LMenene tog: bee cy Ligier fads Feta es ann eran eur ty Pier erate IE tae 2 es teeta Ait: ee 1 CEH. nh ( Ot ae TI a a ee |) (1 Sn TE wath SHILA | J a L$, ‘A { {se yh, \ Ugh we Ny gt Nz, § : G a) G aS SS = == _——— SS == =e = ——_ 7 = = = Aug, Kodinerengr or stor UT mars >) 45 Niles in Tayo hh: a ORS FF, BY WILLIAM YOUATT. A NEW EDITION, WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. TOGETHER WITHA GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE; A DISSERTATION ON THE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE, HOW TRAINED AND JOCKEYED, AN ACCOUNT OF HIS REMARKABLE PERFORMANCES; AND AN ESSAY ON THE ASS AND THE MULE. BY JOS SKINNER, ASSISTANT POST MASTER GENERAL, AND EDITOR OF THE TURF REGISTER. NS Bia) WO! RK: PVE i tote D BY UAVITT & ALLEN, 379 BROADWAY. Py f Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the vear 1843, by LEA AND BLANCHARD, in the office of the clerk of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. BY Trans¢ar AUG 12 1997 \- PREFACE TO THE LONDON EDITION. PUBLISHED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION ? OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. Tue First Edition of The Horse, which was completed in the year 1831, has since had a large and continued sale: and in acknowledging the valuable communications which have been made for the improvement of the work, it is satisfactory to the Committee to be able to state, that no grave errors in it haye been pointed out. Vetermary science has, however, made great progress in the last twelve years; the Structure of the Horse, the Injuries and Diseases to which he is subject, and the Treatment of these have been investigated, in this country and abroad, with muck diligence and success, both at Colleges and in Societies devoted to the cultivation of Vetermary knowledge, and by practition- ers whose education and experience render their observations worthy of great respect. In these circumstances, the Society intrusted to the Author the preparation of a New Edition of this Treatise; and he has subjected it to so complete a revision, as to render it in many respects a new work. This remark applies especially to the chapters relating to the Diseases of the Horse. Respectfully submitted, By order of the Committee, THOMAS COATES, Szc. 42 Breprorp Square, Lonpon, 1st March 1843. 1* (5) PREFACE, BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. fn undertaking, at the instance of the American publishers, to prepare a new edition of the last London copy of the work here presented, on he Horse; it has been my endeavour to adapt it more exactly to the circumstances of our own country; and by omitting some portions of the original, not immediately illustrative of the principal subject, to reduce the volume, without impairing its value for practical uses. Few things have occurred, serving better at once to characterize and accelerate the march of intellect and benevolence which distinguishes the age in which we live, than the well-known formation, in England, of a “ Society ror THE pirrusion or Userun Knowneper ;” composed. as it is, of men of the highest repute in the various departments of learn- ing and industry ; headed by Lord Brougham. Their proceedings, as far as published, all show them to be animated bya generous desire to collect, simplify, and publish in the cheapest form, the Jatest and most authentic discoveries and improvements in science, and in arts promotive of the comfort and happiness of the human race. Under their auspices, several series of publications have appeared, one of which is denominated the “ Farmer’s Series.” Of this class, the first is the book on the Horse. That the Horse should have been placed at the head of the list of domestic animals, having in view a treatise on the breeds, properties and uses of each, is a distinc- tion to which he is justly entitled, in reference as well to the beautiful symmetry of his form, and his extraordinary physical powers, as to his admirable docility of temper, and high moral qualities, fitting him eminently for the various purposes of pleasure and of business. In the work to which we are now introducing the reader, pruned, as it has been, of some preliminary chapters, he will find little to amuse him, of a character merely curious and speculative; the mysteries of charlatanry, and the nostrums of empiricism, have been carefully excluded; and where terms of anatomical and medical science have been necessarily employed, they are explained, and applied with a degree of plainness and precision, which bring them within the ready compre hension of every reader vi) PREFACE. Vii The task of preparation to render the present edition more useful for American readers, has consisted chiefly in what will be found prefixed ‘o it, on the various stages which have marked and acts which have contributed to the improvement of the English stock of horses; some of the best of which, as is more particularly shown, have been imported into the United States, from time to time, for the last century or more— as also, and more particularly, of what is said of the American Trort- tina Horse. ‘To these have been added, a dissertation on the natural history and uses of THe Ass anp THE Mote; the last named animal being deeemed worthy of especial notice, on account of its utility and economy, in American agriculture; and the yet greater extent to which it is believed it might be employed with advantage in this, as it is known to be in some other countries. But without presuming to recommend the work on account of any observations of his own, the American Editor, who has himself written volumes to illustrate and defend the interests of American husbandry, does venture, with ihe utmost confidence, to pronounce the work itself to be one which every gentleman may read with certainty of instruction— leaving, as it does, in truth, nothing untold, which need be known of the Horse, in his minutest anatomy, with full directions as to breeding and breaking, food and exercise ; as, also, plain descriptions of his various diseases, and their most simple and certain cures. Such a work ought to be in the possession, for convenient reference, of every owner of horses, whether for the coach, the saddle, the cart, or the plough. The great value attached to this work, and its entire success in England, may be understood, when we state that the new edition just published in London, and from which the present is reprinted, has been nearly rewritten by the author, and improved by the insertion of many new cuts, prepared for it by a distinguished artist. JS. Washington, May, 1843. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PERO UUDTINGs VEATCH ING TELATRONIEISS sin oteler ev ajorers lotetelotstsfeusletoretetare/ts FRonrIsPIEce. OP HIN AD Ob CREE, BLGAGK ATUAIBIAIN GG <.jeve ateyshe cletenetersnemsteyeie eisiels Malet ele(ens TITLE. 3 USKDLETONC OP THE HORSES. ocic civic cris scree siela cre aceteicetesteteiotesveloroeie aisrers "ie GD PAG ROAM UO SIEVE, SHUM sai. iaeree ielsrcleretece vel olalets slcrleratciereestelnvetels ict alate 75 AOCCTET DAT: BONEVOR SLEUH HORS Herein vccicielelstetelonsiartetisratlcretateteren terete id 8. SPINAL CHORD, WITH BRANCHING NERVES...............--2 000. 80 FeSHCRION ORM CH EBs» ‘or, sreieisteovers datsle sels a'eietclevepeOcovereneleNe rotenone elavers Geeraieret= 86 HOM NIUSCHES OR TEE) EVs ccricccie eleteleteteseisisisiaw.ote ove ste relele olistelerctsiatotme telousterstere 92 Le HORSE LABOURING UNDER, DOCK IAW «ci 21.1.1: «te eieteleleleielereucls's sereisle 103 12. TANATOMY, OF THE LEG AND) BOOT ...\. « < .> oceeeeeeeeeeee 149 27. TEETH AT THE AGE OF EIGHT OR NINE YEARS,—Bishoped....... 149 DS) EINEST SHAPE FOR THE NECK AND! HEAD... ..: 5.0. ec sens seme 159 DON DEE eR Tis AND! WHR ISE BRIA tcc cleleccwcle.s: «lec enticisls slate + nee eee ae 167 SURG h st Dats NOT CCl s eee soa eo Me eID Conc oboe cous 291 oR MINA TION, OF VDE CASOPRFAGUS w.a sities eres.) siteleteeieie cee bier 29) a2) JHE BOT-BLY: IN) PES®VARTOUS SILAGE «co c.ais'« crsiclelereclaicteleleterianne 224 pe EVEN Ne DOS LoPIN IIS | rs tetole's eyeselnvele aie Sianccen tr alo.e aaieteislecse GIA ER EEE eae 228 BA OM CMON OF THE BETND): GUM ii: = er ctu eae bee cee eer 229 35. ENTANGLEMENT OF THE SMALL INTESTINES..........,....000. 239 BowOUR VED, AND STRAIGHT CATERER. -acies doree rioters 247 DOIN His GOMES TELE TGS oo: a cicislaiela tere csererepater rete crave io ate elaine clever ater ier te 256 SYS} (SN) 0 et Fh) DP A OS ee Ree Rem er hoe ae oe 4 Aaa doosuas ae 39, MUSCLES OF THE OUTSIDE OF THE SHOULDER................:. 259 40. MUSCLES OF THE INSIDE OF THE SHOULDER AND FOREARM.. . 260 Alo nONVOn THE PASTERN 3 a0cccccten eee cn eee eee ee ene 972 42. INSIDE VIEW OF THE BONES OF THE PASTERN....:.....0.-00... 276 43. OUTSIDE VIEW OF THE BONES OF THE PASERN..............: 7 2nG 44, ATTACHMENTS OF THE MUSCLES OF THE PASTERN............. 276 AF DISEASES On: iby PORBIUNG. sce ccs eece te sock onus see Can Ree 277 46. INSIDE MUSCLES OF THE HIND-LEG.......... BiNe cata tee es Mee e e 281 AT SOURSUDE: MUSCLES‘OF THE EENDLEG* .:ccccc cw etree sia codecs cree 282 ABs EB EEAU INCH) AND EDIN DEL BGS soa csecscs: oisve ote ener sation aleieie nis oie sites 283 AGH TEM B MELO HEU OLIN Lt. s5 sierctonccureiorcre etek ters wie to nusiete os ore Aen Pore aati Ae ee 286 Be AINGAW IRD VaW COE IED Hsp) (O Te cise erecolevs are cele calaia co alel Weve none cr cborarelatale isreneereie 295 SL; ANAT OMEVO LS TEE BASE (OR: DEB BOOT scissile cis warts reeatcacierere 295 OT EB POCORN ey EUTING..m)e sci ctevel swe vesuov riety ol gheveneleedels a eimts teraid eieuetefosealciaiane 97 53. PERCIVALL’S SUSPENSATORY APPARATUS FOR THE CURE OF TRANG] Te TBI nese yap etetie ay ceo sasver int oui ca w seile alg se yaia re, wah bpore Tate emero sie ove conc loy ave eee 323 542 THE CONCAVEES EH AUEE DESH @ Bisnis cciecisve ccinanime ocreelehielestercrave coteagee 338 ee LRM Es IN TTAB) FA etre ce roi, c averrarce stale fovesrele voi dtebe.oveimr ele tipereualic ioiela ss noice anes 339 5O FORE RATION: PORMOORINGS rcis:cvereyesereravevavaie teniacelate svereiorcrete eave eieiaaveice ace 340 Ode ERECT VA TILES ASAIN DAMA pis ceeictjear, aveie cheese wis a'e.ausueleie mnie cise aii eee 343 58. PERCIVALL’S SANDAL FASTENED TO THE FOOT.............:+:. 344 CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION, BY J. S. SKINNER. The Horse, in England and America—as he has been, and as he is.. tage 17 MISES Wiser Ea OIE eis). 4c) ofcye 2,2 ai n/tid'e! vic wets « cialcieialateietene eiererena iets erecta Aro Paredes ACen ANMETICA, 2.2 454 % sin'ci'e a 'u! sh vo wietaunalaleh mers sree etvaleyeint nts) ote 25 Pie ECE VM CATS Vcd 5)". cate, 2 aes s-o 6.0: sije sine ehwlauat dh epeer a eae tener oner ete 36 ect eRaCenre ty CWOnV NIC PLeatS 5 od ayes ae le vices. 5 eis © Eee cere rere 37 Beconacentat Direc Mile rELCats 2.%.'.'s . sale aise laces ecersie tersars) = ererenetenens 38 Pecseedtes at HOUi-miie ELeAtSt ee. ..5 idee cig cta se cieres eimieeelse os oem 39 ‘Lengths of the principal Race-Courses in England.......... ..200+. 41 Rules and Regulations of the New York Jockey Club....... ....--. 42 PUR Tre sePOUMT EN eraset ch ele atee clatie ses re aie)'s w/e ay ateral 0 olelohutatetetusiate aterm ata ae 48 Pirie Ee TICA TY PEOULER 220 5.5) cf'e' 54 \a) a e\d.e aise svete! s dapat ehabeneraices sine. «let 49 Rules and Regulations of the New York Trotting Club ...........6.. 54 rooting mets ILS TAGES 6.1.) orat'a Sala!’ 0 occ le ahs) s oo 2 eval) meaParatelicaelny sales nahafe 57 Miron abalwo- Mile Heats: siete ec'elehe cise s'e'e a estes shete anole ofa esta dal latate 57 Mcoimacatlnree-Mile Pleats ..6 6s is css ¢ 5 exe alecemg ene ald salem es 57 mirotime at. Pour-Mile Heats: 5.65 id ccs ee + 6 os) oie Sieternetelheleietnonigecees pres eect saci ii) America ON RECON: :././ 4 =: ' sols som coleleleenetetae © le ein 58 Miscellaneous Examples of Extraordinary Performances of American PRA SD cris yl chat alate} akchars nate! \Seha tellatte a's, vaca faPeMeNe faye Silelota) unas each eter 58 Memnorauary «bretting Match: 0). 0... 06 6 det wenhdte twas so oe as 60 reine amithe beacon Course. 0's. alsinie seins aus vais olepe lace! sala si eters 63 Centreville (Iu. 1.) Trotting Course «oo 00s ses se weal code onesie ben 6s 63 Mirotine on thestunting Park Course’ yest. aa baie so teles oes eee 64 Pree rt eatiay Wert IA AOR SCS ac ec) wa lm nyatia nes haley araa atehs Wadalcns: «Jals\alaveversts 64 THE HORSE, HIS ANATOMY—WITH HIS DISEASES AND REMEDIES. BY WILLIAM YOUATT. CHAPTER I. Tue ZootouicaL CLASSIFICATION OF THE HoRSE ....cceseeceeecees G7 CHAPTER II. Tue SENSORIAL FUNCTION. .....0.ecceee8 seid ie fete ls leas eta aeeeeeee (i (9) £ CONTENTS. CHAPTER UWI. (NJURIES AND DISEASES OF THE SKULL—THE Brain—tTHE Ears—AaND THE EVES ....0. igi Elec eae tate girs, Wreeas coteuh aise labia Hace ceROkaenetes 93 FESTUS eps, c caie Lactate wie Totals believe taemateretekrs si olabioraiakath fa iat au'sika ta erarassteataaane 93 PRUOSHOSIS 15:16, < orci o,'a cparsia ie ‘oterah eleven ceee hele aeNe a intsvairererayseterniece Sujets) ee EAMES sonically Siclovins sb atalierd a ialeuet ite in Mtoe Meee mee tone a atte Pao ee Compression of the Brann, e2:.j.5e a acces ers otemehaystettars aerate oie eran 94 Pressure On the BLAM eke eet the tacos) sues he discs ees ahehend ge ueestere 94 IES RATS ye 6 5 hots ous teneh naman ere pe alana. (ee 1c¢2ishe al ee San, aheleish. Yageleiy ate 94 PIV ICR YG corelaoleinyettey stetaneyetave interes) ls, aichcale\sieiis'%b ole kote ve eae teeta cene ae 95 PD VENGHS 5 cer bi lenahers eusteee Cl els ee ie Sie, (anGior Seid seuehove Ue Toleeabeie kenettel ete 98 Rabies, or Madness.........02..0- ee I Serre ieee ont 100 Metaniis ror Pocked Saw yisio. races. ciaverers -asieusiavein te oesyaie take mecetentte . 103 CRAM va\ss oh otis tse a's! os nr dbavoralincwvene sre saye ious p/ielinya in: «jleha (Olid peep renege ee 106 POUrIMONANE, = sn's a. cyare at e ctah tie eioieseye tas Guna! sha the eran tates eactcnenetanen aera O77: CGIAR oiat. aioeteiats ates sa Mega aitel Bids! dey ada ichgNbl iret Ya yeslet she one eMeMea RTS 109 IRNUGE ORAS Ue) hay Ga eee eer a OEM a Sraiaiae weno 3 Sais Ate 109 BAUS Vidi a ieiese sh sisus ascent ok hayay eva cetate tai Wot sale iar ievciit auanleysyave key ehetairatetaienens 109 Rheumatism .... 0... 5 eens abeils Ta(Ghaa leis (eseteialens:6 akeno ce eteya tame uremia 110 INS UU HOTIAIY 6 tc eno '0i ice chvical telca ae. OME pha eigen deblayees tase mete teeters am Lt PANSY fot raielatys x consy eee el ste sbhage "bis sates, le/eileb ele lOte: sate titiate tale tates ele 115 Diseases.of Phe dyes crac ity capaies le jodie ines anal oealeae dee eee 116 Common Inflammation ef the Eye: ...\. 5.00. 0% 12. sheeidie alee 117 Specific Ophthalmia, or Moon-Blindness ........0-cssseeerese- 117 Gutta Serena oso... socks ee aks wings Sowa eee we eee veeee eee 121 Wiseasesiof the Har, \c «a! .csvsteysia oye 00 sacs ee Oe Oe eee rene tay MeatESS oisn bic Sees @ sucieie le orale, shatvetet haus a tetera raearee waite Siete secel ava /okets 12 CHAPTER IV. Tu. Awaromy anv Disrases or THE Nose anp MovuTH ......... 122 PAGEL OUNUS Veesip)s 5 aleieis/toxieis) 6 ms Sodoas aia parakeet Widens 2 126 Nasal Gleet, or Discharge from the Nose .....0.20+0.00s2ss08+ 127 SE May ae Sa tas tPiacicln os ial abet teeta ai & iicoece Gee oR NS Crete ts re ree aie 128 BREA MUCTS So 'dieiere wile ve SAAD CRA Ae Merrie oe eRe ras 129 Rem IMME eee Sw sfaretale ces so cid aie Siete ca. acters RRM MCA aT ooo hee an te 136 TCM Ai acriwiatetiaicids havea! o eos 4c SPGNe Gis @ ape OS MRE SS 139 The Bones of the Mouth.«.........0..0. teehee Ma dadota ia eel teh dale artes 141 The Palate....<.... dither aeeleretenenas sialareel eteleeat ayers uate ethos: Siena 141 Lampas..... NOEs cl sales tetenoleess ote meet 192 Inflammation of the Larynx... 0.000 0. cee wen sice cnc suena ce 193 Inflammationvof. the Trachea ec. si... ss siete eee elas sieht remenenene 194 FROSTING sc win olay eeatehetn ne oeiellledallar> con's «lls llol eof strana hoe aoe 194 Bronchocel eeicgo7 ropes ea aercicel see cn sh ase she! eieveilehelohe: Sovehetn ner Manet menentts 197 Biprdermte (Cate cn in gee pte ate rehnicele seus voye =» 0) 0m (elas avatateday elec coisa Rei etet 197 ‘The Malienant, Bipidemic § .).:s).).')0 ,+ vs «" SOnYIogT sr ekeleée: ecexece OA Roday UNL, V8100%) teeeeee ere poy "+++ uIsneg uyor “+++ pipursseg +++ (du) 1n0fy senses Log aopreg +++ gsouyorlg +++" TaqsUIAT ayng Bury eeeeee Puy eece eeee eee ‘osIpusg ERE ere * -anig .0 sjouuog eeoveeses yleyg eeerese uosjoull y, eeevees 1a wie *ouIeN TWO-MILE HEATS, gral aquioydeg J st+s “AM ‘WosyuRry | vets ts LO poy PUB ‘gptuay ‘uojuoy ‘oprdey [-':'* eF'e—O9'e | 2B | E | cess s . 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From the above tables have been excluded all races made over courses notoriously short of a mile in length. By adhering to this rule, very many excellent races at Norfolk have been omitted ;—as Andrew’s, Betsey Ransom’s, Polly Hopkins’, and others; Mercury’s race in 7m. 40s.—7m. 42s., at New Orleans, is omitted for the same reason. Again, we have inserted in the tables only the winners of the different races ; winners of a single heat are omitted. But it would be unjust not to note one or two winners of single heats. Bee’s-wing, by imported Leviathan, 5 years old, carrying 97 pounds, in March 1840, won a first heat from Grey Medoc, in 7m. 38s. As she pulled up lame, she was drawn. Kate Aubrey, by Eclipse, 4 years old, carrying 83 pounds, in March 1842, won a three-mile heat in 5m. 39s., but was distanced the next heat. The reader will note that the great races made at New Orleans have been run generally in March; according to their rule, their horses taking their ages from May, have run a year under their true age, and carried weight accordingly. In the above tables their proper age has been given, and attention is called to the subject again, for the purpose of pointing to Sarah Bladen’s race, which she lost with Jim Bell—the first heat by a length and a half, and the second by but eighteen inches; time, 7m 37s.—7m. 40s.—The mare ran as aged, and carried 121 pounds—but two less than she would have to carry at the North. Again, the best time ever made at two and three miles, has been in four-mile races. Thus Boston and Charles Carter ran the first and third miles in 3m. 41s.,.and the first three miles of their great race in 5m. 363s.; Fashion and Boston ran the first two miles in 3m. 43s., and three miles in 5m. 37}s.; Wagner and Grey Eagle, it is said, ran the last three miles of their best heat in 5m. 35s. Gallatin is said to have run the two middle miles of a four-mile heat in 3m. 43s., and Trifle the last two miles of a four-mile heat in the same time. Mingo and Post Boy are believed by the writer to have run a mile of a four-mile heat at Trenton, in lm. 48s.; the former and Mary Blunt ran their twelfth mile in Im. 47s., and a third four-mile heat in 7m. 46s. The higher estimation placed upon their great performances at the longer distance, renders it superfluous to note further the rate of speed in the different miles. — Finally, it will not have escaped the observation of attentive readers, that while the horse may appear by these tables, exhibiting as they do, his utmost capacity for a series of years, to have been brought, by careful attention to blood, and by great skill and nicety in training, up to the probable maximum of his powers; it is yet as clear as it is encouraging to see, that by unremitting recourse to the same means, and by that alone, he may be kept up fully to.the standard of capacity which these records have established as the measure of his attainable speed and stoutness. If with an eye to the fact, that “the last” is ‘the first,” and the fastest on the record, (Fashion and Boston at L. I.) the hope should spring up in the bosom of the sanguine, that the ‘end is no. yet,’ and that the thread may be drawn yet a little finer ; without wishing to repress an iota of exertion to make good that conclusion, it may be well to remember, that as before stated, according to the opinion of some whose judgments we are bound to respect, a few of our principal courses have been improved at the rate of more than a second to the mile! 'Thus it may be doubted whether, if we could meet again in the club-room, or at the social board which they were wont to ornament and enliven, the Fathers of the American turf,—the Sharpes, the Ogles, the Taskers, the Tayloes, Hamptons, Ridgelys, Lloyds, Spriggs, Bowies, Ducketts, Duvalls, Seldens, &c., they would not remind us of these our adyan- tages, and be prompt to match and freely back some of their favourite old nags against the best on these lists of more modern performers, To some of these ancestors of our present stock the tribute is due that their name be here recorded as well for their achievements as for having transmitted their powers to their descendants, viz.: Tasker’s Selima, by the Godolphin Arabian, never beat; the dam of Galloway’s Selim, the best Maryland horse of the last century ; Fitzhugh’s Regulus, Semmes’ Wildair, Goode’s Brimmer, Tayloe’s Virago, Bell Air, Grey Diomed, Black Maria, Leviathan, and Gallatin; Hoomes’ Fairy, sister to Gallatin, Ogle’s Oscar, Ridgely’s Post Boy, Bond’s First Consul, Willis’s Maid of the Oaks, Edelin’s Floretta, Bali’s Florizel, Sir Archy; these last nine were at the head of the turf early THE HORSE. 43 in the present century. With these no competitor or rival deserves to be named, until the revival of the best days of the turf by the get of Sir Archy, as exhibited by the match of his son Henry with Eclipse. By every test of comparison Henry was no better race-horse than several of the get of Sir Archy, nor as good a one as Timo- leon, Virginian, Sir Charles, and Bertrand. In those days, Hoomes, Selden, Tayloe, Ridgely, and Bond were at the head of the turf. : Though not strictly belonging to a work intended as this is, not for a particular class but for all owners of horses and for every day’s reference and use, yet we have said so much of the race-horse, whose blood we consider it essential to preserve in its purity and to be used as occasion may require, as every good house-keeper pre- serves and uses good yeast to leven the mass, that we may as well add the lengths of the principal race-courses in England, and the rules of the jockey club lately established for the Long Island race-course. These will occupy but little space and may prove acceptable to those of our readers who take an interest in the amusements of the turf. Miles. Fur. Yards, The Beacon Courseis . . ARE ct ns fovea ae cok vA 1 138 heykounds Courseatsiesk Westen eee ste nlla. Feb s ch Peay 3B. 4 178 Last three miles of Beacon Course . . ..... 3 0 45 IDVie law Tray sp MoAaRees ce, s+ csi a kia eeits 9 aes iro + oan eee Ree 0 97 The last mile and a distance of Beacon Course . pe yal 1 156 Aticastenannll Cet via eietomi la son, Lobes Med! siosk ne chdebon, 0 18 Hrombsthestumeuotthenlandssin a0 eh ciweure. soustlen eavanO 5 184. Clermont Course, from the Ditch to the Duke’s Stand 1 5 Q17 Audley End Course, from the starting-post of the T.Y.C. to the end of the Beacon Course . .« . 3: . . s I 6 0 FACTOSSRURC lata eee Hee We Wikek eb dais 1a eo Me ilte th sods, Gee eeb 2 Q4 olay Wal ep Os ai ler Vn se ee aR 1 0 i Dice hiernilomaehe nities et task) Rett ce Raa nse ens 0 7 178 Abinedon mile MAP OMS Ter ay alee fe ae tO a 211 Two middle miles of Beacon Course . . . . . ° . 1 vf 125 Two-years-old Course (on the flat)... . 2... -.0O £5 136 New ditto (part of the Banbury mile) . ..... O 5 136 Pecarline uC ounse nace ce aws eto teh wet Shh ai ark Hoa 2 47 Bambunyarniless (ne aa) Vari ctine. CSN Silla Sie apand 7 248 “‘ Previously to 1753 there were only two meetings in the year at Newmarket for the purpose of running horses, one in the Spring and another in October. At present there are seven.— The Craven, instituted in 1771, in compliment to the late Earl Craven, and commencing on Easter Monday; the First Spring, on the Monday fort- night following, and being the original Spring Meeting; the Second Spring, a fortnight after that, and instituted in 1753; the Ju/y, commonly early in that month, instituted also in 1753; the First October, on the first Monday in that month, being the original October meeting; the Second October, on the Monday fortnight following—instituted in 1762; and the Third October, or Houghton, a fortnight after that, and instituted 1770. With the last-mentioned meeting, which, weather permitting, generally lasts a week, and at which there is a great deal of racing, the sports of the Turf close fot the year, with the exception of Turpor/ey, a very old hunt-meeting in Cheshire, now nearly abandoned; and a Worcester autumn meeting, chiefly for hunters and horses f the gentlemen and farmers within the hunt.””"—Nimrod—The Turf, 152. ASCOT HEATH, The two-mile course is a circular one, of which the last half is called the old mile. The new mile is straight and up-hill all the way. The T.Y.C. is five furlongs and 236 yards. EPSOM. The old course, now seldom used except for the cup, is two miles of an irregular circular form, the first mile up-hill. The new Derby course is exactly a mile and a liaif, and somewhat in the form of a horse-shoe: the first three-quarters of a mile may 4* F 42 THE HORSE. ve considered as straight running, the bend in the course being very trifling, and the width very great; the next quarter of a mile is in a gradual turn, and the last half- mile straight; the first half-mile is on the ascent, the next third of a mile level, and the re:ainder is on the descent, till within the distance, where the ground again rises. The new T.Y.C. is six furlongs; the cld T.Y.C., or Woodcot course, is somewhat Jess than four. The Craven course is one mile and a quarter. DONCASTER Is a circular and nearly flat course of about one mile, seven furlongs, and seventy yards. he shorter courses are portions of this circle. LIVERPOOL. The new course, now used for both meetings, is flat, a mile and a half round, and with a straight run-in of nearly three quarters of a mile, and a very gradual rise. MANCHESTER Is one mile, rather oval, with a hill, and a fine run-in. A Distance is the length of two hundred and forty yards from the winning post. In the gallery of the winning post, and in a little gallery at the distance post, are placed two men holding crimson flags. As soon as the first horse has passed the winning post, the man drops his flag; the other at the distance post drops his at the same moment, and the horse which has not then passed that post is said to be dis- tanced, and cannot start again for the same plate or prize. A Fearuer-weicut is the lightest weight that can be put on the back of a horse. A Give anp Take Prater is where horses carry weight according to their height, Fourteen hands are taken as the standard height, and the horse must carry nine stone (the horseman’s stone is fourteen pounds). Seven pounds are taken from the weight for every inch below fourteen hands, and seven pounds added for every inch above fourteen hands. A few pounds additional weight is so serious an evil, that it is said, seven pounds in a mile-race are equivalent to a distance. A Posr Marcu is for horses of a certain age, and the parties possess the privilege of bringing any horse of that age to the post. A Propuce Marcu is that between the produce of certain mares in foal at the time of the match, and to be decided when they arrive at a certain age specified. Rules and regulations approved and adopted by the New York Jockey Club, on the 13th September, 1842; to continue in full force and effect until the close of the lust Fall Meeting in the year 1844, subject to such alterations as may be made from time to time, according to the discretion of the Club. Rule 1st-—There shall be two regular meetings held by the New York Jockey Club at the Union Course, on Long Island, to be called and known as the Spring and Fall Meeting. The Spring Meeting shall commence on the second Tuesday of May, and the Fall Meeting shall commence on the first Tuesday of October, in each year. Jiule 2d.—There shall be a President, four Vice Presidents, a Secretary and 'Trea~ surer, to be appointed annually by ballot. Rule 3d.—It shall be the duty of the President to preside at all meetings of the Club ; to act as presiding Judge at each day’s race; appoint his Assistant Judges on the evening preceding each day’s race, report and publish the results of each day’s race, and act as Judge in all Sweepstakes, with such other persons as the parties may appoint. Rule 4th.—It shall be the duty of the Vice Presidents to attend all meetings of the Club, and assist the President in the discharge of his duties. In the absence of the President, the first Vice President, and in his absence, the 2d, 3d, or 4th Vice Presi- dent, shall act as President pro tem. THE HORSE. 43 Rule 5th.—It shall be the duty of the Secretary to attend at all meetings of the Club, also to attend the Judges of each day’s race, assist them with his counsei, and furnish them with all the requisite information connected with each day’s race ; keep a book, in which he shall record the Members’ names, the Rules and Orders of the Club, and add to them any Resolutions or Amendments which may change the cha- racter of either; also record the proceedings at each meeting of the Club, whether « special or a regular meeting; he shall also record all the entries of horses, Matches, and Sweepstakes, in which shall be set forth the names of the respective owners, the colour, name, age, sex, and name of sire and dam of each horse; record an account of each day’s race, including the time of running each heat, and after the races are over for a meeting, report the same to the President of the Club for his official publi- cation. He shall also put up, and keep up during every Meeting, at some convenient place, at or near the Judges’ Stand, a copy of the Rules and Regulations of the Club then in force. Rule 6th.—It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to collect all the money due the Club, whether from subscriptions of members, entries of horses, or from any other source, pay the same over from time to time upon the order of the President of the Club, and in case of his absence, upon the order of the acting Vice President; and within thirty days after the closing of every regular meeting, he shall furnish the President, or in his absence, the acting Vice President, a full statement of the receipts and disbursements of the funds of the Club, from the date of the last statement up to the date of that which he then renders, showing the balance of money in hand, sub- ject to the order of the President, or acting Vice President, which statement shall be deposited with the Secretary of the Club, as one of the records of the Club, and so be entered by him. Rule 7th.—At each regular meeting there shall be appointed four Stewards, who shall serve for one meeting succeeding their appointment. They shall wear some appropriate badge of distinction, to be determined upon by themselves. It shall be the duty of the Stewards to attend on the Course, to preserve order, cleat the track, keep it clear, keep off the crowd of persons from the horses coming to the stand after the close of each heat, and they may employ in their discretion, at the expense of the Club, a sufficient number of able-bodied men to assist them in the effectual dis- charge of their duties. Rule 8th.—There shall be three Judges in the starting stand, consisting of the President and two Assistant Judges, assisted by the Secretary, and in case of the absence of the President of the Club, then the first Vice President, and in his absence, the second Vice President. The Judges shall keep the stand clear of any intrusion during the pendency of a heat, see that the Riders are dressed in Jockey style, weigh the riders before starting in the race, and after each heat, instruct the riders as to their duty under the rules before starting in the race, and proclaim from the stand the time and result of each heat, and also the result of the race. Rule 9th.—There shall be two Distance Judges, and three Patrol Judges, appointed by the Judges in the starting stand, who shall repair to the Judges’ stand imme- diately after each heat, and report to the Judges the horses that are distanced, and foul riding, if there be any. Rule 101h.—All the disputes shall be decided by the Judges of the day, from whose decision there shall be no appeal, unless at the discretion of the Judges, and no evi- dence of foul riding shall be received except from the Judges and Patrols. Rule 11th.—When in the opinion of the majority of the Officers of the Club, any good cause may require the postponement of a race, they may postpone any Purse race, but in case of a postponement of a race, no new entries shall be received for that race. A postponement of a Purse race shall give no authority to postpone any Sweepstake or Match made or advertised to be run on that day ; and in the event of the Club postponing a regular Meeting, it shall give them no power to postpone any Matches or Sweepstakes made to be run at that Meeting. Rule 12th.—All Sweepstakes and Matches advertised to be run on the Course on any day of a regular Meeting of the Club, shall be under the cognizance and control of the Club, and no change of entries once made shall be allowed after closing. unless by consent of all parties. Sweepstakes and Matches made to be run at a particuiar 44 THE HORSE. Meeting, without the parties specifying the day, the Secretary must give ten days notice of what days they will be run during the meeting, in case he is informed of itin time. And no Sweepstake or Match shall be run on the Course during a regular meeting without being first reported to the Secretary, to bring it under the cognizance and control of the Club. Rule 13th.—The age of horses shall be computed from the first day of January next, preceding their being foaled; that is, a colt or filly foaled on any day in the year 1841, will be considered one year old on the first day of January, 1842. Rule 14th.—No person shall start or enter a horse for any purse offered by, or under the control of, the Club, other than a Member of the Club, and producing, if required, satisfactory evidence or proof of his horse’s age; nor shall any Member start a horse if his entrance money, subscription money, and all forfeits incurred on the Union Course, are not paid before starting. Nor shall any person start a horse, during a regular meeting of the Club, who is in arrears to any member of the Club for a forfeit incurred on the Unicn Course. Rule 15th.—All entries of horses for a purse shall be made in writing under seal, addressed to the Secretary of the Club, and deposited in a box, kept for that purpose, at the usual place of Meeting of the Club, before five o’clock in the afternoon of the day of the race, for which the entry is made. Each entry shall contain the entrance money, and state the name, age, colour, sex, and pedigree, of the horse entered, ana describe the dress of the rider of such horse. After five o’clock of the afternoon of the day preceding a Purse Race, no other or additional entry shall be allowed to be made for that race, and no entry shall be received or recorded, that does not contain the entrance money. The entries so received, shall be drawn from the box by the Secretary, and declared at five o’clock of the afternoon of the day preceding the day of the race, in the presence of at least three Members of the Club, and the horses so entered shall be entitled to the track in the order in which their names are drawn; in Sweepstakes and Matches, the Judges shall draw for the track at the stand. Rule 16th.—Any person desirous of becoming a member only for the purpose of entering a horse, may do so, he being approved by the Club, and paying double entrance. Rule 17th.—The distance to be run shall be T'wo-mile heats, Three-mile heats, and Four-mile heats, and a purse shall be put up to be run for during each regular meet- ing, for each of the named distances. Not more than five per cent. shall be charged as entrance upon any amount that may be put up for a purse. Rule 18th.—Kvery horse shall carry weight, according to age, as follows :— Av horse/T wo-yearsuold,” “3.750. 1s) dec bp lewis Ul eee Ae Ue eed ones er Lhiree years old, 7.1.) 3° a Tas, es) cen este ee ce SU ent ‘ cer wour yearsiold,) 4.6 vs. ea ciao oak el earner eg: : ee aiive:years old, (°o'. /.../!c tse paeeeee Uecremas chet pena ue Sho MSEC years Old 2) 05 vs vi in Sea Oe Roe fel CLO ss ff teeven years old and upwards, 316, Mere) enie) ey | Leo i An allowance of three pounds to mares, fillies, and geldings. The Judges shall see that each rider has his proper weight before he starts, and that each rider has within one pound, after each heat. Rule 19th.—Catch weights are, where each person appoints a rider without weigh- ing. Feather weighis signifies the same. A Post Stake is to name at the starting post. Handicap weights are weights according to the supposed ability of the horses. An Unitried stallion, or mare, is one whose get or produce has never run in public A maiden horse or mare is one that never won. Rule 20th.—No horse shall carry more than five pounds over his stipulated weight without the Judges being informed of it, which shall be publicly declared by them, whereupon all bets shall be void, except those made between the parties who enter the horses. Every rider shall declare to the Judges who weighs him, when and how his extra weights, if any, are carried. The member of the Club who enters the horse shall be responsible for putting up, and bringing out the proper weight. He shall be bound to weigh the rider of his horse in the presence of the Judges before starting, and if he refuses or neglects to do so, he shall be prevented from starting his horse. THE HORSE. 45 Rule 21st.— When in running a race, a distance is PaPOMe AUCs te a he oe ah ahaha ee ee et tah ele’ oe 4btyardag MVNARINCSg Te g's eh a, aah eat cate ae eat ae tee sty gO MMMREECUIMNG RE ec, Tees! che a, ek te watt Ma ren oR fanaa, tori QO. G3 RMOMEREMELCS yo ils,) oc. ah ua Svar ther tal Meath camber at Montel, Seale LOOW Wn Rule 22d.—In a Match Race of heats, there shall be a distance, but none ina single heat. Rule 23d.—The time between heats shall be ElGrmanepmMile;nedtss: vs 's\ «hate er ig er of eae en elite: Memeo oOsmmInutes, aVONMETIO CALS, ss soe fare. os us) ot ee emia guna muniael 35 POMMOnCOmmircriedts, 2 2 ¢ llc 6), 5) Saiyan, wpe siete oi PRONE WiHalebORe .i6 6 eisce ss ave LSE) ot WELODTY «a0, <2 SHoeeouor Ale EOy| ial PhaAkSpeare. 66sec seiee La eee eral Pry, saeco ctebreren 16 | — (Betsy Baker. sic: iisid. es RS) 08 The acknowledged superiority of the performances of the American over English trotters, or to speak with more precise accuracy, extraordinary performances in a greater number of cases, has been already attributed to superior skill in training, but on that we must not be understood as laying so much stress, as upon superior jockey- ship in this particular department; for the training of the trolting horse, so far as we ean learn, requires no considerable skill, save as it is connected with the skill of the jockey who usually acts in both capacities. For training, the whole code is said to consist of three words—air, exercise, and food. The work given him in training is severe according to his constitution, and consists in walking him from twelve to twenty miles daily, and giving him ** sharp work” three or four times a week. This «sharp work” is usually a distance of two miles, or sometimes three. The horse is not put to his speed this entire distance, but taught to rouse himself at intervals, at the call of his jockey, who encourages him and brings out his utmost capacity by his voice, not less scarcely than by the usual persuasion of whip and spur. This feature of trotting jockeyship is peculiar and not a little amusing. The jockey is continually talking or rather growling to his horse, and at times he bursts out into shouts and yells, that would be terrific if not so ludicrous. The object would appear to be two- fold—first, to encourage his horse to the utmost possible exertion of his powers when called upon, and again, so to accustom him to this harsh shouting, that he may not break up when he hears it from the opposing jockey—for it is deemed not unsports- manlike for one jockey to break up the pace of another’s nag by thus actually fright- ening him. Many a victory has Hiram Woodrutf won by thus rousing his own horse and breaking up his opponent’s on the last quarter. These two-mile drives are not repeated as is usual in training the race-horse. Nor is the work of the trotter siven at intervals so regular as in the case of the other, nor is he kept in such habitual yuiet; the trainer consults his own convenience to a great decree as to the time when he will give his nag exercise, and he never hesitates about taking him out and show- ing him at any hour. In other respects too, the treatment of the trotting-horse differs from that of the more high-bred racer. Less delicate in constitution and form, he is less delicately fed and groomed. Allowed to eat when and what they please, trotting horses are groomed with much the same care as well-kept town coach-horses, or perhaps the English hunter. In the two grand points of keeping them in robust health and giving them hard work enough, the training of the trotter and the racer is identical. But for the trotter from six to eight weeks’ training is deemed sufficient. We are inclined to believe that very much of the superiority of the American trotter and roadster is attributable to the skill of the jockey. Our mode of driving them differs essentially fiom the English, and though neither easy nor elegant, it succeeds admirably in de- _ veloping the capabilities of a horse at this pace. he case already cited of Wheelan _and the horse Alexander in England, is in point, and it is practically illustrated every os I 66 THE HORSE. day in New York, many English residents of which city are trotting amateurs; chey one and all, after a little experience, adopt the Yankee mode of driving. It has long been a question exciting much interest, whether twenty miles has been, or can be, trotted in one hour. There is no record of any such performance, although there have been many attempts to do it. But men of great judgment and long ex- perience, are so fully confident of the ability of our horses to go that distance at the required rate, that large odds would be laid that it can be done. The difficulty is to find an individual who will at this day back him to an adequate amount; for it will readily occur that a horse that can accomplish the feat must be of great value, and the risk of injury to him is of course very considerable. It is believed that $10,000 to $5,000 would readily be laid that Dutchman can do it, and probably Americus would be backed at less odds likewise to do it. The trotting amateurs in New York pro- fess to entertain no doubt at all upon the subject, and it is believed they have suffi- cient reason for the opinion. Here, most patient reader, we close these our remarks, preliminary to what we may fairly denominate the great work on rue Horse. It is for you to say if they have served either to instruct or amuse; but whatever may be your judgment as to this our Introduction, let it not affect your inclination to make yourself acquainted with the principal work, to which it is no more essential, than a handle to a pitcher, and that you know may long continue useful though the handle be broken off. This work on the Horse, however, is not a book to be read for entertainment, like a novel, and then to be thrown aside. It is one which every man who owns “the hair of a horse,”? should have at his elbow to be turned to for useful instruction, and to be con- sulted like your family physician in every case of need for the means of under- standing the anatomy, mitigating the disorders, and prolonging the life, of the most interesting and useful of all domestic animals. : J. 8. 8. THE HORSE, | HIS ANATOMY—WITH HIS DISEASES AND REMEDIES. CHAPTER 1. THE ZOOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE HORSE, | Tuere are so many thousand species of living beings, some so much resembling each other, and others so strangely and altogether diflerent, that it would have been impossible to have arranged them in any order, or to have given any description that could be understood, had not naturalists agreed on certain peculiarities of form which should characterise certain classes, and other lesser peculiarities again subdividing these classes. The first division of animals is into vertebrated and invertebrated. Vertebrated animals are those which have a cranium, or bony cavity containing the brain, and a succession of bones called the spine, and the divisions of it named vertebra, | proceeding from the cranium, and containing a prolongation of the brain, denominated | the spinal marrow. Invertebrated animals are those which have no vertebre. | The horse, then, belongs to the division vertebrated, because he has a cranium or ékull, and a spine or range of vertebra proceeding from it. The vertebrated animals are exceedingly numerous. They include man, quadru- | peds of all kinds, birds, fishes, and many reptiles. We naturally look for some sub- division, and a very simple line of distinction is soon presented. Certain of these vertebrated animals have mammz or teats, with which the females suckle their young. | The human female has two, the mare has two, the cow four, the bitch ten or twelve, and the sow more than twelve. This class of vertebrated animals having mamme or teats is called mammalia; and the horse belongs to the division vertebrata, and the class mammalia. The class mammalia is still exceedingly large, and we must again subdivide it. ‘It is stated (Library of Entertaining Knowledge, vol. i. p. 13,) that ‘“ this class of quadrupeds, or mammiferous quadrupeds, admits of a division into two T'rcbes. «© T. Those whose extremities are divided into fingers or toes, scientifically called | unguiculata, from the Latin word for nail; and II. Those whose extremities are hoofed, scientifically called unguata, from the Latin word for hoof. | «The extremities of the first are armed with claws or nails, which enable them tu grasp, to climb, or to burrow. The extremities of the second tribe are employed ‘merely to support and move the body.” The extremities of the horse are covered with a hoof by which the body is supported. and with which he cannot grasp anything; and therefore he belongs to the tribe ungu- | lata or hoofed. ‘ But there is a great variety of hoofed animals. The elephant, the rhinoceros, the | hippopotamus, the swine, the horse, the sheep, the deer, and many others, are ungu- | lated or hoofed; they admit, however, of an easy division. Some of them masticate, | or chew their food, and it is immediately received into the stomach and digested; but in others the food, previous to digestion, undergoes a very singular process. It is | returned to the mouth to be remasticated, or chewed again. ‘These are called rum- (67) 68 THE SKELETON OF THE HORSE. nantia, or ruminants, from the food being returned from one of the stomachs (for they have four), called the rumen or paunch, for the purpose of remastication. The ungulata that do not ruminate are, somewhat improperly, called pachydermata, from the thickness of their skins. The horse does not ruminate, and therefore belongs to the order pachydermata. } The pachydermata, who have only one toe, belong to the family solipeda—single- footed. Therefore, the horse ranks under the division vertebrata—the class mammalia —the tribe ungulata—the order pachydermata—and the family solipeda. The solipeda consist of several species, as the horse, the ass, the mule, and th quagga. First stands the Equus Casat.us, or Common Horse. Annals are likewise distinguished according to the number, description, and situa tion of their teeth. The horse has six zncisors or culling teeth in the front of each jaw; and one canine tooth or tusk. On each side, above and below—at some distance from the incisors, and behind the canines, and with some intervening space—are six molar teeth, or grinders; and these molar teeth have flat crowns, with ridges of enamel, and that enamel penetrating into the substance of the tooth. The whole is thus represented by natural historians :— ‘ J—1 = 6 Horse.—Incisors a canines rt molar Z = Total, forty teeth. To this short chapter we may properly append Tur Sxeteron or THE Horse. E GOSS F Cee “a ema A The Head. a The posterior maxillary or under jaw. b The superior maxillary or upper jaw. A little lower down than the letter is a foramen through which pass the nerves and blood-vessels which chiefly supply the lower part of the face. ‘The orbit, or cavity containing the eye. The nasal bones, or bones of the nose. aN The suture dividing the parietal bones below from the occipital bones above. sa? THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. 69 £ The inferior maxillary bone, containing the upper incisor teeth. The Seven Cervical Vertebre, or bones of the neck. C The Eighteen Dorsal Vertebra, or bones of the back. D The Six Lumbar Vertebre, or bones of the loins. E The Five Sacral Vertebre, or bones of the haunch. F The Caudal Vertebra, or bones of the tail, generally about fifteen. G The Scapula, or shoulder-blade. H The Sternum, or fore-part of the chest. I The Coste or ribs, seven or eight articulating with the sternum, and called the true ribs, and ten or eleven united together by cartilage, called the false ribs. J The Humerus, or upper bone of the arm. K The Radius, or upper bone of the arm. L The Ulna, or elbow. The point of the elbowis called the Olecranon. M The Carpus, or knee, consisting of seven bones. N The metacarpal bones. ‘lhe larger metacarpal or cannon or shank in front, and the smaller metacarpal or splint bone behind. g The fore pastern and foot, consisting of the Os Suffraginis, or the upper and larger pastern bone, with the sesamoid bones behind, articulating with the cannon and greater pastern; the Os Corone, or lesser pastern; the Os Pedis, or coffin bone; and the Os Naviculare, or navicular, or shuttle-bone, not seen, and articulating with the smaller pastern and coffin bones. hk The corresponding bones of the hind-feet. O The Haunch, consisting of three portions, the Ilium, the Ischium, and the Pubis. P The Femur, or thigh. Q The stitle joint with the Patella. R The Tibia, or proper lez bone—behind is a small bone called the fibula. S The Tarsus, or hock, composed of six bones. The prominent part is the Os Calcis, or point of the hock. T The Metatarsals of the hind leg. CHARTER, If. THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. Beavtirut as is the horse, and identified so much with our pleasure and our profit, ne has been the object of almost universal regard; and there are few persons who do not pretend to be somewhat competent judges of his form, qualities, and worth. From the nobleman, with his numerous and valuable stud, to the meanest helper in the stable, there is scarcely a man who would not be offended if he were thought alto- gether ignorant of horse-flesh. There is no subject on which he is so positive; there is no subject on which, generally speaking, he is so deficient; and there are few horses, on some points of which these pretended and self-sufficient judges would not give a totally opposite opinion. The truth is, that this supposed knowledge is rarely founded on principle, or the _ result of the slightest acquaintance with the actual structure of the animal—the form : and connexion of parts on which strength, or fleetness, or stoutness, must necessarily depend. a speaking of the structure of this animal, and the points which guide the opinion of real judges of him, we shall, as briefly and as simply as we are able, explain those fundamental principles on which his usefulness and beauty must depend. We require one kind of horse for slow and heavy draught, and another for lighter and quicker }) work; one as a pleasant and safe roadster—another, with more speed and equal con- tinuance, as a hunter—and another still is wanted for the race-course. What is the peculiarity of structure—what are the particular points that will fit each for his proper business, and, to a certain degree, unfit him for everything else? ‘The farmer will \| require a horse of all-work, that can carry him to market and take him round his farm |; —on which he can occasionally ride for pleasure, and which he must sometimes | degrade to the dung-cart or the harrow. What combination of powers will enable _ the animai to discharge most of these duties well, and all of them to a certain extens profitably * 70 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. Much tine spent among horses. an acquired love of them, and a little, sometimes nossibly too dearly-bought experience, may give the agriculturist some insight into these matters. We will try whether we cannot assist him in this affair—whether we cannot explain to him the reason why certain points must be good, and why a horse without them must of necessity be good for nothing. Perhaps some useful rules may thus be more deeply impressed upon his memory, or some common but dangerous prejudices may be discarded, and a considerable degree of error, disappointment, and expense avoided. If we treat of this at considerable length, let it be remembered that the horse is our noblest servant, and that, in describing the structure and economy of his frame, we are in a great measure describing that of other domestic quadrupeds, and shall here- after have to speak only of points of difference required by the different services and uses for which they were destined. And further, let it be remembered, that it is only by being well acquainted with the structure and anatomy of the horse, that we can appreciate his shape and uses, or understand the different diseases to which he is liable. It is from the want of this that much of the mass of ignorance and prejudice which exists as to the diseases to which he is subject is to be referred. The nervous system will first pass in review, for it is the moving power of the whole machine. It consists of the brain, to which all sensation is referred or carried, and from which all voluntary motion is derived —the spinal cord, a prolongation of the brain, and thus connected with sensation and voluntary motion, governing all the involuntary motions of the frame, and by power from which the heart beats, and the lungs heave, and the stomach digests; and one other system of nerves—the ganglionic —presiding over the functions of secretion and of nutrition, and the repair and the welfare of the frame generally. The following cut represents the head of the horse divided into the numerous bones of which it is composed, and the boundaries of each bone clearly marked by the sutures which connect it with those around. The upper and broadest part is the cranium or skull in which the brain is con- tained, and by which it is protected. It is composed of nine bones: the two frontals, aa; the two parietals, cc; the two temporals, dd; the occipital g¢, and the ethmoid and sphenoid, which will be found delineated at figures / and /, and will be better seen in the cut on page 72. aa ‘The frontal bones, or bones of the forehead. 6b The supra-orbital foramina or holes above the orbit, through which the nerves and blood-vessels supplying the fore- head pass out. The small hole beneath receives the ves- sels which dip into and supply the bone. cc The parietal bones, or walls of the skull. dd he temporal bones, or bones of the temples. ee The zygomatic, or yoke-shaped arch. ff The temporal fossa, or pit above the eye. gg The occipital bone, or bone of the hinder part of the head. hh ‘The orbits containing and defending the eye. . tt The lachrymal bones belonging to the conveyance of the tears from the eyes. jj The nasal bones, or bones of the nose. kk The malar, or cheek-bones. 11 The superior maxillary, or that portion of the upper jaw containing the molar teeth or grinders. mm The infra-orbital foramen—a hole below the orbit, through which pass branches of nerves and blood-vessels to supply the lower part of the face. nn The inferior maxillary, the lower part of the upper jaw bone —a separate bone in quadrupeds, containing the incisor or cutting teeth, and the upper tushes at the point of union between the superior and inferior maxil- aries. o ‘The upper incisor or cutting teeth. p The openings into the nose, with the bones forming the palate, THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. 71 There is an evident intention in this division of the head into so many bones. When the foetus—the unborn foal—first begins to have life, that which afterwards becomes bone, is a mere jelly-like substance. This is gradually changed into a harder material—eartilage ; and, before the birth of the animal, much of the cartilage is taken away by vessels called absorbents, and bone deposited in its stead. In flat bones, like those of the head, this deposit takes place in the centre, and rays or radia- tions of bone extend thence in every direction. Then, by having so many bones, there are so many centres of radiation; and, consequently, the formation of bone is carried on so much the more rapidly, and perfected at the time when the necessities of the animal require it. At the period of birth, however, this process is not com- pleted, but the edges of the bones remain somewhat soft and pliant, and therefore, in parturition, they yield a little and overlap each other, and thus, by rendering the birth more easy, they save the mother much pain, and contribute to the safety of the foal. The first of these bonesy or the first pair of them, occupying the broad expanse of the forehead, are called the frontal bones,aa. ‘They are united together by a most curious and intricate dove-tailing, to defend from injury the brain which lies beneath the upper part of them. Lower down, and where the cavity of the nose is to be defended, their union is sufficient, but far less complicated. Thus, at first starting, there is an evident proof of design, an illustration of that adaptation to circumstances which will again and again present itself in the most interesting points of view. Peculiar strength of union is given where a most important organ is to be defended—the suture is there intricate and laboured. Where less important parts are covered, it is of a far simpler character. Few things more clearly indicate the breed or blood of the horse than the form of the frontal bones. Who has not remarked the broad angular forehead of the blood horse, giving him a beautiful expression of intelligence and fire, and the face gradu- ally tapering from the forehead to the muzzle, contrasted with the large face of the eart or dray-horse, and the forehead scarcely wider than the face ? At f, between the frontal bones, is the pit or cavity above the eye, and by the depth of which we form some idea of the age of the horse. There is placed at the back of the eye, a considerable quantity of fatty substance, on which it may revolve easily and without friction. In aged horses, and in diseases attended with general loss of condition, much of this disappears; the eye becomes sunken, and the pit above it deepens. It is said that some of the lower class of horse-dealers puncture the skin, and, with a tobacco pipe or small tube blow into the orifice, until the depression is almost filled up. This, with the aid of a bishopped tooth, may give a false appear- ance of youth, that will remain during some hours, and may deceive the unwary, but the trickery may easily be detected by pressing on the part. These bones, however, are not solid, but a considerable portion of them is composed of two plates receding from each other, and leaving numerous and large vacuities or cells. These vacuities are called the frontal sinuses. They are shown in the followiny cut. THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. SECTION OF THE HEAD. eSB We AKA % eehs The nasal bone, or bone of the nose. The frontal bone. The cavities or cells beneath are called the frontal sinuses. The crest or ridge of the parietal bones. The tentorium or bony separation between the cerebrum and cerebellum. The occipital bone. The ligament of the neck, or pack-waz, by which the head is chiefly supported. The atlas, sustaining or carrying : the first bone of the neck. The dentata, tooth-lzke, or second bone of the neck. The cuneiform, or wedge-shaped process, or base of the occipital bone. Between it and the other portion of the occipital bone e, lies the great foramen or aperture througn which the prolongation of the brain—the spinal marrow—issues from the skull. The sphenoid, wedge-like, bone, with its cavities. The ethmoid, sieve-like, bone, with its cells. The cerebrum, or brain, with the appearance of its cortical and medullary substance. The cerebellum, or little brain, with its beautiful arborescent appearance. A portion of the central medullary, marrow-like, substance of the brain, and the prolonga- tion of it under the name of the crus cerebri, leg of the brain, and from which many of the nerves take their origin. The medulla oblongata—the prolongation of the brain after the medullary substance of the cerebrum and cerebellum have united, and forming the commencement of the spinal] marrow. ‘I'he columnar appearance of this portion of the brain is represented, and the origins of the respiratory nerves. The spinal marrow extending through a canal in the centre of the bones of the neck, back, and loins, to the extremities of the tail, and from which the nerves of feeling and of motion, that supply every part of the frame except the head, arise. The septum narium, or cartilaginous division between the nostrils. The same cut off at the lower part, to show the spongy turbinated, turban-shaped, bones filling the cavity of the nostril. The palate. The molar teeth, or grinders. The inferior maxillary bone, containing the incisor teeth or nippers. The canine tooth, or tush, is concealed by the tongue. The posterior maxillary, or lower jaw with its incisors. The lips. The tongue. A porticn of the os hyoides, or bone of the tongue, like a Greek #, v. THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION, We 1 The thyroid, helmet-shaped, cartilage, inclosing and shielding the neighbouring parts. 2 The epiglottis, or covering of the glottis, or aperture of the wind-pipe. 3 The arytenoid, funnel-shaped, cartilages, having between them the aperture leading into the trachea or wind-pipe. 4 One of the chordz vocales, cords or ligaments concerned in the formation of the voice. 5 ‘I'he sacculus laryngis, sac or ventricle of the larynx, or throat, to modulate the voice. 6 The trachea, or wind-pipe, with its different rings. 7 The soft palate at the back of the mouth, so constructed as almost to prevent the possibility of vomiting. 8 The opening from the back part of the mouth into the nostril. 9 The cartilage covering the entrance into the eustachian tube, or communication between the mouth and internal part of the ear. 10 The @sophagus, or gullet. 11 The cricoid, ring-like, cartilage, below and behind the thyroid. 12 Muscle of the neck, covered by the membrane of the back part of the mouth. The sinus on the different sides of the forehead do not communicate with each other, but with other sinuses in the ethmoid, and spenoid, and upper jaw-bones, and also with the cavities of the nose on their respective sides. These sinuses afford a somewhat increased protection to the brain beneath; and by the continuous and slightly projecting line which they form, they give beauty to the forehead ; but their principal use probably is, like the windings of the French horn, to increase the clear- ness and loudness of the neighing. It will be remarked that they are very irregular in depth, which at one place is an inch or more. In the sheep, and occasionally in the ox—rarely in the horse—the larve of maggots produced by certain species of flies, crawl up the nose, lodge themselves in these sinuses, and produce intolerable pain. Veterinary surgeons have availed themselves of these sinuses, to detect the exist- ence of glanders, that disease so infectious and so fatal. They may suspect that a horse respecting which they are consulted is glandezed. It is of great consequence to be sure about this. The safety of the whole tear: may depend uponit. It may be a puzzling case. There may be no ulceration of the nose within sight. The glands under the jaw may not be close to and seemingly sticking to the bone, which is a common symptom, yet for a considerable time there may have been a discharge from the nostril, and the horse is out of condition. On the other hand, some slight uleera- 4. may be detected in the nostril, but the horse eats well, works well, and is in yood plight. It is possible that from the closest examination of the animal, no horse- man or veterinary surgeon can give a decided opinion. If, however, tne horse is glandered, there will probably be considerable ulceration in the upper part of the cavity of the nose, and a collection of matter there. To ascertaiu this the veterinary surgeon sometimes makes an opening into these sinuses. He may do it with perfect safety. On that part of the frontal bone, which lies between the eye and the pit above it, and above the inner corner of the eye, there is, on either side, a small depression or hole (see fig. , cut, page 70), which may be easily felt in the living horse. It is what anatomists call @ foramen—the supra-orbital foramen. It gives passage to the blood-vessels and nerves of the forehead. Supposing a line to be drawn across the forehead, from one of these depressions to the other on that line, and about half an inch from the centre of it—it matters not on which side—the frontal sinuses will be found an inch in depth (compare fig. 5, pp. 70 and 72. There a perforation may be easily and safely made. A little way above, the brain wonld be endangered, and a little below this line, the cavity of the nose would be pierced. Some warm water may be injected into this hole, with a common squirt, and it will run out at the nose. If there is matter in the frontal sinuses, or any part of the cavity of the nose, below the indirect opening from the sinus into the nose under the superior turbinat2d tone, it will appear mixed with the water, and the owner may be assured that the horse is glandered; but if the water flows uncoloured, or simply mixed with blood or mucus, the horse may be considered as free from this disease. The thick creamy ¢ nsis‘ence of pus, its sinking in water, and its capability of being perfectly, although not readily, mixed with water, will distinguish it sufh- ciently from tne natural dissharge from the nose, which is ropy, lighter than water, and, when mixed witn it, still preserves a kind of stringiness. z EK 74 1TdE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. lt was formerly the practice to inject various liquids into the nostrils in this way, ror the cure of glanders. Some of them were harmless enough, but others were cruelly acrid. ‘This practice is now, however, abandoned by the scientific practitioner; for it would only be a portion of the cells of the head, and a portion only of the cavity of the nose, and that least likely to be diseased, with which the fluid could be brought into contact. As the frontal sinuses are lined by a continuation of the meinbrane of the nose, they will sympathise with many of the affections of that cavity 5 but the membrane of the sinuses is susceptible of an inflammation peculiar to itself. The disease is rare, and the cause of it has not been fully ascertained. It is oftenest metastasis of inflammation of the brain, —shifting of inflammation from the brain to the mem- brane of the sinus, or communication of inflammation from the brain by proximity of situation. The attack is usually sudden—the horse is dull, lethargic, and almost as comatose as in stomach-staggers. The first thing that excites suspicion of the actual character of the disease, is heat in the situation of the frontal sinus, when the hand is placed on the forehead. 'The lethargy soon passes over, and a state of the highest excitation succeeds. The conjunctiva and the membrane of the nose are injected—the pulse is quick and hard—the horse becomes violent and dangerous; he kicks, plunges, and, half conscious and half unconscious, he endeavours to do all the mischief that he can. The disease is now evidently combined with, or is essentially, inflammation of the brain. It is distinguished from madness by this half-consciousness, and also by his being more disposed to bite than he is in pure phrenitis. ! The disease is usually fatal. It rarely lasts more than eight-and-forty hours. The post-morlem appearances are, great inflammation of the brain, with frequent effusions of blood. ‘The sinuses are sometimes filled with coagulated blood. The brain seems to be affected just in proportion to the violence which the animal has exhibited. The treatment should consist of copious bleeding, application of ice to the head, blistering the head, and physic. The trephine is scarcely admissible, from the danger of producing greater irritation. Sometimes the disease assumes a more chronic form. ‘There is ulceration of the membrane, but not cerebral affection. A purulent discharge then appears from the aose, evidently not of a glanderous character, and none of the submaxillary glands are enlarged. In both the acute and chronic form, it is usually confined to one sinus. We are indebted to the late Mr. John Field for the principal knowledge that we have of this disease.* The inner plate of the frontal bone covers a considerable portion of the anterior part of the brain, and it is studded with depressions corresponding with irregularities on the surface of the brain. Immediately above the frontal, and extending from the frontal to the poll, are the arietal bones. They are two, united together by a suture when the animal is young, ut that suture soon becoming obliterated. They have thie occipital, g, p. 72, above, the frontals, a a, below, and the demporals, d d, on either side. They are of a closer and harder texture than the frontals, because they are more exposed to injury, and more concerned in defending the brain. A very small portion only of the parietals is naked, and that is composed of bone even harder than the other part, and with an additional layer of bone rising in the form of a crest or ridge externally. Every other part of these bones is covered by a thick mass of muscle, the fempora/ muscle, which is principally concerned in chewing the food, but which likewise, by its yielding resistance, speedily and effectually breaks the force of the most violent blow. A wool-pack hung over the wall of a for- tress, when the enemy is battering to effect a breach, renders the heaviest artillery almost harmless. So the yielding resistance of the ¢emporal muscle affords a sure defence to the brain, however sudden or violent may be the blow which falls on the parietal. ‘These benevolent provisions will not be disregarded by the reflecting mind. On the side of the head, and under the parietals (dd, p. 72) are the temporal bones, * The Veterinarian, vol. iv. p. 198. THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. bad 3} one on each side, ff. These again are divided into two parts, or consist of two dis- tinct bones; the petrous portion, so called from its great or stony hardness, and con- taining the wonderful mechanism of the ear, and the squamous portion from the appear- ance of its union with the parietal, overlapping it like a great scale. From the latter there projects a portion of bone, e, which unites with the frontal, and forms a strong arch—the zygomatic—distinctly to be felt at the side of the head immediately above the eye. ‘This arch is designed to protect the upper part of the lower jaw, the motion of which may very plainly be seen beneath it when the horse is feeding. It is very strong, and it ought to be, for if it were depressed or forced inward, the horse would starve. There is one species of violence which causes this arch to require no common strength; and that is, the brutal manner in which the collar is often forced over the head. At the base of the arch is an important cavity not visible in the cut, receiving into it, and forming a joint with, the head of the lower jaw—-it will be presently described. Having reached the base of the temporal bone, it is found united to the parietal, not by a simple suture, as the lower part of the frontals, or the bones of the nose (see fig. a and 7, p. 70), nor by a dove-tailed suture, as the upper part of the frontals (see the same cut), but it is spread over the parietal in the form of a large scale, and hence, as before observed, called the sgwamous portion of the temporal bone. In fact, there are two plates of bone instead of one. Was there design in this? Yes, evidently so. In the first place, to increase the strength of the base of the zygomatic arch. This extensive union between the temporal and parietal bones, resembles the buttress or mass of masonry attached to the base of every arch, in order to counteract its lateral pressure. The concussion, likewise, which might be communicated by a blow on the top of the arch, is thus spread over a large surface, and consequently weakened and ren- dered comparatively harmless; and that surface is composed of the union of two bones of dissimilar construction. 'The hard stony structure of the parietal is very dif- ferent from the tougher material of the temporal; and thus, as a finger acts on a sounding-glass, the vibration communicated to the temporal is at once stopped, and the brain receives no injury. There is another proof of admirable design. Where is this sguamous portion of the temporal bone situated? On the side of the head. And what is the figure of the cranium or skull, and principally that part of it which contains the cerebrum or brain? It is an elliptical or oval arch (see fig. m, n, 0, p. 72). If pressure is made on the crown of that arch—if a blow is received on the suture between the parietals sufficient to cause the elastic materials of which the skull is composed to yield—the seat of danger and injury is at the side. If a man receives a violent blow on the crown or back part of the head, the fracture, if there is any, is generally about the ‘temple, and the extravasation of blood is oftenest found there. The following figure will explain this :-— Let the line A B C represent an elliptical arch, composed of elastic materials. Some force shall be applied at B, sufficient to cause it to yield. We cannot compress it into smaller compass ; but just in proportion as it yields at B, will it spur or bulge out at D, and give way sometimes as represented at E. In a dome the weight of the materials constantly acting may be considered as representing the force applied at B; and so great is the lateral pressure, or tendency to bulge out (vide D and E), that it is necessary either to dove-tail the materials into one another, or to pass strong iron chains round them. For want of sufficient attention to this, ‘the dome of St. Sophia, in Constantinople, built in the time of the Emperor Justinian, fell three times during its erection; and the dome of the cathedral of Florence stood unfinished an hundred and twenty years, for want of an architect.’ Nature, in the construction of the horse’s head, has taken away the pressure, or removed the probability of injury, by giving an additional layer of bone, or.a mass of © muscle, where alone there was danger, and has dove-tailed all the materials. Farther \ 16 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. than this, in order to make assurance doubly sure, she has placed this effectual girdet at the base, in the overlapping of the squamous portion of the temporal bone. Above the parietals, and separated from them by a suture (fig. g, p. 70, and fig. e, p- 72), is the occipital bone. Superiorly it covers and protects the smaller portion of the brain, the cerebellum ; and as it there constitutes the summit or crest of the head, and is particularly exposed to danger, and not protected by muscles, it is interesting to see what thickness it assumes. The head of the horse does not, like that of the human being, ride upright on the neck, with all its weight supported by the spinal column, and the only office of the muscles of the neck being to move the head forward, or backward, or horizontally on its pivot; but it hangs in a slanting position from the extremity of the neck, and the neck itself projects a considerable distance from the chest, and thus the whole weight of the head and neck is suspended from the chest, and require very great power in order to support them. In addition to the simple weight of the head and neck, the latter projecting from the chest, and the head hanging from the extremity of the neck, act with enormous mechanical force, and increase more than a hundred-fold the power necessary to support them. The head and neck of the horse, and particularly of some horses of a coarse breed, are of no little bulk and weight. It will hereafter be shown in what breeds and for what purposes a light or heavy head and neck are advantageous ; but it may be safely affirmed, that, projecting so far from the chest, and being consequently at so great a distance from the fulerum or support, the lightest head will act or bear upon the joint between the last bone of the neck and the first rib with a force equal to many thousand pounds, How is this weight to be supported? Is muscular power equal to the task? The muscles of the animal frame can act for a certain time with extraordinary force; but as the exertion of this power is attended with the consumption of vital energy, the period soon arrives when their action is remitted or altogether suspended. A pro- vision, however, is made for the purpose, simple and complete. . From the back of the occipital bone (fig. f, p. 72), and immediately below the crest, proceeds a round cord of considerable bulk, and composed of a ligamentous substance, which reaches down and is securely attached to the spines of the vertebra, or bones of the back; and by this ligament—the ligamentum colli, ligament of the neck, com- monly called the pack-wax—the head is supported. There are, however, some admirable contrivances connected with this ligament. As it proceeds from the head, it is in the form of a round cord. It passes over the atlas, or first bone of the neck, without touching it, and then, attaching itself strongly to the second bone, principally supports the head by its union with this bone. ‘The mechanical disadvantage is increased; but the head is turned more freely on the first and second bones. The principal stress is on the dentata or second bone, so much so,” that, in poll-evil, this ligament may be divided without serious inconvenience to the horse. It then suddenly sinks deeper, and communicates with all the other vertebre. Each of these communications becomes a separate point of support, and as they approach nearer to the base, the mechanical disadvantage, or the ferce with which the weight of the head and neck presses and acts, is materially lessened. The head, then, while the animal is in a state of rest, is supported by this ligament, without any aid from muscular energy. There is, however, something yet wanting. The head must not be always elevated. The animal has his food to seek. Ina state of nature this food lies principally on the ground, and the head must be lowered to enable the horse to get at it. How is this effected? This ligament, as it has been called, because it resembles in appear- ance the other ligaments of the body, possesses a property which they have not, and which they must not have, or they would be useless. No well-knit joint could exist if it had truss property. It is elastic. It will yield to a force impressed upon it, and will resume its natural dimensions when that force is removed. It sustains perfectly the weight of the head. That portion of tenacity or strength is given to it which will not give way to the simple weight of the head, but which will yield to a very little additional weight. Its resisting power is so admirably adjusted to that which it has to sustain, that when certain muscles, whose action is to depress or lower the head, begin to act, and add their power to the previous weight it had to bear, the ligament THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. | stretches, and when the horse is browsing it is full two inches longer than when the head is erect. When the animal has satisfied himself, these depressing muscles cease to act, and other muscles, which are designed to assist in raising the head, begin to exert them- selves ; and by their aid—but more by the inherent elasticity of the lirament—the head is once more elevated, and remains so without the slightest exertion of muscular power. This is one of the many applications of the principle of elasticity which will be discovered and admired in the construction of the animal frame. The ligament of the neck is inserted into the centre of the back part of the occipital bone, and immediately below the vertex or crest of that bone ; and therefore the bone is so thick at this part (see fig. e, p. 72). Many large and powerful muscles are necessary to turn the head in various direo- tions, as well as to assist in raising it when depressed. The occipital bone, as will be seen in the cut, presents a spine running down the centre, B, and a large roughened surface for the attachment of these muscles, C C. Lower down, and still at the back of the occi- pital bone, are two rounded protuberances D D, by which the head is connected with the atlas, or upper or first vertebra, or bone of the neck ; and these are called the condyloid, cup-shaped, processes of the occipital bone. All the motions of the head are partly, and many of them wholly, performed by this joint. Between them is a large hole, the foramen magnum, or great aperture, EK, through which the continuation of the brain, termed the spinal cord or marrow, passes out of the skull. As an additional contrivance to support the enormous weight of the head, are two other pro- jections of the occipital bone, peculiar to animals whose heads are set on in a slanting direction, and into which powerful muscles are inserted. ‘They are ealled the corucoid, beak-like, processes or prolongations, F F, of the occipital bone. Running forward, and forming outwardly a part of the base, and inwardly a portion of the floor of the skull, is what, from its wedge-like shape, is ealled the cuneiform process of the occipital bone (fig. 7, p. 72). It is thick, strong, and solid, and placed at the bottom of the skull, not only to be a proper foundation for, and to give additional strength to, the arch on either side, but speedily to stop all vibration and concussion. At the base of the skull, and anterior to or below the occipital, lies the sphenotd, wedge-like bone (fig. &, p. 72). Its body, likewise called the cwneifurm or wedge- shaped process, is a continuation of the same process of the occipital, and, like it, is thick and solid, and for the same important purpose. This bone branches out into four irregular bodies or plates, two of which are called the wings, and two running to the palate, the legs. They could not be represented in the cut, and there is nothing important belonging to them, so far as this work is concerned. Internally (fig. /), the sphenoid forms a portion of the cavity of the skull. Of the ethmoid, sieve-like, bone, little can be seen outwardly. A small portion is found in the back part of the orbit, and in the cavity of the cranium; but the most important part of it is that which is composed of a great number of thin plates, form- ing numerous cavities or cells (fig. /, p. 72), lined with the membrane of the nose, and entering into its cavity. The upper portion is called the cribriform or sieve-shaped plate, from its being perforated by a multitude of little holes, through which the nerve connected with smelling passes and spreads over the nose. j Altogether these bones form a cavity of an irregular oval shape, but the tentorium penetrating into it, gives it the appearance of being divided into two (d, p. 72). The cavity of the skull may be said to be arched all round. The builder knows the strength which is connected with the form of an arch. If properly constructed, it 6 equal to a solid mass of masonry. The arch of the horse’s skull has not much ri * 718 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. weicht to support, but it is exposed to many injuries from the brutality of those by whom he should be protected, and from accidental causes. The roof of the skull is composed of two plates of bone: the outer one hard and tough, and the different parts dove-tailed together, so as not to be easily fractured 5 che inner plate being elastic. By the union of these two substances of different con- struction, the vibration is damped or destroyed, so far as safety requires. On raising any part of the skull of the horse, the dense and strong membrane which is at once the lining of the cranium and the covering of the brain—the dura mater—presents itself. It is united to the membranes below by numerous little cords or prolongations of its substance, conveying blood and communicating strength to the parts beneath. Between this membrane, common to the cranium and the brain, and the proper investing tunic of that organ, is found that delicate gcssamers’ web, appropri- ately called the arachnoid—the spider’s membrane—and which is seen in other animals, designed either to secrete the fluid which is interposed, for the purpose of obviating injurious concussion, or, perhaps, to prevent the brain from readily sympa- thising with any inflammatory action produced by injury of the skull. Beneath is the proper investing membrane of the brain—the pia mater—which not only covers the external surface of the brain, but penetrates into every depression, lines every ventricle, and clothes every irregularity and part and portion of the brain. We now arrive at the brain itself. The brain of the horse corresponds with the cavity in which it is placed (m, p. 72). It is a flattened oval. It is divided into two parts, one much larger than the other—the cerebrum or brain, and the cerebellum or ittle brain (n, p. 72). In the human being the cerebrum is above the cerebellum, in the quadruped it is below; and yet in both they retain the same relative situation. The cerebellum is nearer to the foramen through which the brain passes out of the skull (n, p. 72), and the continuation of the cerebrum passes under the cerebellum ( p, p- 72), in order to arrive at this foramen. In the human head this foramen is at the base of the skull; but in the quadruped, in whom the head is placed slanting, it is necessarily elevated. He who for the first time examines the brain of the horse will be struck with its comparative diminutive size. ‘The human being is not, generally speaking, more than one-half or one-third of the size and weight of the horse; yet the brain of the biped is twice as large and as heavy as that of the quadruped. If it had been the brain of the ox that had been here exposed, instead of that of the horse, it would not have been of half the bulk of that of the horse. If the dog had been the subject, it would have been very considerably larger, comparing the general bulk of each animal. This is singular. The human brain largest in comparative bulk; then the brain of the dog, the horse, the ox. T'hus would they be classed in the scale of intelligence. If the brain is more closely examined, it will be found that there is none of the roundness and the broadness of that in the human being; it is comparatively tame and flat. ‘There is some irregularity of surface, some small projections and depres- sions; but they, too, are comparatively diminutive and inexpressive. Were the brain of the beaver, of the hare, or the rabbit, or of almost any bird, substituted for it, there would be no convolutions or irregularities at all. These irregularities are not so bold and so deep in the ox as in the horse, nor in the horse as in thedog. We do not know enough of the functions of any part of the brain to associate these convolutions with any particular powers of mind, or good ox bad propensities, although some persons, who are wise above that which is written, have pretended to do so. It would occupy too great a portion of this volume to ente. into these questions ; but there are some diseases to which the horse is subject, and a very useful operation—the division of some of the nerves for certain purposes, and which could not be understood without a previous slight account of this importans organ. uiien the brain is cut, it is found to be composed of two substances very unlike in appearance (m, p. 72) 3 one, principally on the outside, grey, or ash-coloured, and therefore called the cortical (bark-like) from its situation, and cineritious (ashen) from its colour; and the other, lying deeper in the brain, and from its pulpy nature callea the medullary substance. Although placed in apposition with each other, and seem- THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. 29 gly mingling, they never run into the same mass, or change by degrees into one another, but are essentially distinct in construction as well as in function. The medullary portion is connected with the nervous system. The nerves are pro- Jongations of it, and are concerned in the discharge of all the offices of life. They give motion and energy to the limbs, the heart, the lungs, the stomach, and every part connected with life. ‘They are the medium through which sensation is conveyed ; and they supply the mind with materials to think and work upon. ; The cineritvous part has a different appearance, and is differently constituted. Some have supposed, and with much appearance of truth, that it is the residence of the mind—receiving the impressions that are conveyed to the brain by the sensitive nerves, and directing the operation and action of those which give motion to the limbs. In accordance with this, it happens that, where superior intelligence is found, the cineri- tious portion prevails, and where little beside brute strength and animal appetite exist, the medullary portion is enlarged. ‘There is, comparing bulk with bulk, less of the medullary substance in the horse than in the ox, and in the dog than in the horse. ‘The additional bull of brain is composed of cineriti hi : if- ferent is the character of these animals ee sluggish, stu sid ? sae ane ak ; ‘i SSistl, pid ox, an e intelligent horse; the silly sheep, and the intellectual, companionable dog! In a work like this, it would be somewhat out of place to enter deeply into any metaphysical speculation; but the connexion between the cineritious part of the brain and the intellectual principle, and that between the medullary portion and the mere animal principle, do seem highly probable. The latter is the medium through which the impression is conveyed, or the motion is effected; the former is the substance to which that impression is referred—where it is received, registered, and compared, and by which the operation of the motor nerves is influenced and governed. The cortical substance is small in the quadruped ; for in their wild state brutes have no concern and no idea beyond their food and reproduction; and in their domesticated state they are destined to be the servants of man. ‘The acuteness of their senses, and the preponderance of animal power, qualify them for this purpose ; but were propor- tionate intellectual capacity added to this—were they made conscious of their strength, they would burst their bonds, and man would, in his turn, be the victim and the slave. The cortical part is found in each in. the proportion in which it would seem to be needed for our purposes, in order that intelligence should be added to animal power. Almost every mental faculty, and almost every virtue, too, may be traced in the brute. The difference is in degree, and not in kind. The one being improved by circum- stances, and the other contaminated, the quadruped is decidedly the superior. From the medullary substance—as already stated — proceed certain cords or pro- longations, termed nerves, by which the animal is enabled to receive impressions from surrounding objects, and to connect himself with them; and also to possess many pleasurable or painful sensations. One of them is spread over the membrane of the nose, and gives the sense of smell; another expands on the back of the eye, and the faculty of sight is gained;~and a third goes to the internal structure of the ear, and the animal is conscious of sound. Other nerves, proceeding to different parts, give the faculty of motion, while an equally important one bestows the power of feeling. One division of nerves, (A, p. 72) springing from a prolongation of the brain, and yet within the skull, wanders to different parts of the frame, for important purposes connected with respiration or breathing. The act of breathing is essential to life, and were it to cease, the animal would die. ‘These are nerves of involuntary motion; so that, whether he is awake or asleep, conscious of it or not, the lungs heave and life is supported. Lastly, from the spinal cord g—a farther prolongation of the brain, and running theough a cavity in the pones of the neck, back, and loins, and extending tc the very tip of the tail—other nerves are given off at certain intervals. ‘The cut at the top of the following page delineates a pair of them. The spinal cord a, is combined of six distinct columns or rods, running through its whole Jength—three on either side. The two upper columns—the portion of spinal marrow represented in our cut, is sup- posed to be placed with its inner or lower surface toward us— proceed from those tracks of the brain devoted to sensation. Numerous distinct fibres spring abruptly from the column, and which collect together, and, passing through a little ganglion ur enlargement, d—an enlargement of a nervous cord is called a ganglion—become a 89 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. nerve of sensation. From the lower or inner side,—a prolongation of the track devoted to motion,—proceed other fibres, which also collect gradually together, and form a nervous cord, c, giving the power of motion. Beyond the ganglion the two unite, and form a perfect spinal nerve, b, possessing the power both of sensation and motion; and the fibres of the two columns proceed to their destination, enveloped in the same sheath, and apparently one nerve. Each portion, however, continues to be wrapped in its own membrane. They are united, yet distinct; they constitute one nerve, yet neither their substance nor their office is confounded. Our cut, closely examined, will give at b some idea of the manner in which these distinct fibres are continued ;—each covered by its own membrane, but all enveloped in a common envelope. All these nerves are organs of sensation and motion alone; but there are others whose origin seems to be outside of and below the brain. These are the sympathetic, so called from their union and sympathy with all the others, and identified with life itself. They proceed from a small ganglion or enlargement in the upper part of the neck, or from a collection of little ganglia in the abdomen. They go to the heart, and it beats, and to the stomach, and it digests. ‘They form a net-work round each blood- vessel, and the current flows on. They surround the very minutest vessels, and the frame is nourished and built up. They are destitute of sensation, and they are per- fectly beyond the control of the will. The reader, we trust, will now comprehend this wonderful, yet simple machinery, and be able, by and by, to refer to it the explanation of several diseases, and particu- larly of the operation to which we have referred. Two of the senses have their residence in the cavity of the cranium—those of hear- ing and sight. They who know anything of the horse, pay much attention to the size, setting on, and motion of the ear. ars rather small than large—placed not too far apart—erect and quick in motion, indicate both breeding and spirit; and if a horse is frequently in the habit of carrying one ear forward, and the other backward, and especially if he does so on a journey, he will generally possess both spirit and continuance. The stretching of the ears in contrary directions shows that he is attentive to everything that is taking place around him, and, while he is doing this, he cannot be much fatigued, or likely soon to become so. It has been remarked that few horses sleep without pointing one ear forward and the other backward, in order that they may receive notice of the approach of objects in every direction.* The ear of the horse is one of the most beautiful parts about him, and by few things is the temper more surely indicated than by its motion. The ear is more intelligible even than the eye, and a person accustomed to the horse, and an observer of him, can * ‘« When horses or mules march in company at night, those in front direct their ears for- wards; those in the rear direct them backward; and those in the centre turn them laterally vr across ; the whole troop seeming thus to be actuated by one feeling, which watches the genera. safety.’’-—Arnott’s Elements of Physic, vol. i., p. 478. THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. 8, tell by the expressive motion of that organ, almost all that he thinks or means. It is a common saying, that when a horse lays his ears flat back upon his neck, and keeps them so, he most assuredly is meditating mischief, and the stander-by should beware of his heels or his teeth. In play, the ears will be laid back, but not so decidedly, or so long. A quick change in their position, and more particularly the expression of the eye at the time, will distinguish between playfulness and vice. The external ear is formed by a cartilage of an oval or cone-like shape, dexible, yet firm, and terminating in a point. It has, directed towards the side, yet somewhat pointing forward, a large opening extending from the top to the bottom. ‘The inten- tion of this is to collect the sound, and convey it to the interior part of the ear. The hearing of the horse is remarkably acute. A thousand vibrations of the air, too slight to make any impression on the human ear, are readily perceived by him. It is well known to every hunting-man, that the cry of the hounds will be recognised by the horse, and his ears will be erect, and he will be all spirit and impatience, a considerable time before the rider is conscious of the least sound. Need anything more be said to expose the absurdity of cropping ? This custom of cutting the ears of the horse originated, to its shame, in Great Britain, and for many years was a practice cruel to the animal, depriving him of much of his beauty; and so obstinately pursued, that at length the deformity became in some hereditary, and a breed of horses born without ears was produced. Fortu- nately for this too-often abused animal, cropping is not now the fashion. Some thoughtless or unfeeling young men endeavoured, a little while ago, again to intro- duce it, but the voice of reason and humanity prevailed.* This cartilage, the conch or shell, is attached to the head by ligaments, and sustained by muscles, on which its action depends. It rests upon another cartilage, round without, and irregular within, called the annular, ring-like, cartilage, and con- ducting to the interior of the ear; and it is likewise supp .rted and moved by a third small cartilage, placed at the fore part of the base of the conch, and into which several muscles are inserted. The ear is covered by skin thinner than in most other arts of the body, and alto- gether destitute of fat, in order that it may not be too buiky and heavy, and may be more easily moved. Under the skin lining the inside of the cartilage are numerous glands that secrete or throw out a scaly white greasy matter, which may be rubbed off with the finger and is destined to supple this part of the ear and to keep it soft and smooth. Below this are other glands which pour out a peculiar, sticky, bitter fluid—the wax—probably displeasing to insects, and_ therefore deterring them from crawling down the ear and annoying the animal, or by its stickiness arresting their progress. The internal part of the conch is covered with long hair which stands across the passage in every direction. This likewise is to protect the ear from insects, that can with difficulty penetrate through this thick defence. The cold air is likewise pre- vented from reaching the interior of the ear, and the sound is moderated, not arrested —penetrating readily but not violently—and not striking injuriously on the mem- brane covering the drum of the ear. Can these purposes be accomplished, when it is the custom of so many carters and grooms to cut out the hair of the ear so closely and industriously as they do? The groom who singes it to the root with a candle must either be very ignorant or very brutal. It can scarcely be accomplished without singeing the ear as well as the hair. Many a troublesome sore is occasioned by this 5 and many a horse, that was perfectly quiet before, rendered difficult to handle or to halter, and even disposed to be otherwise vicious, from a recollection of the pain which he suffered during the absurd and barbarous operation. * Professor Grognier, in his excellent work, ‘‘ Précis d’un Cours d’Hygiéne Véterinaire,” speaking of this abominable custom, says, “ And thus the English completely destroy or dis figure two organs which embellish the head of the most beautiful of all animals, and which, by their various motions, indicate the thoughts that are passing through his mind—the passions which agitate him, and, especially, the designs which he may be meditating, and which it is eas jof great importance to learn, in order to guard against the danger which may be at and. L 82 THE SHENSORIAL FUNCTION. The sound collected by the outer ear, passes through the lower cr annular ring shaped. cartilage, and through irregularities which, while they break and modify it, convey it on to another canal, partly cartilaginous and parily bony, conducting immediately to the internal mechanism of the ear. This canal or passage, is called the external auditory passage, and at the base of it is placed, stretching across it, and closing it, a thick and elastic membrane, membrana tympani, called the membrane of the drum. This membrane is supplied with numerous fibres, from the fifth pair, or sensitive nerve of the head, for it is necessary that it should possess extreme sensi bility. Demers this membrane and a smaller one almost opposite, leading to the still interior part of the ear, and on which the nerve of hearing is expanded, are four little bones, united to these membranes, and to each other. Their office is to convey, more perfectly than it could be done through the mere air of the cavity, the vibrations that have reached the membrana tympani. These bones are highly elastic; and covered by a cartilaginous substance, elastic also in the greatest degree, by means of which the force of the vibration is much increased. It is conveyed to a strangely irregular cavity, filled with an aqueous fluid, and the substance or pulp of the portio mollis or soft portion of the seventh pair of nerves, the auditory nerve, expands on the membrane that lines the walls of this cavity. Sound is propagated far more intensely through water than through air; and there- fore it is that an aqueous fluid otcupies those chambers of the ear on the walls of which the auditory nerve is expanded. By this contrivance, and by others, which we have not space now to narrate, the sense of hearing is fully equal to every possible want of the animal. The Lye is a most important organ, and comes next under consideration, as inclosed in the bones of the skull. The eye of the horse should be large, somewhat but not too prominent, and the eyelid fine and thin. If the eye is sunk in the head, and apparently little—for there is actually a very trifling difference in the size of the eye in animals of the same species and bulk, and that seeming difference arises from the larger or smaller opening between the lids—and the lid is thick, and especially if there is any puckering towards the inner corner of the lids, that eye either is diseased, or has lately been subject to inflammation; and, particularly, if one eye is smaller than the other, it has at no great distance of time, been inflamed. The eye of the horse enables us with tolerable accuracy to guess at his temper. If much of the white is seen, the buyer should pause ere he completes his bargain ; because, although it may, yet very rarely, happen that the cornea or transparent part is unnaturally small, and therefore an unusual portion of the white of the eye is seen, experience has shown that this display of white is dangerous. The mischievous horse is slyly on the look out for opportunities to do mischief, and the frequent back- ward direction of the eye, when the white is most perceptible, is only to give surer effect to the blow which he is about to aim. A cursory description of the eye, and the uses of its different parts, must be given. The eyes are placed at the side of the head, but the direction of the conoid cavity which they occupy, and of the sheath by which they are surrounded within the orbit, gives them a prevailing direction forwards, so that the animal has a very extended field of vision. We must not assert that the eye of the horse commands a whole sphere of vision; but it cannot be denied that his eyes are placed more forward than those of cattle, sheep, or swine. He requires an extensive field of vision to warn him of the approach of his enemies in his wild state, and a direction of the orbits con- siderably forward, in order to enable him to pursue with safety the headlong course 10 which we sometimes urge him. The eye-ball is placed in the anterior and most capacious part of the orbit, nearer to the frontal than the temporal side, with a degree of prominence varying with different individuals, and the will of the animal. It is protected by a bony socket seneath and on the inside, but is partially exposed on the roof and on the outside. It -8, however, covered and secured by thick and powerful muscles—by a mass of adipose matter which is distributed to various parts of the orbit, upon which the eya THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. 8&3 may be readily moved without friction, and by a sheath of considerable Jensity ana firmness, and especially where it is most needed, on the external and superior ortions. The adipose matter exists in a considerable quantity in the orbit of the eye of the horse, and enables that organ readily to revolve by the slightest contracuon of the muscles. By the absorption of this fatty matter in sickness or old age, the eye is not only to a certain degree sunk in the orbit, but the roof of the orbit posterior to the frontal bone, being deprived of its support, is considerably depressed. Our work shall not be disgraced by any farther reference to the rascally contrivance by which this indication of age is in some degree removed. In front the eye is supported and cavered by the lids, which closing rapidly, pro- tect it from many an injury that threatens—supply it with that moisture which is necessary to, preserve its transparency—in the momentary act of closing give a certain and sufficient respite to a delicate organ, which would otherwise be fatigued and worn out by the constant glare of day—defend it when the eye labours under inflam- mation from the stimulus of light,— and, gradually drooping, permit the animal to enjoy that repose which nature requires. Extending round both lids, and, it may be almost said, having neither origin nor insertion, is a muscle called the orbicularts, or circular muscle. Its office is to close the lids in the act of winking or otherwise, but only while the animal is awake. When he sleeps, this is effected by another and very ingenious mechanism. The natural state of the eyelids is that of being closed; and they are kept open by the energy of the muscles whose office it is to raise the upper lid. As sleep steals upon the animal, these muscles cease to act, and the lids close by the inherent elasticity of the membrane of which they are composed. The skin of the lid is, like that of the ear, exceedingly fine, in order to prevent unnecessary weight and pressure on such a part, and to give more easy and extensive motion. The lids close accurately when drawn over the eye, and this is effected by a little strip of cartilage at the edge of each of them, which may be easily felt with the finger, and preserves them ina hoop-like form, and adapts them closely to the eye and to each other. ‘The lower cartilage, however, does not present, towards the inner corner of the eye, the whole of its flat surface to the upper, but it evidently slopes inward, and only the outer edge of the under lid touches the upper. By this means, a little gutter is formed, through which the superfluous moisture of the eye flows to the inner corner, where there is a canal to convey it away. By this con- trivance it neither accumulates in the eye, nor unpleasantly runs down the cheek. Along the edges of the lids are placed numerous little hollows, which can be plainly distinguished even in the living horse by slightly turning down the lid. These are the openings into numerous small cells containing a thick and unctuous _ fluid, by means of which the eyes are more accurately closed, and the edges of the lids defended from the acrimony of the tears. The horse has no eyebrows, and the eyelashes are very peculiarly arranged. The rows of hair are longest and most numerous on the upper lid, and especially towards the outer or temporal corner, because the light comes from above; and, as the animal stands, particularly when he is grazing, and from the lateral situation of his eyes, the greater portion of the light, and the attacks of insects, and the rolling down of moisture, would chiefly be from the outside or temples. ‘Towards the inner corner of the upper lid there is little or no eyelash, because there is no probable danger or nuisance in that direction. Only a small quantity of light can enter from below, and therefore the lashes are thin and short; but as, in the act of grazing, insects may more readily climb up and be troublesome to the eye, towards the inner angle, there the principal or only hair is found on the lower lia. These apparently trifling cir- cumstances will not be overlooked by the careful observer. . They who are unacquainted with the absurdities of stable management, or who have not carefully examined the abuses that may exist in their own establishments, can scarcely believe the foolish and cruel practices of some carters and grooms. When the groom is anxious that his horse should be as trim and neat all over as art ean make him, the very eye-lashes are generally sacrificed. What has vhe poor animal suffered, when, travelling in the noon of day, the full blaze of the sun has 84 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. fallen upon his eyes; and how many accidents have probably happened from his being dazzled by the light, which have been attributed to other causes ! If the horse has no eyebrow, there are several hairs or bristles scattered on the upper eyelid, and there is a projecting fold of the lid which discharges nearly the saine office. It is more conspicuous in old horses than in young ones. Some horse- men do not like to see it, and associate the idea of it with weakness or disease of the eye. This is perfectly erroneous. It is a provision of nature to accomplish a certain purpose, and has nothing to do either with health or disease. On the lower lid is a useful provision to warn the horse of the near approach of any object that might incommode or injure him, in the form of long projecting hain or bristles, which are plenteously embued with nervous influence, so that the slightes touch should put the animal on his guard. We would request our readers to touch very slightly the extremity of one of these hairs. They will be surprised to observe the sudden convulsive twitching of the lid, rendering the attack of the insect abso- lutely impossible. The grooms, however, who cut away the eye-lashes, do not spare these useful feelers. The eye is exposed to the action of the atmospheric air, and the process of evapora- tion, destructive of its transparency, is continually going on. The eye of the horse, or the visible part of the eye, is, likewise, more promment and larger than in the human being, and the animal is often subject to extreme annoyance from dust and insects, while he has no hands or other guard to defend himself from the torture which they occasion. What is the provision of nature against this? Under, and a little within, the outer corner of the upper lid, is an irregular body, the lacrymal gland. comparatively larger than in the human being, secreting an aqueous fluid, which, slowly issuing from the gland, or occasionally pressed out of it by the act of winking, flows over the eye, supplies it with moisture, and cleanses it from all impurities. Human ingenuity could not have selected a situation from which ‘he fluid could be conveyed over the eye with more advantage for this purpose. When this fluid is secreted in an undue quan*'ty, and flows over the eye, it is called tears. An increased flow of tears is precaced by anything that irritates the eye, and, therefore, a constant accompaniment and symptom of inflammation. A horse with any degree of weeping should be regarded with much suspicion. In the human being an unusual secretion of tears is often caused by bodily pain, and emo- tions of the mind; and so it is occasionally in the horse. We have seen it repeatedly under acute pain or brutal usage. John Lawrence, speaking of the cruelty exercised by some dealers in what they call “ firing”? a horse before he is led out for sale, in order to rouse every spark of mettle, says, ‘* more than fifty years have passed away, and I have before my eyes a poor mare stone blind, exquisitely shaped, and showing all the marks of high blood, whom I saw unmercifully cut with the whip a quarter of an hour before the sale, to bring her to the use of her stiffened limbs, while the tears were trickling down her cheeks.” d Having passed over the eye, the fluid is conveyed by the little canal to which we have alluded, formed by the sloping of the under lid, towards the corner of the eye ; and there are two little orifices that conduct it to a small reservoir within, and at the upper part of the lacrymal bone, (fig. 7, p..70). A little protuberance of a black or pied colour, called the carwncle, placed in the very corner of the eye, and to be seen without opening the lids, is situated between these orifices, and guides the fluid into them. From this reservoir the tears are conveyed by a long canal, the lacryma/ duct, partly bony, and partly membranous, to the lower part of the nose. A little within the nostril, and on the division between the nostrils, is seen the lower opening of this canal; the situation of which should be carefully observed, and its real use bore in mind, for not only horsemen, but even some careless veterinary surgeons, have mis- taken it for a glanderous ulcer, and have condemned a useful and valuable anima! It is found just before the skin of the muzzle terminates, and the more delicate mem orane of the nostril commences. The opening of the canal is placed thus low because the membrane of the nose is exceedingly delicate, and would be irritated and made sore by the frequent or constant running down of the tears. There is, however, something yet wanting. We have a provision fpr supplying the eye with requisite moisture, and for washing from off the transparent part of it THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. 85 insects or dust that may annoy the animal. What becomes of these impurities when thus washed off? Are they carried by the tears to the corner of the eye, and so pass down this duct, and irritate and obstruct it; or do they accumulate at the inner anole of the eye? ‘There is a beautiful contrivance for disposing of them as fast as they acecumulate. Concealed within the inner corner of the eye, or only the margin of it, black or pied, visible, is a triangular-shaped cartilage, the haw, with its broad part forwards. It is concave within, exactly to suit the globe of the eye; it is convex without, accurately to adapt itself to the membrane lining the lid; and the base of it is reduced to a thin or almost sharp edge. At the will of the animal this is suddenly protruded from its hiding-place. It passes rapidly over the eye, and shovels up every nuisance mixed with the tears, and then, being speedily drawn back, the dust or insect is wiped away as the cartilage again passes under the corner of the eye. How is this managed? The eartilage has no muscle attached to it; and the limbs and the different parts of the body, when put into motion by the influence of the will, are moved invariably by muscles. The mechanism, however, is simple and effectual. There is a considerable mass of fatty matter at the back of the eye, in order that this organ may be easily moved ; and this fat is particularly accumulated about the inner corner of the eye, and beneath, and at the point of this cartilage. The eye of the horse has likewise very strong muscles attached to it, and one, peculiar to quadrupeds, of extraordinary power, by whose aid, if the animal has not hands to ward off a danger that threatens, he is at least enabled to draw the eye back almost out of the reach ‘of that danger. Dust, or gravel, or insects, may have entered the eye, and annoy the horse. This muscle suddenly acts: the eye is forcibly drawn back, and presses upon the fatty matter. That may be displaced, but cannot be reduced into less compass. It is forced violently towards the inner corner of the eye, and it drives before it the haw ; and the haw, having likewise some fat about its point, and being plaeed between the eye and an exceedingly smooth and polished bone, and being pressed upon by the eye as it is violently drawn back, shoots out with the rapidity of lightning, and, guided by the eyelids, projects over the eye, and thus carries off the offending matter. In what way shall we draw the haw back again without muscular action? Another principle is called into play, of which mention has already been made, and of which we shall have much to say,—elasticity. [tis that principle by which a body yields to a certain force impressed upon it, and returns to its former state as soon as that force is removed. It is that by which the ligament of the neck (p. 75), while it sup- ports the head, enables the horse to graze—by which the heart expands after closing on and propelling forward the blood in its ventricles and the artery contracts on the blood that has distended it, and many of the most important functions of life are influenced or governed. This muscle ceases to act, and the eye resumes its natural situation in the orbit. There is room for the fatty matter to return to its place, and it immediately returns by the elasticity of the membrane by which it is covered, and draws after it this cartilage with which it is connected, and whose return is as rapid as was the projection. i The old farriers strangely misunderstood the nature and design of the haw, and many at the present day do not seem to be much better informed. When, from sympathy with other parts of the eye labouring under inflammation, and becoming itself inflamed and increased in bulk, and the neighbouring parts likewise thickened, it is either forced out of its place, or voluntarily protruded to defend the eye from the action of light and cannot return, they mistake it for some injurious excrescence or tumour, and proceed to cut it out. The “haw in the eye” is a disease well known to the majority of grooms, and this sad remedy for it is deemed the only eure. It is a barbarous practice, and if they were compelled to walk half a dozen miles ina thick dust, without being permitted to wipe or to cleanse the eye, they would feel the tor- ture to which they doom this noble animal. A little patience hnving been exercised, and a few cooling applications made to the eye while the inflammation lasted, and afterwards some mild astringent ones, and other proper means being employed, the tumour would have disappeared, the haw would have returned to its place, and the animal would have discharged the duties required of him without inconvemence ta 8 8v THE SENSORiIAL FUNCTION. himself, instead of the agony to which an unguarded and unprotected eye must now expose him. f The loss of blood occasioned by the excision of the haw may frequently relieve the inflammation of the eye; and the evident amendment which follows induces these wise men to believe that they have performed an excellent operation; but the same loss of blood by scarification of the overloaded vessels of the conjunctiva would be equally beneficial, and the animal would not be deprived of an instrument of admi rable use to him. ; The eye is of a globular figure, yet not a perfect globe. It is rather composed of parts of two globes; the half of one of them smaller and transparent in front, and of the other larger and the coat of it opaque, behind. We shall most conveniently begin with the coats of the eye. A B a supposed object viewed by,the animal, and an inverted image of which, a, 8, is thrown on the retina at the back of the eye. ce The points where the rays, having passed the cornea and lens, converge by the refractive power of the lens. de The rays proceeding from the extremities of the object to the eye. f The cornea, or horny and transparent part of the eye, covered by the conjunetiva, uniting different parts together. g The crystalline (crystal or glassy) lens, behind the pupil, and in front of the vitreous umour. hh Muscles of the eye. i The optic nerve, or nerve of sight. k he sclerotica (hard firm coat) covering the whole of the eye except the portion occupied by the cornea, and being a seeming prolongation of the covering of the optic nerve. I The choroides (receptacle or covering), or choroid coat, covered with a black secretion or paint. ; mm The zris or rainbow-coloured circular membrane under the cornea, in front of the eye, and on which the colour of the eye depends. ‘The duplicature behind is the wvee, from being coloured like a grape. The opening in the centre is the pupil. an The ciliary (hair-like) processes. o ‘The retina, or net-like expansion of the optic nerve, spread over the whole of the cho- roides as far as the lens. p The vitreous (glass-like) humour fillmg the whole of the eavity of the eye behind the ens. q The aqueous (water-like) humour filling the space between the cornea and the lens. The conjunctiva, f, is that membrane which lines the lids, and covers the fore part of the eye. It spreads over all that we can see or feel of the eye, and even its trans- parent part. It is itself transparent, and transmits the colour of the parts beneath. It is very susceptible of inflammation, during which the lining of the lids will become intensely red, and the white of the eye will be first streaked with red vessels, and then covered with a complete mesh of them, and the cornea will become cloudy and opaque. It is the seat of various diseases, and, particularly, in it commences that xad inflammation of the horse’s eye which bids denance to the veterinary surgeon’s skill and almost invariably terminates in blindness. The examination of the conjunctiva, by turning down the lid, will enable us to form an accurate judgment of the degree of inflammation which exists in the eye. Covering the back part of the eye, and indeed four-fifths of the globe of it, is the THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. 87 selerotica, k. It is an exceedingly strong membrane, composed of fibres interweaving with each other, and almost defying the possibility of separation. An orean so delicate and so important as the eye requires secure protection. 7 It is a highly elastic membrane. It is necessary that it should be so, when it is considered that the eye is surrounded by several and very powerful muscles, which must temporarily, and even for the purposes of vision, alter its form. The elasticity of the sclerctica is usefully exhibited by its causing the globe of the eye to resume its former and natural shape, as soon as the action of the muscle ceases. The sclerotica has yery few blood-vessels—is scarcely sensible—and its diseases, except when it participates in general disturbance or disorganisation, are rarely brought under our notice. The cornea is, or we should wish it to be, the only visible part of the horse’s eye, for the exhibition of much white around it is a sure symptom of wickedness. The cornea fills up the vacuity which is left by the sclerotica in the fore part of the eye, and, although closely united to the sclerotica, may be separated from it, and will drop out like a watch-glass. It is not round, but wider from side to side than from top to the bottom; and the curve rather broader towards the inner than the outer corner of the eye, so that the near eye may be known from the off one after it is taken from the head. The convexity or projection of the cornea is a point of considerable importance. The prominence of the eye certainly adds much to the beauty of the animal, but we shall see presently, when we consider the eye as the organ of sight, that by being too prominent the rays of light may be rendered too convergent, and the vision indis- tinct ; or, if the cornea is small and flat, the rays may not be convergent enough, and perfect vision destroyed. In either case the horse may unpleasantly start, or sud- denly and dangerously turn round. An eye neither too prominent nor too flat will be nearest to perfection. It should be perfectly transparent. Any cloudiness or opacity is the consequence of disease. It is an exceedingly firm and dense membrane, and can scarcely be ierced by the sharpest instrument. The cornea is composed of many different plates, aid over one another; and between each, at least in a state of health, is a fluid that is the cause of its transparency, and the evaporation of which, after death, produces the leaden or glazed appearance of the eye. When it appears to be opaque, it is not often, and never at first, that the cornea has undergone any chance. There is nothing that deserves attention from the purchaser of a horse more than the perfect transparency of the cornea over the whole of its surface. The eye should be examined for this purpose, both in front, and with the face of the examiner close to the cheek of the horse, under and behind the eye. The latter method of looking through the cornea is the most satisfactory, so far as the transparency of that part of the eye is concerned. During this examination the horse should not be in the open air, but in the stable standing in the doorway and a little within the door. If any small, faint, whitish lines appear to cross the cornea, or spread over any part of it, they are assuredly the remains of previous inflammation; or, although the centre and bulk of the cornea should be perfectly clear, yet if around the edge of it, where it unites with the sclerotica, there should be a narrow ring or circle of haziness, the conclusion is equally true, but the inflammation occurred ata more distant period. Whether however the inflammation has lately existed, or several weeks or months have elapsed since it was subdued, it is too likely to recur. There is one caution to be added. The cornea in its natural state is not only a beautiful transparent structure, but it reflects, even in proportion to its transparency, many of the rays which fall upon it; and if there is a white object immediately before the eye, as a light waistcoat, or much display of a white neckcloth, the reflection may uzzle an experienced observer, and has misled many a careless one. The coat should be buttoned up, and the white cravat carefully concealed. Within the sclerotica, and connected with it by innumerable minute fibres and vessels, is the chorvid coat, 1. It is a very delicate membrane, and extends over the whole of the internal part of the eye, from the optic nerve to the cornea. It secretes a dark-coloured substance or paint, by which it is covered; the intention of which, ik» the side of our telescopes and microscopes, is probably to absorb any wander. 88 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. ing rays of light which might dazzle and confuse. The black paint, pigmenlum nigrum, seems perfectly to discharge this function in the human eye. It is placed immediately under the retina or expansion of the optic nerve. The rays of light fall on the retina, and penetrating its delicate substance, are immediately absorbed or destroyed by the black covering of the choroides underneath. For the perfection of many of his best pleasures, and particularly of his intellectual powers, man wants the vivid impression which will be caused by the admission of the rays of light into a perfectly dark chamber; and when the light of the sun begins to fail, his superior intelligence has enabled him to discover various methods of substituting an artificial day, after the natural one has closed. Other animals, without this power of kindling another, although inferior light, have far more to do with the night than we have. Many of them sleep through the glare of day, and awake and are busy during the period of darkness. ‘The ox occupies some hours of the night in grazing; the sheep does so when not folded in his pen; and the horse, worked during the day for our convenience and profit, has often little more than the period of night allotted to him for nourishment and repose. 'Then it is necessary that, by some peculiar and adequate contrivance, these hours of comparative or total darkness to us should be partially yet sufficiently illuminated for them; and therefore in the horse the dark brown or black coat of the choroides does not extend over the whole of the internal part of the eye, or rather it is not found on any part on which the rays proceeding from the objects could fall. It does not occupy the smallest portion of what may be called the field of vision; but, in its place a bright variegated green is spread, and more over the upper part than the lower, because the animal’s food, and the objects which it is of consequence for him to notice, are usually below the level of his head—thus, by suffering the impression to remain longer on the retina, or by some portion of light reflected from this variegated bed on which the retina reposes, or in some other inex- plicable but efficient way, enabling the animal, even in comparative darkness, tc possess the power of vision equal to his wants. The reader may see in the dusk, or even when duskiness is fast yielding to utter darkness, the beautiful sea-green reflection from the eye of the horse. It is that lucid variegated carpet of which we are now speaking. Who is unaware that in the fading glimmering of the evening, and even in the darker shades of night, his horse can see surrounding objects much better than his rider; and who, resigning himself to the guidance of that sagacious and faithful animal, has not been carried in safety to his journey’s end, when he would otherwise have been utterly bewildered ? If the reader has not examined this beautiful pigment in the eye of the horse, he should take the earliest opportunity of doing so. He will have a beautiful illustration of the care which that Being who gave all things life has taken that each shall be fitted for his situation. The horse has not the intelligence of man, and may not want for any purpose of pleasure or improvement the vivid picture of surrounding objects which the retina of the human being presents. A thousand minute but exquisite beauties would be lost upon him. If, therefore, his sense of vision may not be so strong during the day, it is made up to him by the increased power of vision in the night. Perfectly white and cream-coloured horses have a peculiar appearance of the eyes. The pupil is red instead of black. There is no black paint or brilliant carpet. It is the choroid coat itself which we see in them, and not its covering; and the red appearance is caused by the numerous blood-vessels which are found on every part of that coat. When we have to treat of other domestic animals, we shall see how this carpet is varied in colour to suit the situation and necessity of each. In the ox it is of a dark green. He has not many enemies to fear, or much difficulty in searching for nourish- ment, and the colour of the eye is adapted to his food. In the cat and all his varieties, it is yellow. We have heard of the eyes of the lion appearing like two flaming torches in the night. There are few of our readers who have not seen the same singular ylare from the eyes of the domestic cat. In the wolf, and likewise in the dog, who, in his wild state, prowls chiefly at night, itis grey. In the poor unjustly- persecuted badger, who scarcely dares to crawl forth at night, although sheltered by THE SENSORTAL FUNCTION. 89 the thickest darkness, it is white; and the ferret, who is destined to hunt his prey through ali its winding retreats, and in what would be to us absolute darkness, has no paint on the choroides. Tracing the choroides towards the fore part of the eye, we perceive that it is reflected from the side to the edge of the lens, n, and has the appearance of several plaits or folds. They are actually foldings of the membrane. It is not diminished in size, but it has less space to cover, and there must be duplicatures or plaits. They are usefully employed in the place in which we find them. They prevent the passage of any rays of light on the outside of the lens, and which, proceeding forward in various directions, and uncondensed by the power of the lens, would render vision confused or imperfect. ‘These folds of the choroides are called the ciliary processes. Within the cornea, and occupying the fore part of the eye, is the aqueous humour, p, so termed from its resemblance to pure water. It is that by which the cornea is preserved in its protuberant and rounded form. It extends to the erystalline lens q and therefore a portion of it, although a very small one, is behind the iris (m, p. 86). Floating in this fluid is a membrane, with an oblong aperture, called the /Jris. It is that which gives colour to the eye. The human eye is said to be black, or hazel, or blue, according to the colour of this membrane or curtain; and it is denominated the iris, or rainbow, from its beautiful, intermingling hues. The colour varies little in the horse, except that it always bears some analogy to that of the skin. We rarely see it lighter than a hazel, or darker than a brown. Horses perfectly white, or cream- coloured, have the iris white and the pupil red. When horses of other colours, and that are usually pied, have a white iris and a black pupil, they are said to be wall- eyed. Vulgar opinion has decided that a wall-eyed horse is never subject to blind- ness, but this is altogether erroneous. There is no difference of structure that can produce this exemption; but the wall-eyed horse, from this singular and unpleasant appearance, and his frequent want of breeding, may not be so much used and exposed to many of the usual causes of inflammation. The aperture in the iris is termed the pupil, and through it light passes to the inner chamber of the eye. The pupil is oblong, and variable in size. It differs with the intensity or degree of light that falls upon the eye. Ina dark stable the pupil is expanded to admit a great proportion of the light that falls upon the cornea; but when the horse is brought towards the door of the stable and more light is thrown upon the eye, the pupil contracts in order to keep out that extra quantity which would be pain- ful to the animal, and injurious to vision. When opposed directly to the sun, the aperture will almost close. This alteration of form in the pupil is effected by the muscular fibres that enter into the composition of the iris. When these fibres are relaxed, the pupil must pro- portionably diminish. The motions of the iris are not at all under the control of the will, nor is the animal sensible of them. ‘They are produced by sympathy with the state of the retina. When, however, a deficient portion of light reaches the retina, and vision is indistinct, we are conscious of an apparent effort to bring the object more clearly into view, and the fibres then contract, and the aperture enlarges, and more light is admitted. This dilatation or contraction of the pupil gives a useful method of ascertaining the existence of blindness in one eye or in both. The cornea and crystalline lens remain perfectly transparent, but the retina is palsied, and is not affected by light; and many persons have been deceived when blindness of this description has been confined to one eye. A horse blind in both eyes will usually have his ears in constant and rapid motion, directing them in quick succession to every quarter. He will likewise hang back in his halter in a peculiar way, and will lift his feet high as if he were stepping over some obstacle, when there is actually nothing to obstruct his passage, and there will be an evident uncertainty in the putting down of his feet. In blindness of one eye, little or nothing of this characteristic gait and manner can be perceived. Although a one-eyed horse may not be absolutely condemned for the common business of the carriage or the road, he is generally deteriorated as a hunter, for he cannot measure his distances, and will run into his leaps.* Many a sportsman, puzzled and angry * Mr. W. Percivall, however, in his excellent Lectures on the Veterinary Art, vol. il. p. Q* M 90 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. at the sudden blundering of his horse, or injured by one or more stunning falls, has found a very natural although unexpected explanation of it in the blindness of one eye, and that perhaps produced through his own fault, by over-riding his willing and excellent servant, and causing a determination of blood to the eye, which proved fatal to the delicate texture of the retina. Even for the carriage or the road he is considera- bly deteriorated, for his field of observation must be materially lessened. Let the size of both pupils be carefully noticed before the horse is removed from the stable, and, as he is led to the door, observe whether they both contract, and equally so, with the increase of light. If the horse should be first seen in the open air, let it be observed whether the pupils are precisely of the same size; then let the hand be placed over each eye alternately and held there fora little while, and let it be observed whether the pupil dilates with the abstraction of light, and equally in each eye. Hanging from the upper edge of the pupil of the horse, are two or three round black substances, as large as millet seeds. When the horse is suddenly brought into an intense light, and the pupil is closed, they present a singular appearance, as they are pressed out from between the edges of the iris. An equal number, but much smaller, are attached to the edge of the lower portion of the iris. Their general use is probably to intercept rays of light which would ‘be troublesome or injurious, and their principal function is accomplished during the act of grazing. They are larger on the upper edge of the iris, and are placed on the outer side of the pupil, evidently to discharge the same function which we have attributed to the eyelashes, viz., to obstruct the light in those directions in which it would come with greatest force, both from above and even from below, while, at the same time, the field of view is per: fectly open, so far as it regards the pasture on which the horse is grazing. In our cut, m gives a duplicature of the iris, or the back surface of it. This is called the wrea, and it is covered with a thick coat of black mucus, to arrest the rays of light, and to prevent them from entering the eye in any other way than through the pupil. The colour of the iris is, in some unknown way, connected with this black paint behind. Wall-eyed horses, whose iris is white, have no uvea. We now arrive at a body on which all the important uses of the eye mainly depend, the crystalline lens, g, so called from its resemblance to a piece of crystal, or trans- parent glass. It is of a yielding jelly-like consistence, thicker and firmer towards the centre, and convex on each side, but more convex on the inner than the outer side. It is enclosed in a delicate transparent bag or capsule, and is placed between the aqueous and the vitreous humours, and received into a hollow in the vitreous humour, with which it exactly corresponds. It has, from its density and its double convexity, the chief concern in converging the rays of light which pass into the pupil. The lens is very apt to be affected from long or violent inflammation of the con- junctiva, and either its capsule becomes cloudy, and imperfectly transmits the light, or the substance of the lens becomes opaque. ‘The examination of the horse, with a view to detect this, must either be in the shade, or at a stable door, where the light shall fall on the animal from above and in front; and in conducting this examination we would once more caution the intended purchaser against a superfluity of white about his neck. Holding the head of the animal a little up, and the light coming in the direction that has been described, the condition of the lens will at once be evident. The confirmed cataract, or the opaque lens of long standing, will exhibit a pearly appearance, that cannot be mistaken, and will frequently be attended with a change of form—a portion of the lens being forced forwards into the pupil. Although the disease may not have proceeded so far as this, yet if there is the slightest cloudiness of the lens, either generally, or in the form of a minute spot in the centre, and with or without lines radiating from that spot, the horse is to be condemned; for, in ninety- nine cases out of a hundred, the disease will proceed, and cataract, or complete opacity of the lens, and absolute blindness, will be the result. Ese we SORT. aie 201, says, ‘‘ The loss of one eye does not enfeeble sight, because the other acquires greater energy, though it much contracts the field of vision. It is said to render the conception erring, and the case of misjudgment of distances is the one commonly brought forward to show this. All I can say on this point is, that the best hunter I ever possessed, a horse gifted with extra- ordinary powers for leaping, was a one-eyed horse, and this animal carried me through a hunting reason, without, to my recollection, making one single blunder in leaping.” THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. 9] Cataract in tae human being may, to a very considerable extent, be remedied. The vpaque lens may be extracted, or it may be forced into the vitreous humours, and there existing as a foreign body, it will soon be absorbed and disappear. These operations are impossible in the horse; for, in the first place, there is a muscle of which we have already spoken, and to be presently more particularly described, that is peculiar to quadrupeds, and of such power as generally to draw back the eye too far into its socket for the surgeon to be enabled to make his incision; or could the incision be made, the action of this muscle would force out the greater part of the contents of the eye, and this organ would speedily waste away. If, however, the opaque lens could be withdrawn or depressed, and the mechanism of the eye were not otherwise injured, the operation would be totally useless, for we could not make the horse wear those convex glasses whose converging power might compensate for the loss of the lens. Behind the lens, and occupying four-fifths of the cavity of the eye, is the vitreous humour (glassy, or resembling glass). It seems, when first taken from the eye, to be of the consistence of a jelly, and of beautiful transparency; but if it is punctured a 4uid escapes from it as limpid and as thin as water, and when this has been suffered completely to ooze out, a mass of membraneous bags or cells remains. The vitreous humour consists of a watery fluid contained in these cells; but the fluid and the cells form a body of considerably greater density than the aqueous fluid in the front of the eye. Last of all, between the vitreous humour and the choroid coat, is the retina, 0, or net- ‘like membrane. It is an expansion of the substance, g, of the optic nerve. When that nerve has reached the back of the eye, and penetrated through the sclerotic and choroid coats, it first enlarges into a little white prominence, from which radiations or expansions of nervous matter proceed, which spread over the whole of the choroid coat, and form the third investment of the eye. The membrane by which this nervous pulp is supported, is so exceedingly thin and delicate, that it will tear with the slightest touch, and break even with its own weight. The membrane and the pulp are perfectly transparent in the living animal. The pupil appears to be black, because in the daytime it imperfectly reflects the colour of the choroid coat beneath. In the dusk it is greenish, because, the glare of day being removed, the actual green of the paint appears. On this expansion of nervous pulp, the rays of light from surrounding objects, con- densed by the lens and the humours, fall, and, producing a certain image correspond- ing with these objects, the animal is conscious of their existence and presence. It may, however, so happen that from the too great or too little convexity of the eye or a portion of it, the place of most distinct vision may not be immediately on the retina, but a little before or behind it. In proportion as this is the case, the sight will be indistinct and imperfect ; nor shall we be able to offer any remedy for this defect of sight. There is a shying, often the result of cowardice or playfulness, or want of work, but at other times proving, beyond contradiction, a defect of sight even more dangerous than blindness. A blind horse will resign himself to the guidance of his rider or driver; but against the misconception and starting of a shying horse there is no defence. That horses grow shy as they grow old, no one aceustomed to them will ‘deny; and no intelligent person will be slow in attributing it to the right cause—a decay in the organ of vision,—a loss of convexity in the eye, lessening the con- vergency of the rays, and throwing the perfect image heyond, and not on, the retina. There is a striking difference in the convexity of the cornea in the colt and the old horse ; and both of them, probably, may shy from opposite causes—the one from a comea too prominent, and the other from one too flat. Jn the usual examination of the horse previously to purchase, sufficient attention is not always paid to the con- vexity of the cornea. The remedy for shying will be considered when we speak of the vices of horses. Theres a provision yet wanting. The horse has a very extended field of view, but Many persons are not perhaps aware how little of it he can command at a time There is not one of our readers who can make out a single line of our treatise without changing the direction of the eye. It is curious to follow the motion of the eyes of a rapid reader. Nature has given no less than seven muscles to the herse, in order t 92 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. turn this little but important organ; and, that they may act with sufficient power and quickness, no fewer than six nerves are directed to the muscles of the eye generally, or to particular ones—while the eye rests on a mass of fat, that it may be turned with little exertion of power, and without friction. MUSCLES OF THE EYE. There are four straight muscles, three of which, d, e, and f, are repre- sented in our cut, rising from the back of the orbit, and inserted into the ball of the eye, opposite to, and at equal distances from each other. One, d, runs to the upper part of the eye, just behind the transparent and visible portion of it, and its office is clearly to raise the eye. When it contracts, the eye must be drawn = upward, Another, f, is inserted ex- actly opposite, at the bottom of the eye; and its office is as clearly to depress the eye, or enable the animal to look downwards. A third, e, is inserted at the outer corner, and by means of it the eye is turned outward, and, from the situation of the eye of the horse, considerably backward; and the fourth is inserted at the inner corner, turning the eye inward. ‘They can thus rotate or turn the eye in any direction the animal wishes, and by the action of one, or the combined power of any two of them, the eye can be immediately and accurately directed to every point. These muscles, however, have another duty to discharge. ‘They support the eye nits place. In the usual position of the head of the horse, they must be to a certain Jegree employed for this purpose; but when he is grazing or feeding, the principal weight of the eye rests upon them. Another muscle is therefore added, peculiar to quadrupeds, called the retractor (drawer-back), or the suspensorius (suspensory) muscle, g. It arises from the edge of the foramen through which the optic nerve enters the orbit— surrounds the nerve as it proceeds forward, and then, partially dividing into four portions, is attached to the back part of the eye. Its office is evidently to support the eye generally, or, when suddenly called into powerful action, and assisted by the straight muscles, it draws the eye back out of the reach of threatening danger, and in the act of drawing it back causes the haw to protrude, as an additional defence. The power of this muscle is very great. It renders some operations on the eye almost impossible. It is an admirable substitute for the want of hands, to defend the eye from many things that would injure it; and, being partially separated into four divisions, it assists the straight muscles in turning the eye. These muscles discharge another and a most important office. If we examine near and distant objects through a telescope, we must alter the fucus; 7.¢., we must increase or diminish the length of the tube. We must shorten it a little when we examine dis- tant objects, because the rays, coming to us from them in a less divergent direction, are sooner brought to a point by the power of the lens. Thus the straight and retractor muscles drawing back the eye, and forcing it upon the substance behind, and ina slight degree flattening it, bring the lens nearer to the retina, and adapi the eye to the observation of distant objects. Still, however, being constantly employed in supporting the weight of the eye, these muscles may not be able to turn it so rapidly and so extensively as the wishes or wants of the animal require; therefore two others are superadded which are used solely in turning the eye. They are called oblique muscles, because their course is obliquely across the eye. The upper one is most curiously constructed, a, b. It comes from the back part of the orbit, and takes a direction upwards and towards the inner side, and there, just under the ridge of the orbit, it passes through a perfect me- chanical puuey, and, turning round, proceeds across the eye, and is inserted rather beyond the middle of the eye, towards the outer side. Thus the globe of the eye is evidently directed inward and upward Something more, however, is accomplished “by this singular mechanism. The eye is naturally deep in the orbit, that it may be INJURIES AND DISEASES OF THE SKULL, &c. 93 more perfectly defended ; but it may be necessary occasionally to bring it forward, amd enlarge the field of vision. The eye is actually protruded under the influence of fear. Not only are the lids opened more widely, but the eye is brought more forward. How is this accomplished? There are no muscles anterior to, or before the eye— there is no place for their insertion. The object is readily effected by this singular pulley, b,c. By the power of this muscle—the trochlearis, or pulley-muscle—and the straight muscles at the same time not opposing it, or only regulating the direction of the eye, it is really brought somewhat forward. 'The lower oblique muscle rises just within the lacrymal bone (7, p. 70), and, proceeding across the eye, is fixed into the part of the sclerotica opposite to the other oblique muscle, and it turns the eye ina contrary direction, assisting, however, the upper oblique in bringing the eye forward from its socket. CHAP LER IIT. INJURIES AND DISEASES OF THE SKULL—THE BRAIN —THS EARS—AND THE EYES. We have now arrived at a convenient resting-place in our somewhat dry but neces- sary description of the structure of the horse, and we willingly turn to more practical matter. We will consider the injuries and diseases of the parts we have surveyed. In entering, however, on this division of our work, we would premise, that it is impos- sible for us to give the farmer such an account of the nature and treatment of the dis- eases of horses as will enable him with safety to practise for himself, except in the commonest cases. The causes of most diseases are so obscure, their symptoms so variable, and their connexion with other maladies so complicated and mysterious, that a life devoted to professional study will alone qualify a man to become a judicious and successful practitioner on the diseases of the horse and other domestic animals. Our object will be to communicate sufficient instruction to the farmer to enable him to act with promptness and judement when he cannot obtain professional assistance, to qualify him to form a satisfactory opinion of the skill of the veterinary surgeon whom he may employ, and, more especially, to divest him of those strange and absurd prejudices which in a variety of cases not only produce and prolong disease, but bring it to a fatal termination. FRACTURE. We have described the cavity of the skull of the horse as being so defended by the hardness of the parietal bones, and those bones so covered by a_ mass of muscle, and the occipital bone as so exceedingly thick (see page 92), that a Fracture of the skull is almost impossible. It can only occur from brutal violence, or when a horse falls in the act of rearing. When, however, fracture of the skull does occur, it is almost invariably fatal. A blow of sufficient violence to break these bones must likewise irreparably injure the delicate and important organ which they protect. The ridge, or outer and upper part of the orbit of the eye, is occasionally fractured. It happens from falling, or much oftener from violent blows. The slightest examina- tion will detect the loosened pieces; but a professional man alone can render effectual assistance. : Mr. Pritchard, in the second volume of the ‘“ Veterinarian,” relates an interesting case of fracture of the orbit of the eye. ‘A chestnut mare,” he says, “received a blow which fractured the orbit from the superciliary foramen, in a line through the zygomatic processes of the temporal and malar bones to the outer angle of the eye The detached bone, together with the divided integument, hung over the eye so as te intercept vision. On examining the place where the accident occurred, two portions of bone were found belonging to the orbital arch. After carefully inspecting the wound, and finding no other detached portions, nor any spicule which might irritate 94 INJURIES AND DISEASES OF THE SKULL, &c. or wound, the adjacent portions of the skin were carefully drawn together, and secured by a silver wire, which closed the wound, and confined the detached portion of bone in its proper place. A mash diet was ordered. «On the following day there was considerable inflammation. The eye was bathed with warm water, and a dose of physic administered. On the third day the inflam- mation and swelling had still more increased. Blood was abstracted from the vein at the angle of the eye. The swelling and inflammation now speedily abated ; and on the fifteenth day the wound had quite healed.” If a fracture of this kind is suspected, its existence or non-existence may be easily determined by introducing the thumb under, and keeping the fore-finger upon, the edge of the orbit. EXOSTOSIS. Bony enlargements of the orbital arch sometimes arise from natural predisposition ot local injury. They should be attacked in the earliest stage, for they are too apt rapidly to increase. Some preparation of iodine, as described in the account of medi- cines, will be useful in this case. CARIES. Inflammation and enlargement of the injured bones, followed by abscess and the production of certain bony growths, are of occasional occurrence. A skilful practi- tioner can alone decide whether a cure should be attempted, or the sufferings of the animal terminated by death. COMPRESSION OF THE BRAIN. Hydatids are often found within the cranial cavity, and lying upon or imbedded in the brain of oxen and sheep. Their existence is usually fatal to the animal. There is no well-authenticated account of the existence of an hydatid in the cranial cavity of the horse; but cysts, containing a serous or viscid fluid, are occasionally observed. The following is the history of one :—A horse exhibited symptoms of vertigo, or stag- gers, which disappeared after copious bleeding and purgatives. About twelve months afterwards the same complaint was evident. He carried his head low and inclined to the right side. He staggered as he walked, and the motion of his limbs was marked by a peculiar convulsive action, confined to the fore extremities. He moved by a suc- cession of spasmodic boundings. He was completely deaf; and rapidly lost flesh, though he ate and drank voraciously. He remained in this state, to the shame of the owner and the practitioner, several months, and then he had a fresh attack of vertigo, and died suddenly. On examination of the brain, its membranes were found to be completely reddened; and, between the two lobes of the brain, was a round cyst as large as a pullet’s egg. The pressure of this was the manifest cause of the mischief. PRESSURE ON THE BRAIN. This may be produced by some fluid thrown out between the membranes, or occu- pying and distending the ventricles of the brain. In the full-grown horse it rarely ovcurs; but it is well known to breeders as an occasional disease of the foal, under ihe name of ‘“ water in the head.”’ The head is either much enlarged, or strangely deformed, or both; and the animal dies, either in the birth, or a few days after it. MEGRIMS. There is another kind of pressure on the brain, resulting from an unusual determi- uation or flow of blood to it. This organ requires a large supply of blood to enable it to discharge its important functions. Nature, in the horse more than in many other animals, has made some admirable provisions to cause this stream to flow into the brain with little velocity, and thereby to lessen the risk of suddenly overloading it or rupturing its vessels. The arteries pursue their course to the brain in a strangely Winding and circuitous manner; and they enter the skull through bony apertures that will admit of the enlargement of the vessels only to a very limited extent. From various causes, however, of which the most common is violent exercise on a hot day, APOPLEXY. 95 and the horse being fat and full of blood, more than the usual quantity is sent to the head; or, from some negligence about the harness—as the collar being too smal], or the carb-rein too tight — the blocd is prevefited from returning from the head. ‘The larger vessels of the brain will then be too long aru injuriously distended ; and, what is of more consequence, the small vessels that permeate the substance of the brain will be enlarged, and the bulk of the brain increased, so that it will press upon the origins of the nerves, and produce, almost without warning, loss of power and con- sciousness. The mildest affection of this kind is known by the name of Mrcrims. It compara- tively rarely happens when the horse is ridden ; but should he be driven, and perhaps rather quickly, he may perform a part of his journey with his usual cheerfulness and ease: he will then suddenly stop, shake his head, and exhibit evident giddiness, and half-unconsciousness. In a minute or two this will pass over, and he will go on again as if nothing had happened. Occasionally, however, the attack will be of a more serious nature, He will fall without the slightest warning, or suddenly run round once or twice, and then fall. He will either lie in a state of complete insensibility, or struggle with the utmost violence. In five or ten minutes he will begin gradually to come to himself; he will get up and proceed on his journey, yet somewhat dull, and evidently affected and exhausted by what had happened, although not seriously or permanently ill. At the moment of attack, a person who is competent to the task should abstract three or four quarts of blood from the neck-vein; or cut the bars of the palate in the manner to be explained when we describe that part, and whence a considerable and sufficient quantity of blood may be readily obtained. The driver should pat and soothe the animal, loosen the curb-rein, if possible ease the collar, and pursue his journey as slowly as circumstances will permit. When he gets home, a dose of physic should be administered if the horse can be spared, the quantity of dry food lessened, and mashes given, or green meat, or he should be turned out to grass for two or three months. Is all this necessary because a horse has happened to have a fit of the megrims? Yes, and more too, in the mind of the prudent man; for it is seldom that a horse has the megrims without the predisposition to a second attack remaining. These over- distended vessels may be relieved for a while, but it is long before they perfectly recover their former tone. It requires but a little increased velocity or force in the vital current once more to distend them, and to produce the same dangerous effects. The testimony of experience is uniform with regard to this; and he would not do justice to himself or his family who trusted himself behind a horse that had a second attack of megrims. APOPLEXY. Meerims is ApopLexy under its mildest form. In the latter affection, the deter- mination of blood, if not so sudden, is greater, or differently directed, or more lasting. It is seldom, however, that there are not timely warnings of its approach, if the carter or the groom had wit enough to observe them. The horse is a little off his feed—he is more than usually dull—there is a degree of stupidity about him, and, generally, a somewhat staggering gait. This goes off when he has been out a little while, but it soon returns under a more decided character, until, at length, it forces itself on the attention of the most careless. The actual illness is perhaps first recognised by the horse standing with his head depressed. It bears upon, or is forced against the manger or the wall, and a con- siderable part of the weight of the animal is evidently supported by this pressure of 'the head. As he thus stands, he is balancing himself from one side to the other as if he were ready to fall; and it is often dangerous to stand near to him, or to move aim, for he falls without warning. If he can get his muzzle into a corner, he will | sometimes continue there motionless for a considerable time, and then drop as if he ‘were shot; but, the next moment, he is up again, with his feet almost in the rack. || He sleeps or seems to do so as he stands, or at least he is nearly or quite unconscious ‘of surrounding objects. When he is roused, he looks vacantly around him. Perhaps | he will take a lock of hay if it is offered to him; but ere it is half masticated, the eye 96 APOPLEXY. closes, and he sleeps egain with the food in his mouth. Soon afterwards he is, per haps, roused once more. ‘The eye opens, but it has an unmeaning glare. The hand is moved before him, but the eye closes not; he is spoken to, but he hears not. The last act of voluntary motion which he will attempt is usually to drink; but he has ‘ittle power over the muscles of deglutition, and the fluid returns through the nostrils. He now begins to foam at the mouth. His breathing is laborious and loud. It is performed by the influence of the organic nerves, and those of animal life no longer lend their aid. The pulse is slow and oppressed—the jugular vein is distended almost to bursting — the muzzle is cold, and the discharge of the feces involuntary He grinds his teeth—twitchings steal over his face and attack his limbs—they some- times proceed to convulsions, and dreadful ones too, in which the horse beats himself about in a terrible manner; but there is rarely disposition to do mischief. In the greater number of cases these convulsions last not long. All the powers of life are oppressed, and death speedily closes the scene. On examination after death, the whole venous system is usually found in a state of congestion, and the vessels of the brain are peculiarly turgid with black blood. Occasionally, however, there is no inflammation of the brain or its membranes; but either the stomach contains a more than usuai quantity of food, or the larger intes- tines are loaded with foul matter. This disease is found more frequently in the stable of the postmaster and the farmer than anywhere else. Thirty years ago it was the very pest of these stables, and the loss sustained by some persons was enormous; but, as veterinary science progressed, the nature and the causes of the disease were better understood, and there is not now one case of staggers where twenty used to occur Apoplexy is a determination of blood to the head, and the cause is the over-condi- tion of the animal and too great fulness of blood. Notions of proper condition in the horse now prevail very different from these by which our forefathers were guided. It no longer consists in the round, sleek carcase, fat enough for the butcher, but in fulness and hardness of the muscular fibre, and a comparative paucity of cellular and adipose matter—in that which will add to the power of nature, and not oppress and weigh her down. The system of exercise is better understood than it used formerly to be. It is pro- portioned to the quantity and quality of the food, and more particularly the division of labour is more rational. The stage-horse no longer runs his sixteen or eighteen, or even two-and-twenty miles, and then, exhausted, is turned into the stable for the next twenty hours. The fvod is no longer eaten voraciously ; the comparatively little stomach of the animal is no longer distended, before nature has been able sufficiently to recruit herself to carry on the digestive process; the vessels of the stomach are no longer oppressed, and the flow of blood through them arrested, and, consequently, more blood directed to other parts, and to the brain among the rest. The farmer used to send his horses out early in the morning, and keep them at plough for six or eight hours, and then they were brought home and suffered to over- gorge themselves, and many of them were attacked by staggers and died. If the evil did not proceed quite to this extent, the farmer’s horse was notoriously subject to fits of heaviness and sleepiness—he had ha/f-attacks of staggers. From this frequent oppression of the brain—this pressure on the optic nerves as well as other parts, another consequence ensued, unsuspected at the time, but far too prevalent—the horse became blind. The farmer was notorious for having more blind horses in his stable than any other person, except, perhaps, the postmaster. The system of horse management is now essentially changed. Shorter stages, a livision of the labour of the day, and a sufficient interval for rest, and for feeding, aave, comparatively speaking, banished sleepy staggers from the stables of the post- naster. The division of the morning and afternoon labour of the farmer’s horse, vith the introduction of that simple but invaluable contrivance, the nose-bag, have .endered this disease comparatively rare in the establishment of the agriculturist. To the late Professor Coleman we are indebted for some of these important improve- ments. Old horses are more subject to staggers than young ones, for the stomach has be APOPLEXY. 97 come weak by the repetition of the abuses just described. It has not power to aigest and expel the food, and thus becomes a source of general, and particularly of cere= bral, disturbance. Horses at grass are occasionally attacked by this disease; but they are generally poor, hard-worked, half-starved animals, turned on richer pasture than their impaired digestive organs are equal to. Perhaps the weather is hot, and the sympathy of the brain with the undue labour of the stomach is more easily excited, and a determina- tion of blood to the brain more readily effected. Mr. Percivall gives a very satisfactory illustration of the production of staggers in this way. He says that ‘ when his father first entered the service of the Ordnance, it was the custom to turn horses which had become low in condition, but were still well upon their legs, into the marshes, in order to recruit their strenoth. During the months of July, August, and September, nothing was more common than an attack of staggers among these horses, and which was naturally attributed to the luxuriant pasture they were turned into, combined with the dependent posture of the head, and the sultry heat to which they were exposed.” Occasionally it will be necessary for the owner or the veterinary attendant to insti- tute very careful inquiry, or he will not detect the real causes of the disease. Does it arise from improper management, to which the horse has been in a manner habitu- ated? Had he been subjected to long labour and fasting, and had then the opportu- nity of gorging to excess? Did it proceed from accidental repletion—from the ani- mal having got loose in the night, and found out the corn or the chaff bin, and filled himself almost to bursting? ‘here is nothing in the appearance of the animal which will lead to a discovery of the cause—no yellowness nor twitchings of the skin, na local swellings, as some have described; but the practitioner or the owner must get at the truth of the matter as well as he can, and then proceed accordingly. ft As to the rREATMENT of staggers, whatever be the cause of the disease, bleeding is the first measure indicated—the overloaded vessels of the brain must be relieved. The jugular vein should be immediately opened. It is easily got at—it is large—the blood may be drawn from it in a full stream, and, being also the vessel through which the blood is returned from the head, the greater part of the quantity obtained will be taken immediately from the overloaded organ, and therefore will be most likely to produce the desired effect. No definite quantity of blood should be ordered to he abstracted. The effect produced must be the guide, and the bleeding must be con- tinued until the horse falters, or begins to blow—or, perhaps, with more assured sues cess, until he falls. ‘Some persons select the temporal artery. This is very unsci- entific practice. It is difficult, or impossible, to obtain from this vessel a stream that promises any decisive success. It is likewise difficult to stop the bleeding from this artery; and, after all, the blood is not drawn from the actual seat of the disease— the brain. The second step is to ascertain what is the cause of the apoplexy. Has the animal got at the corn or the chaff bin? Had he been over-fed on the evening before, and is his stomach probably distended to the utmost by what he has eaten? In sucha case, of what avail can physic be, introduced into a stomach already crammed with indi- gestive food? Or what effect can twelve or twenty drachms of aloes produce, a small portion only of which can penetrate into the stomach? Recourse must be had to the STOMACH-PUMP, one of the most valuable discoveries of modern times, and affording the means of combating several diseases that had previously set all medical skill at defiance. Warm water must be injected. The horse is now incapable of offering much resistance, and the injection may be continued not only until the contents of the stomach are so far diluted that a portion of them can escape through the lower orifice of that viscus, but until the obstruction to vomiting offered by the contracted entrance of the stomach is overcome, and a portion of the food is returied through the nostrils or mouth. This being effected, or it having been ascertained that there was no extreme disten~ sion of the stomach, recourse should be had to aloes, and from eight to twelve dracnms: of it may be administered. It will be proper to add some stimulating medicine to the aloes, with a view of restoring the tone of the stomach, and inducing it te contract on its contents. Gentian and ginger are most likely to effect this purpose. ) N 95 PHRENITIS. The after-treatment must be regulated by circumstances. For scme time the horse should be put on a restricted diet ; mashes should be given; green meat in no great quantity; a moderate allowance of hay, and very little corm. When sufficiently recovered, he may be turned out with advantage on rather bare pasture. One circum- stance, however, should never be forgotten—that the horse who has once been attacked with staggers is liable to a return of the complaint from causes that otherwise would not affect him. The distended vessels are weakened—the constitution is weakened and prudence would dictate that such an animal cannot be too soon disposed of. Lét no farmer delude himself with the idea that apoplexy is contagious. If his horses have occasionally slight fits of staggers, or if the disease carries off several of them, he may be assured that there is something wrong in his management. One horse may get at the corn-bin and cram himself to bursting; but if several are attack- ed, it is time for the owner to look about him. ‘The general cause is too voracious - feeding—too much food giver at once, and perhaps without water, after hard work and long fasting. There is one consequence of this improper treatment, of which persons do not appear to be sufficiently aware, although they suffer severely from it. A horse that has frequent half-attacks of staggers very often goes blind. It is not the common blindness from cataract, but a peculiarly glassy appearance of the eye. If the history of these blind horses could be told, it would be found that they had been subject to fits of drocping and dulness, and these produced by absurd management respecting labour and food. PHRENITIS. Primary inflammation of the brain or its membranes, or both, sometimes occurs, and of the membranes oftenest when both are not involved. Whatever be the origin of phrenitis, its early symptoms are scarcely d’ ferent from those of apoplexy. The horse is drowsy, stupid; his eye closes; he sleeps while he is in the act of eating, and dozes until he falls. The pulse is slow and creeping, and the breathing oppressed and laborious. This is the description of apoplexy. The symptoms may differ a little in intensity and continuance, but nct much in kind. The phrenitic horse, however, is not so perfectly comatose as another that labours under apoplexy. The eye will respond a little to the action of light, and the animal is somewhat more manageable, or at least more susceptible, for he will shrink when he is struck, while the other frequently cares not for the whip. In the duration of the early symptoms there is some difference. If the apoplexy proceeds from distension of the stomach, four-and-twenty or six-and-thirty hours will scarcely pass without the cure being completed, or the stomach ruptured, or the horse destroyed. If it proceeds more from oppression of the digestive organs than from absolute distension of the stomach, and from that sympathy which subsists between the stamach and the brain, the disease will go on—it will become worse and worse every hour, and this imperfect comatose state will remain during two or three days. The apoplexy of the phrenitic horse will often run its course in a few hours. In a ease of evident phrenitis, blood-letting and physic must be early carried to their full extent. The horse will often be materially relieved, and, perhaps, cured by this decisive treatment; but, if the golden hour has been suffered to pass, or if reme- dial measures have become ineffectual, the scene all at once changes, and the most violent reaction succeeds. The eye brightens—strangely so; the membrane of the ey2 becomes suddenly reddened, and forms a frightful contrast with the transparency of ‘he cornea; the pupil is dilated to the utmost; the nostril, before scarcely moving. expands and quivers, and labours; the respiration becomes short-and quick; the ears are erect, or bent forward to catch the slightest sound ; and the horse, becoming more irritable every instant, trembles at the slightest motion. The irritability of the patiens increases—it may be said to change to ferocity—but the animal has no aim or object in what he does. He dashes himself violently about, plunges in every direction, rears’on his hind legs, whirls round and round, and then falls backward with dread- ful foree. He lies for a while exhausted—there is a remission of the symptoms, bu eerhaps only for a minute or two, or possibly for a quarter of an hour. PHRENITIS. 99 Now is the surgeon’s golden time, and his courage and adroitness will be -u. to the test. He must open, if he can, one or both jugulars: but let him be on his guard, for the paroxysm will return with its former violence and without the slightest warning. The second attack is more dreadful than the first. Again the animal whirls round and round, and plunges and falls. He seizes his clothing and rends it in pieces; perhaps, destitute of feeling and of consciousness, he bites and tears himself. He darts furiously at everything within his reach; but no mind, no design, seems to min- ele with or govern his fury. Another and another remission and a return of the exacerbation follow, and then, wearied out, he becomes quiet; but it is not the quietness of returning reason—it is mere stupor. This continues for an uncertain period, and then he begins to strug- gle again; but he is now probably unable to rise. He pants—he foams—at length, completely exhausted, he dies. There are but two diseases with which phrenitis can be confounded, and they are cholic and rabies. In cholic, the horse rises and falls; he rolls about and kicks at his belly; but his struggles are tame compared with those of the phrenitic horse There is no involuntary spasm of any of the limbs; the animal is perfectly sensible, and, looking piteously at his flanks, seems designedly to indicate the seat of pain. The beautiful yet fearfully excited countenance of the one, and the piteous, anxious gaze of the other, are sufficiently distinct; and, if it can be got at, the rapid, bound- ing pulse of the one, and that of the other scarcely losing its natural character in the early stage, cannot be mistaken. In rabies, when it does assume the ferocious form, there is even more violence than in phrenitis; but there is method, and treachery too, in that violence. There is the desire of mischief for its own sake, and there is frequently the artful stratagem to allure the victim within the reach of destruction. There is not a motion of which the rabid horse is not conscious, nor a person whom he does not recognise; but he labours under one all-absorbing feeling—the intense longing to devastate and destroy. The post-mortem appearances are altogether uncertain. There is usually very great injection and inflammation of the membranes of the brain, and even of portions of the substance of the brain; but in other cases there is scarcely any trace of inflam- mation, or even of increased vascularity. The treatment of phrenitis has been very shortly hinted at. The first—the indis- pensable proceeding—is to bleed ; to abstract as much blood as can be obtained; to let the animal bleed on after he is down; and indeed not to pin up the vein of the phrenitic horse at all. The patient will never be lost by this decisive proceeding, but the inflammation may be subdued, and here the first blow is the whole of the battle. The physic should be that which is most readily given and will most speedily act. The farina of the croton will, perhaps, have the preference. Half a drachm or two scruples of it may be fearlessly administered. ‘The intense inflammation of the brain gives sufficient assurance that no dangerous inflammation will be easily set up in the intestinal canal. This medicine can be formed into a very little ball or drink, and in some momentary remission of the symptoms, administered by means of the probang, or a stick, or the horn. Sometimes the phrenitic horse, when he will take nothing else, and is unconscious of everything else, will drink with avidity gruel or water. Repeated doses of purgative medicine may perhaps be thus given, and they must be continued until the bowels respond. The forehead should be blistered, if it can in any way be accomplished; yet but little service is to be expected from this manipu- lation. The bowels having been well opened, digitalis should be administered. Its first and most powerful action is on the heart, diminishing both the number ane strength of its pulsations. To this may be added emetic tartar and nitre, but not a particle of hellebore; for that drug, if it acts at all, produces an increased determina- tion of blood to the brain. While the disease continues, no attempt must be made to induce the horse to feed: and even when appetite returns with the abatement of inflammation great caution must be exercised both with regard to the quantity and quality of the food. 100 RABIES, OR MADNESS. RABIES, OR MADNESS. This is another and fearful disease of the nervous system. It results from the bite of a rabid animal, and, most commonly, of the companion and friend of the horse— the coach-dog. The account now given of this malady is extracted from lectures which the author of the present work delivered to his class. ‘There is occasional warning of the approach of this disease in the horse, or rather of the existence of some unusual malady, the real nature of which is probably mis- taken. A mare, belonging to Mr. Karslake, had during ten days before the recogni- tion of the disease been drooping, refusing her food, heaving at the flanks, and pawing occasionally. It was plain enough that she was indisposed, but at length the furious fit came upon her, and she destroyed almost everything in the stable in the course of an hour. The late Mr. Moneyment had a two-years old colt brought to his establish- ment. It was taken ill in the afternoon of the preceding day, when it first attracted attention by refusing its food, and throwing itself down and getting up again imme- diately. From such a description, Mr. Moneyment concluded that it was a case of cholic; but, when he went into the yard, and saw the pony, and observed his wild and anxious countenance, and his excessive nervous sensibility, he was convinced that something uncommon was amiss with him, although he did not at first suspect the real nature of the case. The early symptoms of rabies in the horse have not been carefully observed or well recorded ; but, in the majority of cases, so far as our records go, there will not often be premonitory symptoms sufficiently decisive to be noticed by the groom. The horse goes out to his usual work, and, for a certain time and distance, performs it as well as he had been accustomed to do; then he stops all at once—trembles, heaves, paws, staggers, and falls. Almost immediately he rises, drags his load a little farther, and again stops, looks about him, backs, staggers, and falls once more. This is not a fit of megrims —it is not a sudden determination of blood to the brain, for the horse is not for a single moment insensible. The sooner he is led home the better, for the progress of the disease is as rapid as the first attack is sudden; and, possibly, he will fall twice or thrice before he reaches his stable. In the great majority of cases—or rather, with very few exceptions—a state of excitation ensues, which is not exceeded by that of the dog under the most fearful form of the malady, but there are intervals when, if he had been naturally good- tempered and had been attached to his rider or his groom, he will recognise his former friend and seek his caresses, and bend on him one of those piteous, searching looks which, once observed, will never be forgotten: but there is danger about this. Pre- sently succeeds another paroxysm, without warning and without contro] ; and there is no safety for him who had previously the most complete mastery over the animal. I was once attending a rabid horse. The owner would not have him destroyed, under the vain hope that I had mistaken a case of phrenitis for one of rabies, and that the disease might yield to the profuse abstraction of blood that I had been prevailed on to effect, and the purgative influence of the farina of the croton-nut with which he had been abundantly supplied in an early stage of the malady. I insisted upon his being slung, so that we were protected from injury from his kicking or plunging. He would bend his gaze upon me as if he would search me through and through, and would prevail on me, if I could, to relieve him from some dreadful evil by which he was threatened. He would then press his head against my bosom, and keep it there a minute or more. All at once, however, the paroxysm would return. He did not attempt to bite me; but, had it not been for the sling, he would have plunged furiously about, and I might have found it difficult to escape. I had previously attended another horse, which the owner refused to have destroyed, and to which attendance I only consented on condition of the animal being slung. He had been bitten in the near hind-leg. When I approached him on that side, he did not attempt to bite me, and he could not otherwise injure me; but he was agitatea and trembled, and struggled as well as he could; and if I merely touched him with my finger, the pulsations were quickened full ten beats ina minute. When, how- ever, I went round to the off side, he permitted me to pat him, and 1 had to encountet his imploring gaze, and his head was pressed against me—and then vresently would RABIES, OR MADNESS. 101 come the paroxysm; but it came on almost before I could touen him, wen J apy roached him on the other side. These mild cases, however, are exceptions to a general rule. They are few and far between. ‘The horse is the servant, and not the friend of man; and if his com panion yet an oppressed one. In proportion to his bulk he has far less of that portion of the brain with which intelligence is connected —less attachment— less gratitude. He is nevertheless a noble animal. Iam not speaking disparagingly of him; but Iam comparing him with—next to man—the most intellectual of all quad- rupeds. There is neither the motive for, nor the capability of, that attachment which the doy feels for his master, and therefore, under the influence of this disease, he abandons himself to all its dreadful excitement. The mare of Mr. Karslake, when the disease was fully developed, forgot her former drooping, dispirited state: her respiration was accelerated —her mouth was covered with foam—a violent perspiration covered every part of her, and her screams would cow the stoutest heart. She presently demolished all the wood-work of the stable, and then she employed herself in beating to pieces the fragments, no human being daring to expose himself to her fury. The symptoms of the malady of Mr. Moneyment’s pony rapidly increased —he bit everything within his reach, even different parts of his own body—he breathed laboriously —his tail ereet—screaming dreadfully at short intervals, striking the ground with his fore-feet, and perspiring most profusely. At length he broke the top of his manger and rushed out of the stall with it hanging to his halter. He made immediately towards the medical attendant, and the spectators who were standing by. They fortunately succeeded in getting out of his way, and he turned in the next stall, and dropped and died. A young veterinary friend cf mine very incattiously and fool-hardily attempted to ball a rabid horse. ‘The animal had previously shown himself to be dangerous, and had slightly bitten a person who gave him a ball on the preceding evening: he now seized the young student’s hand, and lifted him from the ground, and shook him, as a terrier would shake a rat. It was with the greatest difficulty, and not until the grooms had attacked the ferocious animal with their pitchforks, that they could com- pel him to relinquish his hold; and, even then, not before he had bitten his victim to the bone, and nearly torn away the whole of the flesh from the upper and lower sur- faces of the hand.* There is also in the horse, whose attachment to his owner is often comparatively small, a decree of treachery which we rarely meet with in the nobler and more intel- fectual dog. A horse that had shown symptoms of great ferocity was standing in the corner of his box, with a heaving flank, and every muscle quivering from the degree of excitement under which he Jaboured. A groom, presuming on the former obedience of the animal, ventured in, and endeavoured to put a headstall upon him. Neither the master nor myself could persuade him to forbear. I was sure of mischief, for I had observed the ear lying flat upon the neck, and I could ste the backward glance of the eye; I therefore armed myself with a heavy twitch stick that was at hand, and climbed into the manger of the next box. The man had not advanced two steps into the box before I could see the shifting position of the fore feet, and the preparation to spring upon his victim; and he would have sprung upon him, but my weapon fell with all the force I could urge upon his head, and he dropped. The man escaped, but the brute was up again in an instant, and we trembled lest the partition of the box should yield to his violence, and he would realize the graphic description of Mr. Blaine, when he speaks of the rabid horse as ‘levelling everything before him, him- self sweating, and snorting, and foaming amidst the ruins.” I have had occasion more than once to witness the evident pain of the bitten part, and the manner in which the horse in the intervals of his paroxysms employs himself in licking or gnawing the cicatrix. One animal had been nitteu in the chest, and he, not in the intervals between the exacerbation, but when tte paroxysm was most *In the Museum of the Veterinary School at Alfort, is the lower jaw o a rabid horee which was fractured in the violent efforts of the animal to do mischief. 9 * 102 RABIES, OR MADNESS. violent, would bite and tear himself until his breast was shockingly mangled, and the blood flowed from it in a stream. The most interesting and satisfactory symptom is the evident dread of water which exists in the decided majority of cases, and the impossibility of swallowing any con- siderable quantity. Professor Dupuy gives an account of this circumstance: —‘ A tabid horse was confined in one of the sick boxes. His focd was given to him through an opening over the door, and a bucket was suspended from the door, and supplied with water by means of a copper tube. As soon as he heard the water falling into the pail, he fell into violent convulsions, seized the tube, and crushed it to pieces. When the water in his bucket was agitated, the convulsions were renewed. He would occasionally approach the bucket as if he wished to drink, and then, after agitating the water for an instant, he would fall on his litter, uttering a hoarse ery ; but he would rise again almost immediately. ‘These symptoms were dreadfully increased if water was thrown upon his head. He would then endeavour to seize it as ° it fell, and bite with fury at everything within his reach, his whole frame being dread- fully convulsed.”’ As the disease progresses, not only is the animal rapidly debilitated, but there is the peculiar staggering gait which is observable in the dog—referrible to evident loss of power in the muscles of the luinbar region. I once saw a mare sitting on her haunches, and unable to rise; yet using her fore feet with the utmost fury, and suffering no one to come within her reach. She, too, would sometimes plunge her muzzle into the offered pail; and immediately withdraw it in evident terror, while every limb trembled. At other times the lowering of the pail would affright her, and she would fall on her side and struggle furiously. Although this symptom is not often observed in the dog, it is a satisfactory identification of the disease, when it is so frequently seen in the horse, and so invariably in the human being. The earliest and perhaps the most decisive symptom of the near approach of rabies in the horse, is a spasmodic movement of the upper lip, particularly of the angles of the lip. Close following on this, or contemporaneous with it, is the depressed and anxious countenance, and inquiring gaze, suddenly however lighted up and becoming fieree 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—particular limbs —will be convulsed. The eye will occasionally wander after some imaginary object, and the horse will snap again 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 been already described. ; Towards the close of the disease there is generally paralysis, usually confined te the loins and the hinder extremities, or involving those organs which derive their nervous influence from this portion of the spinal cord ;—hence the distressing tenes- mus which is oceasionally seen. The disease rarely extends beyond the third day. | After death, there is uniformly found inflammation at the back part of the mouth, and at the top of the windpipe, and likewise in the stomach, and on the membrane covering the lungs, and where the spinal marrow first issues from the brain. When the disease can be clearly connected with a previous bite, the sooner the animal is destroyed the better, for there 7s no cure. If the symptoms bear considerable resemblance to rabies, although no bite is suspected, the horse should at least be slung, and the medicine, if any is administered, given in the form of a drink, and with the hand well protected; for if it should be scratched in balling the horse, cr the skin should have been previously broken, the saliva of the animal is capable of communicating the disease. Several farriers have lost their lives from being bitter ot scratched in the act of administering medicine to a rabid horse. It is always dangerous to encourage any dogs about the stable, and especially if they become fond of the horses, and are in the habit of jumping up and licking them. The corners of the mouth of the horse are often sore from the pressure of the bit; and when a coach-dog in a gentleman’s stable—and it is likely to happen in every stabie TETANUS, OR, LOCKED JAW. 103 and with every dog—becomes rabid and dies, the horse too frequently follows him at no great distance of time. If a horse is bitten by a dog under suspicious circumstances, he should be carefully examined, and every wound, and even the slightest scratch, well burned with the lunar caustic (nitrate of silver). The scab should be removed and the operation repeated on the third day. The hot iron does not answer so well, and other caustics are not so manageable. In the spring of 1827, four horses were bitten near Hyde Park, by a mad dog. Toone of them the lunar caustic was twice severely applied— he lived. ‘The red-hot iron was unsparingly used on the others, and they died. The caustic must reach every part of the wound. At the expiration of the fourth month, the horse may be considered to be safe. TETANUS, OR LOCKED JAW. Trranus is one of the most dreadful and fatal diseases to which the horse is sub- jest. Itis called Lockep saw, because the muscles of the jaw are earliest affected, and the mouth is obstinately and immovably closed. It is a constant spasm of all the voluntary muscles, and particularly of those of the neck, the spine, and the head. It is generally slow and treacherous in its attack. ‘The horse, fora day or two, does not appear to be quite well; he does not feed as usual; he partly chews his food, and drops it; and he gulps his water. ‘The owner at length finds that the motion of the jaws is considerably limited, and some saliva is drivelling from the mouth. If he tries he can only open the mouth a very little way, or the jaws are perfectly and rigidly closed; and thus the only period at which the disease could have been suc- cessfully combated is lost. A cut of a horse labouring under this disease is here given, which the reader will do well to examine carefully. The first thing that strikes the observer is a protrusion of the muzzle, and stiffness of the neck; and, on passing the hand down it, the muscles will be found singularly promi- nent, distinct, hard, knotty, and unyielding. ‘There is difficulty in bringing the head round, and_ still greater difficulty in bend- ing it. The eye is drawn deep within the socket, and, in consequence of Ao =a 4 SS_=_ this, the fatty matter be- SS SS DS SSS hind the eye is pressed forward; the haw is also protruded, and there is an appearance of strabismus, or squinting, in an outward direction. The ears are erect, pointed forward, and immovable; if the horse is spoken to, or threatened to be struck, they change not their position. Considering the beautiful play of the ear of the horse when in health, and the kind of conversation which he inaintains by the motion of it, there is not a more characteristic symptom of tetanus than this immobility of the ear. The nostril is expanded to the utmost, and there is little or no play of it, as in hurried or even natural breathing. The respiration 1s usually accelerated, yet not always so; but it is uniformly laborious. The pulse gives little indication of the severity of the disease. It is sometimes scarcely affected. It will be rapidly accelerated when any one approaches the animal and offers to touch him, but it presently quiets down again almost to its natural standard. After a while, however, the heart begins to sympathise with the general excitation of the system and the pulse increascs in frequency and force until the animal becomes debilitated, when it beats yet quicker and quicker, but diminishes in power, and gradually flutters and dies away. 104 TETANUS, OR LOCKED IAW: The countenance is eager, anxious, haggard, and tells plainly enough what the animal suffers. The stiffness gradually extends to the back. If the horse is in a narrow stall, it is impossible to turn him ; and, even with room and scope enough, he turns altogether like a deal-board. The extremities begin to participate in the spasm—the hinder ones generally first, but never to the extent to which it exists in the neck and back. The horse stands with his hind legs straddling apart in a singularway. The whole of the limb moves, or rather is dragged on, together, and anxious care is taken that no joint shall be flexed more than can possibly be helped. The fore limbs have a singular appear ance; they are as stiff as they can possibly be, but stretched forward and straddling They have not unaptly been compared to the legs of a form. The abdominal muscles gradually become involved. They seem to contract with all the power they possess, and there is a degree of ‘ hide-bound” appearance, and of tucking up of the belly, which is seen under no other complaint. ‘The tail becomes in constant motion from the alternate and violent action of the muscles that elevate and depress it. Constipation, and to an almost insurmountable degree, now appears. The abdo- minal muscles are so powerfully contracted, that no portion of the contents of the abdomen can pass on and be discharged. By degrees the spasm extends and becomes everywhere more violent. The motion of the whole frame is lost, and the horse stands fixed in the unnatural posture which he has assumed. ‘The countenance becomes wilder and more haggard—its expression can never be effaced from the memory of him who cares about the feelings of a brute. The violent cramp of a single muscle, or set of muscles, makes the stoutest heart quail, and draws forth the most piteous cries—what, then, must it be for this torture to pervade the whole frame, and to continue, with little respite, from day to day, and from week to week! When his attendant approaches and touches him, he scarcely moves; but the despairing gaze, and the sudden acceleration of the pulse, indicate what he feels and fears. Tetanus then is evidently an affection of the nerves. A small fibre of some nerve has been injured, and the effect of that injury has spread to the origin of the nerve— the brain then becomes affected—and universal diseased action follows. Tetanus is spasm of the whole frame—not merely of one set of muscles, but of their antagonists also. The fixidity of the animal is the effect of opposed and violent muscular con- traction. It belongs to the lower column of nerves only. The sensibility is unim- paired—perhaps it is heightened. 'The horse would eat if he could; he tries to suck up some moisture from his mash; and the avidity with which he lends himself to assist in the administering of a little gruel, shows that the feelings of hunger and thirst remaain unimpaired. If the disease terminates fatally, it is usually from the sixth to the eighth day, when, if there has been no remission of the spasms, or only a slight one, the horse dies exhausted by hard work. The task extorted by the whip and spur of the most brutal sportsman is not to be compared with it. About or a little before this time, there are occasionally evident remissions. The spasm does not quite subside, but its force is materially lessened. The jaw is not sufficiently relaxed to enable the animal to eat or to drink, or for advantage to be taken of an opportunity for the administration of medicine, while the slightest dis- turbance or fright, recalls the spasmodic action with all its violence. If, however, the remission returns on the following day, and is a little lengthened, and particularly if there is more relaxation of the lower jaw, there yet is hope. If the patient should recover, it will be very slowly, and he will be left sadly weak, and a mere walking skeleton. On post-mortem examination the muscular fibre will exhibit sufficient proof of the Jabour which has been exacted from it. 'The muscles will appear as if they had been macerated — their texture will be softened, and they will be torn with the greatest ease. The lungs will, in the majority of cases, be highly inflamed, for they have been labouring long and painfully, to furnish arterial blood in sufficient quantity to support this great expenditure of animal power. The stomach will contain patches a TETANUS, "@k DOCKET JAW. 10 ef inflammation, but the intestines, in most cases, witl not exhibit much departure from the hue of health. ‘The examination of the brain will be altogether unsatisfac- tory. ‘There may be slight injection of some of the membranes, but, in the majority of cases, there will not be any morbid change worthy of record. Tetanus is usually the result of the injury of some nervous fibre, and the effect of that lesion propagated to the brain. The foot is the most frequent source or focus of tetanic injury. It has been pricked in shoeing, or wounded by something on the road. The horse becomes lame—the injury is carelessly treated, or not treated at all —the lameness, however, disappears, but the wound has not healed. There is an unhealthiness about it, and at the expiration of eight or ten days, tetanus appears. Some nervous fibre has been irritated or inflamed by the accident, slight as it was. Docking and nicking, especially when the stump was seared too severely in the former, or the bandage had not been loosened sufficiently early in the latter, used to be frequent causes of tetanus. It is frequently connected with castration, when the colt had not been properly prepared for the operation, or the searing-iron has been applied too severely, or the animal has been put to work too soon after the operation, or exposed to unusual cold. ‘The records of veterinary proceedings contain accounts of tetanus following labour, brutally exacted beyond the animal’s natural strength, in the draught of heavy loads. Horses that have been matched against time have too frequently died of tetanus a little while afterwards. Sudden exposure to cold after being heated by exercise has produced this dreadful state of nervous action, and especially if the horse has stood in a partial draught, or cold water nas been dripping on the loins. The treatment of tetanus is simple, and would be oftener successful if carried to its full extent. The indication of cure is plain enough—the system must be tranquillized. The grand agent in accomplishing this is the copious abstraction of blood. ‘There is not a more powerful sedative in cases of muscular spasm than venesection. A double purpose is effected. The determination of blood to the origins of the nerves, and by which they were enabled to secrete and to pour out this torrent of nervous influence, is lessened. The supply of blood to the muscular system is also diminished. ‘The pabulum of the nervous and muscular system—the life of both of them—the capability of acting in the one, and of being acted upon by the other, is taken away. The pro- per course to be pursued, whether theory or experience be consulted, is, on the first aecess of tetanus, to bleed, and to bleed until the horse falters or falls. No attention should be paid to any specific quantity of blood to be abstracted, but the animal should bleed on until he drops, or the pulse evidently falters. ‘Twenty pounds have been taken before the object of the practitioner was accomplished, but he never had occa- sion to repent of the course which he pursued. Inflammatory action like this must be subdued by the promptest and most efficient means; and there is one unerring ceuide —the pulse. -While that remains firm, the bleeding should continue. ‘The practi- tioner is attacking the disease, and not in the slightest degree hazarding the permanent strenoth of the patient. Next in order, and equal in importance, is physic. The profuse bleeding just recommended will generally relax the muscles of the jaw so far as to enable a dose of physic to be given. Eight or ten drachms of aloes should be administered. If the remission of the spasm is slight, there is another purgative— not so certain in its action, but more powerful when it does act—the farina of the Croton nut. There is little or no danger of exciting inflammation of the mucous membrane of the intestines by this prompt and energetic administration of purgative medicine, for there is too rauch determination of vital power towards the nervous system—too much irritation there—to leave cause for dreading the possibility of metastasis elsewhere. It would be desirable if a certain degree of inflammation could be excited, because to that extent the irritation of the nervous system might be allayed. There is another reason, and a very powerful one—time is rapidly passing. The tetanic action may extend tc the intestines, and the co-operation of the abdominal muscles in keeping up the peri staltic motion of the bowels, and expelling their contents, may be lost. ‘ : Clvsters will be useful in assisting the action of the purgative. A solution of Epsom salts will constitute the safest and best injection. As to medicine. opium is a) 106 CRAMP. not only a valuable drug, but it is that on which alone dependence can be placed ix this disease. It will be borne in doses, from half a drachm to two drachms. Blisters are completely out of the question in a disease the very essence of whicn is nervous irritability. The application of sheep-skins warm from the animal, and applied along the whole course of the spine, may somewhat unload the congested vessels of the part, and diminish the sufferings of the animal. ‘They should be renewed as soon as they become offensive, and the patient should be covered from the poll to the tail with double or treble clothing. There is one kind of external application that has not been so much used, or so highly valued as it deserves, — gentle friction with the hand over the course of the spine, beginning with the slightest possible pressure and never increasing it much. The horse is a little frightened at first, but he soon gets reconciled to it, and when at the same time an opiate liniment is used, relief has been obtained to a very marked ~ degree. oe thing should not be forgotten, namely, that a horse with locked jaw is as hungry as when in health, and every possible contrivance should be adopted to furnish him with that nutriment which will support him under his torture, and possibly enable him to weather the storm. If a pail of good gruel is placed within his reach, how will he nuzzle in it, and contrive to drink some of it too! If a thoroughly wet mash is placed before him in a pail, he will bury his nose in it, and manage to extract no small portion of nutriment. By means of a small horn, or a bottle with a very narrow neck, it will often be possible to give him a small quantity of gruel; but the flexible pipe that accompanies ttead’s patent pump will render this of easier accomplishment, for the nutriment may be administered without elevating the head of the horse, or inflicting on him the extreme torture which used to accompany the act of drenching. If the jaw is ever so closely clenched, the pipe may be introduced between the tushes and the grinders, and carried tolerably far back into the mouth, and any quantity of gruel or medicine introduced into the stomach. It will also be good practice to let a small portion of food be in the manger. The horse will not at first be able to take up the slightest quantity, but he will attempt to do so. Small portions may be placed between his grinders, and they will presently drop from his mouth, scarcely or at all masticated: but some good will be done— there is the attempt to put the muscles of the jaw to their properuse. On the follow- ing day he will succeed a little better, and make some trifling advance towards break- ing the chain of spasmodic action. Experience will teach the careful groom the value of these minutie of practice; and the successful termination of many a case may be traced to the careful nursing of the patient. When the horse is getting decidedly better, and the weather will permit, there can be no better practice than to turn him out for a few hours in the middle of the day. His toddling about will regain to him the use of his limbs; the attempt to stoop in order to graze will diminish the spasm in his neck; the act of grazing will relax the muscles of the jaws; and he can have no better food than the fresh grass. CRAMP. This is a sudden, involuntary and painful spasm of a particular muscle or set of muscles. It differs from tetanus in its shorter duration, and in its occasionally attack ing the muscles of organic life. It may be termed a species of transitory tetanus, affecting mostly the hind extremities. It is generally observed when the horse is first brough* out of the stable, and especially if he has been hardly worked. One of the legs appears stiff, inflexible, and is, to a slight degree, dragged after the animal. After he has proceeded a few steps, the stiffness nearly or quite disappears, or only 2, slight degree of lameness remains during the greater part of the day. Cramp proceeds from an accumulation of irritability in the muscles of the exten- sors, and is a sudden spasmodie action of them in order to balance the power whick. their antagonists have gained over them during the night. If a certain degree of lameness remains, the attendant on the horse should endea- vour to find out the muscle chiefly affected, which he may easily do by a feeling of hardness, or an exjression of pain. when he presses on the extensors of the hock STRINGHALT. 107 somewhat above that joint. He should then give plenty of good hand-rubbing, or a little more attention to the grooming generally, or a wider or more comfortable stall, as the circumstances of the case may appear to require. STRINGHALT. This is a sudden and spasmodic action of some of the muscles of the thigh when the horse is first led from the stable. One or both legs are caught up at every step with great rapidity and violence, so that the fetlock sometimes touches the belly; but, after the horse has been out a little while, this usually goes off and the natural action of the animal returns. In a few cases it does not perfectly disappear after exercise, but the horse continues to be slightly lame. Stringhalt is not a perfectly involuntary action of a certain muscle, or a certain set of muscles. The limb is flexed at the command of the will, but it acts to a greater extent and with more violence than the will had prompted. There is an accumula- tion of excitability in the muscle, and the impulse which should have called it into natural and moderate action causes it to take on a spasmodic and, perhaps, a painful one. Many ingenious but contradictory theories have been advanced in order to account for this peculiarity of gait. What muscles are concerned? Clearly those by which the thigh is brought under the belly, and the hock is flexed, and the pasterns are first flexed, and then extended. But by which of them is the effect principally produced ? What muscle, or, more properly, what nerve is concerned? Instead of entering imto any useless controversy on this point, a case shall be related, and one of the most interesting there is on record: the author was personally cognisani of every particular. Guildford, first called Roundhead, and then Landlord, was foaled in 1826. He was got by Hampden out of a Sir Harry Dimsdale mare. In 1828, and being two years old, and the property of the Duke of Richmond, he won a 50/. plate at Good , wood. In 1829, and belonging to Lord W. Lennox, he won 55 guineas at Hampton. Being then transferred to Mr. Coleman, he won 50 guineas at Guildford; and in the same year, having been purchased by Mr. Pearce, he won 60 guineas at Basing- stoke. In the course of this year stringhalt began to appear im a slight degree, and it evi- dently, although slowly, increased. There scon began to be a little difficulty in get- ting him off; but when he had once started, neither his speed nor his stoutness ap- peared to be in the slightest degree impaired. He continued on the turf until 1836, and won for his different owners seventeen races, the produce of which, exclusive of bets, amounted to 1435/, The difficulty and loss of advantage in starting had now increased to a degree which rendered it prudent to withdraw him from the turf, and he came into the pos- session of Dockeray, who used him for the purpose of leading the young horses that he had under training. This is well known to be hard work, and his rider was a man of some weight. In addition to this, he was generally hunted twice in the week. His first starting into a gallop had something singular about it. It was a horrible kind of convulsive action, and so violent that he frequently knocked off his shoes on the very day that they were put on: but when he got a little warmed, all this disap- peared. He gallopped beautifully, and was avery sure fencer. The sport, however, being over, and he returning to a slow pace, the stringhalt was as bad as ever. A* length the old horse became artful, and it was with great difficulty that he could he made to lead. Sometimes he refused it altogether. In consequence of this he was sent to St. Martin’s Lane, to be sold. The highest bidding for him was 3/. 14s., and the hero of the turf and the field was doomed to the omnibus. There he was cruelly used, and this spasmodic convulsion of his hind legs sadly aggravated his torture. The skin was presently rubbed from his shoulders, his hips and haunches were bruised in every part, and his stifles were continually and painfully coming in contact with the pole. ; Tn this situation he was seen by the veterinary surgeon to “* The Society for the Pre- vention of Cruelty to Animals.” There is a fund at the disposal of that society fc. the purchase of worn-out horses, who are immediately released from their misery by 108 STRINGHALT. the pole-axe of the knacker. The horse was bought for this purpose, another and taudable motive influencing the purchase,—the wish to ascertain what light the dis- section of an animal that had had stringhalt to such an aggravated extent, and for so long a period, would cast on the nature of this disease. The author of this work saw him a little while before he was slaughtered. He was still a noble-looking animal, and seemed to possess all his former strength and spirit unimpaired ; but he was sadly scarred all over, in consequence of his being put to a kind of work for which his spasmodic complaint so entirely incapacitated him. So aggravated a case of stringhalt had rarely been seen. Both hind legs were affected, and both in an equal degree; and the belly was forcibly struck by the pastern joints every time the hind feet were lifted. The belly and the pastern joint were both de- nuded of hair, in consequence of this constant battering. He was destroyed by the injection of prussic acid into the jugular vein, and the dissection of him was conducted by Professor Spooner, of the Royal Veterinary Col- lege. ‘On taking off the skin, all the muscles presented their perfect healthy character. There was not the slightest enlargement or discolouration of the fascie. The mus- cles of both extremities were dissected from their origins to their tendinous termina- ticns, and their fibrous structure carefully examined. They were all beautifully de- veloped, presenting no inequality or igregularity of structure, nor aught that would warrant the suspicion that any one of them possessed an undue power or influence beyond the others. The only abnormal circumstance about them was that they were of a rather darker yellow in colour than is usually found. This referred to them gen- erally, and not to any particular muscle or sets of muscles. The lumbar, crural, and sciatic nerves were examined from the spot at which they emerge from the spinal cord to their ultimate distributions. The crural and lumbar nerves were perfectly healthy. ‘The sciatic nerve, at the aperture through which it escapes from the spine, was darker in colour than is usual, being of a yellowish- brown hue. Its texture was softened, and its fibrille somewhat loosely connected together. The nerve was of its usual size; but on tracing it in its course through the muscles of the haunch, several spots of ecchymosis presented themselves, and were more particularly marked on that part of the nerve which is connected with the sacro-sciatic ligament. As the nerve approached the hock, it assumed its natural colour and tone; and the fibres given cf from it to the muscles situated inferior to the stifle-joint were of a perfectly heaithy character. On dissecting out a portion of the nerve where it appeared to be in a diseased state, it was found that this ecchymosis was confined to the membranous investiture of the nerve, and that its substance, when pressed from its sheath, presented a perfectly natural character. The cavity of the cranium, and the whole extent of the spinal canal, were next laid open. ‘The brain and the spinal marrow were deprived of their membranous cover- ings, and both the thece and their contents diligently examined. There was no lesion in any part of them, not even at the lumbar region. The articulations of every joint of the hind extremities, then underwent inspection, and no disease could be detected in either of them. Professor Spooner was of opinion that this peculiar affection was not referrible to any diseased state of the brain or spinal cord, nor to any local affection of the mus- cles of the limbs, but simply to a morbid affection of the sciatic nerve. He had not dissected a single case of stringhalt in which he had not found disease of this nerve, which mainly contributes to supply the hind extremities with sensation and the power of voluntary motion. Now comes a very important question. What connexion is there between string- halt and the supposed value or deterioration of the horse? Some experienced prac- titioners have maintained that it is a pledge of more than usual muscular power. It is 2 common saying that ‘* there never was a horse with stringhalt that was incapa- ble of doing the work required of him.” Most certainly we continually meet with horses having stringhalt that pleasantly discharge all ordinary, and even extraordi- nary, service; and although stringhalt is excess or irregular distribution of nervcus power, it at least shows the existence of that power, and the capability in the mus PA Siye: 109 cular system of being acted upon by it. Irregular distributions of vital energy are not, however, things to be desired. They argue disease and derangement of the sys- tem, and a predisposition to greater derangement. They materially interfere with the speed of the horse. This was decidedly the case with regard to the poor fellow whose history has been related. Stringhalt is decided unsoundness. It is an irregular supply of the nervous influ- ence, or a diseased state of the nervous or muscular system, or both. It prevents us from suddenly and at once calling upon the horse for the full exercise of his speed and power, and therefore it is wnsowndness ; but generally speaking, it so little inter- feres with the services of the animal, that although an unsoundness, it would not weigh a great deal against other manifest valuable qualities. CHORKEA. This is a convulsive, involuntary twitching of some muscle or set of muscles. A few, and very few, cases of it in the horse are recorded. Professor Gohier relates one in which it attacked both fore legs, and especially the left, but the affection was not consta:.t. During five or six mimutes the spasms were most violent, so that the horse was scarcely able to stand. The convulsions then became weaker, the inter- val between them increased, and at length theg disappeared, leaving a slight but tem- porary lameness. All means of cure were fruitlessly tried, and the disease continued until the horse died of some other complaint. In another case it followed sudden suppression of the discharge of glanders and disappearance of the enlarged glands. This also was intermittent during the life of the animal. FITS, OR OEPILEPSY. The stream of nervous influence is sometimes rapid, or the suspensions are consid erable. This is the theory of Firs, or Epinersy. Fortunately the horse is not often afflicted with this disease, although it is not unknown to the breeder. The attack is not sudden. The animal stops—trembles—looks vacantly around him, and ialls. Occasionally the convulsions that follow are slight; at other times they are terrible. The head and fore part of the horse are most affected, and the contortions are very singular. Ina few minutes the convulsions cease; he gets up; looks around him with a kind of stupid astonishment; shakes his ears; urines; and eats or drinks as if nothing had happened. | The only hope of cure consists in discovering the cause of the fits; and an expe- rienced practitioner must be consulted, if the animal is valuable. Generally speaking, however, the cause is so difficult to discover, and the habit of having fits is so soon formed, and these fits will so frequently return, even at a great distance of time, that he who values his own safety, or the lives of his family, will cease to use an epilep- tic horse. PALSY. The stream of nervous influence is sometimes stopped, and thence results palsy. The power of the muscle is unimpaired, but the nervous energy is deficient. In the human being, general palsy sometimes occurs. The whole body—every organ of motion and of sense is paralysed. The records of our practice, however, do not afford us a single instance of this; but of partial paralysis there are several cases, and most untractable ones they were. The cause of them may be altogether unknown. In the human being there is yet another distinction, Hemiplegia and Paraplegia. In the former the affection is confined to one side of the patient; in the latter the poste- rior extremity on both sides is affected. Few cases of hemiplegia occur in the horse, and they are more manageable than those of paraplegia; but if the affection is not removed, they usually degenerate into paraplegia before the death of the animal. It would appear singular that this should be the most common form of palsy in the human being, and so rarely seen in the quadruped. There are some considerations, however, that will partly account for this. Palsy in the horse usually proceeds from injury of the spinal cord; and that cord is more developed, and far larger than in tho human being. It is more exposed to injury, and to injury that will affect not one side only but the whole of the cord. 10 11¢ RHEUMATISM. Palsy in the horse yenerally attacks the hind extremities. The reason of this is nlain. “The fore limbs are attached to the trunk by a dense mass of highly elastic substance. ‘This was placed between the shoulder-blade and the ribs for the purpose of preventing that concussion, which would be annoying and even dangerous to the norse or his rider. Except in consequence of a fall, there is scarcely the possibility af any serious injury to the anterior portion of the spine. The case is very different with regard to the hind limbs and their attachment to the trunk; they are necessa- rily liable to many a shock and sprain injurious to the spine and its contents. ‘The loins and the back oftenest exhibit the lesions of palsy, because there are some of the most violent muscular efforts, and there is the greatest movement and the least support. It may consequently be taken as an axiom to guide the judgment of the practitioner that palsy in the horse almost invariably proceeds from disease or injury of the spine. On inquiry it is almost invariably found that the horse had lately fallen, or had been worked exceedingly hard, or that, covered with perspiration, he had been left exposed to cold and wet. It commences generally in one hind leg, or perhaps both are equally affected. The animal can scarcely walk—he walks on his fetlocks instead of his soles—he staggers at every motion. At length he falls. He is raised with difficulty, or he never rises again@ The sensibility of the part seems for a while to be dreadfully increased ; but, in general, this gradually subsides—it sinks below the usual standard—it ceases altogether. If he is examined after death, there will usually, about the region of the loins, be inflammation of the membranes of the spinal cord, or of the cord itself. The medul- lary matter will be found of a yellow colour, or injected with spots of blood, or it will be softened, and have become semifluid. The treatment is simple enough. It should commence with bleeding, and, as has heen already recommended in inflammatory cases, until the circulation is evidently affected — until the pulse begins to falter or the horse to reel. ‘To this should follow a dose of physic—strong compared with the size of the animal. The Joins should be covered with a mustard poultice frequently renewed. The patient should be warmly clothed, supplied plentifully with mashes, but without a grain of corn in them; and frequent injections should be had recourse to. This will soon render it evident whether the patient will recover or die. If favourable symptoms appear, the horse must not be in the slightest degree neglected, nor the medical treatment suspended. There is no disease in which the animal is more liable to a relapse, or where a relapse would be so fatal. No misapprehension of the disease, or false humanity, should induce the attendant to give the smallest quantity of corn or of tonie medicine. Palsy in the horse is an inflammatory complaint, or the result of inflammation. If the heat and tenderness are abating, and the animal regains, to a slight degree, the use of his limbs, or if it is becoming a case of chronic palsy, an extensive and stimulating charge over the loins should be immediately applied. It will accomplish three purposes: there will be the principle of counter-irritation—a defence against the cold—and a useful support of the limbs. RHEUMATISM. It is only of late years that this has been admitted into the list of the diseases of the horse, although it is in truth a very common affection. It is frequent in old horses that have been early abused, and among younger ones whose powers have been severely taxed. The lameness is frequently excessive, and the pain is evidently excruciating. The animal dares not to rest the slightest portion of its weight on the limb, or even to touch the ground with his toe. He is heaving at the flanks, sweat- ing profusely, his countenance plainly indicative of the agony he feels; but there is at first no heat, or swelling, or tenderness. With proper treatment, the pain and the lameness gradually disappear; but in other instances the fascie of the muscles become thickened — the ligaments are also thickened and rigid — the capsules of the joint are loaded with a glairy fluid, and the joint is evidently enlarged. This is simply rheumatism; but if it is neglected, palsy soon associates itself with, or suc- ceeds to, the complaint; and the loss of nervous power follows the difficulty or pain of moving. . NEUROTOMY. 11] Every horseman will recollect cases in which the animal that seemed on the pre- reding day to be perfectly sound becomes decidedly lame, and limps as though he tad lost the use of his limbs; yet there is no thickening of the tendons, nor any external inflammatory action to show the seat of the complaint. Mr. Cooper, of Coleshill, relates a case very applicable to the present subject. A farmer purchased a horse, to all appearance sound, and rode him home —a distance of ten miles. He was worked on the two following days, without showing the least lameness. On the third day it was with great difficulty that he managed to limp out of the stable. Mr. Cooper was sent for to examine him. The horse had clean legs and excellent feet. The owner would have him blistered all around. It was done. ‘The horse was turned out to grass for two months, and came up perfectly sound. ‘The weather soon afterwards became wet and cold, and the hotse again was lame; in fact, it presently appeared that the disease was entirely influenced by the changes of the atmosphere. “Thus,” adds Mr. C., “in the summer a horse of this description will be mostly sound, while in the winter he will be generally lame.” An account of acute rheumatism, by Mr. Thompson, of Beith, is too valuable to be omitted :—‘* I have had,”’ says he, ‘fourteen cases of this disease. The muscles of the shoulders and arms were generally the parts affected. The cure was effected in a few days, and consisted of a good bleeding‘from the jugular, and a sharp purge. ‘One of these cases was uncommonly severe. The disease was in the back and loins. The horse brought forward his hind-legs under his flanks, roached his back, and drew up his flanks with a convulsive twitch accompanied by a piteous groan, almost every five minutes. The sympathetic fever was alarming, the pulse was 90, and there was obstinate constipation of the bowels. The horse literally roared aloud if any one attempted to shift him in the stall, and groaned excessively when lying. He was bled almost to fainting ; and three moderate doses of aloes were given in the course of two days. Injections were administered, and warm fomentations were frequently applied to the back and loins. On the third day the physic operated briskly, accompanied by considerable nausea and reduction of the pulse. From that time the animal gradually recovered. «‘ These horses are well fed, and always in good condition; but they are at times worked without merey, which perhaps makes them so liable to these attacks.” NEUROTOMY. To enable the horse to accomplish many of the tasks we exact from him, we have nailed on his feet an iron defence. Without the protection of the shoe, he would not only be unable to travel over our hard roads, but he would speedily become useless tous. While, however, the iron protects his feet from being battered and bruised, it is necessarily inflexible. It cramps and confines the hoof, and often, without great care, entails on our valuable servant bad disease and excessive torture. The division of the nerve, as a remedy for intense pain in any part of the frame, was systematically practised by human surgeons more than a century ago. Mr. Mooreeroft has the honour of introducing the operation of neurotomy in the veterinary school. He had long devoted his powerful energies to the discovery of the causes and the cure of lameness in the fore-foot of the horse. It was a subject worthy of him, for it involved the interest of the proprietor and the comfort of the slave. He found that, partly from the faulty construction of the shoe, and more from the premature and cruel exaction of labour, the horse was subject to a variety of diseases of the foot: all of them accompanied by a greater or less degree of pain— often of a very intense nature, and ceasing only with the life of the animal. He frequently met with a strangely formidable disease, in what was called “ coffin- joint lameness,” but to which Mr. James Turner afterwards gave the very appropriate name of ‘“navicular-joint disease.” It was inflammation of the synovial membrane, either of the flexor tendon or navicular bone, or both, where the tendon plays over that bone; and it was accompanied by pain, abrasion, and gradual destruction of these parts. For a long time'he was foiled in every attempt which he made to remove or ever to alleviate the disease. At length he turned his thoughts to the probability of sub 112 NEUROTOMY. . duing the increased sensibility of the part, by diminishing the proportion of nervous influence distributed on the foot. He laid bare one of the metacarpal nerves, and divided it with a pair of scissors. There was always an immediate and decided diminution of the lameness, and, sometimes, the horse rose perfectly sound. ‘This nappy result, however, was not always permanent, for the lameness returned after the lapse of a few weeks, or on much active exertion. He next cut out a small piece of the nerve. The freedom from lameness was of longer duration, but it eventually returned. He then tried a bolder experiment. He excised a portion of the nerves going both to the inner and outer metacarpals. We transcribe his own account of the result of the first case of complete neurotomy—excision of the nerve on both sides of the leg-- that ever was performed. “The animal, on rising, trotted boldly and without lameness, but now and then stumbled with the foot operated on. The wounds healed in a few days, and the patient was put to grass. Some weeks afterwards a favourable account was received of her soundness; but she was soon brought again to us, on account of a large sore on the bottom of the foot operated on, and extending from the point of the frog to the middle and back part of the pastern. The mare, in galloping over some broken glass bottles, had placed her foot upon a fragment of the bottom of one of them, and which had cut its way through the frog and tendon into the joint, and stuck fast in the joint for some seconds, while the animal continued its course apparently regardless of injury. The wound bled profusely, but the mare was not lame. Many days had elapsed before I saw her, and large masses of loose flesh were cut from the edges of the wound, without the animal showing the slightest sign of suffering pain. The processes usually attending sores went on, with the same appearances that teok place in sores of parts not deprived of sensibility. ‘Such extensive injury, however, had been done to the joint as rendered the preservation of free motion in it very impro- bable, even were the opening to close, which was a matter of doubt, and therefore she was destroyed. It appeared clearly from this, that by the destruction of sensibility the repairing powers of the purt were not injured; but that the natural guard against injury being taken away by the division of both the nerves, an accident was rendered destructive which, in the usual condition of the foot, might have been less injurious.”’* The cut in the next page|gives a view of the nerve on the inside of the leg, as it approaches the fetlock. It will be seen that branches are given off above the fetlock, which go to the fore part of the foot and supply it with feeling. The continuation of the nerve below the fetlock is given principally to the quarters and hinder part of the foot. The grand consideration, then, with the operator is—does he wish to deprive the whole of the foot of sensation, or is the cause of lameness principally in the hinder part of the foot, s0 that he can leave some degree of feeling in the fore part, and prevent that alteratipn in the tread and going of the horse, which the horse- man so much dislikes ? The horse must be cast anf secured, and the limb to be operated on removed from the hobbles and extended —-the hair having been previously shaved from the part. The operator then feels for the throbbing of the artery, or the round firm body of the nerve itself, on the side of the shank bone or the larger pastern. The vein, artery, and nerve here run close together, the vein nearest to the front of the leg, then the artery, and the nerve behind. He cautiously cuts through the skin for an inch and a half in length. The vessels will then be brought into view, and the nerve will be distinguished from them ly its lying behind the others, and by its whiteness. A crooked needle, armed wit) silk, is then passed under it, in order to raise it a little. It is dissected from the cellular substance beneath, and about three quarters of an inch of it cut out,—the first incision being made at the upper part, in which case the second incision will not be felt. The horse must then be turned, and the operation per- formed on the other side; for there is a nervous trunk on both sides. The wounds are now Closed with strips of adhesive plaster, a bandage placed over them, the head tied up for a couple of days, and the animal kept rather low, and as quiet as pos- sible. The incisions will generally rapidly heal; and in three weeks or a month, and sometimes earlier, the horse will be fit for work. * Veterinarian, vol. ix. p. 363. NEUROTOMY. 113 A The metacarpal nerve on the inside of the off leg at the edge of the shank bone, and behind the vein and artery. B The continuation of the same nerve on the pastern, and pro- ceeding downward to supply the back part of the foot with feeling. A. © The division of the nerve on the fetlock joint. MD hea branch which supplies with feeling the fore part of the oot. E The artery between the vein and nerve. —k F The continuation of the artery on the pastern, close to, and before the nerve. G The vein before the artery and nerve. H The same vein spreading over the pastern. I One of the flexor tendons, the perforatus (perforated). J The deeper flexor tendon, the perforans (perforating, contained within the other). IX The tendinous band in which the flexors work. L One of the extensors of the foot. M The internal or sensible frog. N The posterior lateral ligament. O The fleshy or sensible lamina covering the coffin bone, the horny crust being removed. P The horny crust. Q The sole. meh iy — aif ~N For ring-bone—the side cartilages becoming bony, and there heing partial stiffness of the pastern and coffin joints—the operation of nerving will probably be beneficial. The sense of pain being taken away, the animal will use these parts more, and they will gradually recover their natural action and motion. For the same reason, in old contraction of the feet, it is highly beneficial. ‘The torture occasioned by the pressuge of the horny crust on the sensible parts within being no longer felt, and the foot com- ing fully and firmly in contact with the ground, not only is lameness relieved, but the elasticity and form of the foot partially restored. Where lameness has long existed, unattended with heat of the foot or alteration of shape, and the seat of which could not be ascertained, although probably existing between the navicular bone and the back tendon that plays over it, neurotomy may be resorted to with decided advantage. Mischief, however, will result from the operation if the pastern or coffin joints are perfectly stiff, because the concussion occasioned by the forcible contact of the foot with the ground, and unbroken by the play of the joints, must necessarily still more injure the bone. When the sole of the foot is convex or puziced, the eflect-of neuro- tomy will be most destructive. The sole scarcely able to bear the pressure of the coffin-bone, even when pain induces the animal to put his foot as gently as possible on the ground, being forced below its natural situation, would be speedily worn through and destroyed. So if inflammation existed, although its pain might be removed, yet its progress would be quickened by the bruising to which the parts might be sub- jected; and more especially would this be the case, if there was any ulceration of the lizaments or cartilages. i The unfettered shoe of Mr. Turner being adopted, at least so far as we can have it nfettered —attached to the foot on one side alone, and the inner quarter being left free—the foot gradually regains its original healthy form, and, when, in process of time, a new portion of nerve is produced, and the sensibility of the foot re-established, the horse continues to be sound. ‘To some extent, immediate good effect is produced as it regards the actual disease. We remove that general constitutional irritability which long-continued pain occasions, and which heightens and perpetuates local dis- ease. We obtain for the patient an interval of repose, and every local ailment soon subsides or disappears, and the whole constitution become invigorated. Mr. Percivall relates two valuable cases of this. A mare with contracted feet was 10* P 114 NEUROTOMY. never subiect to periodical estrum, and her owner lamented in vain that he could not breed from her. She underwent the operation of neurotomy, and became an excellent brood mare. A stallion with many a good point about him was useless in the stud: he was suffering from some disease in the feet. A portion of the nerve was excised— his constitution underwent a complete change, and he became sire to a numerous and valuable progeny. , By the operation of neurotomy we destroy pain; and we may safely calculate on the simple efiect of that, whether local or constitutional ; and, limiting our expecta tions to this, we shall rarely be disappointed. The operation of neurotomy having been performed, has the veterinary surgeon nothing else to dot He has got rid of the pain which attended the ossified cartilage —the ring-bone and the anchylosis of the pastern and the coffin-joints; shall he be eatisfied with the benefit he has obtained, great as itis? He will, or he should now try whether his former means and appliances have not more power. He will see whether, by means of his blister or his firing-iron—the effect of which humanity for- hade him to put to the full test before—he cannot rouse the absorbents to increased and more efficient action, and not only arrest the progress of the bony tumour, but remove it. He will not merely suffer the usefulness of his patient to depend on the continued suspension of feeling, but he will assure it by the partial or total removal of the morbid growth. ® In contraction of the foot, shall he be satisfied with removing the agony occasioned by the constant pressure of the horn on the sensitive substance interposed between it and the coffin-bone? Shall he leave future improvement to the slow process of nature, or shall he not take advantage of the insensibility which he has produced, and pare the sole thoroughly out, and rasp the quarters to the very quick, and apply the unfettered shoe? When he has produced a disposition to contraction, and some degree of it, should he not actively blister the coronets, and use all other fitting means to hasten the growth of the horn to its pristine dimensions and its original quality ? In navicular disease, after he has removed, by the application of neurotomy, that irritation which had so much to do with the perpetuation, if not the origin, of the complaint, should he not, with the assured hope of success, pass his seton needle through the frog, in order to get rid of every remaining lurking tendency to inflamma- tion? The blister and the firing-iron will have as much power in abating inflamma- tion and producing a healthy state of the foot, after that foot had been rendered insen- sible to pain, as it had before. We should fearlessly say that it would have much more effect, one grand source of irritation having been removed. The veterinary sur geon and the owner of the horse are becoming more and more convinced of this ; and the dawning of a better day has commenced. ; The principle of neurotomy is plain and simple—it zs the removal of pain. 'Taken on this ground, it is a noble operation. It is that in which every friend of humanity will rejoice. It may be abused. If no auxiliary means are adopted—if in canker or quittor, or inflammation of the laminw, no means are used to lessen the concussion and the pressure—the destruction of the part and the utter ruin of the horse are the inevitable consequences. The primary result is the removal of pain. It is for the operator to calculate the bearing of this on the actual disease, and the future usefulness of the animal. On the question of the reproduction of the nerves there is no doubt. A horse is fame, and he undergoes the operation of neurotomy. At the expiration of a certain time the lameness returns, and he is probably destroyed. In the majority of cases it is found that the nerves had united, or rather that a new veritable nervous substance had been interposed. The time at which this is effected is unknown. There have not been any definite experiments on the point. Can the horse that has undergone the operation of neurotomy be afte: wards passea as sound? Most certainly not. There is altered, impaired structure; there is impaired action ; and there is the possibility of the return of lameness at some indefi- nite period. He has been diseased. He possibly is diseased now; but the pain being removed, there are no means by which the mischief can always be indicated. Beside, by the very act of neurotomy, he is peculiarly exposed to various injuries and effections of the foot from which he would otherwise escape. INSANITY. 115 PNSAN EE Y.. There is no doubt that the animals which we have subjugated possess many of the same mental faculties as the human being—volition, memory, attachment, gratitude, resentment, fear, and hatred. Who has not witnessed the plain and manifest display of these principles and feelings in our quadruped dependants? The simple possession of these faculties implies that they may be used for purposes good or bad, and that, as in the human being, they may be deranged or destroyed by a multitude of causes which it is not necessary to particularise. In the quadruped as in the biped, the lesion or destruction of a certain part of the brain may draw after it the derangement, or dis- turbance, or perversion of a certain faculty of the mind. It is only because the mental faculties, and good as well as bad properties of the inferior beings, have been so lately observed and acknowledged, that any doubt on this point can for a moment be entertained. ‘The disordered actions, the fury, the caprices, the vices, and more par- ticularly the frenzy and total. abandonment of reason, which are occasionally shown by the brute, are in the highest degree analogous to certain acts of insanity in man. It is merely to complete our subject that they are here introduced. The reader is indebted to Professor Rodet, of Toulouse, for the anecdotes which follow :—A horse, seven years old, was remarkable for an habitual air of stupidity, and a peculiar wandering expression of countenance. When he saw anything that he had not been accustomed to, or heard any sudden or unusual noise, whether it was near or at a distance, or sometimes when his corn was thrown into the manger with- out the precaution of speaking to him or patting him, he was frightened to an almost incredible degree; he recoiled precipitately, every limb trembled, and he struggled violently to escape. After several useless efforts to get away, he would work him- self into the highest degree of rage, so that it was dangerous to approach him. This state of excitement was followed by dreadful convulsions, which did not cease until he had broken his halter, or otherwise detached himself from his trammels. He would then become caim, and suffer himself to be led back to his stall: nor would anything more be seen but an almost continual inquietude, and a wandering and stupid expression of countenance. He had belonged to a brutal soldier, who had beaten him shamefully, and before which time he had been perfectly quiet and tractable. A Piedmontese officer possessed a beautiful and in other respects serviceable mare, but which one peculiarity rendered exceedingly dangerous—that was a decided aver- sion to paper, which she recognised the moment she saw it, and even in the dark if two leaves were rubbed together. The effect produced by the sight or sound of it was so prompt and violent, that she severaltimes unhorsed her rider. She had not the slightest fear of objects that would terrify most horses. She regarded not the music of the band, the whistling of the balls, the roaring of the cannon, the fire of the bivouacs, or the glittering of arms. The confusion and noise of an engagement made no impression upon her; the sight of no other white object affected her. No other sound was regarded; but the view or the rustling of paper roused her to madness. : A mare was perfectly manageable and betrayed no antipathy to the human being, nor to other animals, nor to horses, except they were of a light-grey colour; but the moment she saw a grey horse, she rushed towards it, and attacked it with the greatest fury. It was the same at all times, and everywhere. She was all that could be wished on the parade, on the route, in the ranks, in action, and in the stable; but if she once caught a glimpse of a grey or white horse, she rested not until she had thrown her rider or broken her halter, and then she rushed on her imagined foe with the greatest fury. She generally contrived to seize the animal by the head or throat, and held him so fast that she would suffocate him, if he were not promptly released from her bite. ‘ Another niare exhibited no terror except of white inanimate objects, as white man- tles or coats, and particularly white plumes. She would fly from them if she could ; but if she was unable to accomplish this, she would rush furiously upon them, strike at them with her fore feet, and tear them with her teeth. These instances are selected from various others, because they approach so nearly to what would be termed insanity in the human being. It is confined to one objeci,—. 116 DISEASES OF THE EYE, &c. it is a species of monomania, and as decided insanity as ever the biped discovered. One of these horses, the second, was by long and kind attention divested of this insane terror, and became perfectly quiet and useful; but the other three bid defiance to all means of cure and to coercion among the rest. If sufficient attention were paid to the subject, many of the obstinate caprices and inexplicable aversions which we can neither conquer nor change would be classed under the term insanity. There cannot be a more remarkable analogy than that which sometimes exists between the insanity of man and these singularly capricious fancies in animals. The subject is worthy of attention. Has the principle of hereditary predisposition been applied to any of these anomalies ? DISEASES OF THE EYE. The diseases of the eye constitute a very important, but a most unsatisfactory divi- sion of our work, for the maladies of this organ, although few in number, are frequent in their appearance. They are sadly obstinate, and often baffle all skill, We have spoken of rracture of the orbit, and its treatment. Occasionally a wound is inflicted by a passionate or careless servant. The eye itself is rarely injured. It is placed on a mass of fat, and it turns most readily, and the prong of the fork glances off; but the substance round the eye may be deeply wounded, and very considerable inflammation may ensue. This should be abated by poultices, and bleeding, and physic; but no probe should be used under the foolish idea of ascertaining the depth of the wound in the lid, supposing that there should be one, for, from the constant motion of the eye, it is almost impossible to pass the probe into the original wound, and the effort to accomplish it would give a great deal of pain, and increase the inflammation. The eyelids are subject to occasional inflammation from blows or other injuries. Fomentation with warm water will be serviceable here. The horse has occasionally a scaly eruption on the edges of the eyelids, attended with great itching, in the effort to allay which, by rubbing the part, the eye may be blemished. The nitrated ointment of quicksilver, mixed with an equal quantity of lard, may be slightly rubbed on the edges of the lids with considerable good effect. ' The eyelids will sometimes become edematous. Horses that are fed in low and humid pastures are subject to this. It is also the consequence of inflammation badly treated. ‘The eyelids are composed of a lax structure, and the tissue is somewhat deficient in vitality—hence this disposition to enfiltration. Sometimes the collection of fluid accumulates so rapidly, and so extensively, that the eyes are closed. They should be well bathed with warm water mingled with an aromatic tincture. The cellular substance of the lids will thus be disposed to contract. on their contents and cause their absorption. Old carriage horses are subject to this edema; and it frequently accompanies both chronic and common ophthalmia. Weakness and dropping of the upper lid is caused by diminution or loss of power in its muscles. Dry frictions and aromatic lotions will frequently restore the tone of the parts. The eyelids are subject to occasional injury from their situation and office. In small incised wounds of them great care should be taken that the divided edges unite by the first intention. This will hasten the cure, and prevent deformity. If any of the muscles are divided, it is usually the ciliary or orbicularis palpebrarum. ‘This lesion must be healed, if possible, by the first intention, and either by means of adhe sive plaster or the suture. The suture is probably the preferable agent. Suppurating wounds in the eyelids may be the consequence of the necessary abstrac- tion of a considerable surface of the skin, in the removal of warts ertumours. The principal thing to be attended to is the frequent removal of the pus by means of tcw or cotton wool. The rest may generally be left to nature. Inversion of the lids is of very rare occurrence in the horse. Warts are sometimes attached to the edges of the lids, and are a source of great irritation. When rubbed they bleed, and the common opinion is true—that they are propagated by the blood. They should be taken off with a sharp pair of scissors, and their roots touched with the lunar caustic. SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA. 117 The membrane which covers the Haw is subject to inflam:uati n. Tt is, indeed, a continuation of the conjunctiva, the inflammation of which constitutes ophthalmia An account of this inflammation will be better postponed until the nature and treat ment of ophthalmia come under particular notice. The Haw, or Membrana Nictitans, is subject to inflammation peculiar to itself, aris- ‘ng from the introduction of foreign bodies, or from blows or other accidents. The entire substance of the haw becomes inflamed. It swells and protrudes from the nner angle of the eye. ‘The heat and redness gradually disappear, but the membrane often continues to protrude. ‘The inflammation of this organ often assumes a chronic - character in a very short time, on account of the structure of the parts, which are in general little susceptible of reaction. The ordinary causes of this disease in the horse are repeated and periodical at- tacks of ophthalmia, and blows on the part. Young and old horses are most subject to it. Emollient applications, bleeding, and restricted diet will be proper at the com- mencement of the disease, and, the inflammation heing abated, slight astringents will be useful in preventing the engorgement of the part. Rose-water with subacetate of lead will form a proper collyrium. If the protruding body does not diminish after proper means have been tried, and for a sufficient period, it must be removed with a curved pair of scissors. No danger will attend this operation if it is performed in time; but if it is neglected, ulceration of the part and the growth of fungous vegeta- tions will give a serious character to the affair. A second operation may also be necessary, and even a third, and fungus hematodes will probably be established. Ulceration and caries of the cartilage will sometimes be accompanied by ulcera- tion of the conjunctiva. This will frequently prove a very serious affair, demanding, at least, the removal of the haw. The Caruncula Lacrymalis, or Tuberele, by means of which the tears are directed into the canal through which they are to escape from the nostril, is sometimes en- larged in consequence of inflammation, and the Puncta Lacrymalia, or conduits into which the tears pass from the eye, are partially or completely closed. ‘The applica- tion of warm and emollient lotions will generally remove the collected mucus or the inflammation of the parts; but if the passage of a stylet or other more complicated means are required, the assistance of a veterinary surgeon should be immediately obtained. The lacrymal sac into which the tears pass from the puncta has occasion- ally participated in the inflammation, and been distended and ruptured by the tears and mucus. This lesion is termed Fistula Lacrymalis. It has occasionally existed in colts, and will require immediate and peculiar treatment. COMMON INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE. The conjunctiva is occasionally the seat of great disease, and that which is to» often destructive to the eye. Inflammation of the eye may be considered under two forms—the common and manageable, and the specific and fatal. The Common In- flammation is generally sudden in its attack. The lids will be found swelled and the eyes partially closed, and some weeping. ‘The inside of the lid will be red, some red streaks visible on the white of the eye, and the cornea slightly dim. This is oceasionally connected with some degree of catarrh or cold; but it is as often unaccompanied by this, and depends on external irritation, as a blow, or the presence of a bit of hay-seed or oat-husk within the lid, and towards the outer corner where the haw cannot reach it: therefore the lids should always be carefully examined as to this possible source of the complaint. The health of the animal is generally un- affected—he feeds well, and performs his work with his usual spirit. Cooling appli- cations to the eye, as the Goulard’s extract or tincture of opium, with mash-diet, and gentle physie, will usually abate the evil; or the inflammation will subside without medical treatment. SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA, OR MOON-BLINDNESS. Should three or four days pass, and the inflammation not be abated, we may begin © suspect that it is Ophthalmia, especially if the eye is very impatient of light, and the cornea is considerably clouded. The aqueous humour then often loses tts trane- 118 SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA. arency—cven the iris changes its colour, and the pupil is exccedingly contracted [he veterinary surgeon has now an obstinate disease to combat, and one that will generally maintain its ground in spite of all his efforts. For three, or four, or five weeks, the inflammation will remain undiminished ; or if it appears to yield on one day, it will return with redoubled violence on the next. At length, and often uneon- nected with any of the means that have been used, the eye begins to bear the light, the redness of the menibrane of the lid disappears, the cornea clears up, and the only vestige of disease which remains is a slight thickening of the lids and apparent un- easiness when exposed to a very strong light. If the owner imagines that he has got rid of the disease, he will be sadly disap- pointed, for, in the course of six weeks or two months, either the same eye under- goes a second and similar attack, or the other one becomes affected. All again seems to pass over, except that the eye is not so perfectly restored, and a slighty deeply-seated cloudiness begins to appear; and after repeated attacks, and alterna- tions of disease from eye to eye, the affair terminates in opacity of the lens or its eap- sule, attended with perfect blindness either of one eye or both. his affection was formerly known by the name of moon-blindness, from its periodical return, and some supposed influence of the moon. ‘That body, however, has not, and cannot have any- thing to do with it. What is the practitioner doing all this while? He is an anxious and busy, but almost powerless spectator. He foments the eyes with warm water, or applies cold lotions with the extract of lead or opium, or poultices to which these drugs may be * added; he bleeds, not from the temporal artery, for that does not supply the orbit of the eye, but from the angular vein at the inner corner of the eye, or he scarifies the lining of the lid, or subtracts a considerable quantity of blood from the jugular vein. The scarifying of the conjunctiva, which may be easily accomplished with- out a twitch, by exposing the inside of the lids, and drawing a keen lancet slightly over them, is the most effectual of all ways to abate inflammation, for we are then immediately unloading the distended vessels. He places his setons in the cheek, or his rowels under the jaw; and he keeps the animal low, and gives physic or fever medicine (digitalis, nitre, and emetic tartar.) The disease, however, ebbs and flows, retreats and attacks, until it reaches its natural termination, blindness of one or both eyes. The horse is more subject to this disease from the age of four to six years than at any other period. He has then completed his growth. He is full of blood, and liable to inflammatory complaints, and the eye is the organ attacked from a peculiaz predisposition in it to inflammation, the nature or cause of which cannot always be explained. Every affection of the eye appearing about this age must be regarded with much suspicion. It is acommon opinion that black horses are more subject to blindness than others. There is considerable doubt about this, or rather it is probable that that colour has no influence cither in producing or aggravating the disease. As this malady so frequently destroys the sight, and there are certain periods when the inflammation has seemingly subsided and the inexperienced person would be deceived into the belief that all danger is at an end, the eye should be most carefully observed at the time of purehase, and the examiner should be fully aware of all the minute indications of previous or approaching disease. They are a slight thickening of the lids, or puckering towards the inner corner of the eye; a difference in the apparent size of the eyes; a cloudiness, although perhaps scarcely perceptible, of the surface of the cornea, or more deeply seated, or a hazy circle round its edge; a gloominess of eye generally, and dulness of the iris; or a minute, faint, dusky spot in the cen- tre, with or without minute fibres or lines diverging from it. The cause of this inflammation is undoubtedly a strong predisposition to it in the eye of the horse, but assisted by the heated and empoisoned air of many stables. The heated air has much to do with the production of the disease; the empoisoned aii a great deal more: for every one must have observed, on entering a close stable early an the morning, strong fumes of hartshorn which were painful to his eyes and caused the tears to flow. What must be the constant action of this cn the eyes of the horse? The dung of the horse, and the litter of the stables, when becoming pvérid, emit SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA. 119 ‘ames of volatile alkali or hartshorn. Often, very soon after they are voided, they oegin to yield an immense quantity of this pungent gas. If we are scarcely able to near this when we stand in the stable for only a few minutes, we need not wonder at the prevalence of inflammation in the eye of the stabled horse, nor at the difficulty of abating inflammation while this organ continues to be exposed to such painful excite- ment. Stables are now much better ventilated than they used to be, and ophthalmia is far from being so prevalent as it was fifty years ago. The farmer may not be aware of another cause of blindness, to which his horse is more particularly exposed, viz., confinement in a dark stable. Many stables in the country have no glazed windows, but there is a flap which is open for a few hours in *he day, or while the carter is employed in the stable, and when that is shut down almost total darkness prevails. Let our reader consider what are his sensations when he suddenly emerges from a dark room into the full glare of light. He is dazzled and bewildered, and some time passes before his vision is distinct. Let this be repeated several times daily, and what will be the consequence? The sight will be disordered, or the eye irreparably injured. ‘Then let him think of his poor horse, who often stumbles and starts through no fault of his own, although he is corrected for his blundering, but because his eyes are necessarily weakened by these sudden transitions, and disposed to take on sudden inflammation with all its fatal results. The propagation of various diseases, and this more than any other, from the sire to his progeny, has not been sufficiently considered by breeders. Let a stallion that is blind, or whose sight is defective, possess every other point and quality that can be wished, yet he is worse than useless; for a very considerable proportion of his off- spring will most assuredly inherit weak eyes or become totally blind. There is ne tact better established than this. Mr. Baker of Reigate puts this in avery strong point of view. He was called upon to examine a foal only a few days old, which seemed to have some affection of the head, as from its birth it was totally unconscious of any object, although it ap- peared to the owner to have good eyes. It ran its head against the wall and the standers by, in such a way as to convince the surgeon that it was quite blind, and or examining the pupil of each eye, he found them greatly dilated and motionless, but beyond this there was no unhealthy appearance. He inquired about the sire, and found that his vision was very defective, and that of all the stock which he got in that part of the country not one colt escaped the dire- ful effects of his imperfect sight. He persuaded the owner to have the youngster destroyed, and *. tracing the optic nerve in its passage from the base of the brain, he found it in a complete state of atrophy. There was scareely any nervous substance within the tube that led from the brain to the eye. The most frequent consequences of this disease are cloudiness of the eye, and cataract. The cloudiness is singular in its nature. It will change in twenty-four hours from the thinnest film to the thickest opacity, and, as suddenly, the eye will nearly regain its perfect transparency, but only to lose it, and as rapidly, a second time. : The most barbarous methods have been resorted to for the purpose of removing this cloudiness. Chalk, and salt, and sugar, and even pounded glass have been introduced into the eye mechanically to rub off the film. It was forgotten that the cloudiness was the effect of inflammation—that means so harsh and cruel were very likely to recall that inflammation— that these rough and sharp substances must of necessity inflict exeruciating pain; and that, after all, it generally was not a film on the surface of the cornea, but a dimness pervading its substance, and even sinking deep within it, and therefore not capable of being removed. Where the cloudiness can be remoyv ed, it will be best effected by first abating inflammation, and then exciting the absorb. ents to take up the grey deposit, by washing the eye with a very weak solution of corrosive sublimate. : Opacity of the lens is another consequence of inflammation. A white speck ap: pears on the centre of the lens, which gradually spreads over it, and completely cov- ers it. It is generally so white and pearly as not to be mistaken—at other times Itis more hazy, deceiving the inexperienced, and occasioning doubt in the mind of profes sional men. We have seen many instances in which the sight has been considerably 120 SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA. affected or almost lost, and yet the horse has been pronounced sound by very fair judges. The eye must be exposed to the light, and yet under the kind of shelter which has been already described, in order to discover the defect. 'The pupil of the horse is seldom black, like that of the human being, and its greyish hue conceals the recent or thin film that may be spreading over the lens. Confirmed cataract in the eye of the horse admits of no remedy, for two obvious reasons: the retractor muscle draws the eye back so powerfully and so deeply into the socket, that it would be almost impossible to perform any operation; and, could an operation be performed, and the opaque lens removed, the sight would be so imperfect, from the rays of light not being sufficiently converged, that the horse would be worse to us than a blind one. The man who has undergone the operation of couching may put a new lens before his eye, in the form of a convex spectacle; but we cannot adapt spectacles to the eye of the horse, or fix them there. Since the publication of the first edition of ‘*‘The Horse,” some controversy has taken place with regard to the occasional appearance and disappearance of cataract without any connexion with the common moon-blindness. Mr. Clay deposed in evi- dence, that cataracts might be formed in a fortnight or three weeks—that he had known many instances in which they had been completed in less time, and without any previous apparent disease of the eyes; and that he had detected them when the owners had not the slightest suspicion of disease in the eye.* Mr. Cartwright adds, that he has known two similsr cases. The first was of a horse that had two cataracts in each eye—two of thei of the size of a large pin’s head, and the other two treble that size. There was no vestige of former inflamma- tion; and the person who bred him said that he never had been subject to inflamma- tion of the eye. In December 1831, these cataracts were plain enough; but in the autumn of 1832, they had completely vanished. In November 1832, Mr. Cartwright saw a five-years old mare, and detected a cata- ract in the right eye, of the size of a coriander seed. He advised the owner to get rid of her, thinking that she would go blind; but, being a useful animal, he kept her. In August 1833, Mr. Cartwright saw her again. The cataract had disappeared and the eyes were perfect.+ That excellent veterinarian, Mr. Percivall, had a somewhat similar case. A gen- tleman brought a horse one morning to the hospital, in consequence of its having fallen in his way to town, and grazed hiseyebrow. On examining him carefully, the cornea was partially nebulous, and a cataract was plainly visible. Neither of these defects was sufficient to attract the notice of any unprofessional observer, and both were unconnected with the slight bruise produced by the fall. 'The owner was told that the corneal opacity might possibly be removed; but as for the cataract, he might regard this as beyond the reach of medicine. He returned with his horse on the fifth day, saying that the physic had operated well, and that he thought the eye was as clear as ever. Mr. Percivall examined the eye, and could discover no relic either of the corneal opacity or of the cataract. The opinion respecting cataract is therefore essentially modified. It is not necessa- rily the result of previous inflammation, although in the great majority of cases it is so, nor does it always lead to blindness. Still it is a serious thing at all times, and, although existing in the minutest degree, it is wnsoundness, and very materially lessens the value of the horse. “‘ Were I asked,” says Mr. Percivall, ‘* how the practitioner could best distinguish a eataract of the above description from that which is of ordinary occurrence, and known by us all to constitute the common termination of periodical ophthalmia, I should say that the unusually lucid and healthy aspect which every other part of the eye presents is our best diagnostic sign; the slightest indication, however, or the slightest susécion of prior or present inflammation, being a reason for coming to a different conclusion. As to the period of time a cataraci of this species, suppcsing it to be membranous, would require for its formation, I should apprehend that its production might be. as its disappearance often would seem to be, the work of a very short inter- val, perhaps not more than five or six days.” As to the cause and treatment of it, * Veterinarian, vol. vii. p. 41. + Veterinarian, vol. vii, p. 44. GUTTA SERENA—DISEASES OF THE EAR. 12] we are at present completely in thedark. If it does not soon disappear, the hydriodats of potash administered internally might offer the best prospect of success. GUTTA SERENA. Another species of blindness, and of which mention was made when describing the retina, is Gutta Serena, commonly called glass eye. The pupil is more than usually dilated: it is immovable, and bright, and glassy. This is palsy of the optic nerve, or its expansion, the retina; and is usually produced by determination of blood to the head. We have described it as a consequence of staggers. So much pressure has been occasioned on the base of the brain, that the nerve has been injured, and its func- tion destroyed. ‘The treatment of Gutta Serena is quite as difficult as that of cataract. We have heard of successful cases, but we never saw one; nor should we be disposed to incur much expense in endeavouring to accomplish impossibilities. Reasoning from the cause of the disease, we should bleed and physic, and administer the strychnine in doses, commencing at half a grain, and not exceeding two grains, morning and night—very carefully watching it. If we succeed, it must be by constitutional treat- ment. As to local treatment, the seat of disease is out of our reach. DISEASES OF THE EAR. Wounds of the ear are usually the consequence of careless or brutal treatment. The twitch may be applied to it, when absolute necessity requires this degree of coercion ; but troublesome ulcers and bruises have been the consequence of the abuse of this species of punishment, and more especially has the farrier done irreparable mischief when he has brutally made use of his plyers. These bruises or wounds will generally — fortunately for the animal, and fortu- nately, perhaps, for the brute that inflicted the injury—speedily heal; but occasionally sinuses and abscesses will result that bid defiance to the most skilful treatment. A simple laceration of the cartilage is easily remedied. The divided edges are brought into apposition, and the head is tied up closely for a few days, and all is well; but, occasionally, ulceration of the integument and cellular substance, and caries of the cartilage, will take place—deep sinuses will be formed, and the wound will bid defi- ance to the most skilful treatment. The writer of this work had once a case of this kind under his care more than two months, and he was at length compelled to cut off the ear, the other ear following it, for the sake of uniformity of appearance. The lunar caustic, or the muriate of antimony, or the heated iron, must be early employed, or the labour of the practitioner will be in vain. It has been the misfortune of the same person to witness two cases in which the auditory passage was closed and the faculty of hearing destroyed, by blows on the ear violently inflicted. No punishment can be too severe for these brutes in human shape. Whenever there is considerable swelling about the root of the ear, and the fluctuation of a fluid within can be detected, it should be immediately opened with a lancet, and the purulent fluid liberated. The abscess usually begins to form about the middle of the conch, or rather nearer the base than the point. The incision should be of considerable length, or the opening will close again in four-and-twenty hours. ‘The purulent matter having been evacu- ated, the incision should not be permitted to close until the parietes of the ulcer have adhered to each other, and the abscess is obliterated. The size and the carrying of the ear do not always please. The ears may be larger and more dependent than fashion requires them to be, and this is remedied by paring or clipping them to the requisite size. On either side of the projection of the occipital bone, and ina straight line forward and backward, a fold of the skin is pinched up and cut away. he divided edges on either side are then brought together, and con- fined by two or three stitches—they presently unite, and the owner has a better- looking horse, and soon forgets or cares not about the punishment which he has inflicted on him. The ears of other horses may be supposed to he too close to each other. This fault ts corrected by another piece of cruelty. Similar slips of skin are cut away on the outside of the base of the ear. and in the same direction. The edges of the woune 11 Q 4122 THE ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF are then brought together, confined by sutures, and the ears are drawn further apar from each other, and have different directions given to them. A very slight examma- tion of either of the horses will readily detect the imposition. DEAFNESS. Of the occasional existence of this in the horse, there is nc doubt. The beautiful play of the ears has ceased, and the horse hears not the voice of his master, or the sound of the whip. Much of the apparent stupidity of a few horses is attributable to their imperfect hearing. It occasionally appears to follow the decline of various dis- eases, and especially of those that affect the head and the respiratory passages. It has been the consequence of brutal treatment closing the conduit of the ear, or rup- turing the tympanum ; and it is certainly, as in other domesticated animals, the accompaniment of old age. , In the present state of veterinary knowledge, it is an incurable complaint; the only thing that can be done is not to punish the poor slave for his apparent stupidity, pro- duced perhaps by over-exertion in our service, or, at least, the natural attendant of the close of a life devoted to us. CHART iva ve THE ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTH. WE now proceed to a description of the face, or lower part of the head of the Horse. The nasal bones, or bones of the nose (j j, p. 70, and a, p. 72), are connected with the frontal bones above, and with the lacrymal, z 7, and the bones of the upper jaw, 7 J, on either side. They are united together by a plain suture, which is a continuation of the frontal, and they terminate in a point at the nostril (p, p. 70). ‘They are rounded and arched above, because they are exposed to occasional violence and injury, which the arch-form will enable them best to resist; and at the base of the arch, where the main strength should be, they are overlapped by the upper jaw-bone, as the temporal bone overlaps the base of the parietal. ‘These bones form a principal part of the face; and the length, or shortness, and the character of the face, depend upon them. Sometimes there is an appearance of two little arches, with a depression between them along the sutures. This is often found in the blood-horse with his com- paratively broad head and face. The single elevated arch is found in the long and narrow face of the heavy draught-horse. The nasal bones pursue their course down the face, in some horses in a straight Jine—in others, there is a slight prominence towards the upper part, while in a con- siderable number, a depression is observed a little lower down. Some persons have imagined that this deviation in the line of the face affords an indication of the temper of the animal, and there may be a little truth in this. The horse with a straight pro- file may be good or bad tempered, but not often either to any great excess. The one with the prominent Roman nose will generally be an easy, good-tempered kind of beast—hardy—ready enough to feed, not always, perhaps, so ready to work, but may be made to do his duty without any cruel urging, and having no extraordinary preten- sion to speed or blood. On the other hand, a depression across the centre of the nose generally indicates some breeding, especially if the head is small, but occasionally accompanied by a vicious, uncontrollable disposition. There is another way, however, in which the nasal bones do more certainly indicate the preed, viz., by their comparative length or shortness. ‘There is no surer criterion of a well-ored horse, than a broad angular forehead, prominent features, and a short face; nor of a horse with little breeding, than a narrow forehead, small features, and Jengthened nose. The comparative development of the head and face indicates, with little error, the preponderance of the animal or intellectual principle. Fracture of the nasal bones of the horse will sometimes occur from falling, ora kick \ } THE NOSE AND MOUTH. 123 from the companion, or the brutality of the attendant. It is generally fullowed by laceration of the lining membrane of the nostrils, and by hemorrhage. The hemor rhage may usually be arrested by the application of cold water externally. In spon- ee hemorrhage this does not often succeed until a considerable quantity of blood is lost. In cases of fracture of the nasal bones, the assistance of a veterinary surgeon is indispensable. He alone knows the precise anatomy of the parts, and will have recourse to the elevator or the trephine, as circumstances may require. The owner must not be too sanguine with regard to cases of this kind, for ozena,— ulceration attended by a peculiar and almost insufferable stench—is too often the con- sequence, or foundation may be laid, for the appearance, of glanders. Spontaneous bleeding from the nose must be carefully attended to. It may proceed from over-fulness of the capillaries of the membrane of the nose, or determination of blood to the head, or general plethora of the system. ‘Those that are overfed and overfat are most liable to it, as troop-horses, brewers’ horses, and horses kept for pleasure. It is not common in young horses, or in such as are out of condition, or worked hardly. It,is always desirable to know whence the bleeding proceeds —if from the nostril alone, it will usually be confined to one side—if from the lungs, the discharge is from both nostrils, and generally mingled with mucus, or spume,—there is also a quickened respiration, and more or less cough. If it is apparently connected with some slight cause, a dose of physic and quietness for a day or two will be sufficient, and, if necessary, a slight solution of alum may be injected up the nostril. If the bleeding is apparently from the lungs, a more serious evacuation will be required. These bones form the roof of an important cavity (see a, p. 72). The sides are constituted above by the nasal bones, and, lower down, by the upper jaw-bones, (supe- rior maxillaries), while plates from these latter bones project and compose the palate, which is both the floor of the nose and the roof of the mouth (ft, p. 72). Above (near fiz. 8), nat visible in our cut, is a bone called the palatine, although it contributes very little to the formation of the palate. It is the termination of the palate, or the border of the opening where the cavities of the mouth and nose meet (fig. 8). The frontal sinuses, }, and large vacuities in the upper jaw-bone, and in the zthmoid, /, and sphe noid bones, 4, communicate with and enlarge the cavity of the nose. —— —, SSS Se a I COM So This ‘xvity is divided into two parts by a cartilage called the Septum (see a, p. 72). It is of considerable thickness and strength, and divides the cavity of the nose into two equal parts. It is placed in the centre for the purpose of strength, and it is formed of cartilage, in order that, by its gradual yielding resistance, it may neutralize almost any force that may be applied to it. ; ' When we open the nostril, we see the membrane by which the cartilage, and the whole of the cavity of the nose, is lined, and by the colour of which, much more than by that of the lining of the eyelids, we judge of the degree of fever, and par- 124 THE ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF ticularly of inflammation of the lungs, or any of the air-passages. The cut on the preceding page shows the ramifications of the blood-vessels, both arterial and venous, on the membrane of the nose. It beautifully accounts for the accurate connexion which we trace between the colour of the nasal membrane, and various diseases or states of the circulation. By the sore places or ulcerations discovered on this mem- brane, we likewise determine respecting the existence of glanders ; and the interposi- tion of the septum is a wise and benevolent provision to hinder the spread of the mischief, by cutting off all communication with the neighbouring parts, and also to preserve one nostril pervious, when the other is diseased or obstructed. ‘The nasal cavity is, on either side, occupied by two bones, which, from their being rolled up somewhat in the form of a turban, are called the furbinated or turban-shaped bones, $8, p. 725 part of the cartilage is cut away in our cut in order to display them. They are as thin as gauze, and perforated, like gauze, with a thousand holes. Between them are left sufficient passages for the air. If they were unrolled, they would present a very considerable surface; and on every part of them is spread the substance or pulp of the olfactory, or first pair of nerves. These bones, lined with delicate membranes, and covered by the olfactory nerves, are the seat of smell; and they are thus expanded, because the sense of smell in the horse must, to a very considerable degree, supply the place of the sense of touch and the lessons of experience in the human being. By this alone he is enabled to select, amongst the nutritive and poisonous herbage of the meadow, that which would support and not destroy him. ‘The troops of wild horses are said to smell the approach of an enemy at a very considerable distance. In his domestic state, the horse does not examine the different food which is placed before him with his eye, but with his nose; and if the smell displeases him, no coaxing will induce him to eat. He examines a stranger by the smell, and, by very intelligible signs, expresses the opinion which he forms of him by this inquisition. ‘The horse will evidently recognise his favourite groom when he has nothing else to indicate his approach but the sense of smell. These cavities are likewise organs of voice. The sound re- verberates through them, and increases in loudness, as through the windings of a French horn. i The extension of the nostril at the lower part of these cavities is an important part of the face, and intimately connected with breeding, courage, and speed. ‘The horse can breathe only through the nose. All the air which goes to and returns from the lungs must pass through the nostrils. In the common act of breathing, these are sufficiently large; but when the animal is put on his speed, and the respiration is quickened, these passages must dilate, or he will be much distressed. The expanded nostril is a striking feature in the blood-horse, especially when he has been excited and not over-blown. The sporting man will not forget the sudden effect which is een to the countenance of the hunter, when his ears become erect, and his nostrils ilate as he first listens to the ery of the hounds, and snorts, and scents them afar off. The painful and spasmed stretching of this part, in the poor, over-driven post-horse. will show how necessary it is that the passage to the lungs should be free and open. The nostril should not only be large, but the membranous substance which covers the entrance into the nose should be thin and elastic, that it may more readily yield when the necessity of the animal requires a greater supply of air, and afterwards return to its natural dimensions. Therefore, nature, which adapts the animal to his situation and use, has given to the cart-horse, that is seldom blown, a confined nostril, and surrounded by much cellular substance, and a thick skin; and to the horse of more breeding, whose use consists in his speed and his continuance, a wider nostril, and one much more flexible. The inhabitants of some countries were accustomed to slit the nostrils of their horses, that they might be less distressed in the severe and long-continued exertion of their speed. The Icelanders do so to the present day. There is no necessity for this, for nature has made ample provision for all the ordinary and even extraordinary exertion we can require from the horse. Some very powerful muscles proceed from different parts of the face to the neighbour hood of the nostrils, in order to draw them back and dilate them. Four of these are given in the following cut, which is inserted to complete our present subject, and which THE NOSE AND MOUTH. 125 will be often referred to in the course of our work; J, m, 0, and p, are muscles em- pioyed for this purpose. THE MUSCLES, NERVES, AND BLOOD-VESSELS OF THE HEAD AND UPPER PART OF THE NECR. @ The upper part of the ligament of the neck. b The levator humeri (elevator of the shoulder), arising from the tubercle of the occiput, the mastoid (nipple-shaped) process of the temporal bone, and the transverse processe# (cross projections) of the four first bones of the neck, and the ligament of the neck, ana going to the muscles of the shoulders, and the upper bone of the arm: to draw for- ward the shoulder and arm; or turn the head and neck; and, when the two levators act, to depress the head. ¢ The tendon common tothe complexus major (larger complicated), and splenius (splint-like) : to the mastoid process of the temporal bone, to hold up the head, or, the muscles on one side alone acting, to turn it, d The sterno-mazillaris (belonging to the breast-bone) and upper jaw, from the cartilage in front of the chest to the angle of the lower jaw: to bend the head, or, if one only acts, to bend it on one side. e The stylo-mavillaris, from the styloid (pencil-shaped) or coracoid (beak-shaped) process of the occiput, to the angle of the jaw: to pull the jaw backward and open it. f The subscapulo hyoideus, from under the shoulder-blade, to the body of the o& hyoides (the bone at the root of the tongue formed like a Greek u, v): to draw back that bone. g The masseter (chewing); a most powerful muscle, constituting the cheek of the horse :— from the upper jaw bone into the rough surface round the angle of the lower: in con- junction with the temporal muscle to close the mouth and chew the food. h The orbicularis (circular) surrounding the eye and closing the lids. i The zygomaticus, from the zygomatic arch and masseter to the corner of the mouth, to draw back the angle of the mouth. k The buccinator (trumpeter), from the inside of the mouth and cheeks, to the angle of the mouth, to draw it back. ‘ l The vasalis labii swperioris (belonging to the nose and upper lip), from a depression at the junction of the superior maxillary and malar bones, to the angle of the nostril: to raise the lip, and dilate the nostrils. m Dilator naris lateralis (side dilator of the nostril), reversed to show the vessels and nerves which it covers, going from the covering of the nasal and frontal bones, to the angle of the mouth, and side of the nostril: to retract the upper lip and dilate the nostrils. n Dilator magnus (great dilator), assisting in the same office. : o oe labii inferioris (puller down of tle under lip), to the sides of the under lip: to puls it down. - p Orbicularis oris (circular muscle of the mouth), surrounding the mouth: to close the lips and dilate the nostrils. g The upper portion of the parotid gland (gland near the ear) reversed, to show the blood ves sels and nerves beneath it. nt r The parotid duct piercing the cheek, to discharge the saliva into the mouth. * 126 NASAL POLYPUS. s The maxillary gland (gland of the lower jaw) with its duct. t The jugular (neck) vein, after the two branches have united. ; wu At this letter, the submaxillary artery, a branch of the jugular, and the parotid duct, pass under and witnin tne angle,of the lower jaw; they come out again at w, and climb up the cheek to be distributed over the face. _ v The vein and artery, passing under the zygomatic arch. q z A branch of the fifth pair, the sensitive nerve of the face, emerging from under the parotid land. y The ae branch of the portio dura (hard portion) of the seventh pair, the motor (moving) nerve of the face coming out from beneath the parotid gland, to spread over the face. = Branches of both nerves, with small blood-vessels. There are also four distinct cartilages attached to the nostrils, which, by their elasticity, bring back the nostrils to their former dimensions, as soon as the muscles cease to act. ‘The bones of the nose (a a, p. 70, and p. 72) are also sharpened off to a point, to give wider range for the action of the muscles; while the cartilages are so contrived, as not only to discharge the office we have mentioned, but to protect this projection of bone from injury. There are two circumstances, which, more than any others, will enable the veteri- nary surgeon, and the owner of a horse, accurately to judge of the character and degree of many diseases, and to which very few persons pay sufficient attention ; these are the pulse, of which we shall presently speak, and the colour of the mem- brane of the nose. It is the custom of most veterinary surgeons and horsemen to lift the upper eyelid, and to form their opinion by the colour which its lining presents. If it is very red, there is considerable fever ;—if it is of a pale pinkish hue, there is little danger. The nose, however, is more easily got at;—the surface presented to the view is more extensive ;—its sympathy with almost all the important organs is greater ;—and the changes produced by disease are more striking and more conelu- sive. Let wie reader arst make himself well acquainted with the uniform pale pink appearance ot that wortion of the membrane which covers the lower part of the car- tilaginous partition between the nostrils, when the horse is in health and quiet; then the increased blush of red, betokening some excitement of the system—the streaked appearance of inflammation commenced, and threatening to imcrease—the intense florid red, of acute inflammation—the pale ground with patches of vivid red, showing the half-subdued, but stili existing fever—the uniform colour, although somewhat redder than natural, predicting a return to healthy circulation—the paleness approach- ing to white, marking the stage of debility, and sometimes intermingled with radia- tions of crimson, inducing the suspicion of lurking mischief; and the dark livid: colour of approaching stagnation of the vital current. These, with all their shades of difference, will be the guides to his opinion and treatment, which every one, wha has studied them, will highly appreciate. NASAL POY EUs: By the polypus, is meant an excrescence or tumour, varying in size, structure, and consistence, and attached by a pedicle to a mucous surface. The true polypus is attached to mucous membranes, and is usually found in the nostrils, the pharynx, the uterus, or the vagina. ‘Tumours have been seen hanging loose in the veins and ven- tricles of the heart; and in the larger blood-vessels there have been accumulations of the fibrine of the blood, with peduncular attachments. The nasal polypus usually adheres to some portion of the superior turbinated bone, or it has come from some of the sinuses connected with that cavity. It escaped, while small, through the valvular opening under the superior turbinated bone, into the cavity of the nose, and there attained its full growth. No better account, however, can be given of the cause of their appearance, than that of tumours in other parts of the body. They evidently have a constitutional origin: they are frequently hereditary, and the animal in which they have once appeared, is subject to a return of them. By some means, probably the increasing weight of the tumour, and being in a dependent situation, the polypus is gradually detached from its base, and forces with .t the soft and easily distensible membrane of the nose. As it continues to descend, this portion of membrane is farther elongated, and forms the pedicle or toot of the NASAL GLEET, OR DISCHARGE FROM THE NOSE. "24 tumour ;—if that may he termed a root which is a mere duplicate of its investing membrane. The polypus, when it hangs free in the nasal cavity, is usually of a pyrifonn or pear-like shape; and it varies in weight, from a few drachms to three or four pounds. How is the surgeon to proceed? Can he lay hold of the polypus by the finger, or the forceps, or (for these tumours do not possess much sensibility) the tenaculum ? To ascertain this, he will cast the horse, and fix the head in a position to take the greatest advantage of the light. If he cannot fairly get at the tumour by any of these means, he will let it alone. It will continue to grow—the membrane consti- tuting the pedicle will be lengthened—and the polypus will at length descend, and be easily got at. ‘Time and patience will effect wonders in this and many similar cases. Supposing it to have grown, and the surgeon is endeavouring to extract it, he must not use any great force. It must not be torn out by the root. The tumour must be gently brought down, and a ligature passed round the pedicle, as high up as it can conveniently be placed. If the polypus can then be returned to the nose, the animal will suffer very little inconvenience ; and in a few days it will slough off, and the pedicle will contract, and gradually disappear. If the polypus is so large that it cannot be well returned after it has been brought down, we must, notwithstanding, use the ligature, passing it round the pedicle suffi- ciently tightly to cut off the supply of blood to the tumour. We may then imme- diately excise it. Except the pedicle is exceedingly thick, there will be little or no hemorrhage. Should some bleeding occur, it will probably soon stop, or may be stopped by the cautery, which should, however, be avoided if possible; for our object is to produce as little irritation as may be in the membrane, and the actual cautery will be applied with considerable difficulty in the cavity of the nose. In very bad cases, when the tumour cannot be drawn out of the nose, it may be necessary to slit up the ala or side of the nostril. It will he better, however, not to eut through the false nostril; for that consists of a duplicature of such thin integu- ment, that the stitches can hardly be retained in it, when the horse will be continually snorting at the least inconvenience. It will also be difficult to bring the edges of this thin membrane accurately together again; or if this be effected, there is scarcely life enough in it for the parts readily to unite. The false nostril should be avoided, and the incision made along the lateral edge of the nasal bone, beginning at its apex or oint. The flap will then conveniently turn down, so as to expose the cavity beneath; and there will be sufficient muscular substance to secure an almost certain union by the first intention. The nostril being opened, the pedicle will probably be displayed, and a ligature may be passed round it, as already recommended ; or if it is not actu ally in sight, it may probably gradually be brought within reach. NASAL GLEET, OR DISCHARGE FROM THE NOSE. There is a constant secretion of fluid to lubricate and moisten the membrane that lines the cavity of the nose, and which, under ecatarrh or cold, is increased in quantity, and altered in appearance and consistence. This will properly belong to the account of catarrh or cold; but that which is immediately under consideration, is a continued and oftentimes profuse discharge of thickened mucus, when every symptom of catarrh and fever has passed away. If the horse is at grass, the discharge is almost as green as the food on which he lives ;—or if he is stabled, it is white, or straw-coloured, or brown, or even bloody, and sometimes purulent. It is either constantly running, or snorted out in masses many times a day; teazing the horse, and becoming a perfect nuisance in the stable, and to the rider. This has been known to continue several months, and eventually to destroy the horse. If the discharge is not offensive to the smell, nor mixed with purulent matter, it is probably merely an increased and somewhat vitiated secretion from the cavities of the nose; and, all fever having disappeared, will frequently yield to small doses of blue vitriol, given twice in the day. If fever or cough remains, the cough medicine tnat will hereafter be described must be combined with the tonic. If the discharge is mingled with pus, and very offensive, the vegetable tonics, gentian and ginger, may ge added to the copper; but there is now reason to apprehend that the discharge will 128 OZENA. not be controlled, and will terminate in glanders. Turning into a salt marsh will occasionally effect a cure, when both the mineral and the vegetable tonics have failea. OZENA. Ozena is ulceration of the membrane of the nose, not always or often visible, but recognised by the discharge of muco-purulent matter, and the peculiar feetor from which the disease derives its name. It resembles glanders, in being confined, in most instances, to one nostril, and the submaxillary gland on the same side being enlarged; but differs from it in the gland not being adherent, and the discharge, from its earliest stage, being purulent and stinking. There is sometimes a foetid discharge from the nostril, in consequence of inflamma- tion of the lungs, or produced by some of the sequele of pheumonia; distinguished, however, from ozena, by its usually flowing irregularly, being coughed up in great quantities, more decidedly purulent, and the gland or glands seldom affected. The discharge from ozena is constant, muco-purulent, and attended by enlargement of the glands. It is of immense consequence that we should be enabled to distinguish the one from the other; for while ozena may, sometimes at least, be manageable, the other is too frequently the precursor of death. The cause of ozena cannot always be discovered. Chronic inflammation of the membrane may assume another and malignant character. In severe catarrh, the membrane may become abraded, and the abrasions may degenerate into foul and feetid ulcers. It is not an unfrequent consequence of epidemic catarrh. It has been pro- duced by caustic applications to the lining membrane of the nose. It has followed hemorrhage, spontaneous, or the consequence of injury. In some cases, and those as obstinate as any, it cannot perhaps be traced to any probable cause, and the health of the animal has not appeared to be in the slightest degree affected. The membrane of the nose is highly sensitive and irritable, and an ulcer, in what- ever way forme. on it, does not readily heal. It often runs on to gangrene, and destroys not only the membrane, but the bone beneath, and even the cartilaginous septum. ‘This is rarely the-case in glanders; and the ravages of the chancrous ulcers are usually confined to the membrane. The ulceration proceeds to a certain point— its progress is then arrested, usually by nature alone—the discharge gradually lessens — it loses its offensive character, and at length ceases. Local applications are seldom available in the treatment of this disease; for we know not the situation of the ulcer; and if we did, we probably could not get at it. Some have recommended setons. Where are they to be applied? If the seat of ulceration is unknown, the seton may only give useless pain. Several post-mortem examinations have shown that the frontal sinuses are a frequent seat of the disease. Yet what injection could we use? An emollient one would be thrown away. A stimulating injection might convert ozena into glanders. Other examinations have shown that the superior portion of the central meatus was diseased. What instru- ment can be contrived to reach that? Internal medicines are almost thrown away in this complaint: yet something, perhaps, may be done under the form of a local appli- cation. The discarded nose-bag (undervalued at least by too many practitioners) will afford the means of employing an emollient fomentation. The steam from a bran-mash, scalding hot, will probably reach every part of the nasal cavity, and so afford some chance of being beneficially applied to the ulcer. It will, at least, thoroughly cleanse the part. By means of the nose-bag and the warm mash, the chloride of lime may be introduced into the cavity; not only combining with the extricated gases, and removing the fctor, but arresting the tendency to decomposition. Then there is a digestive—a gentle stimulus to abraded and ulcerated surfaces, rousing them to healthy action, and without too much irritating them — turpentine. This may be applied in the form of vapour, and, in the best of all ways, by using the fresh yellow deal shavings instead of bran. This digestive may be brought into contact with every part of the Schneiderian membrane, and has been serviceable. There is another resource, and one that bids fairer to be successful than any other with which we are acquainted —the spring grass. It is the finest alterative, depura GLANDERS. 129 tive, and restorative, in our whole materia medica; and if it is accessible in the forms of a salt marsh, there is no better chance of doing good. GLANDERS. The most formidable of all the diseases to which the horse is subject, is GLanpErs. It has been recognised from the time of Hippocrates, of Cos; and few modern veteri- nary writers have given a more accurate or complete account of its symptoms, than is to be found in the works of the father of medicine. 'Three-and-twenty hundred years have rolled on since then, and veterinary practitioners are not yet agreed as to the tissue primarily affected, nor the actual nature of the disease: we only know that it is at the present day, what it was then, a loathsome and an incurable malady. We shall therefore, in treating of this disease, pursue our course slowly and eautiously. The earliest symptom of Glanders is an increased discharge from the nostril, small in quantity, constantly flowing, of an aqueous character, and a little mucus mingling with it. Connected with this is an error too general, and highly mischievous with regard to the character of this discharge in the earliest stage of the disease, when, if ever, a cure might be effected, and when, too, the mischief from contagion is most frequently roduced. ‘The discharge of glanders is not sticky when it may be first recognised. tis an aqueous or mucous, but small and constant discharge, and is thus distinguisheé from catarrh, or nasal gleet, or any other defluxion from the nostril. It should be impressed on the mind of every horseman that this small and constant defluxion, overlooked by the groom and by the owner, and too often by the veterinary surgeon, is a most suspicious circumstance. Mr. James Turner deserves much credit for having first or chiefly directed the atten- tion of horsemen to this important but disregarded symptom. If a horse is in the highest condition, yet has this small aqueous constant discharge, and especially from one nostril, no time should be lost in separating him from his companions. No harm will be done by this, although the defluxion should not ultimately betray lurking mis- chief of a worse character. Mr. Turner relates a case very much in point. A farmer asked his opinion respect- ing a mare in excellent condition, with a sleek coat, and in full work. He had had her seven or eight months, and during the whole of that time there had been a dis- charge from the right nostril, but in so slight a degree as scarcely to be deemed worthy of notice. He now wanted to sell her, but, like an honest man, he wished to know whether he might warrant her. Mr. Turner very properly gave it as his opinion, that the discharge having existed for so long a time, he would not be justified in sending her into the market. A farrier, however, whose ideas of glanders had always been connected with a sticky discharge and an adherent gland, bought her, and led her away. Three months passed on, when Mr. Turner, examining the post-horses of a neigh- bouring inn, discovered that two of them were glandered, and two more fareied, while, standing next to the first that was attacked, and his partner in work, was his old acquaintance, the farmer’s mare, with the same discharge from her nostril, and who had, beyond question, been the cause of all the mischief. { The peculiar viscidity and gluiness which is generally supposed to distinguish the discharge of glanders from all other mucous and prevalent secretions belongs to the second stage of the disease, and, for many months before this, glanders may have existed in an insidious and highly contagious form. It must be acknowledged, how- ever, that, in the majority of cases, some degree of stickiness does characterise the discharge of glanders from a very early period. : It is a singular circumstance, for which no satisfactory account has yet been given. that when one nostril alone is attacked, it is, in a great majority of cases, the near, or eft. M. Dupuy. the director of the veterinary school at Toulouse, gives a very sin- lar account of this. He says, that out of eighty cases of glanders that came under bis notice,’ only one was affected in the right nostril. The difference in the affected nostril does not exist to so great an extent in Great Britain; but, in two horses out of tlixee, or caree out of four, the discharge is from the left nostril alone. We might RB 1380 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTH. account for the left leg failing oftener than the right, for we mount and dismount on the left side; the horse generally leads with it, and there is more wear and tear of that limb: but we cannot satisfactorily account for this usual affection of the left nos- tril. It is true that the reins are held in the left hand, and there may be a little more bearing and pressure on the left side of the mouth 5 but this applies only to saddle- horses, and even with them does not sufficiently explain the result. This discharge, in cases of infection, may continue, and in so slight a degree as to he seareely perceptible, for many months, or even two or three years, unattended by any other disease, even ulceration of the nostril, and yet the horse being decidedly glandered from the beginning, and capable of propagating the malady. In process of time, however, pus mingles with the discharge, and then another and a characteris- tic symptom appears. Some of this is absorbed, and the neighbouring glands become affected. If there is discharge from both nostrils, the glands within the under jaw will be on both sides enlarged. If the discharge is from one nostril only, the swelled gland will be found on that side alone. Glanders, however, will frequently exist at an early stage without these swelled glands, and some other diseases, as catarrh, will produce them. ‘Then we must look out for some peculiarity about these glands, and we shall readily find it. The swelling may be at first somewhat large and diffused, but the surrounding enlargement soon goes off, and one or two small distinct glands remain; and they are not in the centre of the channel, but adhere closely to the jaw on the affected side. The membrane of the nose should now be examined, and will materially guide our opinion. It will either be of a dark purplish hue, or almost of a leaden colour, or of any shade between the two; or if there is some of the redness of inflammation, it will have a purple tinge: but there will never be the faint pink blush of health, or the intense and vivid red of usual inflammation. Spots of ulceration will probably appear on the membrane covering the cartilage of the nose—not mere sore places, or streaks of abrasion, and quite superficial, but small ulcers, usually approaching to a circular form, deep, and with the edges abrupt and prominent. When these appearances are observed, there can be no doubt about the matter. Care should be taken, however, to ascertain that these ulcers do actually exist, for spots of mucus adhering to the mem- brane have been more than once taken for them. ‘The finger should, if possible, be passed over the supposed ulcer, in order to determine whether it can be wiped away ; and it should be recollected, as was hinted when describing the duct that conveys the tears to the nose, that the orifice of that duct, just within the nostril, and on the inner side of it, has been mistaken for a chancrous ulcer. This orifice is on the continua- tion of the common skin of the muzzle which runs a little way up the nostril, while the ulcer of glanders is on the proper membrane of the nose above. The line of sepa- ration between the two is evident on the slightest inspection. ' When ulcers begin to appear on the membrane of the nose, the constitution of the horse is soon evidently affected. The patient loses flesh— his belly is tucked up — his coat unthrifty, and readily coming off—the appetite is impaired—the strength fails —cough, more or less urgent, may be heard—the discharge from the nose will increase in quantity ; it will be discoloured, bloody, offensive to the smell —the ulcers in the nose will become larger and more numerous, and the air-passages being obstructed, a grating, choking noise will be heard at every act of breathing. There is now a peculiar tenderness about the forehead. The membrane lining the frontal sinuses is inflamed and ulcerated, and the integument of the forehead becomes thickened and somewhat swelled. Farey is now superadded to glanders, or glanders has degene: rated into farey, and more of the absorbents are involved. At or before this time little tumours appear about the muscles, and face, and neck following the course of the veins and the absorbents, for they run side by side; and these the tumours soon ulcerate. Tumours or buds, still pursuing the path of the absorbents, soon appear on the inside of the thighs. They are connected together by a corded substance. This is the inflamed and enlarged lymphatic; and ulceration quickly follows the appearance of these buds. The deeper-seated absorbents are next affected ; and one or both of the hind-legs swell to a great size, and become stiff, and lot. and tender. The loss of flesh and strength is more marked every day. The membrane of the nose becomes of a dirty livid colour. The membrane of the mavth GLANDERS. 131 is strangely pallid. The eye is infiltrated with a yellow fluid; and the discharge from the nose becomes more profuse, and insufferably offensive. The anima. presents one mass of putrefaction, and at last dies exhausted. The enlargement of the submaxillary glands, as connected with this disease, may, perhaps, require a little farther consideration. A portion of the fluid secreted by the membrane of the nose, and altered in character by the peculiar inflammation there existing, is absorbed; and, as it is conveyed along the lymphatics, in order to arrive at the place of its destination, it inflames them, and causes them to enlarge and sup- purate. There is, however, a peculiarity accompanying the inflammation which they take from the absorption of the virus of glanders. They are rarely large, except at first, or hot, or tender; but they are characterised by a singular hardness, a proximity to the jaw-bone, and, frequently, actual adhesion to it. The adhesion is produced by the inflammatory action going forward in the gland, and the effusion of coagulable lymph. This hardness and adhesion accompanying discharge from the nostril, and being on the same side with the nostril whence the discharge proceeds, afford proof not to be controverted that the horse is glandered. Notwithstanding this, however, there are cases in which the glands are neither adherent nor much enlarged, and yet there is constant discharge from one or both nostrils. The veterinary surgeon would have little hesitation in pronouncing them to be cases of glanders. He will trust to the adhesion of the gland, but he will not be misled by its looseness, nor even by its absence altogether. Glanders have often been confounded with strangles, and by those who ought to have known better. Strangles are peculiar to young horses. ‘The early stage resembles common cold, with some degree of fever and sore throat — generally with distressing cough, or at least frequent wheezing; and when the enlargement appears beneath the jaw, it is not a single small gland, but a swelling of the whole of the substance between the jaws, growing harder towards the centre, and, after a while, appearing to contain a fluid, and breaking. In strangles, the membrane of the nose will be intensely red, and the discharge from the nose profuse and purulent, or mixed with matter almost from the first. When the tumour has burst, the fever will abate, and the horse will speedily get well. Should the discharge from the nose continue, as it sometimes does, for a consider- able time after the horse has recovered from strangles, there is no cause for fear. Simple strangles need never degenerate into glanders. Good keep, and small doses of tonie medicine, will gradually perfect the cure. G)znders have been confounded with eatarrh or cold; but the distinction between thers is plain enough. Fever, and loss of appetite and sore throat, accompany cold— the quidding of the food and gulping of the water are sufficient indications of the lat of these; the discharge from the nose is profuse, and perhaps purulent; the glanda under the jaw, if swelled, are moveable, there is a thickening around them, and they are tender and hot. With proper treatment the fever abates; the cough disappears; the swellings under the throat subside; and the discharge from the nose gradually ceases, or, if it remains, it is usually very different from that which characterises glanders. In glanders, there is seldom cough of any consequence, and generally no cough at all. ‘ : : Arunning from the nose, small in quantity, and, from the smallness of its quantity, drying about the edges of the nostril, and presenting some appearance of stickiness, will, in a few cases, remain after severe catarrh, and especially after the influenza of spring; and these have gradually assumed the character of glanders, and more par- ticularly when they have been accompanied by enlarged glands and ulceration In the nose. Here the aid of a judicious veterinary surgeon is indispensable ; and he will sometimes experience considerable difficulty in deciding the case. One circumstance will principally guide him. No disease will run on to glanders which has not, to a considerable and palpable degree, impaired and broken down the constitution ; and every disease that does this will run on to glanders. He will look then to the general] state and condition of the horse, as well as to the situation of the glands, the nature of the discharge, and the character of the ulceration. , ; If, after all, he is in doubt, an experiment may be resorted to, which wears indeed the appearance of cruelty, and which only the safety of a valuable animal, or of a 132 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTH. whole team, can justify. He will inoculate an ass, or a horse already condemmed to the hounds, with the matter discharged from the nose. If the horse 1s glandered, the symptoms of glanders or farey will appear in the inoculated animal in the course of a few days. 4 The post mortem examination of the horse will remove every doubt as to the character of the disease. The nostril is generally more or less blanehed, with spots or lines of inflammation of considerable intensity. Ulceration is almost invariably found, and of a chancrous character, on the septum, and also on the ethmoid and turbinated bones. The ulcers evidently follow the course of the absorbents, some- times almost confined to the track of the main vessel, or, if scattered over the membrane generally, thickest over the path of the lymphatic. The xthmoid and turbinated bones are often filled with pus, and sometimes eaten throngh and carious; but, in the majority of cases, the ulceration is confined to the external membrane, although there may be pus within. In aggravated eases the disease extends through all the cells of the face and head. é The path of the disease down the larynx and windpipe is easily traced, and the ulcers follow one line—that of the absorbents. In aggravated cases, this can generally be traced on to the lungs. It produces inflammation in these organs, characterised in some cases by congestion; but in other cases, the congestion having gone on to hepatisation, in which the cellular texture of the lungs is obliterated. Most frequently, when the lungs are affected at all, tubercles are found — miliary tubercles — minute granulated spots on the surface, or in the substance of the lungs, and not accompanied by much inflammation. In a few cases there are larger tubercles, which soften and burst, and terminate in cavities of varying size. In some cases, and showing that glanders is not essentially or necessarily a disease of the lungs, there is no morbid affection whatever in those organs. The history thus given of the symptoms of glanders will clearly point out its nature, It is an affection of the membrane of the nose. Some say, and at their head is Professor Dupuy, that it is the production of tubercles, or minute tumours in the upper cells of the nose, which may long exist undetected, except by a scarcely per- ceptible running from the nostril, caused by the irritation which they occasion. These tubercles gradually become more numerous; they cluster together, suppurate and break, and small ulcerations are formed. The ulcers discharge a poisonous matter, which is absorbed and taken up by the neighbouring glands, and this, with greater or less rapidity, vitiates the constitution of the animal, and is capable of communicating the disease to others. Some content themselves with saying that it is an inflamma- tion of the membrane of the nose, which may assume an acute or chronic form, or in a very short time, or exceedingly slowly, run on to ulceration. It is inflammation, whether specific or common, of the lining membrane of the nose — possibly for months, and even for years, confined to that membrane, and even to @ portion of it—the health and the usefulness of the animal not being in the slightest degree impaired. Then, from some unknown cause, not a new but an intenser action is set up, the inflammation more speedily runs its course, and the membrane becomes ulcerated. The inflammation spreads on either side down the septum, and the ulcera- tion at length assumes that peculiar chancrous form which characterises inflammation of the absorbents. Even then, when the discharge becomes gluey, and sometimes after chancres have appeared, the horse is apparently well. There are hundreds of glandered horses about the country with not a sick one among them. For months or at this disease may do no injury to the general health. The inflammation is purely ocal, and is only recognised by the invariable accompaniment of inflammation and increased secretion. Its neighbours fall around, but the disease affects not the animat whence itcame. At length a constitutional inflammation appears; farcy is established in its most horrible form, and death speedily closes the scene. What, then, is the cause of this insidious dreadful disease? Although we may be im a manner powerless as to the removal of the malady, yet if we can trace its cause and manner of action, we may at least be able to do something in the way of preven- tion. Much has been accomplished in this way. Glanders does not commit ones tenth par: of the ravages which it did thirty or forty years ago, and, generally speak- GLANDERS. 133 _ing, it is now only found as a frequent and prevalent disease where neglect, and filth, and want of ventilation exist. Glanders may be either bred in the horse, or communicated by contagion. What we have farther to remark on this malady will be arranged under these two heads. Improper stable management we believe to be a far more frequent cause of glan- ders than contagion. The air which is necessary to respiration is changed and em- poisoned in its passage through the lungs, and a fresh supply is necessary for the support of life. ‘That supply may be sufficient barely to support life, but not to pre vent the vitiated air from again and again passing to the lungs, and producing irrita tion and disease. ‘The membrane of the nose, possessed of extreme sensibility for the purposes of smell, is easily irritated by this poison, and close and ill-ventilated stables oftenest witness the ravages of glanders. Professor Coleman relates a case which proves to demonstration the rapid and fatal agency of this cause. ‘In the expedition to Quiberon, the horses had not been long on board the transports before it became necessary to shut down the hatchways for a few hours; the consequence of this was, that some of them were suffocated, and that all the rest were disembarked either glandered or farcied.”’ In a close stable, the air is not only poisoned by being repeatedly breathed, but there are other and more powerful sources of mischief. The dung and the urine are snffered to remain fermenting, and giving out injurious gases. In many dark and ill-managed stables, a portion of the dung may be swept away, but the urine lies for days at the bottom of the bed, the disgusting and putrefying nature of which is ill-concealed by a little fresh straw which the lazy horsekeeper scatters over the top. The stables of the gentleman are generally kept hot enough, and far too hot, although, in many of them, a more rational mode of treatment is beginning to be adopted; but they are lofty and roomy, and the horses are not too much crowded together, and a most scrupulous regard is paid to cleanliness. Glanders seldom pre- vail there. The stables of the farmer are ill-managed and filthy enough, and the ordure and urine sometimes remain from week to week, until the horse lies on a per- fect dunghill. Glanders seldom prevail there; for the same carelessness which per-' mits the filth to accumulate leaves many a cranny for the wind to enter and sweep away the deleterious fumes from this badly-roofed and unceiled place. The stables of the horse-dealer are hot enough; but a principle of strict cleanliness is enforced, for there must be nothing to offend the eye or the nose of the customer, and there glanders are seldom found; but if the stables of many of our post-horses, and of those employed on our canals, are examined, almost too low for a tall horse to stand upright in them—too dark for the accumulation of filth to be perceived—too far from the eye of the master —ill-drained and ill-paved—and governed by a false principle of economy, which begrudges the labour of the man, and the cleanliness and comfort of the animal; these will be the very hotbeds of the disease, and in many of these establishments it is an almost constant resident. Glanders may be produced by anything that injures, or for a length of time acts upon and weakens, the vital energy of this membrane. ‘They have been known to follow a fracture of the bones of the nose. They have been the consequence of violent eatarrh, and particularly the long-continued discharge from the nostrils, of which we have spoken. They have been produced by the injection of stimulating and acrid substances up the nostril. Everything that weakens the constitution gen- erally will lead to glanders. Itis not only from bad stable management, but from the hardships which they endure, and the exhausted state of their constitution, that post and machine horses are so subject to glanders; and there is scarcely an inflammatory _ disease to which the horse is subject that is not occasionally wound up and terminated by the appearance of glanders. : Among the causes of glanders is want of regular exercise. The connexion, although not evident at first glance, is too certain. When a horse has been worked with peculiar severity, and is become out of spirits, and falls away in flesh, and refuses to eat, a little rest and a few mashes would make all right again; but the groom plies him with cordials, and adds fuel to fire, and aggravates the state of fever that has commenced. What is the necessary consequence of thist The weakest goes to tha wall, and either the lungs or the feet, or this membrane—that of the nose 1f 134 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTH, —the weakest of all, exposed day after day to the stimulating, debilitating influences that have been described, becomes the principal seat of inflammation that terminates in glanders. It is in this way that glanders have so frequently been known to follow a hard day’s chase. The seeds of the disease may have previously existed, but its progress will be hastened by the general and febrile action excited—the absurd measures which are adopted not being calculated to subdue the fever, but to increase the stim- clus. Every exciting cause of disease exerts its chief and its worst influence on this mem- brane. At the close of a severe campaign the horses are more than decimated by this pest. At the termination of the Peninsular war the ravages of this disease were dreadful. Every disease will predispose the membrane of the nose to take on the inflammation of glanders, and with many, as strangles, catarrh, bronchitis, and pneu- monia, there is a continuity of membrane, an association of function, and a thousand sympathies. There is not a disease which may not lay the foundation for glanders. Weeks, and months, and years, may intervene between the predisposing cause and the actual evil; but at length the whole frame may become excited or debilitated in many a way, and then this debilitated portion of it is the first to yield to the attack. Atmospheric influence has somewhat to do with the prevalence of glanders. It is not so frequent in summer as in the winter, partly attributable, perhaps, to the different state of the stable in the summer months, neither the air so close or so foul, nor the alternations. of temperature so great. There are some remarkable cases of the connexion of moisture, or moist exhala- tions, that deserve record. When new stabling was built for the troops at Hythe, and inhabited before the walls were perfectly dry, many of the horses that had been removed from an open, dry, and healthy situation, became affected with glanders; but, some time having passed over, the horses in these stables were as healthy as the others, and glanders ceased to appear. An innkeeper at Wakefield built some exten- sive stabling for his horses, and, inhabiting them too soon, lost a great proportion of his cattle from glanders. There are not now more healthy stables in the place. The immense range of stables under the Adelphi, in the Strand, where light never enters, and the supply of fresh air is not too abundant, were for a long time notoriously un- healthy, and many valuable horses were destroyed by glanders; but now they are filled with the finest wagon and dray-horses that the metropolis or the country con- tains, and they are fully as healthy as in the majority of stables above-ground. There is one more cause to be slightly mentioned—hereditary predisposition. This has not been sufficiently estimated, with regard to the question now under considera- tion, as well as with respect to everything connected with the breeding of the horse. There is scarcely a disease that does not run in the stock. There is that in the struc- ture of various parts, or their disposition to be affected by certain influences, which perpetuates in the offspring the diseases ofthe sire; and thus contraction, ophthalmia, roaring, are decidedly hereditary, and so is glanders. M. Dupuy relates some deci- Sive cases. A mare, on dissection, exhibited every appearance of glanders ; her filly, who resembled her in form and in her vicious propensities, died glandered at six years old. A second and a third mare, and their foals, presented the sare fatal proof that glanders are hereditary. Glanders are highly contagious. The farmer cannot be too deeply impressed with the certainty of this. Considering the degree to which this disease, even at the pre sent day, often prevails, the legislature would be justified in interfering, by some severe enactments, as it has done in the case of the small-pox in the human subject. The early and marked symptom of glanders, is a discharge from the nostrils of a peculiar character; and if that, even before it becomes purulent, is rubbed on a wound, or on a mucous surface, as the nostrils, it will produce a similar disease. If the division between two horses were sufficiently high to prevent all smelling and snorting at each other, and contact of every kind, and they drank not out of the same ail, a sound horse might live for years, uninfected, by the side of a glandered one. The matter of glanders has been mixed up into a ball, and given to a healthy horse, witout effect. Some horses have eaten the hay left by those that were glandered, GLANDERS, 135 and no bad consequence has followed ; but others have been speedily infected. The glanderous matter must come in contact with a wound, or fall on some membrane, thin and delicate, like that of the nose, and through which it may be absorbed. It is easy, then, accustomed as horses are to be crowded together, and to recognise each other by the smell—eating out of the same manger, and drinking from the same pail— to imagine that the disease may be very readily communicated. One horse has passed another when he was in the act of snorting, and has become glandered. Some fillies have received the infection from the matter blown by the wind across a lane, when a glandered horse, in the opposite field, has claimed acquaintance by neighing or snort- ing. Itis almost impossible for an infected horse to remain long in a stable with others without irreparable mischief. If some persons underrate the danger, it is because the disease may remain unre- eognised in the infected horse for some months, or even years, and therefore, when it appears, it is attributed to other causes, or to after inoculation. No glandered horse should be employed on any farm, nor should a glandered horse be permitted to work on any road, or even to pasture on any field. Mischief may be so easily and exten- sively effected, that the public interest demands that every infected animal should be summarily destroyed, or given over for experiment to a veterinary surgeon, or recog- nised veterinary establishment. There are a few instances of the spontaneous cure of chronic glanders. The dis- charge has existed for a considerable time. At length it has gradually diminished, and has ceased; and this has occurred under every kind of treatment, and without any medical treatment: but in the majority of these supposed cases, the matter was only pent up for a while, and then, bursting from its confinement, it flowed again in double quantity : or, if glanders have not re-appeared, the horse, in eighteen or twenty- four months, has become farcied, or consumptive, and died. These supposed cures are few and far between, and are to be regarded with much suspicion. As for medicine, there is scarcely a drug to which a fair trial has not been given, and many of them have had a temporary reputation; but they have passed away, one after the other, and are no longer heard of. ‘The blue vitriol and the Spanish-fly have held out longest; and in a few cases, either nature or these medicines have done wonders, but in the majority of instances they have palpably failed. ‘The diniodide of copper has lately acquired some reputation. It has been of great service in cases of farcy, but it is not to be depended upon in glanders. Where the life of a valuable horse is at stake, and the owner adopts every precau- tion to prevent infection, he may subject the horse to medical treatment; but every humane man will indignantly object to the slitting of the nostril, and the scraping of the cartilage, and searing of the gland, and firing of the frontal and nasal bones, and to those injections of mustard and capsicum, corrosive sublimate and vitriol, by which the horse has been tortured, and the practitioner disgraced. At the veterinary school, and by veterinary surgeons, it will be most desirable that every experiment should be tried to discover a remedy for this pest; but, in ordinary instances, he is not faithful to his own interest, or that of his neighbours, who does not remove the possibility of danger in the most summary way. If, however, remedial measures are resorted to, a pure atmosphere is that which should first be tried. Glanders is the peculiar disease of the stabled horse, and the preparation for, or the foundation of a cure, must consist in the perfect removal of every exciting cause of the malady. The horse must breathe a cool and pure atmo- sphere, and he must be turned out, or placed in a situation equivalent to 1t. A salt marsh is, above all others, the situation for this experiment: but there is much caution required. No sound horse must be in the same pasture, or a nelgnduxr- ing one. The palings or the gates may receive a portion or tne matter, wnicn may harden upon them, and, many a month afterwards, be a source of mischief—nay, the virus may cling about the very herbage, and empoison it. Cattle and sheep should not be trusted with a glandered horse ; for the experiments are not sufficiently numer- ous or decided as to the exemption of these animals from the contagion of olanders. Supposing that glanders have made their appearance in the stables of a farmer, is there any danger after he has removed or destroyed the infected horse? Certainly there is; but not to the extent that is commonly supposed. ‘There is no necessity fo- 156 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTH. ulling down the racks and mangers, or even the stable itself, as some have done, The poison resides not in the breath of the animal, but in the nasal discharge, and that can only reach certain parts of the stable. If the mangers, and racks, and bales, and partitions, are first well scraped, and scoured with soap and water, and then thoroughly washed with a solution of the chloride of lime, (one pint of the chloride to a pailfull of water,) and the walls are lime-washed, and the head-gear burned, and the clothing baked or washed, and the pails newly painted, and the iron-work exposed to a red heat, all danger will cease. Little that is satisfactory can be said of the prevention of glanders. The first and most effectual mode of prevention will be to keep the stables cool and well ventilated, for the hot and poisoned air of low and confined stables is one of the most prevalent causes of glanders. Next to ventilation stands cleanliness ; for the foul air from the fermenting litter, - and urine, and dung, must not only be highly injurious to health generally, but irritate and predispose to inflammation that delicate membrane which is the primary seat of the disease. If to this be added regular exercise, and occasional green meat during the summer, and carrots in the winter, we shall have stated all that can be done in the way of prevention. Glanders in the human being. —It cannot be too often repeated, that a glandered horse can rarely remain among sound ones without serious mischief ensuing; and, worse than all, the man who attends on that horse is in danger. ‘The cases are now becoming far too numerous in which the groom or the veterinary surgeon attending on glandered horses becomes infected, and in the majority of cases dies. It is, how- ever, somewhat’ more manageable in the human being than in the quadruped. Some cases of recovery from farey and glanders stand on record with regard to the human being, but they are few and far between. FARCY. Farcy is intimately connected with glanders; they will run into each other, or their symptoms will mingle together, and before either arrives at its fatal termination its associate will almost invariably appear. An animal inocculated with the matter of farey will often be afflicted with glanders, while the matter of glanders will fre- quently produce farcy. They are different types or stages of the same disease. There is, however, a very material difference in their symptoms and progress, and this most important one of all, that while glanders are generally incurable, farcy, in its early stage and mild form, may be successfully treated. While the capillary vessels of the arteries are everywhere employed in building up the frame, the absorbents are no less diligently at work in selecting and caxrying away every useless or worn-out portion or part of it. There is no surface —there is no assignable spot on which thousands of these little mouths do not open. In the discharge of their duty, they not only remove that which is become useless, and often that which is healthy, but that which is poisonous and destructive. They open upon the surface of every glanderous chancre. They absorb a portion of the virus which is secreted by the ulcer, and as it passes along these little tubes, they suffer from its acrimonious quality; hence the corded veins, as they are called by the farrier, or, more properly, the thickened and inflamed absorbents following the course of the veins. At certain distances in the course of the absorbents are loose duplicatures of the lining membrane, which are pressed against the side of the vessel and permit the fluid to pass in a direction towards the chest, but belly out and impede or arrest its progress from the chest. The virus at these places, and the additional inflammation there excited, is to a greater or less degree evident to the eye and to the feeling. They are usually first observed about the lips, the nose, the neck, and the thighs, They are very hard—even of a scirrhous hardness, more or less tender, and with perceptible heat about them. The poisonous matter being thus confined and pressing on the part, suppuration and ulceration ensue. ‘The ulcers have the same character as the glanderous ones on the membrane of the nose. They are rounded, with an elevated edge and a pale surface. 'Tuey are true chancres, and they discharge a virus as infectious and as FARCY. 197 dangerous as the matter of glanders. While they remain in their hard prominent state, they are called bulfons or farcy buds; and they are connected together by the inflamed and corded veins. In some cases the horse will droop for many a day before the appearance of the corded veins or buds—his appetite will be impaired—his coat will stare—he will lose flesh. The poison is evidently at work, but has not gained sufficient power to cause the absorbents to enlarge. In a few cases these buds do not ulcerate, but become hard and difficult to disperse. The progress of the disease is then suspended, and possibly for some months the horse will appear to be restored to health; but he bears the seeds of the malady about him, and in due time the farcy assumes its virulent form, and hurries him off. These buds have sometimes been confounded with the little tumours or lumps termed surfeit. They are generally higher than these tumours, and not so broad. They have a more knotty character, and are prin- cipally found on the inside of the limbs, instead of the outside. F Few things are more unlike, or more perplexing, than the different forms which farcy assumes at different times. One of the legs, and particularly one of the hinder legs, will suddenly swell to an enormous size. At night the horse will appear to be perfectly well, and in the morning one leg will be three times the size of the other, with considerable fever, and scarcely the power of moving the limb. At other times the head will be subject to this enlargement, the muzzle particularly will swell, and an offensive discharge will proceed from the nose. Sometimes the horse will gradually lose flesh and strength; he will be hide-bound; many eruptions will appear in different parts; the legs will swell; cracks will be seen at the heels, and an inexperienced person may conceive it to be a mere want of condition, com- bined with grease. By degrees the affection becomes general. The virus has reached the termination of the absorbents, and mingles with the general circulating fluid, and is conveyed with the blood to every part of the frame. 'There are no longer any valves to impede its progress, and consequently no knots or buds, but the myriads of capillary absorbents that penetrate every part become inflamed, and thickened, and enlarged, and cease to discharge their function. Hence arises enlargement of the substance of various parts, swellings of the legs, and chest, and head —sudden, painful, enormous, and dis- tinguished by a heat and tenderness, which do not accompany other enlargements. It is a question somewhat difficult to answer, whether farcy can exist without previous glanders. Probably it cannot. There is the long-continued insidious pro- gress of glanders — the time which may elapse, and often does, before the owner is aware or the veterinary surgeon sure of it—the possibility that minute ulceration may have for a lone while existed in some of the recesses of the nose — or that the slight discharge, undreaded and unrecognised, yet vitiated, poisoned, and capable of com- municating the disease, may have been long travelling through the frame and affecting the absorbents, and preparing for the sudden display of farcy. One thing, however, is undeniable, that farcy does not long and extensively prevail without being accompanied by glanders—that even in the mild stages of farcy, olanders may be seen if looked for, and that it never destroys the animal without plainly associating itself with glanders. They are, in fact, stages of the same disease. Glanders is inflammation of the membrane of the nose, producing an altered and poisonous secretion, and when suflicient of this vitiated secretion has been taken up to produce inflammation and ulceration of the absorbents, farcy is established. Its progress is occasionally very capricious, continuing in a few cases for months and years, the vigour of the horse remaining unimpaired; and, at other times, running on to its fatal termination with a rapidity perfectly astonishing. Farcy has been confounded with other diseases ; but he must be careless or ignorant who mistook sprain for it. The inflammation is too circumscribed and too plainly connected with the joint or the tendon. It may be readily distinguished from grease or swelled legs. In grease there is usually so:e crack or scurfiness, a peculiar tenseness and redness and glossiness of the skin, some ichorous discharge, and a singular spasmodic catching up of the 1eg. In farey the engorgement is even more sudden than that of grease. The horse is 12* s 138 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTH. well to-day, and to-morrow he is gorged from the fetlock to the haunch, and although there is not the same redness or glossiness, there is great tenderness, a burning hea¢ in the limb and much general fever. t is simultaneous inflammation of all the absorbents of the limb. i Surfeit .an scarcely be confoundea with farcy or glanders. It is a pustular erup- tion—surfeil-bumps, as ticy are called, and terminating in desquamation, not in ulcer- ation, although numerous, yet irregularly placed, and never following the course of the absorbents, but.scattered over the skin. Local dropsy of the cellular membrane, and particularly that enlargement beneath the thorax which has the strange appellation of water-farcy, have none of the charac- ters of real farcy. It is general debility to a greater or less degree, and not inflamma- tion of the absorbents. If properly treated, it soon disappears, except that, occasion- ally, at the close of some serious disease, it indicates a breaking up of the constitution. Farcy, like.glanders, springs from infection and from bad stable management. It is produced by all the causes which give rise to glanders, with this difference, that it is more frequently generated, and sometimes strangely prevalent in particular districts. It will attack, at the same time, several horses in the same ill-conducted stable, and others in the neighbourhood who have been exposed to the same predisposing causes. Some have denied that it is a contagious disease. They must have had little experi- ence. It is true that the matter of farey must come in contact with a wound or sore, in order to communicate the disease ; but accustomed as horses are to nibble and play with each other, and sore as the corners of the mouth are frequently rendered by the bit, it is easy to imagine that this may be easily effected; and experience tells us, that a horse having farcy ulcers cannot be suffered to remain with others without extreme risk, . The treatment of farcy differs with the form that it assumes. As a general rule, and especially when the buttons or buds are beginning to appear, a mild dose of physie should first be administered. The buds should then be,carefully examined, and if any of them have broken, the budding-iron, at a dull red heat, should be applied. If pus should be felt in them, showing that they are disposed to break, they should be penetrated with the iron. These wounds should be daily inspected, and if, when the slough of the cautery comes off, they look pale, and foul, and spongy, and dis- charge a thin matter, they should be frequently washed with a strong lotion of corro- sive sublimate, dissolved in rectified spirit. When the wounds begin to look red, and the bottom of them is even and firm, and they discharge a thick white or yellow mat- ter, the Friar’s balsam will usually dispose them to heal. As, however, the constitution is now tainted, local applications will not be suffi- cient, and the disease must be attacked by internal medicine as soon as the physic has ceased to operate. Corrosive sublimate used to be a favourite medicine, combined with tonics, and repeated morning and night until the ulcers disappeared, unless the mouth became sore or the horse was violently purged, when the sulphate of copper was substituted forthe corrosive sublimate. During this treatment the animal was placed, if possible, in a large box, with a free circulation of air; and green meat or carrots, and particu- larly the latter, were given, with a full allowance of corn. If he could be turned out in the day, it was deemed highly advantageous. It is related by Mr. Blaine, that a horse, so reduced as not to be able to stand, was drawn into a field of tares, and suf- fered to take his chance. The consequence was, that, when he had eaten all within his reach, he contrived to move about and search for more, and eventually recovered. Many horses recover under the use of the sublimate, but the great majority of them die. Mr. Vines introduced a more effective medicine —cantharides, in combination like- wise with the vegetable bitters—as a cure for farey and glanders. It cannot be denied. that many animals labouring under the former, and a few under the latter, were to all appearance radically cured. The medicine was suspended for a while if affection of the kidneys supervened. A still more effectual medicine has been introduced by Professor Morton, namely, the diniodide of copper, and it has been found of essential service in farcy and in dis- eases simulating glanders. He says that its action is that of a stimulant to the THE wars: 139 absorbent vessels, and a tonic. The gentian root is usually combined with it. Can- tharides, in small quantities, may be advantageously added. An indication of its influence is a soreness of the diseased parts arising from the absorbent vessels being roused into increased action: the agent should then be for a time withheld.* Warter-Farcy, confounded by name with the common farey, and by which much confusion has been caused, and a great deal of mischief done, is ‘a dropsical affection of the skin, either of the chest or of the limbs, and belongs to another part of our subject. THE LIPS. The Zips of the horse are far more important organs than many suppose. They are the hands of the animal; and if any one will take the trouble to observe the manner in which he gathers up his corn with them, and collects together the grass before he divides it with his nippers,-he would be satisfied that the horse would be no more able to convey the food to his mouth without them, than the human being could with- out his hands. This has even been put to the test of experiment. The nerves which supply the lips were divided in a poor ass, to illustrate some point of physiology. The sensibility of the lips was lost, and he knew not when he touched his food with them. The motion of the lips was lost, and he could not get the oats between his teeth, although the manger was full of them: at length, driven by hunger, he contrived to lick up a few of them with his tongue; but when they were on his tongue, the greater part of them were rubbed off before he could get them into his mouth. It is on account of this use of the lips, and that they may be brought into contact with the food without inconvenience or injury to other parts of the face, that the heads of most quadrupeds are so lengthened. Several muscles go to the lips from different parts of the jaw and face. Some of them are shown in the cut, p. 125. The orbicularis or circular muscle, p, employed in pushing out the lips and closing them, and enabling the horse to seize and hold his food, is particularly evident; and in the explanation of the cut, the action of other muscles, 7, 4, m, and 0, was de- scribed. ‘The nerves likewise, y, taking their course along the cheek, and principally supplying the lips with the power of motion, and those, z, proceeding from the fora- men or hole in the upper jaw, deserve attention. The lips are composed of a muscular substance for the sake of strength, and a — * A very interesting case of the cure of farcy in the human being occurred in January, 1840, in the practice of Mr. Curtis, a respectable surgeon of Camden Town :— ‘¢Mr. G., a student at the Veterinary College, had, about three weeks before, received a slight wound on the forefinger of the right hand, while dissecting a glandered horse. ‘The wound healed; but, about nine days afterwards, a small abscess formed in the part, which he would not consent to have opened; the pus was therefore absorbed, and the finger got well, and neither the lymphatics nor the glands appeared to be affected. “Ten days afterwards, he was attacked with giddiness while attending the lecture, and obliged to leave the room. He immediately applied to Mr. Curtis. He had three blotches of inflammation of the skin of the right leg, varying in extent from two to four inches in diameter. The leg was very painful when he walked; and he had also some small blotches on the left leg. He had headache and thirst. His case was sufficiently plain —farey was beginning to develop itself. Aperient medicine was administered. ‘On the following day, there were numerous small blotches over both legs and thighs. In many of them the centre was of a pale green colour, having a somewhat gangrenous appear- ance. The headache was worse; there was a sensation of weight over the eyes, and tender- ness over the left frontal. VAS ‘““ Mr. Curtis determined to put him under a course of iodine, of the tincture of which eight minims were ordered every fourth hour, the bowels being kept in a relaxed state. “On the fourth day, the centre of the blotches, which were still green, appeared to form cavities, containing a fluid, from about the size of a shilling to that of a half-crown. The | blotches were surrounded by hard, defined edges, covered with cuticle, but the thickening of which was gradually disappearing. : “« Two days after this, the fluid in the cavities was absorbed, but round their edges were lumps, or tubercles, about the size of peas. Sevéral weeks passed before the tubercles quite disappeared. 7 ee “Mr. Curtis remarks, that so far as a single case will go, the intractable nature of this dis ease seems to arise rather from neglect in its early stage, than from any impossibility of sub duing it.”’—The Veterinarian, vol. xiii. p. 353. 140 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTH. multitude of small glands, which secrete a fluid that covers the inside of the lips and the gums, in order to prevent friction, and likewise furnish a portion of the moisture so necessary for the proper chewing of the food. ‘The skin covering the lips is ex- ceedingly thin, in order that their peculiar sensibility may be preserved, and for the same purpose they are scantily covered with hair, and that hair is fine and short. Long hairs or feelers, termed the beard, are superadded with the same intention. The horse is guided and governed principally by the mouth, and therefore the lips are endowed with very great sensibility, so that the animal feels the slightest motion of the hand of the rider or driver, and seems to anticipate his very thoughts. The fineness or goodness of the mouth consists in its exquisite feeling, and that depends on the thinness of this membrane. The lips of the horse should be thin, if the beauty of the head is regarded; yet, although thin, they should evidently possess power, and be strongly and regularly closed. A firm, compressed mouth gives a favourable and no deceptive idea of the muscular power of the animal. Lips apart from each other and hanging down, indi- cate weakness or old age, or dullness and sluggishness. The depth of the mouth, or the distance from the fore-part to the angle of the lips, should be considerable. A short, protuberant mouth would be a bad finish to the tapering face of the blood-horse. More room is likewise given for the opening of the nostril, which has been shown to be an important consideration. The bridle will not be carried well, and the horse will hang heavy on hand, if there is not consider- able depth of mouth. The corners or angles of the lips are frequently made sore or wounded by the small- ness, or shortness, or peculiar twisting of the snaffle, and the unnecessary and cruel tightness of the bearing-rein. This rein was introduced as giving the horse a grander » appearance in harness, and placing the head in that position in which the bit most effectually presses upon the jaw. There is no possibility of safely driving without it, for, deprived of this control, many horses would hang their heads low, and be dis- osed every moment to stumble, and would defy all pulling, if they tried to run away. here is, and can be no necessity, however, for using a bearing-rein so tight as to cramp the muscles of the head, or to injure and excoriate the angles of the lips. The following is the opinion of Nimrod, and to a more competent judge we could not appeal :—‘ As to the universal disuse of the bearing-rein with English horses, zt can never take place. ‘The charge against it of cruelty at once falls to the ground, because, to make a team work together in fast work, every horse’s head must be as much restrained by the coupling-rein as it would he and is by the bearing-rein. Its excellence consists in keeping horses’ mouths fresh—in enabling a coachman to indulge a horse with liberty of rei, without letting him be all abroad, which he would be with his head quite loose, and of additional safety to the coach-horse, as proved by the fact of either that or the crupper always giving way when he falls down. ‘There are, however, teams in which it may be dispensed with, and the horses have an advantage in their working against hills. As to the comparison of the road coach-horses on the Continent and our own, let any one examine the knees of the French diligence and post horses, which are allowed perfect liberty of head, and he will be convinced that the use of the bearing-rein does not keep them on their legs.””* The mouth is injured much oftener than the careless owner suspects by the pres- sure of a sharp bit. Not only are the bars wounded and deeply ulcerated, but the lower jaw, between the tush and the grinders, is sometimes worn even to the bone, and the bone itself affected, and portions of it torn away. It may be necessary to * New Sporting Magazine, vol. xiii. p. 99. The author of the ‘‘ Essay on Humanity to Brutes,”’ takes the same view of the subject. “Tt is not,’’ says he, ‘‘to the extent that has been supposed an instrument of torture. It is absolutely necessary in fast work, and useful on level ground. The objection to it is the tight- cess with which it is sometimes applied, and then it is a sad confinement to the head, and a source of very great pain. Itis also disadvantageous when the horse is going up-hill, be- cause it prevents him from throwing his whole weight into the collar. It cannot, however, be done without, especially in the horse that is once accustomed to it; but the poor animal needs not to be so tightly reined.’’—The Obligation and Extent of Humanity to Brutes, by W. Vouatt, p. 149. THE BONES OF THE MOUTH—THE PALATE. 14) lave a sharp bit for the headstrong and obstinate beast; yet if that bit is severely and unjustifiably called into exercise, the animal may rear, and endanger himself and his rider. There can, however, be no occasion for a thousandth part of the torment which the trappings of the mouth often inflict on a willing and docile servant, and which either render the mouth hard, and destroy all the pleasure of riding, or cause the horse to become fretful or vicious. Small ulcers are sometimes found in the various parts of the mouth, said to be pro- duced by rusty bits, but oftener arising from contusions inflicted by the bit, or from inflammation of the mouth. If the curb-bit is in fault, a snaffle or Pelham-bit should “be used. If there is inflammation of the mouth, a little cooling medicine may be administered; and to the ulcers themselves, tincture of myrrh, diluted with water, or alum dissolved in water, may be applied with advantage. THE BONES OF THE MOUTH. The bones in, and giving form to the mouth, are the superior maxillary or upper jaw (4, p. 68, and /, p. 70), containing the grinders: the anterior maxillary, or lower part of the upper jaw (4, p. 68, n, p. 70, r, p. 72), containing the upper-nippers or cutting-teeth ; the palatine bone (below 8, p. 72), and the posterior maxillary or under jaw (a, p. 68, and w, p. 72), containing all the under-teeth. The superior maxillary is, with the exception of the lower jaw, the largest bone in the face. It unites above with the lachrymal bone (2, p. 70); and, more on the side, with the malar, or cheek bone, &; and a portion of it, continued upward and under- neath, enters into the orbit. Above, and on the front of the face, it unites with the bones of the nose, 7, and below, with the inferior maxillary, m. That which most deserves notice in it externally, is the ridge, or spine, seen at 0, p. 68, but better deli- neated in the cut of the head, p. 72, continued from the base of the zygomatic arch, and across the malar bone. It, and the surface beneath, serve to give attachment to the masseter muscle, concerned, almost as much as the temporal one, in the act of chewing. The dark spot (m, p. 70, and seen likewise at p. 68) marks the foramen, or hole, through which a branch of the fifth pair of nerves proceeds, to give sensi- bility to the lower part of the face. As it approaches the teeth, this bone separates into two plates, and these are divided by long partitions, which contain and firmly hold the upper grinders. The lower plate then projects inwards, and forms (¢, p. 72) the principal portion of the roof of the mouth, and the floor of the cavity of the nose. The corresponding bone on the other side, meets its fellow in the centre of the palate. The upper jaw-bone contains in it large cavities besides those for the teeth, and these open into, and enlarge the cavity of the nose. They are connected with the voice, but not with the smell; for the expansion of the olfactory, or smelling nerve, has never been traced beyond the bones and membranes of the proper cavity of the nose. The maxillary sinuses are generally filled with matter in bad cases of glanders. Below these, are the anterior maxillary bones (f, p. 68, a, p. 68), containing the upper cutting teeth, with the tushes belonging to both the upper and anterior bones. These are the bones to which (see cut, p. 72) the upper lip is attached. ‘The supe- rior and anterior maxillary bones are separated in animals with long faces, like the horse, that, by overlapping each other, strength might be gained. The palatine bone forms but a very small portion of the palate. It surrounds the edge of the communication between the cavity of the nose and the back parts of the rrauth. THE PALATE. Adhering to a portion of the three bones just described, and constituting the lining of the roof of the mouth, is the palate (¢, p. 72), composed of an elastic and dense substance, divided into several ridges called bars. The following cut gives a view of them. It will also point out the bleeding place, if it should occasionally be deemed advi sable to abstract blood from the mouth; or if the horse should be attacked with megrims on a journey, and the driver, having no lancet, should be compelled to make use of his knife, the incision should be made between the central and second nippers on either side, about an inch within the mouth, and cutting through the second bar 142 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTE. A stream of blood will be thus obtained, which will usually cease to flow when two or three quarts have escaped, or may generally be arrested by the applica- tion of a sponge filled with cold water. This, however, is a make-shift sort of bleeding that may be allowable on a journey, and possibly in some cases of lampas, but which is decidedly objec- tionable as the usual mode of abstracting blood, The quantity withdrawn cannot be measured, the degree of inflammation cannot be ascertained by the manner in which it coagulates, and there may be difficulty to the operator, and annoyance and pain to the horse, in stopping the bleeding. This cut likewise depicts the appearance of the roof of the mouth, if the bars were dissected off, and of the numerous vessels, arterial and venous, which ramify over it. > aw == FS SS = =/ ee LAMPAS. The bars occasionally swell, and rise to a level with, and even beyond the edge of, the teeth. They \ are vety sore, and the horse feeds badly on account of the pain he suffers from the pressure of the food on them. This is called the Lampas. It may arise from inflammation of the gums, propagated to the bars, when the horse is shedding his teeth—and young horses are more subject to it than others — or from some slight febrile tendency in the constitution generally, as when a young horse has lately been taken up from grass, and has been over-fed, or not sufficiently exercised. At times, it appears in aged horses; for the process of growth in the teeth of the horse is con- tinued during the whole life of the animal. In the majority of cases, the swelling will soon subside without medical treatment; or a few mashes, and gentle alteratives, will relieve the animal. A few slight inci- sions across the bars with a lancet, or penknife, will relieve the inflammation, and cause the swelling to subside; indeed, this scarification of the bars in lampas will seldom do harm, although it is far from being so necessary as is supposed. The brutal custom of the farrier, who sears and burns down the bars with a red-hot iron, is most objectionable. It is torturing the horse to no purpose, and rendering that part callous, on the delicate sensibility of which all the pleasure and safety of riding and driving depend. It may be prudent, in case of Jampas, to examine the grinders, and more particularly the tushes, in order to ascertain whether either of them is making its way through the gum. If it is so, two incisions across each other should be made on the tooth, and the horse will experience immediate relief. THE LOWER JAW. The posterior or lower jaw may be considered as forming the floor of the mouth, (a, p. 68, or w, p. 72). The body, or lower part of it, contains the under cutting teeth and the tushes, and at the sides are two flat pieces of bone, containing the grinders. On the inside, and opposite to a, p. 68, is a foramen, or hole, through which blood-vessels and nerves enter to supply the teeth, and some of which escape again at another orifice on the outside, and near the nippers. The branches are broader and thinner, rounded at the angle of the jaw, and terminating in two processes. One, the coracoid, from its sharpness, or supposed resemblance to a beak, passes under the zygomatic arch (see p. 68); and the temporal muscle, arising from the whole surface of the parietal bone (see p. 74), is inserted into it, and wrapped round it; aud by its action, principally, the jaw is moved, and the food is ground. The other, the condyloid, or rounded process, is received into the glenoid (shallow) cavity of the temporal bone, at the base of the zygomatic arch, and forms the joint on which the lower jaw moves. This joint is easily seen in the cut at p. 68; and being placed THE LOWER JAW. 143 so iear to the insertion of the muscle, or the centre of motion, the temporal muscle must act with very considerable mechanical disadvantage, and, consequently, must possess immense power. This joint is admirably contrived for the purpose which the animal requires. It will admit freely and perfectly of the simple motion of a hinge, and that is the action of the jaw in nipping the herbage and seizing the corn. But the grass, and mora particularly the corn, must be crushed and bruised before it is fit for digestion. Simple champing, which is the motion of the human lower jaw, and that of most beasts of prey, would very imperfectly break down the corn. It must be put into a mill; it must be actually ground. It is put into the mill, and as perfect a one as imagination can conceive. The following cuts represent the glenoid cavity, in a carnivorous or flesh-eating, and herbivorous or grass-eating, animal, viz. the tiger and the horse: the one requiring a simple hinge-like motion of the lower jaw to tear and crush the food; the other, a lateral or grinding motion to bring it into a pulpy form. We first examine this cavity in the tiger represented at B. At the root of the zygomatic process D, is a hollow with a ridge along the greater part of the upper and inner side of it, standing to a considerable height, and curling over the cavity. At the lower and opposite La = FBAAZZ == ASS SESS = fv S edge of the cavity, but on the outside, is a similar ridge, E, likewise rising abruptly and curling over. At C is another and more perfect view of this cavity in a different direction. The head of the lower jaw is received into this hollow, and presses against these ridges, and is partially surrounded by them, and forms with them a very strong joint where dislocation is scarcely possible, and the hinge-like or cranching motion is admitted to its fullest extent ; permitting the animal violently to seize his prey, to hold it firmly, and to crush it to pieces; but from the extent and curling form of the ridges, forbidding, except to a very slight degree, all lateral and grinding motion, and this, because the animal does not want it. As before mentioned, the food of the horse must be ground. Simple bruising and champing would not sufficiently comminute it for the purposes of digestion. We then observe the different construction of the parts to effect this. A gives the glenoid cavity of the horse. First, there is the upper ridge assuming a rounded form, F, and therefore called the mastoid process; and —a peculiarity in the horse —the mastoid process of the squamous portion of the temporal bone: sufficiently strong to support the pressure and action of the lower jaw when cropping the food or seizing an enemy, but not encircling the head of that bone, and reaching only a little way along the side of the cavity, where it terminates, having its edges rounded off so as to admit, and to be evidently destined for, a circular motion about it. At the other and lower edge of the cavity, and on the outside, G is placed—not a curling ridge as in the tiger, but a mere tubercle: and for what reason? evidently to limit this lateral or circular motion —to permit it as far as the necessities of the animal require it, and then tc arrest it. How is this done? Not suddenly or abruptly; but the tubercle, of which we have already spoken as strengthening this portion of the zygomatic arch, now discharging another office, has a smooth and gradual ascent to it, up which the lowe jaw may climb to a certain extent, and then, by degrees, be stopped. We speak not now of the moveable cartilace which is placed in this cavity, and between the bones, to render the motion easier and freer. It is found in this joint in every quadruped ; and it is found wherever motions are rapid and of long continuance. 144 ANATOMY AND DISEASES Ol! THE NOSE AND MOUTH. So great is the conformity between the structure of the animal and his destination that a tolerable student in comparative anatomy, by a mere inspection of the gienoid vavity, would at once determine whether the animal to which it belonged was car- nivorous, and wanted no lateral motion of the jaw ; or omnivorous, living occasionally on all kinds of food, and requiring some degree of grinding motion; or herbivorous, and needing the constant use of this admirably-constructed mill. At g, p. 125, is represented the masseter muscle, an exceedingly strong one, con- stituting the cheek of the horse — arising from the superior maxillary under the ridge continued from the zygomatic arch, and inserted into the lower jaw, and particularly round the rough border at the angle of the jaw. This acts with the temporal muscle in closing the jaw, and in giving the direct cutting or champing motion of it. Within the lower jaw, on either side, and occupying the whole of the hollowed portion of them, and opposite to the masseters, are the pterygoid muscles, going from the jaws to bones more in the centre of the channel, likewise closing the mouth, and also, by their alternate action, giving that grinding motion which has been described. The space between the branches of the lower jaw, called the channel, is of consider- able consequence. It may be a little tao wide, and then the face will have a clumsy appearance: but if it is too narrow, the horse will never be able to bend his head freely and gracefully ; he will be always pulling or boring upon the hand, nor can he possibly be well reined in. The jaws contain the teeth, which are the millstones employed in comminuting the food. ‘The mouth of the horse at five years old contains forty teeth, viz. six nippers or cutting teeth in front, a tush on each side, and six molars, or grinding teeth, above and below. They are contained in cavities in the upper and lower jaws, surrounded by bony partitions, to which they are accurately fitted, and by which they are firmly supported. For a little way above these bony cavities, they are surrounded by a hard substance called the gum, so dense, and adhering so closely to the teeth and the jaws as not to be separated without very great difficulty —singularly compact, that it may not be wounded by the hard or sharp particles of the food, and almost devoid of feel- ing, for the same purpose. Seven or eight months before the foal is born, the germs or beginnings of the teeth are visible in the cavities of the jaws. The tooth grows, and presses to the surface of the gum, and forces its way through it; and, at the time of birth, the first and second grinders have appeared, large compared with the size of the jaw, and seemingly filling it. In the course of seven or eight days the two central nippers are seen as here represented. They likewise appear to be large, and to fill the front of the mouth; although they will afterwards be found to be small, compared with the permanent teeth that follow. In the course of the first month the third grinder appears above and below, and, not long after, and gener- ally before six weeks have expired, another incisor above and below will be seen on each side of the two first, which have now considerably grown, but not attained their perfect height. The second cut will represent the appearance of the mouth at that time. At two months, the central nippers will have reached their natural level, and between the second and _ third month the second pair will have overtaken them. They will then begin to wear away a little, and the outer edge, which was at first somewhat raised and sharp, is brought to a level with the inner one, and so the mouth continues until some time between the sixth and ninth month, wher another nipper begins to appear on each side of the two first, making six above and below, and completing the colt’s mouth; after wnich, the only observable difference, until between the second and third year, is in the wear of these teeth. The term nipper is familiar to the horseman and the far- riex, and much better expresses the action of these teeth than the word incisor or cutter. which is adopted by anato a THE PROCESS OF TEETHING. 14a mists. Whoever has observed a horse in the act of browsing, and the twitch of the head which accompanies the separation of each portion of grass, will perceive that ut is nipped or torn rather than cut off. These teeth are covered with a polished and exceedingly hard substance, called the enamel. It spreads over that portion of the teeth which appears above the gum, and not only so, but as they are to be so much employed in nipping the grass, and gath- ering up the animal’s food, and in such employment even this hard substance must be gradnally worn away, a portion of it, as it passes over the upper surface of the teeth, is bent inward, and sunk into the body of the teeth, and forms a little pit in them. The inside and bottom of this pit being blackened by the food, constitutes the mark of the teeth, by the gradual disappearance of which, in consequence of the wearing down of the edge, we are enabled, for several years, to judge of the age of the animal. The colt’s nipping teeth are rounded in front, somewhat hollow towards the mouth, and present at first a cutting surface, with the outer edge rising in a slanting direction above the inner edge. This, however, soons begins to wear down until both surfaces are level, and the mark, which was originally long and narrow, becomes shorter, and wider, and fainter. At six months the four nippers are beginning to wear to a level. The annexed cut will convey some idea of the appearance of the teeth at twelve months. The four middle teeth are almost level, and the corner ones becoming so. The mark in the two middle teeth is wide and faint; in the two next teeth itis darker, and longer, and narrower ; and in the corner teeth itis darkest, and longest, and nar- rowest. The back teeth, or grinders, will not guide us far in ascertaining the age of the animal, for we cannot easily inspect them; but there are some interesting particulars connected with them. The foal is born with two grinders in each jaw, above and below; or they appear within three or four days after the birth. Before the expiration of a month they are succeeded by a third, more back- ward. The crowns of the grinders are entirely covered with enamel on the top and sides, but attrition soon wears it away from the top, and there remains a compound sur- face of alternate layers of crusted petraser, enamel, and ivory, which are employed in grinding down the hardest portion of the food. Nature has, therefore, made an ad- ditional provision for their strength and endurance. This cut represents a grinder sawed across. It seems to be a most irregular and intricate structure ; but the expla- nation of it is not difficult. The tooth is formed and pre- pared in cavities within the jaw-bones. A delicate mem- branous bag, containing a jelly-like substance, is found, in the unborn animal, in a little cell within the jaw-bone. It assumes, by degrees, the form of the tooth that is to appear, and then the jelly within the membrane begins to change = to bony mattter, and a hard and beautiful crystallization is formed on the membrane without, and so we have the cutting tooth covered by its enamel. In the formation, however, of each of the grinders of the horse, there are originally five membranous bags in the upper jaw, and four in the lower, filled with jelly. This by degrees gives place to bony matter, which is thrown out by little ves- sels penetrating into it, and is represented by the darker portions of the cut with cen- tral black spots. The crystallization of enamel can be traced around each, and there would be five distinct bones or teeth. A third substance, however, is now secreted which is represented by the white spaces), and is a powerful cement, uniting all these distinct bones into one body, and making one tooth of the five. ‘This being done, another coat of enamel spreads over tbe sides, but not the top, and the tooth ig completed. By no other contrivance could we have the grinding tooth capable, with- out injury and without wearing, to rab down the hay, and cats, and beans, which constitute the stable-food of horses. The grinders in the lower jaw, having originally but four of these bags or shells, 13 T 146 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTH. are sp aller, and narrower, and more regular, than the upper ones. They are plaved horizc atally in either jaw; but in the lower the higher side is within, and shelving gradu illy outward; in the upper jaw the higher side is without, and shelving inward, * and tl us the grinding motion is most advantageously performed. ‘There is also an evi- dent cifferenc: 1 the appearance and structure of each of the grinders, so that a carefu! observer could tell to which jaw every one belonged, and what situation it occupied. At the completion of the first year, a fourth grinder-usually comes up, and the year- ling jas then, or soon afterwards, six nippers, and four grinders above and below in each jaw, which, with the alteration in the appearance of the nippers that we have just described, will enable us to calculate nearly the age of the foal, subject to some variations arising from the period of weaning, and the nature of the food. At the age of one year and a-half, the mark in the central nippers will be much shorter and fainter; that in the two other pairs will have undergone an evident change, and all the nippers will be flat. At two years this will be more manifest. The ac- companying cut deserves attention, as giving an accu- rate representation of the.nippers in the lower jaw of a two-years-old colt. About this period a fifth grinder will appear, and now, likewise, will commence another process. The first teeth are adapted tothe size and wants of the young animal. ‘They are sufficiently large to occupy and fill. —— the colt’s jaws; but when these bones have expanded with the increasing growth of the animal, the teeth are separated too far from each other to be useful, and another and larger set is required. Evident provision is made for them, even before the colt foaled. In cavities in the jaw, beneath the first and temporary teeth, are to be seen the rudiments of a second and permanent set. ‘These gradually increase, some with greater rapidity than others, and, pressing upon the roots or fangs of the first teeth, do not, as would be imagined, force out the former ones, but the portion pressed upon gradually disappears. It is absorbed —taken up and carried away, by numerous minute vessels, whose office it is to get rid of the worn-out or useless part of the system. This absorption continues to proceed as the second teeth grow and press upwards, until the whole of the fang is gone, and the crown of the tooth, or that part of it which was above the gum, having no longer firm hold, drops out, and the second teeth appear, larger and stronger and permanent. In a few instances, however, the second teeth do not rise immediately under the tem- porary or milk teeth, but somewhat by their side; and then, instead of this gradual process of absorption and disappearance from the point of the root upwards, the root being compressed sideways, diminishes thronghout its whole bulk. The crown of the tooth diminishes with the root, and the whole is pushed out of its place, to the fore part of the first grinder, and remains for a considerable time, under the name of a wolf’s tvoth, causing swelling and soreness of the gums, and frequently wounding the checks. They would be gradually quite absorbed, but the process might be slow and the annoyance would be great, and, therefore, they are extracted. The change of the teeth commences in those which earliest appeared, and, there- fore, the front or first grinder gives way at the age of two years, and is succeeded by a larger and permanent tooth. During the period between the falling out of the central milk nippers, and the coming up of the permanent ones, the colt, having a broken mouth, may find some difficulty in grazing. If he should fall away considerably in condition, he should be fed with mashes and corn, or cut meat. The next cut will represent a three-years-old mouth. The central teeth ate larger than the others, with two grooves in the outer convex surface, and the mark is long narrow, deep and black. Not having yet attained their full growth, they are rather lower than the others. The mark in the two next nippers is nearly worn out, and it is wearing away in the corner nippers. Is it possible to give this mouth to an early two-years-old? The ages of all horses used to be reckoned from May, but some are foaled even so early as January, and being actually four months over the two years, UGS THE PROCESS OF TEETHING. 147 if they have been well nursed and fed, and are strong and large, they may, with the inexperienced, have an additional year put upon them. The central nippers are punched or drawn out, and the others appear three or four months earlier than they otherwise would. In the natural process, they could only rise by long pressing upon, and causing the absorption of, the first set. But opposition from the first set being removed, it is easy to imagine that their progress will be more rapid. Three or four months will be gained in the appearance of the teeth, and these three or four months may enable the breeder to term him a late colt of a preceding year. To him, however, who is accustomed to horses, the general form of the animal—the little developement of the fore-hand—the continuance of the mark on the next pair of nippers—its more evident existence in the corner ones, some enlargement or irregularity about the gums from the violence used in forcing out the teeth—the small growth of the first and fifth grinders and the non-appearance of the sixth grinder, which if it is not through the gum at three years old, is swelling under it, and preparing to get through —any or all of these circumstances, carefully attended to, will be a sufficient security against deception. A horse at three years old ought to have the central permanent nippers growing— the other two pairs wasting —six grinders in each jaw, above and below — the first and fifth level with the others, and the sixth protruding. The sharp edge of the new incisors, although it could not be well expressed in the cut, will be very evident when compared with the neighbouring teeth. As the permanent nippers wear, and continue to grow, a narrower portion of the cone-shaped tooth is exposed to the attrition, and they look as if they had been com- pressed, but it is not so. The mark, of course, gradually disappears as the pit is worn away. At three years and a half, or between that and four, the next pair of nippers will be changed, and the mouth at that time cannot be mistaken. The central nippers will have attained nearly their full growth. A vacuity will be left where tfe second stood, or they will begin to peep above the gum, and the corner ones will be diminished — in breadth, worn down, and the mark becoming small and faint. At this period, likewise, the second pair of grinders will be shed. Previously to this may be the attempt of the dealer to give {\\\\ to his three-years-old an additional year, but the (s)) fraud will be detected by an examination similar \ Nw to that which has been already described. ve At four years, the central nippers will be fully developed; the sharp edge somewhat worn off and the mark shorter, wider, and fainter. The next pair will be up, but they will be small, with the mark deep, and extending quite across them. The corner nippers will be larger than the inside ones, yet smaller than they were, and flat, and . the mark nearly effaced. The sixth grinder will have risen to a level with the others, and the tushes will begin to appear. Now, more than at any other time, will the dealer be anxious to put an additional year upon the animal, for the difference between a four-years-old colt, and a five-years- old horse, in strength, utility, and value, is very great; but, the want of wear in the other nippers—the small size of the corner ones—the little growth of the tush—the smallness of the second grinder — the low fore-hand— the legginess of the colt, and the thickness and little depth of the mouth, will, to the man of common experience among horses, at once detect the cheat. ; ; The tushes (see p. 142) are four in number, two in each jaw, situated between the nippers and the grinders—much nearer to the former than the latter, and nearer in the D 148 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NOSE AND MOUTH. Jower jaw than in the upper, but this distance increasing in both jaws with the age of the animal. In shape it somewhat resembles a cone; it protrudes about an inch from the gum, and has its extremity sharp-pointed and curved. At the age now under consideration, the tushes are almost peculiar to the horse, and castration does not appear to prevent or retard their development. All mares, however, have the germs of them in the chambers of the jaw, and they appear beeen in the majority of old mares. ‘Their use is not evident. Perhaps in the wild state of the animal they are weapons of offence, and he is enabled by them more firmly to seize, and more deeply wound his enemy. The breeder often attempts to hasten the appearance of the tush, and he cuts deeply through the gum to remove the opposition which that would afford. To a little exten he succeeds. He may possibly gain a few weeks, but not more. After all, there is much uncertainty as to the appearance of the tush, and it may vary from the fourth year to four years and six months. It belongs, in the upper jaw, both to the inferior and superior maxillary bones (see n. p. 70); for, while its fang is deeply imbedded in the inferior maxillary, the tooth penetrates the process of the superior maxillary at the union of those bones. At four years and a half, or between that and five, the last important change takes place in the mouth of the horse. The corner nippers are shed, and the permanent ones begin to appear. The central nippers are considerably worn, and the next pair are commencing to show marks of usage. The tush has now protruded, and is gene- rally a full half-inch in height; externally it has a rounded prominence, with a groove on either side, and it is evidently hollowed within. The reader needs not to be told that after the rising of the corner nipper the animal changes its name—the colt becomes a horse, and the filly a mare. At five years the horse’s mouth is almost perfect. 'The corner nippers are quite up, with the long deep mark irregular on the inside; and the other nippers bearing evident tokens of increasing wearing. The tush is much grown— = the grooves have almost or quite disappeared, \\ and the outer surface is regularly convex. It is ) still as concave within, and with the edge nearly as sharp as it was six months before. ‘The sixth molar is quite up, and the third molar is wanting. This last circumstance, if the general appearance of the animal, and particularly his forehead and the wearing of the centre nippers, and the growth and shape of the tushes, are likewise carefully attended to, will prevent deception, if a late four- years-old is attempted to be substituted for a five. The nippers may be brought up a few months before their time, and the tushes a few weeks, but the grinder is with difficulty dis- placed. ‘The three last grinders and the tushes are never shed. = At six years the mark on the central nip- pers is worn out. There will still be a differ- ence of colour in the centre of the tooth. ‘The cement filling the hole, made by the dipping in of the enamel, will present a browner hue | than the other part of the tooth, and it will be Y) evidently surrounded by an edge of enamel, that will bear to be reined up, so as to GF A hi: | en give this part the arched and beautiful “Sy appearance which fashion demands. It is no detriment to the riding-horse, and there are few horses of extraordinary speed that have not the neck rather Jong. The race-horse at the top of his speed not only extends it as far as he can, that the air-passages may be as straight as “Mf he can make them, and that he may tA Zi therefore be able to breathe more freely, ti LZ | but the weight of the head and neck, and Y the effect increasing with their distance MA from the trunk, add materially to the WF rapidity of the animal’s motion. It has AGF been said, that a horse with a long neck will bear heavy on the hand; neither the length of the neck nor even the bulk of the head has any influence in causing this. They are both counterbalanced by the power of the ligament of the neck. The set- ting on of the head is most of all connected with heavy bearing on the hand, and a short-necked horse will bear heavily, because, from the thickness of the lower part of the neck, consequent on its shortness, the head cannot be rightly placed, nor, gene- rally, the shoulder. Connected with the splenius muscle, and partly produced by it, are the thickness and muscularity of the neck, as it springs from the shoulders, in this cut; the height at which it comes out from them forming nearly a line with the withers; and the manner in which it tapers as it approaches the head. The neck of a well-formed horse, however fine at the top, should be muscular at the bottom, or the horse will generally be weak and worthless. Necks devoid of this muscularity are called douse necks by horsemen, and are always considered a very serious objection to the animal. If the neck is thin and lean at the upper part, and is otherwise well shaped, the horse will usually carry himself well, and the head will be properly curved for beauty of appearance and ease of riding. When an instance to the contrary occurs, it is to be traced to very improper management, or to the space between the jaws being unna- turally small. The splentus muscle, although a main agent in raising the head and neck, may be too large, or covered with too much cellular substance or fat, thus giving an appear- ance of heaviness, or even clumsiness to the neck. This peculiarity of form consti- tutes the distinction between the perfect horse and the mare, and also the gelding, unless castrated at a very late period. This tendon, c, belongs also to another muscle, which makes up the principal bulk of the lower part of the neck, and is called the complexus major, or larger complicated muscle. It arises partly as low as the transverse processes of the four or five first bones of the back, and from the five lower bones of the neck; and the fibres from these various sources uniting together, form a very large and powerful muscle, the largest and strongest in the neck. As it approaches the head, it lessens in bulk, and terminates partly with the splenius, in this tendon, but is principally inserted into the back part of the occipital bone, by the side of the ligament of the neck. In the cut, p. 125, almost its whole course can be distinctly traced. Its office is to raise the neck and elevate the head; and being inserted into such a part of the occiput, it will more particularly protrude the nose, while it raises the head. Its action, however, may be too powerful ; it may be habitually so, and then it may produce deformity. The back of the head being pulled back, and the muzzle protruded, the horse cannot by possi~ bility carry his head well. He will become what is*technically called a star-gazer ; 160 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NECK. ~-heavy in hand, boring upon the bit, and unsafe. To remedysthis, recourse is had, and in the majority of cases without avail, to the martingale, against which the horse is continually fighting, and which is often a complete annoyance to the rider. Such a horse is almost useless for harness. Inseparable from this is another sad defect, so far as the beauty of the horse is concerned ; —he becomes ewe-necked; 7. e. he has a neck like a ewe—not arched above and straight below, until near to the head, but hollowed above and projecting below ; and the neck rising ]ow out of the chest, even lower, sometimes, than the oints of the shoulders. ‘There can scarcely be anything more unsightly in a horse. Jis head can never be got fairly down; and the bearing rein of harness must be to him a source of constant torture. In regarding, however, the length and the form of the neck, reference must be had to the purpose for which the horse is intended. Ina hackney, few things can be more abominable than a neck so disproportioned—so long, that the hand of the rider gets tired in managing the head of the horse. In a race- horse, this lengthening of the neck is a decided advantage. Among the muscles employed in raising the head, are the complexus minores (smaller complicated), and the recfi (straight), and the oblique muscles of the upper part of the neck, and belonging principally to the two first bones of the neck, and portions of which may be seen under the tendon of the splenius c, and between it and the ligament a. Among the muscles employed in lowering the head, some of which are given in the same cut, is the sferno-mazillaris, d, belonging to the breast-bone, and the upper jaw. It can likewise be traced, although not quite distinctly, in the cut, p. 159. It lies immediately under the skin. It arises from the cartilage projecting from, or con- stituting the front of the breast-bone (H, p. 68), and proceeds up the neck, of no great bulk or strength. At about three-fourths of its length upward, it changes toa flat tendon, which is seen (d, p. 125) to insinuate itself between the parotid and sub- maxillary glands, in order to be inserted into the angle of the lower jaw. It is used in bending the head towards the chest. Another muscle, the termination of which is seen, is the /evutor humeri, raiser of the shoulder, b. This is a much larger muscle than the last, because it has more duty to perform. It rises from the back of the head and four first bones of the neck and the ligament of the neck, and is carried down to the shoulder, mixing itself partly with some of the muscles of the shoulder, and finally continued down to, and terminating on, the humerus (J, p. 68). Its office is double. If the horse is in action, and the head and neck are fixed points, the contraction of this muscle will draw forward the shoulder and arm ; if the horse is standing, and the shoulder and arm are fixed points, this muscle will depress the head and neck. The muscles of the neck are all in pairs. One of them is found on each side of the neck, and the office which has been attributed to them can only be accomplished when both act together; but supposing that one alone of the elevating muscles should act, the head would be raised, but it would at the same time be turned towards that side. If one only of the depressor muscles were to act, the head would be bent downwards, but it would likewise be turned towards that side. Then it will be easily seen, that by this simple method of having the muscles in pairs, provision is made for every kind of motion, upwards, downwards, or on either side, for which the animal can possibly have occasion. Little more, of a practical nature, could be said of the muscles of the neck, although they are proper and interesting studies for the anato- niist. This is the proper place to speak of the mane; that long hair which covers the crest of the neck, and adds so much to the beauty of the animal. This, however, is not its only praise. In.a wild state, the horse has many battles to fight, and his neck, deprived of the mane, would be a vulnerable part. The hair of the mane, the tail, and the legs, is not shed in the same manner as that on the body. It does not fall so regularly, nor so often; for if all were shed at once, the parts would be left for a long time defenceless. The mane is generally dressed so as to lie on the right side— some persons divide it equally on both sides. For ponies, it used to be cut off near the roots, only a few stimps being left to stand perpendicularly. This was termed the hog-mane. The BLOOD.VESSELS AND VEINS OF THE NECK. 161 groom sometimes hestows a great deal of pains in getting the mane of his norse into good and fashionable order. It is wetted, and plaited, and loaded with lead; ana every hair that is a little too long is pulled out. The mane and tail of the heavy draught-horse are seldom thin; but on the well-bred horse, the thin, well-arranged ‘mane is very ornamental.* THE BLOOD-VESSELS OF THE NECK. Running down the under part of the neck, are the principal blood-vessels, going ta and returning from the head, with the windpipe and gullet. Our cut could not give a view of the arteries that carry the biood from the heart to the head, because they -are too deeply seated. The external arteries are the carotid, of which there are two. They ascend the neck on either side, close to the windpipe, until they have reached the middle of the neck, where they somewhat diverge, and lie more deeply. They are covered by the sterno-maxillaris muscle, which has been just described, and are separated from the jugulars by a small portion of muscular substance. Having reached the larynx, they divide into two branches, the external and the internal ; the first goes to every part of the face, and the second to the brain. The vertebral arteries run through canals in the bones of the neck, supplying the neighbouring parts as they climb, and at Jength enter the skull at the large hole in the occipital bone, and ramify on and supply the brain. Few cases can happen, in which it would be either necessary or justifiable to bleed from an artery. Even in mad-staggers, the bleeding is more practicable, safer, and more effectual, from the jugular vein, than from the temporal or any other artery. If an artery is opened in the direction in which it runs, there is sometimes very great difficulty in stopping the bleeding; it has even been necessary to tie the vessel, in order to accomplish this purpose. Mf the artery is cut across, its coats are so elastic, that the two ends are often immediately drawn apart under the flesh at each side, and are thereby closed; and after the first gush of blood, no more can be obtained. THE VEINS OF THE NECK. The external veins which return the blood from the head to the heart are the jugu- lars. The horse has but one on either side. The human being and the ox have two. The jugular takes its rise from the base of the skull; it then descends, receiving _ other branches in its way towards the angle of the jaw and behind the parotid gland ; and emerging from that, as seen at ¢, p. 125, and being united to a large branch from the face, it takes its course down the neck. . Veterinary surgeons and horsemen have agreed to adopt the jugular, a little way below the union of these two branches, as the usual place for bleeding; and a very convenient one it is, for it is easily got at, and the vessel is large. ‘The manner of bleeding, and the states of constitution and disease in which it is proper, will be hereafter spoken of; an occasional consequence _ of bleeding being at present taken under consideration. INFLAMMATION OF THE VEIN. It is usual and proper, after bleeding, to bring the edges of the wound carefully | together, and to hold them in contact by inserting a pin through the skin, with a little | tow twisted round it. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the wound quickly heals, i and gives no trouble; butin a few instances, from using a blunt instrument, or a dirty | or rusty one; or striking too hard and bruising the vein; or, in the act of pinning | up, pulling the skin too far from the neck and suffering some blood to insinuate itself into the cellular texture; or neglecting to tie the horse up for a little while, and thus | enabling him to rub the bleeding place against the manger and tear out the pin; or | from the animal being worked immediately afterward; or the reins of the bridle rub- | bing against it; or several blows having been clumsily given, and a large and ragged ‘ wound made; or from some disposition to inflammation about the horse (for the | bleeder is not always in fault) the wound does not heal, or if it closes for a little ‘ while, it re-opens. A slight bleeding appears—some tumefaction commences—the | edges of the orifice separate, and become swollen and red—a discharge of sanious, dy * Stewart’s Stable Giconomy, p. 110. ‘ 14* Vv 162 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NECK. bloody fluid proceeds from the wound, followed, perhaps, in a few days by purulent matter. ‘The neck swells, and is hot and tender both above and below the incision. The lips of the wound become everted—the swelling increases, particularly above the wound, where the vein is most hard and cordy—the horse begins to loathe’ his food, and little abscesses form round the orifice. The cordiness of the vein rapidly increases. Not only the vein itself has become obstructed and its coats thickened, but the cellular tissue inflamed and hardened, and is an additional source of irritation and torture. The thickening of the vein extends to the bifurcation above: it occupies both branches, and extends downward to the chest—even to the very heart itself, and the patient dies. The ‘wo grand questions here are, the cause and the cure. The first would seem to admit of an easy reply. A long list of circumstances has been just given which would seem to refer the matter entirely to the operator; yet, on the other hand, expe- rience tells us that he has little to do with these morbid effects of bleeding. Mr. Percivall states, that Mr. Cherry tried several times to produce inflammation by the use of rusty lancets, and escharotics of various kinds, and ligatures, and frequent separation and friction of the granulating edges, but in vain. Professor Spooner tried to produce the disease, but could not. On the other hand, it is well known that while inflammation rarely or never follows the operation of bleeding by some practitioners, others are continually getting into scrapes about it. The writer of this work had three house-pupils, two of whom he used to trust to bleed his patients, and no untoward circumstance ever occurred; but as surely as he sent the third, he had an inflamed vein to take care of. There is something yet undivulged in the process of healing the vein, or in the circumstances by which that healing is prevented. ‘The most powerful causes pro- bably are, that the lips of the wound have not been brought into immediate apposi- tion, or that a portion of the hair—a single hair is sufficlent—has insinuated itself. The horse has not, perhaps, had his head tied up to the rack after bleeding, which should always be done for at least an hour, during which time the extravasated blood will become firmly coagulated, and the flow of blood to the heart will establish its uninterrupted course. It is also probable that atmospheric agency may be concerned in the affair, or a diseased condition of the horse, and particularly a susceptibility of taking on inflammatory action, although the exciting cause may be exceedingly slight. Of the means of cure it is difficult to speak confidently. The wound should be carefully examined—the divided edges brought into exact apposition, and any hair interposed between them removed—the pin withdrawn or not, according to circum- stances—the part carefully and long fomented, and a dose of physic administered. If two or three days have passed and the discharge still remains, the application of the budding-iron—not too large or too hot—may produce engorgement of the neigh- bouring parts, and union of the lips of the wound. This should be daily, or every second day, repeated, according to circumstances. A blister applied over the orifice, or as far as the mischief extends, will often be serviceable. Here, likewise, the parts will be brought into contact with each other, and pressed together, and union may be effected. ‘ Sometimes,” says Mr. Cartwright, “when the vein is in an ulcerative state, I have laid it open, and applied caustic dressing, and it has healed up. I have lately had a case in which five or six abscesses had formed above the original wound, and the two superior ones burst through the parotid gland, the extent - of the ulceration being evident in the quantity of saliva thay flowed through each orifice.”’* The owner of the horse will find it his interest to apply to a veterinary practitioner as soon as a case of inflamed vein occurs. ° Should the vein be destroyed, the horse will not be irreparably injured, and per haps, at no great distance of time, scarcely injured at all; for nature is ingenious in making provision to carry on the circulation of the blood. All the vessels convey ing the blood from the heart to the different parts of the frame, or bringing 1t back * Abstract of the Veterinary Medical Association, vol. iv. p. 185 THE PALATE—THE LARYNX. 163 again to the heart, communicate with each other by so many channels, and in such various ways, that it is impossible by the closure or loss of any one of them long materially to impede the flow of the vital current. If the jugular is destroyed, the blood will circulate through other vessels almost as freely as before; but the horse could not be considered as sound, for he might not be equal to the whole of the work required of him. THE PALATE—(resumep). At the back of the palate (see p. 72), and attached to the crescent-shaped border of the palatine bone, is a dense membranous curtain. Its superior and back surface is a continuation of the lining membrane of the nose, and its anterior or inferior one, that of the palate. Itis called the velum palati, or veil of the palate. It extends as far back as the larynx, and lies upon the dorsum of the epiglottis, and is a perfect veil or curtain interposed between the cavities of the nose and mouth, cutting off all comuunication between them. ‘Tied by its attachment to the palatine bone, it will open but a little way, and that only in one direction. It will permit a pellet of food to pass into the esophagus; but it will close when any pressure is made upon it from behind. ‘Two singular facts necessarily follow from this: the horse breathes through the nostrils alone, and these are capacious and easily expansible to a degree seen in no other animal, and fully commensurate to the wants of the animal. It is also evident that, in the act of vomiting, the contents of the stomach must be returned through the nostril, and not through the mouth. On this account it is that the horse can with great difficulty be excited to vomit. There is a structure at the entrance of the stomach which, except under very peculiar circumstances, prevents ‘ts return to the throat, and consequently to the mouth. The muscles of this singular curtain are very intelligibly*and correctly described by Mr. Percivall, in his “* Anatomy of the Horse,” to which the reader is referred. The same remark is applicable to a very singular and important bone, and its muscular apparatus, the os hyoides. THE LARYNX Is placed on the top of the windpipe (see 1, p. 72), and is the inner guard of the lungs, if any injurious substance should penetrate so far; it is the main protection against the passage of food into the respiratory tubes, and it is at the same time the instrument of voice. In this last character it loses much of its importance in the quadruped, because in the dumb animal it is a beautiful piece of mechanism. Tur Epictorris (see 2, p. 72) is a heart-shaped cartilage, placed at the extremity of the opening into the windpipe, with its back opposed to the pharynx, so that when a pellet of food passes from the pharynx in its way to the esophagus, it presses down the epiglottis, and by this means, as already described, closes the aperture of the larynx, and prevents any portion of the food from entering it. The food having passed over the epiglottis, from its own elasticity and that of the membrane at its base, and more particularly the power of the hyo-epiglotideus muscle, rises again and resumes its former situation. Tue Tuyrow Cartinace (see 1, p. 72) occupies almost the whole of the external part of the larynx, both anteriorly and laterally. It envelopes and protects all the rest; a point of considerable importance, considering the injury to which the larynx is exposed, by our system of curbing and tight reining. It also forms a point of attachment for the insertion of the greater part of the delicate muscles by which the other cartilages are moved. The beautiful mechanism of the larynx is governed or worked by a somewhat com- plicated system of muscles, for a description of which the reader is referred to the 5th vol. of The Veterinarian, p. 447. It is plentifully supplied with nerves from the res- piratory system, and there are also frequent anastomoses with the motor nerves of the spinal cord. The sole process of respiration is partly under the control of the will, and the muscles of the larynx concerned in one stage of it are likewise so, but they also act independently of the will, for during sleep and unconsciousness the machine continues to work. ’ J y The origin of the artery which supplies these parts with blood is sometimes derived from the main trunk of the carotid, but oftener it is a branch of the thyroideal artery. 04 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NECK. The lining membrane is a continuation of that of the pharynx above and the trachea below. It is covered with innnmerable follicular glands, from whose mouths there oozes a mucous fluid that moistens and lubricates its surface. It is possessed of very great sensibility, and its function requires it. It is, as has been already stated, the inner guard of the lungs, and the larynx must undergo a multitude of changes of form in order to adapt itself to certain changes in the act of respiration, and in order to produce the voice. The voice of the horse is, however, extremely limited, compared with that of the human being; the same sensibility, therefore, is not required, and exposed as our quadruped slaves are to absurd and barbarous usage, too great sensibility of any part, and particularly of this, would be a curse to the animal. THE TRACHEA OR WINDPIPE. The course of the inspired air from the larynx to the lungs is now to be traced, and it will be found to be conveyed through a singularly constructed tube (6, p. 72), passing along the anterior portion of the neck, and reaching from the lower edge of the cricoid cartilage (11, p. 72) to the lungs. In the commencement of its course it is somewhat superficially placed, but as it descends towards the thorax it becomes gradually deeper and more concealed. In order to discharge its functions as an air- tube, it is essential that it should always be pervious, or, at least, that any obstruc- tion to the process of respiration should be but momentary. Attached to a part endowed with such extensive motion as the neck, it is also necessary that it should be flexible. It is composed of cartilage, an exceedingly elastic substance, and at the same time possessing a certain degree of flexibility. The windpipe is composed of cartilage, but not of one entire piece, for that would necessarily be either too tMfick and firm to be flexible, or if it were sufficiently flexible to accommodate itself to the action of the neck, it would be too weak to resist even common pressure or injury, and the passage through it would often be inconveniently or dangerously obstructed. Besides, it is necessary that this tube should occasionally admit of elongation to a considerable degree. When the neck is extended in the act of grazing or otherwise, the trachea must be lengthened. The structure of the cartilage of the windpipe is admirably adapted to effect every purpose. It is divided into rings, fifty or fifty-two in number, each possessing suffi- cient thickness and strength to resist ordinary pressure, and each constituting a joint with the one above and below, and thus admitting of all the flexibility that could be required. These rings are connected together by an interposed fibro-ligamentous substance, extensible, elastic, and yet so strong that it is scarcely possible to rupture it; and the fibres of that ligament not running vertically from one to another, and therefore admitting of little more motion than the rotation of the head, but composed of two layers running obliquely, and in contrary directions, so as to adapt themselves to every variety of motion. These rings are thickest in front, and project circularly, opposing an arch-like form. There, too, the ligament is widest, in order to admit of the greatest motion in the direction in which it is most needed, when the head is elevated or depressed. Late- rally these rings are thinner, because they are, to a great degree, protected by the surrounding parts; and, posteriorly, they overlap each other, and the overlapping portions are connected together by a strong ligamentous substance. This, while it does not impede the motion of the tube, gives firmness and stability to it. Within the trachea is another very curious structure. At the points at which, posteriorly, the rings begin to bend inwardly, a muscle is found stretching across tha windpipe, dividing the canal into two unequal portions—the anterior one constituting the proper air-passage, and the posterior one occupied by cellular texture. It is ta give additional strength to parts. It is the tie which prevents the arch from spurring out. In the natural state of the windpipe this muscle is, probably, quiescent; but ‘when any considerable pressure is made on the crown of the arch at the upper part by tight reining, or at the lower by an ill-made collar, or any where by brutal or accidental violence, this muscle contracts, every serious expansion or depression of the arch is prevented, and the part is preserved from serious injury. It may also be readily imagined that, when in violent exertion, every part of the respiratory canal is on the stretch, this band may preserve the windpipe from injury TRACHEOTOMY. 165 or laceration. There are many beautiful points in the physiology of the horse which deserve much greater attention than has hitherto been paid to them. The windpipe should project from the neck. It should almost seem as if it were detached from the neck, for two important reasons: first, that it may easily enter petween the channels of the jaw, so that the horse may be reined up without suffering inconvenience ; and next, that being more loosely attached to the neck, it may more readily adapt itself to the changes required than if it were enveloped by fat, or muscle to a certain degree unyielding: therefore, in every well-formed neck —and it will be seen in the cut (p. 159) —it is indispensable that the windpipe should be prominent and loose on the neck. ‘This is not required in the heavy cart-horse, and we do not often find it, because he is not so much exposed to those circumstances which. will hurry respiration, and require an enlargement in the size of the principal air-tube. When the trachea arrives at the thorax, it suddenly alters its form, in order to adapt itself to the narrow triangular aperture through which it has to pass. It preserves the same cartilaginous structure ; for if it has not the pressure of the external muscles, or of accidental violence, to resist, it is exposed to the pressure of the lungs when they are inflating, and it shares in the pressure of the diaphragm, and of the intercostal muscles, in the act of expiration. Having entered the chest, it passes a little to the right, leaving the esophagus, or gullet, on the left; it separates from the dorsal ver- tebre ; it passes through the duplicature of the mediastinum to the base of the heart, and it divides beneath the posterior aorta. Its divisions are called the bronchial tubes, and have much to do with the well-being of the horse. Its rings remain as perfect as before, but a new portion of cartilage begins to pre- sent itself: it may be traced as high as the tenth ring from the bottom; it spreads over the union between the posterior terminations of the rings; it holds them in closer and firmer connexion with each other; it discharges the duty of the transverse muscle, which begins here to disappear, and the support of the cervical and dorsal vertebrae ; it prevents the separation of the rings when the trachea is distended ; it spreads down upon, and defends the commencement of the bronchial tubes. Some other small plates of cartilage reach a considerable way down the divisions of the bronchi, and the last ring has a central triangular projection, which covers and defends the bifurcation of the trachea. TRACHEOTOMY. The respiratory canal is oceasionally obstructed, to an annoying and dangerous degree. Polypi have been described as occupying the nostrils; long tumours have formed in them. ‘Tumours of other kinds have pressed into the pharynx. ‘The tumour of strangles has, for a while, occupied the passage. ‘The larynx has been distorted ; the membrane of the windpipe, on the larynx, has been thickened, and ulcers have formed in one or both, and have been so painful that the act of breathing was labo- rious and torturing. In all these cases it has been anxiously inquired whether there might not be established an artificial opening for the passage of the air, when the natural one could no longer be used ; and it has been ascertained that it is both a sim- ple and safe operation, to excise a portion of the trachea, on or below the point of obstruction. The operation must be performed while the horse is standing, and secured by a side-line, for he would, probably, be suffocated amidst the struggles with which he would resist the act of throwing. The twitch is then firmly fixed on the muzzle; the operator stands on a stool or pail, by which means he can more perfectly command the part, and an assistant holds a scalpel, a bistoury, scissors, curved needles armed, and a moist sponge. The operator should once more examine the whole course of the windpipe, and the different sounds which he will be able to detect by the application of the ear, and like- wise the different degrees of temperature and of tenderness which the finger will detect, will guide to the seat of the evil. The hair is to be closely cut off from the part, the skin tightened across the trachea with tlie thumb and fingers of the left hand, and then a longitudinal incision cautiously made through the skin, three inches in length. This is usually effected when there is no express indication to the contrary on the fifth and sixth rings; a slip from which, and the connecting ligament above and below, about half the width of each ring, should 166 ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE NECK, be excised with the intervening ligament. The remaining portion will then be strong enough to retain the perfect arched form of the trachea. If the orifice is only to be kept open while some foreign body is extracted, or tumour removed, or ulcer healed, or inflammation subdued, nothing more is necessary than to keep the lips of the wound a little apart, by passing some thread through each, and slightly everting them, and tying the threads to the mane. If, however, there is any permanent obstruction, a tube will be necessary. It should be two or three inches long, curved at the top, and the external orifice turning down- wards with a little ring on each side, by which, through the means of tubes, it may be retained in its situation. The purpose of the operation being answered, the flaps of integument must be brought over the wound, the edges, if necessary, diminished, and the parts kept in apposition by a few stitches. The cartilage will be perfectly reproduced, only the rings will be a little thicker and wider. The following account will illustrate the use and the danger of the tracheotomy tube. A mare at Alfort had great distortion of the rings of the trachea. She breathed with difficulty. She became a roarer almost to suffocation, and was quite useless. Tracheotomy was effected on the distorted rings, and a short canula introduced. She was so much relieved that she trotted and galloped immediately afterwards without the slightest distress. Six months later she again began to roar. It seemed that the rings were now distorted below the former place. M. Barthélemy introduced another canula, seven inches long, and which reached below the new distortion. She was once more relieved. She speedily improved in condition, and regularly drew a cabriolet at the rate of seven or eight miles in the hour; and this she continued to do for three years, when the canula became accident- ally displaced in the night, and she was found dead in the morning. THE BRONCHIAL TUBES. The windpipe has been traced through its course down the neck into the chest. It is there continued through the mediastinum to the base of the heart, and then divided into two tubes corresponding with the two divisions of the lungs—the Broncu1an Tuses. These trunks enter deeply into the substance of the lungs. They presently subdivide, and the subdivision is continued in every direction, until branches from the trachea penetrate every assignable portion and part of the lungs. They are still air- passages, carrying on this fluid to its destination, for the accomplishment of a vital purpose. They also continue exposed to pressure ; but it is pressure of a new kind, a pressure alternately applied and removed. The Jungs in which they are embedded alternately contract and expand ; and these tubes must contract and expand likewise. Embedded in the lungs, the cartilaginous ring of the bronchi remains, but it is divided into five or six segments connected with each other. The lungs being compressed, the seg- ments overlap each other, and fold up and occupy little space; but the principle of elasticity ts still at work; and as the pressure is removed, they start again, and resume their previous form and calibre. It is a beautiful contrivance, and exquisitely adapted to the situation In which these tubes are placed, anc the functions they have t» discharge. But we must vause a little and consider the structure and functions of the chest. THE CHES ®. 87 CHAPTER VI. ; THE CHEST. a ‘The first rib. b ‘ihe cartilages of the eleven hindermost, or false ribs, connected together, and uniting witt that of the seventh or last true rib. c The breast-bone. d ‘The top, or point, of the withers, which are formed by the lengthened spinous, or upright processes of the ten or eleven first bones of the back. The bones of the back are eighteen in number. e The ribs, usually eighteen on each side; the seven first united to the breast-bone by car- tilage ; the cartilages of the remaining eleven united to each other, as at b. f That portion of the spine where the loins commence, and composed of five bones. g The bones forming the hip, or haunch, and into the hole at the bottom of which the head of the thigh-bone is received. hk The portion of the spine belonging to the haunch, and consisting of five pieces. i The bones of the tail, usually fifteen in number. Tue chest, in the horizontal position in which it is placed in the cut, is of a some what oval figure, with its extremities truncated. The spine is its roof; the sternum, or breast, its floor; the ribs, its sides; the trachea, cesophagus, and great blood- vessels passing through its anterior extremity and the diaphragm, being its posterior. It is contracted in front, broad and deep towards the central boundary, and again contracted posteriorly. It encloses the heart and the lungs, the origin of the arterial, and the termination of the venous trunks and the collected vessels of the absorbents. The windpipe penetrates into it, and the esophagus traverses its whole extent. A cavity whose contents are thus important should be securely defended. The roof is not composed of one unyielding prolongation of bone, which might possibly have been strong enough, yet would have subjected it to a thousand rude and danger- ous shocks; but there is a curiously-contrived series of bones, knit together by strong ligaments and dense cartilaginous substance, forming so many joints, each possessed but of little individual motion, but the whole united and constituting a column of such exquisitely-contrived flexibility and strength, that all concussion is avoided, and no external violence or weight can injure that which it protects. It is supported chiefly by the anterior extremities, and beautiful are the contrivances adopted to prevent injurious connexion. There is no inflexible bony union between the shoulders and the chest; but while the spine is formed to neutralise much of the concussion that might be received — while the elastic connexions between the vertebre of the back, alternately affording a yielding resistance to the shock, and regaining thei: natural situation when the external force is removed, go far, by this vlayful motior, to render harmless the rudest motion—there is a provision made by tne attachmem of the shoulder-blade to the chest calculated to prevent the possibility of any rude concussion reaching the thorax. * oe Ee oa NE AY *« Wad,’’ says Mr. Percivall, ‘‘ the entire rib been one solid piece of bone, a violent blow might have broken it to pieces. On the other hand. had the ribs been composed fram end tu 168 THE CHEST. Av the shoulder is a muscle of immense strength, and tendinous elastic composition, the serratus major, spreading over the internal surface of the shoulder-blade and a portion of the chest. A spring of easier play could not have been attached to the carriage of any invalid. It is a carriage hung by springs between the scapula, and a delightful one it is for easy travelling ; while there is combined with it, and the union is not a little difficult, strength enough to resist the jolting of the roughest road and the most rapid pace. Laterally there is sufficient defence against all common injury by the expansion of the shoulder over the chest from between the first and second to the seventh rib; and behind and below that there is the bony structure of the ribs, of no little strength; and their arched form, although a flattened arch; and the yielding motion at the base of each rib, resulting from its jointed connexion with the spine above and its cartila- ginous union with the sternum below. A still more important consideration with regard to the parietes of the thorax is the manner in which they can adapt themselves to the changing bulk of the contents of the cavity. The capacity of the chest is little affected by the external contraction and dilatation of the heart, for when its ventricles are collapsed its auricles are distended, and when its auricles are compressed its ventricles expand; but with regard to the lungs it is a very different affair. In their state of collapse and expan- sion they vary in comparative bulk, one-sixth part or more, and, in either state, it is necessary for the proper discharge of the function of respiration that the parietes of the chest should be in contact with them. The ribs are eighteen in number on either side. Nine of them are perfect, and rommonly called the ¢rue, or, more properly, sfernal ribs, extending from the spine to ‘he sternum. The remaining nine are posterior and shorter, and are only indirectly connected with the sternum. The ribs are united to the corresponding vertebre, or bones of the spine, so as to form perfect joints —or, rather, each rib forms two joints. The head of the rib is received between the vertebre and bones of the spine, before and behind, so that it shall always present two articulating surfaces ; one opposed to the vertebra imme- diately before, and the other to that immediately behind, and both forming one joint, with a perfect capsular ligament, and admitting of a rotary motion. The head of the rib seems to be received into the cartilaginous ligamentous substance between the vertebre. Nothing could be more admirably devised for motion, so far as it is required, and for strength of union, that ean scarcely be broken. Before the ribs reach the sternum, they terminate in a cartilaginous prolongation, or the lower part of the rib may be said to be cartilaginous. There is between the bony part and this cartilage, a joint with a true capsular ligament, and admitting of a certain degree of motion; and where it unites with the sternum, there is a fourth joint, with a perfect and complete capsular ligament. The cartilages of the posterior ribs are united to the bony portion by a kind of joint. They are not, however, prolonged so far as the sternum ; but the extremity of one lies upon the body of that which is immediately before it, bound down upon it by a cellular substance approaching to the nature of ligament, yet each having some separate moticn, and all of them connected indirectly with the sternum, by means of the last sternal rib. It is an admirable contrivance to preserve the requisite motion which must attend every act of breathing, every extension and contraction of the chest, with a decree of strength which scarcely any accident can break through. The sternum, or breast-bone, is more complicated than it at first appears to be. It constitutes the floor of the chest, and is a long flat spongy bone, fixed between the ribs on either side, articulating with these cartilages, and serving as a point of sup- port to them. Itis composed of from seven to nine pieces, united together by car- tilage ; and whatever changes may take place in other parts of the frame, this cartilage is not converted to bone, even in extreme old age, although there may, possibly, be. some spots of ossific matter found in it. end of cartilage only, the form of the arch could not have been sustained, but, sooner or later, it must have bent inward, and so have encroached upon the cavity of the chest as to have compressed the organs of respiration and circulation to that degree that could not but have ended in suffocation and death of the animal. It was only the judicious and well-arranged combination of bone and gristle in the construction of the chest that could answer the ends an all-wise Providence had in view.’’— Veterinarian, vol. xy. p. 184. THE CHEST. 169 The point of the breast-bone may be occasionally injured by blows, or by the pres- sure of the collar. It has been, by brutal violence, completely broken off from the sternum; but oftener, and that from some crue] usage, a kind of tumour has been pace on the point of it, which has occasionally ulcerated, and proved very difficult to heal. The front of the chest is a very important consideration in the structure of the horse. It should be prominent and broad, and full, and the sices of it well occupied. When the breast is narrow, the chest has generally the same appearance: the animal is flat- sided, the proper cavity of the chest is diminished, and the stamina of the horse are materially diminished, although, perhaps, his speed for short distances may not be affected. When the chest is narrow, and the fore legs are too close together, in addition to the want of bottom, they will interfere with each other, and there will be wounds on the fetlocks, and bruises below the knee. A chest too broad is not desirable, but a fleshy and a prominent one, yet even this, perhaps, may require some explanation. When the fore legs appear to recede, and to shelter themselves under the body, there is a faulty position of the fore limbs, a bend, or standing over, an unnatural lengthiness about the fore parts of the breast, sadly disadvantageous in progression. There is also a posterior appendix to the sternum, which is also cartilaginous. It is called the ensifurm cartilage, although it bears little resemblance to a sword. It is flat and flexible, yet strong, and serves as the commencement of the floor, or support of the abdomen. It also gives insertion to some of the abdominal muscles, and more conveniently than it could have been obtained from the body of the sternum. The Intercostal Muscles. —'The borders of the ribs are anteriorly concave, thin and sharp — posteriorly rounded, and presenting underneath a longitudinal depression, or channel, in which run both blood-vessels and nerves. The space between them is occupied by muscular substance, firmly attached to the borders of the ribs. These muscles are singularly distributed ; their fibres cross each other in the form of an X. There is a manifest advantage in this. If the fibres ran straight across from rib to rib, they might act powerfully, but their action would be exceedingly limited. A short muscle can contract but a little way, and only a slight change of form or dimen- sion can be produced. By running diagonally from rib to rib, these muscles are double the length they could otherwise have been. It is a general rule, with regard to muscular action, that the power of the muscle depends on its bulk, and the extent of its action on its length. The ribs, while they protect the important viscera of the thorax from injury, are powerful agents in extending and contracting the chest in the alternate inspiration and expiration of air. In what proportion they discharge the labour of respiration, is a disputed question, and into the consideration of which we cannot enter, until something is known of the grand respiratory muscle—the diaphragm. Thus far, however, may be said, that they are not inactive in natural respiration, although they certainly act only a secondary part; but in hurried respiration, and when the demand for arterialised blood is increased by violent exertion, they are valuable and powerful auxiliaries. ‘ This leads to a very important consideration, the most advantageous form of the chest for the proper discharge of the natural or extraordinary functions of the thoracic viscera. The contents of the chest are the lungs and the heart: —the first, to render the blood nutrient and stimulating, and to give or restore to it that vitality which will enable it to support every part of the frame in the discharge of its function, and devoid of which, the complicated and beautiful machine is inert and dead ; and the second, to convey this purified arterialised blood to every part of the frame. In order to produce, and to convey to the various parts, a sufficient quantity of blood, these organs must be large. If it amounts not to hypertrophy, the larger the heart and the larger the lungs, the more rapid the process of nutrition, and the more perfect the discharge of every animal function. ; Then it might be imagined that, as a circle is a figure which contains more than any other of equal girth and admeasurement, a circular form of the chest would be most advantageous. Not exactly so; for the contents of the chest are alternately expanding and contracting. The circular chest could not expand, but every change of form. would be a diminution of capacity. cage $ : That form of chest which approaches nearest to a circle, while it admits of sufficient 15 w 170 THE CHEST. expansion and contraction, is the best — certainly for some animals, and for all under eculiar circumstances, and with reference to the discharge of certain functions. This was the grand principle on which Mr. Bakewell proceeded, and on which all our improvements in the breeding of cattle were founded. This principle holds good with regard to some breeds of horses. We value the heavy draught-horse not only on account of his simple muscular power, but the weight which, by means of that power, he is able to throw into the collar. A light horse may be preferable for light draught; but we must oppose weight to weight, when our loads are heavy. In the dray-horse, we prize this circular chest, not only that he may be proportionably heavier before— to him no disedvantage — but that, by means of the increased capacity of his chest, he may obtain the bulk and size which best fit him for our service. But he would not do for speed —he would not do for ordinary quick exertion; and if he were pushed far beyond his pace, he would become broken-winded, or have inflamed lungs. Some of our saddle-horses and cobs have barrels round enough, and we value them on account of it, for they are always in condition, and they rarely tire. But when we look at them more carefully, there is just that departure from the circular form of which mention has been made—that happy medium between the circle and the ellipse, which retains the capacity of the one and the expansibility of the other. Such a horse is invaluable for common purposes, but he is seldom a horse of speed. If he is permitted to go his own pace, and that not a slow one, he will work on for ever; but if he is too much hurried, he is soon distressed. The Broad Deep Chest.—Then for the usual purposes of the road, and more partic- ularly for rapid progression, search is made for that form of the chest which shall unite, and to as great a degree as possible, considerable capacity in a quiescent state, and the power of increasing that capacity when the animal requires it. There must be the broad chest for the production of muscles and sinews, and the deep chest, to - give the capacity or power of furnishing arterial blood equal to the most rapid ex- haustion of vitality. This form of the chest is consistent with lightness, or at least with all the light- ness that can be rationally required. ‘The broad-chested horse, or he that, with mod- erate depth at the girth, swells and barrels out immediately behind the elbow, may have as light a forehead and as elevated a wither as the horse with the narrowest chest; but the animal with the barrel approaching too near to rotundity is invariably heavy about the shoulders and low in the withers. It is to the mixture of the Ara- bian blood that we principally owe this peculiar and advantageous formation of the chest of the horse. The Arab is light; some would say too much so before: but immediately behind the arms the barrel almost invariably swells out, and leaves plenty of room, and where it is most wanted for the play of the lungs, and at the same time where the weight does not press so exclusively on the fore-legs, and expose the feet to concussion and injury. Many horses with narrow chests, and a great deal of daylight under them, have plenty of spirit and willingness for work. They show themselves well off, and ex- hibit the address and gratify the vanity of their riders on the parade or in the park, but they have not the appetite nor the endurance that will carry them through three successive days’ hard work. Five out of six of the animals that perish from inflamed lungs are narrow-chested, and it might be safely affirmed that the far greater part of those who are lost in the field after a hard day’s run, have been horses whose training has been neglected, or who have no room for the lungs to expand. The most important of all points in the conformation of the horse is here elucidated. An elevated wither, or oblique shoulder, or powerful quarters, are great advantages; but that which is most of all connected with the general health of the animal, and with combined fleetness or bottom, is a deep, and broad, and swelling chest, with sufficient lengthening of the sternum, o breast-bone, beneath. If a chest that cannot expand with the increasing expansion and labour of the lungs ‘8 So serious a detriment to the horse, everything that interferes with the action of the mtercostai muscles is carefully to be avoided. Tight girthing ranks among these, and foremost among them. The closeness with which the roller is buckled on in the stable must be a serious inconvenience to the horse; and the partially depriving these wouscles of their power of action, for so many hours in every day, must indispose THE SPINE AND BACK. 171 thein for labour when quicker and fuller respiration is required. At all events, a tight girtn, though an almost necessary nuisance, is a very considerable one, when all the exertion of which he is capable is required from the horse. Who has not perceived the address with which, by bellying out the chest, the old horse renders every attempt to girth him tight comparatively useless; and when a horse is blown, what imme- diate relief has ungirthing him afforded, by permitting the intercostals to act with greater power ! A point of consequence regarding the capacity of the chest, is the length or short- ness of the carcase; or the extent of the ribs from the elbow backward. Some horses are what is called ribbed home; there is but little space (see cuts pp. 68 and 167) between the last rib and the hip-bone. In others the distance is considerably greater, and is plainly evident by the falling in of the flank. The question then is, what service is required from the horse? If he has to carry a heavy weight, and has much work to do, he should be ribbed home—the last rib and the hip-bone should not be far from each other. There is more capacity of chest and of belly—there is less distance between the points of support—and greater strength and endurance. A hackney (and we would almost say a hunter) can scarcely be too well ribbed home. If speed, however, is required, there must be room for the full action of the hinder limbs; and this can only exist where there is sufficient space between the last rib and the hip-bone. The owner of the horse must make up his mind as to what he wants from him, and be satisfied if he obtains that; for, let him be assured that he cannot have everything, for this would require those differences of conformation that cannot possibly exist in the same animal. The thorax, or chest, is formed by the spine f, above (p. 167) the ribs e, on either side; and the sternum, or breast-bone, c, beneath. THE SPINE AND BACK. The spine, or back, consists of a chain of bones from the poll to the extremity of the tail. It is made up of twenty-three bones from the neck to the haunch; eigh- teen, called dorsal vertebre, composing the back; and five /uwmbar vertebre, occupy- ing the loins. On this part of the animal the weight or burden is laid, and there are two things to be principally considered, easiness of carriage and strength. If the back were composed of unyielding materials—if it resembled a bar of wood o iron, much jarring or jolting, in the rapid motion of the animal, could not possibly be endured. In order to avoid this, as well as to assist in turning, the back is divided into numerous bones; and between each pair of bones there is interposed a cartila- ginous substance, most highly elastic, that will yield and give way to every jar, not so much as to occasion insecurity between the bones, or to permit considerable motion between any one pair, but forming altogether an aggregate mass of such perfect elas- ticity, that the rider sits almost undisturbed, however high may be the action, or how- ever rapid the pace. Strength is as important as ease; therefore these bones are united together with pe- culiar firmness. The round head of one is exactly fitted to the cup or cavity of that immediately before it; and between them is placed the elastic ligamentous substance, which has been just described, so strong, that in endeavouring to separate the bones of the back, they will break before this substance will give way. Jn addition to this there are ligaments running along the broad under-surface of these bones—ligaments between each of the transverse processes, or side projections of the bones—ligaments between the spinous processes or upright projections, and also a continuation of the strong ligament of the neck running along the whole course of the back and loins, lengthening and contracting, as in the neck, with the motions of the animal, and forming a powerful bond of union between the bones. : By these means the hunter will carry a heavy man without fatigue or strain through a long chase; and those shocks and jars are avoided which would be annoying to the rider, and injurious and speedily fatal to the horse. : These provisions, however, although adequate to common or even Severe exertion, will not protect the animal from the consequences of brutal usage; and, therefore, if the horse is muth overweighted, or violently exercised, or too suddenly pulled upon his haunches, these ligaments are strained. Inflammation follows. The ligaments become changed to bone, and the joints of the back lose their springiness and ease of 172 © THE CHEST. motion; or rather, in point of fact, they cease to exist. On account of the too hard service required from them, and especially before they had gained their full strength, there are few old horses who have not some of the hones of the back or loins anchy- losed—united together by bony matter and not by ligament. When this exists to any considerable extent, the horse is not pleasant to ride — he turns with difficulty in his stall—he is unwilling to lie down, and when down to rise again, and he has a singular straddling action. Such horses are said to be broken-backed or chinked in the chine. Fracture of the bones of the back rarely occurs, on account of their being so strongly united by ligaments, and defended by muscular substance. If a fracture of these bones does happen, it is during the violent struggles after the horse has been cast for an operation. . The length of the back is an important consideration. A long-backed horse will be easy in his paces, because the increased distance between the fore and hind legs, which are the supports of the spine, will afford greater room for the play of the joints of the back. A long spring has much more play than a short one, and will better obviate concussion. A long-backed horse is likewise formed for speed, for there is room to bring his hinder legs more under him in the act of gallopping, and thus more ease propel or drive forward the body: but, on the other hand, a long-backed iorse will be comparatively weak in the back, and easily overweighted. A long spring may be easily bent or broken. The weight of the rider, likewise, placed farther from the extremities, will act with mechanical disadvantage upon them, and be more likely to strain them. A short-backed horse may be a good hackney, and able to carry the heaviest weight, and possess great endurance; but his paces will not be so easy, nor his speed so great, and he may be apt to overreach. The comparative advantage of a long or short carease depends entirely on the use for which the horse is intended. For general purposes the horse with a short carcase is very properly preferred. He will possess health and strength; for horses of this make are proverbially hardy. He will have sufficient easiness of action not to fatigue the rider, and speed for every ordinary purpose. Length of back will always be desirable when there is more than usual substance generally, and particularly when the loins are wide, and the muscles of the loins large and swelling. The two requi- sites, strenoth and speed, will then probably be united. The back should be depressed a little immediately behind the withers; and then continue in an almost straight line to the loins. This is the form most consistent with beauty and strength. Some horses have a very considerable hollow behind the withers. 'They are said to be saddle-backed. It seems as if a depression were pur- posely made for the saddle. Such horses are evidently easy goers, for this curve inward must necessarily increase the play of the joints of the back: but in the same proportion they are weak and liable to sprain. To the general appearance of the horse, this defect is not in any great degree injurious; for the hollow of the hack is uniformly accompanied by a beautifully arched crest. A few horses have the curve outward. They are said to be roach-backed, from the supposed resemblance to the arched back of aroach. This is a very serious defect ; — altogether incompatible with beauty, and materially diminishing the usefulness of the animal. It is almost impossible to prevent the saddle from being thrown on the shoulders, or the back from being galled ; —the elasticity of the spine is destroyed ; —the rump is badly set on ;—the hinder legs are too much under the animal ;—he is continually overreaching, and his head is carried awkwardly low. THE LOINS. The loins are attentively examined by every good horseman. They can scarcely be too broad and muscular. The strength of the back, and especially, the strength of the hinder extremities, will depend materially on this. The breadth of the loins is regulated by the length of the transverse or side processes of that part. The bodies of the bones of the loins are likewise larger than those of the back; and a more dove- tailed kind of union subsists between these bones than between those of the back. Every provision is made for strength here. The union of the back and loins should be carefully observed, for there is sometimes a depression between them. A kind of line is drawn across, which shows imperfection in the construction of the spine, and ig regarded as an indication of weakress. THE WITHERS.—MUSCLES OF THE BACK. 173 THE WITHERS. The spinous or upright processes of the dorsal vertebrz, or bones of the back, above tne upper part of the shoulder, are as remarkable for their length as are the transverse or side processes of the bones of the loins. They are flattened and terminated by rough blunted extremities. The elevated ridge which they form is called the withers. Tt will be seen in the cuts (pp. 68 and 167), that the spine of the first bone of the back has but little elevation, and is sharp and upright. The second is longer and inclined backward; the third and fourth increases in length, and the fifth is the longest ;—they then gradually shorten until the twelfth or thirteenth, which becomes level with the bones of the loins. High withers have been always, in the mind of the judge of the horse, associated with good action, and generally with speed. The reason is plain enough : — they afford larger surface for the attachment of the muscles of the back ; and in proportion to the elevation of the withers, these muscles act with greater advantage. The rising of the fore parts of the horse, even in the trot, and more especially in the gallop, depends not merely on the action of the muscles of the legs and shoulders, but on those of the loins, inserted into the spinous processes of these bones of the back, and acting with greater power in proportion as these processes, constituting the withers, are lengthened. ‘The arm of the lever to which the power is applied will be longer; and in proportion to the length of this arm will be the ease and the height to which a welent is raised. 'Therefore good and high action will depend much on elevated withers. It is not difficult to understand how speed will likewise be promoted by the same conformation. The power of the horse is in his hinder quarters. In them lies the main spring of the frame, and the fore-quarters are chiefly elevated and thrown for- ward to receive the weight forced on them by the action of the hinder quarters. In proportion, however, as the fore-quarters are elevated, will they be thrown farther forward, or, in other words, will the stride of the horse be lengthened. Yet many racers have the forehand low. The unrivalled Eclipse was a remarkable instance of this; but the ample and finely proportioned quarters, and the muscularity of the thigh and fore-arm, rendered the aid to be derived from the withers perfectly unnecessary The heavy draught-horse does not require elevated withers. His utility depends on the power of depressing his fore-quarters, and throwing their weight fully inte the collar; but for common work in the hackney, in the farmer’s horse, and in the hunter, well-formed withers will be an essential advantage, as contributing to good and safe action, and likewise to speed. MUSCLES OF THE BACK. The most important muscles which belong to this part of the frame are principally those which extend from the continuation of the ligament of the neck, along the whole of the back and loins; and likewise from the last cervical bone ;—the superficial’s and transversalis costarum, or superficial and transverse muscles of the ribs, going from this ligament to the upper part ef the ribs to elevate them, and to assist in the expan- sion of the chest; also the large mass of muscle, the longissimus dorst, or longest mus- cle of the back, from the spinous and transverse processes of the vertebra to the ribs, and by which all the motions of the spine, and back, and Joins, to which allusion has been made, are principally produced; by which the fore-quarters are raised upon the hind ones, or the hind upon the fore ones, according as either of them is the fixed point. This is the principal agent in rearing and kicking. The last muscle to be noticed is the spinalis dorsi, the spinal rauscle of the back, from the spinous processes of some of the last bones of the back to those of the fore part;—thick and strong about the withers, and broadly attached to them; _and more powerfully attached, and more strongly acting in proportion to the elevation of the withers ; and proceeding on to the three lowest bones of the neck, and therefore mainly concerned, as already described, in elevating the fore-quarters, and producing high and safe action, and contributing to speed. Highs Before the roof of the chest is left,some accidents or diseases to which it 1s exposed mast be mentioned. The first is of a very serious nature. 15* 174 THE CHEST. FISTULOUS WITHERS. When the saddle has been suffered to press long upon the withers, a tumour will be formed, hot and exceedingly tender. It may sometimes be dispersed by the cool- ing applications recommended in the treatment of poll-evil ; but if, in despite of these, the swelling should remain stationary, and especially if it should become larger and more tender, warm fomentations and poultices, and stimulating embrocations, should be diligently applied, in order to hasten the formation of pus. As soon as that can be fairly detected, a seton should be passed from the top to the bottom of the tumour, so that the whole of the matter may be evacuated, and continue to be discharged as it is afterwards formed; or the knife may be freely used, in order to get at the bottom of every sinus. The knife has succeeded many a time when the seton has failed. The after treatment must be precisely that which was recommended for a similar dis- ease in the poll. In neglected fistulous withers the ulcer may be larger and deeper, and more destruc- tive than in poll-evil. It may burrow beneath the shoulder-blade, and the pus appear at the point of the shoulder or the elbow; or the bones of the withers may become carious. Very great improvement has taken place in the construction of saddles for common use and in the cavalry service. Certain rules have now been laid down from which the saddler should never deviate, and attending to which the animal is saved from much suffering, and the mechanic from deserved disgrace. The first rule in the fitting of the saddle is, that it should bear upon the back, and not on the spine or the withers, for these are parts that will not endure pressure. Next in universal application is the understanding that the saddle should have everywhere an equal bearing, neither tilting forward upon the points nor backward upon the seat. When the saddle is on, and the girths fastened, there should remain space sufficient between the withers and the pommel for the introduction of the hand underneath the latter. The points of the tree should clip or embrace the sides without pinching them, or so standing outward that the pressure is all downwards, and upon one place, instead of being in a direction inwards as well as downwards, so as to be distributed uniformly over every part of the point that touches the side. Horses that have low and thick withers are most likely to have them injured, in consequence of the continual riding forward of the saddle, and its consequent pressure upon them. Fleshy and fat shoul- Jers and sides are also subject to become hurt by the points of the trees either pinch- ing them from being too narrow in the arch, or from the bearing being directly down- ward upon them. . Injury occasionally results from the interruption which a too forward saddle presents to the working or motion of the shoulder, and the consequent friction the soft parts sustain between the shoulder-blade inwardly, and the points of the saddle-tree outwardly.* WARBLES, SITFASTS, AND SADDLE GALLS. On other parts of the back, tumours and very troublesome ulcers may be produced by the same cause. ‘Those resulting from the pressure of the saddle are called war- bles, and, when they ulcerate, they frequently become siifasts. Warbles are small circular bruises, or extravasations of blood, where there has been an undue pressure of the saddle or harmess. If a horse is subject to these tumours, the saddle should remain on him two or three hours after he has returned to the stable. It is only for a certain time, however, that this will perfectly succeed, for by the frequent application of the pressure the skin and the cellular substance are bruised or otherwise injured, und a permanent sore or tumour, of a very annoying description, takes place. The centre of the sore gradually loses its vitality. A separation takes place from the sur- rounding integument, and there is a circular piece of dried and hard skin remaining in the centre. This is curiously called a navel gall, because it is opposite to the navel. No effort must be made to tear or dissect it off, but stimulating poultices or fomentations, or, if these fail, a mild blister, will cause a speedy separation; and the ——os * Percivall’s Hippopathology, vol.i., p. 199. THE THYMUS GLAND. 17& e& wound will then readily heal by the use of turpentine dressings, more cr less stinmu- jating, according to circumstances. Saddle galls are tumours, and sometimes galls or sores, arising also from the pres- sure and chafing of the saddle. They differ little from the warble, except that there is very seldom the separation of the dead part in the centre, and the sore is larger and varying in its form. ‘The application of cold water, or salt and water, will generally remove excoriations of this kind. With regard, however, to all these tumours and excoriations, the humane man will have the saddle eased and padded as soon as it begins to be of the least inconvenience to the horse. MUSCLES OF THE BREAST. There are some important muscles attached to the breast connected with that expansion of the chest which every horse should possess. In the cut, page 159, are seen a very important pair of muscles, the pectorales transversi, or pectoral muscles, forming two prominences in the front of the chest, and extending backward between the legs. They come from the fore and upper part of the breast-bone; pass across the inward part of the arm, and reach from the elbow almost down to the knee. They confine the arm to the side in the rapid motion of the horse, and prevent him from being, what horsemen would call, and what is seen in a horse pushed beyond his natural power, ‘all abroad.”’ Other muscles, pectorales magni et parvi, the great and little pectorals, rather above but behind these, go from the breast-bone to the arm, in order to draw back the point of the shoulder, and bring it upright. Another and smaller muscle goes from the breast-bone to the shoulder, to assist in the same office. A horse, therefore, thin and narrow in the breast, must be deficient in import- ant muscular power. Between the legs and along the breast-bone is the proper place in which to insert rowels, in cases of inflamed lungs. CHEST-FOUNDER. These muscles are occasionally the seat of a singular and somewhat mysterious disease. The old farriers used to call it anticor and chest-founder. The horse has considerable stiffness in moving, evidently not referable to the feet. There is tender- ness about the muscles of the breast, and, occasionally, swelling. We believe it to be nothing more than rheumatism, produced by suffering the horse to remain too long tied up, and exposed to the cold, or riding him against a very bleak wind. Some- times a considerable degree of fever accompanies this; but bleeding, physic, a rowel in the chest. warm embrocations over the parts affected, warm stabling, and warm clcthing, with occasional doses of antimonial powder, will soon subdue the complaint. CHAPTER’ VIT. THE CONTENTS OF THE CHEST. THE THYMUS GLAND. Ar the entrance of the trachea into the thorax, and ere it has scarcely penetrated between the first ribs in the young subject, it comes in contact with an irregular glan- dular body, situated in the doubling of the anterior mediastinum. It is “the thymus gland,” or, in vulgar language, the sweet-bread. In the early period of utero-gesta- tion, it is of very inconsiderable bulk, and confined mostly to the chest ; but, during the latter months, it strangely developes itself,—the superior cornua protrude out of the thorax and climb up the neck, between the carotids and the trachea. They are evi- hon connected with the thymus gland, and become parts and portions of the parotid ands. ; We are indebted to Sir Astley Cooper for the best account of the anatomical struc- sure, anu possible function of the thymus gland. It presents, on being cut Into e 176 CONTENTS OF THE CHEST: great number of small cavities, in which the abundant white fluid of the gland is in part contained. From those cavities the fluid is transmitted into a general reservoir, which forms a common connecting cavity, and is lined by a delicate membrane. Sir Astley, and in this he is supported by Professor Miiller, believes that a peculiar albu- minous fluid is conveyed by the thymus gland to the veins, through the medium of the lymphatics. It has nothing to do with the formation of the blood, in the fetus or the child. These two eminent physiologists exert the better part of discretion, by declining to give any hypothesis of its function beyond this, that it supplies the lymphaties with an albuminous fluid. This gland continues to grow for some time after birth, and remains of considera- ble size during the first year; it then gradually diminishes, and, about the period of puberty, usually disappears. It has, however, been found in a mare between five and Six years old. THE DIAPHRAGM. Bounding the thorax posteriorly,—the base of the cone in the human subject,—the interposed curtain between the thorax and the abdomen in the horse, is the diaphragm. It is an irregular muscular expansion, preceeding from the inferior surface of the lumbar vertebre posteriorly and superiorly, adhering to the ribs on either side, and extending obliquely forward and downward to the sternum; or, rather it is a flattened muscle arising from all these points, with its fibres all converg- ing towards the centre, and terminating there in an expansion of tendinous substance. It is lined anteriorly by the pleura or investing membrane of the thoracic cavity, and posteriorly by the peritoneum or investing membrane of the abdominal cavity. Anatomy of the Diaphragm.—In the short account which it is purposed to give of the structure of the diaphragm, the description of Mr. Percivall will be closely fol- lowed. ‘The diaphragm may be divided into the main circular muscle, with its central tendinous expansion forming the lower part, and two appendices, or crura, as they are called, from their peculiar shape, constituting its superior portion. The fleshy origin of the grand muscle may be traced laterally and inferiorly, commencing from the cartilage of the eighth rib anteriorly, and closely following the union of the posterior ribs with their cartilages ; excepting, however, the two last. The attach- ment is peculiarly strong ; it is denticulated ; it encircles the whole of the lateral and inferior part of the chest, as far as the sternum, where it is connected with the ensi- form cartilage. Immediately under the loins are the appendices of the diaphragm, commencing on the right side, from the inferior surfaces of the five first lumbar ver- tebra by strong tendons, which soon become muscular, and form a kind of pillar; and, on the left, proceeding from the two first lumbar vertebra only, and from the sides rather than the bodies of these vertebre, and these also unite and form a shorter pillar, or leg. he left crus or appendix is shorter than the right, that it may be more out of the way of pressure from the left curvature of the stomach, which, with the spleen, lies underneath. Opposite to the 17th dorsal vertebra, these two pillars unite and form a thick mass of muscles, detached from the vertebra, and leaving a kind of pouch between them and the vertebra. They not only unite, but they decus- sate : their fibres mingle and again separate from each other, and then proceed onward to the central tendinous expansion towards which the fibres from the circular muscle, and the appendices, all converge.” The diaphragm is the main agent, both in ordinary and extraordinary respiration ; it assists also in the expulsion of the urine, and it is a most powerful auxiliary in the act of parturition. In its quiescent state, it presents its ccnvex surface towards the thorax, and its concave one towards the abdomen. The anterior convexity abuts upon the lungs; the posterior concavity is occupied by some of the abdominal viscera. The effect of the action of this muscle, or the contraction of its fibres, is to lessen the convexity towards the chest, and the concavity towards the abdomen: or perhaps, by a powerful contraction, to cause it to present a plane surface either way. ‘The abdo- minal viscera that must be displaced in order to effect this, have considerable bulk and weight; and when the stomach is distended with food, and the motton required from the éiaphragm in rapid breathing is both quick and extensive, there needs some strong, firm, elastic, substance to bear it. The forcible contact and violent pressure would bruise and otherwise injure 4 mere muscular expansion; and therefore we have this tendi- RUPTURE OF THE DIAPIURAGM. 19? nous expansion, comparatively devoid of sensibility, to stand the pressure and the shock which will always be greatest at the centre. Yet it is subject to injury and disease of a serious and varied character. What ever may be the original seat of thoracic or abdominal ailment, the diaphragia soon becomes irritable and inflamed. This accounts for the breathing of the horse being so much affected under every inflammation or excitement of the chest or belly. The irritability of this muscle is often evinced by a singular spasmodic action of a portion, or the whole of it. Mr. Castley thus describes a case of it:—“¢ A horse had been very much distressed in a run of nearly thirteen miles, without a check, and his rider stopped, on the road towards home, to rest him a little. With difficulty he was brought to the stable. Mr. Castley was sent for, and he says,—* When I first saw the animal, his breathing and attitude indicated the greatest distress. The prominent symptom, however, was a convulsive motion, or jerking of the whole body, audible at several yards’ distance, and evidently proceeding from his inside; the beats appeared to be about forty in a minute. On placing my hand over the heart, the action of that organ could be felt, but very indistinctly ; the beating evidently came from behind the heart, and was most plainly to be felt in the direction of the diaphragm. Again placing my hand on the abdominal muscles, the jerks appeared to come from before, backwards; the impression on my mind, therefore, was, that this was a spasmodic affection of the diaphragm, brought on by violent distress in running.’ ’”’* Mr. Castley’s account is inserted thus at length, because it was the first of the kind on record, with the exception of an opinion of Mr. Apperley, which came very near to the truth. ‘ When a horse is very much exhausted after a long run with hounds, a noise will sometimes be heard to proceed from his inside, which is often erroneously supposed to be the beating of his heart, whereas it proceeds from the excessive motion of the abdominal muscles.” t Mr. Castley shall pursue his case, (it will be a most useful guide to the treatment of these cases) :—“ Finding that there was little pulsation to be felt at the submaxillary artery, and judging from that circumstance that any attempt to bleed at that time would be worse than useless, I ordered stimulants to be given. We first administered three ounces of spirit of nitrous ether, in a bottle of warm water; but this producing no good effect, we shortly afterwards gave two drachms of the sub-carbonate of amrnonia in a ball, allowing the patient, at the same time, plenty of white water to drink. About a quarter of an heur after this, he broke out into a profuse perspiration, which continued two hours, or more. The breathing became more tranquil, but the convul- sive motion of the diaphragm still continued without any abatement. After the sweating had ceased, the pulse became more perceptible, and the action of the heart more distinct, and I considered this to be the proper time to bleed. When about ten pounds had been extracted, I thought that the beating and the breathing seemed to increase; the bleeding was stopped, and the patient littered up for the night. In the morning, the affection of the diaphragm was much moderated, and about eleven o’clock it ceased, after continuing eighteen or nineteen hours. A little tonic medicine was afterwards administered, and the horse soon recovered his usual appetite and spirits.’’+ Later surgeons administer, and with good effect, opium in small doses, together with ammonia, or nitric ether, and have recourse to bleeding as soon as any reaction is perceived. Over-fatigue, of almost every kind, has produced spasm of the diaphragm, ard so has over-distension of the stomach with grass. RUPTURE OF THE DIAPHRAGM. This is an accident, or the consequence of disease, very lately brought under the cognizance of the veterinary surgeon. The first communication of its cccurrence was from Mr. King, a friend of Mr. Percivall.§ It occurred in a mare that had been ridden sharply for half a dozen miles, when she was full of grass. She soon afterwards exhibited symptoms of broken-wind, and, at length, died suddenly, while standing in the stable. The diaphragm was lacerated on the left side, through its whole extent, throwing the two cavities into one. * The Veterinarian, 1831, p. 247. + Nimrod on the Condition of Hunters, p. 185 + The Veterinarian, 1831, p. 248. § The Veterinarian, 1828, p. 102. i ¥ 178 CONTENTS OF THE CHEST. Since that period, from the increasing and very proper habit of examining every dead horse, cases of this accident have rapidly multiplied. It seems that it may follow any act of extraordinary exertion, and efforts of every kind, particularly on a full stomach, or when the bowels are distended with green or other food likely to generate gas.* Considerable caution, however, should be exercised when much gaseous fluid is present; for the bowels may be distended, and forced against the diaphragm to such a degree, as to threaten to burst. An interesting case of rupture of the diaphragm was related by Professor Spooner, at one of the meetings of the Veterinary Medical Association. A horse having been saddled and bridled for riding, was turned in his stall and fastened by the bit-straps, Something frightened him—he reared, broke the bit-strap, and fell backward. On the following morning, he was evidently in great pain, kicking, heaving, and occasionally lying down. Mr. 8S. was sent for to examine him, but was not told of the event of the preceding day. He considered it to be a case of enteritis, and treated it accord- ingly. He bled him largely, and, in the course of the day, the horse appeared to be decidedly better, every symptom of pain having vanished. The horse was more lively—he ate with appetite, but his bowels remained constipatea. On the following day there was a fearful change. The animal was suffering sadly —the breathing was laborious, and the membrane of the nose intensely red, as if it were more a case of inflammation of the lungs than of the bowels. The bowels were still constipated. The patient was bled and physicked again, but without avail. He died; and there was found rupture of the diaphragm, protrusion of intes- tine into the thoracic cavity, and extensive pleural and peritoneal inflammation. In rupture of the diaphragm, the horse usually sits on his haunches, like a dog; but this is far from being an infallible symptom of the disease. It accompanies introsusception, as well as rupture of the diaphragm. The weight of the intestines may possibly cause any protruded part of them to descend again into the abdomen. This muscle, so important in its office, is plentifully supplied with blood-vessels. As the posterior aorta passes beneath the crura of the diaphragm, it gives out some- times a single vessel which soon bifureates ; sometimes two branches, which speedily plunge into the appendices or crura, while numerous small vessels, escaping from them, spread over the central tendinous expansion. As the larger muscle of the diaphragm springs from the sides and the base of the chest, it receives many ramifica- tions from the internal pectoral, derived from the anterior aorta; but more from the posterior intercostals which spring from the posterior aorta. The veins of the diaphragm belong exclusively to the posterior vena cava. There are usually three on either side; but they may be best referred to two chief trunks which come from the circumference of the diaphragm, converge towards the centro, and run into the posterior cava as it passes through the tendinous expansion. The functional nerve of the diaphragm, or that from which it derives its principal action, and which constitutes it a muscle of respiration, is the phrenic or diaphragmatic. Although it does not proceed from that portion of the medulla oblongata which gives rise to the glosso-pharyngeus and the par vagum, yet there is sufficient to induce us to suspect that it arises from, and should be referred to, the lateral column between the superior and inferior, the sensitive and motor nerves, and which may be evidently traced fiom the pons varolii to the very termination of the spinal chord. The diaphragm is the main agent in the work of respiration. The other muscles are mere auxiliaries, little needed in ordinary breathing, but affording the most important assistance, when the breathing is more than usually hurried. 'The mecha- nism of respiration may be thus explained :—Let it be supposed that the lungs are in a quiescent state. The act of expiration has been performed, and all is still. From some ciuse enveloped in mystery — connected with the will, but independent of it — some stimulus of an unexplained and unknown kind —the phrenic nerve acts on the diaphragm, and that muscle contracts; and, by contracting, its convexity into the chest is diminished, and the cavity of the chest is enlarged. At the same time, and by some consentaneous influence, the intercostal muscles act— with no great force, indeed, in undisturbed breathing; but, in proportion as they act, the ribs rotate or their axes. their edges are thrown outward, and thus a twofold effect ensues : —the posterior margin of the chest is expanded, the cavity is plainly enlarged, and also, by the partial rotation of every rib, the cavity is still more increased, * Percivall’s Hippopathology, vol. ii., No. 1, p. 152, THE PLEURA. 79 By some other consentaneous influence, the spinal accessory nerve likewise exerts its power, and the sterno-maxillaris muscle is stimulated by the anterior division of it, and the motion of the head and neck corresponds with and assists that of the chest; while the posterior division of the accessory nerve, by its anastamoses with the motot nerves of the levator humeri and the splenius, and many other of the muscles of the neck and the shoulder, and by its direct influence on the thomboideus, associates almost every muscle of the neck, the shoulder, and the chest, in the expansion of the thorax. These latter are muscles, which, in undisturbed respiration, the animal scarcely needs; but which are necessary to him when the respiration is much disturbed, and to obtain the aid of which he will, under pneumonia, obstinately stand until he falls exhausted or to die. The cavity of the chest is now enlarged. But this is a closed cavity, and between its contents and the parietes of the chest a vacuum would be formed; or rather an inequality of atmospheric pressure is produced from the moment the chest begins to dilate. As the diaphragm recedes, there is nothing to counterbalance the pressure of the atmospheric air communicating with the lungs through the medium of the nose and mouth, and it is forced into the respiratory tubes already described, and the lungs are expanded and still kept in contact with the receding walls of the chest. There is no sucking, no inhalent power in the act of inspiration; it is the simple enlargement of the chest from the entrance and pressure of the air. From some cause, as inexplicable as that which produced the expansion of the chest, the respiratory nerves cease to act; and the diaphragm, by the inherent elasticity of its tendinous expansion and muscular fibres, returns to its natural form, once more projecting its convexity into the thorax. The abdominal muscles, also, which had been put on the stretch by the forcing of the viscera into the posterior part of the abdomen by means of the straightening of the diaphragm, contract, and accelerate the return of that muscle to its quiescent figure ; and the ribs, all armed with elastic cartilages, regain their former situation and figure. The muscles of the shoulder and the chest relax, a portion of the lungs are pressed on every side, and the air with which they were distended is again forced out. There is only one set of muscles actively employed in expiration, namely, the abdominal: the elasticity of the parts displaced in inspiration being almost sufficient to accomplish the purpose. The lungs, however, are not altogether passive. The bronchial tubes, so far as they can be traced, are lined with cartilage, divided and subdivided for the purpose of folding up when the lungs are compressed, but elastic enough to afford a yielding resistance against both unusual expansion and contraction. In their usual state the air-tubes are distended beyond their natural calibre; for if the parietes of the thorax are perforated, and the pressure of the atmosphere rendered equal within and without them, the lungs immediately collapse. THE PLEURA. The walls of the chest are lined, and the lungs are covered by a smooth glistening membrane, the pleura. It is a serous membrane, so called from the nature of its exhalation, in distinction from the mucous secretion yielded by the membrane of the air-passages. ‘Ihe serous membrane generally invests the most important organs, and always those that are essentially connected with life; while the mucous mem- brane lines the interior of the greater part of them. The pleura is the investing membrane of the lungs, and a mucous membrane the lining one of the bronchial tubes. Among the circumstances principally to be noticed, with regard to the pleura, is the polish of its external surface. The glistening appearance of the lungs, and of the inside of the chest, is to be attributed to the membrane by which they are covered, and by means of which the motion of the various organs is freer and less dangerous. Although the lungs, and the bony walls which contain them, are in constant approxi- mation with each other, both in expiration and inspiration, yet in the frequently hurried and violent motion of the animal, and, in fact, in every act of expiration and inspiration, of dilatation and contraction, much and injurious friction would ensue if the surfaces did not glide freely over each other by means of the peculiar polish of this membrane. Every serous membrane has innumerable exhalent vessels upon its surface, trom which a considerable quantity of fluid is poured out. In life and during health in exists in the chest only as a kind of dew, just sufficient to lubricate the surfaces 180 CONTENTS OF THE CHEST. When the chest is opened soon after death, we recognize it in the steam that arises. and in a few drops of fluid, which, being condensed, are found at the lowest part of the chest. The quantity, however, which is exhaled from all the serous membranes, must be very great. It is perhaps equal or superior to that which is yielded by the vessels on the surface of the body. If very little is found in ordinary cases, it is because the absorbents are as numerous and as active as the exhalents, and, during health, that which is poured out by the one is taken up by the other; but in circumstances of dis- ease, either when the exhalents are stimulated to undue action, or the power cf the absorbents is diminished, the fluid rapidly and greatly accumulates. Thus we have hydrothorax or dropsy of the chest, as one of the consequences of inflammation of the chest; and the same disturbed balance of action will produce similar effusion in othe cavities. The extensibility of membrane generally is nowhere more strikingly displayed than in the serous membranes, and particularly in that under consideration, How different the bulk of the lungs before the act of inspiration has commenced, and after it has been completed, and especially in the laborious respiration of disease or rapid exer- tion! In either state of the lungs the pleura is perfectly fitted to that which it envelopes. The pleura, like other serous membranes, is possessed of very little sensibility. Few nerves from the sensitive column of the spinal chord reach it. Acute feeling would render these menbranes generally, and this membrane in particular, unfit for the function they have to discharge. It has too much motion, even during sleep; and far too forcible friction with the parietes of the thorax in morbid or hurried respiration, to render it convenient or useful for it to possess much sensation. Some of those anatomists whose experiments on the living animal do no credit to their humanity, have given most singular proof of the insensibility, not only of these serous mem- branes, but of the organs which they invest. Bichat frequently examined the spleen of dogs. He detached it from some of its adhesions, and left it protruding from the wound in the abdomen, in order * to study the phenomena;”’ and he saw “ them tear ing off that organ, and eating it, and thus feeding upon their own substance.” In some experiments, in which part of their intestines were left out, he observed them, as soon as they had the opportunity, tear to pieces their own viscera without any visible pain. Although it may be advantageous that these important organs shall be thus devoid of sensibility when in health, in order that we may be unconscious of their action and motion, and that they may be rendered perfectly independent of the will, yet it is equally needful that, by the feeling of pain, we should be warned of the existence of any dangerous disease: and thence it happens that this membrane, and also the organ which it invests, acquire under inflammation the highest degree of sensibility. The countenance of the horse labouring under pleurisy or pneumonia will sufficiently indi- cate a state of suffering; and the spasmed bend of his neck, and his long and affxious and intense gaze upon his side, tell us that that suffering is extreme. Nature, however, is wise and benevolent even here. It is not of every morbid affection, or morbid change, that the animal is conscious. If a mucous membrane is diseased, he is rendered painfully aware of that, for neither respiration nor digestion could be perfectly carried on while there was any considerable lesion of it; but, on the other hand, we find tubercles in the parenchyma of the lungs, or induration or hepatization of their substance, or extensive adhesions, of which there were few or no ind.cations during life. The pleura adheres intimately to the ribs and to the substance of the lungs; yet it is a very singular connexion. It is not a continuance of the same organisation; it is not an interchange of vessels. The organ and its membrane, although so closely connected for a particular purpose, yet in very many cases, and where it would leas of all be suspected, have little or no sympathy with each other. Inflammation of the lungs will sometimes exist, and will run on to ulceration, while the pleura wil] be very little affected: and, much oftener, the pleura will be the seat of inflammation and will be attended by increased exhalation to such an extent as to suffocate the anima!, and yet the lungs will exhibit little other morbid appearance than that of mere compression. ‘The disease of a mucous membrane spreads to other parts—that THE LUNGS=—FHH HHANT. 181 uf a serous one is generally isolated. It was to limit the progress cf disease that this ‘ifference of structure between the organ and its membrane was contrived. The investing membrane of the lungs and that of the heart are in continual contaet with each other, but they are as distinct and’ unconnected, as if they were placed in {ifferent parts of the frame. Is there no meaning in this ? It is to preserve the perfect independence of organs equally important, yet altogether different in structure and function—to oppose an insuperable barrier to hurtful sym- pathy between them, and especially to cut off the communication of disease. Perhaps a little light begins to be thrown on a circumstance of which we have occasional painful experience. While we may administer physic, or mild aperients at least, in pleurisy, not only with little danger, but with manifest advantage, we may just as well give a dose of poison as a physic-ball to a horse labouring under mneumonia. ‘The pleura is connected with the lungs, and with the lungs alone, and the organisation is so different, that there is very little sympathy between them. A physic-ball may, therefore, act as a counter-irritant, or as giving a new determination to the vital current, without the propagation of sympathetic irritation; but the lungs or the bronchial tubes that ramify through them are continuous with the mucous mem- branes of the digestive as well as all the respiratory passages; and on account of the continuity and similarity of organisation, there is much sympathy between them. If there is irritation excited at the same time in two different portions of the same mem- brane, it is probable that, instead cf being shared between them, the one will be trans- ahi to the other— will increase or double the other, and act with fearful and fatal violence. THE LUNGS. The lungs are the seat of a peculiar circulation. They convey through their com- paratively little bulk the blood, and other fluids scarcely transformed into blood, or soon separated from it, which traverse the whole of the frame. They consist of count- less ramifications of air-tubes and blood-vessels connected together by intervening cellular substance. They form two distinct bodies, the right somewhat larger than the left, and are divided from each other by the duplicature of the pleura, which has been already described—the mediastinum. Each lung has the same structure, and properties, and nses. Each of them is subdivided, the right lobe consisting of three lobes, and the left of two. The intention of these divisicns is probably to adapt the substance of the lungs to the form of the cavity in which they are placed, and to enable them more perfectly to occupy and fill the chest. If one of these lobes is cut into, it is found to consist of innumerable irregularly formed compartments, to which anatomists have given the name of Jobu/es, or little lobes. They are distinct from each other, and impervious. On close examination, they ean be subdivided almost without end. There is no communication between them, or if perchance such communicaticn exists, it constitutes the disease known by the name of broken wind. On the delicate membrane of which these cells are composed, innumerable minute blood-vessels ramify. They proceed from the heart, through the medium of the pul: monary artery—they follow all the subdivisions of the bronchial tubes—they ramify upon the membrane of these multitudinous lobules, and at length return to the heart, throuct the medium of the pulmonary veins, the character of the blood which they contain being essentially changed. The mechanism of this, and the effect produced must be briefly considered. THE HEART. The heart is placed between a doubling of the pleura—the mediastinum ; by means of which it is supported in its natural situation, and all dangerous friction between these important organs is avoided. It is also surrounded by a membrane or bag of its own, called the pericardium, whose office is of a similar nature. By means of the heart, the blood is cirenlated through the frame. ; : It is composed of four cavities—two above, called auricles, from their supposed resemblance to the ear of a dog; and two below, termed ventricles, occupymg the sub- stance of the heart. In point of fact, there are two hearts—the one on the left side impelling: the blood through the frame, the other on the right side conveying it through 16 ; . 182 CONTENTS OF THE CHEST. the pulmenary system; but, united in the manner in which they are, their Junenon contributes to their mutual strength, and both circulations are carried on at the same fime Tho first is the arterial circulation. No function ean be discharged—life cannot exist, without the presence of arterial blood. ‘The left ventricle that contains it con- tracts, and by the power of that contraction, aided by other means, which the limits of our work will not permit us to describe, the blood is driven through the whole arterial circulation—the capillary vessels and the veins—and returns again to the heart, but to the right ventricle. The other division of this viscus is hikewise employed in circulating the blood thus conveyed to it, but is not the same fluid which was contained in the left ventricle. It has gradually lost its vital power. As it has passed along, it has changed from red to black, and from a vital to a poisonous fluid. Ere it can again convey the principle of nutrition, or give to each organ that impulse or stimulus which enables it to diseharge its function, it must be materially changed. When the right ventricle contraets, and the blood is driven into the lungs, it passes over the gossamer membrane of which the lobules of the lungs have been described as consisting; the lobules being filled with the air which has descended through the bronchial tubes in the act of inspiration. This delicate membrane permits some of the principles of the air to permeate it. The oxygen of the atmosphere attracts and combines with a portion of the superabundant carbon of this blood, and the expired air is poisoned with carbonic acid gas. Some of the constituents of the blood attract a portion of the oxygen of the air, and obtain their distinguishing character and pro- perties as arterial blood, and being thus revivified, it passes on over the membrane of the lobes, unites into small and then larger vessels, and at length pours its full stream of arterial blood into the left auricle, thence to ascend into the ventricle, and to be dif fused over the frame. DISEASES OF THE HEART. It may be readily supposed that an organ so complicated is subject to disease. It is so to a fearful extent; and it sympathises with the maladies of every other part. Until lately, however, this subject has been shamefully neglected, and the writers on the veterinary art have seemed to be unaware of the importance of the organ, and the maladies to which it is exposed. The owner of the horse and the vetermary profes- sion generally, are deeply indebted to Messrs. Percivall and Pritchard* for much valuable information on this subject. The writer of this work acknowledges his obligation to both of these gentlemen. To Dr. Hope also, and particularly to Laennec, we owe much. Mr. Percivall well says, ‘This class of diseases may be regarded as the least advanced of any in veterinary medieine—a circumstance not to be ascribed so much to their comparative rarity, as to their existing undiseovered, or rather being confounded during life with other disorders, and particularly with pulmonary affections.” The best place to examine the beating of the heart is immediately behind the elbow, on the left side. The hand applied flat against the ribs will give the number of pulsations. The ear thus applied will enable the practitioner better to ascertain the character of the pulsation. The stethoscope affords an uncertain guide, for it car not be flatly and evenly applied. ° PericarpiTis.—The bag, or outer investing membrane of the heart, is liable inflammation, in which the effused fluid becomes organized, and deposited in layers, increasing the thiekness of the pericardium, and the difficulty of the expansion and contraction of the heart. The only symptoms on which dependence can be placed, are a quickened and irregular respiration; a bounding action of the heart in an eariv stage of the disease; but that, as the fluid increases and becomes concrete, assuming a feeble and fluttering character. , Hyoprops Pericarpm is the term used to designate the presence of the fluid secceted in consequence of this inflammation, and varying from a pint to a gallon or more. In addition to the symptoms already described, there is an expression of alarm and anxiety in the countenance of the animal which no other malady produces. The horse generally sinks from other disease, or from constitutional irritation, before the i mee Esteharsie papers in the Veterinarian, vol. vi., and Percivall’s Hippopathology, vol ia., Part I. DISEASES OF THE HEART. 183 cavity of the pericardium is filled; or if he lingers on, most dreadful palpitations and throbbings accompany the advanced stage of the disease. It is seldom or never that this disease exists alone, but is combined with dropsy of the chest or abdomen. CarpiTis is the name given to inflammation of the muscular substance ot the heart. A well authenticated instance of inflammation of the substance of the heart does not stand on record. Some other organ proves to be the chief seat of mischief, even when the disturbance of the heart has been most apparent. INFLAMMATION OF THE Linine or THE Heart.—Mr. Simpson relates, in the Vete- rinarian for 1834, a case in which there were symptoms of severe abdominal pain; the respiration was much disturbed, and the action of the heart took on an extraordi- nary character. ‘Three or four beats succeeded to each other, so violently as to shake the whole frame, and to be visible at the distance of several yards, with intervals of quietude for five minutes or more. At length this violent beating became constant. On dissection both lungs were found to be inflamed, the serum in the pericardium increased in quantity, and the internal membrane of the heart violently inflamed, with spots of ecchymosis. This would seem to be a case of inflammation of the heart; but in a considerable proportion of the cases of rabies, these spots of ecchymosis, and this general inflam- mation of the heart, are seen. Hyperturopuy is an augmentation or thickening of the substance of the heart; and although not dreamed of a few years ago, seems now to be a disease of no‘rare occurrence among horses. The heart has been known to acquire double its natural volume, cr the auricle and ventricle on one side have been thus enlarged. Mr. Thomson of Bath relates, in The Veterinarian, a very singular case. A horse was brought with every appearance of acute rheumatism, and was bled and physicked. On the following day he was standing with his fore legs widely extended, the nos- trils dilated, the breathing quick and laborious, the eyes sunk in their orbits, the pupils dilated, his nose turned round almost to his elbow, sighing, and his counte- nance showing approaching dissolution. The pulse had a most irregular motion, and the undulation of the jugular veins was extending to the very roots of the ears. He died a few hours afterwards. The lungs and pleura were much inflamed; the pericardium was inflamed and dis- tended by fluid; the heart was of an enormous size and greatly inflamed; both the auricles and ventricles were filled with coagulated blood; the greater part of the chord tendinee had given way; the valves did not approximate to perform their function, and the heart altogether presented a large disorganized mass, weighing thir- ty-four pounds. The animal worked constantly on the farm, and had never been put to quick or very laborious work. DivaraTion is increased capacity of the cavities of the heart, and the parietes be- ing generally thinned. It is probable that this is a more frequent disease than is generally supposed; and from the circulating power being lessened, or almost sus- pended, on account of the inability of the cavities to propel their contents, it is ac- companied by much and rapid emaciation. In the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London this is a disease considerably frequent, and almost uniformly fatal. It attacks the smaller animals, and particularly the quadrumana, and has been found in the deer and the zebra. It is characterised by slow emaciation, and a piteous expression of the countenance; but the mischief is done when these symptoms ap- pear. OssiricaTion or THE Heart.—There are but too many instances of this both in the right and the left auricles of the heart, the aortic valves, the abdominal aorta, and also the bronchial and other glands. Mr. Percivall observes of one of these cases, that “the cavity could have been but a passive receptacle for the blood, and the current must have been continued without any or with hardly any fresh impulse.” Of air IN THE HEART destroying the horse, there are some interesting accounts; and also of rupture of the heart, and aneurism, or dilatation of the aorta, both thoracic and abdominal, and even farther removed from the heart and in the iliae artery. he symptoms that would certainly indicate the existence of aneurism are yet unknown, except tenderness about the loins and gradual inability to work, are considered as such: but it is interesting to know of the existence of these lesions. Ere long the veterinary surgeon may possibly be able to guess at them, although he will rarely 184 CONTENTS OF THE, CHEST. have more power in averting the consequences of aneurism than the human surgeon possesses with regard to his patient. _ t This will be the proper place to describe a little more fully the circulation of the blood, and various circumstances connected with that most important process. THE ARTERIES. The vessels which carry the blood from the heart are called arteries (keeping air— the ancients thought that they contained air). They are composed of three coats; the outer or elastic is that by which they are enabled to yield to the gush of blood, and enlarge their dimensions as it is forced along them, and by which also they contract again as soon as the stream has passed; the middle coat is a muscular one, by which this contraction is more powerfully performed, and the blood urged on in its course; the inner or membranous coat is the mere lining of the tube. This yielding of the artery to the gush of blood, forced into it by the contraction of the heart, constitutes THE PULSE. The pulse is a very useful assistant to the practitioner of human medicine, and much more so to the veterinary surgeon, whose patients cannot describe either the seat or degree of ailment or pain. The number of pulsations in any artery will give the number of the beatings of the heart, and so express the irritation of that organ, and of the frame generally. Ina state of health, the heart beats in a farmer’s horse about thirty-six times a minute. In the smaller, and in the thorough-bred horse, the pulsations are forty or forty-two. This is said to be the standard pulse—the pulse of health. It varies singularly little in horses of the same size and breed, and where it beats naturally there can be little materially wrong. The most convenient place to feel the pulse, is at the lower jaw (p. 68) a little behind the spot where the sub- maxillary artery and vein, and the parotid duct, come from under the jaw. There the number of pulsations will be easily counted, and the character of the pulse, a matter of fully equal importance, will be clearly ascertained. Many horsemen put the hand to the side. They can certainly count the pulse there, but they can do no- thing more. We must be able to press the artery against some hard body, as the jaw-bone, in order to ascertain the marner in which the blood flows through it, and the quantity that flows. When the pulse reaches fifty or fifty-five, some degree of fever may be apprehended, and proper precaution should be taken. Seventy or seventy-five will indicate a dan- gerous state, and put the owner and the surgeon not a little on the alert. Few horses long survive a pulse of cne hundred, for, by this excessive action, the energies of nature are speedily worn out. ‘i Some things, however, should be taken into account in forming our conclusion from the frequency of the pulse. Exercise, a warm stable, and fear, will wonderfully increase the number of pulsations. When a careless, brutal fellow goes up to a horse, and speaks hastily to him, and handles him roughly, he adds ten beats per minute to the pulse, and will often be misled in the opinion he may form of the state of the animal. sed. Its coats were nearly destroyed, and hung like rags about the orifice through which the food was received, and that through which it naturally was expelled. This account proves how little we are to depend upon any apparent symptoms as indicating the real state of the stomach in the horse. M:. Brown relates a case of polypus found in the stomach, and which had remained * The Farrier and Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 9. t The Veterinary- Medical Association, 1836-7, p.109. + The Veterinarian, vol. x. p. 615 224 THE ABDOMEN AND ITS CONTENTS. there unsuspected until it weighed nearly half-a-pound, it then became entanglea in the pyloric orifice, and prevented the passage of the food, and destroyed the horse.* BOTS. In the spring and early part of the summer, horses are much troubled by a grub or caterpillar, which crawls out of the anus, fastens itself under the tail, and seems to cause a great deal of itching or uneasiness. Grooms are Sometimes alarmed at the appearance of these insects. Their history is curious, and will dispel every fear with regard to them. We are indebted to Mr. Bracy Clark for almost all we know of the bot. CUT OF THE BOT. aand b The eggs of the gad-fly, adhering to the hair of the horse. c The appearance of the bots on the stomach, firmly adhering by their hooked mouths. The marks or depressions are seen which are left on the coat of the stomach when the bots are detached from their hold. d The bot detached. e The female of the gad-fly, of the horse, prepared to deposit her eggs. f The gad-fly by which the red bots are produced. g The smaller, or red bot. A species of gad-fly, e, the ctrus equi, is in the latter part of the summer exceed- ingly busy about the horse. It is observed to be darting with great rapidity towards the knees and sides of the animal. The females are depositing their eggs on the hair, and which adhere to it by means of a glutinous fluid with which they are sur- rounded (a and b), Jn a few days the eggs are ready to be hatched, and the slight- est application of warmth and moisture will liberate the little animals which they contain. ‘The horse in licking himself touches the egg; it bursts, and a small worm escapes, which adheres to the tongue, and is conveyed with the food into the stomach. There it clings to the cuticular portion of the stomach, c, by means of a hook on either side of its mouth; and its hold is so firm and so obstinate, that it must be broken before it can be detached. It remains there feeding on the mucus of the sto- mach during the whole of the winter, and until the end of the ensuing spring ; when, having attained a considerable size, d, and being destined to undergo a certain trans- formation, it disengages itself from the cuticular coat, is carried into the villous por- tion of the stomach with the food, passes out of it with the chyme, and is evacuated with the dung. The /arva or maggot seeks shelter in the ground, and buries itself there; it con- tracts in size, and becomes a chrysalis or grub, in which state it lies inactive for 2 few weeks, and then, bursting from its confinement, assumes the form of a fly. he female, necoming impregnated, quickly deposits her eggs on those parts of the horse which he is most accustomed to lick, and thus the species is perpetuated. There are several plain ccnclusions to be drawn from this history. The bots can * The Veterinarian, vol. vii., p. 76. POISONS. 925 not, while they inhabit the stomach of the horse, give the animal any pain, for they have fastened on the cuticular and insensible coat.. They cannot stimulate the sto- mach, and increase its digestive power, for they are not on the digestive portion of the stomach. They cannot, by their roughness, assist the trituration or rubbing down of the food, for no such office is performed in that part of the stomach—the food is ' softened, not rubbed down. They cannot be injurious to the horse, for he enjoys the ' most perfect health when the cuticular part of his stomach is filled with them, and their presence is not even suspected until they appear at the anus. They cannot be removed by medicine, because they are not in that part of the stomach to which medi- cine is usually conveyed ; and if they were, their mouths are too deeply buried in the mucus for any medicine, that can be safely administered, to affect them; and, last of all, in due course of time they detach themselves, and come away. Therefore, the wise man will leave them to themselves, or content himself with picking them off when they collect under the tail and annoy the animal. The smaller bot, f and g, is not so frequently found. Of inflammation of the stomach of the horse, except from poisonous herbs, or drugs, we know little. It rarely occurs. It can with difficulty be distinguished from inflammation of the bowels; and, in either case, the assistance of the veterinary sur- geon is required. Few horses are destroyed by poisonous plants in our meadows. Natural instinct teaches the animal to avoid the greater part of those that would be injurious. We cannot do better than abbreviate the list of poisonous agents, and the means of averting their fatal influence, given by Mr. Morton, the Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica at the Royal Veterinary College.* It will occasionally be exceedingly useful to the proprietor of horses. He begins with the Animat Poisons. The bite of the virer has been occasionally fatal to dogs and sheep. A horse was brought to the Veterinary College that had been bitten in the hind leg while hunting. ‘There was considerable swelling, and the place of the bite was evident enough. Mr. Armstrong mentions a case in which a horse, bitten by a viper, sunk into a kind of coma, from which he could not be roused. The antidote, which seldom or never fails, is an alkaline solution of almost any kind, taken internally and applied extermally. There is no chemical effect on the circulation, but the alkali acts as a powerful counter-irritant. In very bad cases, opium may be added to the alkaline solution. Hornets, Wasps, &c.—These are spoken of, because there are records of horses being attacked by a swarm of them, and destroyed. The spirit of turpentine is the best external application, and, if given in not undue quantities and guarded by an admixture with oil, may be useful. CanrHaripes constitute a useful drug in some few cases. It is one of the applica- tions used in order to excite the process of blistering. It was occasionally employed as a medicine in small quantities, and, combined with vegetable tonics, it has been given in small doses, for the cure of glanders, farcy, and nasal gleet. It is valuable in cases of general and extreme debility. It is a useful general stimulant when judi- ciously applied: but it must be given in small doses, and never except under the direction of a skilful practitioner. A drachm of the powdered fly would destroy almost any horse. In the breeding season it is too often shamefully given as an excitement to the horse and the mare, and many a valuable animal has been destroyed by this abominable practice. It is usually given in the form of ball, in which case it may be detected by the appearance of small glittering portions of the fly, which are sepa- rated on the inner side of the dung-ball in hot water. If the accidental or too pow erful administration of it is suspected, recourse should be had to bleeding, purging, and plentiful drenching with oily and demulcent fluids. The leaves of the Yew are said to be dangerous to the horse, as well as to many other animals. “Two horses that had been employed in carrying fodder, were thoughtlessly placed under a large yew-tree, which they cropped with eagerness. In three hours they began to stagger —both of them dropped, and before the harness could be taken off, they were dead. A great quantity of yew-leaves were founa in the stomachs, which were contracted and inflamed.”{ Mr. W. C. Spooner mentions * Veterinary Medical Association, 1836-7, p. 41. t Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, vol. viii. p, 81. 2p 226 THE ABDOMEN AND ITS CONTENTS. a case of violent suspicion of the poisoning of an ass and a mare in the same way.* On the other hand, Professor Sewell says, that on the farm on which he resided in his early years, the horses and cattle had every opportunity of eating yew. ‘They pastured and slept under the shelter of yew-trees, and were often observed to browse on the branches.t He thinks that these supposed cases of poisoning have taken place only when enormous quantities of the yew had been eaten, and that it was more acute indigestion than poisoning. ‘There are, however, too many cases of horses dying aften feeding on the yew, to reader it safe tc cultivate it in the neighbourhood of a farm, either in the form of tree or hedge. The Hydrocyanic, or Prussic Acid, belongs to the class of vegetable poisons, but it is scarcely possible for the horse to be accidentally injured or destroyed by it. Ten grains of the farina of the croton nut should be given as soon as the poison is sus- pected, and the patient should be drenched largely with equal parts of vinegar and thin gruel, and the croton repeated after the lapse of six hours, if it has not previously operated. The Water Dropwort (Gnanthe fistulosa), common in ditches and marshy places, is generally refused by horses ; but brood mares, with appetite somewhat vitiated by their being in foal, have been destroyed by it. The antidote would be vinegar and gtuel, and bleeding, if there is inflammation. The Water Parsley, (Ethusa Cynapium) deserves not all the bad reputation it has acquired ; although, when eaten in too great quantities, it has produced palsy in the horse, which has been strangely attributed to a harmless beetle that inhabits the stem. Of the Common Hemlock (Coniwm maculatum), and the Water Hemlock (Ginanthe crocaia), the author knows no harm, so far as the horse is concerned. He has repeatedly seen him eat the latter without any bad effect; but cows have been poi- soned by it. The Euphorbium, or Spurge, so common and infamous an ingredient in the Farrier’s Blister, has destroyed many a horse from the irritation which it has set up, and the torture it has occasioned, and should never find a place in the Veterinary Pharma- copeia. Catocaiith and Elaterium fairly rank among the substances that are poisonous to the horse; and so does the Bryony Root (Bryonia dicica), notwithstanding that it is fre- quently given to horses, in many parts of the country, as a great promoter of condi- tion. Many a young horse has been brought into a state of artificial condition and excitement by the use of the Bryony. Itis one of the abominable secrets of the horse- breaker. This state of excitation, however, soon passes away, and is succeeded by temporary or permanent diminution of vital power. We have occasionally traced much mischief to this infamous practice. Not less injurious is the Savin (Juniperus Sabina). Itis well known as a vermifuge in the human subject, and it is occasionally given to the horse for the same purpose ; but it is a favonrite with the carter and the groom as a promoter of condition. A very great proportion of farmers’ servants regard it as a drug effecting some good purpose, although they can scarcely define what that purpose is ; and there is scarcely a country stable in which it is not occasionally found, and in which the horse is not endangered, or perhaps destroyed, by its use. It is high time that the horse-master looked more carefully to this, and suffered no drug to be administered to his horses and cattle, except by his direction or that of the medical attendant. The farmer and the gentleman can scarcely conceive to what an abominable extent this vile practice prevails. The presence of savine will be best detected in the stomach of a horse that has died under suspicious circumstances, by the black-currant-leaf smell of the contents, when boiled in a little water, or beaten in a mortar. The Common Brake (Pteris aquilina), and the Stone Fern (Pteris crispa), are violent and dangerous diuretics, and, on account of their possessing this property, are pro- bably favourites with the horse-keeper and the groom. The diuretic influence is usually evident enough, but not the injurious effect which it has on the lining mem- brane of the bladder, and the predisposition to inflammation which it excites in the urinary organs. This has been too much underrated, even by those who have inquired into tne subject. If the cuticular coat of the stomach is found not merely in —— * Veterinarian, vol. x. p. 685. t Abstract of the Vet. Med. Association, vol. i. p. 62. THE INTESTINES. 227 a state of great inflammation, but will readily peel or wash off, it must necessarily be a dangerous medicament, and should be banished entirely from the stable.* Of the mineral poisons, it will be necessary to mention only two. Arsenic was once in great repute as a tonic and vermifuge. Doses sufficient to kill three or four men were daily administered, and generally with impunity. In some cases, however, the dose was too powerful, and the animal was destroyed. ‘Two of the pupils of the author were attending the patients of a veterinary surgeon, who was confined in con- sequence of a serious accident. Among them was a valuable horse, labouring under inflammation of the lungs. The disease was subdued, and the patient was convales- cent. At this period, our friend began to regain sufficient strength to travel a short distance. The first patient that he visited was this horse, whose ailments had all passed away. He could not, however, let well alone, but sent some arsenic balls. In less than a week this noble animal was taken to the knacker’s. There are far better vermifuges and tonics than this dangerous drug, which will probably soon be discarded from veterinary practice. Corrosive Sublimate is given internally, and occasionally with advantage, in farcy, and, as an external application, it is used to destroy vermin, to cure mange, and to dispose deep and fistulous ulcers to heal. It may, however, be given in too large a dose, the symptoms of which are, loss of appetite, discharge of saliva from the mouth, pawing, looking eagerly at the flanks, rolling, profuse perspiration, thready pulse, rapid weakness, violent purging and straining, convulsions, and death. The stomach will be found intensely inflamed, with patches of yet greater inflam- mation. The whole eourse of the intestines will be inflamed, with particular parts black and gangrenous. The antidote, if it is not too late to administer it, would be—for arsenic, lime-water, or chalk and water, or soap and water, given in great quantities by means of the stomach-pump ; and for corrosive sublimate, the white of eg¢s mixed with water, or thick starch, or arrow-roct. Is there really occasion for the owner of horses to be acquainted with these things? Long experience has taught the author that poisoning with these drugs is not so rare a circumstance as some imagine. In the farmer’s stable, he has ocgasionally been compelled unwillingly to decide that the death of one or more ae been attri- butable to arsenic or corrosive sublimate, and not to any peculiar disease, or to any- thing wrong in the manner of feeding. A scoundrel was executed in 1812, for administering arsenic and corrosive sublimate to several horses. He had been engaged in these enormities during four long years. ‘The discarded or offended carter has wreaked his revenge ina similar way ; but oftener, in his eagerness to get a more glossy coat on his horses than a rival servant could exhibit, he has tampered with these dangerous drugs. The owner may easily detect this. ‘Arsenic, if mixed with charcoal and heated, emits a very perceptible smell of garlic. Sulphuretted hydrogen, added to a watery solution of arsenic, throws down a yellow precipitate—lime-water a white one—and the ammoniaco-sulphate of copper a green one.” The following are the tests of corrosive sublimate :-—* It is sublimed by heat, leay- ing no residuum, and is soluble in water, alcohol, and sulphuric ether. Lime-water gives either a lemon-yellow precipitate, or a brick-dust red one. The iodide of potash occasions a scarlet precipitate. The most curious test is, however, by means of gal- vanism. A drop of the suspected solution is placed on a sovereign, and a small key being brought into contact simultaneously with both the gold and the solution, an electric current is produced which decomposes the bichloride of mercury, for such it is. The chlorine unites with the iron, and the mercury with the gold.” f THE INTESTINES. The food having been partially digested in the stomach, and converted into chyme, passes through the pyloric orifice into the intestines. * See an account of some experiments on these substances, by Mr. Cupiss in the early numbers of ‘‘ The Sportsman.”’ + Manual of Pnarmacy, by Professor Morton, Lecturer on Veterinary Medicine at the St, Pancras Veterinary College, p. 42. t Ditto page 184. 228 ' THE ABDOMEN AND ITS CONTENTS. CUT OF THE INTESTINES. a The commencement of the small intestines. ‘The ducts which convey the bile and the secretion from the pancreas are seen entering a little below. 6 6 The convolutions or winding of the small intestines. c A portion of the mesentery. d The small intestines, terminating in the cecum. e The cecum, or blind gut, with the bands running along it, puckering and dividing it into numerous cells. f The beginning of the colon. | i ' g The continuation and expansion of the colon, divided, like the cecum, into cells. h The termiriiition of the colon in the rectum. 2 The termination of the rectum at the anus. The intestines of a full-grown horse are not less than ninety feet in length. The length of the bowels in different animals depends on the nature of the food. ‘The nutritive matter is with much more difficulty extracted from vegetable than animal substances; therefore the alimentary canal is large, long, and complicated in those which, like the horse, are principally or entirely fed on corn or herbs. They are divided into the small and large intestines; the former of which occupy about sixty- six feet, and the latter twenty-four. The intestines, like the stomach, are composed of three coats. The outer one consists of the peritoneum—that membrane which has been already described as investing the contents of the abdomen. By means of this coat, the intestines are confined in their proper situations; and, this membrane being smooth and moist, all friction and concussion are prevented. Did the bowels float loosely in the abdomen, they would be subject to constant entanglement and injury amid the rapid and violent motions of the horse. The middle coat, like that of the stomach, is muscular, and composed of two layers of fibres, one running longitudinally and the other circularly; and by means of, these muscles, which are continually contracting and relaxing in a direction from the upper part of the intestines to the lower, the food is propelled along the bowels. The inner coat is the mucous or villous one. It abounds with innumerable small glands, which secrete a mucous fluid to lubricate the passage and defend it from irri- tating or acrimonious substances; and it is said to be villous from its soft velvet- like feeling. This coat is crowded with innumerable minute orifices that are the commencement of vessels by which the nutritive part of the food is taken up; and these vessels, uniting and passing over the mesentery, carry this nutritive matter to a proper receptacle for it, whence it is conveyed into the circulation, and distributed to every part. THE INTESTINES. 229 The intestines are chiefly retained in their relative positions by the mesentery, c (middle of the intestines), which is a doubling of the peritoneum, including each intestine in its folds, and also inclosing in its duplicatures the arteries, the veins. the nerves, and the vessels which convey the nutriment from the intestines to the circulation. The first of the small intestines, and commencing from the right extremity of the stomach, is the duodenum, a, a very improper name for it in the horse, for in that ani- mal it is nearly two feet in length. It is the largest and shortest of all the small intestines. It receives the food partially converted into chyme by the digestive power of the stomach,* and in which it undergoes another and very important change; a portion of it being converted into chyle. It is here mixed with the bile and the secretion from the pancreas, which enter this intestine about five inches from its commencement. ‘I'he bile seems to be the principal agent in this change, for no sooner does it mingle with the chyme than that fluid begins to be separated into two distinct ingredients—a white, thick liquid termed chyle, and containing the nutritive part of the food, and a yellow, pulpy substance, the innutritive portion, which, when the chyle is all pressed from it, is evacuated through the rectum. The next portion of the small intestines is the Jejunum, so called because it is generally found to be empty. It is smaller in bulk and paler in colour than the duodenum. It is more loosely confined in the abdomen —floating comparatively unattached in the cavity of the abdomen, and the passage of the food being com- paratively rapid through it. There is no separation or distinction between it and the next intestine—the I/eum. There is no point at which the jejunum can be said to terminate and the ileum com- mence. Together they form that portion of the intestinal tube which floats in the umbilical region: the latter, however, is said to occupy three-fifths, and the former two-fifths, of this portion of the intestines, and the five would contain about eleven gallons of fluid. ‘The ileum is evidently less vascular than the jejunum, and gradu- ally diminishes in size as it approaches the larger intestines. These two intestines are attached to the spine by a loose doubling of the peritoneum, and float freely in the’abdominal cavity, their movements and their relative positions being regulated only by the size or fulness of the stomach, and the stage of the digestive process. The small intestines derive their blood from the anterior mesenteri¢ artery, which divides into innumerable minute branches that ramify between their muscular and villous coats. heir veins, which are destitute of valves, return the blood into the vena eava. ‘The prime agent in producing all these effects is the cerebro-visceral nerve.f The large intestines are three in number: —the cecum, the colon, and the rectum. The first of them is the cecum (blind gut), e, — it has but one opening into it, and con- sequently everything that passes into it, having reached the blind or closed end, must return, in order to escape. It is not a continuation of the ileum, but the ileum pierces the head of it, as it were, at right angles, (d,) and projects some way into it, and has. a valve—the valvula coli—at its extremity, so that what has tra- versed the ileum, and entered the head of the colon, cannot return into the ileum. Along the outside of the cecum run three strong bands, each of them shorter than that intestine, and thus puckering it up, and forming it into three sets of cells, as shown in the accom- panying side cut. That portion of the food which has not been * The conversion of food into chyme is very imperfectly performed in the stomach of the horse, on account of the smallness of that viscus, and the portion of it which is occuy.ed by cuticle : therefore, he needs in the upper part of the duodenum a kind of second stomach, te mix up and dissolve the food. That apparatus is evident enough until we arrive at the pan- ereatic and biliary orifices. + Percivall’s Anatomy of the Horse, p. 256. 4 Youatt’s Lectures on the Nervous System, Veterinarian, vol. vii. p. 354 26 230 THE ABDOMEN AND ITS CONTENTS. taken up by the lacteals or absorbent vessels of the small intestines, passes through this valvular opening of the ileum, and a part of it enters the colon, while the remainder flows into the cecum. ‘Then, from this being a blind pouch, and from the cellular structure of this pouch, the food must be detained in it a very long time; and in order that, during this detention, all the nutriment may be extracted, the cecum and its cells are largely supplied with blood-vessels and absorbents. It is principally the fluid part of the food that seems to enter the cecum. A horse will drink at one time a great deal more than his stomach will contain; or even if he drinks a Ress quantity, it remains not in the stomach or smali intestines, but passes on to the cecum, and there is retained, as in a reservoir, to supply the wants of the system In his state of servitude, the horse does not often drink more than twice or thrice in @ day, and the food of the stabled horse being chiefly dry, this wa/er stomach is moss useful to him. The cecum will hold four gallons. The colon is an intestine of exceedingly large dimensions, and is capable of con- taining no less than twelve gallons of liquid or pulpy food. At its union with the cecum and the ileum, although larger than the latter intestine (f), it is of com- paratively small bulk; but it soon swells out toan enormous extent. It has likewise, in the greater part of its course, three bands like the excum, which also divide it, internally, into the same description of cells. ‘The intention of this is evident, — to retard the progress of the food, and to give a more extensive surface on which the vessels of the lacteals may open; and therefore, in the colon, all the chyle is finally separated and taken up. When this is nearly accomplished, the construction of the colon is somewhat changed: we find but two bands towards the rectum, and these not puckering the intestine so much, or forming such numerous or deep cells. The food does not require to be much longer detained, and the mechanism for detaining it is gradually disappearing. The blood-vessels and absorbents are likewise rapidly diminishing. The colon, also, once more contracts in size, and the chyle having been all absorbed, the remaining mass, being of a harder consistence, is moulded into pellets or balls in its passage through these shallower cells. —, At the termination of the colon, the reciwm (straight gut) commences. It is smaller in circumference and capacity than the colon, although it will contain at least three gallons of water. It serves as a reservoir for the dung until it is evacuated. It has none of these bands, because, all the nutriment being extracted, the passage of the excrement that remains should be hastened and not retarded. The feces descend te the rectum, which somewhat enlarges to receive them; and when they have accu- mulated to a certain extent, the animal, by the aid of the diaphragm and the muscles of the belly, presses upon them, and they are evacuated. A curious circular muscle, and always in action, called the sphincter (constrictor muscle), is placed at the anus, to prevent the constant and unpleasant dropping of the feces, and to retain them unti} the horse is disposed voluntarily to expel them. This is effected by the efforts of the animal, assisted by the muscular coat of the rectum, which is stronger than that of any of the other intestines, and aided by the compression of the internal oblique and transverse muscles. The larger intestines derive their blood from the posterior mesenteric artery. Their veins terminate in the vena porte. THE LIVER. Between the stomach and the diaphragm—its right lobe or division in contact with the diaphragm, the duodenum and the right kidney, and the middle and left divisions with the stomach—is the liver. It is an irregularly-shaped, reddish-brown substance, of considerable bulk, and performs a very singular and important office. It has been already stated (p. 163) that the blood, which has been conveyed to the different parts of the body by the arteries, is brought back to the heart by the veins ; but that which is returned from the stomach and intestines and spleen and pancreas. and mesentery, instead of flowing directly to the heart, passes first through the liver. It enters by two large vessels that spread by means of innumerable minute branches through every part of the liver. As the blood traverses this organ, a fluid is separated from it, called the bile. It is probably a kind of excrement, the continuance of which in the blood would be injurious ; but while it is thrown off, another important purpose ‘s answered—the process of digestion is promoted, by the bile changing the nutritive PANCREAS—SPLEEN- OMENTUM. 231 portion of the food from chyme into chyle, and separating it from that which, con taining little or no nutriment, is voided as excrement. f Almost every part of it is closely invested by the peritoneum, which scems to dis- charge the office of a capsule to this viscus. Its arteries are very small, considering the bulk of the liver; but their place is curiously supplied by a vein — the vena porlze —a vessel formed by the union of the splenic and mesenteric veins, and which seems if it does not quite usurp the office and discharge the duty of the artery, to be far more concerned than it in the secretion of the bile. There is a free intercouse between the vessels of the two. There are, scattered through the substance of the liver, numerous little granules called acin?, from their resemblance to the small stones of certain berries. They are united together by a fine cellular web, whose intimate structure has never yet been satisfactorily explained. From the blood which enters the liver there is a constant secretion of a yellow bitter fluid, called ble. The separation of the bile from the blood probably takes place within the acini ; the secreting vessels are the penicelli or those which compose this fine cellular web, and the fluid — the bile—is taken u . by the port biliariz?, small vessels, from which a yellowish fluid is seen exuding into whatever part of the liver we cut, and is carried by them into the main vessel, the hepatic duct. The bile, thus formed, is in most animals received into a reservoir, the gall-bladder whence it is conveyed into the duodenum (g, p. 221) at the times, and in the quan- tities, which the purposes of digestion require; but the horse has no gall-bladder and, consequently, the bile flows into the intestine as rapidly as it is separated from the blood. The reason of this is plain. A small stomach was given to the horse, in order that the food might quickly pass out of it, and the diaphragm and the lungs might not be injuriously pressed upon, when we require his utmost speed, and also that we might use him with little danger compared with that which would attach to other animals, even when his stomach is distended with food. Then the stomach, so small, and so speedily emptied, must be oftener replenished; the horse must he oftener eating, and food oftener or almost continuously passing out of his stomach. How admirably does this comport with the uninterrupted supply of bile! THE PANCREAS. In the domestic animals which are used for food, this organ is called the sweet-bread. It lies bet veen the stomach and left kidney. It much resembles in structure the sali- vary glands in the neighbourhood of the mouth, and the fluid which it secretes has been erroneously supposed to resemble the saliva in its properties. The pancreatic fluid is carried into the intestines by a duct which enters at the same aperture with that from the liver. It contains a large proportion of albumen, caseous matter, and a little free acid. Its use, whether to dilute the bile or the chyme, or to assist in the separation of the chyme from the feculent matter, has never been ascertained : it is, however, clearly employed in aiding the process of digestion. THE SPLEEN. This organ, often called the melt, is a long, bluish-brown substance, broad and thick at one end, and tapering at the other; lying along the left side of the stomach, and between it and the short ribs. It is of a spongy nature, divided into numerous little cells not unlike a honeycomb, and over which thousands of minute vessels thickly spread. The particular use of this organ has never been clearly ascertained, for in some cruel experiments it has been removed without apparent injury to diges- tion or any other function. It is, however, useful, at least occasionally, or it would not have been given to thc animal. It is perhaps a reservoir or receptacle for any fluid that may be conveyed into the stomach beyond that which is sufficient for the purposes of digestion. THE OMENTUM, Or cawl, is a doubling of the peritoneum, or rather consists of four layers of it. It has been supposed to have been placed between the intestines and the walls of the belly, in order to prevent concussion and injury during the rapid movement of the animal. That, however, cannot be its principal use in the horse, from whom the most rapid movements are required ; for in him it is unusually short, extending only a) 232 DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. to the pancreas and a small portion of the colon. Being, however, thus short, the horse is exempt from a very troublesome and, cecasionally, fatal species of rupture, when a portion of the omentum penetrates through some accidental opening in the covering of the belly. The structure of the urinary organs and the diseases to which they are exposed will be hereafter considered. CHAP TE Rix THE DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. Turse form a very important and mysterious class of ailments. They will be considered in the order in which the various contents of the abdomen have been described. THE DUODENUM. This intestine is subject to many more diseases than are included in the present imperfect veterinary nosology. The passage of the food through it has been impeded by stricture. A singular case is related by Mr. Tombs :—* An aged horse was taken suddenly ill. He lay down, rolled upon his back, and perspired profusely, with a pulse quick and hard; presently he became sick, and the contents of the stomach were voided through the mouth and nostrils. Blood-letting, purgatives, fomentations, &c., were resorted to, but in sixteen hours after the first attack the horse died. The stomach was distended with food, and there was a complete stricture of the duode- num, three inches posterior to the entrance of the hepatic duct. The portion of the intestine anterior to the stricture was distended, and in a gangrenous state.”’* Mr. Dickens records a somewhat similar case. ‘* A horse was attacked by appa- rent colic. Proper treatment was adopted, and he got seemingly well. Nine days afterwards the apparent colic returned. He threw himself down, rolled upon his back, beating his chest with his fore feet, or sitting upon his haunches like a dog. All possible remedial measures were adopted, but he died thirty-six hours after the second attack. At the distance of ten inches from the stomach was a stricture which would scarcely admit of the passage of a tobacco-pipe, and about which were marks of mechanical injury, as if from a nail or other hard substance. The anterior por- tion of the intestines was strangely distended.” It has been perforated by bots. Mr. Brewer describes a case the symptoms of which were similar to those already related. ‘* On examining the patient after death, the intestines were found to be altogether free from disease, except a portion of the duodenum which was perforated by bots, several of which had escaped into the abdomen. Around the aperture the duodenum was in a gangrenous state.”’$ The diseases of the jejunum and the ileum consist either of spasmodic affection or inflammation. SPASMODIC COLIC. The passage of the food through the intestinal canal is effected by the alternate contraction and relaxation of the muscular coat of the intestines. When that action is simply increased through the whole of the canal, the food passes more rapidly, and purging is produced ; but the muscles of every part of the frame are liable to irregular and spasmodic action, and the muscular coat of some portion of the intestines may be thus affected. The spasm may be confined to a very small part of the canal. ‘The gut has been found, after death, strangely contracted in various places, but the con traction not exceeding five or six inches in any of them. In the horse, the ileum is the usual seat of this disease. It is of much importance to distinguish hetween spas- modic colic and inflammation of the bowels, for the symptoms have considerable resemblance, although the mode of treatment should be very different. * Veterinarian, vol. viii. p. 329. t Ibid. vol. x. p. 553. t Ibid. vol. v. p. 493. SPASMODIC COLIC. 233 The attack of colic is usually very sudden. There is often not the slightest warn- ing. ‘The horse begins to shift his posture, look round at his flanks, paw violentty, atrike his belly with his feet, and crouch in a peculiar manner, advancing his hind limbs under him; he will then suddenly lie, or rather fall down, and balance himself upon his back, with his feet resting on his belly. The pain now seems to cease for a little while, and he gets up, and shakes himself, and begins to feed; the respite, however, is but short—the spasm returns more violently—every indication of pain is increased—he heaves at the flanks, breaks out into a profuse perspiration, and throws himself more recklessly about. In the space of an hour or two, either the spasms begin to relax, and the remissions are of longer duration, or the, torture is augmented at every paroxysm ; the intervals of ease are fewer and less marked, and inflammation and death supervene. The pulse is but little affected at the commencement, but it soon becomes frequent and contracted, and at length is scarcely tangible. It will presently be seen that many of the symptoms very closely resemble those of inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bowels: it may therefore be useful to point out the leading distinctions between them. COLIC. INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. Sudden in its attack. Gradual in its approach, with previous indi- cations of fever. Pulse rarely much quickened in the early Pulse very much quickened, but small, and period of the disease, and during the intervals often scarcely to be felt. of ease; but evidently fuller. Legs and ears of the natural temperature. Legs and ears cold. Relief obtained from rubbing the belly. Belly exceedingly tender and painful to the touch. Relief obtained from motion. Motion evidently increasing the pain. Intervals of rest. Constant4pain. Strength scarcely affected. ; Rapid and great weakness. Among the causes of colic are, the drinking of cold water when the horse is heated. There is not a surer origin of violent spasm than this. Hard water is very apt to pro- duce this effect. Colic will sometimes follow the exposure of a horse to the cold ait or a cold wind after strong exercise. Green meat, although, generally speaking, most beneficial to the horse, yet, given in too large a quantity, or when he is hot, will frequently produce gripes. Doses of aloes, both large and small, are not unfrequent causes of colic. In some horses there seems to be a constitutional predisposition to colic. They cannot be hardly worked, or exposed to unusual cold, without a fit of it. In many cases, when these horses have died, calculi have been found in some part of the alimentary canal. Habitual costiveness and the presence of calculi are frequent causes of spasmodic colic. The seat of colic is occasionally the duodenum, but oftener the ileum or the jejunum; sometimes, however, both the cecum and colon are affected. Fortunately, we are acquainted with several medicines that allay these spasms; and the disease often ceases almost as suddenly as it appeared. ‘Turpentine is one of the most powerful remedies, especially in union with opium, and in good warm ale. The account that has just been given of the cecum will not be forgotten here. A solution of aloes will be advantageously added to the turpentine and opium. i If relief is not obtained in half-an-hour, it will be prudent to bleed, for the continu- ance of violent spasm may produce inflammation. Some practitioners bleed at first, and it is far from bad practice; for although the majority cf cases will yield to tur- pentine, opium, and aloes, an early bleeding may occasionally prevent the recurrence of inflammation, or at least mitigate it. If it is clearly a case of colic, half of the first dose may be repeated, with aloes dissolved in warm water. The stimulus produced on the inner surface of the bowels by the purgative may counteract the irritation that caused the spasm. The belly should be well rubbed with a brush or warm cloth, but not bruised and injured by the broom-handle rubbed over it, with all their strength, by two great fellows. The horse should be walked about, or trotted moderately. The motion thus produced in the bowels, and the friction of one intestine over the other, may relax the spasm, but the hasty gallop might speedily cause inflammation to succeed to colic. Clysters of warm water, or containing a solution of aloes, should be injected. The patent syringe will here be exceedingly useful. A clyster of tobacco- smoke may be thrown up as a last resort. 20 * 2E 234 DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. When relief has been obtained, the clothing of the horse, saturated with perspira- tion, should be removed, and fresh and dry clothes substituted. He should be well littered down in a warm stable or box, and have bran mashes and lukewarm watei for the two or three uext days. Some persons give gin, or gin and pepper, or even spirit of pimento, in cases of gripes. This course of proceeding is, however, exceedingly objectionable. It may be useful, or even sufficient, in ordinary cases of colic; but if there should be any inflammation or tendency to inflammation, it cannot fail to be highly injurious. FLATULENT COLIC. This is altogether a different disease from the former. It is not spasm of the bowels, Dut inflation of them from the presence of gas emitted by undigested food. Whether collected in the stomach, or small or large intestines, all kinds of vegetable matter are liable to ferment. In consequence of this fermentation, gas is evolved to a greater or less extent— perhaps to twenty or thirty times the bulk of the food. This may take place in the stomach ; and if so, the life of the horse is in immediate danger, for, as will plainly appear from the account that has been given of the esophagus and upper orifice of the stomach, the animal has no power to expel this dangerous flatus by eructation. This extrication of gas usually takes place in the colon and cecum, and the disten- tion may be so great as to rupture either the one or the other, or sometimes to produce death, without either rupture or strangulation, and that in the course of from four to twenty-four hours. In some ill-conducted establishments, and far oftener on the north than the south of the Tweed, it is a highly dangerous disease, and is especially fatal to horses of heavy draught. An overloaded stomach is one cause of it, and particularly so when water is given either immediately before or after a plentiful meal, or food to which the horse has not been accustomed is given. The symptoms, according to Professor Stewart, are, ‘‘ the horse suddenly slacken- ing his pace—preparing to lie down, or falling down as if he were shot. In the stable he paws the ground with his fore feet, lies down, rolls, starts up all at once, and throws himself down again with great violence, looking wistfully at his flanks, and making many fruitless attempts to void his urine.” Hitherto the symptoms are not much unlike spasmodic colic, but the real character of the disease soon begins to develope itself. It is in one of the large intestines, and the belly swells all round, but mostly on the right flank. As the disease proceeds, the pain becomes more intense, the horse more violent, and at length death closes the scene. The treatment is considerably different from that of spasmodic colic. ‘The spirit of pimento would be here allowed, or the turpentine and opium drink; but if the pain, and especially the swelling, do not abate, the gas, which is the cause of it, must be be got rid of, or the animal is inevitably lost. This is usually or almost invariably a combination of hydrogen with some other s. It has a strong affinity for chlorine. Then if some compound of chlorine—the chloride of lime—dissolved in water, is administered in the form of a drink, the chlo- rine separates from the lime as soon as it comes into contact with the hydrogen, and muriatic gas is formed. This gas having a strong affinity for water, is absorbed by any fluid that may be present, and, quitting its gaseous form, either disappears, or does not retain a thousandth part of its former bulk. All this may be very rapidly accomplished, for the fluid is quickly conveyed from the mouth to every part of the intestinal canal. Where these two medicines are not at hand, and the danger is imminent, the trochar may be used, in order to open a way for the escape of the gas. The trochar should be small but longer than that which is used for the cow, and the puncture should be maae in the middle of the right flank, for there the large intestines are most easily reached. In such a disease it cannot be expected that the intestines shall always be found precisely in their natural situations, but usually the origin of the ascending por- tion of the colon, or the base of the cacum, will be pierced. The author of this work, however, deems it his duty to add, that it is only when the practitioner despairs of otherwise saving the life of the animal that this operation should be attempted. Much of the danger would be avoided by using a very small trochar, and by withdrawing INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS—ENTERITIS. 235 it as soon as the gas has escaped. The wound in the intestines will then probably close, from the innate elasticity of the parts. INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. There are two varieties of this malady. The first is inflammation of the externa, coats of the intestines, accompanied by considerable fever, and usually costiveness. The second is that of the internal or mucous coat, and almost invariably connected with purging. ENTERITIS. The muscular coat is that which is oftenest affected. Inflammation of the external coats of the stomach, whether the peritoneal or muscular, or both, is a very frequent and fatal disease. It speedily runs its course, and it is of great consequence that its early symptoms should be known. If the horse has been carefully observed, restless- ness and fever will have been seen to precede the attack. In many cases a direct shivering fit will occur: the mouth will be hot, and the nose red. ‘The animal will soon express the most dreadful pain by pawing, striking at his belly, looking wildly at his flanks, groaning, and rolling. The pulse will be quickened and small; the ears and legs cold; the belly tender, and sometimes hot; the breathing quickened ; the bowels costive; and the animal becoming rapidly and fearfully weak. The reader will probably here recur to the sketch given in page 233 of the distinc- tion between spasmodic colic and inflammation of the bowels, or enteritis. The causes of this disease are, first of all and most frequently, sudden exposure to cold. If ahorse that has been highly fed, carefully groomed, and kept in a warm stable, is heated with exercise, and has been during some hours without food, and in this state of exhaustion is suffered to drink freely of cold water, or is drenched with rain, or have his legs and belly washed with cold water, an attack of inflammation of the bowels will often follow. An overfed horse, subjected to severe and long- continued exertion, if his lungs were previously weak, will probably be attacked by inflammation of them; but if the lungs were sound, the bowels will on the following day be the seat of disease. Stones in the intestines are an occasional cause of inflam- me“icn, and colic neglected cz wrongly treated will terminate in it. 'fne horse paws and stamps as in colic, but without the intervals of ease that occur in that disease. The pulse also is far quicker than in colic. The breathing is more hurried, and the indication of suffering more evident. ‘The next stage,” in the graphic language of Mr. Percivall, ‘borders on delirium. The eye acquires a wild, haggard, 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 appre- hension, and seems fast hurrying to his end; when, all at once, in the midst of ago- nising torments, he stands quiet, as though every pain had left him, and he were going to recover. His breathing becomes tranquillised —his pulse sunk beyond all perception—his body bedewed with a cold clammy sweat—he is in a tremour from head to foot, and about the legs and ears has even a death-like feel. The mouth feels deadly chill; the lips drop pendulous; and the eye seems unconscious of objects. In fine, death, not recovery, is at hand. Mortification has seized the inflamed bowel — pain can no longer be felt in that which a few minutes ago was the seat of exquisite suffering. He again becomes convulsed, and in a few more struggles less violent than the former he expires.”’* The treatment of inflammation of the bowels, like that of the lungs, should be prompt and energetic. The first and most powerful means of cure will be bleeding. From six to eight or ten quarts of blood, in fact as much as the horse can bear, should be abstracted as soon as possible; and the bleeding repeated to the extent of four or five quarts more, if the pain is not relieved and the pulse has not become rounder and fuller. The speedy weakness that accompanies this disease should not deter from bleeding largely. ‘That weakness is the consequence of violent inflammation of these parts; and if that inflammation is subdued by the loss of blood, the weakness will disappear. The bleeding should be effected on the first appearance of the disease, fcr there is no malady that more quickly runs its course. ——— —_— * Percivall’s Hippopathology, vol. ii. p. 246. 236 DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. A strong solution of aloes should immediately follow the bleeding, but, considering the irritable state of the intestines at this period, guarded by opium. ‘This should be quickly followed by back-raking, and injections consisting of warm water, or very thin gruel, in which Epsom salts or aloes have been dissolved; and too much fluid ean scarcely be thrown up. If the common ox-bladder and pipe is used, it should be frequently replenished; but with Read’s patent pump, already referred to, sufficient may be injected to penetrate beyond the rectum, and reach to the colon and cecum, and dispose them to evacuate their contents. ‘The horse should likewise be encouraged to drink plentifully of warm water or thin gruel; and draughts, each containing a couple of drachms of dissolved aloes, with a little opium, should be given every six hours, until the bowels are freely opened. It will now be prudent to endeavour to excite considerable external inflammation as near as possible to the seat of internal disease, and therefore the whole of the belly should be blistered. In a well-marked case of this disease, no time should be lost in applying fomentations, but the blister at once resorted to. The tincture of Spanish flies, whether made with spirit of wine or turpentine, should be thoroughly rubbed in. The legs should be well bandaged in order to restore the circulation in them, and thus lessen the flow of blood to the inflamed part; and, for the same reason, the horse should be warmly clothed; but the air of the stable or box should be cool. No corn or hay should be allowed during the disease, but bran mashes, and green meat if it can be procured. ‘The latter will be the best of all food, and may be given without the slightest apprehension of danger. When the horse begins to recover, a handful of corn may be given two or three times in the day; and, if the weather is warm, he may be turned into a paddock for a few hours in the middle of the day. Clysters of gruel should be continued for three or four days after the inflammation is beginning to subside, and good hand-rubbing applied to the legs. The second variety of inflammation of the bowels affects the internal or mucous coat, and is generally the consequence of physic in too great quantity, or of an im- proper kind. ‘The purging is more violent and continues longer than was intended , the animal shows that he is suffering great pain; he frequently looks round at his flanks ; his breathing is laborious, and the pulse is quick and small—not so small, however, as in inflammation of the peritoneal coat, and, contrary to some of the most frequent and characteristic symptoms of that disease, the mouth is hot and the legs and ears are warm. Unless the purging is excessive, and the pain and distress great, the surgeon should hesitate at giving any astringent medicine at first; but he should plentifully administer gruel or thin starch, or arrow-root, by the mouth and by clyster, removing all hay and corn, and particularly green meat. He should thus endeavour to soothe the irritated surface of the bowels, while he permits all remains of the pur- gative to be carried off. If, however, twelve hours have passed, and the purging and the pain remain undiminished, he should continue the gruel, adding to it chalk, catechu, and opium, repeated every six hours. As soon as the purging begins to subside, the astringent medicine should be lessened in quantity, and gradually dis- continued. Bleeding will rarely be necessary, unless the inflammation is very great, and attended by symptoms of general fever. The horse should be warmly clothed, and placed in a comfortable stable, and his legs should be hand-rubbed and bandaged. Violent purging, and attended with much inflammation and fever, will occur from other causes. Green meat will frequently purge. A horse worked hard upon green meat will sometimes scour. The remedy is change of diet, or less labour. Young horses will often be strongly purged, without any apparent cause. Astringents should be used with much caution here. It is probably an effort of nature to get rid of some- thing that offends, A few doses of gruel will assist in effecting this purpose, and the purging will cease without astringent medicine. Many horses that are not well-ribbed home—having too great space between the last rib and the hip-bone—are subject to purging if more than usual exertion is required from them. They are recognised by the term of washy horses. They are often free and fleet, but destitute of continuance. They should have rather more than the usual aliowance of corn, with beans, when at work. A cordial ball, with catechu and opium, will often be serviceable either before or after a journey. PHYSICKING. 237 PHYSICKING. This would seem to be the proper place to speak of physicking horses—a mode of treatment necessary under various diseases, often useful for the augmentation of health, and yet which has often injured the constitution and absolutely destroyed thousands of animals. When a horse comes from grass to hard meat, or from the cool, open air to a heated stable, a dose or even two doses of physic may be useful to prevent the tendency to inflammation which is the necessary consequence of so sudden and great a change. ‘T’o a horse that is becoming too fat, or has surfeit, or grease, or mange, or that is out of condition from inactivity of the digestive organs, a dose of physic is often most serviceable ; but the reflecting man will enter his protest against the periodical physicking of all horses in the spring and the autumn, and more par- ticularly against that severe system which is thought to be necessary in order to train them for work, and also the absurd method of treating the animal when under the operation of physic. A horse should be carefully prepared for the action of physic. Two or three bran mashes given on that or the preceding day are far from sufficient when a horse is about to be physicked whether to promote his condition or in obedience to custom. Mashes should be given until the dung becomes softened. A less quantity of physic will then suffice, and it will more quickly pass through the intestines, and be more readily diffused over them. Five drachms of aloes, given when the dung has thus been softened, will act much more effectually and much more safely than seven drachms, when the lower intestines, are obstructed by hardened feces. On the day on which the physic is given, the horse should have walking exercise, ot may be gently trotted for a quarter of an hour twice in the day; but after the physic begins to work, he should not be moved from his stall, Exercise would then pro- duce gripes, irritation, and, possibly, dangerous inflammation. The common and absurd practice is to give the horse most exercise after the physic has begun to ope- rate. A little hay may be put into the rack. As much mash should be given as the horse will eat, and as much water, with the coldness of it taken off, as he will drink. If, however, he obstinately refuses to drink warm water, it is better that he should have it cold, than to continue without taking any fluid; but in such case he should not be suffered to take more than a quart at a time, with an interval of at least an hour be- tween each draught. ' When the purging has ceased, or the physic is set, a mash should be given once or twice every day until the next dose is taken, between which and the setténg of the first there should be an interval of a week. The horse should recover from the languor and debility occasioned by the first dose, before he is harassed by a second. Eight or ten tolerably copious motions will be perfectly sufficient to answer every good purpose, although the groom or the carter may not be satisfied unless double the quantity are procured. The consequence of too strong purgation will be, that weak- ness will hang about the animal for several days or weeks, and inflammation will often ensue from the over-irritation of the intestinal canal. Long-continued custom has made ators the almost invariable purgative of the horse, and very properly so; for there is no other at once so sure and so safe. The Bar- badoes aloes, although sometimes very dear, should alone be used. The dose, with a horse properly prepared, will vary from four to seven drachms. The preposterous doses of nine, ten, or even twelve drachms, are now, happily for the horse, gener- ally abandoned. Custom has assigned the form of a ball to physic, but good sense will in due time introduce the solution of aloes, as acting more speedily, effectually, and safely. i The only other purgative on which dependence can be placed is the cRoToN. The farina or meal of the nut is generally used; but from its acrimony 1t should be given in the form of ball, with linseed meal. The dose varies from a scruple to half a drachm. It acts more speedily than the aloes, and without the nausea which they froduce; but it causes more watery stools, and, consequently, more debility. Linsrep-o11 is an uncertain but safe purgative, in doses from a pound to a pound and a half. Oxive-om is more uncertain, but safe; but casTor-o1L, that mild aperient in the human being, is both uncertain and unsafe. Epsom-satts are inefficacious, except in the immense dose of a pound and a half, and then they are not always safe. 238 DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. CALCULI, OR STONES, IN THE INTESTINES. These are a cause of inflammation in the bowels of the horse, and more frequently of colic. They are generally found in the cecum or colon, varying considerably in shape according to the nucleus round which the sabulous or other earthy matter collects, or the form of the cell in which they have been lodged. They differ in size and weight, from a few grains to several pounds. From the horizontal position of the carcase of the horse, the calculus, when it begins to form, does not gravitate so much as in the human being, and therefore calculous concretions remain and accumulate until their very size prevents their expulsion, and a fatal irritation is too frequently produced by their motion and weight. They are oftenest found in heavy draught, and in millers’ horses. In some of these horses they have the appearance of grit-stone or crystallized gnezss. It is probable that they partly consist of these very minerals, combined with the bran which is continually floating about. An analysis of the Calculi favours this supposition. They are a source of continual irritation wherever they are placed, and are a fruitful cause of colic. Spasms of the most fearful kind have been clearly traced to them.* Professor Morton, of the Royal Veterinary College, in his Essay on Calculous Concretions,—a work that is far too valuable to be withdrawn from the public view, —gives an interesting account of these substances in the intestinal canal of the horse. Little advance has been or can be made to procure their expulsion, or even to deter- mine their existence; and even when they have passed into the rectum, although some have been expelled, others have been so firmly impacted as to resist all medi- cinal means of withdrawal, and a few have broken their way through the parietes of the rectum, and lodged in the abdominal cavity. Mr. Percivall, in his ‘‘ Elementary Lectures on the Veterinary Art,’ has recorded several fearful cases of this. Other concretions are described under the title of oat-hair calculi. Their surface is tuberculated and their forms irregular. They are usually without any distinct nuclei, and are principally composed of the hairy fibrous matter which enters into the com- position of the oat. The professor very properly adds, and it is a circumstance which deserves much consideration, that such oats as are husky, with a deficiency of farinaceous matter, are likely to give rise to these accumulations, whenever impaired digestion exists. It is also an undoubted fact, that a great proportion of horses affected with calculi are the property of millers, or brewers. A third species of con- cretion too frequently existing 1s the dung-ball/, or mixed calculus. It is made up of coarse, indigestible, excrementitious matter, mixed with portions of the ‘ oat-hair calculus,’ and many foreign substances, such as pieces of coal, gravel, &c., and the whole agglutinated together. They are commonly met with in horses that are vora- cious feeders, and mingled with particles of coal and stone. — INTROSUSCEPTION OF THE INTESTINES. The spasmodic action of the ileum being long continued, may be succeeded by an inverted one from the cecum towards the stomach, more powerful than in the natural direction ; and the contracted portion of the intestine will be thus forced into another ubove it that retains its natural calibre. The irritation caused by this increases the inverted action, and an obstruction is formed which no power can overcome. Ever. the natural motion of the bowels will be sufficient to produce introsusception, when the contraction of a portion of the ileum is very great. There are no symptoms to indicate the presence of this, except continued and increasing pain; or, if there were, all our means of relief would here fail. Introsusception is not confined to any particular situation. A portion of the jejunum has been found invaginated within the duodenum,— and also within the ileum, and the ileum within the cecum—and one portion of the colon within another, and within the rectum. The ileum and jejunum are occasionally invaginated in various places. More than a dozen distinct cases of introsusception have occurred in one animal, and sometimes unconnected with any appearance of inflammation; but in other cases, or in other parts of the intestinal canal of the same animal, there will be inflammation of the most intense character. In the majority of cases, perhaps it is an accidental * Veterinarian IX. 161. t Vol. II. p. 449. ENTANGLEMENT OF THE BOWELS.— WORMS. 239 consequence of pre-existing disease, and occasioned by some irregular action of the muscular tunic, or some irritation of the mucous surface. A more formidable, but not so frequent disease is ENTANGLEMENT OF THE BOWELS. This is another and singular consequence of colic. Although the ileum is enveloped in the mesentery, and its motion to a considerable degree confined, yet under the spasm of colic, and during the violence with which the animal rolls and throws him- self about, portions of the intestine become so entangled as to be twisted into nooses and knots, drawn together with a degree of tightness scarcely credible. Nothing but the extreme and continued torture of the animal can lead us to suspect that this has taken place, and, could we ascertain its existence, there would be no cure. An interesting case occurred in the practice of Mr. Spooner of Southampton. the patient, as well as add to the security of the bandages. FRACTURES. 323 In many cases the fracture, although a simple one, may he visible on the slightes! mspection ; in others, there may be merely a suspicion of its existence. Here will be exhibited the skill and the humanity of the educated surgeon, or the recklessness and brutality of the empiric. The former will carefully place his patient in the posi- tion at once the least painful to the sufferer, and the most commodious for himself. He will proceed with gentleness, patience, and management—no rough handling or motion of the parts, inflicting torture on the animal, and adding to the injury alreary received. It is interesting to observe how soon the horse comprehends all this, and submits to the necessary inspection; and how complete and satisfactory the exami- nation terminates under the superintendence of the humane and cautious practitioner, while the brute in human shape fails in comprehending the real state of the case. Heat, swelling, tenderness, fearfulness of the slightest motion, crepitus, and espe- cially change of the natural position of the limh, are the most frequent indications of fracture. The probability of reunion of the parts depends upon the depth of the wound con- nected with the fracture—the contusion of the soft parts in the immediate neighbour- hood of it—the blood-vessels, arterial or venous, that have been wounded—the pro- pinquity of some large joint to which the inflammation may be communicated — dislocation of the extremities of the fractured joint—injuries of the periosteum — the existence of sinuses, caries, or necrosis, or the fracture being compound, or broken into numerous spicule or splinters. In a horse that is full of flesh, the cure of fracture is difficult; likewise in an old or worn-out horse—or when the part is inaccessible to the hand or to instruments—or when separation has taken place between the parts that were beginning to unite—or where the surrounding tissues have been or are losing their vitality — or when the patient is already afflicted with any old or permanent disease. It may be useful briefly to review the various seats of fracture. Fracture oF THE skuLL.—The skull of the horse is so securely defended by the yielding resistance of the temporal muscle, that fracture rarely occurs except at the occipital ridge; and should a depression of bone be there effected, it will produce complete coma, and bid defiance to all surgical skill. Fracture of the skull 1s gene- rally accompanied by stupidity, convulsive motions of the head or limbs, laborious breathing, and a staggering walk. The eyes ere almost or quite closed, the head is a4 FRACTURES. : carried low, and the lower lip hangs down. Blows on the cranium, which the bra- taliry of man too often inflicts, as well as many accidents, are very scricus matters, and require considerable attention, for, although it may have been ascertained that the cranium is uninjured, there may be considerable concussion of the brain. It having been known that a horse had received a violent blow on the head, the strictest examination of the part should take place. An artillery horse broke loose from his groom, and, after galloping about, dashed into his own stall with such force as sadly to cut his face under the forelock. The farrier on duty sewed up the wound, proper dressings were applied, and in a little more than a fortnight the wound was healed and the horse dismissed, apparently well. Four days afterwards the patient moved stiffly ; the jaws could not be separated more than a couple of inches, and there was evident locked jaw. The horse was cast, and the place where the wound had been was most carefully examined. On cutting to the bottom of it, a fracture was discovered, and a piece of bone three-fourths of an inch long was found on the centre of the parietal suture. This was removed—the wound was properly dressed, and a strong aloetic drink was given with great difficulty. ‘The aloetic drink was repeated —the bowels became loosened —the tetanic symptoms diminished, and in less than three weeks the horse was perfectly cured.* This is a very interesting case. There was some carelessness in intrusting the treatment of the wound to the farrier: but the surgeon afterwards repaired the error as well as he could, and no one was better pleased than he was at the result. A violent blow being received on the forehead, the part should always be most carefully examined. Hurtrel D’Arboval relates three cases of fracture of the skull. One occurred ina mare that ran violently against a carriage. The skull was depressed, and a portion of bone was removed, but it was four months ere complete re-union of the edges was effected. Another horse received a violent kick on the forehead. The union of the depressed bones was effected after the external wound was healed, but there was always a depression, an inch in length. An aged mare met with the same accident. A depression here remained as large as a finger. FRacTURE OF THE ARCH OF THE ORBIT OF THE EYB.—A very interesting account of this, followed by perfect cure, is related at p. 136. FRAcTURE OF THE NASAL BONES.—This will sometimes occur from falling, or be produced by a kick from another horse, or the brutality of the attendant or the rider We have seen a passionate man strike a horse about the head with a heavy hunting whip. The danger of punishment of this kind is obvious; and so would be the pro priety of using the whip for another purpose. A fracture of this kind is generally accompanied by a laceration of the membrane of the nose, and considerable hamor thage, which, however, may generally be arrested by the application of cold water The fractured portion of bone is usually depressed, and, the space for breathing being diminished, difficulty of respiration occurs. The author had a case of fracture of both nasal bones. He was enabled to elevate the depressed parts, but the inflammation and swelling were so great, that the animal was threatened with suffocation. The operation of tracheotomy was resorted to, and the animal did well. If there is fracture of the nasal bones, with depression, and only a little way from the central arch and the section between the nostrils, a slightly cnrved steel rod may be cautiously introduced into the passage, and the depressed portions carefully raised If this cannot be effected, the trephine must be applied a little above or below the fracture, and the elevator, or steel rod, be introduced through the aperture. If the fracture is in any other part of the bone, it will be impossible to reach it with the elevator, for the turbinated bones are in the way. The trephine must then be resorted to in the first instance. The wound, if there is any, must be covered, and a compress kept on it. nN writer in a French journal, relates a case in which a horse was violently kicked, and there was a contused wound, with depression of bone. The trephine was applied. Fifteen splinters were extracted, and the case terminated well. It, nevertheless, too often happens that, in these injuries of the nasal membrane, the inflammation wi-. obstinately continue, in despite of all that the surgeon can do, and the natural termina * Veterinarian, vol. vii., p. 142. FRACTURES. 325 tion of every injury of the membrane of the nose, and, in fact, of every chronic ais- ease of the frame, will appear—glanders. If, however, glanders do not appear, some portion of bone may remain depressed, or the membrane may be thickened by inflammation. The nasal passage will then be obstructed, and a difficulty of breathing, resembling roaring, will ensue. ‘THE SUPERIOR MAXILLARY, OR UPPER JAW-BONE, will occasionally be fractured. Mr. Cartwright had a case in which it was fractured by a kick at the situation where it anites with the lachrymal and malar bones. He applied the trephine, and removed many small pieces of bone. The wound was then covered by adhesive plaster, and na month the parts were healed. Mr. Clayworth speaks of a mare who, being ridden almost at speed, fell and frac- tured the upper jaw, three inches above the corner incisors. The front teeth and jaw were turned like a hook, completely within the lower ones. She was cast, a balling tron put into her mouth, and the surgeon, exerting considerable force, pulled the teeth outward into their former and proper situation. She was then tied up, so that she could not rub her muzzle against anything, and was well fed with bean-meal, and linseed tea. Much inflammation ensued, but it gradually subsided, and, at the expira- tion of the sixth week, the mouth was quite healed, and scarcely a vestige of the frac- ture remained. A very extraordinary and almost incredible account of a fracture of the superior maxillary bone is given in the records of the Royal and Central Society of Agricul- ture in France. A horse was kicked by a companion. There was fracture of the upper part of the superior maxillary, and zygomatic bones, and the eye was almost forced out of the socket. Few men would have dared to undertake a fracture like this, but M. Revel shrank not from his duty. He removed several small splinters of bone—replaced the larger bones—returned the eye to its socket—confined the parts by means of sufficient sutures—slung the horse, and rendered it impossible for the animal to rub his head against anything. In six weeks, the cure was complete. ‘THE MAXILLARY BONE, OR LOWER JAW, is more subject to fracture, and particularly in its branches between the tushes and the lower teeth, and at the symphysis between the two branches of the jaw. Its position, its length, and the small quantity of muscle that covers it, especially anteriorly, are among the causes of its fracture, and the same circumstances combine to render a reunion of the divided parts more easy to be accomplished. Mr. Blaine relates that, in a fracture of the lower jaw, he succeeded by making a strong leather frame that exactly encased the whole jaw. The author af this volume has effected the same object by similar means. M. H. Boulay attended a horse, fracture of whose lower maxillary had taken place at the neck of that bone, between the tushes and the corner incisor teeth. ‘The whole of the interior part of the maxillary bone in which the incisor teeth were planted, was completely detached from the other portion of the bone, and the parts were merely held together by the membrane of the mouth. The horse was cast —the corner tooth on the left side extracted —the wound tho- roughly cleansed — the fractured bones brought into contact—some holes were drilled between the tushes and the second incisor teeth, above and below, through which some pieces of brass wire were passed, and thus the jaws were apparently fixed immovably together. The neck of the maxillary bone was surrounded by a suffi- cient compress of tow, and a ligature tied around it, with its bearing place on the tushes, and all motion thus prevented. ew: The horse was naturally an untractable animal, and in his efforts to open his jaws, the wires yielded to his repeated struggles, and were to a certain degree separated. The bandage of tow was, however, tightened, and was sufficient to retain the fractured edges in apposition. ’ The mouth now began to exhale an infectious and gangrenous odour; the animal was dispirited, and would not take any food; gangrene was evidently approaching, and Mr. Boulay determined to amputate the inferior portion of the maxillary bone, the union of which seemed to be impossible. The sphacelated portion of the maxil- lary was entirely removed; every fragment of bone that had an oblique direction was gawn away, and the rough and uneven portions which the saw coud not reach, were rasped off. : 44) cone Before night, the horse had recovered his natural spirits, and was searching or something to eat. On the following day, a few oats were given to him. and he ate 28 326 FRACTURES, them with so much appetite and ease, that no one looking at him would think that he had been deprived of his lower incisor teeth. On the following day, some hay was given to him, which he ate without difficulty, and in a fortnight was dismissed, the wounds being nearly healed.* In the majority of these cases of simple fracture, a eure might be effected, or should, at least, be attempted, by means of well-adapted bandages around the muzzle, confined by straps. It will always be prudent to call in veterinary aid, and it is absolutely necessary in case of compound fracture cf the lower jaw. FRACTURE OF THE Spine.—This accident, fortunately for the horse, is not of frequent occurrence, but it has been uniformly fatal. It sometimes happens in the act of falling, as in leaping a wide ditch; but it oftener cecurs while a horse ts struggling during a painful operation. It is generally sufficiently evident while the horse is on the ground. fither a snap is heard, indieative of the fracture, or the struggles of the hind-limbs suddenly and altogether cease. In a few eases, the animal has been able to get up and walk to his stable; im others, the existence of the fracture has not been apparent for several hours: showing that the vertebre, although fractured, may remain m-their place for a certain period of time. ‘The bone that is broken, is usually one of the pos- terior dorsal or anterior lumbar vertebre. ‘here is no satisfactory case on record of reunion of the fractured parts. In the human being, the depressed portion of the spinal arch, and of the fractured vertebre, have been removed by a dextrous operation, and sensibility and the power of voluntary motion have, in cases few and far between, been restored; but m the horse, this has rarely or never been effected. We should consider him a bold operator, but we should not very much dislike him, who made one trial, at least, how far sur- gical skill might be available here. Mr. W. C,. Spooner relates an interesting case, and many such have prohably oc- eurred. A horse had been clipped about three weeks, and was afterwards galloped sharply on rough ground, and pulled up suddenly and repeatedly, for the purpose of sweating him. After that he did not go so well as before, and would not canter readily, although he had previously been much used to that pace. Two days before he was destroyed, the groom was ridmg him at a slow pace, when he suddenly gave way behind and was carried home, and could not afterwards stand. He had, doubtless, fractured the spine slightly, when pulled up suddenly, but without dis- placing the bones. M. Dupuy was consulted respecting a mare apparently palsied. She had an uncer- tain and staggering walk, accompanied by evident pain. After various means of re- lief had in vain been tried during five-and-twenty days, she was destroyed.