.

DEPLETION. Abstraction of blood or other material from the
system.

188 GLOSSARY.

DERMATOPHYTE. A vegetation upon the skin.

DESIDERATUM. Something desired or required; an important
object.

DESQUAMATE. To scale or peel off.

Detritus. Refuse; the result of wearing or breaking down.

DIABETES. Excessive urination.

DIABETES MELLITUS. Excessive discharge of urine containing
sugar.

Diacnosis. The discrimination of diseases; the determination
of the nature of an attack, or of the condition of the organs
in a given case.

DIAPHORETIC. Productive of perspiration.

DIASTOLE. Dilatation.

DIATHESIS. A constitutional tendency, peculiarity or habit.

Dicroious. Doubie-beating.

DIPHTHERIA. Membranous sore throat.

DIPHTHERITIC. Pseudo-membranous.

Diuretic. Productive of increased flow of urine.

Drastic. Active, powerful

DyNAmic. Relating to power or force.

DyYNAMIZE. To imbue with force or power.

DyscrasiA. A morbid state of the blood or of nutrition.

DYSMENORRHEA. Difficult or painful menstruation.

DyspHaGciA. Difficulty of swallowing.

Dyspnea. Difficult respiration.

DysuriA. Difficult urination.

1)

EccHymMosis. Effusion of blood under the skin.

EcLAMPSIA. Convulsion.

EctHyMaA. A disease of the skin, characterized by large pustles.

Ecrrotic. Abortive; productive of abortion.

EczEMA. <A vesicuiar eruptive disease.

EHFFETE. Worn out; dead.

ELEPHANTIASIS ARABUM. An enlargement of the limbs, scrotum,
neck, ete.

ELEPHANTIASIS GRECORUM. A _ Severe cutaneous affection, with
purple tumors, ete.

NLIMINATE. To remove or drive out from the system.

EmMBouic. Obstructive; applied to a clot thrown as a plug into
an arterial trunk.

EMPHYSEMA. Distention of a celluJar tissue with air.

EmpiricaAL. The result of observation only; as contrasted with
rational or deductive.

EmprostuHotTonos. Arching of the body forward.

EMPYEMA. A collection of pus in the pleural cavity.

EMULSIFY. To suspend or diffuse an insoluble substance in water
by means of mucilage.

ENCEPHALOID. Brain-like.

ENCEPHALON. The brain; %. e., the whole contents of the cranium.

ENpDEMIc. Local; confined to certain localities.

GLOSSARY. 189

ENDERMIC. Within or under the skin.

ENpDOcCARDITIS. Inflammation of the lining membrane of the heart.

ENnposMose. The spontaneous interchange of fluids through or-
ganic membrane.

ENTERITIS. Inflammation of the bowels.

Enrozoon. A worm, or other parasite, within an animal body.

ENuRESIS. Incontinence of urine.

EPHELIS, Ephelides. Sun-burn.

EPHEMERAL. Continuing for a day.

Epicastric. Over the stomach.

Epitersy. A disease characterized by recurring convulsions, dur-
ing which the patient is unconscious.

EprpHyte. <A vegetable parasite.

EpPIsTaxis. Bleeding from the nose.

EPITHELIOMA. An epithelial tumor.

EPITHELIUM. A thin, superficial layer of cells upon a basement
membrane.

Epizootic. Affecting animals over an unlimited region. Not lim-
ited to any locality.

Ep1zoon. <A parasitic animal or animalcule.

EquintiA. Glanders; a malignant disease of the horse, some-
times conveyed to men.

EREMACAUSIS. Decay, or slow combustion.

Erosion. Corrosion; destruction of tissue by chemical agency.

PructaTion. Belching of wind.

ERYTHEMA. A florid inflammation of the skin; classed with the
exanthemata.

Errotogy. The study of the causation of disease.

EXACERBATION. An increase of the symptoms; e. g., of fever; a

" febrile paroxysni.

EXxANTHEM. A rash, or florid eruption.

EXANTHEMATA. A Class of diseases in which, with fever there is
an eruption characteristic of each.

Exciro-moror. Reflex; relating to the producticn of movement
in muscles by impressions transmitted through nerves and
nerve-centres.

UXCITO-SECRETORY. Reflex excitement of secretory organs by dis-
tant impressions, transmitted through the nerves.

Excreta. Matters thrown out as waste from the body.

ExFoLiATe. To fall or throw off, like leaves from a tree.

Exosmosis. See Endosmosis.

EXTRAVASATE. To throw blocd out from the vessels.

Exupation. The throwing out of lymph from the vessels during
a morhid process. Also, the lymph itself which is thrown
out. ;

FE

FLOcCULENT. Resembling locks of wool.

Fomires. Things supposed to retain and convey contagion or
infection: as clothing, merchandise, ete.

Fuscepo. Yellow staining of the skin in patches or blotches.

190 GLOSSARY.

G

GANGRENE. Mortification.

GASTRALGIA. Pain in the stomach.

GASTRITIS. Inflammation of the stomach.

GASTRODYNIA. Stomach-ache.

GASTRO-HEPATIC. Affecting both the stomach and the liver.
Gesta. Things done; actions; labors.

GuossitTis. Inflammation of the tongue.

GLUCOHEMIA, Glycohemia. Excess of sugar in the blood.
GuLucosuriA, Glycosuria. The presence of sugar in the urine.
GoiTre. Bronchocele; enlargement of the thyroid gland.

H

Hasirat. The locality in which a plant or other living thing
grows or abounds.

HEMATEMESIS. Vomiting of blood.

Hematosis. Bloood formation; blood development.

HeMATURIA. Voiding of bloody urine.

HEMICRANIA. Pain in one half of the head.

HeEMIPLEGIA. Paralysis of the arm and leg, ete., of one side.

HemMorrHors. Piles.

Hepatitis. Inflammation of the liver.

HEPATIZATION. Conversion into a liver-like structure.

Herpes. Tetter; a vesicular eruption.

HeETeERoLocous. Different from anything natural to the body.

Homotocous. Parallel to or resembling things natural to the
body. In physiology this word has a more extended mean-
ing.

Hypatip. A vesicular formation, generally considered to be an
animal parasite, found in various organs, causing their dis-
tention into cysts or tumors.

HypreMiIA. A watery condition of the blood.

HYDRAGOGUE. Causing watery discharges.

Hyprautics. The mechanics of liquids; investigating especially
the force and phenomena of liquid pressure and movement.

HyYpDROCEPHALUS. Dropsy of the head.

HyDRO-PNEUMOTHORAX. The presence of water and air together
in the cavity of the pleura.

HyprorHorax. Water in the chest: thoracic dropsy.

Hyciene. The science of health.

HycromMetrry. The measurement of the amount of moisture in
the air.

HYPEREMESTHESIA. Excess of blood in a part, with irritability;
commonly called chronic inflammation.

HyYperREMIA. Excess of blood in a part.

HYPERESTHESIA. Over-sensitiveness.

Hiyperinosis. Excess of fizrin.

HYPERTROPHY. Over-growth.

Hypnotic. Promotive of sleep.

GLOSSARY. 191

IlypocHonpriAc. In anatomy, the region over the liver, and the
corresponding region on the left side. In medicine, a per-
son affected with depression of spirits from dyspeptic dis-
ease.

HyYpocHONDRIASIS. Dyspepsia with lowness of spirits and imag-
inary complaints.

Hypocastric. Below the stomach. 3

Hypostatic. The result of settling or gravitative deposition.

I

IcHOREMIA. Contamination of the blood; pyzemia.

IcrErus. Jaundice.

IcTHyYosIS. Fish-skin disease.

IpIOPATHIC. Primary; independent.

IpIlosyNcrRASY. Individual peculiarity of system.

Iteus. Iliac passion. The most violent form of colic.

ImpeEtTiIco. A pustular eruption.

INCUBATION. Development; maturation; the period between the
introduction of a morbid cause and the appearance of the
resulting disease.

INDICATION. The pointing of the signs of disease to the proper
mode of treatment.

INDURATION. Hardening.

InFrecTion. As frequently used, synonymous with contagion.

INGESTIVE. That which is introduced into the bcdy by the ali-
mentary canal.

INNERVATION. Supply of nervous influence.

INSOMNIA. Sleeplessness.

INTERNUNCIAL. Communicating; transferring mutual impressions
or excitations.

INTERSCAPULAR. Between the scapulex.

INTUSSUSCEPTIO. Convolvulus; the reception of one portion of in-
testine into another.

IriT1s. Inflammation of the iris.

IscHuRIA. Difficult urinaticn.

K

KAKOTROPHY. Perverted nutrition.

L

LANCINATING. Lancing, piercing, darting.

Laryneitis. Inflammation of the larynx.

LATENT. Concealed.

Lepra. A scaly cutaneous disease.

LeEsIon. Injury; essential change.

LEUCOCYTHEMIA. Excess of colorless or white corpuscles in the
blood.

LicHEN. A papular disease of the skin.

192 GLOZSARY. | Sires

ae

LIENTERY. Passage of undigested food through the bowels.

Lipoma. A fatty tumor.

LirHIAsiIs. The formation of stone or gravel.

LocH1A. The sero-sanguineous discharge following delivery.

LuMBAGO. Rheumatism of the lumbar region.

LumBsricus. <A long, round worm.

Lupus. A malignant affection of the skin, either tuberculous or
ulcerative.

LympH. The fluid portion of the blood, without the corpuscles;
the fluid of the lymphatic vessels; also, the fluid exuded
during inflammation.

M

MacvuLa. A spot or stain.

MALARIA. Bad or poisonous air.

MANIA. Derangement, either intellectual or emotional, or both.

MARASMUS. Wasting away.

Matrix. A formative or receptive structure or cavity.

MELANOSIS. Morbid deposit of, or conversion of tissue into, black
pigment.

MENINGITIS. Inflammation of the membranes of the brain.

MENORRHAGIA. Excessive flow of the menses.

METAMORPHOSIS. Transformation.

METASTASIS. The transfer of a disease or symptom from one part
to another. ;

METEORISM. Distention of the alimentary canal with gas.

MrasmM. Marsh poison; the local cause of endemic country fevers.

MIcroPpHyYTE. <A microscopic vegetation.

Miuiary. A microscopic animalcule.

Miniary. Resembling millet seed.

Mopus OPERANDI. The manner of action or operation.

MoLecuLeE. The minutest particle into which matter can be
divided.

Morituscom. An uncommon tubercular disease of the skin.

MULTIFORM. Having many shapes.

MyauetA. Pain (or soreness, tenderness) in one or more muscles.

MyetitTis. Inflammation of the spinal cord.

MYELOID. Resembling the spinal marrow.

MyocarpiT1s. Inflammation of the muscular tissue of the heart.

Myopia. Near-sightedness.

N
NEBULOUS. Cloudy.
NEPHRALGIA. Pain in the kidney.
NEPHRITIS. Inflammation of the kidney.
NERVINE. Affecting the nervous system.
NEURALGIA. Pain, the seat of which is principally in the nerves.
NEUROMA. A morbid enlargement of a nerve.
Neurosis. A nervous affection.
Nisus. Effort; attempt: active process.
NorMAL. Natural; regular, healthy.

GLOSSARY. 193

NosoGRAPHY. The description of diseases.

Nosotocy. The classification of diseases.

NoSoPHYTE. A vegetation connected with, or causative of disease.

Nuc.teotus. A central granule or spot within a nucleus.

NucLeus. The central body within a cell; being itself, frequently,
hollow.

O

OCHLESIS. Crowd poison.

OCTOHEDRAL, WHight-sided.

ODONTALGIA. Toothache.

EpEMA. Swelling, from watery effusion in the cellular tissue.

OPHTHALMIA. Inflammation of the eye.

OPISTHOTONOS. Arching of the body backwards.

OpTIMiIsM. Tendency to the best possible result.

ORGANOGRAPHY. Delineation of the organs in their position.

OSTEOSARCOMA. Cancerous tumor of bone.

OTALGIA. Earache.

OriTis. Inflammation of the ear.

OTORRHEA. Discharge from the ear.

OXALURIA. Presence of oxalic acid (as oxalate of lime) in the
urine. .

OZONE. Oxygen in the nascent state, or with its chemical activity
otherwise intensified (dynamized).

Pr

PALPATION. Examination (of the chest, ete.) by the touch.

PAPULA. A pimple.

PARACENTESIS. Tapping.

PARALYSIS. Loss of power or of sensibility; palsy.

PARAPLEGIA. Paralysis of the lower half of the body.

PARENCHYMA. A glandular or other organic structure, formed
chiefly of aggregated cells.

Parotiris. Inflammation of the parotid gland.

PATHOGNOMONIC. Positively distinctive or characteristic of a cer-
tain disease.

PaTHoLocy. The study of the seat, nature, and essential charac-
ters and laws of disease.

PELLICULAR. Membranous.

PEMPHIGUS. A bullar eruption upon the skin.

PeRCcEPTA. Things perceived; impressions upon the senses and
brain.

PERICARDITIS. Inflammation of the pericardium.

PERIPHERAL. Connected with the surface or exterior.

PERITONITIS. Inflammation of the peritoneum. -

PERTURBATION. Disturbance by an exterior or extrinsic cause.

PETECHLE. Small purple spots in or under the skin.

PHLEBITIS. Inflammation of a vein.

PHLEGMASIA. An infiammatory disease.

PuHuLocosis. Inflammation.

13

194 GLOSSARY. *

PHoropHosIA. Dread of light.

PuHortopsia. Flashing of light before the eyes.

PHRENITIS. Inflammation of the brain.

Puruisis. Wasting. Phthisis pulmonalis, pulmonary consump-
tion.

Pica. Depraved appetite.

PiTyRiasis. <A disease of the skin, accompanied by the exfoliation
of minute scales.

PLASMA. Organizable fluid; liquor sanguinis.

PLETHORA. Redundance of red blood.

PLevuRITIS. Pleurisy; inflammation of the pleura.

PLEURODYNIA. Neuralgic pain in the region of the pleura.

VLEURO-PNEUMONIA. Inflammation involving both the lung and
pleura.

PLEXIMETER. An instrument for mediate percussion; a _ stroke-
measure.

PNEUMONIA. Inflammation of the lung:

PNEUMOTHORAX. Accumulation of air in the cavity of the pleura.

PoLypIpsiA. Excessive thirst.

PoLySARcIA. Obesity.

PoMPHOLYX. A variety of pemphigus.

Porrico. A parasitic disease of the skin.

PostT-oRGANIC. Following organization; effete; having been organ-
ized, but no longer capable of vitalization.

PRECORDIAL. Over or surrounding the heart.

PREMONITORY. Warning; threatening.

PRODROMATA. Forerunning signs or symptoms.

Proenosis. Foreknowledge.

PROPHYLACTIC. Preventive.

Prurico. An affection of the skin, characterized by great itching,
with little or no rash.

PrRuRITus. Itching.

PSEUDO-MEMBRANE. False membrane; 7. e., morbid or misplaced
coagulation or organization of lymph.

Psora. Itch.

Psoriasis. <A scaly disease of the skin.

PTYALISM. Salivation.

PurpurRA. A hemorrhagic affection of the skin.

PYEMIA. The presence or formation of pus in the blood.

PYELITIS. Inflammation of the pelvis of the kidney.

PYREXIA. Fever.

Q

QUININIZE. Too place under the influence of quinine.

R

RABIES CANINA. Hydrophobia.

RALE. A rattling sound.

RAMULE. A small branch.

RATIONALE. Explanation of a process or occurrence.

GLOSSARY. 195

RECUPERATIVE. Restorative; invigorating.

REFLEX. Reflected; occurring under the influence of a transmitted
excitation, as contrasted with a direct stimulus.

REGURGITANT. Flowing or escaping backward.

RENAL. Belonging to or affecting the kidney.

REMITTENT. Having remissions; i. e., periods of diminution of
the symptoms (e. g., of fever) without their total subsidence.

RESORPTION. Reabsorption.

RESUME. Summary; recapitulation.

ReETINITIS. Inflammation of the retina.

REVULSION. Derivation.

RuHoncHus. A rattling or roaring, or other abnormal sound, con-
nected with respiration.

RuseoLta. Morbilli; measles.

Rupta. A bullar and scabbing disease of the skin,

S

SACCHARINE. Of the nature of sugar.

SALIVATION. Excessive flow of saliva; usually with soreness of
the gums, coppery taste, ete.

SANITARY. Pertaining to the preservation of health.

Sarcina. A microscopic vegetation, growing in square or wool-

sack-like forms.

Sarcoma. A fleshy tumor.

ScaBies. Itch.

Scuirrus. Hard cancer.

Sctatica. Neuralgia of the sciatic nerve.

ScierorTiTis. Inflammation of the sclerotic coat of the eye.

Scorsputus. Scurvy.

SEMEIoLoGy. The study of the signs and symptoms of disease.

SENSoRI-MoTor. Relating to movements which are connected with
sensations.

SeEnsorgiIuM. An aggregate term, including those portions of the
brain which are the centres of sensation and perception.

SENTIENT. Endowed with sensation.

Septic. Putrefactive or decaying.

SERuM. The fluid portion of blood after coagulation, or after -
the removal of its fibrin; also, the liquid transuding upen
serous membranes; the liquid of certain dropsical effu-
sions, etc.

SIBILANT. Hissing.

SoporiFic. Promotive of sleep.

SPANEMIA. Hydriemia; poverty of blood.

SPERMATOZOA. Microscopic bodies found in the generative fluid of
the male.

SPHACELUS. Sloughing.

SprRoMETRY. The measurement of breathing power by the quan-
tity of air exhaled after a forced inspiration.

Sporapic. Separate, independent, occasional; not endemic or
epidemic or contagious.

SquaMA. A scale.

196 GLOSSARY.

Srasis. Stagnation; arrest of movement.

STEATOMATOUS. Fatty; consisting principally of fat.

STERCORACEOUS. Fecal.

STerToRuS. Loud and snoring.

STETHOMETER. A chest measurer.

STETHOSCOPE. A tube used for mediate ausculation.

STHENIC. Possessed of or attended by vigor and activity.

SToMATITIS. Inflammation of the mouth.

STRANGURY. Dysuria, ischuria.

SUBCREPITANT. Crackling, but not typically identical with the
crepitant rale; being a coarser sound.

SUBJECTIVE. Originating in the mind, brain, or other part of the
individual; as contrasted with objective, i. e., of external
origin.

SUBSULTUS TENDINUM. Jerking of the tendons; e. g., of the wrist
in low fever.

Succussion. Sudden shaking.

SuDAMINA. Minute transparent vesicles, often seen over the
breast or abdomen in low fevers.

Suporiric. Promotive of perspiration.

SuGGILLATION. Collection of blood in spots under the skin of the
dead body.

SuUPPURATION. The formation of pus.

Sycosis. Mentagra.

Syncope. Fainting; suspended animation.

Synovia. The lubricating fluid of the joints.

Synurcic. Co-operative; working together.

SystoLte. The act of contraction of the heart and arteries ; usually
applied to the contraction of the ventricles.

49

Tapes. Wasting; atrophy.

TENIA. Tape-worm.

TEGUMENT. Covering; skin.

TENESMUS. Straining; bearing down.

TENTATIVE. Experimental.

TreTranus. A disease characterized by muscular rigidity.

THERAPEUTIC. Sanative; medicinal; restorative; promotive of
the cure of disease.

TINEA. Porrigo; a disease of the skin. Tinea capitis, contagious
ring-worm.

Tonic. In physiology and pathology, as applied to the muscles,
tonic contraction means fixed rigidity. In materia medica
and therapeutics, a tonic is a strengthening medicine or
agency.

ToRMINA. Griping pains.

ToruLA. A minute vegetation, found (Torula cerevisiz) in
fermenting liquids.

ToxEMIA. Blood-poisoning.

Toxic. Poisonous.

TRACHEITIS. Inflammation of the trachea.

GLOSSARY. 197

TRANSUDATION. Passage of fluid through the walls of vessels.
TRAUMATIC. Resulting from a wound or injury.

TricHOMA. Plica polonica.

Trimus. Lock-jaw.

TURERCULIZATION. The deposition of tubercle.

TUBERCULOSIS. The development of the tubercular diathesis.
TUMEFACTION. Swelling.

TURGESENCE. Distension with fluid, usually with blood.
Tussive. Connected with cough.

TYMPANITES. Distention of the abdomen with air.

TypIcAL. Representative; characteristic.

TypHor. Resembling, and yet not identical with, typhus.
Typous. A form of low continued fever.

U

Uremta. The presence in the blood of the constituents of urine
from inaction of the kidneys.

URINA CIBI VEL Cuyti. Urine of food or chyle; 7. ¢. that passed
after a full meal.

UrRINA SANGUINAS. Urine of the blood; %. e. that passed in the
morning after sleep.

UrtnoMeter. An instrument used to estimate the specific grav-
ity of urine; by the distance to which it sinks in the latter,
as compared with that to which it will sink in water.

V

VACCINIA. Cow-pox; vaccination.

Varicose. Dilated; enlarged.

VARIOLA. Small-pox.

VarrioLorp. Mild or modified small-poox.

VASCULAR. Well supplied with blood-vessels.

VENESECTION. Blood-letting from a vein.

Verruca. A wart.

VeSIcCAL. Pertaining to the bladder.

VESICATION. The production of a blister.

VesicuE. A small blister.

VESICULAR. Composed of, or resembling, vesicles or small cells.

Vistces. Large spots of effused blood under the skin.

Visrio. A minute animalcule, rarely found in animal tissues or
cavities.

Vicarious. Substitutive.

Virco. Partial discoloration of the skin.

VotvuLus. Iniussusception.

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