+-----------------------------------------------+
    |                 Note:                         |
    |                                               |
    | _ around word indicated italics _Erebus_      |
    | = around word indicated bold =Phrenitis=      |
    +-----------------------------------------------+

[Illustration: THE ACUTE STAGE OF MEGRIMS. See page 25.]





    THE

    ILLUSTRATED

    HORSE DOCTOR

    BEING

    AN ACCURATE AND DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE VARIOUS DISEASES
    TO WHICH THE EQUINE RACE ARE SUBJECTED

    TOGETHER

    WITH THE LATEST MODE OF TREATMENT, AND
    ALL THE REQUISITE PRESCRIPTIONS.

    WRITTEN IN PLAIN ENGLISH.

    ACCOMPANIED BY

    More than Four Hundred Pictorial Representations.

    BY

    EDWARD MAYHEW, M.R.C.V.S.

    AUTHOR OF "THE HORSE'S MOUTH;" "DOGS: THEIR MANAGEMENT;"
    EDITOR OF "BLAIN'S VETERINARY ART," ETC. ETC.


    PHILADELPHIA:
    J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
    1862.




    To

    Sir Benjamin Brodie, Baronet,

    AS A

    TESTIMONY OF THE BENEVOLENCE AND SKILL

    WHICH

    RESCUED THE AUTHOR FROM IMPENDING DEATH,

    This Book is Dedicated,

    BY

    HIS MOST HUMBLE SERVANT,

    EDWARD MAYHEW.




ADVERTISEMENT.


The publishers of the present work have long been impressed with the
idea that a new book upon the Diseases of the Horse, written in simple
language, and specially designed as a guide for non-professional readers,
had grown to be a public necessity. While waiting for an opportunity
to carry this notion into effect, they were fortunate enough to become
acquainted with a gentleman whose proficiency in veterinary science is
undisputed. To that individual the present work was intrusted; and it was
nearly completed when the publishers heard with surprise that Mr. Mayhew
employed the pencil in a manner only secondary to his use of the pen.

Acting on this information, the publishers were induced to persuade the
author to illustrate his text by drawings descriptive of the various
stages and aspects of disease. The addition of above four hundred
wood engravings has, of course, materially increased the expense of
publication. A heavy outlay has been incurred, while, at the same time,
the spirit of the age is decidedly against paying a large sum for any
work of general information. These circumstances render the present
volume doubly hazardous. However, it is confidently hoped that, when the
accuracy of the illustrations and the perspicuity of the letter-press are
appreciated, a large sale will more than recompense any amount of outlay.





PREFACE.


When laying the present volume before the public, the author cannot but
feel he addresses two very opposite parties: one, and by far the larger
portion of society, views the subject of which this book pretends to
treat simply as a working machine, and regards all those who speak of
the creature as endowed with intelligence or possessed of sensibility
as fanciful sentimentalists checked by no limit to assertion. The other
class--a small, but a highly-educated and an influential section of the
public--sees the matter in a very contrary light. In their ideas, the
equine race, though endowed with voice, is not entirely without reason,
but possessed of the keenest feelings and capable of the tenderest
emotions.

The last party, however, expect so little from living writers that
probably they will be pleased with opinions which they may hail as an
advance toward the truth. The first order of readers, however, the author
cannot think to propitiate. Before the opening article is perused, one of
these gentlemen will probably fling the volume aside with a sneer, and
exclaim--

"Why, what would this fellow have? Does he desire we should build
hospitals for horses?"

To the uninformed mind such a question will suggest a preposterous image.
But, when calmly considered, a hospital is perceived to be nothing more
than a place where disease in the aggregate is cheaply treated, and the
trouble or the expense of individual remedies thereby is prevented. A
hospital for horses, sanctioned by government, and honored with the
highest patronage, does even now exist in the Royal Veterinary College
of Camden Town. Such a foundation, therefore, would prove no positive
novelty; but were such institutions more general, a necessity now
universally felt would be supplied, while the duty incumbent on mankind
to conserve the lives of beings intrusted to their care would, in such
structures, be gracefully acknowledged and openly enforced.

No man possessing a horse is willing the animal should perish. His
interest clearly is in the prolongation of its life; and he would gladly
part with some money rather than be reduced to the ownership of a carcass.
That, however, which he wishes to have accomplished he desires should be
performed cheaply. Hospitals--supposing such places existed, and were
of different grades or of different scales of charges--would afford the
best prospect of relief at the smallest remunerative cost. Still, any
application to such establishments must of necessity prove a tax, the only
known preventive against the visitation of which would be the exercise of
a little humanity.

A very slight expenditure of the last-named quality would save the equine
race from a long list of ills which now are consequent upon mortal
ignorance or upon human brutality. It is painful to reflect how many of
those affections spoken of as equine disorders might be cheaply eradicated
by the more reasonable treatment of the animal which man proverbially
esteems to be his most hazardous property.

Cruelty is a very extravagant indulgence. There are now living persons who
merely treat their horses according to the dictates of reason, and whose
stables are graced by working lives of an extreme age. When he last walked
through the Royal Mews, the author was much gratified to behold several
fine animals, in the full enjoyment of strength and of vigor, which had
more than attained their twentieth year.

It might prove nationally remunerative if all of her Britannic Majesty's
subjects would permit the creatures over which they exercise legal
ownership to live and to labor for their natural terms of existence.
However, during the glorious days of post chaises, the horses for these
vehicles generally cost £30, while, as an average, they existed upon the
road only two years.

What a sacrifice of life and of money! Each horse cost the postmaster £15
yearly; while the animals working for the queen, and drawing carriages
not conspicuous for lightness, if bought originally for a like sum, would
not cost more than £1 per annum. The contrast is certainly startling. But
to perfect it, there remain to picture the sorry jade which was formerly
harnessed to the public chaise, and the stately creature which, in all the
delight of beauty, accompanies Royalty to the Parliament House.

But there are other items to be considered before the opposite accounts
can be fairly placed one against the other. A post-house generally was a
pest-house. The miserable inhabitants of such a building did not suddenly
die off, but, like other things, horses rocked to and fro before they
fell. The closing scene of life was heralded by many fits of sickness,
each of which was of varying duration. Were we to reckon the money which
loss of services abstracted, the extra cost of those attentions which are
imperative when health is failing, and the hard cash paid for veterinary
assistance, very probably a far wider distance than at first glance is
apparent would divide the Royal Mews from the sheds which used to form a
part of every large roadside hotel.

In the writer's conviction, humanity toward animals should be more
commonly practiced--if not from any higher motive, because it is certainly
the truest economy. To make this fact plain is the intention of the
present publication. To prove that horses are gifted with something beyond
the mere sensation which is common to all moving things is the object of
the present work. To convince the public, by appealing to the eye and to
the understanding through the means of engravings and of letter-press,
that the equine race inherit higher feelings than the vast majority of
mankind are prepared to admit, is the purpose of the book now in the
hands of the reader. To demonstrate how closely nature has associated man
and horse in their liabilities and in their diseases--to induce men, by
informing their sympathies, to treat more tenderly the timid life which is
disposed to serve and is also willing to love them--is the highest reward
the author of the following pages can picture to himself.

When making the foregoing acknowledgments, the author does not affect to
disdain that recompense which is the due of every person who labors in
any arduous pursuit. This, of course, he accepts. Though it did not enter
into his thoughts when contemplating the composition of the present book,
it nevertheless may have stimulated his exertions to perfect it. But, in
addition to any weight that can be attached to such a motive, he desired
to compose a work which should render the gentleman who had consulted it
independent of his groom's dictation; which should enable any person who
had read it capable of talking to a veterinary surgeon without displaying
either total ignorance or pitiable prejudice; which, in cases of
emergency, might direct the uninitiated in the primary measures necessary
to arrest the progress of disease; and which, when professional assistance
could not be obtained, might even instruct the novice how to treat equine
disorders in such a manner as would afford a reasonable prospect of
success.

When the regular diet and simple lives of most horses are regarded, the
latter expectations certainly do not seem beyond the reach of human
ambition. Cleanly and simple remedies alone are required; and these
gentlemen of the highest rank may, without fear of taint or of ridicule,
condescend to prescribe. To secure such an end, the present book has
been written in plain language. The author has endeavored to eschew
hieroglyphics and to avoid technicalities. The meaning has shaped the
terms employed, and all the graces of style have been intentionally
discarded.

In conclusion, the author has to thank the publishers for the very
handsome shape in which they have been pleased to embody his efforts;
likewise he has to acknowledge an obligation to the skill and the ability
with which the Messrs. Dalziel have seconded his endeavors.




CONTENTS.


    CHAPTER I.

    The Brain and Nervous System--Their Accidents and their Diseases.

    Phrenitis--Abscess within the Brain                               19

    Staggers--Sleepy Staggers and Mad Staggers                        20

    Megrims                                                           24

    Hydrophobia                                                       27

    Tetanus                                                           28

    Stringhalt                                                        33

    Partial Paralysis                                                 36

    Gutta Serena                                                      38


    CHAPTER II.

    The Eyes--Their Accidents and their Diseases.

    Simple Ophthalmia                                                 42

    Specific Ophthalmia                                               46

    Cataract                                                          54

    Fungoid Tumors within the Substance of the Eye                    57

    Lacerated Eyelid                                                  60

    Impediment in the Lachrymal Duct                                  61


    CHAPTER III.

    The Mouth--Its Accidents and its Diseases.

    Excoriated Angles of the Mouth                                    64

    Parrot Mouth                                                      66

    Lampas                                                            67

    Injuries to the Jaw                                               69

    Aphtha                                                            73

    Lacerated Tongue                                                  74

    Teeth                                                             78

    Scald Mouth                                                       82


    CHAPTER IV.

    The Nostrils--Their Accidents and their Diseases.

    Cold                                                              84

    Nasal Polypus                                                     88

    Nasal Gleet                                                       91

    Highblowing and Wheezing                                          94


    CHAPTER V.

    The Throat--Its Accidents and its Diseases.

    Sore Throat                                                       96

    Cough                                                             99

    Laryngitis                                                       101

    Roaring                                                          106

    Choking                                                          110

    Rupture and Stricture of the Œsophagus                           115

    Bronchocele                                                      119


    CHAPTER VI.

    The Chest and its Contents--Their Accidents and their Diseases.

    Congestion in the Field                                          121

    Congestion in the Stable                                         123

    Bronchitis, or Inflammation of the Air-passages                  125

    Pneumonia, or Inflammation of the Lungs                          130

    Pleurisy                                                         136

    Hydrothorax                                                      139

    Disease of the Heart                                             143


    CHAPTER VII.

    The Stomach, Liver, etc.--Their Accidents and their Diseases.

    Spasm of the Diaphragm                                           145

    Acute Gastritis                                                  147

    Chronic Gastritis                                                150

    Bots                                                             152

    Chronic Hepatitis                                                158

    Crib-biting                                                      162


    CHAPTER VIII.

    The Abdomen--Its Accidents and its Diseases.

    Enteritis                                                        165

    Acute Dysentery                                                  172

    Chronic Dysentery                                                175

    Acites, or Dropsy of the Abdomen                                 178

    Influenza                                                        181

    Abdominal Injuries                                               184

    Worms                                                            190

    Spasmodic Colic; Fret; Gripes                                    194

    Windy Colic                                                      199


    CHAPTER IX.

    The Urinary Organs--Their Accidents and their Diseases.

    Nephritis, or Inflammation of the Kidneys                        204

    Cystitis, or Inflammation of the Bladder                         209

    Spasm of the Urethra                                             212

    Calculi                                                          213

    Hematuria, or Bloody Urine                                       215

    Diabetes Insipidus, or Profuse Staling                           217

    Albuminous Urine                                                 218


    CHAPTER X.

    The Skin--Its Accidents and its Diseases.

    Mange                                                            220

    Prurigo                                                          226

    Ring-worm                                                        227

    Surfeit                                                          229

    Hide-bound                                                       231

    Lice                                                             232

    Larva in the Skin                                                233

    Warts                                                            235

    Tumors                                                           237

    Swollen Legs                                                     239

    Sitfast                                                          240

    Grease                                                           242

    Mallenders and Sallenders                                        249

    Cracked Heels                                                    250


    CHAPTER XI.

    Specific Diseases--Their Varieties and their Treatment.

    Broken Wind                                                      254

    Melanosis                                                        259

    Water Farcy                                                      262

    Purpura Hemorrhagica                                             265

    Strangles                                                        267

    Glanders                                                         274

    Farcy                                                            282


    CHAPTER XII.

    Limbs--Their Accidents and their Diseases.

    Osseous Deposits--Spavin                                         286

    Splint                                                           294

    Ring-bone                                                        298

    Strain of the Flexor Tendon                                      300

    Clap of the Back Sinews                                          302

    Sprain of the Back Sinews                                        303

    Breaking Down                                                    304

    Curb                                                             306

    Occult Spavin                                                    308

    Rheumatism                                                       312

    Wind-galls                                                       315

    Bog Spavin                                                       318

    Thorough-pin                                                     319

    Capped Knee                                                      321

    Capped Hock                                                      321

    Capped Elbow                                                     324

    Luxation of the Patella                                          325

    Blood Spavin                                                     328


    CHAPTER XIII.

    The Feet--Their Accidents and their Diseases.

    Lameness                                                         330

    Pumice Foot                                                      339

    Sandcrack                                                        342

    False Quarter                                                    345

    Seedy Toe                                                        346

    Tread and Overreach                                              348

    Corns                                                            349

    Quittor                                                          354

    Canker                                                           358

    Thrush                                                           363

    Ossified Cartilages                                              366

    Acute Laminitis, or Fever in the Feet                            367

    Subacute Laminitis                                               375

    Navicular Disease                                                377


    CHAPTER XIV.

    Injuries--Their Nature and their Treatment.

    Poll Evil                                                        388

    Fistulous Withers                                                391

    Fistulous Parotid Duct                                           394

    Phlebitis, or Inflammation of the Vein                           398

    Broken Knees                                                     404

    Open Synovial Cavities                                           412

    Open Synovial Joints                                             418

    Wounds                                                           423


    CHAPTER XV.

    Operations.

    Operations                                                       434

    Tracheotomy                                                      443

    Periosteotomy                                                    449

    Neurotomy                                                        451

    Division of the Tendons                                          457

    Quittor                                                          462




THE

ILLUSTRATED HORSE DOCTOR.




CHAPTER I.

THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.


PHRENITIS.

[Illustration: A HORSE MAD, OR WITH INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN.]

=Phrenitis= implies inflammation of the brain. Madness and extreme
violence are the consequences. The animal, in this condition, disregards
all recognitions, and, apparently, loses all timidity. It suffers the
greatest agony, and no terror can appal it. It would rejoice, could it
anticipate the effects, if the mouth of a loaded cannon were pointed
toward itself, and would look for relief when the portfire descended upon
the touch-hole. Every movement seems designed to end its own existence;
but the furor has no malice in it. The creature strives only to injure
himself. It may in its efforts shatter and demolish the structures which
surround it; but it does so without intention. That is merely the result
of its being carried away beyond the things of this world by a mighty
anguish. It desires harm to no one; but it cannot remain quiescent, and
endure the torment which rages within its skull.

When this stage of the malady appears, the best thing is to anticipate the
evident wish of the animal. The teaching of schools, which instructs young
men to meddle with the strength of an infuriated horse, is mere prattle.
However, if the disease, as it seldom happens, is perceived approaching,
something may be attempted. Before the violence commences, the horse is
generally dull. It does not obey the rein or answer to the lash. It is
heavy beyond man's control. It snores as it breathes. The lids drop; the
head sinks; the body is cold; the membrane of the nose is leaden in color;
and, from being the obedient, watchful, and willing slave, its entire
nature appears to have changed. It does not attend to the goad, and the
voice of the driver may bawl in the harshest key, but the sound which used
to excite seems unheard and is unheeded.

The remedy for the earlier stage is copious blood-letting. Open both
jugulars and allow the current to flow till the countenance brightens or
the animal sinks. Bleed again and again, if necessary. Give purgatives
of double strength, and repeat them every three hours, till the bowels
are copiously relieved or the pulse changes, or the general appearance
indicates improvement. Afterward, administer sedatives, always as
infusions. A scruple of tobacco, half a drachm of aconite root, or a
drachm of digitalis should have a pint of hot water poured upon it. When
the liquid is nearly cold, it should be strained, and the dose may be
repeated every half hour, until its operation is witnessed in the more
quiet behavior of the animal.

In the generality of cases, however, no opportunity for such treatment is
presented. The disease is most common in the agricultural districts, and
is usually seen where carters indulge their passion in the butt-end of
the whip employed upon the horse's head. The cause is, however, carefully
concealed, and, after the violent stage has set in, the original wound is
generally mistaken for some self-inflicted injury. Thus, the horse, even
in the most horrid of deaths, with a generosity characteristic of its
nature, contrives to shield the being whom it served and loved, from the
consequences of his inhumanity.

Should the animal, by such means, recover, treat it gently; do not excite
it; for phrenitis is apt to return. Even recovery is not always to be
wished for. The depletion, imperative for the cure, too often engenders
the weakness which no care can eradicate; and the animal survives only to
change from the willing servant into a troublesome valetudinarian.


ABSCESS WITHIN THE BRAIN.

[Illustration: A HORSE DYING FROM ABSCESS WITHIN THE BRAIN.]

This sad affection is invariably produced by external injury. A horse
runs away and comes in contact with some hard substance. The blow is of
sufficient violence to fracture the strong cranium of the quadruped and
to smash all that remains harnessed to the animal. Here we have a reason
why man should establish more than a brutal mastery over the animal he
possesses. The horse is the most timid of creatures. It, however, quickly
learns to recognize the voice of its owner. In its vast affection, it soon
trusts with confidence to the person who is kind to it. An occasional word
thrown to a patient and willing servant, spoken softly to the animal which
is putting forth all its strength for our pleasure, would not be cast
away. When dread overpowers the horse and it begins to run at its topmost
speed, do not pull the reins: the first check should be given by the
voice. Speak cheerfully to a timid creature. If the first word produces no
effect, repeat it. Watch the ears. If these are turned backward to catch
the accents, talk encouragingly to the horse. The voice of one it loves
will restore its confidence. The pace will slacken. Talk on, but always
in a tone calculated to soothe distress. Then gently touch the reins. The
first gentle movement may not be responded to, but the second or the third
will be; and the animal, released from terror, is once more under your
control.

This is much better than tugging and flogging, which obviously are thrown
away upon a body that horror has deprived of sensation. The noise and the
resistance but feed the wildness of the fear, and, in the end, the driver
is carried to a hospital, the horse being laid prostrate among the ruins
it has made.

When led back to the stable, a wound is discovered on the animal's
forehead. It is so small it is deemed of no consequence. A little water
oozes from it--that is all--it does not send forth matter, or it might
deserve attention. However, in a short time the horse becomes dull. It
will not eat. Soon it falls down and commences dashing its head upon
the pavement. There it lies, and, day and night, continues its dreadful
occupation. One side of the face is terribly excoriated, and must be
acutely painful; but the horrid labor still goes on, each stroke shaking
the solid earth, which it indents. At last death ends the misery, and
a small abscess, containing about half a drachm of healthy pus, is
discovered in the superficial substance of the brain.

Physic or operation is of no use here. The cranium of the horse is
covered by the thick temporalis muscles. This alone would prevent the
trephine being resorted to. Blood would follow the removal of any portion
of the skull. Besides, what or who is to keep the head still during the
operation? and, were the operation possible, who would own an animal with
a hole in its skull? The only means of cure would be to afford exit to the
matter; and to do that is beyond human ingenuity.


STAGGERS--SLEEPY STAGGERS AND MAD STAGGERS.

=Staggers= means no more than a staggering or unsteady gait; an incapacity
in the limbs to support the body. It therefore, by itself, represents only
that want of control over voluntary motion which generally accompanies
injuries to the brain. =Mad= and =sleepy staggers= represent only
different symptoms or stages of cerebral affection. =Sleepy staggers=
implies the dull stage, which indicates that the brain is oppressed. =Mad
staggers= denotes the furious stage, when the brain has become acutely
inflamed.

There is but one origin known for staggers, and that is over-feeding.
Carters take the team out and forget the nose-bags. The omission is not
discovered till far on the road. No thought is entertained of turning
back. The poor drudges, consequently, have to journey far, to pull hard
and long upon empty stomachs.

When home is at length reached, the driver thinks to make amends for
neglect; the rack and manger are loaded. Such animals as are not too
tired to feed, eat ravenously. The stomach is soon crammed; but fatigue
has weakened the natural instincts, and domestication has taught the
horse to depend entirely on man. The creature continues to feed, till a
distended stomach produces an oppressed brain. An uneasy sleep interrupts
the gormandizing. The eye closes and the head droops. Suddenly the horse
awakens with a start. It looks around, becomes assured and takes another
mouthful. However, before mastication can be completed, sleep intervenes,
and the morsel falls from the mouth or continues retained between the jaws.

This state may continue for days. The horse may perish without recovering
its sensibility; or mad staggers may at any period succeed, and the animal
exhibit the extreme of violence.

=Mad staggers= equally results from carelessness in the horse-keeper. The
animal which gives itself up entirely to the custody of man, too often
experiences a fearful return in recompense for its trustfulness. Any
neglect with regard to the feeding of a horse, may entail the worst; and
a most cruel death upon the inhabitant of the stable is too often its
reward. The groom, perhaps, may slight his work, lock the stable door
and hurry to his beer-shop, leaving the lid of the corn-bin unclosed.
The horse in his stall, with his exquisite sense of smell, scents the
provender and becomes restless. His desire is to escape from the halter.
With fatal ingenuity the object is accomplished, and the next moment the
animal stands with its nose among the coveted oats. It eats and eats
as only that being can whose highest pleasures are limited to animal
enjoyments. After a time it becomes lethargic; but from that state it is
soon aroused by a burning thirst. The corn has absorbed all the moisture
of the stomach, the viscus being dry and distended. Pain must be felt,
but thirst is the predominant feeling. Water is sought for. None is to
be found; and the sufferer takes his station near the door, to await the
appearance of his attendant.

No sooner is the entrance opened, than the quadruped dashes out. With all
speed it makes for the nearest pond. There it drinks the long and the
sweet draught few in this life can taste; but to know which, is to die a
terrible death. The corn swells more with the liquid imbibed. The stomach
is now stretched to the uttermost. Continued tension causes inflammation.
The brain sympathizes, and the horse speedily becomes acutely phrenitic.

There is, however, a strange symptom, in which the two disorders appear
mingled. The sleepy fit is not entirely removed, nor are the violent
symptoms fully developed. The horse, in this condition, will press its
head against a wall. In doing this, it only displays an impulse common to
most animals in the sleepy stage; but the peculiarity is, that the eye may
be half unclosed and the limbs vigorously employed, as though a trotting
match were going forward. The breath will quicken and the creature be
coated with perspiration. This attitude and motion may subside, and
recovery may ensue; but commonly the quadruped drops, moves the limbs as
it lies upon the ground, and is only quieted by death. In a few instances
horses have left the wall to exhibit the utmost violence, and to sink at
last.

When corn has been gorged during the night, the animal must be rigidly
kept from drinking. A quart of any oil should be immediately administered.
A pint of oil is the ordinary dose; but here there exists more than an
ordinary disease. Besides, much of the fluid will sink between the grains,
and, probably, not half of it will reach the membrane of the stomach.

Oil is preferable to the solution of aloes, which is generally given,
inasmuch as it will not act upon or swell the corn so readily as any
medicine dissolved in water. Should no amendment be detected, in six hours
repeat the dose. In another six hours, give another dose with twenty
drops of croton oil in it. When another period has elapsed, should no
improvement be noted, give thirty drops of croton in another quart of oil.
Should none of these drinks have taken effect, the round must once more be
gone over. However, at the slightest mitigation of the symptoms or even
suspicion of amendment, stop all medicine at once. The altered aspect of
the horse is the earliest symptom that the distention is relieved.

[Illustration: SLEEPY STAGGERS, FROM OVER-GORGING.]

In =sleepy staggers=, the head hangs pendulous or is pressed firmly
against some prominence. The pulse throbs heavily--the breathing is
laborious, and the animal snores at each inspiration. The eye is closed;
the skin cold and the coat staring. The nasal membrane leaden. The mouth
clammy; the ears motionless; the tail without movement, and the breathing
alone testifies that it is a living animal we look upon.

The signs that announce the advent of mad staggers, from whichever cause
the disease may arise, are always alike. The lid is raised, and the eye
assumes an unnatural brightness. The nasal membrane reddens; the surface
becomes as hot as it was previously deficient in warmth; the movements are
quick and jerking. The breath is no longer laborious--it is rapid, sharp,
and drawn with a kind of panting action. The whole appearance is altered.
The characteristics of approaching frenzy can hardly be mistaken.

[Illustration: THE HORSE DURING THE MAD STAGE OF STAGGERS.]

Then comes the most painful duty of ownership over life. The proprietor
has, then, to make a speedy choice, whether his dumb servant is to take a
desperate chance and undergo a torture for which the concentrated pleasure
of many lives could not atone, or be deprived of the fatal power to injure
others and itself. Humanity would unhesitatingly pronounce for death, and,
in this case, there is need of haste. The symptoms are so rapidly matured,
that, in ten minutes, the poor horse may be sadly hurt and bleeding,
panting and rearing, in the center of a desolated stable. A mad horse is
a terrible object! Its strength is so vast that ordinary fastenings yield
before it; but the animal, even when deprived of reason, wins our respect.
Suffering will find expression in energetic action. Man, when a tooth is
about to be extracted, generally clinches something; but what were a
hundred teeth to the agony which causes every fiber in the huge framework
to quiver? The perspiration rolls off the creature's body. The eye glares
with anguish, not with malice; the body is strangely contorted, but there
is no desire to injure. Who, contemplating such a picture, could forbear
speaking the word which should grant peace to the sufferer, although the
order necessitate some violence to the feelings of him who is invested
with power to command?


MEGRIMS.

So little sympathy exists between man and horse, so little are the
ailments of the animal really studied, that the likeness between certain
diseases affecting the master and the servant have not been observed.
=Megrims=, evidently, is a form of epilepsy; yet, to speak of an epileptic
horse would, probably, induce laughter in any society. Notwithstanding
which, man is not isolated in this world: he is associated with the
creatures of the earth not only by a common habitation, but by similar
wants and like diseases. He is united by nature to every life that
breathes. His heart should feel for, and his charity embrace, every animal
which serves him. He has his duty toward, and is bound by obligations
to, every creature placed under his control. None are so subject to his
will as is the horse; none have such powerful claims to his kindness
and forbearance. The noble animal is begotten by man's permission; its
course in life depends upon his word: for his service it surrenders
everything--freedom, companions, and paternity--it relinquishes all.
Its owner's pleasure becomes its delight; its master's profit is its
recreation. It is the perfect type of an abandoned slave; body and soul,
it devotes itself to captivity. It is sad to think how bitter is its
recompense, when an obvious similarity, even in affliction, has not to
this hour been recognized.

Megrims, like epilepsy in man, will in certain subjects appear only
during some kind of exertion. In others, it will be present only during
particular states of rest. It is uncertain in its attacks. It is not
understood; and of the many theories which have been advanced, none
explain it.

All horses may show megrims; some when at work, and some only while in
the stable; others in the glare of day, and a few during the darkness of
night; but of all, draught horses are the most liable to the malady. This
may be because harness horses are subjected to the most laborious and
most continuous species of toil. A horse fettered to a vehicle obviously
must strain to propel as much or as long as the person intrusted with the
whip thinks the animal should draw. Men's consciences, where their own
convenience and another's exertions are the stake, generally possess an
elastic property. It takes a great deal to stretch them to the utmost. An
Arabian proverb says, "it is the last feather which breaks the camel's
back;" but the English driver knows the entire pull is upon the collar,
and he is moved by no considerations about the back. If the whip cannot
flog the poor flesh onward, a shout and a heavy kick under the belly may
excite the spasm, which, in its severity, shall put the load in motion.

Age does not influence the liability to megrims. The colt, which has done
no work, may exhibit the disease, and the old stager may not be subject
to its attacks. One horse may die in the field from exertion and never
display the malady; another shall be led through the streets and exemplify
megrims in all its severity. One shall be merely dull--the disorder shall
never get to the acute stage, though the fits may be repeated. This last,
to the surprise of its master, shall every now and then stop, stare about,
and proceed as though nothing were the matter. A second, when mounted,
will be seized by a sudden impulse and run into shop doors; while a third,
being between the shafts, will be possessed with an irrepressible desire
to inspect the driver's boots.

The horse often becomes suddenly stubborn. The reins are jagged and the
whip plied to no purpose. The animal will only go its own way, which is
commonly beset with danger. Perhaps, it may persist upon galloping, head
foremost, down an open sewer; probably, it will rush up the steps leading
to some mansion, and beat the door in with tremendous knocking.

[Illustration: THE EXPRESSION CHARACTERISTIC OF REPEATED ATTACKS OF
MEGRIMS.]

Then come convulsions, followed by insensibility. If such a scene occur
in a city, of course a crowd collects. Opinions are noisy and various;
but a majority incline toward bleeding from the mouth. It is only to cut
the palate, and a dozen knives, already opened, are proffered for the
purpose. However, let the person in charge attend to no street suggestion.
Let him at once seat himself upon the horse's head, and remain there till
consciousness returns; then speak kindly to the sufferer, loosen the
harness, and take care that the animal is perfectly recovered before it is
permitted to rise.

Dealers pretend that a horse subject to megrims is to be readily told. A
horse, after repeated fits, is easily singled out; but the animal which
has experienced only a single attack, no man could challenge. One attack,
however severe may be its character, will not necessarily leave its
impress upon the countenance. But the creature subject to such visitations
soon assumes a heavy, flaccid, and stupid expression. The disease distorts
no feature, but it leaves its mark behind; and any man, acquainted with
the subject, would have no difficulty in picking from a drove the horse
which has endured repeated fits of this disorder.

Another class of knowing ones pretend they can drive a megrimed horse
any distance, by simply keeping a wet cloth over the brain. This last
experiment is, however, not inviting; and the author has yet to be assured
by science that a wet rag over the brain would repose upon the primary
seat of the disease.

When a horse has the first fit of megrims, at once throw the animal up.
Do not strive to sell the diseased creature, as such a sale is illegal.
The law presumes everything sold to be fit for its uses. Thus, a person
buying rotten eggs can recover at law, because eggs are sold for human
food, and no man can eat a tainted egg. So a megrimed horse is unfit for
employment. Recovery in this disease is always doubtful. A chance is
best secured by throwing the horse up on the first attack. Do not turn
a sick animal out to grass. Keep in a loose box, covered with plenty of
straw. Feed liberally, and with the best food. Have the body regularly
dressed, and the animal led to, not ridden to, exercise. Allow a quart
of stout every morning and half a pint of oil every night. Above all
things, attend to the stabling. Let the box be large and well ventilated.
Food is eaten but occasionally during the day. Air is as essential as
more substantial nutriment to life, and is consumed night and day. Food
has to undergo a complicated change, and to travel far, before it joins
the blood. Air is no sooner inhaled than it is immediately absorbed by
the blood. After such a statement, it is left to the reader's reason to
decide upon the importance of pure air toward sustaining health. Probably,
were stables erected with a little less regard to the proprietor's
expense and the builder's convenience; probably, were they made in
some degree proportioned to the magnitude of their future inhabitants,
and were the comfort of the captive a very little considered in their
construction,--the health of a horse might not be so very telling a
proverb; while megrims, under a better treatment, if it did not disappear,
might not be so very common.


HYDROPHOBIA.

This is always the fruit of contagion, received from some stable-pet, in
the shape of a dog or cat. It is essentially a nervous disorder. From
the first, it influences the brain to a degree which no other malady
seems capable of exercising. The animal constantly licks some portion
of the body. The place appears to itch violently, and the tongue is
applied with an energy and a perseverance highly characteristic of an
over-wrought nervous distemper. The appetite always is affected; sometimes
it is ravenous. The rack is not only emptied with unusual speed, but the
bed, however soiled, is also consumed with more than apparent relish.
Generally, however, the desire for provender is destroyed. Sometimes,
the longing for fluids is morbidly increased. The horse plunges his
head to the bottom of the pail, will bite at the groom who endeavors to
interrupt the draught, or seize the wood between its teeth and crush it
with a powerful gripe. More frequently, water will cause spasm, and be
avoided with horror. The animal's likings may be morbidly changed: it will
occasionally devour its own excrement, and lick up its emissions.

[Illustration: THE COUNTENANCE OF A HORSE WITH HYDROPHOBIA.]

The nervous system is always highly developed. The horse starts at the
smallest sound, trembles violently without a cause, flies backward, hangs
upon the halter, stares wildly, and bursts into a copious sweat without
any apparent reason being detected. Its voice is also changed, and the
expression of the countenance invariably altered. The neigh is squeaking,
and the face is at the commencement characterized by immense anxiety,
which is soon changed for a peculiar aspect of cunning, mixed with a
grinning ferocity.

Rarely, however, all the foregoing symptoms are absent. The horse is
harnessed and taken to work. Suddenly it stops, appears stupid, and
threatens to fall. In a short time it recovers, and the labor is proceeded
with. The fits occur again and again. At length they end in violent
shivering. When the tremor ceases, the recognition is not perfectly
recovered. The breathing is quick and sharp; the eye bright and wild.
The animal is turned homeward, but seldom reaches the stable before the
furious stage begins.

=Hydrophobia= is commonly matured before the expiration of the sixth week.
A fortnight is the earliest period of its appearance; but writers have
asserted that the imbibed virus will remain dormant for twelve months. The
author has no experience which justifies the last opinion.

[Illustration: THE DESTRUCTIVE IMPULSE OF HYDROPHOBIA.]

Whenever a suspicion of this incurable and horrible disorder is
entertained, place the horse by itself in a building with bare walls,
but capable of being looked into through a window. Put food and water in
the house, and, if the door be not strong, have it barricaded. Let no
one enter for at least three days, as, during this disease, the horse is
both mischievous and dangerous. The pain is such that it seeks relief in
destruction. All breathing and moving creatures first attract its rage;
but, wanting these, its frenzy is expended in breaking, rending, and
scattering inanimate objects. Its ability to destroy is only limited by
the duration of the disorder.

Let as few people as possible be near the hydrophobic horse. The
quadruped's nerves are then alive to every impression. The presence will
be detected, though the person be assiduously concealed. The sound of
breathing even adds to the torture. Keep all people away but one; and
that one should be the best shot in the neighborhood. Let him approach,
aim steadily, and pull the trigger; for a bullet well placed is the only
remedy the author knows which can stay this fearful disorder.


TETANUS.

=Tetanus= is defined to be spasm of the muscles of voluntary motion. That
definition is right, as far as it goes. The disease, however, is the same
in man and horse. The human being complains of the breathing being much
oppressed, and of pain at the pit of the stomach. Such complaints show
the diaphragm to be involved, while the large doses of strong medicine
which can be swallowed with impunity prove the abdominal contents have
not escaped. Therefore, the author regards tetanus as spasm of the entire
muscular system.

A horse of any age may exhibit tetanus. Colts, newly dropped, have
displayed the disorder, and all animals are liable to its attacks; but the
very aged are least subject to this malady. Animals of a highly nervous
temperament are most inclined toward it.

It is said to be of two kinds; but, in truth, it only has two origins.
Traumatic tetanus is when it springs from a wound; idiopathic tetanus is
when it appears without there being any known lesion to account for its
presence. It may display its symptoms immediately or within a month of the
injury. From the sixth to the fourteenth day is the most likely period for
the advent of the disorder.

Cold, rain, draughts of air, and too much light, are all likely to
originate it. Their potency, perhaps, ranges in the order they are placed.
A gentleman is apt to dismount at some hospitable house and to leave the
animal, which has quickly borne him thither, shivering in the night air.
The master enjoys himself, probably, more than is good for his health.
The patient steed waits and waits, more quietly than the most faithful
of human slaves. It shivers in the night air; its limbs become cramped
with the cold. The wind gets up, as the owner, before a cheerful fire,
mixes another glass and takes another cigar. Still the horse remains
almost in the spot where it was placed. The perspiration which covered
the body dries in the darkness; evaporation quickly chills the blood
which violent exercise had heated. The pulse sinks; spasms creep over the
frame, but there is none near to note them. In solitude and discomfort the
most painful of maladies is imbibed: in due time it breaks forth, to the
astonishment of the proprietor.

Another man rides far and fast through a heavy shower. He reaches a
distant house and flings himself from the saddle, fastening the horse to
the door-post. Cordials are ready for the man, and business is discussed
over a glass. No one thinks seriously of the poor life fastened to the
door-post. "The horse is wet and can take no harm." "The gallop home will
warm it," and so forth. Therefore, the animal remains, to be drenched by
the rain and to creep as near to the house as it may for partial shelter;
the posterior part of the body, however, projects, and the drops fall,
heavy and cold as lead, upon the loins of the patient beast. The blood
loses its warmth and the limbs their elasticity. When the owner again
crosses the saddle he may be jolly; but it needs both spur and whip to
cause the dripping and frozen animal to move.

When tetanus originates in some wound, the horse is generally nervous from
the first. It fidgets in the stall; it lacks the repose which usually sits
so beautifully upon the sick horse's frame. It is excited at the approach
of any person, and, commonly, very obstinate when given physic. The wound
may, nevertheless, be healthy. Sometimes, as the outbreak draws near, the
wound may rapidly close, become morbidly dry, or, instead of pus, send
forth only a foul and scanty serum. Instances are narrated of tetanus
supervening upon mortification; but such reported cases are, in the horse,
very rare. Commonly, the wound presents no appearance by which any man,
however profound his knowledge, could guess the consequence to which it
had given rise.

[Illustration: THE TEST FOR TETANUS, WHEN NOT FULLY DEVELOPED.]

Tetanus is announced by an appearance of excitement. The tail is erect;
the ears pointed forward; the head elevated; the legs stiffened and
stretched out. This aspect of excitement is not temporary. The groom
passes through the stable and the attitude is maintained. He wonders "what
ails the horse?" It seems all alive; yet, though the groom shout out "come
over," the order is obeyed with difficulty. The food is not eaten. It is
picked and strewed about, but not devoured. When master returns home,
the groom wishes he would "_just look_" at the horse. It is very strange
indeed! Why, the tail is quivering and the body feels quite hard--not like
flesh. Hopes are expressed and the "veterinary" sent for. He proceeds at
once to the manger, observing the animal as he approaches. With one hand
he raises the horse's head. The haw is projected over the eye, and a case
of tetanus is recognized.

Most persons know what bellyache and cramp are. Well, these are but
spasms affecting different parts of the body: tetanus is spasm affecting
every part of the body at the same time. The spasm is always present; but
it admits of aggravation. Any painful operation, any sudden fright, or
the slightest sound, will produce a paroxysm, during which the horse's
body is fearfully contorted; and the animal writhes as it falls to the
ground. Left alone, however, the horse may rise after some time; for
nothing causes the quadruped so much dread as an inability to stand. It
may totter or fall about, but it refuses to lie down, even though rest
must be greatly needed and would act as the best of medicine. It stands
day after day in the same spot. It does not move, as any motion may
bring on one of those terrible paroxysms. The matter is rendered worse by
the brain, during the entire period, being sensible. Every pain is felt,
and the wretched animal has leisure to appreciate its agony. This is bad
enough; but the torture is aggravated by the appetite of the animal not
being dormant. Hunger still exists, and a sense of starvation augments the
suffering. The jaw is closely locked. The creature cannot feed; but the
presence of hunger is no supposition, for if a mash be held to the mouth,
with a look of piteous gratitude the liquid portion is often drawn through
the closed teeth. Hunger frequently impels the horse to make a desperate
effort. The jaws are forced a little way asunder; a morsel is seized
between the incisors; mastication commences, but cannot be perfected. The
agony attendant upon motion forces the famishing creature to desist; and
the poor horse is often found with a mouthful of hay firmly clenched and
hanging from the mouth.

[Illustration: SHOWING HOW FAR AN ANIMAL WITH THE DISEASE IS CAPABLE OF
MOTION.]

The animal may have been conspicuous for its beauty. The harmony of form
may, in it, have been united to agility of limb. The creature may have
been the pride of its proprietor; but a few days of this disease will work
a mighty change. The limbs are moved with difficulty; the body has lost
all its undulating grace; and the flesh has parted with its elasticity.
The master in vain seeks for the object of his admiration in the painful
sight which he then looks upon.

One peculiarity of tetanus is too marked not to be noticed. Persons have
complained of the wooden appearance of the body; but, in severe cases,
the height of the animal seems diminished and the length shortened. This
appearance is more than the result of mere imagination. Many of the bones
are divided by a fibro-cartilaginous substance: this substance force can
compress. For that reason, a man is shorter when he retires at night than
when he rises in the morning. No weight, however, can act with the energy
of excited contractibility, and of that tetanus is composed: all the
muscles are violently in action or energetically contracting. A single
muscle, when excited, shortens to that degree, which moves some portion of
the body; but, when the entire mass of muscles simultaneously contract,
they compress the frame, as in a vice. The grace of the animal is lost;
the height is diminished, and the length is lessened, under so powerful
and general an action.

All kinds of treatment have been tried for tetanus, and it is said that
each has resulted in success. The majority of these popular methods,
however, are sheer barbarities; and if they were successful, they were
so against probability. The plan at present adopted is much more humane:
the animal's shoes are removed, that no sound may follow the tread, and
a solitary shed is strewn with refuse tan. Food, in the form of an ample
malt mash and a pail of thin gruel, is placed within easy reach. The shed
must be approached but once daily--then by the man most accustomed to the
horse; and he speaks soothingly as he nears the building to change the
provender.

This species of treatment, when preceded by a large dose of purgative
medicine, is usually successful. Mix four drachms of aloes or six drachms
of aloetic mass, and four drachms of extract of gentian, with one scruple
of croton ferina. This tremendous purgative may be confidently given, as
everything during this disease depends upon the maintenance of quiet, and
upon getting the bowels open.

As all people, however, may not live where solitude can be commanded;
then, give the purgative, render the room dark, and allow as few curious
visitors as the pleading of sincerity cannot prevent intruding upon the
sick and disabled quadruped. Pulling the animal about to administer
medicine seems to do more harm than the most powerful drugs can
counteract. Permit no blisters; sanction no firing: counter-irritants,
however beneficial in other cases, are positive irritants, when applied
to a body nervously excited to the highest degree. Grant permission for
no operation to be performed, as any person of ordinary imagination may
picture the effect of bustle, followed by sharp pain, upon a creature
which cannot endure even the slightest sound.

Should, however, the case last so long as to warrant fear of the life
sinking through starvation, food may be given even in quantities.
Blood-warm linseed gruel should be procured--a gallon will be sufficient.
The horse could swallow more; but after a prolonged fast there is danger
in loading the stomach. Fix the horse catheter to the stomach-pump; then
place the free end of the catheter in the nostril of the quadruped and
push it forward, having previously slightly bent the end of the tube
downward. Should the insertion provoke coughing, withdraw the catheter
and commence afresh. Two feet of the instrument having disappeared, and
no alarming symptom being present, begin to pump; do this as fast as
possible, till the gallon of linseed gruel has been exhausted: such a
resort is, however, better adapted to tetanus of the chronic description.

[Illustration: THE MODE OF FEEDING A HORSE WITH CHRONIC TETANUS.]

When applied to the acute form of the disorder, it is too apt to induce
violent spasm. The acute disease, however, speedily terminates, and
positive starvation is all but impossible during its brief continuance.


STRINGHALT.

=Stringhalt= is the imperfect development of that form of disease which,
in man and in dogs, is called chorea, or St. Vitus's dance. In dogs it
jerks the whole body, even to the face. The lower jaw will continue moving
and the eye twitching, while the animal is prostrate and asleep. In the
horse, however, it is seen only in the hind extremities. In the dog it
will continue during progression, sometimes shaking the creature from its
balance, and it often terminates in death. In the horse it is never fatal;
and, save when about to start, is seldom to be detected. Then it causes
the hind limbs to be quickly raised in succession. The movement is rapid,
full of energy, and entirely involuntary. These motions over, the horse
proceeds, nor is the symptom usually witnessed again till the animal has
once more to start; although a few exceptional cases are on record where
stringhalt was perceptible at every step.

[Illustration: A HORSE HAVING STRINGHALT MUST MAKE SEVERAL INVOLUNTARY
MOVEMENTS WITH THE HIND LEGS BEFORE IT CAN PROGRESS.]

Guilford, the racer, exhibited the disease in its worst form. In that
animal, stringhalt was present in such severity as prevented the signal
being obeyed before the several eccentric movements had been performed.
The horse was esteemed good for its purposes; but the ground lost at
starting gave away its chances, and it was consequently sold. From the
pampered stable of the race-horse, it descended rapidly through various
grades until the creature came to be harnessed to a London omnibus. While
in that position, the disease was so aggravated that the pastern used
to hit violently against the belly, till the hair of both was partially
removed by the repeated blows. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
then purchased the miserable carcass for three pounds, and had the life
and the suffering extinguished.

The body was given to the Royal Veterinary College for dissection.
Professor Spooner relates that he found blood effused on the sheath of the
sacro-sciatic nerve. This, however, must have been an accident produced
by the death struggle: that nerve moves the flexor muscles. Stringhalt
is the disease of the extensor muscles only; therefore, the condition
of the nerve alluded to by Professor Spooner could in no way influence
the motions of the limb. Messrs. Percivall and Goodwin both appeal to
instances, where, in animals affected with stringhalt, pressure existed
upon the posterior portion of the spinal column. The last observation
accords much more with the writer's notions of cause and effect.

Nevertheless, the inexperienced reader may ask, how can the posterior
portion of the horse's spinal column become affected? Of all the vertebræ,
those of the lumbar region are endowed with the greatest motion, and
consequently are the most exposed to injury. The uses to which man puts
the animal are not so very gentle but a delicate structure, however deeply
seated, might be hurt. However, grant all these are harmless, which is
indeed to allow a great deal to pass, the stables are enough to provoke
stringhalt in half the horses now resident in London. Has the intelligent
reader visited these places? He knows the holes in which poor humanity is
obliged to stive. Well, any place not good enough for a man to live in is
esteemed luxurious lodging for a horse. Many of the places are undrained;
frequently have light or air admitted only by the doorway, and the stalls
are seldom more than four feet wide. The wretched captives cannot turn
their bodies round in the allotted space. A horse being in, when wanted
abroad, must be backed into the gangway, and thus made to "face about." It
is not creditable to human nature when we perceive its most valuable and
willing servant is begrudged the space in which its useful body rests. The
labor of the day should at least earn for the horse a sufficient bed.

The exhaustion of the toil--for man has nicely calculated the work a horse
can perform, and generally exacts the quotum to the full--has merited
the night's repose, which shall fit for the morrow's fatigue; but man is
most particular in all that concerns the quadruped. He has reckoned up
the food it may eat, the water it may drink, the space it may occupy;
the keep, the keeper, the lodging, and the very harness that fastens it
to the load,--all are precisely calculated. There is no law to interpose
between man and horse, even should the estimate be run "too fine." Against
sore shoulders there is some enactment, which is only enforced through a
constable specially retained by a private association. No clause teaches
man his duty toward his inferiors. The lower animals have no protection
against the exhausting labor and inadequate provision that maims a body or
wastes a life.

The servant, observing the master to be without feeling, apes his better.
A bad example always finds plenty of imitators. The horse may be wanted in
a hurry; the groom commands it to "come round." It is too much trouble to
back the animal as usual; the master is in haste and the servant has no
time to lose. The poor animal endeavors to obey; it squeezes and twists
its body: the head is seized, a blow is given, and the difficulty is
vanquished. But at what a cost! One bone of the spine has been injured.
Bone is slow in its developments. No immediate consequence results; but
months afterward, the injured place throws out a spicula of bone, no
larger than a needle's point, perhaps, but it presses upon the spinal
marrow, and lasting stringhalt is the effect.

Of course no drug can reach the part affected; no cunning preparation can
remove even a needle's point from the interior of the spinal canal. The
stringhalt, once exhibited, is beyond cure, and never disappears but with
the life. However, it mostly affects high-spirited, nervous horses, and
not being generally observable during progression, some of the quadrupeds
thus diseased sell for large sums.


PARTIAL PARALYSIS.

[Illustration: THE UNSTEADY WALK OF A HORSE WHEN SUFFERING UNDER PARTIAL
PARALYSIS OF THE HIND LEGS.]

=Paralysis=, in the horse, save when it appears toward the termination of
violent disorders, is never more than partial. It locates itself in the
hind limbs, and, though it does not destroy all motion, yet it destroys
all strength or utility. The power to move with speed is entirely lost,
nor is the ability to progress at a slower pace by any means assured. One
hind foot is perpetually getting in the way of the other, and constantly
threatening to throw the animal down, whose walk already is rolling or
unsteady.

This affection is the property of matured animals; so rarely as to be
exceptional is it to be seen attacking colts. Fast trotters, omnibus
horses, hunters, and creatures subjected to extreme exertion, are most
liable to it. It creeps on insidiously. At first the pace is as fast as
ever; but something is suspected wrong in the manner of going. After a
time the creature is brought to a veterinary surgeon as a lame horse. The
suspicions are then destroyed and the real malady is announced.

The decay of the more showy powers seems to bring forward the gentler
qualities of the horse's nature. The animal, which once was dangerous,
loses all its dreaded attributes: with paralysis, it becomes meek or tame,
as though the big life felt its great affliction and sought to compensate,
by amiability, for the trouble it necessarily gave, or, in other words,
that the animal was mildly pleading for existence. No doubt much of such
a sentiment, if not all, resides in the mind of the spectator, the animal
only being subdued by sickness. Still, it is very sad to contemplate the
horse, which once could outstrip the sparrow in its flight, reduced to
a pace which the tortoise might leave behind; to behold the beast, once
powerful and proud of its strength, humbled to a feebleness which the push
of any child might overthrow. It is more sorrowful, when we think its hurt
was received from him to whom its welfare was intrusted; that its injury
was the consequence of an over-anxiety to please and to obey. It may be
well doubted whether, when man was given dominion over the beasts of the
field, he was invested with an absolute authority over God's creatures,
which had no moral duties nor obligations attached to it. At all events,
it would be difficult to find an object more suggestive of pity, or better
calculated to excite our inward reflections, than a horse suffering under
partial paralysis.

Paralysis is generally past all cure; occasionally, however, it admits
of relief. It is an eccentric disorder, and it is difficult to say,
positively, what medicine will be of use. The horse, however, during
paralysis, should enjoy absolute rest. In its disabled state, a little
walk is as great an exertion as once was a breathing gallop; and it was
over-exercise which induced the disorder. The animal should receive only
strengthening physic and the most nourishing of food. The following ball
should be administered, night and morning:--

Strychnia, half a grain, gradually, or in six weeks to be worked up to a
grain and a half; iodide of iron, one grain; quassia powder and treacle, a
sufficiency: to be given night and morning.

The grooming should be persevered with, the animal being carefully
dressed twice each day, and the process ending by brushing the quarters
thoroughly with a new birch broom. The bed should be ample; the box
should be padded and a warm cloth always kept over the loins. A piece of
wet flannel, covered with a rug, placed over the lumbar region, has on
occasions induced a return of warmth. The bowels should be regulated, if
possible, with mashes and green meat; but, when costiveness exists, a
pint of oil is to be preferred to even three drachms of aloes. The one
exhausts, the other nurtures as well as relaxes the body.

The hope of amendment must, however, be indulged with caution. The disease
is of chronic growth, and therefore will be of long duration. At all
events, it is not one horse in four which recovers from an attack of
partial paralysis; and not one in twenty that is afterward fit for its
former uses.


GUTTA SERENA.

=Gutta serena= is fixed dilatation of the pupillary opening, owing to
paralysis of the optic nerve; the affection is, consequently, accompanied
by permanent blindness.

The causes of this malady are blows upon the head, quick driving,
excessive hemorrhage, stomach staggers, unwholesome stables, poor
food, exhausting labor, or anything which may decidedly undermine the
constitution.

The majority of these causes are inflicted by man, the remainder are
within his control. Any person has but to reflect how very precious
eyesight is to mankind. Having settled that point, he has only to
conjecture how much more dear it must be to a creature forbid to enjoy the
pleasures of conversation. To take away sight, is to deprive the animal
of a faculty with which it is endowed to perfection, in some measure to
compensate for the absence of reason and the deficiency of speech. A horse
can see farther than its master. The human eye is, frequently, dormant,
when the thought is active: the healthy, equine eye never rests. The
creature sleeps so lightly that very seldom is it caught napping. We may
imagine, therefore, the gratification bestowed by an organ so constantly
employed. To blind a horse, is to deprive a breathing body of half its
life's pleasure. It is more, when we consider the natural disposition of
the quadruped: it is to deprive timidity of its watchfulness, fear of its
protection. It is even yet more, when we think upon the habits of the
horse--its spirits, its pleasure, its joy--all are expressed by means of
a gallop. But what speed can the horse indulge in, when cruelty has taken
away the power to guide with rapidity? To destroy the horse's sight, is
to condemn a creature to live on, but to take from life the gayety of
existence.

[Illustration: AN EYE AFFECTED WITH GUTTA SERENA.]

The eye recently afflicted with gutta serena, or rather the eyes, (for
this deprivation commonly affects both orbs,) is, to the uninformed
inspection, perfect. The internal structures are in their proper places,
and the pupil is beautifully dilated. A very little instruction, however,
enables the spectator to distinguish between fixedness and dilatation. A
trifle more tuition will point out that the pupil is not so dark as in the
organ of the healthy animal: that it has an opaque milky cast, accompanied
very frequently with a bright light-green shining through it, as though
a piece of tinsel were within the posterior chamber. After gaining such
information, probably the notion before expressed about beauty may be
changed. Most things are most beautiful as nature formed them, and no
little expression resides in the ever-changing dimension of the pupillary
opening.

[Illustration: THE MODE IN WHICH A HORSE, WHEN QUITE BLIND, PROGRESSES.]

The symptoms of blindness are equally pathetic and characteristic. The
nostrils are constantly at work and the ears perpetually in motion--life
is endeavoring, by exercising other senses, to compensate for the one
lost. Then, the movements are peculiar. A blind man commonly shuffles
along, endeavoring "to feel" his way. The horny hoof lacks the human
faculty, but the horse endeavors to surmount objects by stepping high.
A blind man turns the sightless face heavenward; the animal, likewise,
raises its head, as it were, to expose its sightless orbs to its Creator.
There is another strange peculiarity also, exemplified by the blind
horse. The sightless quadruped, contrary to the majority of its species,
generally carries a rough coat in summer and a blooming coat in winter.

Now, a high stepper, a well-carried head, a lively ear, and a blooming
coat, are great points in a horse, especially about London, and with
gentlemen of little information. To prevent imposition, always place the
horse in a full light. Should the pupils continue large, have the horse
put into a dark house. A quarter of an hour afterward, take a candle,
and by its light regard the eye. If the pupil is still dilated, hold the
candle near to the eye. The iris will not contract quickly upon artificial
light, but in five minutes it ought to move. However, suppose you imagine
it to remain stationary; then, placing yourself by the head, have the
horse led out into sunshine. If it exhibit no change to mark the passage
from darkness to daylight you may certainly conclude the optic nerve is
paralyzed.

There are other tests, but these are not satisfactory; such as covering
the eye with the hand or a hat. The hand is semi-transparent, and so can
only induce partial darkness; the hat does not fit the inequalities of
the horse's countenance, therefore it is useless. Of the same nature is
aiming pretended blows at, or moving the hand before, the suspected eye.
The other senses, by constant exercise, become so very acute during loss
of sight, that winking is no proof of vision: the lid may move, and,
nevertheless, the horse be stone blind.

[Illustration: THE BASE OF THE BRAIN.

_a._ The point of junction between the right and left optic nerves.

_b b._ The healthy optic nerve, of a white color, originating on the left
side and proceeding to the left eye.

_c c._ The paralyzed or unhealthy optic nerve, diminished in size and
darker in color. It ran to the right eye; but its diseased condition can
be clearly traced to originate from the left side of the brain.]

Nothing can be done for paralysis of the optic nerve. The injury once
established, its effects are lasting. Butchers and other people, who
foolishly pride themselves upon their fast trotting steeds, and whose
natures are not unpleasantly susceptible, often induce the affection. It
lessens the value of the horse, dooms it to a lower class of proprietors,
and takes from the creature's life much of the pleasure which otherwise
might lighten the animal's existence.

After death, an anatomical peculiarity is observed. The optic nerves,
subsequent to leaving the brain, unite and exchange fibers. Neither nerve
pursues an absolute course; yet, consequent on decease, if the right eye
were blind from gutta serena, the left nerve, or the nerve originating
from the left side of the brain, alone is affected: the disease seems
confined to that part. The opposite nerve is perfectly white and healthy;
but the one affected with paralysis is of a yellowish color, softer
nature, and sensibly diminished in bulk. So, if blindness afflict both
eyes, both optic nerves are then of diminished size and of a yellowish
hue.




CHAPTER II.

THE EYES--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.


SIMPLE OPHTHALMIA.

[Illustration: SOME OF THE RESULTS OF IMPERFECT VISION.]

The following engraving illustrates some of the accidents which attend
upon injured sight in the horse. The eyes are probably more important
to the safety and pleasure of the master than any other portion of the
quadruped's frame. Let the smallest impediment exist, and there is no
telling in what way it may operate. Certain horses are most affected
by near objects; others exhibit alarm only when bodies are approaching
them; another class of creatures will look upon most forward sights with
indifference, but will invariably be horror-struck whenever the view is
extensive; while a fourth group will shy violently without mortal vision
being able to recognize any cause for terror. In every case, the dread
excited overmasters all other feelings. The presence of extreme fear
releases the horse from the dominion of its proprietor; its movements are
sudden, jerking, and eccentric; the animal has lost all self-control, and
there is no saying in what direction it may move or what it may attempt to
do. It is regardless of its own life, therefore it is careless about the
welfare of others, and he is very fortunate who possesses such a servant
and escapes without accident.

There is no cure for a disposition depending upon a change of structure;
but there may be a preventive. Would all horse-owners preserve their
tempers and forbear from slashing a horse over the head, they would be
vast gainers in a pecuniary sense, and would certainly escape very many of
those ills now commonly attendant upon equestrian exercises.

Whoever has a shying horse had better discard the creature from all
private uses. Send the animal to some work in which the habit will be
accompanied with less danger, or never allow the quadruped to quit
the stable without having the sight securely blinded. Such things are
necessary; but the feeling man, when he considers how much the exercise
of the senses sweeten mere animal existence, will sigh over the order
which compels him to deprive a horse of that which the common sense of the
English has denominated "precious sight."

=Simple ophthalmia= is inflammation of the fine membrane which covers
the horse's eye; it reaches no deeper, it does not affect the internal
structures of the organ, and it is not so much to be dreaded in its
immediate as in its after consequences. It is caused by accident and by
the violence of man.

As the reader has walked the streets, he surely must have seen men indulge
their temper by cutting a horse over the head with the whip. The animal
capers about and shakes the ears, endeavoring to avoid the chastisement;
the man becomes more enraged; the reins are pulled tight, while the master
stands up in the gig, and for minutes continues chastising a creature that
is bound to the shafts and comparatively at his mercy. Were the horse,
thus tortured, to run away, the person who abused his authority would
have provoked a severe retribution; but the animal has no such intention.
The fault may be far more imaginary than real. The timidity of the horse
prevents it from willfully inviting the dreaded lash; possibly the offense
resides more with the individual invested with trust over life than with
the creature that patiently submits to most unworthy control. At all
events, the thong curls about the face; now it cuts the lips, in which
the sense of touch resides; the pain is maddening, the horse capers and
shakes its head, striving to avoid a repetition of the torture. The next
slash, however, turns sharply round the blinkers and lights upon the eye;
the horse is held tight, the man feels happy, he has discovered a tender
place; the whip is plied again and again, always falling true. It hits
the mark. When the animal reaches home, the lid of one eye is closed, and
many tears have wetted the cheek, while scars remain after the immediate
consequences have passed; the vision is interfered with, and timidity
becomes an inveterate shyer.

Also, from the manner in which the rack is placed, a hay-seed frequently
falls into the eye. The hay is always kept in the loft above the stables,
and a narrow trap-door opens into the rack. This is very convenient for
the groom; how could any architect be so very "maudlin" as to design a
stable with the slightest consideration for a horse? At every mouthful
the head has to be raised and the provender pulled out; probably, human
ingenuity could not invent a machine more likely to be attended with
injury. The head uplifted, the eye open to direct the bite, the dry
grass shaken to pull out the morsel, of course the loose particles are
dislodged, and what wonder if one of the hay-seeds should fall into the
open eye? This body is small, dry, harsh, and sharp; moved about by the
motion of the lid it commits fearful ravages upon the tender organ to
which it has found admittance, and simple ophthalmia is the consequence.

Man is too proud to learn from nature, or he might observe horses always
depress their heads when in the field. The common parent, with care for
all her children's comfort, makes the animal stoop to crop the herbage;
man causes the creature to upraise and outstretch the neck to reach its
sustenance. However, the horse is not always free from accidents when it
quits the stall. Carters often amuse the weary way by striking what they
term a "stubborn and foolish horse" over the head with the butt end of
the whip. This action, though most irritating to witness, is generally
less important in its results than any of the injuries previously remarked
upon. The lid shields the eye; consequently, a largely swollen covering
and a slightly injured membrane are the consequences.

Many brutal drivers have "a happy nack" of kicking at the head of a fallen
animal to make it rise. This act may extinguish vision or provoke simple
ophthalmia; but, it is hoped, all such are exceptional cases, therefore
these are willingly not remarked upon.

Frequently horses try to while away the long hours of confinement by
playing with one another; one horse will lean its head over the division
to the stalls and for hours together lick its fellow prisoner's neck.
Sometimes a day's rest begets high spirits, and the animals indulge in
a more boisterous amusement; they bite and snap at one another's heads.
Domestication has, however, disabled the creature to nicely measure
distances; standing all day long with the nose close to a glaring white
wall has probably impaired the vision. One horse projects its teeth too
far; they simply graze the eye; but a small flap of membrane is the
consequence. The bite of an enraged horse is fearful; and were not the
animal gently inclined, more than a minute portion of fine skin would
testify its intention. Simple ophthalmia, accompanied with a small abscess
upon the cornea, is the result.

The treatment of simple ophthalmia is somewhat homely. Put on a bridle, or
a leather head-stall; or a halter will answer the purpose; fasten a cord
loosely to either side, so that it may cross the forehead; on this line
suspend a cloth several times doubled; but, mind it is large enough to
cover both eyes, for the visual organs are so sympathetic, that when one
is inflamed the other is very likely to exhibit disease. Keep the cloth
continually dripping with the following lotion.

[Illustration: A READY MODE OF BLINDING A HORSE, AND OF APPLYING A LOTION
TO THE EYES IN SIMPLE OPHTHALMIA.]

Fill a two-quart saucepan with poppy heads, cover these with water; boil,
till the poppy heads are quite soft; pour off the liquor, strain, filter,
and, adding thereto one ounce of tincture of arnica, the preparation, when
cold, is fit for use.

On the first morning, an inspection should be gently attempted; for the
eye is generally so very tender, and the animal so resistful, that no
examination at that time is generally satisfactory. On the following day,
however, the lotion will have reduced the swelling, mitigated the agony,
and have enabled the horse to be more obedient; then make another and a
thorough examination. The skin upon the eye will be white and opaque,
the lining of the lid inflamed, while numerous tears will pour down the
cheek according to the severity of the injury. Remove any substance found
underneath the eyelid. If the hay-seed or sharp particle shaken from
the provender stick firmly into the outer covering of the eye, grasp it
tightly with a pair of forceps, and endeavor to pull it out. Should it
be fixed too deeply for any ordinary force to move it, do not exert all
your power, but take a sharp-pointed knife, which is better than a lancet,
because more under command, and placing its tip below the obstacle, with
a motion, of the wrist oblige it to quit its situation or to come forth
between the ends of the forceps.

[Illustration: AN EYE RECENTLY AFFECTED WITH SIMPLE OPHTHALMIA.]

Should a flap of the cornea be left by a bite, probably pus will be
secreted beneath it; the place must be watched till the local inflammation
has subsided, and a spot of yellow, opaque matter can be detected under
the transparent membrane. With a slight incision the pus must be released
and the eye bathed with a lotion composed of water and chloride of zinc,
one grain to the ounce.

Other cases will rather be known by the variety of marks left behind than
by any difference in their necessary treatment. A lotion is generally
everything required; however, should the inflammation become excessive,
it may be necessary to open the eye-vein or the vessel which, journeying
toward its larger trunk, runs directly beneath and from the eye. When this
prominent and visible vein is pierced, it frequently, although distended,
will not bleed. Then place some favorite food upon the ground,--the
bending of the head and the movement of the jaw will cause the current to
flow forth freely.

It is among the most beautiful attributes of the horse, that though so
very timid, it never suspects nor can it understand actual injury. Thus,
the flowing of its own blood does not affect it; it is otherwise with
other animals not more intelligent. If a dog or cat be hurt, no delicacy
can tempt the creature to feed. The horse, when in battle deprived of its
limb, is so accustomed to restraint and so unsuspicious of harm, that
it has been found, after the strife was ended, maimed, and yet cropping
the herbage about it. The generous beast, when domesticated, retains its
gentle disposition, and soon forgets to recognize danger; it becomes
attached to its superior, and though its treatment be coarse and its usage
brutal, it can pardon all.

[Illustration: HORSE'S EYE INJURED BY THE LASH.]

The consequences of simple ophthalmia are little, white, opaque spots upon
the membrane. Streaks of the same sort are occasionally left upon the
organ by the abuse of the whip; the amount of blemish, of course, will be
decided by the original injury. Never purchase an animal thus disfigured;
better buy a blind horse. The opaque places prevent many rays of light
from reaching the optic nerve; the sight is irreparably impaired the horse
sees imperfectly; it may behold the head of a man, while the opaque scar
conceals the body. Timidity takes alarm at the apparently spectral object.
It has no reason to explain, and it wants intelligence to understand. The
poor abused quadruped becomes a dangerous shyer.


SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA.

Before we touch upon the subject which forms the heading to this article,
we wish to establish one proposition, because it will smooth the way to an
understanding between author and reader.

Man cannot make a property of life; he has no power over its continuance;
it may cease to-morrow without his permission and against his wishes;
it is removed from and independent of his control. Man can have nothing
like a property in that which is altogether above his sway. He then,
obviously, has no right to enslave any living creature, and take no care
of the existence which he has deprived of liberty to provide for itself.
When he captures a wild animal and retains it in captivity, he entails
upon himself the duty of providing for its wants, and becomes answerable
for its welfare. He violently usurps nature's province--obviously, he
adopts nature's obligations; if he rebel against such a moral contract
and persist in viewing dominion as absolute authority, as something which
invests him with power to feed or starve at his pleasure, house or turn
into the air according to his will, nature opposes such arrogance, and,
releasing the life by death, takes the oppressed creature from the tyranny
of the oppressor.

Under some such compact the horse is given to man. The implied, not
written obligation, may not be acknowledged or understood; but,
nevertheless, it exists, and the terms of the bond are rigidly exacted.
Let us regard this matter in relation to specific ophthalmia. A gentleman
possesses five horses; he builds a stable twenty feet long, twelve feet
wide, and nine feet high; into this place he crams the five huge lives.
We will suppose the place to be good of its kind, to be paved with Dutch
clinkers and to be perfectly drained; still each horse stands in a stall
four feet wide; in this it has to remain all night and the major portion
of the day. In this space it has to relieve its body; the liquid, to be
sure, may run off by the drain, but it has to fall upon straw, which
imbibes some, and to flow over bricks, which absorb more; the solid
excrement is during the day removed by the groom as it falls, but it
remains in an open basket to taint the air of the place. We will suppose
the horses and their attendants, occasionally, are the sole inhabitants,
and the building contains none of those things, living and otherwise,
which ladies are pleased to order should "be carried into the stable."

[Illustration: THE SPECIES OF EYE WHICH IS GENERALLY SUPPOSED TO BE MOST
LIABLE TO OPHTHALMIA.]

Will the sane reader assert that the space is large enough for its
purposes? The stable never can be sufficiently ventilated: it will
smell of impurity--of hay, straw, oats, ammonia, and of various other
things. The air feels hot. Can it be wondered at? Ten large lungs have
been breathing it for weeks and years, during twenty out of every
twenty-four hours. Five huge creatures have been cabined there, living
by day, sleeping by night, feeding and performing all the other offices
of nature. Is it astonishing that the air feels and smells close? Ought
we not rather to wonder that animal life can exist in such an atmosphere?
The chief contamination is ammonia; ammonia will not support vitality.
The reader has inhaled smelling salts; those are purified carbonate of
ammonia; have these not made the eyes water? The ammonia of the stable
affects the eye of the horse; it also undermines the constitution; but,
by constantly entering upon the lungs and stimulating the eyes, it causes
the constitutional disease to first affect the visual organs; in short,
specific ophthalmia is generated.

Now, to prove the case here stated. In the south of Ireland, where poverty
prevails, humanity is obliged to shelter itself in strange places, and
any hole is there esteemed good lodging for a horse. In that part of the
kingdom ophthalmia affects the majority of animals; it not only preys
on horses, but it seizes upon mankind; for the author, a few years ago,
was much struck by the quantity of blind beggars to be encountered in
the streets of Cork. Here we have the conclusion of the argument; its
moral exemplified and enforced. If animals are foully housed and poorly
kept, they generate disorders, which at length extend to the human race;
therefore he who contends for a better treatment of the horse, also
indirectly pleads for the immunity of mankind from certain diseases. Man
cannot hold life as a property, or abuse life without his ill deeds by the
ordinances of nature recoiling on himself.

=Specific ophthalmia= is a constitutional disease affecting the eyes; it
has been submitted to all kinds of rude treatment; no cruelty but has been
experimented with; no barbarity but has been resorted to. It has been
traced to various sources; its origin has been frequently detected; but
the real cause of the disease, to this day, has not been recognized. The
veterinary surgeon is often sent for to just look at a horse which "has
got a hay-seed in its eye." This mistake is very common, as ophthalmia
generally breaks forth during the long night hours, while the stable is
made secure and the confined air is foulest. The groom sees an animal with
a pendant, swollen lid, and with a cheek bedewed by copious tears; he can
imagine only an accident; but the medical examiner must obey the summons
with an unprejudiced mind, because simple ophthalmia is a mere misfortune,
specific ophthalmia is a constitutional disorder.

[Illustration: THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA.]

The veterinary surgeon, firstly, in the groom's convictions, makes a
grievous mistake. He goes up to the horse on the opposite side to the
affection; being there, he takes the pulse, remarks the breathing,
observes the coat, feels the feet, examines the mouth, and looks at the
nasal membrane. If simple ophthalmia be present, some of these may be
altered from long-endured pain; but if specific ophthalmia exist, the
general disturbance denotes a constitutional disorder. The pulse is hard,
the breathing sharp, the coat staring, the feet cold, the mouth clammy,
and the nasal membrane inflamed or leaden-colored.

[Illustration: RAISING THE UPPER LID OF AN EYE AFFECTED WITH SPECIFIC
OPHTHALMIA.]

The horse is next ordered round to the stable window, with the diseased
eye toward the light. A pretense is then made of forcing the lid open;
if simple ophthalmia be present, the resistance is energetic, but not
violent. Should specific ophthalmia be the affection, the horse struggles
against the intimation with the wildness of timidity, striving to escape
a terrible torture. The animal is, there-upon, brought into some shady
corner; its fears are allayed, and it permits the lid to be raised with
little difficulty. Should the eye have been injured by an accident,
the most prominent part of the ball is likely to be hurt. The internal
structures are unaffected; the pupil generally is larger than usual, and
the iris is unchanged. The haw may be or may not be projected; but the
color, form, and aspect of the iris is unaltered. During the commencement
of specific ophthalmia, the center of the cornea may be transparent, but
the circumference of the ball is violently inflamed; the reason being
that a constitutional disorder always first attacks the more vascular
structures, and, therefore, commences in the loose conjunctiva, covering
the white of the globe. In specific ophthalmia, the color of the eye has
changed to a lighter hue, and the pupillary opening is firmly closed, to
prevent the entrance of the dreaded light.

[Illustration:

    DIAGRAM OF THE EYE IN SIMPLE OPHTHALMIA. THE DARK LINE INDICATES THE
    EXTENT TO WHICH HAW MAY PROTRUDE.]

[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE HORSE'S EYE WHEN SUFFERING FROM SPECIFIC
OPHTHALMIA.]

Weakness increases as specific ophthalmia progresses. The attack, however,
is seldom stationary; the eye first involved may suddenly become clear and
healthy, and the opposite organ may exhibit the ravage of the disease;
thus, the affection keeps rapidly moving about; when it suddenly quits
both eyes, the inflammation commonly fixes upon some distant part of
the body, as the lungs or feet. No one can predicate how short will
be its stay or how long the attack may last; it has disappeared in a
week, it has continued two months. It seldom reaches its climax during
the first assault. It will occur again and again; generally it ends in
the destruction of one or both eyes; but never, so far as the author's
knowledge extends, causes gutta serena. Like scrofulous affections in the
human being, which it greatly resembles, it generally is the inheritance
of youth; after maturity or after the eighth year has been attained, it is
rarely witnessed.

When this terrible affliction visits a stable, let the proprietor firmly
oppose all active measures. A shed ought to be procured, cool or shady,
and screened on every side, excepting on the north. Every hole, however
minute, should be stopped, because light shines through a small opening
with a force proportioned to its diminutiveness. The stars and candles in
the once popular London Diorama were only small holes cut in the canvas.

The eye-vein is then to be opened, and the lid, if much enlarged,
punctured in several places; when the bleeding has ceased, a cloth,
saturated in cold water, is to be put over both eyes. As to other
remedies, they must be regulated by the condition of the animal. Should it
be poor, oats and beans, ground and scalded; cut green meat; gruel made
of hay-tea, etc., should be given. No dry fodder must be allowed; all the
provender must be so soft that mastication may be dispensed with. The
movement of the jaw, sending blood to the head, is highly injurious during
an attack of specific ophthalmia.

Let the following ball be given twice, daily:--

    Powdered colchicum    Two drachms.
    Iodide of iron        One drachm.
    Calomel               One scruple.

Make into a ball with extract of gentian.

Observe the teeth while this physic is being taken. The author has taken
twenty-five grains of calomel daily, for a month, with impunity; lately,
he was slightly salivated by two grains, when not expecting any effect.
Mercury, therefore, operates in accordance with the system; it is strong
or weak as the body is sickly or robust.

Should the animal be fat, do not therefore conclude that it is strong;
obesity is always accompanied with debility. But if the horse be a hunter
or a racer, in training condition, still give the medicine prescribed,
with soft food, not quite so stimulating, and the ball twice daily.
However, as soon as the medicine begins to take effect, which it will do
soonest upon the weakly, change it for:--

    Liquor arsenicalis           Three ounces.
    Muriated tincture of iron    Five ounces.

Mix, and give half an ounce in a tumbler of water twice daily.

Do not bother about the bowels; endeavor to regulate them by mashes and
with green meat; if they should not respond, do not resort to more active
measures. Should the pulse be increased, a scruple of tincture of aconite
root may be administered every hour, in a wineglass of water; should the
pain appear to be excessive, the like amount of extract of belladonna may
be rubbed down in a similar quantity of water, and be given at the periods
already stated; only always be content with doing one thing at a time.
Thus reduce the pulse, for, with the lowering of the vascular action, the
agony may become less intense; however, so long as the beats of the artery
are not more in a minute than sixty-five, and not very thin or hard, the
aconite should be withheld, for during an acutely painful disorder the
heart must be in some degree excited.

The grand measure, however, remains to be told. Remove every horse from
the stable in which the attack occurred; then elevate the roof, widen
the gangway, and enlarge the stalls; improve the ventilation, overlook
the drains, lay down new pavement--in fact, reconstruct the edifice.
It is felt that, in giving these directions, a proposal is offered to
demolish a building. The author is fully alive to the expense of such a
transaction; but one valuable horse will pay for a great deal of bricks
and mortar. Experience has decided that the most humane way is, in the
long run, the cheapest method of proceeding. Ophthalmia is a teasing and
a vexatious disorder. If the owner has no feeling with the inhabitants of
his homestead, still let him study his own comfort, for it is astonishing
how very much good stabling adds to the appearance and to the happiness of
a mansion.

Specific ophthalmia does not terminate in death; it usually leaves the
victim blind in one or both eyes. In England, however, it is mostly
satisfied with the destruction of one organ; the strength of the other
becoming, after its departure, considerably improved. At the same time,
having caused the lids to swell, it leaves them in a wrinkled or a
puckered state; the remaining eye is likewise somewhat sensitive to light.
To gain in some measure the shadow of the brow, and to escape the full
glare of day, the eye is retracted; all the muscles are employed to gain
this end, but the power of the levator of the upper lid causes the eye to
assume somewhat of a three-cornered aspect.

It is always desirable to recognize the animal which may be or may have
been liable to so fearful an affection. One symptom of having experienced
an attack is discovered on the margin of the transparent cornea. The
inflammation extends from the circumference to the center. The margin
of the transparent ball is generally the last place it quits; here it
frequently leaves an irregular line of opacity altogether different to and
distinct from the evenly-clouded indication of the cornea's junction with
the sclerotic, which last is natural development.

[Illustration: AN EYE DISPLAYING THE RAVAGES OF SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA.]

Nevertheless, the internal structure best display the ravages of specific
ophthalmia; it is upon these the terrible scourge exhausts its strength.
The eye becomes cloudy; loses its liquid appearance; the black bodies
attached to the edges of the pupillary opening either fall or seem about
to leave their natural situation. The pupil becomes turbid, then white;
the iris grows light in color, and at last remains stationary, having
previously been morbidly active. The whiteness of the pupil grows more
and more confirmed, and every part grows opaque; by this circumstance,
the total cataract, arising from specific ophthalmia, is frequently to
be challenged. The lens, moreover, is often driven, by the force of the
disease, from its position; it lodges against the inner surface of the
globe. Very common is a torn or ragged state of the pupil witnessed, as
was stated, during the intensity of the attack, for the iris contracts
to exclude the light; remaining thus for any period, it becomes attached
to the capsule of the lens; when the disease mitigates, it often rends
its own structure by its efforts to expand. Should those efforts prove
unavailing, the pupillary opening, as sometimes happens, is lost forever.

[Illustration: TERMINATION TO SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA.]

In the previous description of disorder, no mention has been made of the
cartilago nictitans, or haw, or third eyelid, as it has been called. This
thin body is very active, and resides at the inner corner of the eye;
of course, in a disease under which the eye is pained by light, the haw
is protruded to the utmost. In ophthalmia, however, it is covered by an
inflamed membrane, and though in health its movements are so rapid that
it may easily escape notice, yet in this disease it lies before the eye,
red and swollen; this substance it was once common for farriers to excise,
under a foolish notion of removing the cause of the disorder.

The use of the cartilago nictitans in the healthy eye will now be
explained. Let the reader inspect any of the illustrations to this
article; he will find the outer corner represented as being much higher
than the inner corner of the eye, where the active little body resides.
Under the upper lid, near to the outer corner, is situated the lachrymal
gland, which secretes the water or tears of the eye.

Suppose any substance "gets into the eye;" being between two layers of
conjunctiva, it creates much anguish, it provokes constant motion of
the lid, which in its turn causes the lachrymal gland to pour forth its
secretion. Liquid flowing over a smooth globe of course gravitates; the
substance "in the eye" is thus partly washed and partly pushed toward the
inner corner.

Now, the base of the cartilago nictitans rests upon the fat at the back of
the eye. Pain causes the globe to be retracted by spasmodic jerks; adipose
matter cannot be compressed, and it is therefore driven forward every time
the muscles act. The fat carries with it the cartilago nictitans, and the
edge of the body being very fine and lying close to the globe, shovels up
any foreign substance that may be within its reach, to place it upon the
rounded development at the inner corner of the eye. Still may the reader
inquire, if the cartilago nictitans is covered with conjunctival membrane,
and the inner corner of the eye is enveloped in the same, does not the
foreign substance occasion pain to these as it did to the globe of the
eye? No; it was just hinted that conjunctiva is not sensitive except two
layers of the membrane are together, as the ball and the inner surface
of the eyelid. The haw, therefore, has no sensation upon its external
surface, neither has the inner corner of the eye, whence all foreign
bodies are quickly washed by the overflow of tears.

Farriers, however, are not an extinct race; many of the fraternity still
exist, still practice, and are, it is to be feared, very little improved.
Should one of these gentlemen offer to cure specific ophthalmia, it is
hoped the owner, after the foregoing explanation, will not allow the "haw"
to be excised.

Let every man treat the animals over which he is given authority
with kindness, as temporary visitors with himself upon earth, and
fellow-inhabitants of a striving world. Let him look around him; behold
the owner of a coveted and highly-prized racer to-day, in a week reduced
to the possessor of a blind and wretched jade; then ask himself what kind
of property that is to boast of, which may be deteriorated or taken from
him without his sanction? Having answered that question, let him inquire
whether it is better to propitiate the higher being by showing tenderness
toward his creatures, or to defy the power which can in an instant snatch
away his possessions.


CATARACT.

=Cataract= is a white spot within the pupillary opening. The spot may be
indistinct or conspicuous,--soft, undefined or determined; it may be as
small as the point of a needle, or so big as to fill the entire space: in
short, any indication of whiteness or opacity upon the pupil is regarded
as a cataract.

[Illustration: PARTIAL CATARACTS, OR SMALL WHITE SPECK WITHIN THE PUPIL OF
THE EYE.]

Cataracts are designated according to the parts on which they reside. The
lens of the eye is contained within a capsule, as an egg is within its
shell. Any whiteness upon this capsule is termed a =capsular cataract=.
The lens floats in a liquor which surrounds it, as the white does the yolk
of an egg. Any turbidness in this fluid is termed a =milky cataract=; any
speck upon the lens is a =lenticular cataract=; and any little glistening
appearance behind the capsule is spoken of as a =spurious cataract=.

Moreover, there are the =osseous=, the =cartilaginous=, and the =opaque
cataracts=; but those distinctions rather concern the anatomist than the
pathologist, as they may be guessed at, yet are not to be distinguished
with certainty one from another, during life.

That which more concerns the reader is, to learn the manner, if possible,
of preventing cataract from disfiguring his horse's eyes. Then will the
gentleman be kind enough to hold a sheet of white paper close to his
nose, so that the eyes may see nothing else, for a single half hour. Let
us suppose the trial has been made. With many people the head has become
dizzy and the sight indistinct. In some persons singing noises are heard
and a sensation of sickness has been created. Let the author strive to
explain this fact. Travelers, passing over the Alps, wear green veils,
to prevent the strain or excitement which looking upon a mass of white
snow occasions the visual organs. Any excitement is prejudicial to the
eye. Workers at trades dealing in minute objects, often go blind, and
the use of the microscope has frequently to be discontinued. But to look
continuously upon a white mass is the most harmful of all other causes.

This fact must be considered as established. And what does the horse
proprietor have done to his stable? He orders the interior to be
whitewashed. It looks so clean, he delights to see it; but do the
horses--does nature equally enjoy to look upon those walls of "spotless
purity?" Before those walls, with its head tied to the manger, stands the
animal through the hours of the day. Close to its nose shines the painful
whiteness which the master so enjoys. Is it, then, surprising (seeing how
nature for its own wise purposes has connected all life) that the equine
eye, doomed to perpetual excitement, sometimes shows disease?

A horse with imperfect vision is a dangerous animal. A small speck upon
the lens confuses the sight as much as a comparatively large mark upon the
cornea. To render this clear, let the reader hold a pen close to the eye;
it prevents more vision than yonder huge post obstructs. So impediments
are important, as they near the optic nerve. The lens is nearer than the
cornea, and therefore any opacity upon the first structure is more to be
dreaded.

However, let it be imagined a horse, with an opacity upon the pupil, and
the sight confused by staring at a white flat mass spread out before it,
is led forth for its master's use. By the aid of the groom and its own
recollections, it manages to tread the gangway, and even to reach the
well-known house door in safety. The owner, an aged gentleman, of the
highest respectability, comes forth in riding costume. He mounts, and
throwing the reins upon the neck of the animal, sets his nag into walking
motion, while he, erect and stately, looks about him and proceeds to pull
on his gloves. The horse, however, has not gone many steps before the
cataract and the confused vision, acting conjointly, produce alarm. The
steed shies and the gentleman loses his seat, being very nearly off. The
passengers laugh, the proprietor suffers in his temper, but the whip is
used, and the equestrian is soon out of sight.

The man and horse proceed some distance; the gentleman becomes much
more calm, and the horse recovers sufficient composure to try and look
around it. The pace now is rather brisk, when the horse thinks, or its
disabled vision causes it to imagine, it sees some frightful object in
the distance. The timid animal suddenly wheels round. The rider is not
prepared for the eccentric motion: he is shot out of the saddle. He falls
upon his head; he is picked up and carried home; but afterward he avoids
the saddle.

Never buy the horse with imperfect vision; never have the interior of
your stable whitewashed. Then what color is to be employed? Probably
blue would absorb too many of the rays of light; at all events, it seems
preferable to copy nature. Green is the livery of the fields. In these the
eyes take no injury, although the horse's head be bent toward the grass
for the greater number of the hours. Consequently, the writer recommends
that green wash, which is cheap enough, should be employed, instead of the
obnoxious white, for the interior of stables.

[Illustration: COMPLETE CATARACT.]

For complete cataract nothing can be done. In man, operation or couching
may be performed with success; but the horse can retract the eye and
protrude the cartilago nictitans. Thereby difficulties are created; but
these may be overcome. However, when an opening through the cornea is
perfected, the spasmodic contraction of the muscles of the eye, acting
upon the fibrous covering of the globe, is apt to drive forth the liquid
contents of the organ in a jet: this is irreparable, of course. When so
fearful a catastrophe does not ensue, still the capsule of the lens is
always difficult to divide, and the lens itself cannot easily be broken
down. The lens, therefore, must be abstracted; but that necessitates
a large incision, which the previously named probability forbids.
Displacement is the only resort left; but the lens, when forced from its
situation into the posterior or dark cavity, is, by the contraction of the
muscles, forced up again. The uncertainty of the result, even when the
operation is successfully performed, is peculiarly disheartening. Half
lose their eyes in consequence of the attempt; half the remainder are in
no way benefited; to the rest, as these cannot wear spectacles to supply
the place of the absent lens, of course the pain endured becomes useless
torture.

Where partial cataract is feared but cannot be detected, then artificially
dilate the pupil. Rub down two drachms of the extract of belladonna in one
ounce of water. Have this applied, with friction, to the exterior of the
lids and about the eye; mind none gets into the eye. The belladonna, acted
upon by the secretions, turns to grit; inflammation is the consequence,
and the clearness of the cornea is impaired. When the belladonna is
properly used, it dilates the iris and exposes the margin of the lens,
thus enabling the practitioner to inspect the eye in a full light.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE ACTION OF BELLADONNA.

    The inner space represents the natural pupil, on which no cataract
    is to be observed. The second space represents the pupillary opening
    as it may be enlarged by the application of belladonna, whereon
    two partial cataracts are to be remarked. The other space merely
    represents the dilated pupil.
]

To tell a spurious cataract, which defect is never permanent, first
observe the spot. Note if it present any metallic appearance, and try
whether, as the horse's head is moved, it alters in shape, catching
irregular lights. Then inspect the exterior of the eye; see if it retain
any signs of recent injury. Subsequently endeavor, so far as may be
possible, to ascertain the exact position occupied by the defect: upon
all this evidence put together, make up your opinion.

To distinguish between the different kinds of cataract, apply the
belladonna. Next place the horse near a window or under a door. Should the
sun shine, have the animal led into the full glare of day. Look steadily
into the eye from different points of view. Then have the horse's head
moved about, all the time keeping your sight fixed upon the part you are
desirous of inspecting.

Should one spot continue in every position, of one bulk, and of one
aspect, never becoming very narrow and always occupying one place
throughout the examination,--it is a lenticular cataract that is beheld.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CATARACT.

    1. A capsular cataract or an opacity, situated on the envelope of
    the lens.

    2. A lenticular cataract or an opacity, within the substance of the
    lens.

    3. A spurious cataract, or a particle of lymph adhering to the inner
    surface of the lenticular capsule.
]

If the whiteness changes appearances, in some positions seeming very thin
or perceptibly less bulky, it is assuredly a capsular cataract which is
inspected.

Most cataracts may either be partial or complete; but a spurious cataract
is always partial, never permanent, and invariably caused by violence.

For spurious cataract, treat the injury to the exterior of the eye. For
other cataracts, do nothing: there is no known medicine of any beneficial
effect. However, it is well to add, the author's and the general opinion
favors the absorption of cataract; or that these opacities may appear and
after a time go away without the aid of medicine. Nevertheless, to hasten
such a process, have the interior of the stable colored. However much
in favor a clean white wall may be with grooms or with the lower order,
exercise an informed judgment; have the wall shaded of the tint most
pleasant to the inhabitants' sight, and the prospect of recovery will by
so trivial an outlay be materially facilitated.


FUNGOID TUMORS WITHIN THE SUBSTANCE OF THE EYE.

These, fortunately, are rare affections. We know of no immediate cause
for their production. No man can prophesy their appearance. The horse,
to human judgment, may enjoy the top of health; may be in flesh and full
of spirit--altogether blooming. Nevertheless, the action of the legs may
perceptibly grow higher, and the ears become more active. The animal will
wait to be urged or guided, when the road is clear. Also, it may run
into obstacles, when the rider does not touch the rein. Should anything
be left in the gangway of the stable, it is certain to be upset, by
what the groom terms "that clumsy horse." Sometimes it will stand for
hours together neglecting its food, with the head held piteously on one
side. Occasionally, when at grass, it may be found separated from its
companions, alone and dejected, with the head as before, held on one side,
while the waters of the eye copiously bedew the cheek.

[Illustration:

    FUNGUS HÆMATOIDES, OR CANCEROUS GROWTHS WITHIN THE SUBSTANCE OF THE
    EYE.
]

At last the eyes are examined. The eyeball may be clear, but some
brilliant yellow substance may be discerned shooting from the base of the
interior, and the horse is declared contaminated by a cancerous disease.

All is now explained: the sight is lost; the horse is blind. There are
three terrible decisions now left to the master. Is the life to be
shortened? The thought shudders at taking existence, when misery pleads
for consolation. Is the animal to live on and nurture to maturity the
seeds of a cancerous disease? The mind shrinks from subjecting any
creature to the terrible depression and hopeless agony attendant upon such
disorders. Is an operation to be performed? Shall the surgeon extirpate
the eye? This last proposal seems the worst of all; nor does inquiry
improve the prospect. The cancer does not entirely reside within the eye;
it is not limited to that part. The taint is in the constitution, and the
operation can do no more than retard its effect. The eye removed, the
cancerous growth will soon fill the vacant orbit. After two or several
months of dreadful suspense, the life at last will be exacted, and the
animal, worn out with suffering, will expire.

Under such circumstances, the writer recommends death, before the full
violence of the disease is endured. Should, however, the reader think
differently, and prefer the extirpation of the eyeball, the operation will
here be described. First, mind the operator has two knives not generally
kept by veterinary surgeons: one of small size and slightly bent to one
side; the other larger, and curved to one side till it has nearly reached
a semicircle. Mind the operator has everything ready before he begin:
a sharp scalpel, two straight triangular-pointed needles, each armed
with strong twine; one curved needle, similarly provided; sponge, water,
injecting tube, bellows, lint,--and all things at hand. It is necessary
the proprietor should see to this, as some men will commence an operation
upon a mere horse and be obliged to stop in the middle, not having brought
all the instruments which they may require.

Cast the horse. Impale both eyelids, each with one of the straight
needles, and leave the assistant to tie the thread into loops. Through
these loops the assistant places the fore-finger of each hand, and then
looks toward his superior. The sign being given, the man pulls the eyelid
asunder, while the surgeon rapidly grasps the straight knife and describes
a circle round the globe, thereby sundering the conjunctival membrane. The
knife is then changed, the small curved blade being taken. The assistant
again makes traction, and the knife, being passed through the divided
conjunctiva, is carried round the eyeball, close to the bone; the levator
and depressor muscles are detached by this movement. The assistant again
relaxes his hold the operator relinquishing the knife, selects the curved
needle. With this the cornea is transfixed. The thread is drawn through
and is then looped. Into this loop the surgeon puts the fore-finger of
his left hand, and giving the sign once more to his assistant, takes hold
of the large bladed knife. Traction is made on all the loops. The curved
knife is inserted into the orbit, and, with a sawing motion, is passed
round the organ. The posterior structures are thereby divided, and the eye
is drawn forth.

[Illustration: EXTIRPATION OF THE EYE.]

The operation ought to be over in less time than five minutes; but speed
depends on previous preparation. The assistant, during the operation,
should rest his hand upon the horse's jaw and face; sad accidents by that
means are prevented; but, above all things, he should be cool, doing just
what is sufficient and no more.

Some hemorrhage follows the removal of the orb; to stop it, inject cold
water into the empty socket; should that have no effect, drive a current
of air from the bellows upon the divided parts; if this be of no avail,
softly plug the cavity with lint, bandage the wound to keep in the
dressing, and leave the issue to nature.

Such is the undisguised operation for extirpating the horse's eye. The
reader is confidently asked, whether a few months of miserable existence,
with the certainty of a fearful death, are not dearly purchased at so
great a suffering?


LACERATED EYELID.

Horses frequently endeavor to amuse the weary hours by a playful game
with one another; if accident results, it is not wholly the fault of the
guileless animals; they are tied to the mangers; they cannot exert their
activity; otherwise their principal enjoyment resides in the freedom of
their heels. And looking at a blank mass of monotonous white for many
hours may have disabled the sight or have confused the judgment.

The groom being absent, advantage is taken of the event to have a romp.
The animals snap at one another over the divisions to their stalls; often
the amusement extends, and four or five heads may be beheld united in
the sport. Generally, however, the game is confined to two players; but,
either way, no injury is meant; the teeth rattle, but they are intended
to close upon empty space. However, man has to bear the consequences
which his errors provoke. That species of confinement to which horses are
subjected renders the judgment uncertain and the sight untrue. The animal
pretends to snap, but, either from one head not being removed quick enough
or from the other head being protruded too far, the teeth catch the eyelid
and divide it through the center. The injury is not very serious, for had
malice impelled the assault, much more than an eyelid would have been
grasped between the jaws.

In other cases, the groom has driven nails into the wall of the gangway;
grooms are fond of seeing the stable decorated with pendant objects of
various kinds. So long as the nails are occupied, little danger ensues;
but they are apt to be left vacant, and horses are constantly passing
along the gangway. To leave room for the servant obliges the animal, very
often, to keep close to the wall; the projecting nail catches the lid of
the eye, and a long rent, commencing upon the outer side, usually results.

[Illustration: EYELID TORN BY A NAIL.]

Such an injury creates great alarm, but it is less serious than it appears
to be. Let the wound, from whatever cause it springs, be well bathed
with a soft sponge and cold water; this should be done till the bleeding
ceases. Afterward, the wound should be let alone for two or three hours,
that the edges may become partially sticky; then let there be procured
a long piece of strong thread, having a needle at each end; the needles
should be new, very sharp, and of the stronger sort employed by glovers.
Let all the punctures be made from within outward, to avoid injuring the
eyeball, and a separate needle be employed for each divided surface. The
thread being brought through, cut off the needles, and loop, but do not
tie the thread. Proceed with another suture, and do not tie that; then
with another, observing the same directions, and thus, till the eyelid
has a sufficient number of sutures. Then proceed to draw all to an even
tightness--none should be absolutely tight. The parts ought only to be
approximated, not tied firmly together; well, all the sutures being of
equal size, they are fastened, and the operation is concluded.

But as the wound begins to heal it is apt to itch, and the horse will
often rub the eye violently to ease the irritation. To prevent this,
fasten the animal to the pillar-reins of its stall, and let it remain
there till the wound has healed; the injury will in a short time close,
but the sutures should be watched. When the holes begin to enlarge, the
thread can be snipped. If the punctures be dry, let the divided sutures
remain till nature shall remove them. If they are moist, and the wound
appears united, you may try each thread with a pair of forceps; should
any appear loose, then withdraw it, for after division it can be of no
use, and may provoke irritation; however, should it be retained, employ no
force; have patience, and it will come forth without man's interference.

[Illustration:

    THE LID, WHEN DIVIDED BY THE TEETH, BROUGHT TOGETHER BY MEANS OF
    SUTURES.
]

Feed liberally, regulate the bowels by mashes and green meat; smear
the wound with oil of tar to dispel the flies; for should the accident
happen during the warmer months, these pests biting and blowing upon so
delicate a part as the eye may occasion more harm than our best efforts
can rectify. When the lid is bitten through, the operation is precisely
similar; the divided edges are to be brought together by sutures. To
prevent needless repetition, an engraving of the bitten lid, after the
operation has been performed, is here presented.


IMPEDIMENT IN THE LACHRYMAL DUCT.

The =lachrymal duct= in the horse is a small canal leading from the
eye to the nostril; it commences by two very minute openings near the
terminations of the upper and lower lids, at the inner corner of the eye;
it emerges upon the dark skin which lines the commencement of the horse's
nostril, being on the inner side of the internal membrane. Its use is
to carry off the superflux of tears; hence, with human beings, who have
a like structure, "much weeping at the theaters provokes loud blowing of
noses."

The channel being so minute, any substance getting into it soon becomes
swollen with the moisture and closes the passage. The tears cannot escape,
and being secreted, flow upon the cheek. The perpetual stream pouring over
a part not designed for such uses, causes the hair to fall off, and thus
forms gutters, along which the fluid continues to run. The flesh at length
excoriates, and numerous sores are established; the lids swell and become
raw at the margins; the conjunctiva reddens, and the transparency of the
cornea is greatly lessened by the spread of inflammation.

[Illustration: A HORSE'S HEAD, DISPLAYING OBSTRUCTION OF THE LACHRYMAL
GLAND.]

The wretched animal in this condition presents a very sentimental
appearance to a person ignorant of the facts of the case. The swollen
lid, because of its weight, is permitted to close over the eye, while the
tears, flowing fast upon the cheek, with the general dejection, gives the
creature an aspect of weeping over some heavy affliction.

Like the late William Percivall, whose works on veterinary subjects remain
a monument to his memory, the author has encountered but a single case
of this description; it was in a matured but not a very aged animal. The
report was, that a year ago it had been attacked by influenza; the lid
then enlarged, and the near cheek had been wet ever since.

Referring to the pages of Percivall's "Hippopathology," the author
procured a thin, elastic probe, about twelve inches long; the horse being
cast, and an assistant holding the upper lid, the probe was introduced
at the inner corner of the eye, by the lower opening to the duct; the
entrance was easy enough, but the passage was soon obstructed; then the
probe was inserted at the opening of the duct within the nostril. The
way in this direction was longer, but the end came at last, without any
good being effected. Next, a syringe being charged, the fine point was
introduced up the nasal termination of the duct, the power of the jet
effectually removing every impediment; the water streamed through the
upper openings, and the horse was sent home cured.

The writer saw the animal six months subsequent to the operation; it was
apparently in excellent health, and obviously in amended condition. The
owner said the horse soon got well after it reached home; but, being
pressed to say how great a duration "soon" represented, he rejoined
"_about_ six weeks, _perhaps_."

Three months afterward, however, the horse was once more brought with
"watery eye," and again operation was successful. The proprietor then
received back and soon sold the creature, which being past the age when
horses are most valuable, seemed likely to become an expensive retainer.




CHAPTER III.

THE MOUTH--ITS ACCIDENTS AND ITS DISEASES.


EXCORIATED ANGLES OF THE MOUTH.

Let no man punish a horse for want of obedience; the sole use of the
creature and its only delight is to obey. Let no person abuse it for
having a hard mouth, or for not answering to the rein. Man had the
formation of the mouth, and its condition can be no fault in the
possessor; the horse's pleasure is the gratification of its master.
Observe the antics of the nag thoroughly trained and perfectly up to the
rider's point of jockeyship. Does not every fiber seem to quiver with
excess of happiness? There is a tacit understanding between man and horse;
the pretty arts and graceful prancings of the animal tell how joyful it
is made by the conviction that it is sharing man's amusement. But let the
equestrian dismount, and another, above or below the horse's educational
point, assume the saddle, that understanding no longer exists. The harmony
is destroyed; there is no intelligence between horse and man. All the
playfulness disappears; the entire aspect of the animal is changed, and it
sinks to a commonplace "ugly brute."

The majority of drivers are very particular about the horse's mouth; yet
they all abuse the animal as though it was their desire to destroy that
which each professes to admire. Every supposed error is punished with
the lash, but the whip can convey no idea; the lash does not instruct
the animal; beat a horse all day, and it will only be stupid at sunset.
All the horse can comprehend from the smart is a desire that the pace
should be quickened; that wish it endeavors to comply with. The person who
guides the vehicle generally becomes fanatic at such perversity; he begins
"jagging" and "sawing" the reins. The iron is violently pulled against the
angles of the mouth, or rapidly passes from one side to the other. Would
the owner or driver take the trouble to instruct his dumb servant in his
wishes, the poor drudge would rejoice to exhibit its accomplishments. But
no information is communicated by first urging and then checking; the
timidity is increased by the one, the angles of the mouth are excoriated
by the other.

Ladies' horses invariably have admirable mouths; ladies generally are very
poor equestrians, yet they encounter few accidents. Men, who ride better,
are oftener thrown and hurt. The gentleness of the woman, or the sympathy
existing between two gentle beings, produces this effect The horse is
never dangerous when not alarmed; the feminine hand pats the neck of the
steed; the feminine voice assures the timidity; the whip never slashes;
the reins are never converted into instruments of torture; the weight is
light and the pace is easy. A perfect understanding is soon established
between the two, and the rider, notwithstanding her weakness, her
indifferent jockeyship, and her flapping dress, sits the saddle in safety,
while the animal increases in value under her care.

[Illustration: VARIOUS MODES OF FORMING THAT WHICH ALL MEN SPEAK OF WITH
ADMIRATION, AS A "GOOD MOUTH."]

Man certainly does not gain by the contrast; the male treatment does not
improve the animal. The horse's memory, like that of most dumb creatures,
is very tenacious; the quadruped is not made more steady by ill usage; the
sore corners of the mouth oblige the animal to be laid up "for a time,"
and the expense of medical treatment increases the sacrifice consequent
upon loss of services.

[Illustration: EXCORIATED ANGLES OF THE MOUTH.]

Trouble attends the circumstance, at which the favorite groom is sure
to grumble, even if the master does not receive "notice." The food must
be prepared; a few oats thrown into the manger, and a little hay forked
into the rack will not now suffice; all the provender must be carefully
prepared. At first, good thick gruel and hay tea must be the only support.
In a few days, boiled and mashed roots may be introduced; these may be
followed by cut roots boiled, but not mashed, the whole being succeeded by
scalded hay with bruised and mashed oats. When all is done however, the
horse's temper is not improved, and its mouth is decidedly injured. Such
results will vex the temper of any good groom, and very many it will anger
to the throwing up of their situations. They "will not get a horse into
beautiful condition for master only to spoil."

When the horse is thus injured, ignore all filthy ointments; such things
consist of verdigris, carbonate of zinc, horse turpentine, blue, green or
white vitriol, mixed up with dirty tallow or rank lard. Now, to grease a
horse's teeth is not much worse than to tallow its lips; if the former
prevent it from feeding, the latter is not calculated to improve the
appetite.

Discarding all unguents, have the following lotion prepared:--

    Chloride of zinc      Two scruples.
    Water                 Two pints.
    Essence of aniseed    A sufficiency.

Pour some of this into a saucer, and, with anything soft, apply the lotion
to the sore places; do not rub or scrub; do your ministering gently; so
the parts are wet, no further good can be accomplished; use this wash
after every feeding or watering. In a little while amendment is generally
perceptible; where violence has been used, it is impossible to foretell
the extent of the injury. A superficial slough may be cast off; this
process is attended with fetor; that the lotion will correct, and thus add
to the comfort of the horse. The cure, however, will possibly leave the
horse of a lessened value; where the skin has been destroyed it is never
reproduced; the wound will, therefore, probably blemish, and may lead a
future purchaser to suspect "all sorts of things." The horse is certainly
deteriorated; with the skin the natural sensibility of the part is lost. A
cicatrix, consisting only of condensed cellular tissue, must form upon the
spot; this structure is very feebly, if at all, nervous, and when compared
to the smooth and soft covering of the lips, may be said to be without
feeling, and is very liable to ulceration.

[Illustration:

    PERMANENT BLEMISH AND DESTRUCTION OF THE NICE SENSIBILITY OF THE
    MOUTH.
]


PARROT-MOUTH.

This, strictly speaking, is not a disease; it is a malformation; the upper
incisors, from those of the lower jaw not being sufficiently developed,
meet with no opposing members; they consequently grow very long, and from
their form are likened to the bill of a parrot.

This formation is not unsoundness, but it cannot be a recommendation; the
horse can only gather up its corn imperfectly; much falls from the mouth
during mastication. The animal which requires four feeds and a half daily
to support the condition another maintains upon four feeds, must be the
more expensive retainer of the two. Moreover, it is a virtue in a horse
to thoroughly clear out the manger; a healthy animal not only licks out
corners to catch stray grains, but hunts among the straw for any corns
that may have fallen. This duty the parrot-mouth disables a horse from
performing; the good feeder alone is equal to the work.

[Illustration:

    COPIED FROM THE AUTHOR'S WORK, ENTITLED "THE HORSE'S MOUTH,"
    PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. FORES, PICCADILLY.
]

Besides, a rider is always pleased, when sauntering down the green lanes
during the spring of the year, to see the horse's neck stretched out to
catch a twig of the shooting hedge; this can do no harm; but it is hard
alike upon horse and man to always have a tight hold of the rein when the
fresh scent of the budding thorn tempts the mouth to its enjoyment. And
yet, in the majority of instances, it would be cruelty to yield and permit
the parrot-mouth to bite; the under teeth very often rest against the
palate. No more need be said to caution owners possessed of an animal thus
afflicted, against a natural indulgence. The parrot-jaw is a deformity for
the perpetuation of which man is responsible; dispositions and formations
are hereditary. Would the owners of stock only exercise some judgment in
their selections, this misfortune might speedily be eradicated.


LAMPAS.

The horse's lot is, indeed, a hard one; it is not only chastised by
the master, but it also has to submit to the fancies of the groom.
"=Lampas=" is an imaginary disease, but it is a vast favorite among stable
attendants. Whenever an animal is "off its feed," the servant looks
into the mouth, and to his own conviction discovers the "lampas." That
affection is supposed to consist of inflammation, which enlarges the bars
of the palate and forces them to the level of or a little below the biting
edges of the upper incisor teeth.

[Illustration: THE LAMPAS IRON.]

Would the groom take the trouble to examine the mouths of other young
horses which "eat all before them," the "lampas" would be ascertained to
be a natural development; but the ignorant always act upon faith, and
never proceed on inquiry. Young horses alone are supposed to be subject
to "lampas;" young horses have not finished teething till the fifth year.
Horses are "broken" during colthood; they are always placed in stables and
forced to masticate dry, artificial food before all their teeth are cut;
shedding the primary molars is especially painful; of course, during such
a process, the animal endeavors to feed as little as possible. A refusal
to eat is the groom's strongest proof that lampas is present. But, putting
the teeth on one side, would it be surprising if a change of food and a
total change of habit in a young creature were occasionally attended with
temporary loss of appetite? Is "lampas" necessary to account for so very
probable a consequence? The writer has often tried to explain this to
stable servants; but the very ignorant are generally the very prejudiced.
While the author has been talking, the groom has been smiling; looking
most provokingly knowing, and every now and then shaking his head, as much
as to say, "ah, my lad, you can't gammon me!"

Young horses are taken from the field to the stable, from juicy grass to
dry fodder, from natural exercise to constrained stagnation. Is it so very
astonishing if, under such a total change of life, the digestion becomes
sometimes deranged before the system is altogether adapted to its new
situation? Is it matter for alarm should the appetite occasionally fail?
But grooms, like most of their class, regard eating as the only proof of
health. They have no confidence in abstinence; they cannot comprehend any
loss of appetite; they love to see the "beards wagging," and reckon the
state of body by the amount of provision consumed.

[Illustration: BURNING FOR LAMPAS.]

The prejudices of ignorance are subjects for pity; the slothfulness of the
better educated merits reprobation. The groom always gets the master's
sanction before he takes a horse to be cruelly tortured for an imaginary
disease. Into the hands of the proprietor has a Higher Power intrusted
the life of His creature; and surely there shall be demanded a strict
account of the stewardship. It can be no excuse for permitting the living
sensation to be abused, that a groom asked and the master willingly left
his duties to another. Man has no business to collect breathing life
about him and then to neglect it. Every human being who has a servant, a
beast or a bird about his homestead, has no right to rest content with
the assertions of his dependents. For every benefit he is bound to confer
some kindness. His liberality should testify to his superiority; but he
obviously betrays his trust and abuses the blessings of Providence when he
permits the welfare of the creatures, dependent on him, to be controlled
by any judgment but his own.

The author will not describe the mode of firing for lampas. It is
sufficient here to inform the reader that the operation consists in
burning away the groom's imaginary prominences upon the palate. The
living and feeling substance within a sensitive and timid animal's mouth
is actually consumed by fire. He, however, who plays with such tools as
red-hot irons cannot say, "thus far shalt thou go." He loses all command
when the fearful instrument touches the living flesh: the palate has
been burnt away, and the admirable service performed by the bars, that
of retaining the food during mastication, destroyed. The bone beneath
the palate has been injured; much time and much money have been wasted
to remedy the consequence of a needless barbarity, and, after all, the
horse has been left a confirmed "wheezer." The animal's sense being
confused, and its brain agitated by the agony, the lower jaw has closed
spasmodically upon the red-hot iron; and the teeth have seized with the
tenacity of madness upon the heated metal.

When the lampas is reported to you, refuse to sanction so terrible a
remedy; order the horse a little rest, and cooling or soft food. In short,
only pursue those measures which the employment of the farrier's cure
would have rendered imperative, and, in far less time than the groom's
proposition would have occupied, the horse will be quite well and once
more fit for service.


INJURIES TO THE JAW.

Save when needless severity urges timidity to madness, the horse is
naturally obedient. This is the instinct of the race. The strong quadruped
delights to labor under the command of the weaker biped. Its movements are
regulated by him who sits above or behind it. It often waits for hours
with its head pulled backward, its mouth pained, and its eyes blinded.
All its learning is attention to the sounds of the human voice. It is
guided by touches. It submits to the whip when it might easily destroy
the whipper. It eats, it drinks, it rests only by man's permission. Yet
there are such words as "vice" and "spite" connected with the horse; but
there remains to be spoken the word which shall fitly characterize the
self-sacrificing life of the noble animal.

Man could not endure such tyranny, nor does the horse, notwithstanding its
submissive instinct, live under it very long. The majority perish before
they are eight years old. They are worked to an early grave--often they
are distorted before the body's growth is completed. Is there any other
life so serviceable? Is there any other life which reads so sad a moral?
For the time it is allowed to breathe and labor, the horse patiently obeys
its tyrant. It aids his vanity; it conforms to his pleasure; it devotes
strength, will, and life to man's service.

Let every owner of a horse treat his slave with gentleness. Above all
things, let no individual employ the reins as instruments of torture. The
horse will neither be wiser nor better for such a mode of punishment.
Besides, the man may deteriorate his own or another's property. With the
bit a jaw has been broken; and with the snaffle the bone has been injured.
An animal with a good neck carries the chin near to the chest. The iron
of the snaffle, therefore, cannot pull against the angles of the mouth.
It rests upon the gums, and because this point is by some disputed, the
following illustration of the fact is inserted.

[Illustration: THE SNAFFLE BEARING UPON THE LOWER JAW.]

The cruel bit is, however, in general use with carriage horses. Fashion
delights in a vehicle stopped smartly at a door. The greatest noise
possible then announces the new arrival. The wheels grate--the horses
struggle. The coachman pulls hard--the vehicle sways to and fro. The
footman jumps down and pulls at the bell as though life and death depended
on a speedy answer to his summons.

All this is, doubtless, very pleasant, but how does it operate upon the
poor horses? These, to be pulled up suddenly, must be thrown upon their
haunches by the unscrupulous use of the bit. The pressure often wounds
more than the gums; frequently the bone of the lower jaw is bruised.
The gum then must slough, and a portion of bone must be cast off. The
exfoliation of bone is a tedious process accompanied with an abominable
stench. The surgeon must be constantly in attendance; otherwise the gum
might close over the exfoliating bone and numerous sinuses might be
established within the mouth. The exfoliated substance must come away. The
abscess, which would announce its retention, would be more painful than
the open wound, and ultimately would turn to a foul and ragged ulcer. Such
an injury may occur wherever the bit rests, before or behind the tush,
and a similar injury, though not to the same extent, will result from an
unscrupulous use of the snaffle.

[Illustration:

    THE EFFECTS PRODUCED ON THE LOWER JAW BY THE ENERGETIC USE OF THE
    SNAFFLE OR BIT.

    The most forward and smaller mark indicates the injury usually done
    by pulling at the snaffle. The more backward dark place indicates
    the spot where tugging at the bit bruises the bone of the lower jaw.
]

Supposing a case of this description is submitted to your notice upon the
day succeeding its occurrence. No change is anticipated, such as would
denote a bruise to other structures. The covering to the gums is thick
and hard, and it will conceal much that may be taking place beneath it.
If any spot be darker, redder, or whiter in color,--if any place be more
sensitive than the adjacent parts, the knife is there inserted till it
grate upon the bone. The extent of the necessary incision is decided by
the efforts made in resistance. A thin fluid may issue from the orifice;
but when the knife grates upon the bone, then the animal's struggles
announce the extent of the bruise. Sound bone may be cut, scraped, or even
burnt with impunity; but when bruised or otherwise diseased, the structure
is most acutely sensitive.

When the wound emits its characteristic odor, a lotion composed of
chloride of zinc, one scruple; water, one pint; ess. of aniseseed a
sufficiency, should be syringed into the openings, several times during
the day. The lotion, also, has a tendency to heal the sores, which must be
counteracted by the employment of the knife. Occasionally, however wide
the incision, it may be too small for the cast off bone to escape from.
The knife again must enlarge the orifice, and the forceps be inserted to
grasp the exfoliated substance. That taken away, the lotion is continued
and the injury left to heal at Nature's pleasure.

[Illustration: INJURY SOMETIMES ACCOMPLISHED WITH THE PORT OF THE BIT.]

The late W. Percivall, in his excellent work, entitled "Hippopathology,"
describes horses as sometimes injured under the tongue by the port of the
bit. An engraving, representing such an injury, is given; but it is hoped
no gentleman of the present day would employ the severe invention by which
alone such a hurt could be produced. The consequences may be lasting. The
terminations of the sublingual ducts are included in the blackness. Were
these bruised and inflamed, their delicate mouths might be obliterated and
hopeless fistula be established.

[Illustration: THE UPPER JAW INJURED BY THE BARBAROUS USE OF THE BIT.]

The bit must be sharply and strongly tugged at before it can harm the roof
of the mouth. Any one who has seen horses pulled up before a fashionable
mansion must have observed them open wide their mouths. They do this to
escape the wound of the bit. The animals extend their jaws to prevent it
striking the roof of the mouth. Notwithstanding the existing age is more
civilized than those which preceded it, the bits used at the present time
can, without any vast display of genius, be made to injure the obedient
animal, for whose mouth such ferocious checks are forged. An injury thus
inflicted is sufficiently serious. The bony roof not only supports the
bars, but also forms the solid floor of the nostrils. As it is not very
thick, the greater is the danger when it is injured. The wound, because of
the unyielding substance on which it is inflicted, is more painful than
that of the lower jaw. It is also for the same reason more severe.

The last injury demands the same treatment as has already been described,
only the remedies are far more difficult to apply. Should the entire
portion of bone exfoliate and a hole be left behind, the consequence is
not of fatal import. Bone can reproduce itself, though it is somewhat
eccentric in its growth. So after the opening is closed, the surface
toward the nostrils may be uneven, and the horse be rendered an inveterate
wheezer.

When the animal is once injured, never, for your own safety, afterward
employ a bit. If it be ridden or driven, always use a snaffle, and use
even that most tenderly. The horse has vivid recollections, and man is
naturally forgetful. When power is entrusted to the oblivious, danger is
apt to be close at hand.

The inferior margin of the jaw-bone is liable to harm from the curb chain,
and some men _will_ have the curb chain tight. Such people are commonly
very imperious. They shout, and slash, and tug when they want obedience
from an animal whose delight is to be allowed to please. Their meaning
is seldom comprehended, and therefore their orders are rarely obeyed;
whereas, they would be humbly propitiated, were their commands only given
as though the animal had no interest to rebel.

The result of such violence is, from the curb chain being ruthlessly
jerked, the jaw-bone soon enlarges. A portion of the bone having been
bruised, has to exfoliate; a foul abscess forms; tumor speedily succeeds
to tumor; osseous structure is thrown out and a swelling is matured,
before the enlargement heals.

[Illustration: TUMOR PROVOKED BY THE ABUSE OF THE CURB CHAIN.]

The treatment of such a case is similar to that already directed. Keep the
wound freely open, to permit the unimpeded exit of exfoliated bone. Use
the lotion, previously directed, liberally and constantly. The healing
process may then take place without deformity being left behind.


APHTHA.

Nothing proves the sympathy which binds nature more strongly than the
sameness or similarity of the diseases that affect man and animals.
Tetanus, pneumonia, enteritis, etc. are so alike as to be the same in the
human being and in the horse. From the cow was derived the safe-guard from
the ravages of the small-pox, and the medical profession has, by its want
of feeling, more than recognized a likeness, linking humanity to the dog;
in the motive which alone could prompt abuse of a most affectionate animal.

It is a sad proof of the stubbornness of pride, that a unity, thus
enforced by suffering, should be ignored, as though it were an insult to
the superior. No compact, founded by nature, can be dependent upon man's
liking. The terms may be laughed at, scorned or denied, but these exist.
Man is declared in affliction to be the companion of other life. When will
this truth be acknowledged, and the entire family of nature live in one
brotherhood?

[Illustration: APHTHA.]

=Aphtha= is a human disorder as well as an equine disease. It generally
appears in spring and autumn, being produced by heat of body. May not a
slight attack of aphtha sometimes explain that which the groom intends by
lampas? At all events, aphtha is accompanied by dullness and a refusal
to feed. Both lips commonly swell as the lethargy increases; the tongue
tumefies, becomes decidedly red, and generally hangs out of the mouth,
partly for the sake of coolness, partly to accommodate its enlarged size.
Around the mouth little lumps break forth, which at first are stony hard,
and others, though of a larger size, may be felt upon the tongue. Vesicles
are soon developed from these spots, and each contains a small quantity of
clear gelatinous fluid. The bladders burst; crusts form; and by the time
these fall off, the complaint has disappeared.

Some good thick gruel and a few boiled roots, which should be repeatedly
changed, must constitute the nourishment while the disease lasts, or
during the period that the mouth is sore. No medicine; a little kindness
is now worth a ship load of drugs. When the pimples are about to burst,
the following may be prepared:--

    Borax               Five ounces.
    Boiling water       One gallon.
    Honey or treacle    Two pints.

When the mixture has cooled, hold up the horse's head and pour half a
pint into the mouth. Half a minute afterward remove the hand; allow the
head to fall and the fluid to run out of the lips. This mixture should
be used several times during the day. Beyond this nothing is needed,
excepting a cool, loose box, a good bed, body and head clothing, with
flannel bandages, not too tight, about the legs. Work should on no account
be sanctioned until the last vestige of the disorder has vanished, and its
attendant weakness has entirely disappeared.


LACERATED TONGUE.

Men who become proprietors of animal life undertake a larger
responsibility than the generality of horse owners are willing to admit.
They are answerable for their own conduct toward the dumb existence over
which they are legally invested with the right of property; they are also
morally accountable for the conduct of those to whose charge they entrust
their living possessions. The appearance of those men who congregate
about the stable doors of the rich is not very prepossessing. Their looks
express cunning far more than goodness. Their long narrow heads denote
none of that wisdom which alone can comprehend and practice kindness for
its own sake. Their eyes and actions have a quickness at sad variance with
the affected repose of their manners. Their dress declares a vanity, that
is much opposed to the humility in which a wise man loves to confide.

There is nothing about horses which should degrade men; yet it cannot be
denied, that the vast majority of stable men are rogues. How can this be
accounted for? Is it difficult to understand, when we see the unlimited
trust put into a groom's hands, and the common abuse of confidence by the
man who enjoys it? No slave proprietor possesses the power with which
the groom is invested. It is true, the slave owner can lash the flesh he
terms his property. However, there is in humanity a voice which puts some
limit to the ill usage of the negro. The groom can beat and beat again,
at any time or in any place. No voice can be raised in appeal to nature.
The groom's charge lives beneath him, and day or night is exposed to his
tyranny. He may chastise the body and steal the food, still, so no human
eye detect, the horse will quietly look upon the wronger it never can
accuse.

A good man would seek far, before he would repose so large a trust in
another person. The _gentleman_ generally engages the groom after a
trivial questioning. His desire is to have a servant entirely corrupt; one
who asserts a knowledge how to _trick_ animals into health. No examination
is made into the real character of the applicant. A vast confidence is
off-hand reposed in an individual who may be without a single moral
attribute. Who deserves blame for such an abuse of responsibility? He
who has been educated into knowingness, and, having become thoroughly
degraded, esteems himself fully qualified for the situation he demands to
fill, or he who, having the benefit of education, and being blessed with
leisure for self-inquiry, shirks his duty and transfers his authority to
unworthy hands?

[Illustration: STICKING TO A HORSE.]

Every groom fancies he knows how to compound something he calls a
condition ball,--that is, a certain mixture of drugs, which shall bring
a living body suddenly into "tip-top" health. A bevy of companions are
invited to see "Jim give a ball." They duly arrive, and part of the
horse's tongue is speedily made to protrude from the mouth, this portion
being firmly held by "Jim's" free hand. The condition ball is in "Jim's"
other hand, and the exhibition consists in the marvelous adroitness with
which the ball can be introduced between the animal's jaws. The horse
soon sympathizes with the excitement that surrounds it. Jim, "quick as
lightning," makes a thrust with the ball, whereupon the startled animal
raises the head and retreats. "Stick to him, Jim!" "stick to him!" shout
the visitors. Jim does stick to him until his hand is covered with blood,
or, without quitting its gripe, suddenly loses the resistance, which
constituted its hold. Should it be the former, the frœnum of the tongue is
ruptured, and a wetted sponge soon clears the hand of the groom as well as
the mouth of the horse. A general curse and a kick under the belly of the
rebellious steed end the amusements for one day. Should it be the latter,
Jim finds the larger portion of the quadruped's tongue left in his hand.
This is an awful accident. The blood is wiped off, and the groom next
morning goes to his master with, "Please, sir, see what 'Fugleman' has
done in his sleep!"

A farmer engages a pretty-looking stable boy. The young scamp is
sufficiently a groom to glory in nothing so much as deception. The farmer,
however, takes this pretty boy to the fair, where an additional horse is
purchased. With the new "dobbin" the boy is entrusted, being cautioned to
lead it gently home. With numerous protestations boy and horse depart,
but have barely reached the suburbs before the knowing youngster stops
"dobbin," and, twisting the halter in "a chaw," leads the animal to the
nearest gate, where the lad climbs upon its back.

"A chaw" is the slang short phrase for something to chew. This is made by
twisting the halter into the animal's mouth so as to encircle the jaw.
In this position the rope is thought by some knowing people to answer
the purposes of a bridle. To this rope the boy hangs, rolling to either
side; now, nearly off--and now, jerked from his seat, as "dobbin," after
repeated urgings, starts off into the lazy pretense at a trot.

Anything inserted into a horse's mouth provokes the curiosity of the
animal. It is felt and poked about with the tongue, till at last the
lingual organ is, by the exercise of much ingenuity, inserted beneath the
obstacle. In this state of affairs, "dobbin" and the pretty boy finish the
latter half of the journey. The youngster laughing, as the rough action of
the horse bumps him up and down, he all the time dragging at the halter.
Before home is reached, night has set in; the boy dismounts, and with all
the simplicity his face can assume leads "dobbin" to the homestead.

The boy is protesting about being so very tired after his long walk, when
the horse's mouth is discovered to be stained with blood. The youthful
expression of surprise exceeds that of the elder's. Next the halter is
found to be rich with the same fluid. The horse's mouth is then opened,
it is full of blood, and the tongue nearly cut through. Accusations are
made against the lad; at first they are replied to with defiance; at last
they are propitiated with tears, drawn forth by the idea of honesty being
suspected. Youthful knowing, however, is not in the long run a match
for the self-interest of age; and perseverance is rewarded by a full
confession.

"The chaw" is an artifice recognized in every stable. Grooms have their
tastes. It is very unpleasant to these gentry when they behold some
unmannerly horse hang back in the halter. Stalls are drained into a main
channel, situated at the edge of the gangway. The pavement on which the
animal stands consequently slants from the manger to the footpath. This
nice arrangement obliges the horse always to stand with the toes in the
air and throws the weight of the body upon the back sinews. To ease its
aching limbs the animal is apt to go to the extent of its rope, so as to
place the hind feet upon the gangway, and even occasionally to give the
toe an opposite direction by allowing it to sink into the open drain.
Such presumption horrifies the groom's sense of propriety. The ignorant
mind's idea of beauty is "everything to match." He thinks all is so nice
when the animals dress to a line, like soldiers on parade. To have this
line preserved, even in his absence, he puts "a chaw" into the refractory
"brute's" mouth. This chaw is to be preserved night and day. The tongue
soon gets under the rope. Timidity is rendered yet more fearful by
persecution. The voice of the groom has become a terror to the quadruped.
It hangs back for ease, and is surprised by the vehement exclamation of
the tormentor. Back goes the neck and up goes the head. The animal runs
to its manger, but something has fallen upon the floor! The horse was
luxuriating in hanging back to the full extent when surprised. The sudden
start jerked the halter rein, and the result is the free portion of the
tongue falls from the mouth, severed by the rope.

[Illustration: ABUSE OF THE HALTER.]

These are lamentable instances of the general behavior of grooms to the
creatures entrusted to their care. Nothing is so corruptive as misplaced
authority. A little mind knows no difference between the possession of
power and the indulgence of tyranny. The use and the abuse are synonyms
to the ignorant; and the sins committed principally reside with him who
places the life Heaven has entrusted to his care in such unworthy custody.

When a tongue is partially divided, do not insert sutures of any kind.
Metallic sutures wound the fleshy palate, and silk sutures soon slough
out. Neither, therefore, does good, and each serves to confine the food
which enters the division. Foreign matter irritates a wound and retards
its healing. Consequently, do nothing to the tongue when partially
divided. Feed the patient on gruel until the healing is complete, and
wash out the mouth thrice daily, with some chloride of zinc lotion, one
scruple of the salt to a pint of water, after the manner described in the
preceding article.

[Illustration: THE TONGUE HEALED AFTER HAVING BEEN DEEPLY CUT BUT NOT
SUNDERED.

    The jaw has been divided to show the injured tongue, as it would
    appear in the mouth.

    _a._ The indentation at the seat of injury, and which will remain so
    long as life shall continue.
]

Should the tongue be separated to that extent which divides the vessels,
then, with a knife remove the lacerated part, which otherwise being
deprived of support, must slough off. Still do nothing to the tongue
afterward. Feed on thick gruel and wash out the mouth with the lotion. A
horse with half a tongue will manage to eat and drink, but some food is
spilt and some left in the manger. Constant dribbling of saliva is the
chief consequence of such an injury. This is unpleasant, and arises from
deglutition being injured. A horse which has had the tongue lacerated
only, but not divided, forever retains the evidence of the injury; and as
the food is apt to accumulate at the point of union, the animal ever after
demands attention subsequent to every meal.


TEETH.

No fact is more discreditable to humanity than the small attention it has
wasted upon the beautiful lives entrusted to its charge. Mortal pride
asserts these creatures are given man for his use. Yes. But is the full
use obtained? Are not the lives sacrificed? The horse has been the partner
of mankind from the earliest period. For centuries at least the animal has
been watched throughout the day; yet, even at this time, equine disorders
are only beginning to be understood. Does this fact denote that care which
such a charge demanded?

Cutting the permanent teeth seems, in the horse, to be effected at some
expense to the system; it was a favorite custom with the farriers of the
last century to trace numerous affections to the teething of the animal.
Further inquiries have proved our grandfathers knew positively nothing
about those growths, concerning which they assumed so much. The late W.
Percivall traced sickness in the horse to irritation, arising from cutting
of the tushes; there, however, our knowledge ends. Veterinarians have not,
as a rule, either leisure or the necessary power to observe those animals
it is their province to treat; they generally are but passing visitors to
the stables into which they are called. Those who have studs of horses
nominally placed under their charge feel they are retained not to watch,
but to physic the animals to which the groom directs their attention.

The tushes of the upper jaw may, however, be fully up, and yet not have
appeared in the mouth; this fact is easily explained. The advent of the
tushes provoked acute inflammation of the membrane covering the jaw. The
horse was cured of the attendant constitutional symptoms, but the cause
of the disorder was mistaken. The acute inflammation changed into chronic
irritation. The membrane, which in the first instance should have been
lanced, thickened and imprisoned the tush beneath it; an incision is even
now the only remedy, and should instantly be made.

Neither tushes nor incisors are known to be exposed to other accidents;
it is, however, different with the molar teeth. These teeth consist of
three components; bone or ivory constitutes the chief bulk of the organ,
and over that is spread a thin covering of inorganic enamel, the whole
being invested with a fibrous coating of crusta petrosa. The enamel is the
material on which the tooth depends for its cutting properties; the manner
in which the edge is preserved deserves attention, for the brick-layer's
trowel appears to have been suggested by it. A thin coat of hard but
brittle enamel is held between the two other bulky and tough substances,
just as a thin layer of steel is protected by coatings of yielding iron in
the house-builder's instrument.

The highly organized crusta petrosa is often injured; to understand this,
we must first comprehend the vast power which urges the jaw of the horse.
The motion resides entirely in the lower portion of the skull, which is
moved by strong, very strong muscles, going direct from their attachments
to their insertions. No force is lost by the arrangement, and no less a
motor power was required to comminute the hays and oats on which the horse
subsists. The machinery seems to be admirably adapted to its purposes; and
to be so strongly framed as to defy all chance of injury. Man, however,
has a mighty talent for evil; it does not always suit the convenience of
the groom to sift the pebbles from the grain; corn and stones are hastily
cast into the manger, and the poor horse, having no hands to select with,
must masticate all alike. The reader can imagine the wrench which will
ensue, when a flint suddenly checks the movement of the molar teeth. The
crusta petrosa is bruised upon the large fang of the tooth. Disease is
established, and sad toothache has soon to be endured.

[Illustration: A HORSE WITH TOOTHACHE.]

Then there are the effects of the powerful acids in much favor with
most grooms and too many veterinary surgeons; moreover, there are the
sulphates, which in every possible form enter into veterinary medicine;
the nitrates, likewise, are much esteemed, and are given in enormous
doses. All of these much affect the crystalline enamel of the molar
tooth; a small hole is first formed; into this the food enters and there
putrifies; caries and toothache are the result.

[Illustration:

    A HORSE QUIDDING, OR ALLOWING THE FOOD TO FALL FROM ITS MOUTH
    SUBSEQUENT TO MASTICATION.
]

A horse with toothache upon certain days sweats and labors at its work;
saliva hangs in long bands from the under lip; the countenance is
utterly dejected; the head is carried on one side or pressed against
some solid substance, as a wall. The food is "quidded"--that is, it is
partially masticated, when, from acute agony, the jaws relax, the teeth
separate, the lips part, and the morsel falls from the mouth, more or less
resembling what is termed "a quid of tobacco."

Upon other days the animal is bounding with life and spirits; the
movements are light, and the motions are expressive of perfect happiness.
The head is carried jauntily; the lips are compressed; the saliva ceases
to exude; the food is devoured with an evident relish, and the general
health appears to be better than it was before the strange disease. The
continuance of such bliss is, however, very doubtful; the different stages
will often succeed one another with vexatious rapidity.

If nothing be done, the horse alternates between anguish and happiness
for an unascertained period, when all acute symptoms apparently cease.
The lips, though no longer actually wet, are not positively dry; the
food is often eaten; but as time progresses a sort of gloom hangs about
the animal, and deepens every day. The horse seems never free from some
unaccountable torture; more time is now occupied in clearing the manger;
then the hay may be consumed, but the oats remain untouched. These last
are found soaked in apparent water; the fluid turns out to be saliva;
the symptoms by degrees become more severe; a strangely unpleasant odor
characterizes the breath; the flesh wastes, and the animal ultimately
exhibits hide-bound.

This stage being attained, and the proprietor becoming much perplexed, he
is one morning informed by the groom, who displays many nods and winks,
of a certain mysterious receipt for a wonderful ball that never fails,
but always cures. The potent bolus is sent for to the chemist, and, after
sundry explanations, is compounded. The groom, stiff with pride, takes the
magic morsel; it is pushed rapidly into the horse's mouth; an exclamation
from the man follows the disappearance of the hand, which is retracted
bathed in blood.

[Illustration:

    A MOLAR TOOTH HAS BECOME VERY LONG FROM THE WANT OF ATTRITION IN THE
    OPPOSING JAW.
]

To afford time for the writer to explain this incident, the reader
must vouchsafe some patience. The horse's molar teeth are miniature
grindstones. To supply the wear and tear of so violent a service, the
molar teeth, originally, have enormous fangs, and, as the eating surface
is worn away, the fangs are thrust into the mouth by the contraction of
the jaw-bones.

=Caries= at first pains, but at last destroys all feeling or life in the
tooth; the dead organ ceases to possess any vital quality; it loses all
power of self-preservation, and is a mere piece of dead matter opposed
to a living agent. In consequence, it breaks away, while the opposing
molar projects more forward from the absence of attrition. The healthy
tooth at last bears against the unprotected gum, upon which it presses
severely, and provokes the greatest agony. The animal endeavors to prevent
the prominent tooth from paining the jaw by masticating entirely upon
the sound side. Hunger is slowly, and perhaps never, satisfied by such
imperfect comminution; the outside of the upper molars and the inside
of the lower molars become slanting; the first being almost as sharp as
razors, wound the membrane of the mouth and lay open the hand which is
thrust into the cavity.

[Illustration:

    THE MOLAR TEETH HAVE BEEN GROUND SLANTING, AND HAVE SHARP EDGES,
    FROM THE HORSE MASTICATING ONLY UPON ONE SIDE.
]

If the disease be still neglected and permitted to increase, the stench
grows more formidable; nasal gleet appears; the discharge is copious,
accompanied by a putrid odor; osseous tumors commence; the bones of the
face are distorted; the eye is imprisoned, and ultimately obliterated
within the socket by actual pressure; eating becomes more and more
painful, until starvation wastes the body and reduces the horse to a
hide-bound skeleton.

If such a case be taken early, its cure is easy and certain; the dead
tooth must be extracted, and the prominent molar shortened by means of the
adjusting forceps and the guarded chisel, invented by Mr. T. W. Gowing,
veterinary surgeon, of Camden Town. Then the sharp edges must be lowered
by the tooth-file, and if these things appear to occupy time, it is better
done at two or even three operations, than unduly prolong the agony of
a sick animal. This being accomplished, all is not ended; the horse's
mouth must, from time to time, be again and again operated upon; nor will
the creature offer much opposition to the proceeding, if only proper
gentleness be observed.

Aged horses, from the contraction of the lower jaw, (which change is
natural to increase of years in the equine race,) frequently have their
upper molars ground to a knife-like sharpness. They wound the inside of
the cheeks, cause a disinclination to eat, and provoke a dribbling of
saliva. The cure is the tooth-file, which should be applied until the
natural level is attained. This should be followed by the frequent use of
the wash recommended for _aphtha_, or by the chloride of zinc lotion.

It may probably provoke a laugh among gentlemen and horsemen to read
of toothache in the horse. Few, very few grooms may have witnessed or
have noticed such a disease, but the fact exists; it is, indeed, a cruel
reality to the animal which experiences it. The ignorance of stable men
can establish nothing, for they are, as a class, equally presumptuous and
ignorant; they have seen the horse for years, and yet are acquainted with
neither the natural ailments nor the proper treatment of the animal. The
toothache is to the creature a most agonizing disorder. We have only to
look at the healthy horse, to observe how exquisitely it is clothed, how
finely it is framed, to imagine how sensitive must be the body. The horse
seems capable of a fear the most cowardly of mankind never conceived. So
its face, though not made for expression, can denote an anguish which
the human mind fortunately has no capacity to picture. The eye is often
painful in its speaking. It embodies a desperation, a weariness of the
world, and a prayer for death, such as few people comprehend; or the cry
would rise, from the length and breadth of the land, demanding, as with
one voice, the more Christian treatment of man's fellow-creature.


SCALD MOUTH.

This is an accident which occasionally occurs where grooms are too
ignorant, or too thoughtless to read the direction labeled upon every
bottle sent into the stable. Potent fluids are sometimes transmitted
pure, in small bottles, though the custom is highly reprehensible; nor is
the practice bettered because the label orders the contents to be mixed
with water before the medicine is administered to the horse. Grooms are
generally careless, and proverbially in a hurry; one of them enters the
stable to give the drench, sees the bottle, seizes it in haste, calls
the helper nearest the stable door, and, with such assistance, pours the
liquid fire down the animal's throat.

The mouth is by the potent drug deprived of its lining membrane, and the
stomach is lastingly injured; even if the dose be too small to occasion
death, the interior of the mouth is rendered raw. Fortunate is the man
who can be certain the evil there begins and extends no farther; but who
can calculate the effect upon delicate, internal organs? The mouth may
be healed, but who can ascertain the state of the deeper injury? Animals
are treated as though their sensibilities were not affected by any medium
pain; something must be visible before the groom sanctions the right in
his charge to be restless. All signs and motions denoting a gnawing
agony, but not expressive of overpowering anguish, are visited with
chastisement.

The groom is not entirely to blame. The fault resides with his superiors,
whom the servant apes. The sin rests with those who (unable to keep a
stud-groom) think their duty is discharged by a daily scamper through
the stable before they go to business; with those who by their manners
corrupt the groom's simplicity, while by a strange costume they induce the
ignorant fellow to regard the badge of his disgrace as the upholder of his
pride. To the upper classes, the shortcomings of stable men cling; with
the superiors, whose example should instruct, rests the real blame of the
servant. With educated men abide the errors of the ignorant.

After a scalding drench, an unusual redness declares the state of the
mouth; a quantity of saliva flows from the restless lips, which are
constantly in motion; they are being moved perpetually up and down, and
are always parting with a smack. The food, for a time, is rejected, but
good gruel, if cold, is generally taken freely. Boiled roots should
constitute the nourishment for two months afterward, the mouth being all
the while washed with the application recommended for aphtha.

[Illustration: SCALD MOUTH.]

No immediate danger is to be apprehended from scald mouth. The stomach is
more disposed to assume chronic than acute disease. Probably the temporary
services of the animal might well be dispensed with, and much might be
gained by an extra months' continuance of the prepared food. At all
events, the experiment would be intended to ward off a possible evil; and,
if we are to believe at all the motive, being based on goodness, the act
would not be without its reward.




CHAPTER IV.

THE NOSTRILS--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.


COLD.

It should not excite surprise if the horse, though generally strong, and
exposed to every abuse, is occasionally subject to the disease which, in
man, is almost the property of the delicately nurtured. The animal exists
in a stable commonly kept at a high temperature by means of contaminated
air; it is taken thence into a wintry atmosphere to stand for an uncertain
period before the master's door. There it has to remain inactive,
shivering in the blast, until it suits the proprietor's convenience to
come forth; next, it is pushed along till the perspiration bedews the
sides. Then it has to remain, generally unprotected, in the cold until
some business is transacted, when it is flurried home again, and often has
to wait afterward till it suits the groom's leisure to dry the reeking
frame.

[Illustration: SELLING "A CAPTAIN," AS ANY HORSE WITH A NASAL DISCHARGE IS
CALLED BY THE LOW DEALERS.]

Can it create astonishment if an animal so treated exhibit that nasal
affection denominated "cold?" The case is similar with hunters. They leave
hot stables to join the distant meet. Game may be soon started, or "the
find" may occupy hours; at last, men, horses, and hounds scamper off;
the fences are cleared; the fields, though they be swampy or plowed, are
crossed at the longest stride. The pace is killing while it lasts; at
length, comes a check. That saves many a steed, whose breathing ability
was well nigh exhausted; but every animal has to shiver till the "view
holloa!" again summons the assembly to motion.

How often does my lady's "carriage stop the way?" And how long have the
horses to stand in the rain before it does go? How frequently does the gig
or brougham linger near the curb, while another glass to good fellowship
is drained? Then, we have to reflect upon the breathing forms harnessed to
hired carriages; how the street cab rests in storms! How, day or night,
the horses must be exposed to all the varied seasons! Unsheltered from the
sun; with no protection from the frost! Let the reader reflect upon this
and say, not if it be wonderful that a few horses exhibit the affection
denominated cold; but whether it is not a legitimate matter for surprise
every second horse is not thus affected?

[Illustration: A HORSE'S HEAD, EXHIBITING A COLD.]

A mild cold, with care, is readily alleviated. A few mashes, a little
green meat, an extra rug and a day or two of rest, commonly end the
business. When the attack is more severe, the horse is dull; the coat
is rough; the body is of unequal temperatures, hot in parts, in places
icy cold. The membrane of the nose at first is dry and pale or leaden
colored; the facial sinuses are clogged; the head aches; the appetite has
fled; often tears trickle from the eyes, simple ophthalmia being no rare
accompaniment to severe cold; till at length a copious defluxion falls
from the nostrils without immediately improving the general appearance of
the animal.

The treatment is plain. When mucous membrane is involved, all depletion
must be avoided; the invalid should be comfortably and warmly housed;
should have an ample bed, and the body should be plentifully clothed. Then
a hair bag, half as long and half as wide again as the ordinary nose-bag,
should be buckled by a broad strap on to the sick horse's head; into the
bag should be previously inserted one gallon of yellow deal saw-dust; upon
the saw-dust, through an opening guarded with a flap upon the side of the
bag, should be emptied a kettle of boiling water, the superfluity of which
may run or drain through the hair composing the bag.

The boiling water ought to be renewed every twenty minutes, as the bag
should be retained upon the head for an hour each time. Should not yellow
deal saw-dust be obtainable, procure some of common deal, upon which last
pour one ounce of spirits of turpentine. Mix well and thoroughly before
you apply the bag to the head; but should not a proper apparatus be in the
stable, then it is better to forego the steaming, as the common nose-bag
is far too short and too tight for safety. The cloth moreover is apt
to swell and not to allow the free passage of the water. Sad accidents
have ensued upon the incautious employment of the ordinary nose-bag for
steaming purposes.

[Illustration: STEAMING THE NOSE OF A HORSE WITH COLD.]

If the horse appear to be weak, and there is the slightest suspicion that
the weight of the appliance for the time directed may tax the strength,
let some substance, as a stool, a form or chair, be placed beneath the
bag. The animal will require no teaching to understand the use of the
intended resting-place. As the weight begins to drag, the head will be
lowered, and after a very brief space the steaming apparatus will be found
reposing upon its intended support.

While the membrane is dry, use the steaming-bag six times daily. When a
copious stream of pus flows from the nose, its application thrice daily
will be sufficient. At the same time let the food consist of grass with
mashes, to regulate the bowels and subdue the attendant fever. Give no
medicine; but the discharge being established, three daily feeds of
crushed and scalded oats, with a few broken beans added to them, will
do no harm. Likewise, should the weakness be great, a couple of pots of
stout, one pot at night and the other at morning, will be beneficial.
Good nursing, a loose box, fresh air, warmth, and not even exercise till
the disorder abates, are also to be commended. Afterward take to full
work with caution, as much debility is apt to ensue upon severe cold.
It will also sometimes lead to other diseases, as those of the larynx,
air-passages, and lungs. Should the symptoms deepen, the treatment must be
changed; the lesser affection (=cold=) being swallowed up by the greater
disorder, which is superadded; consequently, disregard the original
ailment, taking those measures requisite to relieve the new and more
important affliction.

Animals with =chronic cold=, or with a constant running from the nose,
soon exhibit excessive weakness. Nothing taxes the strength so much as the
prolonged disorder of any mucous surface.

All that ignorant people know of glanders is, that the disease is
accompanied with a nasal defluxion. The more cunning in horse flesh,
likewise, are aware that glanders causes the lymphatic gland within the
jaw to swell, or that a glandered horse is always, as such people assert,
jugged.

[Illustration:

    HEAD OF A HORSE WITH "A JUG," OR WITH ONE OF THE LYMPHATIC GLANDS OF
    THE THROAT SWOLLEN.

    1. The enlarged lymphatic within the jaw.
]

Now, both the discharge and the enlargement are generally present during
inveterate cold. Animals of this kind are sold to the unwary as sound
horses. The vendors believe the quadruped to be glandered, or to be
affected with the most terrible of equine diseases; and the purchaser
wants knowledge to perceive the contrary.

Let, therefore, no man who buys "a captain," (which is the slang for a
horse with nasal discharge,) become alarmed, and to some member of the
gang from whom it was bought, resell his bargain for a few shillings.
Large sums are often made by thus disposing of a diseased animal for a
high price; then, directly afterward, frightening the purchaser with a
view to buying back at a cheap rate the supposed glandered horse. Always
take the animal to the nearest veterinary surgeon. Have the quadruped
examined; and, if really glandered, order it to be immediately destroyed.
Listen to no offer; but have the order obeyed.

A gentleman once attending a sale, bought for a large price a fine black
horse. No sooner had the money been paid, than a man came up and informed
the purchaser of the real character of his recent acquisition, offering to
take the bargain off the new owner's hands for fewer shillings than pounds
had just been given. The proposal was indignantly refused. Others came,
but all encountered the same answer. The terms were gradually heightened,
till double the money expended was tendered. The horse, however, was
destroyed; thus a gang of swindlers were deprived of a property which,
they owned, had for the last year earned them an easy thousand pounds.

Every man, however, must not anticipate so favorable a proposal. The
animals mostly are worthless, and would only be rebought for a very
trifle; the swindlers, generally, being perfectly indifferent whether
their eyes ever again behold a creature which can be easily replaced.


NASAL POLYPUS.

A =polypus=, when not otherwise distinguished, represents a pear-shaped
body, which has little sensation, but great vascularity. It is not
malignant, and its growth is generally rapid. By the increase of its
weight, the polypus ultimately hangs from the spot where it grew,
and becomes pendant by a sort of stalk, formed principally by the
blood-vessels enveloped in the membrane which coats the tumor. Such
growths are peculiar to mucous tissues, or to all the cavities of the body
which communicate with the external air. With regard to the horse, polypus
is mostly met with in the nostrils.

[Illustration: A POLYPUS.]

It is a disputed point how these growths are occasioned. However, no
compliment is paid to the veterinary science, when it is asserted that,
even to this day, no recognized plan of treatment for polypus has been
laid down. Such tumors are allowed to be removed with the knife, by
ligature, by traction, and by tortion; in short, as you please. The first
has generally been employed after a most butcherly fashion, slicing a
piece off one day, and taking a morsel the next, till by slow degrees the
whole was extirpated. So barbarous an operation is only worthy of ancient
farriery; the blood lost must be enormous, and the subsequent weakness of
the animal must more than counterbalance any benefit which the operation
could have promised. Mr. Varnell, assistant professor at the Royal
Veterinary College, lately removed a growth of this kind in a much more
surgical fashion. That gentleman had a knife made with an angular blade;
by employing this instrument, he was enabled to excise the tumor with a
single cut, inflicting little pain, but affording immediate and lasting
benefit to the creature. Where it can be employed, Mr. Varnell's angular
knife is to be recommended, as the quickest and most efficient means of
eradication which the public possess.

[Illustration: POLYPUS FORCEPS OR SCISSORS.]

Tortion is more repulsive in appearance than in reality. A pair of
scissors having sharp curved claws, at the expanded ends of blunt blades,
are employed. The tumor is seized by the claws, a little pressure is
made, and, at the same time, the scissors are drawn slightly forward. By
that means the points are driven into the substance, and a firm hold is
obtained. The handles of the scissors are next fastened together with
wire, or not, at the pleasure of the operator. The scissors are afterward
made to revolve several times, and with each revolution they oblige
the polypus to turn upon its pedicle, which motion first twists and
ultimately ruptures it. The growth is thus removed; as the polypus is not
very sensitive, and the operation should be soon over, small suffering
is inflicted, when compared with the permanent ease which the proceeding
insures.

Of the operation by traction or dragging away, no notice will be taken; it
is a vulgar and a cruel affair. Ligature, however, where it can be used,
is generally preferred; because the employment of it is not so sudden,
and, consequently, not apparently so violent; because no blood generally
follows the removal, and therefore there is no visible evidence of pain.
The writer is not certain it is the least painful of the methods proposed;
the relief is delayed, although the appearance and the appetite of the
animal are assurances that nothing approaching to agony is inflicted.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF A TUBE FOR THE REMOVAL OF NASAL POLYPUS.]

For ligature procure a fine, hollow tube, having at one end a cover made
to screw on and off; the opposite extremity must be open, and should have
a cross bar attached externally, one inch from the termination. Upon the
cover two holes must be bored, each large enough to admit a fine wire; to
arm this instrument, which should be about eighteen inches long, procure a
piece of zinc wire one yard and a half long; push this through one of the
holes on the unscrewed cover and down the tube; screw on the cover; fasten
the projecting end of the wire to the cross bar; return the wire through
the other hole, and, passing it down the tube, leave it hanging free. Form
of the wire a loop, large enough to surround the polypus; pass it gently
over the head of the growth; by means of the tube, work the loop upward,
tightening the wire as the size of the polypus diminishes. When the wire
is round the pedicle, fix it by winding it also over the cross bar; then
slowly make turns with the tube, observing the growth while so doing.
When the tumor changes color or the animal exhibits pain, discontinue all
further movements; release the wires from the cross bar and withdraw the
tube, leaving the ends of the ligature protruding from the nostril and
turned up on one side of the face.

Order the horse to be fastened to the pillar-reins that night, and to be
watched while feeding. The next day, if the tumor do not feel sensibly
cold and has not evidently lost the living hue, reinsert the wires into
the tube, fix them again on the cross bar, and give another turn or
two. If small alteration be subsequently observed, the same evening the
proceeding may be repeated; but, when death appears confirmed in the
tumor, twist the tube till the pedicle gives way.

The advantages possessed by this invention is, firstly, the ability of
twisting a ligature tight when the growth is partly removed from view.
Also, in the adoption of wire which will retain the form it is placed in,
and remain unaffected by the moisture natural to the nostrils. Moreover,
the tube can be made without the screwing head-piece, and answers quite as
well, or even better, when solid. If made without the screwing head-piece,
it can assume a flattened form, and it is somewhat easier to introduce;
but the wire, in that case, must have both ends pushed through the holes
down the tube.

The =bleeding polypus= is not met with in the horse. For that polypus
which sprouts from the nasal membrane and extends to the fauces, impeding
respiration and deglutition, appearing like a disease of the structure, to
which it is attached by a broad base, nothing can be done. It grows fast,
and in a short time renders longer life a larger misery.

[Illustration: A TENACULUM.]

The polypus which admits of removal is a smooth, moist, glistening
and vascular body. It greatly impedes the breathing. These growths
have been known to push out the cartilaginous division of the nostrils
until the once free passage was all but obliterated. They provoke a
constant discharge of pure mucus, and, on that account, the horse, thus
affected, has been condemned as glandered. However, the truth may be at
once recognized by closing the nostrils alternately. It is then easy to
discover which cavity is affected, as a resistance is provoked by stopping
the free channel, which bears no resemblance to glanders. To bring down
the polypus, cough the horse, by making gentle pressure upon the topmost
part of the windpipe; for, during the stages of glanders, any appearance
at all resembling polypus is never present. It was usual, the instant the
growth was visible, to transfer it with a tenaculum. This, however, like
other barbarities, only did harm. The substance of a polypus is easily
rent, and it bleeds freely. The bleeding concealed much, which, after
proceedings rendered necessary, should be plainly seen. It is better, when
sufficient room is not left for operation or inspection, to proceed with
greater boldness, so as to ascertain the advantages likely to result from
further measures. Then throw the horse, and with a probe-pointed, straight
bistoury, slit up the nostril upon the outer side. That done, release the
animal till all bleeding has ceased, when the endeavors may be renewed
with a better prospect of success. Afterward, close the incision with a
double set of sutures, (one set to the true nostril and another for the
false nostril). Apply to the wound the chloride of zinc wash, and in a
short time all will be healed.

[Illustration: NASAL POLYPUS.]

=Nasal polypus=, nevertheless, is an affection often requiring the
performance of tracheotomy, before any examination can be attempted. For
this necessity, the operator must be prepared; but, as tracheotomy is
required only to relieve the breathing during examination, the temporary
tube invented by Mr. Gowing is, in that instance, decidedly to be
recommended.


NASAL GLEET.

This terrible affliction is suppuration of the mucous membrane, lining
the facial sinuses. It rarely occurs in the stable; but when it does, the
cause mostly is to be traced to the projection of some molar tooth, and
the disease is then generally hopeless. The pressure of the tooth has
provoked irritation of the bone. The sinuses are no longer hollow spaces,
but have been converted into cavities crowded with bony net-work. To
cleanse them in that condition is impossible, and death is the only resort
left to a humane proprietor.

Horses, when allowed a run at grass, are often taken up with the bones of
the face swollen and soft. Percussion draws forth the same response as
would be elicited by rapping upon a pumpkin. The animal, suddenly released
from toil, has been playing in the field with its new associates. The
simple creature could not comprehend the feet were fettered. The equine
race always display joy with their heels, and the hoof, which unshod might
lightly touch the neighbor's skull and no injury result, being armed with
iron carries additional weight with the blow, and leaves behind a deadly
bruise upon the facial bones. The following engraving, representing an
extreme case of this kind, is a warning never to turn your animal into a
field where others are grazing; but if you are obliged to starve a horse
on grass, at all events choose a spot where it can be alone.

[Illustration: NASAL GLEET.]

Besides the distortion, the next prominent symptom attending nasal
gleet is fetor. Discharge is not always present. It is irregular in its
appearance, but can generally be made to flow, by a brisk trot or by some
tempting food being placed upon the ground. Stench and discharge, often
coming only from one nostril, but occasionally from two, are likewise
symptomatic of the same disorder.

Pus is, naturally, the blandest secretion of the body; but being confined,
it corrupts, and then smells abominably. The blow, which started up the
secretion, injured the bones forming facial sinuses. Those cavities
open to the nostril on either side by two comparatively small flaps,
slits, or valves. These are their only means of communication with the
external atmosphere; and through these valves all the pus must flow. Is
it surprising if such structures occasionally become clogged, till the
accumulated secretion, or the increased breathing, or the position of the
head, obliges the passage to give way?

The chances likely to result upon treatment are about equal, but the
process is generally slow. The trephine has to be employed upon the facial
sinus, and circular portions of bone have to be removed. Into the openings
thus made is to be injected, by means of a pint pewter syringe, half a
gallon of tepid water, or water heated to ninety-six degrees, in which
half a drachm of chloride of zinc is dissolved. The chloride of zinc not
only destroys the fetor, but also disposes the membrane to take on a new
action.

[Illustration:

    THE TREPHINE, BY MEANS OF WHICH A CIRCULAR PIECE OF BONE MAY BE
    REMOVED.
]

[Illustration: INJECTING THE HEAD OF A HORSE FOR NASAL GLEET.

Copied from a work by La Fosse.]

The injection, however, only cleanses the sinuses, and the nose also
becomes involved by the disease. It is usual to describe the turbinated
bones, or the fragile bones situated within the nostrils, as thin osseous
structures, making numerous convolutions upon themselves. They favor such
an opinion when viewed _in situ;_ but, being removed, are found to consist
of ample sacs or bags, which the external layer concealed from view.
These hidden spaces soon fill with pus; here it remains; the position of
the head even cannot entirely dislodge it, as the head is seldom carried
perpendicularly. Here the pus hardens or concretes, until by degrees the
cavities are filled with a foul and solid matter.

[Illustration:

    THE TURBINATED BONE WITHIN THE NOSTRIL OF A HORSE AFFECTED WITH
    NASAL GLEET; PARTLY ABSORBED BY PRESSURE AND PARTLY DISTENDED BY AN
    ACCUMULATION OF CONCRETE PUS.
]

[Illustration:

    PART OF A HORSE'S HEAD WHICH HAS THE BONE TREPHINED SO AS TO ENABLE
    THE SURGEON TO EMPTY THE TURBINATED BONE. THE COURSE OF THE NERVES
    IS SHOWN.
]

Such a store-house of disease may thus be opened and cleansed. Mark with
chalk or charcoal the spot in a line with the infra-orbital foramen,
and a little anterior to the third molar tooth the positions of both
may be clearly ascertained by feeling externally upon the head of the
living horse. At that place cut through the skin, but no deeper. Make a
T incision, only reverse the letter ⊥. Withdraw the two flaps of skin;
remove by means of blunt hooks any structures that conceal the bone, upon
which last, when clear, employ the trephine.

The side of the face being opened, insert through the opening a steel
probe. Thrust it through the concrete pus, and strive to discover the
most depending portion of the sac. To this spot, if possible, apply a
hollow metallic tube, about twelve inches long. This instrument has a
horn-shaped mouth at the blunt extremity, and a fine sharp steel saw at
the other. The saw being fixed upon the spot indicated by the probe, and a
few revolutions being given to the horn-shaped end, between the palms of
the hands, a circular portion of the bony net-work which characterizes the
turbinated structures is removed.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.

    Fig. 1. The hollow metallic tube, having at one extremity a
    horn-shaped mouth for the convenience of inserting a gum-elastic
    probe, and at the other end a fine saw for cutting through the
    turbinated bone.

    Fig. 2. _a._ A gum-elastic probe to be threaded through the metallic
    tube, and so forced out of the nostril. _b._ A portion of string
    passed through the eye of the probe and forming a loop. _c._ The
    tape which constitutes the seton passed through the looped string.
]

Now, so soon as this is accomplished, force through the hollow instrument
last employed an elastic probe armed with a piece of linen tape. The
probe, being about eighteen inches long, will, by the application of
very gentle force, soon glide through the opening last made, and out
of the nostril. The tape is, by traction, made to follow, and the ends
being tied, a seton is established. By the daily movement of this last
contrivance, the concrete matter may effectually be displaced.

This being finished, the syringe is to be daily employed; and the cure may
be often expedited by the following ball, which should be given once every
twenty-four hours:--

    Balsam of copaiba            Half an ounce.
    Cantharides (in powder)      Four grains.
    Cubebs                       A sufficiency.--_Mix._

Should this appear to affect the urinary system, immediately discontinue
it. In its place, half a drachm of belladonna should be rubbed down in
one ounce of water, and administered every hour, till all appetite is
destroyed, and the drug should be discontinued after this effect is
gained. The belladonna, however, should be exhibited only every fourth day.

The lymphatic glands under the horse's jaw occasionally enlarge; but as
the affection is destroyed the swelling will disappear. However, the cure
may be expedited by commodious lodging and liberal food. It evidently
is folly to stint the provender and expect a starved nature to vanquish
disease.


HIGH-BLOWING AND WHEEZING.

These peculiarities admit of no pictorial illustration. Obviously, it is
impossible to picture a sound. Both affections are known by the noises to
which they give rise.

=Highblowing= is complained of only in saddle horses. It consists of
forcing the respiration violently through the nostrils, whereby a
bur-r-r-r-ing kind of noise is made. This sound children are fond of
imitating, when they play "horses;" but in the animal it is unpleasant to
the equestrian, because by it the nostrils are cleared, and the trousers
of the rider are often soiled. Besides, fashion at present favors a quiet
steed. For this habit there is no remedy, except throwing up the horse for
harness purposes, in which employment the habit is not generally regarded
as objectionable.

=Wheezing= is a thin, whistling noise, heard only during inspiration. It
is provoked by some impediment to the breathing, and the cause always
resides in the nasal chambers. It is astonishing how small an obstacle
engenders this affection. This, like the former peculiarity, is equally
incurable. It is easy to stop each nostril, and thus to tell from which
the noise proceeds; yet, for its removal, the affection demands a purely
experimental destruction of parts, so ample, that even veterinary science
shrinks from the attempt.

However, to such chalices the life of a horse is exposed. The indulgence
of a habit which adds to the animal's beauty in the eyes of the foot
passenger, is regarded as objectionable in one position, while it is
admired in another situation; the advent of the smallest excrescence in a
large cavity can deteriorate the value of a life. A loss of value entails
loss of caste. The life descends to harder work and lessened care. The
first step taken, the others rapidly succeed; for it cannot be asserted
that, as a general rule, the lower classes appear to advantage, when the
custody of a beautiful animal is morally considered.




CHAPTER V.

THE THROAT--ITS ACCIDENTS AND ITS DISEASES.


SORE THROAT.

[Illustration: WITH AND WITHOUT THE BEARING-REIN.]

There is, among horse owners, much dispute as to the proper mode of
harnessing a horse. Gentility has no feeling either for itself or with
any of the many lives by which it is surrounded; this vice of modern
time delights in labored imposture, and is always best pleased when it
is mistaken for something that it is not. Gentility favors the use of a
bearing-rein in the horse's harness. The object is to keep up the head,
and to give to an animal with a ewe neck the aspect of one having a lofty
crest. The artifice is very transparent; it should deceive nobody save
him who is foolish enough to adopt it; but it deprives the poor horse of
no little of its natural power. Gentlemen's coachmen complain of the work
when their horses are driven ten miles daily, although the distance may
be repeatedly broken by visits and by shopping. The cabs of London can
only employ the horses which gentlemen have discarded; with these last
vehicles, however, no bearing-reins are adopted. The cast-off animal that
previously fagged over ten miles, when reduced to the rank, has to pull
loads which no genteel carriage would carry, and to travel a sufficient
distance to pay horse, driver, conveyance, and proprietor. In the
possibility of such a contrast is, perhaps, best exemplified the cruelty
of the bearing-rein.

When the fine structure of the horse's body is regarded, and we reflect
that a creature of so beautiful a frame is by man's will taken from the
fields, where every bite of grass is of a different flavor--now hot and
pungent by an admixture of the buttercup, then cool and bland by the
marsh-mallow mingling with the morsel--where, unknown as yet to toil, such
sustenance is sufficient for growth and idleness; when we consider that
an animal is suddenly snatched from such a diet, every mouthful of which
was endowed not only with a varied taste, but with a change of perfume;
when we feebly conjecture how grateful this ever-varying savor must have
rendered herbage to any being possessed of the admirable sense of smell
with which the equine species are gifted, it can create but small surprise
that, when taken into stables, put to exhausting labor, and day after
day made to eat a stinted allowance of dry food, the sameness of the
diet and the change in habit should occasionally derange the digestion.
=Sore throat= is, however, frequently a sign of some graver disorder; the
affection should, therefore, be cautiously treated as a local malady.

When it is present, the symptoms are a constant deglutition of saliva, a
want of appetite, accompanied by an inability to swallow liquids. The pail
being presented, the act of drinking is accomplished with evident effort;
the drops are forced down by a series of jerks, which are often made more
emphatic by an audible accompaniment. Notwithstanding this labor, only a
portion of the fluid enters the gullet, the greater part returning by the
nostrils.

[Illustration: A HORSE WITH SORE THROAT ENDEAVORING TO DRINK.]

So soon as this is observed, throw the horse up, for sore throat is
always attended with weakness. Clothe fully, bandage the legs, place in a
well-ventilated and amply littered loose box; feed upon green meat for a
couple of days, at the same time always having present a pail of thick,
well-made gruel, which should be regularly changed, thrice daily. Morning,
noon, and night, a pottle of bruised oats, with a handful of old beans
distributed among them, should be scalded, and, when blood-warm, placed in
the manger.

Frequently, this is all that is required, and the disorder is well cured,
which yields without medicine. Should the bowels prove obstinate, and
after the second day continue constipated, a mild dose of solution of
aloes should be administered.

    Solution of aloes            Four ounces.
    Essence of aniseed           Half an ounce.
    Water                        One pint.

Mix, and give.

This, with the diet previously recommended, is rarely required, as the
food alone, so far as the author's experience can justify an opinion,
never fails in relaxing the body. However, should the sore throat remain,
dissolve half an ounce of extract of belladonna in one gallon of water.
Hold up the head of the animal and put half a pint of this liquid into
the mouth; allow the fluid to be retained for thirty seconds, then take
away the support, and the medicine will run from the lips. Repeat this
frequently, or from six to eight times during the day.

If the soreness of the throat should appear indisposed to heal, but, on
the contrary, should seem inclined to spread, lose no time in resorting
to the next preparation. Permanganate of potash, (prepared by Squires,
chemist, of Oxford Street,) half a pint; distilled water, one gallon;
half a pint to be used to cleanse the horse's mouth, in the manner just
directed for diluted belladonna, six times daily, or--

    Chloride of zinc             Three drachms.
    Extract of belladonna        Half an ounce.
    Tincture of capsicums        Two drachms.
    Water                        One gallon.

Mix, and use as directed for the previous recipe.

Occasionally the disease does not spread, but, in spite of our best
endeavors, it will remain stationary. Then try the brewers' stout. Give
one quart morning and evening. However, see that the animal has the beer,
for men are partial to that fluid, even more than horses. Should no change
be remarked in forty-eight hours, blister the throat. Do this with one
part of powdered cantharides soaked for a month in seven parts of olive
oil, adding to the whole one part by weight of camphor. Rub this oil,
when filtered through blotting paper, into the throat for ten minutes in
summer, and a quarter of an hour in winter.

All the endeavors may be useless. Then cast the horse. Have ready some
nitrate of silver, dissolved in distilled water--five grains of the active
salt to one ounce of the fluid. Saturate in the solution a sponge four
inches wide, tied on to the end of a stick eighteen inches long. Have the
sponge made as dry as possible without squeezing it. Put a balling iron
into the mouth. Insert the sponge through the iron, and having pushed it
down to the back of the tongue, rapidly press it against the side of the
cavity. Be prepared for what you are about to do, and do it quickly. The
operation stops the breathing, and calls forth the resistance which is
natural to impending suffocation.

The horse being released, give the following ball, in addition to the
stout, twice each day:--

Powdered oak bark and treacle, a sufficiency of each to form a mass.

If none of these measures are successful, the sore throat must be the
symptom only of some greater disorder, and all local remedies, in that
case, must be ingulfed in the general treatment. However, it is not every
measure which will cure every sore throat. In young horses, when first
taken from the pure air into the contaminated atmosphere of most stables,
such affections are common; but in old animals they are generally most
severe. It is a usual plan to turn a horse out to grass when afflicted
with obstinate sore throat: this is cruel. The animal, whose labor we
enjoyed during its health, has a positive claim on us for kindness and for
care when overtaken by disease. Moreover, those who laugh at the above may
become serious, when they are informed that animals turned to grass for
sore throat are not unfrequently taken up virulently glandered. So closely
are moral duty and self-interest associated, when the operation of both is
rightly considered.


COUGH.

=Cough= is too often caused by unhealthy lodging. Few stables are
perfectly drained and ventilated; the very great majority are close with
impurity. No surprise, then, need be exhibited, if the entrance to the
air-passages should display disease, when an animal, so naturally cleanly,
is imprisoned in the space man is too thoughtless to keep uncontaminated.

The larynx is the seat of cough, when the affection exists by itself,
although the annoyance is often a symptom of some other derangement, and
may then spring from laryngeal sympathy with some comparatively remote
organ. It may arise from a very trivial cause, as teething; or it may be
a sign attendant on the worst of disorders, as farcy and glanders. Broken
wind, roaring, laryngitis, bronchitis, chronic diseases of the lungs,
stomach, bowels, worms, etc. etc., all are attended by cough, which is
more frequently present as a symptom than as a disease. Hot stables,
coarse and dusty provender, rank bedding, and irregular work, are the
general provocatives of cough, as a distinct affection.

The name is evidently derived from the noise which constitutes the chief
symptom of the disorder. Cough consists in spasm of all the muscles of
expiration. The air is violently expelled, and an explosive sound is the
consequence. During this spasm, the soft palate is raised, and the breath
is allowed to pass through the mouth as well as through the nostrils. The
horse, as a rule, being able only to respire through the nostrils.

[Illustration: THE ACT OF COUGHING.]

The characteristic noise is generally annoying to the master. Warmth,
however, is popularly esteemed the cure for cold. The horse proprietor,
therefore, thrusts his animal into an abode heated by impurity, only to
find the annoyance aggravated. This fact is soon explained. Stables are
not heated by fire or by water; their warmth is entirely derived from the
fermentation of excrement. Were they well ventilated, efficiently built
and cleanly kept, these places, having no artificial heat, must be cold;
but the owner loves warmth; it feels so comfortable; it is so nice! He
does not inquire if it is derived from the right source; he hates the
bother of investigating. Nothing can be proper if you are to consult
medical men! They talk and discuss, but no good comes of their verbosity!
And by such sayings, the horse proprietor blinds his judgment, permitting
to continue the evil which ignorance institutes. =Chronic cough= cannot,
when thus treated, amend. It continues till the membrane covering the
larynx be thickened and morbidly sensitive; then the cough is an appendage
to the life, and roaring is its companion.

For the cure of chronic cough, scald and crush the oats, damp the hay,
and give thin gruel or linseed tea for drink. At the same time see
that the air is pure: the human nose is a sufficiently good test of
atmosphere--that of the stable should not smell of horses, or of any taint
whatever. If the ventilation is good, the drainage clear, and the bedding
clean, the interior of a stable should be as odorless as any lady's
apartment.

Cough, or the noise which accompanies stages of different disorders, will
be described as the various affections of which it is a symptom are passed
before the reader. Chronic cough, or the sound that follows a draught of
cold water, and is heard when the horse quits the stable for the open
air, is most distressing. It is a constant accompaniment during the
commencement of a journey, and requires that the food and lodging should
be looked to. Clothe warmly, and give half a pint of the following, in a
tumbler of cold water, thrice daily:--

    Extract of belladonna (rubbed down in a pint of
     cold water)                                             One drachm.
    Tincture of squills                                      Ten ounces.
    Tincture of ipecacuanha                                Eight ounces.
        Mix.

If no beneficial change be witnessed, try the subjoined:--

    Barbadoes tar (or common tar if none other be at hand) Half an ounce.
    Calomel                                                  Five grains.
    Linseed meal                                           A sufficiency.
        Mix, and give as one ball, night and morning.

Should no improvement result, the next may be substituted:--

    Powdered aloes                                           One drachm.
    Balsam of copaiba                                     Three drachms.
    Cantharides                                            Three grains.
    Common mass                                           A sufficiency.
        Mix, and give first thing in the morning.

A bundle of cut grass, every day, has done much good in the spring; so,
also, has a lump of rock salt placed in the manger, during any season of
the year. The horse, however, should be observed. If it eat the litter,
no straw, during the daytime, should cover the stall; and, at night, a
muzzle should be fixed upon the animal. The cough must be more than of a
simple character which does not vanish before the proposed measures are
exhausted. Cut roots, also, are beneficial during this disease. The hay
should not be abundant, and should always be moistened. But, above all
things, attend to the drainage and ventilation of the stable.


LARYNGITIS.

The common cause of this disorder is foul stables. When we see the animal
associated with the nobleman in his pride, and linked as the willing slave
of the merchant for his profit, it does seem strange that a creature,
thus connected, should be subject to disease from scant and tainted
lodging. When we consider the subject from another point of view, and
regard the beautiful framework, animated by the affectionate disposition
of the horse, it sounds more than cruel, to say the most valuable and
amiable assistant man has on earth dies neglected in age, and, during
the vigor of its prime, encounters disease from the niggard provision
made for its welfare. The devotion of a life ought to entitle the laborer
to breathing space, after the labor of the day has ended. But noblemen,
professional men, merchants, tradesmen, mechanics, all sin in this respect
alike. The horse, when not toiling, is pushed away into the narrowest
possible limits. The prisoner is permitted only to breathe a limited
quantity of the air which nature has supplied in so great abundance and
in such purity. That quantity must, from the time of close confinement,
be frequently respired during the night; and, when the air of the place
has become hot and heavy, the quadruped, at the command of its attendant,
quits its abode for the cold atmosphere without the walls.

The pure air which circulates about our globe is certainly much to be
preferred to the close interior of the stable. Yet, to the larynx, in
some measure accustomed to the last, a sudden draught of the first is
the almost certain source of disease. It acts as a stimulant upon a part
rendered delicate by abiding in a morbid medium. It operates violently
upon a structure which had almost become familiarized with impurity.
Inflammation is the result, and laryngitis is established.

The symptoms are broadly marked and prominently characterized. Dullness is
present. There is a slight enlargement, which may be observed externally,
and over the region of the larynx. The most distant attempt to handle
the throat produces energetic resistance. The head is carried awkwardly,
as though the neck were "stiff." A short cough is frequently to be heard
almost at every inspiration. At the same time, there is often to be
detected a hoarse sound, which becomes a sort of grunt, when the ear is
placed against the trachea. The breath is hurried and catching; the pulse
is full and throbbing; while the nasal membrane approaches to a scarlet
hue.

[Illustration: THE STEAMING-BAG.

For a full description see p. 85.]

The pulse requires the first attention. It must be rendered less frequent
and more soft, by drachm doses of tincture of aconite root in wineglasses
of water, which should be repeated every half hour. This is better than
blood-letting, as laryngitis is to be most dreaded because of its tendency
to assume the chronic form. This tendency venesection favors; therefore,
save under professional advice, refrain from bleeding.

After the pulse, the breathing next demands our care. Warmth and
moisture are curative and pleasant to an inflamed surface. Procure the
steaming-bag, and keep it almost constantly applied. The steaming-bag in
laryngitis is of the first importance. A day's delay in its use may so
aggravate the disorder as to oblige the resort to tracheotomy.

Should the steaming apparatus appear to distress the animal, it must be
used only for a limited period, and be reapplied after its effect has
subsided. To aid its operation, some soft hay must be obtained. Soak this
in boiling water and fix it upon the throat, by means of an eight-tailed
bandage, a representation of which is given below.

[Illustration: EIGHT-TAILED BANDAGE.

    A piece of stout canvas or flannel, one yard and a quarter long, and
    nine inches wide, is procured. Three slits are to be made at either
    end; each should be a quarter of a yard deep. This is placed round
    the throat and the ends are tied, four in front of, and four behind,
    the ears.
]

So soon as the animal appears capable of enduring interference, the
appended drink should be given thrice daily. While administering it, watch
the horse with the utmost attention. If the slightest inclination to cough
be exhibited, immediately lower the head, or the liquid may, during the
spasm, be drawn down the windpipe. It is far better to lose much physic
than to kill one animal. It will, generally, be more readily swallowed,
if made blood warm: on no account should the twitch be used or the jaws
be forced widely asunder. The neck of the bottle should be inserted into
the corner of the mouth, and the quadruped should be permitted to use its
discretion as to the time occupied before each gulp is swallowed.

    Infusion of squills                Two ounces.
    Infusion of ipecacuanha            Two ounces.
    Infusion of aconite                Half an ounce.
    Extract of belladonna              One drachm, rubbed down with a
                                         pint of warm water.
        Mix, and give thrice daily.

The lodging should be a cool, well-aired and thickly-littered loose box.
The legs ought to be bandaged and the body fully clothed. The food, during
the violence of the disorder, must consist only of well-made gruel. It may
be untouched; but, nevertheless, it must be changed, thrice daily, for no
one can tell when the appetite may return.

The signs of the disease becoming worse are, increased noise in the
breathing; the respiration and pulse quicken; the cough is suppressed; the
nasal membrane changes to a leaden hue; the standing becomes unsteady; the
horse moves about; partial sweats break forth, etc.

The symptoms of improvement are, the membrane becoming paler, or more
natural in color; the cough growing freer or louder; a white, thick
discharge flowing from the nostrils; the breathing, also, is easier and
less noisy; together with the general demonstrations of health.

Then a little moist and succulent food may be allowed, but nothing harsh
or fibrous should be presented. When the amendment is confirmed, a seton,
or, in other words, a piece of tape, may be put between the skin and
flesh, in the place indicated by one of the next engravings.

The seton should be moved daily, and ought to be kept in so long only as
is necessary for the secretion of healthy pus. That object being obtained,
cut off one of the knots, and by pulling at the other, withdraw the agent.
Some slight alteration is next made in the solidity or dryness of the
food; and then the neck or throat is blistered, the size and extent of the
blister being indicated in a subjoined illustration.

[Illustration: A SETON IN THE THROAT OF A HORSE.]

[Illustration: A HORSE WITH THE THROAT BLISTERED.]

The action of the vesicatory having subsided, the natural food may be
returned to, only with certain cautions. The hay must be shaken out,
to remove dust, and it should also be picked, to take away any harsh
substances, pieces of stick, or thistle leaves. Then, the fodder being
perfectly clean, should be sprinkled with water and allowed to remain
soaking, at least six hours prior to its being placed before the animal.
The oats, likewise, should be twice sifted and once examined thoroughly by
the hand. Afterward, warm water ought to be freely poured upon them, and
the grain be permitted to soak six hours before being put into the manger.

The popular opinion declares sore throat to be always present during
laryngitis. That notion springs from the horse always quidding, or
rejecting the pellet it has masticated, while suffering under an attack
of the last-mentioned disease. The two disorders, however, are distinct;
likewise the remedies for each are separate. The =quidding=, during
=laryngitis=, springs from the act of deglutition, obliging the sore
and inflamed larynx to rise and press the pellet against the roof of
the fauces. That act occasions much pain; hence the aversion to swallow
solid substances. Sore throat is, however, by no means the necessary
accompaniment of laryngitis. Neither are the bowels invariably confined
during the disease. It has been known that the purgation existed in such
energy as to require remedies. Consequently, no absolute plan of treatment
can be laid down. However, depletion should be avoided to every extent
which may be possible. The chronic form of the malady, consequent upon
debility, is to be much dreaded. Effusion into the membrane, covering the
rim of the larynx and its attendant roaring, is too frequently the result
of that weakness which is produced by active measures. Among the lesser
evils are cough, which not unfrequently proves but the precursor of more
potent ills. Therefore, while laryngitis lasts, rather check the fever by
gentle measures than resort to antimonials, niter, or the host of lowering
agents.

[Illustration: A HORSE IN THE ACT OF QUIDDING.]

So soon as the case is observed, change the stable: the horse will do
far better in the open air than in the foul atmosphere which originated
and must aggravate the disorder. Rain, snow, or frost are more wholesome
than the polluted warmth man's most humble slave is too often doomed to
inhale. The roofs of many stables are terribly low; in no building of
this kind is the covering too high. The welfare of the horse seems always
sacrified to the imaginary interests of its master. Thus, above the
stable is built a loft for the hay and a residence for the groom. To save
expense, the building is raised as small a distance from the ground as
possible. The height of modern buildings would be by no means extravagant,
were an entire stable of ordinary dimensions left free for a single
quadruped to breathe in. A puerile parsimony, however, denies the huge
lungs of the animal the only food life cannot do without, for even a short
space. Disease and death consequently soon waste treble the money ample
accommodation would not have consumed. Ignorance is the most expensive
quality a proprietor of horse-flesh can indulge; for nature invariably
refuses to be made subject to man's convenience.


ROARING.

A horse is said to roar when, during progression, he emits any unnatural
sound. The noise is not exactly of the same intensity in any two animals.
Some creatures roar so loud as to attract attention from the foot
passengers; others have so trivial a defect in this particular, that
it can only be detected after a breathing gallop. In all, however, it
materially lessens the value.

It is usual to cough horses suspected of being =roarers=; this, however,
is wrong. The constant pinching of the larynx may induce the affection.
The cough of a confirmed roarer, however, is peculiar. It consist of a
double effort; a spasmodic expulsion of the air, followed by a deep and
audible inspiration.

The best mode of detecting a roarer, where exercise is forbidden or
impossible, is to get a stick and to quietly approach the suspected
animal. Having reached the head, take a short hold of the halter, and all
at once display the weapon, at the same time making a pretense as though
about to use it violently upon the abdomen. The horse in alarm will run
toward the manger, and, if a roarer, the action will be accompanied by an
audible grunt. This proof, taken with the refusal to allow the horse to be
tried, is generally conclusive though by itself the test is by no means
satisfactory. Many horses that are not roarers will sometimes grunt under
the emotion of fear.

Of =roaring= there are two kinds, acute and chronic. =Acute roaring= is
that which is merely symptomatic of a disease. It may be produced by the
tumor of strangles compressing the larynx; by the impediment, in choking,
being situated so high up as to interfere with the breathing; and by many
other causes. In these cases remove the excitant, and the effect will
immediately cease. Acute roaring is, therefore, a very trivial affair,
excepting so far as it indicates the severity of the complaint, which
generates the affection.

=Chronic roaring= is a very different business. This mostly results
from the abuse to which a generous animal is subject, during the early
period of its domestication. A carriage horse may be serviceable, and
even dashing, when the twentieth year has passed; but the vast majority
of these animals perish before maturity is reached. A handsome pair of
Cleveland bays pull some fashionable lady round the park, before their
bones are formed or the teeth perfected. The animals have also to take
their mistress the circle of morning calls, and to be smartly stopped
short at the door of every house she visits, while their sinews are still
soft and yielding. They have to "go faster," when their mistress is in
a hurry, and have to wait her pleasure when she is disposed to linger.
They have to do all this, while their bodies are distorted by the
bearing-rein; the balance of their frames being violently made to conform
to the capricious notions of modern fashion. For the illustration of this
subject, an animal, with a head rather well put on, has been chosen. The
engraving represents a horse undergoing the torture of the bearing-rein.
The next illustration exhibits the horse carrying its head as it would,
were it free to exercise a choice. The reader is not asked which
delineation looks the best. Any appeal to his taste is forborne, because
the generality of eyes are perverted by the dictates of custom.

[Illustration: A HORSE'S HEAD PULLED UP BY THE BEARING-REIN.]

[Illustration: A HORSE'S HEAD WITHOUT THE BEARING-REIN.]

But he is asked to inspect the representations. Let him look well and long
at them; then declare which appears most at ease. Let his heart instruct
his eyes, and, to its teaching, let him subject his liking; for there can
be no beauty where constraint is perceptible. In the most vigorous of
the ancient statuary repose may be absent, the muscles may be strained
and the attitude violent; still all the parts balance. "Yes," it may be
replied, "but in the Elgin marbles the horses' heads are thrown back." So
they are; but not fixed back. The horses are ridden without bridles. The
elevation of the head, therefore, denotes spirit, and represents no more
than the action of a moment. The modern carriage horse, whether galloping,
trotting, or standing still, always has the head in one attitude, save
when the muzzle is thrown into the air to ease, for an instant, the pained
angles of the mouth, inhumanly tugged at by the bearing-rein.

Which of the foregoing engravings looks most at ease? Does not the
fashionable horse appear suffering constraint and torture? The face is
disguised and concealed by the harness; but enough is left visible to
suggest the agony compulsion inflicts. "Pride," says the proverb, "has
no feeling." Therefore, no expectation is formed of any appeal to the
fashionable circles; but by the ignorance of the public is this barbarity
licensed. Were the mass properly informed, the hooting of the populace
would soon drive fashion into a more humane usage.

[Illustration: THE HEALTHY LARYNX.

    1. The thyro-hyordeus muscle.
    2. The crico-thyroideus muscle.
    3. The arytenoideus muscle.
    4. The crico-arytenoideus posticus muscle.
    _a. a._ The thyroid bone.
    A. The epiglottis (a cartilage.)
    B. The arytenoid cartilages.
    C. The thyroid cartilage.
    D. The cricoid cartilage.
    E. E. E. The commencement of the trachea.
]

[Illustration: THE EFFECT PRODUCED BY THE BEARING-REIN.

    _a._ The healthy arytenoideus muscle.

    _b._ The healthy crico-artenoideus posticus muscle.

    A. The arytenoideus muscle paralyzed and partially
      absorbed by the constant use of the
      bearing-rein.
    B. The crico-arytenoideus posticus muscle rendered
      pallid, and deprived of power by the
      use of the bearing-rein.
]

The left engraving represents the larynx in a state of health. The larynx
is the most sensitive organ in the body. If a crumb of bread, a particle
of salt, or a drop of water "go the wrong way," or enter the larynx,
everybody has felt the convulsive coughing that immediately ensues.
Yet this larynx, so exquisitively sensitive, and so resentful of the
lightest touch, is forced out of place and shape by the adoption of the
bearing-rein. The whole weight of the head is made to press against the
larynx; the action of the part is stopped; certain muscles are thrown out
of use. Now, doom a part to constant rest, and paralysis soon results.
This is exactly what follows the often long stoppage of that freedom which
is necessary to the health of any structure. Certain of the muscles are
absorbed; they lose their bulk and part with their color; their function
is destroyed: the consequence is, the horse becomes a confirmed and an
incurable roarer.

So fearful a result, as a life of anguish to any creature, might be
thought sufficient to amend a triviality like the whim of fashion. Still,
sad as that consequence is, it is not all which this folly engenders. The
larynx, sensitive and delicately constructed, is formed upon different
pieces of cartilage. This substance is slowly organized and very yielding.
The structures of the youthful horse's frame are not confirmed. All are
soft, especially a substance naturally semi-elastic. The bearing-rein
forces the head upon the neck; the larynx thereby is compressed. It
assumes strange forms, when it is forced from its natural position. As
maturity arrives, the various structures harden. Then distortion of the
larynx becomes fixed. This organ has been taken from the bodies of old
animals, of the shape here depicted. The morbid specimen, from which
the following was copied, is, unfortunately, too common, as the late
Professor Sewell clearly demonstrated. But, what a price is this to pay
for fashion--to sit for hours behind a noble creature, whose exertions are
adding to our pleasure, and at the same time to be entailing deformity
upon the animal! Physical soundness is of far more importance to the horse
than to the human being. The value of the quadruped, its manner of life,
its kind of treatment, the sufficiency of its food, and the comparative
comfort of its lodging,--all are regulated by the soundness of its body.

[Illustration:

    THE TRACHEA AND LARYNX DISTORTED THROUGH THE CONSTANT USE OF THE
    BEARING-REIN.
]

[Illustration: THE CABMAN'S REMEDY FOR ROARING.]

There are those who assert roaring is no injury to the powers of a horse.
Certain animals, to be sure, can hunt and keep a good pace, although thus
afflicted; but Nimrod (as the well-known, late sporting writer called
himself) soon found out to his cost that all roarers were not fit to ride
across country. The writer has seen a sailor, deprived of one leg, dance
a hornpipe with wonderful agility; but it would be folly, therefore, to
say sailors were not injured as dancers by the loss of a limb. That which
impedes the free passage of air to the lungs must be a rather serious
detriment to exertion. The cab proprietors of London, who cannot afford to
purchase very sound animals, and then to let them out at so much per day
to strange drivers, have discovered a way to prevent the noise generally
made by roarers. This end is attained by placing a pad under a portion of
the harness. In the following engraving this pad is indicated by a white
mark; though in reality it is so colored as to blend with the coat of the
horse. It presses upon the nostrils near to their openings, and by thus
limiting the extent of their expansion, by controlling the space through
which the air has to pass, it also commands the quantity of atmosphere
which is inspired. Thus the bulk of air is regulated to the diminution
of the respiratory organs. The horse breathes freer, and no noise is
made during the act. Yet, although such a contrivance may do very well
for a London cab, the pace of which is regulated by Act of Parliament,
it evidently is unsuited to the field, where everything depends on the
capacity of the lungs, and nothing upon the sound made during inspiration.

Other causes are mentioned by different writers as provocatives of
roaring, besides tight reining. Some of these, like thickening and
ulceration of the membrane lining the larynx, are the after consequences
of acute disease, and, as such, are to be prevented only by judicious
treatment during the existence of the primary disorder. Among other
causes, bands of coagulable lymph in the trachea, and congenital
deformity, are too rare to deserve the attention they have received.

There is one consolation, however, connected with the subject which
breeders may accept with confidence. Roaring is not necessarily
hereditary. There is, moreover, a caution, which, associated with roaring,
may be given to purchasers. When trying a horse at the top of its speed,
never hold in the reins tightly. By so doing, you draw the head upon
the neck, compress the larynx, and may make almost any animal, however
sound, "roar like a bull." Rather wait till the animal has stopped. Then
dismount, place your ear against the windpipe, and, if the horse is a
roarer, the deep inspirations necessary to tranquilize the system will
inform you plainly enough of the fact.


CHOKING.

Gentlemen have something to answer for, when they employ the knowing
and the ignorant as grooms about their stables. The writer wishes women
would undertake to tend on horses. The animal requires no service that
the female strength would not be equal to, while the female mind would
soon comprehend and appreciate the gentleness of the quadruped. The
timidity of the equine race would meet with womanly sympathy; and no one
can have observed the attachments which spring up between the female and
domesticated creatures, but must in heart have confessed that the care
of the stable was, as much as the watching of the sick-room, especially
woman's province.

The foolish fellows, now congregated about a mews, are constantly longing
for something which shall magically do their work for them. They have a
firm belief in charms and an utter hatred of labor. They sigh for some
spell which shall marvelously improve the appearance of their master's
property without exertions on their parts. Their pride centers in the
blooming coats of their charges. They have a large confidence in all
sorts of condition balls. Such secrets constitute the mystery of their
craft. As a general rule, the faith is proportioned to the strength of the
ingredient. Arsenic is, by the lower order of stable keepers, contemplated
with positive love. Vitriol, in the uneducated groom, engenders the warmth
of passion. Niter breeds delight; and confidence is, by the better sort
of horse attendants, bestowed on any filth or trash. Raw tobacco has
some repute; but the ashes of the weed, collected and wrapped in several
papers, are much more esteemed in the generality of stables. Half a pint
of human urine, forced down the cleanly throat of the horse, is not an
unfrequent benefit bestowed upon the animal; but, happily, this specific
is recognized only by the more learned of the class. Of all things,
however, to amend condition, perhaps, a raw egg driven into the horse's
œsophagus, before any food has been consumed, may be honored by the most
universal regard.

Nevertheless, be the condition-worker what it may, the groom generally
keeps his own counsel. Arsenic and vitriol are commonly favorites with
agricultural carters, who poison their horses with the intention of
over-much kindness. Tobacco ashes and eggs are popular with the more
refined of the order. Both classes, however, are too self-confident and
too ignorant to have any fear of consequences. With the groom, the egg is
thrust into the fasting gullet. Its size excites the contractibility of
the muscular fiber; the substance is soon grasped by the living tube with
spasmodic tenacity. There it is retained. The symptoms consequent upon
=choking= are soon exhibited; but the groom looks on unmoved. At first, he
thinks the evidence of agony is proof in favor of his charm; subsequently
he resolves, with the cunning of ignorance, "not to split upon hisself."

Now, in a case of this description, never depend upon any report you may
have received. Recollect choking may spring from two opposite causes. The
symptoms may result from disease, as strangles; or they may arise from any
tumor pressing against the respiratory channel. In that instance, however,
remove the cause, and the effect will cease. Of genuine choking, during
health, there remain two sorts: the high and the low choke. Thus, if the
substance has become fixed in the pharynx, or has only passed six inches
down the œsophagus, the symptoms are urgent. The remedy must be at hand,
else the life is quickly lost.

In the =high choke= the head is raised; saliva bedews the lips; a
discharge soils the nostrils; the eyes are inflamed and watery; the
countenance is haggard; the breathing audible; the muscles of the neck
are tetanic; the flanks heave; the body is in constant motion; the fore
legs paw and stamp; the hind legs crouch and dance; perspiration breaks
forth; every movement expresses agony: wherefore, if relief be not quickly
afforded, the horse falls and dies of suffocation.

[Illustration: THE HIGH CHOKE.]

The veterinary surgeon should attend such a case, prepared to perform
tracheotomy, which sometimes is absolutely necessary, before anything
intended to remove the obstruction can be attempted. The operation, in
this case, is designed to be no more than temporary; therefore, the use of
Mr. Gowing's tracheotomy tube is here decidedly in its proper place. It
can be inserted; a few moments after it can be removed, and leave behind
no loss of substance to be supplied or to retard recovery.

[Illustration: AN EXTEMPORIZED HOOK TO RELIEVE HIGH CHOKING.]

The balling-iron, after tracheotomy is accomplished, should be fixed in
the mouth and the hand then introduced. Sometimes the impacted substance
can be felt, but cannot be grasped. In this last case, a rough hook is
to be extemporized out of any wire which may be at hand. It should be of
the shape indicated in the preceding engraving, and of sufficient length
to reach behind the obstruction. The hook is to be gently worked into its
situation, and, with a sudden jerk, the foreign body is to be removed from
the œsophagus.

Occasionally, the substance is so firmly embraced as not to permit any
instrument to pass beside it. Sulphuric ether must then be inhaled, in
the hope of thus overcoming the spasm. The ether, however, does not in
every instance prove successful; and, as an egg, probably, alone could be
of sufficient size to resist all the measures adopted for its removal, a
large darning-needle must then be procured. That, being first armed with a
piece of strong twine, must be driven through the skin and made to enter
the globular impactment. There is no danger of injuring nerves or arteries
while doing this; all vessels are pushed on one side by the enlargement,
caused by the choking substance. The integrity of the shell being
destroyed, the egg may easily be broken by external pressure. Another plan
proposed, is to insert a fine trocar, and draw off the contents of the
egg. Either method would answer, but it is always well to wound the lining
membrane of the œsophagus as little as may be possible.

The employment of the cow probang has been advocated; the egg to be
broken, if this recommendation is adopted, by the employment of the
whalebone stilet. The œsophagus of the cow and horse, however, are of such
different construction, that he must be a very bold or a very ignorant
person who dare employ an instrument made for the first, to remove an
obstruction within the gullet of the last.

[Illustration: THE COW PROBANG, USED TO BREAK AN EGG.]

An old and hardened ball may provoke this accident; but then the
impactment is not complete, because such substances are seldom of a
perfect round. The sides are opened, and the obstruction is, therefore,
more easily removed. Horses are not like the bovine race, so greedy as to
swallow potatoes or small turnips, without mastication. Besides, man's
favorite is more under domestication, and, therefore, less exposed to such
accidents.

When the choking occurs low down, or within the thoracic portion of the
œsophagus, the symptoms are less urgent. The animal ceases to feed. If
water is attempted to be swallowed, it returns by the nostrils. The
countenance expresses anguish; but the head is not held erect, neither
are the muscles of the neck spasmodically contracted. Saliva flows from
the mouth, and a copious discharge runs from the nose. The breathing is
labored; but it is seldom noisy. The back is roached, the flanks tucked
up, and the horse often stands as if desirous of elevating the quarters.

After two or three days, (for the =low choke= may continue such a period,)
the accumulation of wind within the abdomen becomes excessive; the
breathing quickens; the pulse fails, and the animal (if not relieved)
perishes from suffocation, induced by tympanitis.

[Illustration: THE LOW CHOKE.]

For low choke more time than nature allows, when the impediment is
situated near the mouth, may be occupied. No hurry nor any speedy remedy
is required. Give oil, by the quarter of a pint, every hour. In the
intermediate half hours give strong antispasmodics, using the horse
probang after every dose of the latter. Sulphuric ether, two ounces;
laudanum, two ounces; water, half a pint, will constitute the proper
drench. Should the whole be returned, chloroform must be administered,
by inhalation, till total insensibility results. Then, the head being
extended, the probang should be introduced, and gentle but steady pressure
made to force the obstruction onward. If success comes early, it is easily
welcomed; but it is well not to expect success before the expiration of
twenty minutes. When movement is felt, do not increase the force. Maintain
a steady pressure, never relaxing and never augmenting the power exerted.
Drive the substance slowly before you, but do not, by sudden energy, risk
either the provocation of spasmodic action or a rupture of the œsophagus.

Before using the probang, always calculate the length of the whalebone,
so as to judge when the end has nearly entered the stomach. It is always
well, if possible, to avoid forcing the end of the probang through the
cardiac opening, as the termination of the œsophagus is called. The
muscular fibers here are strongly developed, and are formed to resist
the passage of any substance out of the stomach. To be sure, the animal
is under the influence of chloroform; but that powerful agent seems more
particularly to exert its action upon the voluntary muscles; whereas, the
cardiac orifice is guarded by white, involuntary muscular fiber.

A few days subsequent to the removal of the obstruction, no matter where
it may have been situated, feed on soft-boiled food--not bran mashes; and
in case of roots not being at hand, sustain the life with smoothly-made
gruel. Let the animal be observed, when watered. Should the liquid be
returned by the nostrils, injury to the lining membrane of the œsophagus
is indicated; stricture may then be anticipated. Though it be not probable
that any medicine will now be beneficial, nevertheless, as an experiment,
administer, thrice daily, four ounces of water in which four grains of
chloride of zinc have been dissolved.

Such is a true and brief history of the terrible mishaps that result
from the mingled knowingness and ignorance which characterize the
majority of grooms. A good or simple lad would be sadly out of place in
a modern stable, though the writer should recommend the employment of
such to become more general. The tricks and arts of professed grooms are
all worthless or injurious. To such men, however, is the timid horse
intrusted; and so much are our minds enslaved by custom, that the hint
only of employing women in the stable will, no doubt, be received with
general indignation. Let us, however, endeavor to view the matter without
prejudice. Women work in the fields; women fill the situations of men
as domestic servants; women carry heavy loads; women, on the continent,
perform the duties of men; women commonly tend an animal of inferior
intelligence, the cow; women are subordinate to men only where strength is
concerned. In the stable no strength is required. Courage, even, is out of
place there. Gentleness is the only quality imperative, and gentleness so
habitual that it never will alarm timidity. This attribute seems to reside
in the feminine mind; and, however opposed it may be to habit, the author
cannot but lament the barrier which prevents the horse from becoming known
to its natural attendant.


RUPTURE AND STRICTURE OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS.

The gullet or œsophagus of the horse is, perhaps, the most compact and
delicate structure in a beautiful body. Its mucous lining membrane is
thrown into minute folds, thereby announcing to the studious anatomist
the degree of extension the tube was designed to endure. Its exterior
is enveloped by a large mass of cellular tissue, by which means the
independence of its motion is secured; it will permit of less violence
than almost any other part. Small as its channel and delicate as its
lining membrane are, the tube is amply large and strong enough for a
creature which masticates long before it deglutates once, and which is by
nature forbidden to regurgitate.

However, stable-men seek not to understand but love to master the
quadruped intrusted to their charge. The butt-end of a carter's whip is a
favorite resort with these people, whether serving some farmer or acting
as grooms to some lord. When any mighty specific happens to stick in its
passage to the stomach, the butt-end of the whip is employed to drive the
obstinate charm onward. Should the obstruction be situated low down, the
whip is neither small enough nor pliable enough to touch the offending
matter. Should the choking mass be lodged high up, by compelling it beyond
the reach of human hand, positive injury is done, and ultimate relief is
rendered very problematical indeed; however, ignorance is not often to
be deterred by difficulties. As the passage narrows, greater violence is
resorted to; the men push and strive till at last the whip moves onward,
and the stable-men congratulate each other upon "all being right at last."

When the whip seemed to yield, something more than the obstruction gave
way; the walls of the canal were ruptured; an almost inevitable death then
awaits the unfortunate animal. The food is rejected; drink is refused; the
creature stands motionless, the picture of horror; it seems to comprehend
and to await its approaching fate. The neck begins to swell; the swelling
creeps on till it invests the entire body. Gas has found entrance into
the cellular tissue, through the divided gullet. Death at last ensues,
because the inflation impedes the vital functions, and, being corruptive,
is incompatible with the preservation of living organism.

[Illustration: The dilated œsophagus or sac superior to the stricture.

The Stricture.

The tube of its natural size.

STRICTURE OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS]

More often, however, the whip only tears the internal membrane; the
obstruction has been dislodged and removed, but a worse evil has been
created. The horse for a time refuses food, and the anxious master wonders
"what can be the matter!" At last the pain may cease, the appetite return,
for nature may strive to repair the damage. The whip usually tears a
flap of membrane, which, obedient to the laws of gravity, hangs pendant
within the œsophagus. Our common parent, however, does not, after the
human pattern, repair the evil which man induces. She has no mortal hand
wherewith to restore the rent membrane to its place. The sides of the
wound, however, strive to unite, and by the date when this junction is
accomplished, the mucous membrane being inelastic, the magnitude of the
canal is seriously diminished. Nature seems to feel that the chief strain
of deglutition will be upon this lessened spot, which, therefore, she
endeavors to support and strengthen. Lymph is deposited about the place,
till ultimately a firm and solid stricture is formed.

This, however, though bad enough, is not the worst. Lymph, after a
time, has a tendency to contract. With the diminution of the external
ring, of course the internal canal decreases; it is strained at every
meal; but straining only provokes its contractive power, till at length
hardly the best comminuted morsel could pass the opening. Such, however,
rarely enters the strictured œsophagus; the difficulty of deglutition
renders it impossible for the appetite to be appeased. No sooner is
the food placed before the animal than, because of hunger, induced by
prolonged starvation, it is bolted, almost unprepared by mastication and
insalivation. Nourishment in that state cannot pass the stricture; it
lodges above the contraction; still, hunger impels the horse to eat on. It
does so till the œsophagus becomes distended. Gullets have been taken from
animals, stretched till they are thinner than the paper upon which this
book is printed, and so much enlarged as to admit a boy's clenched fist.

After the affection reaches this stage, the swollen œsophagus, when
loaded, presses upon the trachea and larynx so severely as materially to
impede the breathing, and it is at this period that instinct develops
a strange artifice. The horse has no power to vomit; the fibers of the
healthy œsophagus impel but in one direction; still, no sooner has the
gullet become distended than the impaired breathing creates a desire to
remove the obstruction. The chin is lowered; the crest is thus curved to
the utmost, when the muscles of the neck are brought into violent action,
and the impacted provender is shot back through the mouth and nostrils.

[Illustration:

    THE HORSE ENDEAVORING TO CAST UP THE PROVENDER WITH WHICH THE SAC OF
    A STRICTURED ŒSOPHAGUS IS LOADED.
]

This description reads bad enough, but regard for veracity obliges the
statement that is not yet complete. Hunger, when excessive, causes the
stomach to pour forth its acid secretion; this effect is produced by the
sight of provender; but the gastric juice not being given food to act
upon, passes into the intestines; there it provokes the most intense
spasm; so that it is common to see the hind legs raised to violently
strike the aching belly, while the labored breathing announces that
abstinence from any kind of exertion has become a primary necessity of
life.

The only palliative for so pitiable a condition is carefully-prepared
food--gruel and such substances given in small quantities at a time. The
horse, however, when it requires such support, generally has been so much
lowered by disease as not to be worth its ordinary keep. No one cares
merely to prolong the equine life; the animal is only permitted to live
because of the profit man can make out of its labor; yet, for the full
meanness of the last motive, let the horse proprietor seek a better class
of servants for his grooms. Let him abolish the stunted, long-faced,
narrow-headed compounds of mischief and of treachery which are now the
common inhabitants of every mews. Before doing so, however, he must amend
himself; he must be prepared to teach by example; the present groom only
fulfills the wishes and panders to the pride of the master. Were a higher
order of stable-men desired, the longing could easily be supplied; but
fashion pronounces in favor of the present, natty affectations, and men
with more solid qualities naturally refuse to compete in an arena so
unworthily occupied.

Before quitting this subject, a caution must be given against all probangs
as at present made. The cow probang is evidently unsuited to the equine
gullet. The horse instrument has the bell of the cow probang attached to
a piece of whalebone; when a narrow channel is to be entered, the bulk
of the leading substance is of all importance. That which goes in front,
not that which lies behind, has then to be considered; so, in spite of
the whalebone, the present horse probang is nothing more than the cow
instrument in disguise.

[Illustration: The horse probang as at the present made.

    That which should be employed.

THE HORSE PROBANG, AS IT IS AND AS IT OUGHT TO BE.]

The probang intended for the horse should be formed like that employed
upon the human subject. It should consist of a long slip of fine
whalebone, having a sponge fixed to one end; when required, the sponge
should be thoroughly saturated in water or in oil, (according to the
circumstances,) then squeezed dry and forced down the œsophagus. The
material would adapt itself to every cavity, would fill the largest,
but could not harm the smallest; would as effectually remove every
obstruction, but would not be so difficult to retract, if the head should
by accident pass the cardiac orifice.


BRONCHOCELE.

This disease, which entails much suffering upon the human species, under
the name of "goitre," is, in the horse, a very trivial affair. The cause
of its origin has not yet been made plain. It is, however, a sign that
nature suffers in some essential particular. In the sunless depths of the
valleys about the Alps, it is, with man, a frightful deformity. May not
the dark and close stables, in which horses too often are confined, have
something to do with its production in these animals?

It is an enlargement of a substance anatomically called the thyroid gland.
This body resides upon the larynx, immediately under the jaw. It is
occasionally as large as a hen's egg, but seldom is of greater magnitude.
Its natural size is that of half a chestnut. The enlargement appears
to occasion no inconvenience, and is only objected to because horsemen
consider it unsightly. Purchasers, moreover, are fastidious about buying
an animal which exhibits any unusual development.

It, however, generally yields to treatment, and the animal need not be
taken from gentle work during the time occupied by the cure. Let the
following drink be given night and morning:--

    Iodide of potassium      Half a drachm.
    Liquor potassæ           One drachm.
    Distilled water          Half a pint.

At the periods stated for giving the medicine, rub into the enlargement a
portion of the annexed ointment. Remember, any of the unguent being left
upon the hair is proof positive that sufficient friction has not been
employed. The ointment can in no way benefit the external covering. The
object of friction is to get the ointment absorbed. This it effects by
promoting warmth, and thereby inducing dryness, both of which stimulate
the pores of the skin to take up outward moisture.

When this is being accomplished, there is no necessity for extraordinary
care or excessive attention. The tumor, which constitutes =bronchocele=,
is certainly not endowed with morbid sensibility. Sufficient force for
the purpose in view, therefore, may be safely exerted; but, at the same
time, it is always well, where horses are concerned, to discard anything
approaching to violence. Consequently, exercise a proper discretion when
employing the following ointment:--

    Iodide of lead      One drachm.
    Simple cerate       One ounce.

[Illustration: A HORSE WITH BRONCHOCELE.]

Supposing the tumor to be present only upon one side, a piece of the
ointment as large as a hazelnut will be sufficient, if well rubbed in each
time. Twice the quantity will be necessary when the swelling is to be seen
upon both sides of the neck; and should the part become sore, of course
all application must be stopped for the time necessarily occupied by the
healing process.




CHAPTER VI.

THE CHEST AND ITS CONTENTS--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.


CONGESTION IN THE FIELD.

[Illustration: A HORSE PROSTRATE FROM BEING OVERRIDDEN.]

It is a dangerous thing to trust a dumb animal to the guidance of an
ignorant man; such a person is dangerous because he does not understand
that certain preparation adapts vitality to particular usages. A racer
may be a mysterious creature, about which he dares to think nothing,
excepting that it is a horse, very beautiful and very fleet; a hunter,
in his notion, is any horse running after hounds; he takes the stable
favorite out for a morning canter, crosses the hunt, and immediately,
with no thought of harm, joins the field. For the first few acres a very
ungentlemanly person may, in a very gruff voice, request him to "hold hard
and not to ride over the dogs;" but the first three fields passed, there
is no need of such a caution. The horse, with that perfect abandonment of
self which makes its will its master's choice, and converts the rider's
pleasure into its delight, strains every nerve; its head is protruded and
its legs outstretched; it struggles hard, but can make no way. Voice,
whip, and spur by turns urge the animal onward, but it has been taken
suddenly from its uses; the horse thinks not of that, it only seeks to
gratify the being who for a time has become its ruler. To his amusement it
devotes itself, and obedient to this idea, it runs, or endeavors to run,
till its limbs are with difficulty lifted from the ground; it reels, it
falls, and the would-be huntsman stands over a prostrate steed.

The horse has =congestion of the lungs=. Yes; but what caused it?
Over-exertion, accompanied by a consequent absence of nervous energy.
The sensibility of the larynx, feeling the exhaustion before the body
appreciated it, inclined inward; they prevented the atmosphere from
oxygenating the blood. Deficient oxygen causes the frame, spite of violent
exertion, to feel clammy cold. The brain being supplied with impure blood,
produces temporary insensibility. Vitality seems to be contesting with
death.

Now, were a fleam, and some one who understood how to use it, at hand,
venesection might do good; neither are to be found; the animal after some
time rises, and with difficulty is led to shelter. Country opinions always
incline to stimulants; gin and pepper is, in all rural districts, a potent
horse physic. A dose is administered; the horse seems to amend; another
and another jorum is poured down the animal's throat. After the third
potion it is clear to all the horse is becoming worse. Bloody water is
soon blown from the nostrils; partial sweats break forth; the eye assumes
a gray appearance; all at once the departing life appears to rally; the
animal seems to walk with a firmer step; but just as this fact has been
observed, it falls, and almost without a struggle expires.

Such is a lamentable instance of the general ignorance which prevails
concerning horses. Firmly as nature may have united man and horse,
gentility would dissever them; it is not polite in society to speak
of man's most patient companion and most faithful slave. Gentility
condescends to use animals, but loves to prate only of frivolity. The
education of the young, which should be directed by the conversation of
the matured, is thus neglected; boys, London boys especially, regard the
stable as a place to be avoided; they view horses, not as the gentlest
of created beings, but as creatures it were a breach of good manners to
speak of "before ladies." They learn to consider these animals and all
that concerns them, as subjects to be forgotten the instant "_society_
is entered." From the ignorance thus fostered, and from the fashion
which prefers to talk about trifles to conversing of those matters which
constitute the facts of reality and involve the instruction of the
youthful, springs that mishap which has been described as congestion of
the lungs.

A noble animal is thus, by prejudice, denied the benefit which would
otherwise result from social opinion. Woman, whose gentleness fits her
for the companionship of the timid horse, is, as by design, kept in
perfect ignorance of her lawful possession. The creature is separated even
from those benefits which would result from the expression of feminine
sentiment. A being that seeks protection, that with a submission amounting
to a perfect denial of self, entreats for shelter and begs to serve, is
handed over to the harshest order of the human race. Much more than this,
it is transferred to the custody of the ignorant, who view its nature as
requiring to be subdued, and think they display spirit when they treat the
most fearful of living creatures as though it were a carnivorous brute
bent upon ravening and destroying.

When a horse sinks in the field, bleed if possible; should the necessary
means not be at hand, a vein may be punctured with a knife, and every
vein in the body is then turgid with congestion. There is no difficulty
of seeing where to puncture, and a pint taken at this time does more good
than a gallon abstracted one hour subsequently. Then cover the body;
pull off your own coat if there be any want of clothing; you caused the
mischief and should not heed personal nicety when reparation is possible.
Lead quickly but gently to the nearest stable; there heap hot rugs upon
the body; the desire is to relieve the lungs by determining the blood to
the surface; bandage the legs and cover the neck; warm the stable either
with fire or by means of tubs full of boiling water. This being done, if
a chemist lives in the neighborhood, procure one ounce of ether and half
an once of laudanum, which dose, in rather more than half a pint of water,
should be given, without any noise or bustle, every half hour. Should no
chemist be near, take two tablespoonfuls of turpentine, which beat up with
the yolk of an egg, and give in half a pint of water. Place a pailful of
cold gruel within easy reach of the horse, and see that there is an ample
bed under it. These things being done, do not leave the place before the
fate of the horse is determined, which it invariably is before thirty
hours have expired; for the proprietor's presence is the only surety that
orders are obeyed, where horses and the uninstructed are concerned.


CONGESTION IN THE STABLE.

This affection mostly attacks debilitated or fat horses. These creatures
are driven far in a four-wheeled carriage, heavily laden. One animal,
of small size, has to drag an entire family. Else, the quadruped has to
journey fast to avoid a shower of rain. The horse is flogged onward. A
horse, whose motions are quickened by the lash, is not likely to be
very closely observed. It is much more probable the speed will be blamed
as laziness, than the laboring life be pitied for exhaustion. Yet, when
=congestion= follows, it is proof positive that the powers of nature were
overtaxed.

The wretched slave, after the distance is accomplished, is taken from the
shafts and led into the stable; it is hardly tied to the manger before a
sickening sensation seizes on the body. The head hangs down; the furnished
rack and manger are not glanced at. This alarms the groom's prejudices. At
length the man imagines it must be thirst which prevents his charge from
eating. The attendant hastens for water, but on his return he finds the
horse blowing; that is, panting or breathing quickly.

[Illustration: CONGESTION IN THE STABLE.]

This symptom, which only denotes exhaustion, used to be regarded as the
forerunner of inflammation of the lungs. Doubtless, it would terminate
thus seriously, were nothing done to arrest the progress of the affection.
The change from extreme labor to perfect rest produces a revulsion of the
system. The capillaries contract and soon become in a congested condition.
Not only does this state affect the lungs, but it is present all over
the body. Should the pulse be now taken, the artery will be round and
gorged. The beat may be either quicker or slower than most books fix the
number at; but it will be very feeble and will convey no idea of vital
activity. It hardly stirs, suggesting the surging of a tranquil summer
sea upon a sandy shore. Partial perspirations may break forth, and the
body may become wet with a fluid of no higher temperature than the skin
from which it exudes. The feet are cold; the eye is fixed; the living
type of obedience moves not, when commanded; hearing is lost; all natural
functions appear to be arrested, except the breathing; and that being
involuntary, nevertheless is evidently disordered.

If this condition be immediately attended to, it will disappear almost as
quickly as it was exhibited. Take two ounces each of sulphuric ether and
of laudanum; cold water, one pint. Give this drink with caution, as the
animal to which it is administered is not conscious. Have patience with
sickness, and the whole will be swallowed; or the fumes will be inhaled
and do almost as much good as the imbibition of the fluid.

The drink being given, do not leave the stable. Wait by the side of the
horse, watching the effect of the draught. If in ten minutes the horse
has not perfectly recovered, or be but partially restored, let another
similar portion be poured into the body. More will seldom be required;
but, notwithstanding, watch for twenty minutes after the last drink, as
such fits occasionally vanish and reappear.

The rack and the manger must be emptied. Gruel is all we dare at present
trust within reach of an exhausted frame. Though the animal would eat,
solid food must be withheld. The body should be lightly, but well clothed;
and a pail of gruel should be suspended from the manger, so that a heavy
head need not be raised high to partake of it.

The next day the creature, thus treated, may return to its customary food
and be as well as ever; but when the animal reached home, should the groom
have been in a hurry, if company should have been waiting for dinner, and
the horse should be hastily turned into the stall by the only servant kept
by gentility; then the congestion is unseen, and any disease may follow
it. This condition used to be, as fainting in the human being once was,
treated by the abstraction of blood. But to bleed a debilitated horse, is
to increase the cause of the affection, which it should be the province of
physic to destroy. By the stimulant, which leaves behind no inflammatory
tendency; by the subtle distillation, which speedily traverses the frame,
we revive the system and awaken lagging nature once more to vital activity.

When congestion is not noticed in the first instance, and has time to
become confirmed, the original disorder is invariably swallowed up in some
greater evil. Pneumonia and pleurisy are the favorite shapes which it
assumes; but it has terminated in fatal enteritis.


BRONCHITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE AIR-PASSAGES.

This serious affection is, mostly, the consequence of man's neglect. The
master rides far and fast. He dismounts at some pleasant threshold and
remains long under the roof. During that time the horse stands outside,
either shivering in the cold or pelted by the storm. The general treatment
seems to say, that life and machinery, being equally subservient to man's
will, are, in fact, the same things in man's regard. Even the wheels and
bars of polished iron, however, require care or they soon become useless;
the thews and sinews of a living body cannot be abused with impunity. So
plain a truth should be acknowledged by something more than words. Life
and functions connect men and animals. Their habits may be dissimilar
and their food not alike; but, when we consider the wants of each, their
liabilities and their diseases, the approach to actual sameness becomes
almost startling. The man who can enjoy himself, without bestowing a
serious thought upon the unfortunate steed which has carried him hither
and will bear him hence, deserves to lose the life of which he is so
culpably careless. Change the places of the two existences. Let the horse
be rendered comfortable and the man be stationed outside. The result would
be the same: the man would in that case probably suffer from bronchitis.
Does intelligence require a more startling evidence of the link which
binds master and servant while sojourners upon this earth?

=Bronchitis= is indeed a painful malady. Originally situated upon and
confined to the membrane lining the air tubes, it has an aptitude to
involve the entire contents of the thorax. Being the ailment of mucous
membranes, it requires cautious treatment. A small blood-letting may
induce the prostration no tonics can remove; a slight dose of aloes
often starts up the purgation no astringents will check. It is agile at
metastisis. It too often leaves behind the evidence of its visitation.
Add to all this, that though so much to be feared, it does not announce
its advent with a thundering double knock. It creeps on insidiously,
and comes in so gradual a form, as if it intended to deceive the groom.
The appetite, during the primary stage, is often unaffected, nay, is
sometimes increased. Stable-men have a strong prejudice where feeding is
concerned. The most educated of the class can imagine nothing more than a
slight cold, while the corn is only partially consumed. Thus the disease,
in consequence of delay, mounts into fury, before its presence is fully
recognized.

Very rarely is the groom's attention excited during the approach of the
disorder, or while a short cough simply bespeaks irritation; while the
breathing is merely excited; while the legs are warm; while the mouth
is moist, and the nasal membrane only a little deeper in hue than is
positively consonant with perfect health. No! The stable-man is content
while any desire for food remains. Let appetite be quite gone; let the
horse be averse to move; the cough sore, but evidently suppressed and
painful; the breathing quick and audible; the nasal membrane violently
scarlet; the mouth hot, dry, and clammy; the legs and body of uneven
temperatures--here, cold as ice--there, of a dusty heat. When danger
cannot be mistaken, and hope has almost fled, then the stable-man creeps
to the parlor, with "Please, sir, I wish you would step and look at the
horse."

In a case of such a description, abstract no blood. Depletion is
forbidden, when mucous membrane is disordered. The first thing is a
large loose box. Into this is put the machine represented in the annexed
engraving. It is a portable boiler, having a covering of iron wire. The
steam, generated by the charcoal fire, soon renders the air of the place
moist and warm. It must be kept boiling day and night. It is of more
service during night than day, and it should be very gradually withdrawn.

[Illustration: STEAMING APPARATUS FOR HORSES WITH BRONCHITIS.]

The water, as it is exhausted in the above boiler, should be supplied
with more at the full temperature. Very little fire will then keep up the
steam, though, as the fumes of charcoal are decidedly unhealthy, it is
always well when those fumes can, by means of a pipe, be conveyed to the
outside of the building; if that be impossible, let every door and window
be left open; the necessary admission of air may impoverish the steam, but
the vapor is too dense to be entirely dispelled. The steam acts upon the
lungs; warm, moist air being soothing and curative to the thorax affected
with bronchitis. When the apparatus cannot be obtained, the large nose-bag
should be frequently applied during the day.

[Illustration: EIGHT-TAILED BANDAGE FOR RETAINING ANY SUBSTANCE AGAINST
THE THROAT OF A HORSE.]

Some scalded hay is also to be fixed under the throat by means of an
eight-tailed bandage. A macintosh jacket is then laid on the floor, and
the horse gently led forward till one leg rests within one armhole. The
opposite leg is to be raised and put through the other opening; the cloth
is next lifted up and temporarily fixed upon the animal; afterwards, have
six pieces of flannel, two three yards long and the entire width of the
fabric, the others half a yard long and a foot wide. Saturate three of
these with cold water; having folded the long piece, apply it over the
back, equally to either side; the short pieces place upon the sides of the
chest; fasten the jacket over the spine. When the flannel is warm, remove
it; replace it immediately with other flannels, which should be ready for
this purpose. Do this continuously for at least a couple of hours, after
which time the flannel may remain on; but must, on no account, be suffered
to become dry. The jacket and flannel should be worn for a week subsequent
to restoration.

Then prepare the following:

    Burgundy pitch                Half a pound.
    Powdered camphor              Two ounces.
    Powdered capsicums            Half a drachm.

Melt the pitch. Take the vessel which contains it off the fire; throw in
the other ingredients, stir well, and apply while warm to the front of the
neck, as low as the jacket will permit.

[Illustration: A HORSE DRESSED FOR BRONCHITIS.]

For bronchitis, consisting principally of aggraved congestion, prepare
the following drink, and repeat it every half hour, until the pulse
has regained its tone; then give the drinks at longer intervals, and
ultimately reduce them to three during the day, which continue till
restoration is perfected:--

    Sulphuric ether            One ounce.
    Laudanum                   One ounce.
    Water                      One pint.

Should no effect be produced after the third drink, discontinue the
frequency of the ethereal medicine, and substitute the following:--

    Infusion of aconite                                Half an ounce.
    Extract of belladonna (rubbed down with one ounce
       of water)                                       Half a drachm.

Persevere with the above till the pulse amends, when withdraw the aconite,
but keep on with the belladonna, half a drachm of which may be added
to each dose of the ethereal drink; which ought to be resumed, should
amendment ensue upon the administration of the aconite draught.

Let the food consist entirely of thick gruel. The appetite occasionally is
unaffected during bronchitis; but, however pleasant it may be to behold
a horse masticate, all solids should be withheld, especially during the
acute stage. Nothing is so injurious to respiration as a loaded stomach,
and a single meal (if permitted) would speedily aggravate the symptoms
of this disease. When the disorder has subsided, food must be carefully
introduced; the water should be, as grooms say, "chilled," or, in ordinary
language, should have the chill removed. Boiled roots or crushed and
scalded oats should constitute the earliest approach to natural diet. Hay
should be given with extreme caution, the desire being to nourish the
body, not to load the stomach. A bundle of grass each day may be allowed
upon recovery being assured; and when hay is at length presented, mind
that for the first month it is thoroughly damped; for nothing more retards
recovery after bronchitis than the inhalation of those dusty particles
with which hay too often abounds.

[Illustration: THE COUGH OF INCURABLE BRONCHITIS.]

When the disorder is to terminate fatally, the proprietor, in the majority
of instances, speedily learns the fact. The pulse continues unamended at
first, but soon grows very quick and tremulous; the breathing becomes
more painful even to the spectator. Every inhalation appears to shake the
body; yet, so eager is the desire for air, that the haste and violence of
the respiration evidently defeat their object. The nasal membrane assumes
a bluish tint, a foul, bloody froth hangs about the nostrils; the eyes
are dull and fixed. The cough is the most distressing symptom. It occurs
in fits, and during the paroxysms the wretched animal reels about. The
noise cannot now be restrained; the horse has no strength to struggle
with disease. The sound which shakes the sore lungs and checks the
breathing that was already short to suffocation, cannot now be suppressed.
It continues until a quantity of discolored fluid is ejected from the
nostrils, then a brief respite ensues; but, as time progresses, the fits
grow more severe and much longer, while the strength to endure them even
more rapidly decreases.

It reads sadly, that hundreds of horses have thus perished without making
any impression upon either masters or men. The directions, which have
been given at some length, will probably be discarded by grooms as far
too troublesome; they like the man who can give physic to a horse when
the animal is sick, and "wants no more bother made." The proprietors
will object to the expense and the personal superintendence which is
necessitated. Most gentlemen hurry through the stable as though they
were intruders upon their own premises, and expected all business there
transacted to be dispatched most expeditiously. The master, when in the
stable, is never at home; he is generally very much abroad; the groom, if
a horse dies, always knew of something which must have saved the life,
only it wasn't tried; and to prove his comprehension of the malady, in
answer to inquiries, he says, thereby showing the real extent of his
information, "The horse caught a cold and died of an inflammation." The
employer commonly follows a system which custom approves; he does not
trouble himself to hire a better qualified or a less prejudiced attendant
for his stables. The place and all that is in it continues the same, only
it contains one life the less. The lesson is thrown away, and all this
great suffering in a huge animal has produced no more than a passing
regret for the pecuniary loss.


PNEUMONIA.--INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS.

[Illustration: THE COMMENCEMENT OF PNEUMONIA.]

Under this title our grandfathers congregated all affections of the
lungs. Congestion, bronchitis, pleurisy were all regarded as stages
of =pneumonia=. This error, even at the present time, confuses the
descriptions of most authors. True pneumonia is, consequently, now more
rarely encountered; such a result accords with the knowledge gained by
anatomical investigation concerning the structure of or the substance of
the lung. The bronchial tubes constitute a large portion of these organs,
but their disease is termed =bronchitis=. The pleura covers the lungs, but
its inflammation is called =pleurisy=. The blood is affected during all
disorders, but the vessels themselves are rarely implicated; involvement
of the absorbents constitutes glanders and farcy. Yet, when the tubes,
covering, veins, arteries, and absorbents are abstracted, there remains
only cellular tissue; that structure is not apt to take on inflammation,
and when it is so implicated, the inflammation of cellular tissue is
regarded as =rheumatism=: consequently, there remains only a species of
general disorder of all the constituents to stand for pneumonia.

Horses supposed to have perished from pneumonia, not unfrequently, when
examined after death, present hydrothorax or dropsy of the chest; thus
proving the pleura to have been affected. However, such vivid descriptions
of pneumonia are bequeathed us by our ancestors, that we are, to a certain
degree, overpowered by the authority of assertion. Too many are actually
overawed by the positiveness of the dead; thus, in many instances,
influenza is treated as inflammation of the lungs; dropsy of the chest,
brought on by weakness, naturally ensues.

When =acute pneumonia= (as it is called, which really represents a
subacute disorder of all the contents of the lungs) does occur, it is
rather lingering in its development; the breathing is labored and slightly
accelerated; the pulse is less increased than would be expected; the
artery is full, and the beat seems driven by some hidden force through
a gelatinous obstacle; it bulges out, and then all is still for an
interval, after which the operation is repeated. The horse has lost all
spirit, indeed, a considerable portion of its consciousness has evidently
departed; it stands as though from giddiness it feared to fall; its legs
are separated and strained outward to the furthest limit.

[Illustration: THE POSITION ASSUMED BY THE HORSE DURING AN AGGRAVATED
ATTACK OF PNEUMONIA.]

The head and ears are dejected; the coat rough; the extremities cold; the
body without warmth; the visible membranes discolored, and the bowels
costive; in short, the animal appears oppressed by some heavy misfortune.
Feeling seems half dead; thus we are warranted in imagining that the
attack has embraced all the component structures of the lungs, and that it
consists in no small degree of congestion.

The general practice is to bleed, and to bleed largely; to let the current
run till the animal is on the point of fainting; then, as bleeding
always quickens the pulse, more blood is abstracted to lower it; this
not answering, the same plan is adhered to. The vein is tapped and the
liquor drawn, as though the vital fluid were table beer, and the animal an
inanimate cask. At last, nature resents such repeated depletion. No sooner
is the fleam struck than weakness is alarmed; then the eyes and nostrils
are sponged with cold water, to procure a _little more_ blood; until, at
last, the animal dies, as practitioners have said, because the horse could
not bear bleeding enough!

The writer does not advise to destroy the strength, which is now essential
to surmount disease. Bleed only once, then take no more than will afford
ease to the sufferer; if a pint accomplishes that object, a pint is
sufficient. Be guided neither by the quantity abstracted nor by the
faltering of the pulse; watch the head of the animal; so soon as that is
raised and the general aspect denotes a sense of life, pin up the orifice;
but think twice before you bleed once, and shun the operation if it can
possibly be avoided, or if the fluid has a thick and black appearance,
dribbling down the neck, not spirting from the vein.

When you first behold the horse, carefully examine it; place your ear
to the side; in health there is only a gentle blowing sound audible; if
more than that is heard; if something within the chest seems to grate or
suck; if, in addition, any noise, as of a huge pair of bellows at violent
work, is detected, make up your mind to a case of pneumonia. No time is to
be lost; procure a large and airy loose box; strew it thickly with tan;
do this, because pneumonia has an aptitude "to fall into the feet," as
grooms say, or, in other language, the disease is subject to metastisis,
and the inflammation will sometimes quit the lungs to reappear in the
feet; something soft and cool is most likely to prevent such a mishap;
therefore, when the tan is strewn upon the floor, moisten it with a
watering-pot, and have the iron shoes taken off the animal.

[Illustration: A STEAMING APPARATUS.]

Place a pail of water within easy reach of the horse. Food--even gruel--is
not now required. If it is winter, put a hood upon the head and throw a
loose cloth over the loins and quarters; then introduce the steaming
apparatus, and set it to work with all speed, leaving every window and
door open, while the vapor is generated. The air being loaded with vapor,
take off all clothing; but give, in the first instance, so soon as it can
be procured, the following drink:--

    Solution of aconite root                              Half an ounce.
    Sulphuric ether                                       Two ounces.
    Extract of belladonna (rubbed down in half a pint of
       water)                                             A drachm.

Repeat this dose three times in the course of the day and once during the
night, keeping up the steam all the time. Watch the pulse and observe
the breathing. When the first amends, the quantity of aconite may be
diminished; when the last grows easier, the amount of belladonna may be
decreased.

These medicines should be persevered with, increasing the ingredients or
diminishing them, as the symptoms warrant. Thus, if the pulse prove very
obstinate, six, or even nine doses of half an ounce of solution of aconite
in a little water, without other ingredients, may be exhibited in the
twenty-four hours. Should the breathing be severe, the belladonna may be
augmented in a similar proportion. Until the symptoms are more than merely
amended, the nourishment ought entirely to consist of hay-tea, with a
little oatmeal boiled in it. When improvement decidedly takes place, the
hay-tea may be made a little thicker, and a couple of pounds of boiled
potatoes allowed per day. So soon as the appetite seems to be eager for
food, a pint of crushed oats, thoroughly scalded, may be given six times
during the day. Great care, must, however, be taken not to overload the
stomach, or to permit a full meal: a single gorge is likely to provoke
a return of the disorder. Little and often must be the rule at first;
and the quantity may be increased while the frequency is diminished, as
recovery is confirmed. Let some days elapse, however, before any hay
is presented: this substance rather amuses the horse and fills out the
stomach, than nourishes the body. Allow to enter the stable none of the
groom's favorite drink, which consists of a handful of flour stirred into
a pailful of cold water. The flour is not in solution--it soon sinks to
the bottom; and the horse, which you intend should in some degree be
nourished, receives nothing but water.

Order the cook to prepare the gruel, and see that she does it with as much
care and cleanliness as she would exercise for any Christian. The groom's
gruel is hot water, which may or may not be boiling, stirred upon a
certain quantity of meal. A lady may conjecture how she would relish such
a composition sent to her sick chamber; and the horse is as nice in its
taste as any human being possibly can be.

Neither permit any grass to be put before an animal which is recovering
from pneumonia. Grasses of all kinds contain the least possible nutriment
in the largest possible bulk. The object now is to accomplish the
introduction of nutriment in the most concentrated form. A distended
stomach impedes the action of the diaphragm, and thereby is most injurious
to the breathing.

[Illustration: A MUCH-WISHED FOR SIGHT DURING DISEASE OF THE LUNGS.]

The first marked sign of improvement, during pneumonia, is the animal
lying down. When this wished-for sight is before your eyes, do not
enter to disturb the prostrate horse. It has, under disease, stood for
several days. Its limbs must ache and its feet feel sore: make no noise,
therefore. Respect the repose of the sufferer, and be grateful that your
horse, probably, has escaped from danger.

If, subsequent to recovery, the restoration to perfect health is not so
rapid as you could desire, be very particular about the feeding. At the
same time apply a strong blister upon the front of the throat, down to the
chest and between the legs. That blister having worn itself out, apply
another upon the sides of the throat and the _upper part_ of the ribs;
but respect the sides of the thorax; because the animal rests on these
parts, and, during recovery, rest is of more value than medicine. Nothing,
therefore, should be permitted that is likely to prevent so beneficial
a state from being indulged in. Abjure all purgatives--these favorite
potions are too debilitating for pneumonia; forbid all mashes; nature, as
she permits recovery, will, at her own time, relieve the body; adhere to
the treatment which has been laid down; permit no tonics; care and good
food are the best restoratives. But, above all things, be certain the
health is thoroughly recovered before the horse, which has been seriously
ill, is again compelled to labor.

[Illustration:

    ADHESION 1. THE PLEURA PULMONALIS UNITED BY DISEASE TO THE PLEURA
    COSTALIS.

    _a a._ The pleura pulmonalis, or the natural covering of the lung.

    _b b._ The pleura costalis, or the lining membrane of the chest.

    _c._ The false adhesion, fixing the lung and preventing its full
    expansion.

    _d._ The divided surface of the lung.
]

[Illustration:

    HEPATIZATION 2. OR THE LUNG BY DISEASE CONVERTED INTO A SUBSTANCE
    RESEMBLING LIVER.
]

Several states are mentioned as the consequence of pneumonia. Adhesion
of the lung to the covering of the thorax is alluded to as one result of
this disease; but before adhesion could take place, inflammation must have
existed in the pleura, which lines the interior of the chest and envelops
the lung itself; consequently, pleurisy must have been present before the
pleura could be sufficiently inflamed for adhesion to ensue. The other
condition is the result of congestion; the tubes and vessels alike are
clogged, the lung is converted from its soft and spongy natural texture
to a firm and solid substance resembling liver. But congestion is not
pneumonia, neither is a solid state of the bronchial tubes by any means
good evidence that pneumonia has provoked the morbid alteration.

Now, in conclusion, we must answer the important inquiry,--what is the
cause of this affliction? Poverty, without dependence, inherits few
disorders. Nature, in mercy, spares the peasant those visitations which
are heaped upon the nobleman. To what, then, shall we attribute the
ailment of a life so entirely in possession of another as that of the
horse? Is it untruth to point to that which in ordinary language passes
for the master's thoughtlessness? The creature is often worked, not to
the point of fatigue, but is goaded to the possibility of exhaustion; fed
upon the cheapest sustenance, and lodged according to the proprietor's
convenience; made subservient to the whims of vanity, and forced to
conform to the habits or the caprices of fashion; now, waiting patiently
in the storm; then, hurried along the dusty roads through the parching
heat; now, stopped during a long journey and expected hastily to consume
the provender which shall support life the remainder of the distance:
treatment like this will provoke more acute evils than pneumonia. The last
disorder is of too dull a type to be begotten by so harsh a parent.

The horse which is pampered, or has much to eat and little work to do; the
creature which for days may stagnate in the stable and then be suddenly
brought forth to extraordinary exertion; the horse whose owner is
capricious; the animal whose work is uncertain; the quadruped which now is
idle, and now is required to make good the lost time,--is the living being
prepared to exhibit any slow disorder--to consume itself with the disease
which an existence, properly treated, would possess the energy to resist.

Is it strange, that a creature doomed to so much and such deep
subserviency, occasionally fails, even when possessed by what men call the
best of masters? Is it just reason for wonder, that flesh occasionally
rebels against the treatment which human ignorance subjects it to? Were
the horse not a very hardy animal, were not the life implanted as firmly
as the frame is set, it would not survive a tithe part of the usage it now
endures, and, notwithstanding, continues to live on and to obey.


PLEURISY.

This most painful disease, like those of the lungs generally, visits
valuable horses during the years when they are most esteemed. The
unbroken colt is seldom attacked, and the aged animal is, to an almost
equal degree, exempt. The young steed, newly stabled, is liable; and
that liability remains up to the sixth year, when it gradually subsides.
It is a terrible affliction. Its anguish is localized and concentrated.
It is inflammation of the fine, glistening membrane covering the lungs
and lining the inside of the chest. At every inspiration and at every
expiration the inflamed surfaces must move upon each other. To breathe is
the primary necessity of the creature's life. It cannot exist and refuse
to inflate the lungs; yet is existence purchased at a price worth many
years of happiness. The inflamed surfaces cannot remain quiet; yet, to
render the condition of motion the more acute, inflammation stops the
secretion, which, during health, smoothed and lubricated the passage of
the membranes. During disease, the pleura is swollen, rough, and dry;
it grates or scratches as one surface is, by the necessity to breathe,
dragged over the other.

Membranes are sensitive in disease in proportion to the fineness of their
structure, and to their insensibility during health. The pleura belongs
to what are termed serous membranes. These line closed cavities; as the
chest, the abdomen, and the joints. Of the existence of none of these are
we conscious while they are free from disease; but, let the inflammation
set in, and it would be difficult to decide which of them is the most
painful. Fortunately, however, =pleurisy=, when concentrated or singly
present, terminates generally by the second day.

The symptoms, therefore, are quickly developed. The violence on their
first appearance has been so great, that an attack of =pleurisy= has
been mistaken for a fit of spasmodic colic. A little care will guard
against so fatal an error. The pulse, in colic, is always natural at
the commencement, and the fits, when they first occur, are invariably
of short duration. In pleurisy, the vessel _strikes_ the fingers; the
blow is strong, and the artery is thin; the pain is continuous; the
agony never remits or ceases; the horse never feeds; the body is hot,
and indicates the fire within; the feet are icy cold; the muscles are
frequently corrugated in patches, and partial perspirations break forth
upon the surface; a cough is often, not invariably, present; it is always
suppressed and dry; it suggests no notion that the intent is to clear
the throat; the inclination to cough, from the larynx sympathizing with
the lungs, is great; the feeling cannot be entirely mastered,--but the
horse is fearful of indulging an impulse, which would violently shake the
inflamed chest. The ear, placed against the ribs, detects a grating sound,
and the respiratory murmur is less clear than usual. Pressure made on the
free interspaces between the ribs sometimes deprives the animal almost of
consciousness; it shrinks, and were the torture continued, it would fall.
At other times anguish maddens even timidity,--the foot is lifted or the
teeth are displayed, to repel the tormentor. When left alone, the head
is frequently turned toward the side, with a piteous stare of wonder and
inquiry. Altogether the animal is, as it were, inspirited by the disorder.

[Illustration: A HORSE SUFFERING UNDER PLEURISY.]

The fore foot is scarcely ever quiet; it constantly paws, which action,
in the horse, always expresses impatience or pain. The breathing, of
course, is peculiar; a full inspiration the animal dare not take. Before
inhalation is half completed the ribs fly backward. However, the backward
action has hardly been accomplished before anguish once more compels a
change; thus the breathing, to a looker-on, appears short, jerking, quick,
and always imperfect.

The treatment must be active, as it is likely to be short. At the first
outbreak, abstract enough blood to ease the horse, but take no more; place
the sufferer in a cool, loose box; put woolen bandages upon all the legs,
but leave the body unclothed; give, every quarter of an hour, a scruple of
tincture of aconite in a wineglass of warm water. Feel the pulse before
each dose; when that has softened, discontinue the aconite; every second
hour then administer one ounce of sulphuric ether and of tincture of opium
in a tumbler of cold water, to dispel any congestion that may lurk about
the pleura, and also to lend smoothness or fullness to the pulse.

Pursue these measures for the first day and night. On no account be
tempted to bleed a second time, for fear of that weakness which generates
hydrothorax. When the pulse and pain are amended, should the cough remain,
introduce the steaming apparatus twice described under the headings of
the two previous articles. The bowels are generally costive; be not
alarmed; with the departure of the disorder they will relax. Place
lukewarm water within the easy reach of the horse; but before the symptoms
abate, introduce nothing of a more stimulating nature. When the disorder
lessens, hay-tea may be allowed; as improvement increases, the diet may
be gradually augmented after the manner described, when considering the
treatment of pneumonia. Such care is essential, because any violent
disorder in a confined part of the body has a tendency to involve other
structures, and the danger of this increases as the inflammation is
removed from the surface.

The tranquilizing of the respiration, the softness of the pulse and the
return of the appetite will announce the departure of pleurisy. When these
longed-for indications are remarked, blister the throat and chest; should
any seeds of the malady appear to be not entirely removed, repeat the
blister to the throat and chest. Should the bowels not be relieved, throw
up copious enemas of blood-warm gruel; nothing more must be attempted.
Aloes or salts are poisons during pleurisy; wait patiently, and in time
the establishment of health will restore all the natural functions, or if
they are very confined, a bundle or two of cut grass may be presented with
the usual food.

A yellow, transparent discharge from the nostrils, occasionally streaked
with blood, and more or less otherwise discolored; a horrible anxiety
of countenance, which seems to appeal mutely to every human being the
saddened eye rests upon; quickened breathing, a more rapid but a sinking
pulse, and a leaden state of the nasal membranes declare the probability
of a fatal termination. Pleurisy, however, mostly ends in hydrothorax, for
the character of which the reader is referred to the succeeding pages.

Now comes the sad inquiry, what is the cause of pleurisy? All kinds of
things may excite it; but those things which lead to so much suffering
in an inoffensive animal, are under the control of man. Over-exertion,
being driven or ridden far and fast, the spirit being stimulated, and the
energy promoted by potent drinks; for men will give the contents of the
public-house to the horse when a wager is at stake, and will lash, while
the limbs can move, to win any pitiful bet,--these circumstances not
unfrequently provoke pleurisy. Injuries received externally not unseldom
start up internal inflammation. Hurts calculated to lead to so serious an
evil, together with broken ribs, will not be surprising to those who have
seen the unseemly instruments which man will, in his rage, seize upon to
strike the animal with. Colds, aggravated by change of temperature, as
waiting long in the rain and being flurried home afterward; inattention
in feeding, thus generating a plethora, is apt to disorder any internal
organ, and many other such like causes will generate the disease.

And what right has man to inflict so much agony upon any life intrusted to
his care? What right has humanity to complain of tyranny in its superiors,
when the human race can neglect and entail such anguish upon the beings
beneath them? The greed of gain or the pride of winning are the first
motives assigned as the promoters of this terrible affliction; next come
the gratifications of passion; then follows carelessness for another's
welfare, etc. Which of these several causes is worth the torture of a
living body? such torture, too, as the rack cannot equal, and human malice
is happily forbidden to rival!

A little self-restraint instilled by a better plan of education, a little
more humanity enforced by the teachers of religion, to instruct that man
should not view himself as the owner of the earth which he temporarily
inhabits; that man should not consider himself the proprietor of the lives
which share the globe with him; that man should be actuated by genuine
CHRISTIAN LOVE toward all animated nature, feeling kindly for the lives
akin to his own, and acknowledging, as fellow-sojourners, the creatures
by which he is surrounded,--then, how much affliction might be eradicated
from that which wickedness alone renders a "vale of tears!"


HYDROTHORAX.

This is the consequence of the latter stage of pleurisy; or rather, to
speak with caution, we fear it is often the result of the severe treatment
adopted to dispel that malady.

Man leaves his property, which is very ill of pleurisy over night,
hopeless that the animal can survive till morning. On returning, however,
to the stable early on the following day, to his surprise he beholds
the horse actually looking better. The pain has evidently abated, if
not altogether departed; the eye is more cheerful; the manner more
encouraging. Having observed this, attention rests upon the flanks. The
motion of these parts is greatly increased. They are now forcibly brought
into action. The suspicion is awakened. The ear is applied to the chest.
Near the breast bone, or low down, all is very quiet. A little higher up
nothing can be heard; but rather past the middle of the ribs the sound
of breathing is once more detected. Again and again is the experiment
repeated, until the disappointed proprietor is forced to believe that
which is against his hope.

[Illustration: A HORSE DYING OF HYDROTHORAX.]

Still clinging to chance, after conviction has gained possession of his
mind, there is another trial he will make to render despair a certainty.
He seeks some man--any one will do; and having found a loiterer, he
returns with him to the stable. He places this individual upon one side
of the horse, and tells the man to slap the side of the animal with the
open palm, when the word "now" is spoken. This being arranged, the master
goes to the opposite side. He puts his ear to the place where the silence
ceased. Having assured himself the spot he has chosen is correct, he
pronounces the monosyllable "now." Directly afterward a dull sound is
heard, and a metallic ring or splashing noise is soon afterward audible.

All now is confirmed, yet, "to make assurance doubly sure," the owner
tries to take the pulse at the jaw. There is none to be felt! The hand is
then placed near the chest, upon the left side and over the region of the
heart. The sensation of a throb, coming through water, is perceptible.
The last requirement is confirmed. The horse has =dropsy of the chest=,
and the termination of the disorder is all but certain.

[Illustration: MAKING THE PRIMARY INCISION FOR TAPPING THE CHEST.]

[Illustration: A TROCAR WITH THE STILET UPON IT.]

[Illustration: REMOVING THE FLUID IN HYDROTHORAX.]

The first thing to be done, in these cases, is to draw off the liquid
before it soddens the pleura and further distresses the already labored
breathing. The manner of performing this operation is very simple, and
the operation itself remarkably safe. A spot near the inferior margin of
the chest being selected, a small portion of skin, between the eighth
and ninth ribs, is pulled forward, and then a narrow slit with a sharp
knife is made upon the place which the skin originally covered. A trocar,
armed with a stilet, is then inserted into the opening, and so much
force applied as suffices to propel it onward. The moment all resistance
ceases, the trocar is within the cavity of the thorax. The stilet is then
withdrawn, and the water usually flows forth.

There is in this operation no danger of piercing the lung. The trocar must
be driven upward and onward, very far and very forcibly, to induce such an
effect. The lung is protected from all lawful violence by the water, on
the top of which it floats.

There is, however, a dispute concerning how much of the fluid should be
extracted. It is a good rule to take all you can get, or all the condition
of the horse will permit to be abstracted. Do not commence the operation
with any determinate quantity in your mind. Take all, if the horse will
suffer so much to be withdrawn but if the animal, after the loss of a
quart, shows signs of approaching faintness, withdraw the trocar, let the
skin fly back, and wait a more favorable opportunity for the next attempt.

In an hour or two the trial can be repeated. Make a new opening (for never
risk exciting irritation in the original wound, by again thrusting the
trocar through it.) There are but few precautions to be observed during
the performance of tapping the chest. It is usual to teach, that the
posterior border of the ribs is to be avoided, because this portion of the
bones is grooved for the reception of the artery. Anatomy, however, shows
that such vessels are amply protected by the grooves in which they travel.

There is also some selection to be made in the trocar which shall be
employed. If the tube be of too great a size and permits the fluid to gush
quickly out, nature may sink under the sudden change induced: the water,
consequently, ought to be very gradually abstracted. For this purpose, the
instrument cannot well be too small. The most diminutive of those made
for human practice will be quite large enough, so that the bulk of liquid
within the chest may be insensibly removed, and the horse be scarcely
aware of the change. Those trocars, however, which are made for the human
practitioner will not be long enough; therefore one must be procured
longer, but of the like bore.

Sometimes, after the trocar is properly inserted, no fluid will pour
forth: the operation is then all but hopeless. It must have been so long
delayed that various substances have been secreted. These cover the
interior of the chest. They obstruct the mouth of the cannula and prevent
the liquid issuing by the tube.

It is customary, in these cases, to employ a whalebone probe. This is
inserted up the trocar, and then moved about in different directions. The
intention is to break down the layer of pus or lymph lining the thorax,
and to allow the water to leave the cavity. But this is almost needless,
as the author does not recollect a single case of this description which
ultimately survived.

It is also advisable to draw off the fluid from both sides at the same
time, so there may be no pressure upon the delicate divisions of the
chest, and upon the important vessels within them. But happily the fluid
is, in the first instance, generally confined to one side only.

Always pull a piece of skin either backward or forward, before the
incision is made through the integument. The reason for doing this is,
because, when the trocar is removed, the skin may resume its proper place,
and act as a valve, keeping out the atmosphere from the cavity; for
external air, getting into the interior of the chest, is proved to be most
injurious to life.

There is to be tendered but one last admonition even this has been in a
great measure anticipated by the previous observations. The animal must
not be left during the operation. Whatever time may be consumed by the
withdrawal of the liquid, the operator must remain a patient spectator
of the slow abstraction; for if the horse should be left, syncope may
come on during such absence, and the animal, on the person's return,
be found prostrate upon the ground. On the first sign of weakness, the
cannula should be at once removed; for, should it be suffered to remain,
regardless of this caution, the horse may even die through sudden collapse.

The treatment, after the withdrawal of the fluid, is entirely changed;
pleurisy has now departed, and weakness is left behind. The most
nourishing but carefully-prepared food must be given; boiled oats and
beans may be allowed in any quantity which the animal will consume, while
the following ball should be administered, night and morning:--

    Iodide of iron                           One drachm.
    Strychnia                                Half a grain.
    Sulphate of zinc                         Half a drachm.
    Extract of gentian and powdered quassia  Of each a sufficiency.

That which will denote a fatal termination is restlessness; neighing;
partial sweats; swellings under the region of the chest, and a distressed
breathing, which nothing can relieve. The death struggle is as short as
the disease has been painful.


DISEASE OF THE HEART.

This affection is characterized by various names in scientific books,
as carditis, pericarditis, hydrops pericardii, inflammation of the
pericardium, etc. All such conditions in the horse were discovered by
examinations instituted after death, when, unfortunately, all opportunity
of observing the symptoms had ceased. Veterinary science cannot
distinguish one state from another, while life exists. Probably this
deficiency may be attributed to the inutility of such discrimination.
=Disease of the heart= in horses is incurable. In man, who can strictly
conform to his physician's orders; avoid excitement; abstain from
exertion; eat only such a quantity of such a food, prepared after such
a manner; feed at such an hour and rest at such a time; who can live by
rule;--in man, the diseases of the heart are only to be delayed, not
driven from their certain issues.

[Illustration: DISEASE OF THE HEART IN THE HORSE.]

Practically, therefore, so the heart be diseased, it is of small import
what shape the disorder may assume. The death is always sudden; it is
likely to occur when the horse is journeying at its topmost speed; when
accident generally follows. Consequently, it is perhaps wiser to take the
life, thus afflicted and thus dangerous. The horse may appear blooming,
may even be skittish; yet, the existence shall at any moment be cut short.
Auscultation affords the surest means of detection. Place the ear close
to the left side and lower part of the chest; if any unusual sound be
audible, conclude the heart to be diseased.

The signs visible, externally, are sometimes sufficiently emphatic
to admit of no doubt. The eye is expressive of constant anguish; the
countenance is haggard; the pulse is feeble and irregular, but the heart
throbs; its throbs are visible, and frequently they are to be seen as
plainly on the right side as on the left. The beat is occasionally so
violent as to shake the body. The carotid artery can be felt to pulsate
in the neck. The regurgitation, within the jugular vein, is nearly always
excessive,--it often reaches almost to the jaw. It takes place by jerks,
which ascend high and higher, each becoming less and more weak, as it
mounts upward.

An attempt to represent this has been hazarded in the illustration. It
is, however, impossible to truthfully depict action; and the reader will
comprehend the jerks, in nature, do not occur all at the same period; but
the first subsides before the second can be exhibited.

The appetite is sometimes ravenous; more often it is fastidious. The
breathing is not accelerated, excepting during the existence of pain;
lameness is occasionally witnessed in one fore leg; dropsical swellings
and abdominal pains have been observed. The animal, when progressing, will
suddenly stop, tremble, and appear about to fall; as suddenly, it will
recover and proceed upon the journey. Noises, expressive of acute anguish,
are, under the impulse of the moment, occasionally uttered. Sometimes
the horse cannot be made to move, and it is always averse to turn in the
stall. Often it is seen to yawn; but more frequently has been known to
heave long and deep-drawn sighs. No ascertained sign, however, announces
the climax of the disorder to be near at hand. Death is always unexpected,
and, therefore, is a surprise.

The cause of heart disease is unknown. It may, however, be surmised from
the fact that it is most common in gentlemen's stables, and is all but
engrossed by the animals which have for years been subjected to the abuses
therein practiced. It is incurable; and all physic is thrown away upon
this disorder.




CHAPTER VII.

THE STOMACH, LIVER, ETC.--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.


SPASM OF THE DIAPHRAGM.

This is generally provoked by the heedlessness of the rider. A horse is
"overmarked," as the condition is technically called, when the animal is
urged onward to the point of falling. The person who may occupy the saddle
then becomes conscious of a strange and loud noise coming from the body
which he strides; it appears to the equestrian as though some demon were
located within the carcass, and were violently striking the sides. Should
the indication be observed, the noise will be found to proceed from behind
or immediately under, rather than from any part anterior to the rider.

[Illustration: THE YOUNG GENTLEMAN AND THE OLD HORSE.]

The noise is produced by =spasm of the diaphragm=. The horse must, as
the word "overmarked" seems to imply, have been pushed far beyond the
point where man should have pulled the rein. A little distance farther,
after the symptom is developed, will bring the animal to the ground; let
the check, therefore, be immediately given; the rider should dismount;
the loins be covered with the gentleman's coat, if nothing better be at
hand; he who has caused the misery is bound to make any sacrifice for
its alleviation. The girths should be loosened, the bridle removed, and
when time has passed for the system to become slightly tranquilized,
the sufferer should be very gently led to the nearest shelter. So soon
as it is under cover, the following drink should be administered, but
time should be taken to give the medicine, as the condition of the horse
forbids all haste:--

    Sulphuric ether            Two ounces.
    Tincture of camphor        Half an ounce.
    Tincture of opium          One ounce.
    Cold water or gruel        One pint.

This should be repeated every quarter of an hour, till four drinks are
swallowed; then the intervals should be lengthened to half an hour, and,
as the symptom decreases, the medicine ought to be administered at still
longer periods, and ultimately, but gradually, withdrawn.

There are, however, other things to be done. When the animal is first
brought in, procure five quiet assistants; give a leg-bandage each to
four of the helpers, and a sponge, with a basin of cold water, to the
fifth. Order the men to perform their ministration silently; the four are
to bandage the four legs while the fifth sponges out the mouth, nose,
eyes, and anus; this done, the body is to be superficially cleaned. Sweat
is to be removed and dirt taken off; the ears pulled, and the head made
comfortable; the tail and mane having been previously combed, a hood and
body clothing should be put on.

All this should be well understood beforehand; while it is being
accomplished not a word should be spoken; nothing is more soothing to an
agitated system than perfect silence. Wet swabs should then be placed upon
the feet, a pail of gruel suspended from the manger, and a man left to
warn off all noisy strangers from the exterior of the building; for during
spasm from overexertion perfect quietude is quite as essential as medicine.

Spasm of the diaphragm, if taken in time, is not generally fatal; and no
man, however determined a "Nimrod" he may be, is justified in proceeding
after having recognized so mysterious a warning. The sound before alluded
to must emphatically inform him all is not right with the animal on which
he is seated. It is folly to urge that the horse enjoys the chase as
much as the rider; no life would, for its own pleasure, run itself to a
spasmodic exhaustion. Old hunters may have left the field to follow the
hounds; the animals, however, obey only the impulse of education, and did
what they imagined would gratify their superiors. The horse is given as a
servant to man; the creature is obedient to its destiny; to serve is its
lot, to please is its reward. Body and soul it devotes to the heartless
being who is assigned its appointed lord; it will spend its last breath
in the gratification of its master; such affection surely merits better
treatment than the quadruped generally receives.

When spasm of the diaphragm terminates fatally, approaching dissolution
is announced by easily recognized signs. The pulse cannot be felt at the
jaw; the heart only flutters; the feet are icy cold; a yellow discharge
drains from the nostrils; the breath becomes fetid; the pupil of the eye
enlarges; the horse wanders round and round its box; it soon sinks and
perishes.


ACUTE GASTRITIS.

[Illustration: A HORSE SUFFERING FROM ACUTE GASTRITIS.]

This most painful affliction is only known in the horse as the consequence
of some poisonous substance being swallowed. Poisoning entire teams of
valuable horses has followed the use of certain powders, these being mixed
with the corn; the intention was to improve the personal appearance of the
animals to which the drug was administered. Carters have a large faith in
condition powders, and a distant belief in the _magic_ of medicine; in
their ignorance, they spend their hard-earned wages to procure the stuff,
too often compounded of agents which never should be trusted in the hands
of the uneducated. The men argue, if these powders, say one spoonful given
each night, will make the horse bloom in a fortnight, two spoonfuls must
do the same thing in a week; the spoonful possibly contains the utmost
limits of the dose; that quantity exceeded may endanger or destroy life.
But ignorance is always impatient; it ever desires the speediest results;
and if accident attends its eagerness, indignation should be visited upon
those who put responsible trusts in such keeping; upon the men who for
gain sell poisonous drugs to the obviously uninformed.

Books and charts are published, explaining the various antidotes and
tests to be employed for the detection and counteraction of the different
poisons. Such authorities are of little service in the stable; the tests
require care and time for their application; the symptoms are mostly so
urgent as to permit no leisure for scientific inquiry. In an acute case,
dependence must be placed on general principles, and fortune must be
relied on to guide the result.

Certain poisons act instantaneously and without any warning sufficiently
energetic to be interpreted, as the twigs or leaves of the yew-tree.

Other agents immediately establish the lesson which sometimes speedily
kills, but more often produces consequences which will ultimately destroy
life, though death may be some time before it occurs, as the mineral
acids, etc.

The presence of particular kinds is announced only by violent disorder, as
powerful diuretics and potent purgatives.

The symptoms, therefore, are not decided; the carter has his motives for
silence, and the inability of the horse to vomit forbids the earliest
announcement of deranged stomach. The time for antidotes has generally
passed before attention is excited; to support the life, in the hope that
it may survive the destroyer, is evidently the best thing which can, under
such circumstance, be adopted. Chloroform, ether, and opium render the
body insensible, and, by sparing the nervous system, certainly existence
will be prolonged. Purgatives had better be withheld they may already have
been administered in enormous doses; fearful amounts of aloes destroy life
without purgation being exhibited.

Against alkalies there does not exist the same objection; carbonate of
magnesia, carbonate of soda or of potash may, in quantity, be mixed with
gruel and horned down; both opium and ether may be blended with the drink.
Should the pulse be low, a drachm of carbonate of ammonia may be added to
each dose of the other ingredients. Should corrosive sublimate be in any
degree suspected to be the agent employed, mix one dozen eggs with the
other components; these will in no way detract from the operation of the
drench.

The mixture should be given in as large quantities as the animal can be
induced to swallow. The gruel should be quite cold, and one quart should
constitute a dose. No bleeding should be permitted the abstraction of
blood promotes absorption; to prevent the absorption of the poison is
the present endeavor. The following draught contains all that can be
recommended, so long as ignorance of the actual poison it is desired to
counteract, exists. When the information is positive, of course Morton's
Toxological Chart will be a far better guide than any observations the
author has ability to offer.

    Sulphuric ether and tincture of opium             Of each three ounces.
    Carbonate of magnesia, of soda or potash          Four ounces.
    Gruel (quite cold)                                One quart.

To these may be added, should the pulse be of a sinking character:--

    Carbonate of ammonia                              One drachm.

If corrosive sublimate is known to have caused the agony, one dozen raw
eggs ought to be blended with the drench.

Use discretion in the administration; but repeat the drinks as often and
as quickly as can be accomplished without adding to the distress of the
horse. Regard the state of the animal, and, if weakness be present, take
time when giving the drench. Should delirium be displayed, do not trust
to the natural functions; employ Read's pump, with the horse catheter
attached, and inject, with all dispatch, the whole quantity at once
through the nostril.

[Illustration: HOW TO GIVE PHYSIC, WHEN THE USUAL MODE OF ITS EXHIBITION
IS ATTENDED WITH DANGER.]

The symptoms of poisoning are various; they are also modified by the
strength upon which they act. The annexed list, however, contains the
general appearances by which poisoning is announced, though the whole of
the symptoms are never simultaneously exhibited: Loathing of all food;
extreme thirst; redness of the nasal and conjunctival membranes; discharge
of ropy saliva; frequent eructations, which smell pungently fetid;
colic, rolling on the ground, pawing, striking at the abdomen, etc.;
tucked-up flanks; heaving; panting; small, quick pulse; superpurgation;
violent straining; passing of mucus in large quantities; protrusion and
inflammation of the opening; glances at the abdomen; prostration of
strength; convulsions; madness and death.

And now, whence is derived the source of this evil? It springs from the
ignorance of the age. Is it not, at the present day, a common saying, that
"intelligence goes begging, while handicraft finds employment?" Goodness,
education, and industry cannot, at this time, insure the bread which will
support existence. The cunning and the knowingness of the uninformed is
much preferred. There is no mystery in the groom's office which might not
be acquired in a week. The horse would fare better and be more safe in
the custody of a person who possibly might sympathize with its solitude
and appreciate its disposition. A higher class of servants would involve
a higher rate of wages. But these might be paid, and notwithstanding, the
horse proprietor be, in the long run, an evident gainer. To put the wounds
inflicted on the sensibility of a feeling man out of the question, it is a
heavy misfortune to look upon three or four valuable horses stretched out
in death. Add to this, there are other accidents that ignorance, without
malice, commits, and all of which must be paid for by the master. Then
there are the petty frauds and understandings in which cunning delights,
and all of which are indulged at the master's cost. On the other hand,
there is the certainty, or all but certainty, that intelligence would
perform its duty. The horses would thrive better and last longer when
confided to proper custody. The losses, attendant upon ignorance, would
be avoided,--not to mention the ease of mind secured by confidence in the
probity of the person to whom authority is intrusted. What a mockery it
is, to cry up education and then to shun the educated! A stimulus would
be given to the ignorant, when it is recognized that the informed will be
alone engaged to fill offices of trust.


CHRONIC GASTRITIS.

This affection is more general than is commonly understood. The horse
being unable to vomit, of course the first positive proof of disordered
stomach cannot be exhibited. Thus, little attention is generally paid to
its digestion, when primarily diseased.

=Chronic gastritis= is usually said to be provoked by rearing upon sour or
soft land; but well-bred animals are very often subject to the malady. The
ailment is frequently first displayed at the period when the services are
esteemed most valuable, or between the fifth and sixth years, long after
the mode of rearing must have ceased to operate. The symptoms are various,
and hardly ever alike. The stomach may affect the nervous symptom; then,
its complications become difficult to disentangle. The affection is
mostly declared by an irregularity of bowels and a capriciousness of
appetite. The animal starts off violently purging. The looseness stops
as suddenly as it commenced. Obstinate costiveness then sets in, and
each state can be traced to no obvious reason. The straw or litter may be
eaten ravenously, but all the wholesome provender obstinately refused.
The dung shows the condition of the appropriating functions; it crumbles
upon the slightest force being imposed; it appears to consist of fibers
not agglutinated together. Sometimes it is coated with mucus, and always
smells abhorrently. A dry cough may be present; the visible membranes are
pallid; the mouth feels cool; the breath is tainted; the eyes are sunken;
the respiration is catching; the belly is pendulous; the anus is lax
and prominent; the coat dry and ragged; while the body quickly becomes
emaciated.

[Illustration: A HORSE WITH CHRONIC GASTRITIS INDULGING ITS MORBID
APPETITE.]

The slightest exertion produces a thick and copious sweat. The symptom,
however, which is most remarkable, when the cleanly habits natural to
the animal are considered, is the peculiarity of the appetite. The rack
and manger are generally neglected; but every unnatural or offensive
substance, within reach of the extended jaws, is devoured with avidity.
Woodwork has largely disappeared. Soil and stones have been removed from
the stomachs of creatures destroyed for incurable disease. Either of the
substances last named, however, are usually spared, so long as a morsel of
plaster, a portion of mortar or of brick, is within reach. Animals, when
in the field, will leave the grass and enter any ditch to gnaw at bricks
and mortar. When confined, they will, under the morbid influence of this
affection, employ themselves for hours searching for a morsel of either
among the straw.

The old custom of purging and bleeding for a case of this kind is
positively injurious. It is better to administer bitters, alkalies, and
sedatives;--the first, to amend the appetite; the second, to correct
the acidity of the morbid secretion; the third, to destroy the uneasy
sensation which provokes too many of the symptoms.

    Powdered nux vomica                      One scruple.
    Carbonate of potash                      One drachm.
    Extract of belladonna                    Half a drachm.
    Extract of gentian and powdered quassia  Of each a sufficiency.

Or,

    Strychnia                                Half a grain.
    Bicarbonate of ammonia                   One drachm.
    Extract of belladonna                    Half a drachm.
    Sulphate of zinc                         Half a drachm.
    Extract of gentian and powdered quassia  Of each a sufficiency.
        Give, morning and night.

One of the above balls may be given daily. When their benefits seem
exhausted, give, instead of a ball, half an ounce each of liquor
arsenicalis, the same of tincture of ipecacuanha, with one ounce of
muriated tincture of iron and of laudanum, in a pint of water. Also, damp
the food and sprinkle magnesia freely upon it. Then, as the strength
improves, introduce sulphuric ether, one ounce; water, one pint, daily and
ultimately change this last for a quart of good ale or stout.

Before concluding, there remains to point out the cause of this lamentable
affection. Ignorance views each part of the body as distinct; it cannot
see the various components are connected, and, in the mass, constitute
one whole. Thus, medicine appears to the uninformed as thrown away, when
internally administered for a skin disease. So it may to such persons
appear strange how the air inhaled can disorder the digestion! To those
better informed, however, it will only seem a natural consequence that
impure atmosphere, inspired day and night, should impair the body's
health. It will, with such people, be recognized as likely that the
disorder should break forth when the frame is on the eve of being matured.
The cause of indigestion is close and unhealthy stables. What loss will
instruct mankind, that they cannot enslave life and treat it according
to their convenience? Life has its natural rights: these cannot be
disregarded--the requirements of breathing creatures must be fulfilled.
The ability of the enslaver to use according to his pleasure, must not
be selfishly regarded; else nature is outraged, and in its deprivation,
pride learns the impossibility of forcing all things to conform with its
inclinations.


BOTS.

No animal which has not been turned out to graze during the summer months
can possibly be troubled with these parasites. Such annoyances form no
light argument against the benefits accomplished by that which is in
slang phrase termed "_Dr. Green_." The appearance of the coat and aspect
of unthriftiness, after a run at grass, generally declare =bots= to be
present within the body.

Uninformed persons are always desirous to possess some medicine which
will destroy bots; they wonder that science lacks invention sufficient to
compound such an agent. An anecdote may probably dispel such astonishment.

A patron of the Royal Veterinary College was once conducted by a pupil
through the museum belonging to that establishment; the pair at last stood
before the preparation of a horse's stomach, eaten through by, and also
covered with, bots.

"God bless my soul!" exclaimed the visitor, after the nature of the
specimen had been explained. "What a spectacle! What a myriad of
tormentors! And have you no medicine to remove such nuisances? Can
veterinary science discover nothing capable of destroying those parasites?"

"Why, sir," replied the student, "only look at that preparation. To my
knowledge, it has been put up in spirits of wine, and corked air tight
for two years. The creatures must be either very dead or very drunk by
this time; yet, as you witness, they hold on. What sort of physic could
accomplish more than is already effected by the spirits of wine and close
confinement? I am at a loss to conjecture!"

For the above, the author is indebted to the admirable lectures delivered
by Professor Spooner; but the conclusion drawn by the student must be more
than satisfactory. Bots, once within the stomach, must remain there till
the following year, when, being matured, their hold of the lining membrane
of the viscus will relax, and, in the form of a chrysalis, they are
ejected from the system. No medicine can expedite the transformation. It
has hitherto appeared easier to kill the horse than to remove the parasite.

To the investigation of Bracy Clark, Esq., V. S., the public owe all
their knowledge of the fly whence the bot is derived. The common parent,
according to the above authority, is the œstrus equi; and the author
gladly avails himself of the original description by the above-named
talented gentleman.


"ON THE ŒSTRUS EQUI, OR THE STOMACH BOT.

"When the female has been impregnated, and the eggs sufficiently matured,
she seeks among the horses a subject for her purpose, and approaching him
on the wing, she carries her body nearly upright in the air, and her tail,
which is lengthened for the purpose, curved inward and upward: in this
way she approaches the part where she designs to deposit the egg and,
suspending herself for a few seconds before it, suddenly darts upon it,
and leaves the egg adhering to the hair: she hardly appears to settle,
but merely touches the hair with the egg held out on the projected point
of the abdomen. The egg is made to adhere by means of a glutinous liquor
secreted with it. She then leaves the horse at a small distance, and
prepares a second egg, and, poising herself before the part, deposits it
in the same way. The liquor dries, and the egg becomes firmly glued to the
hair: this is repeated by these flies till four or five hundred eggs are
sometimes placed on one horse.

[Illustration: THE ŒSTRUS EQUI.

Copied from the Work on Bots, by Bracy Clark, Esq.

    1. The female fly about to deposit an egg.
    2. The male fly.
    3. The egg, its natural size.
    4. The egg, magnified.
    5. The newly-hatched bot.
    6. The bot full grown.
    7. The head of a bot magnified.
    8. The chrysalis.
]

"The skin of the horse is usually thrown into a tremulous motion on the
touch of this insect, which merely arises from the very great irritability
of the skin and cutaneous muscles at this season of the year, occasioned
by the heat and continual teasing of the flies, till at length these
muscles appear to act involuntarily on the slightest touch of any body
whatever.

"The inside of the knee is the part on which these flies are most fond
of depositing their eggs, and next to this on the side and back part of
the shoulder, and less frequently on the extreme ends of the hairs of the
mane. But it is a fact worthy of attention, that the fly does not place
them promiscuously about the body, but constantly on those parts which
are most liable to be licked with the tongue; and the _ova_, therefore,
are always scrupulously placed within its reach.

"The eggs thus deposited I at first supposed were loosened from the hairs
by the moisture of the tongue, aided by its roughness, and were conveyed
to the stomach, where they were hatched: but on more minute search I do
not find this to be the case, or at least only by accident; for when they
have remained on the hairs four or five days, they become ripe, after
which time the slightest application of warmth and moisture is sufficient
to bring forth in an instant the latent _larva_. At this time, if the
tongue of the horse touches the egg, its _operculum_ is thrown open, and a
small active worm is produced, which readily adheres to the moist surface
of the tongue, and is from thence conveyed with the food to the stomach.

"At its first hatching is is, as we have observed, a small active worm,
long in proportion to its thickness, but as its growth advances, it
becomes proportionably thicker and broader, and beset with bristles.

"They are very frequent in horses that have been at grass, and are in
general found adhering to the white insensible tissue or coat of the
stomach.

"They usually hang in dense clusters to this white cuticular lining of
the stomach, and maintain their hold by means of two dark-brown hooks,
between which a longitudinal slit or fissure is seen, which is the mouth
of the larva. When removed from the stomach by the fingers by a sudden
jerk, so as not to injure them, they will, if fresh and healthy, attach
themselves to any loose membrane, and even to the skin of the hand. For
this purpose they sheath or draw back the hooks almost entirely within the
skin, till the two points come close to each other they then present them
to the membrane, and keeping them parallel till it is pierced through,
they expand them in a lateral direction, and afterward, by bringing the
points downward toward themselves, they include a sufficient piece of the
membrane, to remain firmly fixed for any length of time as at anchor,
without requiring any further exertion.

"These bots, as is also the case with two or three other species, pass the
autumn, winter, and spring months in the stomach, and arrive about the
commencement or middle of the summer at their full growth, requiring a
twelvemonth fully to complete their structure."


"ON THE ŒSTRUS HEMORRHOIDALIS, OR FUNDAMENT BOT.

"The part chosen by this insect for this purpose is the lips of the horse,
which is very distressing to the animal from the excessive titillation it
occasions; for he immediately after rubs his mouth against the ground,
his fore legs, or sometimes against a tree, with great emotion; till the
animal at length finding this mode of defense insufficient, enraged he
quits the spot, and endeavors to avoid it by galloping away to a distant
part of the field; and if the fly still continues to follow and tease him,
his last resource is in the water, where the œstrus never is observed to
pursue him. These flies appear sometimes to hide themselves in the grass;
and as the horse stoops to graze, they dart on the mouth or lips, and are
always observed to poise themselves during a few seconds in the air, while
the egg is preparing on the extended point of the abdomen.

[Illustration: THE ŒSTRUS HEMORRHOIDALIS.

Copied from the Work by Bracy Clark, Esq.

    1. The female fly about to deposit an egg.
    2. The egg, magnified.
    3. The bot.
    4. The chrysalis.
    5. The male fly.
]

"When several of these flies are confined in a close place, they have
a particularly strong, musty smell; and I have observed both sheep and
horses, when teased by them, to look into the grass and smell it very
anxiously; and if they by these means discover the fly, they immediately
turn aside and hasten to a distant part of the field.

"I once saw in a meadow or field upon the cliffs at Margate, a fly of this
sort teasing a horse that was confined to a small space by a spike stuck
in the ground, to which a cord was tied. He could not get away from its
attack, and became quite furious, for in kicking at the fly with his fore
foot, which he did vehemently, he often struck the bone of the lower jaw,
creating excessive pain; for in that direction while grazing, the fly
comes to the beard of the lower lip.

"The eggs of this species are difficult to be seen upon the horse's skin
or beard, owing to the agitation of the beast, and from the color of
the egg being dark like that of the skin of the horse. The animal has
been generally too impatient, while undergoing this operation, to let me
examine them very well. I ascertained, however, its form by pressing one
of these eggs from the abdomen.

"The larva or grub of this species inhabits the stomach as the former,
generally adhering to the white lining, and is disposed promiscuously in
dense clusters, after the same manner; they may, however, be distinguished
from them by being in general smaller and longer in proportion to their
bulk.

"The larva of this species may be obtained from almost any horse that has
been much the preceding year at grass, and exposed to these flies, and
will be found during the summer months sticking more or less within the
verge or opening of the anus, adhering to its soft lining, and producing
considerable irritation and uneasiness. Indeed, I once well remember
being on a tour of pleasure in the Isle of Wight, and experiencing much
annoyance from these larvæ. The little horse I had hired for the journey
became so lazy and unwilling to go on, and moved so awkwardly, that I
could not keep pace with my company, and I was at a loss how to proceed;
but on casually taking up the tail, I discovered three or four of these
insects hanging to the rectum, and their removal instantly proved a cure."

For more ample particulars, the reader is referred to the book itself,
which is entitled "AN ESSAY ON BOTS IN THE HORSE AND OTHER ANIMALS." It
will, in the pages of the original work, be seen that Mr. Clark more than
suspected the existence of other species of the same family; but, as
no positive knowledge has yet been gained, we must await patiently the
inquiries of those to whom this branch of science belongs.

However, the writer must dissent to Mr. Clark's conclusion, that "bots
are harmless, if not beneficial." How far does such a supposition agree
with the perforated stomach, preserved at the Royal Veterinary College?
How far does it accord with the ragged coat and unthrifty aspect by which
the presence of the parasites is ascertained? How, when crediting such a
conjecture, are we to account for the horror exhibited by the horse at the
approach of the fly; and how can we interpret Mr. Clark's experience in
the Isle of Wight?

Bots are known to be injurious; healthy bodies are seldom troubled with
parasites. The parched and innutritions grass of the summer's heat
cannot support the life accustomed to artificially saved and carefully
prepared food. It is the meanness of the master which dooms the slave to
starvation; he begrudges the keep of the animal, therefore, he disguises
the ugliness of his feeling under a pretense of giving the horse a month's
freedom and its natural food! In spring, when the herbage is young, one
hour night and morning might be excused; but those hours must be before
the flies are up, and after these pests are asleep. In the height of
summer, when the grass has perished and the ground is hard, the health
soon yields to constant exposure and to unwholesome food. The flies
torment the animal, and from the shed it is often driven by its companions
in the field. A large portion of the accidents which horses are liable
to, occur while out at grass; many an animal is released from the stable
blooming and valuable; it is, at the expiration of the month, brought
home looking ragged, with a huge belly, and is never fit for a day's
service subsequently. If the matter is to be regarded only in a money
point of view, it would have been a saving to the owner to have paid a
twelvemonth's keep, rather than lose his servant, and notwithstanding,
afterward have to pay for food and treatment till experience had
instructed him in the inutility of expecting restoration. But when the
matter is considered in a moral sense, what right has that individual who
has, for his own pleasure, accustomed a life to a particular form of diet,
at his will, or for his convenience, to snatch the food from the creature
and drive it forth to gnaw at stalks which had shed their seeds, and to be
exposed to all the variations of the season? It is no excuse to talk about
there being no work to be done while the master is at the sea-side; the
devotion of a life should have earned a brief support, and the gentleman
whose avarice thinks otherwise has no just reason to complain of the
punishment which the indulgence of his greed will probably insure.


CHRONIC HEPATITIS.

=Acute hepatitis= is unknown among horses in England. The late Professor
Sewell thought he had witnessed one case. Other people know they have not
seen a single instance of such a disease.

=Chronic hepatitis= is peculiar to maturity. Brewers' horses--huge
animals, fattened upon refuse of the mash-tub, and which are paraded,
in all the pride of obesity, drawing one small cask over the stones of
London--are often attacked by this malady. All horses which consume much
provender, without absolute regard to work, are exposed to it. Gentlemen's
carriage horses are very liable to it. A private vehicle is started,
and at first much used; but after a time it is equally neglected. The
individual does not want the carriage to-day, when the coachman comes
round "for orders." Neither is it required on the next occasion. Often
a week passes without the fashionable plaything being uncovered. The
animals, during that time, depend on the groom for exercise. The coachman
may be fond of his horses, and, in his ignorance, may think they cannot
have too much rest, or himself too little work. Let the master neglect his
duty, and the servant soon follows the example.

The word "duty" was employed in the last sentence. It is of an unpleasant
signification, and was used in its harshest sense. Kings owe a duty to
their subjects; the rich owe a duty to the poor. All authority has some
obligation connected with it. There is nothing like perfect freedom in
this world of dependence. Man is the king over living things. He may claim
his rights, but he at the same time must adopt the weight of his office:
he cannot assume the one and discard the other. A monarch is invested
with dominion and authority over men; but the stability of the throne is
dependent upon the righteousness of the ruler. If he who wears the crown
abuses his trust, he may possess "a right divine," but he is speedily
without subjects. So, if man is unjust to the creatures ever which he is
placed, nature snatches them from his grasp; and he may be invested with
every power, but he soon wants animals upon which to exercise it.

View the matter in another light, as an affair only of worldly prudence.
Knives, formed of the hardest steel, if purchased and put away, in a short
time are worthless, because of rust. A house wears faster when untenanted
than when properly inhabited.

A horse cannot remain for days in the stable and retain its condition. The
carriage proprietor has not only to find food, but he is equally bound to
support the health of his animals, or the service for which he bargained
will be rudely terminated. Too many do not think of this. Too many take
out the carriage to-day, only because it accords with their convenience.
All, however, complain of the uncertainty which appertains to horse-flesh.
The frame of the horse is stronger than machinery; but it cannot resist
the willfulness of human misrule. Let that man, whose stable troubles
him, question his own conduct. Let him examine the house in which he has
thrust life. Let him see to the servants he has engaged, and to the food
for which he pays; and after all, let him inquire into his own behavior:
the error will be found, not in the creatures over which he exercises
dominion, but in those who are invested with authority.

If people will start carriages, the vehicle must be taken out every day,
let the weather freeze, rain, or shine. The hard earth of sunshine is
frequently more injurious to the feet than either cold or wet are to
the body. The lady, when out visiting, has more than her own pleasure
to consult; for all horses fed on the best and underworked, or retained
standing long before the street door, are exposed to chronic hepatitis.
The gentleman's delight is almost as liable as the brewer's pride. Even
moderate food and too little work will engender the disease. The author,
when he quitted the veterinary college, left in that establishment an
Arab, which, from a year's stagnation, was obviously thus disordered.

The primary symptoms are not well marked, and do not, generally, attract
attention. The animal is dull and averse to move. It appears to have
imbibed a fondness for the inactivity to which it has been accustomed. The
appetite is either nice, altogether lost, or unscrupulously ravenous; the
bowels are constipated; the dung is black, and coated with bilious-looking
mucus; it is friable, and imperfectly digested. If a white paper be
pressed upon it, a greenish-yellow stain is imparted. The urine is scanty,
and, commonly, highly colored; while the pulse has a heavy beat, as though
treacle, instead of blood, circulated within the artery.

The signs which indicate a confirmation of the disorder are: the mouth
feels cold; the nasal membranes are unnaturally pallid; the whites of the
eyes are ghastly, displaying a yellow tinge; sometimes the horse looks at
the right side; usually, it lies upon the left ribs, but never for any
long time; tenderness may be exhibited, if the right side be pressed upon.
However, the last symptom is rarely present, and lameness in either fore
leg is seldom witnessed.

The disease is, for the most part, obscure, and is best recognized
when medicine has become powerless. If early detected, a limited, but
sufficient supply of nutritious food; plenty of, but not exhausting labor,
with a long course of iodine in alterative doses, are calculated to work
some beneficial change.

    Iodide of potassium            Two ounces.
    Liquor potassæ                 One quart.
      Mix, and give two tablespoonfuls night and morning, in a pint
       of water.

Commonly, however, bleeding from the liver is the earliest recognized
indication of disease. Then the horse, with depressed head, is found
standing before untouched food; often it staggers; sometimes it supports
itself against the partition to the stall; it always maintains the erect
position with extreme difficulty; the pupil of the eyes are enlarged; if
the hand be moved before the sight, the lid does not close; the vision is
lost; the pupils are much dilated; the breath, denoting weakness, is short
and catching; the jaw is pulseless, and the heart flutters; the visible
membranes are deathly; and the bilious nature of the disorder is, in these
last parts, apparent. Should the head, only for a minute, be raised, the
animal threatens to fall.

The first attack is seldom fatal, and possibly might, by proper usage, be
recovered from. The bleeding, then, is from the substance of the gland,
and does not generally burst Glisson's capsule, or the first and fibrous
covering of the liver. Glisson's capsule, however, is, by the pressure of
fluid, bulged out. The hemorrhage stretches the peritoneum, which is the
second or last envelope; and nature, striving to repair the injury, causes
the serous investment to inflame,--to become white, opaque, considerably
thicker, and altogether stronger than in its normal condition.

[Illustration: THE HEAD OF A HORSE SUFFERING FROM INTERNAL HEMORRHAGE.]

[Illustration: THE TEST FOR HEMORRHAGE FROM THE LIVER.]

There may be an indefinite number of attacks; or the horse, possibly, may
succumb to the first assault. Commonly, there are several fits of the
same character. Treatment is generally adopted. A dose of aloes is given,
though with what intention the author is not aware. Quiet is enjoined; and
styptics, as sugar of lead, alum, etc., are administered; and the horse,
commonly, under such treatment, seems to recover.

It is, however, difficult to change a fixed habit, or to perceive the
reason for an alteration after all danger has disappeared. The gentleman
again indulges his inclinations. The coachman, to keep up his horse's
flesh, fills the manger; the master very rarely orders the carriage; now
he can ride, walking is preferred for his own exercise. Soon, a second
fit takes place; this time, Glisson's capsule usually yields; but the
thickened peritoneum, although pushed farther out, still resists, and now
remains the single stay between human perversity and certain death.

With recovery, the former custom is again resumed; the man chooses to
think a sick horse must require support; the master pleases to imagine
rest must be beneficial to an animal which has been seriously ill. Another
fit ensues; no one is much alarmed this time. The people have become
accustomed to the sort of thing; men soon grow used to other's agony.
However, something is now present which has not been witnessed before;
that circumstance rather disturbs the reigning equanimity; the horse is
evidently much disposed to quietude, but some hidden cause excites it;
it rolls, flings itself down, struggles up again, paws with the fore
feet, kicks with the hind legs at the belly, and breathes with much more
difficulty than formerly.

Often it lies upon the back for some minutes; the result, when such
symptoms are observed, generally is invariable. After death, the abdomen
is opened; the cavity is full of black blood, which, commonly, does not
coagulate; though, should death occur upon the first attack, dark clots
may be found among the intestines.

With regard to the treatment, which the author approves, it consists of
the drink previously recommended; sufficient but nutritious food, and,
above all things, abundant exercise. The horse should also be removed
from the heated stable and allowed a large, roomy, loose box. Purgative
medicine is too debilitating for such a disease; but the bowels should be
regulated by green meat or by bran mashes, when such agents are required.


CRIB-BITING.

Nothing more forcibly illustrates the ignorance by which the horse is
surrounded, than the manner any trivial but visible fact is magnified
into vast and mysterious importance. The untutored always have active
imaginations; thus, what is at worst, in the author's opinion, the
declaration of acidity within the stomach, is by most horsemen dreaded
more than an actual disease.

=Cribbing= is very common among horses which have been long inhabitants of
the stable; the many hours of stagnation the domesticated horse is doomed
to pass, may induce the animal readily to seize upon any solitary pastime.
Or the perpetual consumption of oats and hay may disarrange the digestion,
which, experience teaches, is in ourselves much benefited by a moderate
change of diet. Or, the constant inhalation of close and impure air, such
as will taint the clothes of the groom, who is much exposed to it, may
disorder that part of the body which is the most sympathetic of the entire
frame.

Adopt which of these theories the reader may be inclined to, all of them
can be brought to bear upon the horse so affected. That cribbing is a
habit is seemingly proved by the young horse, stalled next to an old
cribber, soon acquiring the custom. That cribbing is provoked by idleness,
appears to be in some measure confirmed by the horse never exhibiting
the peculiarity before it has been handled and become an occupant of the
stable. That it arises from acrimony, induced by the food, is apparently
shown by the colt, while at grass, never displaying the symptom. That it
will be witnessed in the old horse, when turned out for a month's run at
grass, establishes nothing. The temporary visitor to the field may often
be seen galloping toward some gate, which, having reached, the horse
there commences a long game at crib-biting. This circumstance can settle
nothing, except that the digestion is chronically deranged--the stomach,
when thus affected, being peculiarly retentive of its morbid condition.

Crib-biting consists in resting the upper incisor teeth against any solid
or firm substance; a fixed point is thus gained, and, after much effort, a
small portion of gas is eructated. The perpetual emissions of heated air
is, in man, one of the symptoms attendant on indigestion; and the act, in
the horse, appears to be impelled by something stronger than habit; since
the animal will leave the most tempting provender for its indulgence.

[Illustration: A HORSE IN THE ACT OF CRIB-BITING.]

The premonitory symptoms, moreover, seem to declare heartburn to be the
cause of this much-dreaded indulgence. The custom is always preceded by
licking of the manger. If on that there should be iron, or should any
part be cooler than the rest, to that particular spot attention will be
paid. The licking of cold substances is a symptom of disordered stomach
with other dumb creatures. It is prominently displayed by the dog when the
viscus is inflamed. But crib-biting may be prevented, if attacked during
the premonitory stage. Any substance, which acts as a stimulant to the
stomach, is said to be beneficial. Salt is known as an almost necessary
condiment, aiding the healthfulness of human food. The deprivation of salt
was an old criminal punishment among the Dutch; and a lump of rock-salt
placed in the manger will often enable the horse's digestion to recover
its lost tone.

Crib-biting has, in submission to general opinion, been alluded to as a
habit, learned within the stable. But may not that which man designates a
habit in a dumb creature, be no more than the influence of one atmosphere
acting similarly on two bodies, both caged in the same stable? The air is
much more than inhaled. A large quantity is swallowed with the saliva.
No slight amount is deglutated with the masticated food. The water is
generally kept in the stable some hours before the horses are permitted
to imbibe it. Water has a large affinity for atmosphere. Air, therefore,
enters largely into the body, besides being continually absorbed by the
blood during respiration. And moreover, is it not strange that all horses,
when indulging an imitative faculty, should always precede the display by
the same licking of the manger, which assuredly is not learned, because
that stage has passed before the young horse is placed near the one it is
supposed to imitate? Is it not also surprising, that applying the tongue
to cool substances should, in other domesticated but dumb creatures, be a
symptom of derangement of the stomach?

When the horse cribs, the manger is not bitten. The upper incisors are
merely placed against the wood-work, and, from this fixed point, the
animal strains backward the body; thereby, the muscles of the neck are the
more readily excited, and a small portion of air, accompanied by a slight
sound, is forced up a canal which does not of itself favor regurgitation.
When the inability to vomit is considered, the necessity of some such
stratagem, to relieve the stomach of its burning acidity, must at once be
admitted. We are still further reconciled to the necessity which prompts
the action, when the ease afforded to human dyspeptic subjects, by the
expulsion of "the wind," is properly regarded.

To relieve crib-biting, first attend to the atmosphere of the stables;
render that pure by ample ventilation. Place a lump of rock-salt in the
manger; should that not effect a cure, add to it a large piece of chalk;
should these be unavailing, always damp the food, and, at each time of
feeding, sprinkle magnesia upon it, and mingle a large handful of ground
oak-bark with each feed of corn. Should none of these measures prove
beneficial, treat the case as one of =chronic indigestion= or =gastritis=.

Let every reader, however, remember dyspepsia is far easier acquired
than eradicated or even relieved; still, the vast majority of the fears
entertained concerning crib-biting are perfectly groundless. The habit,
certainly, does not round the edges of the front teeth; neither does
it predispose to spasm or to flatulent colic; a horse that cribs may
have either diseases; so, also, do many animals which are free from
the peculiarity. Cribbing can be no recommendation to a purchaser,
although the writer cannot honestly point to the direction in which it
is detrimental to the usefulness. The late Mr. Sewell had a brown horse:
this creature was eighteen years old, and an inveterate cribber; yet, it
would trot nine miles an hour, for its own pace, without ever needing the
whip. More than this, no horse master should require; but let those who
entertain a horror of crib-biting, pay extra attention to the means by
which the indulgence can be prevented.




CHAPTER VIII.

THE ABDOMEN--ITS ACCIDENTS AND ITS DISEASES.


ENTERITIS.

The nose turned forcibly upward in horses is only expressive of general
abdominal disease. The author has witnessed this symptom during the
earliest stage of =enteritis=. It is frequently exhibited when no
disturbance calling for treatment is known to be present, or can be
subsequently observed. Still, because it is sometimes the earliest warning
of intestinal disorder, all horses displaying such a peculiarity should
receive pointed attention.

[Illustration:

    THE NOSE STRAINED VIOLENTLY UPWARD IS A GENERAL SYMPTOM OF ABDOMINAL
    IRRITATION.
]

=Enteritis= is a fearful disease, treating the greatest possible agony.
Aged horses are specially exposed to this scourge, which can rage
with ungovernable fury from the commencement, and consume the life in
eight hours. Its causes, unfortunately, are in a great measure purely
conjectural; such as drinking cold water, etc. etc.

These incentives are formally recounted in books; but surely something
is wanted to complete the catalogue. If all the animals exposed to the
operation of such provocatives were to have enteritis, two-thirds of
the horses inhabiting Great Britain would be dead by to-morrow morning.
The principal thing, therefore, is the predisposition; incline toward a
particular malady, and any triviality may start up the disease; yet this
predisposition we at present are too ignorant to recognize.

A severe fit of colic, long continued, may end in enteritis. This is well
known; yet it was not the colic which induced enteritis; but the real
cause was that which originated the first affection. The predisposition
must be present before the bowels would exhibit that inflammation into
which the colic merged; the injudicious and cruel treatment most horses
receive from those to whose service the life is devoted, may probably be
accused as the root of all these evils; disease is the loudest proof that
the life is stinted in some essential particular. The same food is placed
before all horses; one animal will, however, purge upon exertion; labor,
on the other hand, may constipate the fellow occupant of the same stable.
When the same effect has produced such opposite causes, all the bodies
cannot be alike; an old proverb asserts "that which is one man's food is
another man's poison." The diet which supports one animal in health may
loosen or constringe its companion; yet we are too ignorant to practically
use such distinctions.

Again, there is no practice more general than to load the rack and pile
the manger after any uncommon toil has been endured. The practice may
originate in the best intentions; but no intention can convert that
which is evil into a positive good. The wretched animal is tempted to
cram the stomach when excessive labor has weakened the vital functions.
Horses which are brought home late at night do not usually receive much
notice; the grooms are sleepy and eager for their beds. The dressing
of the animal, however much such attention might conduce to health, is
consequently left to the following morning. Rapid motion quickens the
circulation; the blood is sent to the skin, and copious perspiration
is the result. However warm the stable may be, warmth only promotes
evaporation; cold of the lowest degree results from evaporation; the
consequence is, the body of the quadruped speedily shivers; the blood is
repelled to the internal organs, the bowels are prepared for inflammation,
and thus enteritis often follows upon the midnight return from a long
journey.

Moreover, when the frame is exhausted, rest is far more essential than
food; the nourishment then should be very light, and such as can be
quickly swallowed. A quart of thick flour or of oatmeal gruel should be
first offered after the return. When the cleansing of the animal's body
is finished, another quart should be given; these will occupy little time
in being put out of sight, and the administration need not interfere
with the repose which is desired. The gruel being swallowed, a feed of
crushed and scalded oats may be placed in the manger; no hay should be
allowed; the wish is to sustain a debilitated body, not to blow out an
idle stomach. Then the creature should, after being fully clothed, be left
to itself, and no more nourishment be provided for that night. The danger
of introducing substances into a stomach dead to its functions would thus
be avoided; nothing likely to irritate or to operate as foreign bodies
upon the bowels would be set before the debilitated horse. Besides, the
groom would be obliged to remain up for some space, and, as a good servant
always finds time hang heavy when without occupation, the animal is more
likely to be dressed before the man retires. Moreover, the clothes would
prevent the cold which ensues upon unchecked evaporation.

=Constipation=, if permitted to exist for any period, is always
dangerous; hardened feces are one of the surest causes of enteritis.
Disregarding this fact, the endeavor of the immediate age seems to be to
keep horses cheap. Strange mixtures are now substituted for wholesome
corn, in which the grain and husk are mingled, the one supporting the
strength, the other stimulating the bowels. It is folly to seek for profit
from a life, and to stint the nourishment which feeds the strength, or to
view cheapness as desirable where the service is unlimited. It is wicked
to imprison a living being and then to regard it only in connection with
our conveniences; "much care and no spare" is a good stable proverb. The
food makes the work; omnibus masters know this fact; their horses perform
hard work and eat of the best, however abominably the generality of these
slaves were once lodged. The home of a London horse is mostly a miserable
hole: heated only by fermentation; too often undrained; nearly always
without sufficient ventilation. The stall of such a building is large
enough for the animal to stand in and not wide enough for the recumbent
frame to rest in; the roof is low, and the refuse of the body is piled
near the entrance. When will man learn that his interest is best consulted
by the proper observances due to vitality in every form? A horse cannot
be treated as though it were a jug; it cannot be placed upon a shelf and
taken down when required. The functions which nature has placed within
a beautiful and exquisitely framed body will, if thus regarded, soon
become deranged. Sickness will soon cost more money than health would have
required for its sustainment; and, in the end, he who strives to blend the
animate and the inanimate will speedily find himself possessed only of the
latter description of property.

The predisposing cause may, in most instances, be difficult to discover;
but the premonitory symptoms of enteritis are well marked. The animal is
dull and heavy. It may not notice aught about it, or it picks at its food;
repeated and violent shivering fits usher in the attack. When the above
characteristic signs are observed, at once take away all hay and corn.
Bandage the legs, which will be cold; clothe the body, and, if already
dressed, loosen the surcingle. Litter well the stall or remove the horse
to a loose box; give two or three drinks, one every quarter of an hour,
containing sulphuric ether and laudanum, of each one ounce; water, half a
pint; and observe the animal without disturbing it. These symptoms are,
however, generally unseen, because the groom is between the bedclothes
while his charge is suffering.

The primary symptoms of decided enteritis are termed "=colic=" or
"=fret=." Such words simply represent bellyache; but harm is done and
valuable time lost, if the terms of the stable are accepted in any
absolute signification. Grooms always have some invaluable nostrum
hoarded up; such people are proud of and confident in their secret
knowledge; they will lie rather than communicate the contents of their
charm. With the best hopes the foolish servant will waste precious
moments in useless expectation, and watch for results from an injurious
or worthless potion till the time when curative measures could have been
effective has passed. Never permit the men who clean the horses also to
administer to their diseases; the poor fellows may mean well, but they can
have no knowledge which, in the presence of danger, can be beneficial.

The primary symptom, to an uninformed observer, may simply announce a mild
fit of gripes. When the shivering has subsided, the horse rolls, plunges,
kicks, etc. etc., as he does in spasmodic colic. The struggles, however,
are less abandoned and far more mannered in inflammation of the bowels,
than in genuine spasm. The pain, moreover, which in enteritis accompanies
all movements of the diaphragm, throws the labor of respiration upon the
walls of the thorax. The ribs can only partially dilate the lungs; nature
endeavors by quickening the motion to supply the deficiency. In colic,
the breathing is at first only excited by the exertion; it is deep and
full. At the commencement of spasm, the mouth is moist and in temperature
natural; during enteritis, the breathing is very short and the mouth is
always hot and dry.

[Illustration: THE TEST FOR ENTERITIS AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ATTACK.]

The pulse is disturbed only as colic progresses; in enteritis it is
quick, hard, and wiry, before the disorder is fully established. The term
"wiry" well represents the kind of pulse which accompanies enteritis.
If a thin metallic cord were to strike the finger ends somewhat gently,
and about seventy times in a minute, it would impart the same sensation
as is communicated by the beat of the artery during inflammation of
the bowels. Besides, pressure in colic seems to ease the anguish; in
enteritis, the horse often cannot bear to have the abdomen touched. The
last symptom, however, is not always present, neither is there one,
save those characteristic of general inflammation, which is invariably
to be observed. In abdominal disease, so many organs are influenced
that everything becomes, in a vast degree, mystery and confusion.
Notwithstanding this, pressure, in enteritis, never affords relief;
sometimes, however, the hand placed upon the belly will elicit the most
energetic response. The horse will kick with the hind leg, turn round the
head, and violently snap the jaws together. Then he who applied so rude
a test must stand out of the reach of the hind foot, at the same time
watching the head. Thus all danger is readily avoided; because the ears,
the eyes, and nostrils of the horse express its intentions before these
are carried into effect.

[Illustration: THE TEST OF PRESSURE TO THE ABDOMEN FOR ENTERITIS.]

[Illustration: A CERTAIN TEST FOR ENTERITIS.]

All the tests will, however, not warrant certainty. The heat and dryness
of the mouth may proceed from bodily exhaustion; the pulse, though highly
suspicious, may merely denote general disturbance rather than declare the
particular locality of a disorder. The peculiarity of the breathing may
only express temporary faintness; the resistance to pressure is common
to many horses while in health, and the restrained method of the plunges
may be consequent upon the absence of any incitive to greater energy;
still, when all are put together, they imply a great deal. Faintness
and exhaustion are not to be reconciled with a hard pulse; the heat of
the mouth and the resistance to pressure, especially when united to the
voluntary restraint imposed upon the motion, certainly warrant a strong
inference, and sanction no belief that colic is the sufferer's complaint.
Happily, however, there remains a mode of assuring the most hesitating
individual. The coat must be pulled off, the shirt-sleeves rolled up, and
the arm be well greased or thoroughly soaped. About this there must be no
false delicacy: in human surgery and in veterinary practice many things
have to be surmounted which do not read well when described in cold print.
In this instance, the intention is to relieve a suffering life; the motive
will elevate the act. The fingers of the right hand are to be compressed,
while the left hand raises the tail; the position is on the left side,
as near to the feet as may be possible. Being there, the points of the
compressed fingers are brought to bear upon the center of the anus; gentle
and equable pressure is maintained until the resistance of the sphincter
muscle is tired out; even then, no haste is warranted. Upon the hand
penetrating the body, a cavity is entered; here there is generally some
dung, the removal of which constitutes what is called "back-raking." In
enteritis, the excrement is hard, dry, offensive, in small and dark lumps,
upon the surface of which lie streaks of white mucus. This being done,
the arm must be regreased or again moistened with water, and the hand
gradually advanced to ascertain the temperature of the intestines. If the
health be undisturbed, the operator will be conscious only of a genial
glow; should inflammation exist, the augmentation of the natural heat will
be most decided.

All is then certainty; no further doubt is justifiable, and no additional
symptom need be looked for. The nature of the case is determined, and
should it be enteritis, every moment is indeed precious. Firstly,
neither bleed nor purge. A particular kind of venesection, however, is
allowed. Extract one quart of blood, and inject into the vein one pint of
blood-warm water; a profuse purgation and perspiration almost immediately
follows the disappearance of the fluid. Much uncertainty is thus spared;
and two conditions, both favorable to recovery, are induced.

[Illustration: THE SYRINGE TO INJECT INTO THE JUGULAR VEIN DURING
ENTERITIS.]

For this operation a quart syringe should be employed; a fine curved
nozzle should be affixed to it for the convenience of insertion down the
vein; the tube connected with the handle should be marked to show when a
pint has been forced out of the instrument.

The reason for using a larger and a less handy machine than seems
absolutely necessary to perform a delicate operation is, because nearly
all syringes suck up a portion of air, which, when the instrument is
almost empty, comes forth. Now breath or atmosphere, or gas of any kind
injected into a living vessel, speedily destroys life. To prevent so
fearful an accident the enlarged capacity of the syringe is recommended.

The water being injected, should the pulse regain its inflammatory
character, mingle half a drachm of aconite root, in powder, with every
subsequent antispasmodic draught. The ethereal drenches must be continued,
because pain of the intestines is always obstinate, and we cannot be
certain how far spasm may cause the agony, seeing that a form of colic
always attends on enteritis.

    Aconite root, in powder           Half a drachm.
    Sulphuric ether                   Three ounces.
    Laudanum                          Three ounces.
    Extract of belladonna             One drachm.
        (Rubbed down in water)        One pint and a half.

These drinks should be administered as the pain, pulse, and the general
appearance seem to demand them; they may be employed every quarter of an
hour if requisite. When the pulse is quiet, withdraw the aconite; should
the pain subside, remove the belladonna. The ether and laudanum may be
diminished as the horse appears to be more comfortable.

Should the symptoms denote a dead, lingering pain in the abdomen, after
the administration of the eighth drink, procure some strong liquor
ammonia. Dilute this with six times its bulk of cold water. Saturate a
stout cloth with the dilution; lay the cloth upon several folds of rug;
obtain four resolute men with not very sensitive eyes or noses, and let
them hold the cloth close to the animal's abdomen.

[Illustration: THE APPLICATION OF AN AMMONIACAL BLISTER IN ENTERITIS.]

The action of the ammonia must be from time to time observed. It is a
most powerful agent; in certain states it can blister in ten minutes; in
other conditions, it requires half an hour to take that effect. It is
very uncertain; but, if held too long, it may dissolve the skin and leave
behind a fearful sore, which will establish a lasting blemish. He who
employs it will understand he is using that which must not be abused. The
removal of the cloth allows the ammonia to evaporate, and, consequently,
at any moment effectually checks all further action.

When all is accomplished, should the progress of the disease be
effectually stayed, but the cure not be complete, sprinkle on the tongue
the following powder every second hour:--

    Calomel                    Half a drachm.
    Opium                      One drachm.

But stop all the other medicine as soon as the subsidence of the symptoms
will permit. The food is now of all importance: bran, in enteritis, is
positive poison; mashes are not to be thought of; linseed is too feeding
for an inflammatory subject. The same objection may be taken to gruel; hay
tea, or pails of boiling water poured upon a pound of flour, must sustain
the body for the first day after recovery; on the next day, a feed of
boiled roots may be introduced, but not the whole quantity at once; that
must be divided into three meals. Then the amount may be doubled, and thus
the full bulk of provender be by degrees attained; afterward a few crushed
and scalded oats may be mixed with the rest at each meal; but it should
be some time before hay is permitted to irritate and distend the lately
inflamed surfaces.

Enteritis is a fearful disorder; he who has witnessed one death by that
terrible malady should have received an awful rebuke. The _post-mortem_
examination best describes the violence of the affection. The intestines,
generally the large intestines, are black and swollen; often in color they
approach to a green. Their structure is destroyed; they tear upon a touch,
and are so loaded with inflamed blood that one division of the bowels may
form no inconsiderable burden for a strong man.

The above directions, the intelligent reader will fully comprehend, are
not pronounced in any absolute sense. No two cases of any violent disorder
are precisely similar; the forms, therefore, prescribed in these pages
admit of variations. They are given only as suited to the generality of
attacks; they may be lessened or augmented, as circumstances demand or as
discretion dictates. It would be as easy to make a shoe which should fit
all feet, as to name medicines or point out the quantities which should be
adapted to all maladies.


ACUTE DYSENTERY.

Diarrhœa may be banished from the list of diseases to which horse-flesh
is liable. Certain animals will purge during work; others will scour
upon the smallest change of diet; such peculiarities, however, mostly
check themselves; they demand very slight or no remedial treatment.
Unlike diarrhœa in the human subject, they never terminate in death; but
dysentery is as violent as diarrhœa is mild. The length and size of the
intestines render any disease within them a very serious affair. There
are two kinds of dysentery, the acute and the chronic; the acute form of
disease will constitute the subject of the present article.

The cause of =acute dysentery= is always some acrid substance taken into
the stomach--generally aloes, combined with some preparation of croton;
other substances will, however, induce an inflammatory purgation. Such a
result may ensue upon the injudicious use of arsenic, corrosive sublimate,
tartar emetic, blue-stone, etc. etc. Many of these substances will be
eaten if mixed with the corn--the instinct which protects the lives of
other animals being destroyed in the horse by ages of domestication.
Others may be ignorantly administered with the very best of intention.

The symptoms often are obscure at the commencement; there is abdominal
pain; so there is in most intestinal disorders. The agony may readily be
mistaken for the pangs attendant on spasmodic colic. On other occasions,
the suffering may be slight, not even sufficient at first to destroy the
appetite. No poison acts upon two bodies in precisely the same manner;
violent purgation is generally the first marked sign which makes known
the nature of the disorder. The feces soon become mere discolored water;
the thirst is then excessive; the stench is most offensive; the pulse,
from being hard, shortly becomes thick and feeble, and ultimately it
is intermittent; the countenance is haggard; the position of the body
expresses abdominal pain. Perspirations break forth in patches; tympanitis
starts up, and death speedily ensues.

[Illustration: A HORSE SUFFERING FROM DRASTIC POISON.]

It is of little use to inquire, while the animal is suffering, what has
provoked the superpurgation; it is then most desirable, if possible, to
remove the effect. The best chance of accomplishing this is by destroying
the pain that exhausts the strength, thereby affording nature the better
chance of vanquishing the irritation. Ether, opium, belladonna, chalk, and
catechu present the best means of doing this. These agents, when combined,
support the body, allay the anguish, and check the purgation; blended with
thick linseed tea, which will in some measure supply the mucus lost to the
bowels, they therefore form a good drink for most occasions.

    Sulphuric ether                One ounce.
    Laudanum                       Three ounces.
    Liquor potassæ                 Half an ounce.
    Powdered chalk                 One ounce.
    Tincture of catechu            One ounce.
    Cold linseed tea               One pint.
      Give, throughout the acute stage, every quarter of an hour.

At the same time cleanse the quarters, plait up the tail, and throw up
copious injections of cold linseed tea. Expect the horse to become greatly
prostrated when amendment commences. The entire of the irritating agent
must be expelled from the body before improvement can be witnessed.
The subsequent recovery is announced by a pause in the symptoms; the
disease appears to be stationary, whereas previously everything denoted a
hastening termination.

That pause is one of suspense, for no one can say what will follow;
sometimes the cessation of agony precedes immediate dissolution; sometimes
recovery dates from that event. The animal, upon the slightest change
being exhibited, must still be assiduously attended. Care must never
cease; and, after recovery is confirmed, the food for a week must consist
of linseed tea, hay tea, and gruel. On the expiration of the week, a few
boiled roots may be added, three of the drinks previously ordered being
administered every day. Do not bother about the bowels; no matter, should
the animal be constipated for a fortnight subsequent to the thorough
emptying of acute dysentery. Upon the termination of a fortnight, stop all
medicine, and allow some crushed, scalded oats and beans; withdraw some of
the slops as the solids advance; but let a full month expire before a drop
of cold water or a mouthful of hay are permitted to be swallowed.

To escape the loss of so large a piece of property as a living horse, it
is imperative the notion should be abandoned which asserts that because
the horse can swallow most opening medicines with impunity, a strong
purgative cannot otherwise than benefit the animal; the deduction is not
fairly drawn. But not to follow up too closely so lame a prey: aloes is
the general purgative in the stable; it is a drug which should never be
intrusted to the hands of the groom. The difference between the necessary
and the poisonous dose is too close for the uneducated to comprehend it;
more horses have been slaughtered with aloes than have perished from all
the other poisons conjoined. Yet grooms are particularly fond of this
medicine; the dangerous drug enters into every ball which is popular in
the stable; no matter how opposite the end desired may be, in the groom's
opinion aloes must produce it. Like the majority of the uneducated, the
stable-man rejoices in a strong purge. Tenesmus is his delight; he loves
to see sixteen or eighteen full motions, and then he cannot comprehend why
the horse is weak, since the physic passed beautifully through him!

Of all persons living, grooms generally are the most prejudiced and the
worst informed. All advice is disregarded; should the master speak, the
groom shakes his head, and, after the lecture is ended, inquires of
himself, "what the old buffer can know about it?" Here is the curse of
horses! Gentlemen transfer them to the custody of the uneducated. The
groom is accepted as an authority; the master asks for and is mostly
governed by the opinion of an inferior. No other servant possesses such a
power; no domestic more abuses his position; the carriage and the harness
maker, the corn merchant, and the veterinary surgeon all pay this person
five per cent. upon the employer's bills; nothing comes on to the premises
but the man claims a profit from it; nothing leaves the stable but is
regarded as his perquisite. He thus, while occupying a situation of trust,
has an absolute interest in the extravagance of the expenditure. Wear and
tear of the articles over which he watches brings to him actual emolument;
his interest and his duty are at war, and when a weak person has to decide
the battle, it is easy to understand on which part the victory will be
declared.


CHRONIC DYSENTERY.

This affliction is not so common among horses as it is with cattle;
neither is it so frequent at the present day as it appears to have
formerly been. Once it was termed "molten grease," from an unfounded
notion that liquid fat was discharged with the feces. Now it is known that
what our ancestors took for grease is no more than the mucus, which is
expelled during every form of severe intestinal irritation.

The cause of =chronic dysentery= among horses is not well understood. It
is said to follow diarrhœa; but such an explanation seems to confound the
commencement of one disorder with the establishment of another disease.
Horses having chronic dysentery are, generally, old animals, which are
subject to the will of a very poor or a very penurious man. They are badly
kept, and may have to grub a scanty living from lanes and hedgerows;
also, they are goaded to hard work upon watery food and sour grass. In
such cases, disturbance of the bowels should be early attended to. The
food should be immediately changed. Good sound oats and beans should be
freely given, while the following drink is administered thrice daily:--

    Crude opium                      Half an ounce.
    Liquor potassæ                   One ounce.
    Chalk                            One ounce.
    Tincture of all-spice            One ounce.
    Alum                             Half an ounce.
       Mix with a quart of good ale, stir briskly, and give.

Should the primary symptom not be attended to, profuse purgation may
ensue without excitement; but always will happen upon any exertion or
the drinking of cold water. Violent straining often follows; the belly
enlarges; the flesh wastes; the bones protrude; the skin is hide-bound;
the visible mucous membranes become pallid; weakness increases;
perspiration often bursts forth without occasion; the horse will stand
still for hours, not grazing, nor seemingly being conscious that grass was
within its reach.

[Illustration: A HORSE SUFFERING UNDER CHRONIC DYSENTERY.]

At length a living skeleton alone remains of that which was a horse. The
eyes have a sleepy, sad, and pathetic expression; the head is often turned
slowly toward the flanks; the sight remains fixed for some moments upon
the seat of pain; the horse stands on one spot, or only changes it when
the bowels are about to act; colic at length sets in, though frequently
it is present earlier; and the wretched quadruped then fades speedily away.

It is a general practice to turn animals suffering from chronic dysentery
upon some village common. The horse is put there with scanty food and
no shelter, under a plea of humanity, or "to give the old 'oss a last
chance." There can be no feeling in placing a diseased animal far away
from sight or help, where it must pine, shiver, and starve, in a dreary
solitude.

Supposing the affected life to be claimed by a generous master, either of
the following drinks may be given, thrice daily:--

    Sulphuric ether                One ounce.
    Laudanum                       Three ounces.
    Liquor potassæ                 Half an ounce.
    Powdered chalk                 One ounce.
    Tincture of catechu            One ounce.
    Cold linseed tea               One pint.

    Chloroform                     Half an ounce.
    Extract of belladonna          Half a drachm.
    Carbonate of ammonia           One drachm.
    Powdered camphor               Half a drachm.
    Tincture of oak bark           One ounce.
    Cold linseed tea               One pint.

The above drinks may be changed, as either appears to have ceased to
operate. The food should be of the best and lightest description. Boiled
roots, boiled linseed, boiled rice, crushed and boiled malt, etc. etc.; no
hay. The body should be frequently dressed, and always clothed. A good bed
ought to be allowed. The lodging must be well drained and roomy.

Yet, after all this trouble, a speedy cure is not to be expected; and
rarely does an old horse, should it recover, prove highly useful. How
sad, however, is that condition where the continuance of the life is
made conditional upon the service of the body--where interest is the
only motive which permits existence! No sympathy to be anticipated
in suffering; no pity in disease! The only feeling that actuates the
custodian is a cold regard for the gain which the jaded being can yet
bring him. A life of usefulness, years of toil, injuries sustained and
accidents surmounted,--all cannot win a day's respite from the doom which
attends the creature whose exertions in man's service have led to the
disablement of its powers. Such, however, is the fate of the horse in
England, which land specially boasts it is a "Christian country."

Chronic dysentery is the inheritance which the horse earns from being
subjected to the dominion of man. Excessive labor, filthy lodging, and
innutritious diet are the causes. Each of these causes increases as the
age advances.

Prior to its domestication, the horse might not have found on every spot
an abundance of excellent fodder; but then it was at liberty to seek a
better fare in another place. Man has taken away all power of choice;
he forces the creature to toil, and obliges it to eat only that which
parsimony may afford to place before it. When so vast and so absolute
a power is claimed, it becomes a positive duty to see the mere animal
necessities are satisfied: it is cruel folly to tax the powers and to
stint the body. It is a crime to undertake a trust and then confide the
fulfillment of its responsibility to an ignorant inferior. It is a sin to
seize on life and to neglect the prisoner you hold in captivity. Where
existence is claimed as a property, and animation is forced to wear out
being in labor for the master's profit, surely the least obligation the
superior could own should be the provision of ample lodging and fitting
sustenance! Both are withheld from the aged horse.


ACITES, OR DROPSY OF THE ABDOMEN.

In the horse, =acute peritonitis= is unknown, save as the result of
operation; then its fury takes possession of the cavity and generally
refuses to yield to medicine. It is different, however, with chronic
peritonitis, which, though not a common disorder, is too often encountered
to be esteemed a rare disease. It is, when early noticed, tractable; but
the earlier symptoms are generally not understood. The first sign is
a ragged coat and a tender state of the abdomen; the horse, which was
passive previously, now shrinks from the curry-comb; snaps and kicks
at him who dresses it. Such actions are viewed as denoting a return of
spirit. Intending to encourage the favorite quality of the stable, the
flank is violently struck or slapped by the servant; and the indication
forced from a dumb animal by agony, is by grooms regarded as the proof of
reviving animation.

Masters should, in justice to themselves if from no higher motive,
visit the stable more frequently than is their custom. The horse is all
gentleness and simplicity; a groom only knows less about the animal than
a child, for he has acquired notions which induce him to misinterpret
plain actions. Every owner of a stable should learn to feel and count the
horse's pulse; he should be acquainted with the normal standard and its
healthy character; chronic peritonitis might then early be discovered. The
pulse under this disease is hard and small, it vibrates about sixty times
in a minute. The head is pendulous; the food is oftener spoiled, rather
scattered about than eaten; the membranes are pale and the mouth is dry;
pressure upon the abdomen elicits a groan, and turning in the stall always
calls forth a grunt.

When such symptoms are observed, the food should be small in bulk, but
nutritious in quality; no work should be imposed; the medicine should be
tonic and alterative.

    Strychnia              A quarter of a grain, worked gradually up to one
                             grain.
    Iodide of iron         Half a drachm, worked gradually up to one
                             drachm and a half.
    Extract of belladonna  One scruple.
    Extract of gentian     A sufficiency.
    Powdered quassia       A sufficiency.
      Make into a ball; give one at night and at morning.

Small blisters should succeed each other upon the abdomen; but as these
cases are always tedious and very much depends upon the constitution of
the animal, charity alone should propose such a disease for treatment, as
the general termination of the malady is incurable dropsy of the abdomen.

=Acites= offers a good illustration of the loss inhumanity brings down
upon man, and of the gain which would attend a loftier conduct. Chronic
peritonitis attacks aged animals; such horses are used only for harness
purposes. Few masters inquire what propels the carriage, so the vehicle
gets over the ground. The affected quadruped cannot drag its own body;
thus more than double duty is cast upon the sound steed. The single horse
has not only to draw the entire carriage and its load, but it also has
to pull along its disabled companion. Servants frequently hide defects,
hoping that time will remedy them, or dreading the reception proverbially
given to the bearer of bad tidings; thus the sound horse ultimately fails,
while the sick animal is rendered worse by violent exercise.

However, with the honesty which seems to prevail in and around the stable,
the diseased horse is often sent to the nearest market. The proprietor,
under some strange quibble of conscience, sells to another that which he
is convinced is worthless. A rich master vends and a poor man buys; the
cheatery of such a bargain is obvious, but to such results always tend a
violated contract. The natural contract between man and horse is outraged;
a conditional gift is construed to imply an unconditional bestowal.
The terms are warped according to the convenience of the receiver; the
possibility of any obligation being implied is never suspected. A few,
and very few good people, from feeling only fulfill the conditions of
the bond; but kindness, when bestowed upon the horse, is regarded as a
weakness and a gratuity. From the highest to the lowest, none think that
all of animated creatures are born with rights; no one behaves as though
domesticated animals were only intrusted to the care of man. Violation of
moral conditions begins the evil, which ends in cheatery and robbery of
one another.

The symptoms which announce that the serous membrane has effused water
into the abdomen are a want of spirit; constant lying down and remaining
in one position for a long period; perpetual restlessness; thirst; loss
of appetite; thinness; weakness; enlarged abdomen; constipation and
hide-bound.

[Illustration: A HORSE WITH ACITES, OR ABDOMINAL DROPSY.]

The enlargement of the belly has something peculiar in it; the swelling
lies toward the inferior portion of the abdomen. Near the loins there
is apparently an empty space; if the hand be placed on the enlargement,
and another person strikes the belly on the opposite side, a sense of
fluctuation can be distinctly felt. If the horse be thrown upon its back,
the swelling will, with the change of position, gravitate toward the
loins. At length small bags containing fluid depend from the chest and the
inferior surface of the belly. Should the disease be suffered to progress,
the sheath and one leg generally enlarge; the hair of the mane breaks off
and is easily pulled out. Where once hung the tail now remains little more
than the dock with a few scattered hairs. Ultimately purgation starts up,
which terminates the suffering.

Of course, after effusion, all treatment is powerless--creatures in
the last stage of dropsy presenting sights which the mind shudders to
contemplate; objects of this kind are sometimes to be seen on commons in
the neighborhood of London. They are turned out to die miserably under
the plea of humanity; the utmost limit of cruelty is justified or made
pleasant by a pretense to sympathy. The poor horse literally starves; were
there food to eat, the remaining strength would not serve to collect it.
Still the proprietor is so very humane he cannot endure to destroy the
property he has paid for; the poor animal is therefore thrust forth to
cheaply live, or to die without trouble to its owner.


INFLUENZA.

This affection may rage throughout the kingdom, or it may be located
upon a very circumscribed spot. In a disorder so eccentric, it is very
difficult to decide the question whether or not it is contagious; it
commonly runs through the stable in which it appears; but it does not
invariably attack every animal within the building. It may, in a large
edifice, first seize the horse nearest the door, then travel to the stall
farthest from the entrance; thus it skips about without regularity, and
often spares many individuals.

Occasionally =influenza= fixes upon an animal when in the field; but it is
a more probable visitant of the stable: this is a seeming proof that the
contagion does not reside in the air, since the atmosphere is as much as
possible excluded from every mews. We may conjecture it is not dependent
upon any vapor exuding from the earth, since the creatures whose noses are
nearly always in contact with the herbage are, of all others, least liable
to the affection.

It is terrible to contemplate the suffering and loss of life which have
been consequent upon the errors of mankind. Influenza is regarded as a new
disease; a new name deceives the world, though it is more than probable
that a disorder of a low, febrile, and typhoid character has prevailed
among animals for many ages. Nature has, for thousands of years, been
striving to enforce the self-evident truth that man is by moral obligation
bound to provide for the welfare of the animal he enslaves. His gain or
the inclination of his will can be no argument against the fulfillment of
so plain a duty; the implied contract, the common parent of all living
things, has been emphasizing with sickness and with death; all has been
to no purpose. Cunning men have been employed, and nostrums have been
invented to maintain misrule; wealth has been sacrificed and ruin endured,
to uphold an unrighteous cause; but the voice of nature pleading for her
children has not been understood.

Even at this day the old fault is to be met with on every hand; it is
exhibited by the rich as well as by the poor, by the highly educated and
by the very ignorant. In every place exist horses of fabulous excellence
in the master's opinion, imprisoned within walls which exclude the vital
air. The roof may not permit the animal's head to be raised, the sides
may not allow the body to be turned; the fumes within the walls shall
oppress the lungs and sting the eyes of the man who enters the building;
yet within a circumscribed space, so foul and pestilential, the horse is
doomed to exist. Then the animal's disease is heard of with surprise, and
its death is lamented as a misfortune!

What cause is there for grief or for wonder, if impurity does generate
disease and death? What need has man to ape the martyr, because influenza
starts from the contamination which by human will has been created?
The pest once originated sweeps onward, nor can mortal exclamation nor
mortal sorrow check the course of the destroyer; all fall alike before
the scourge. The filthy and the cleanly alike are stricken; yet neither
masters nor legislators can draw wisdom from the visitation.

In influenza there is no difficulty in pointing to the structure affected;
it would, however, be hard to allude to the part which was not involved.
The weakness and stupidity which accompany the affection declare the brain
and nervous system to be diseased. Local swellings show the cellular
tissue to be deranged; heat and pain in the limbs and joints announce the
serous, the ligamentous, and osseous structures implicated. The muscular
and digestive functions are acutely disordered; the rapid wasting of the
flesh demonstrate the absorbents are excited. There is no portion of the
body which can escape the ravage of influenza.

Youth, or rather the approach of adultism, is the favorite season of the
attack, which is most prevalent during the spring time of the year. There
is, however, no period or any age which are altogether exempt from its
influence.

All kinds of treatment have been experimented with. Bleeding, purging,
blistering, setoning have all been tried, and each has destroyed more
lives than the whole can boast of having saved; experience has by slow
degrees shown the inutility of active treatment. _Bold_ measures, as
those plans are termed which add to another's suffering, commonly end in
hydrothorax or water on the chest.

It is difficult to determine when the first symptom of influenza is
present. The author is indebted to the acuteness of Mr. T. W. Gowing, V.
S., of Camden Town, for a knowledge of a marked indication declarative
of the presence of influenza. A yellowness of the mucous membranes, best
shown on the conjunctiva or white of the eye, is very characteristic.
Whenever the sign is seen and sudden weakness remarked, caution should
be practiced, for it is ten to one that the pestilence is approaching.
Influenza is a very simulative disorder; it has appeared as laminitis;
disease of the lungs is, perhaps, its favorite type. Bowel complaints are
apt to imitate each other; blowing generally commences such disorders. But
when influenza is prevalent, let the body's strength and the yellowness
or redness of the membranes be always looked to before any more prominent
indication is particularly observed.

The other symptoms--which, however, are very uncertain, as regards any of
them being present or absent--are pendulous head, short breath, inflamed
membranes, swollen lips, dry mouth, enlarged eyelids, copious tears,
sore throat, tucked up flanks, compressed tail, filled legs, big joints,
lameness and hot feet. Auscultation may detect a grating sound at the
chest, or a noise like brickbats falling down stairs at the windpipe;
whenever this last peculiarity is audible there is a copious nasal
discharge. Sometimes one foot is acutely painful, and, notwithstanding
the weakness, the leg is held in the air. Purgation has been witnessed,
although constipation usually prevails, and the animal generally stands
during the continuance of the disorder.

[Illustration: CONFIRMED INFLUENZA.]

Move the horse slowly to a well-littered, loose box; mind the door does
not open to the north or to the east. No food will be eaten; but suspend
a pail of well-made gruel within easy reach of the animal's head. Let
the gruel be changed or the receptacle replenished at stated periods,
thrice daily; sprinkle one scruple of calomel upon the tongue and wash it
down with a drink composed of sulphuric either, one ounce; laudanum, one
ounce; water, half a pint; do this night and morning. Should the weakness
be excessive, double the quantity of ether and of laudanum contained in
the draughts. Watch the pulse--it always is feeble, but at first has a
wiry feeling. So soon as the character of the pulse changes or the wiry
sensation departs, which generally happens when the nasal discharge
becomes copious and cough appears, one pot of stout may be allowed, and
some nourishing food, as bread, on which a very little salt has been
sprinkled, may be offered by hand. The horse feels man to be its master
and appreciates any attention bestowed upon it in the hour of sickness. It
will stand still to be caressed, and advance its hanging ears to catch the
accents of sympathy.

[Illustration: A COMMON SIGHT DURING RECOVERY FROM INFLUENZA, WHEN
ACTIVELY TREATED.]

Beware of what is termed active treatment; a purgative is death during
influenza. It generally will induce the prostration from which the animal
never recovers. Formerly it was common to see four strong men propping
up a horse during its endeavor to walk. But the lower class are fond of
joking one with another. Such was the usual result of their employment on
these occasions. In the fun the horse got but partial support, while the
noise distressed the diseased sensibilities. Horses have large sympathies,
and readily comprehend the attentions dictated by kindness. The disregard
which people too often display toward sickness in an animal acutely pains
the creature: its effects may be told by the altered character of the
pulse. Whereas the voice, when softened by pity, often causes the heavy
head to be turned toward the speaker; and the muzzle of a diseased inmate
of the stable has frequently reposed long upon the chest of the writer.


ABDOMINAL INJURIES.

These are of various kinds. They differ materially, but they all provoke
inflammation of the vast serous membranes lining the abdominal cavity; and
their symptoms are therefore too nearly alike to be distinguished from
each other. A mere list of such perils must astonish the reader; and his
pity will be excited when he learns that such accidents, numerous as they
are, generate the most violent agony. These injuries consist of ruptured
diaphragm, ruptured stomach, ruptured spleen, ruptured intestines,
strangulation, intro-susception, impactment, and calculus.

[Illustration: AN UNNATURAL ATTITUDE, INDICATIVE OF SOME ABDOMINAL INJURY.]

=Ruptured diaphragm= is attended with a soft cough, and symptoms of
broken wind--occasioned by the almost sole employment of the abdominal
muscles--with sitting on the haunches. Still, Professor Spooner, of
the Royal Veterinary College, mentioned in his lectures that an animal
belonging to the Zoological Society lived two years with a ruptured
diaphragm, through which the bowel protruded into the thorax. In the horse
such a lesion is speedily fatal.

[Illustration: A POSITION OFTEN ASSUMED BY THE HORSE SUFFERING FROM
ABDOMINAL INJURY.]

A position so unnatural as that of sitting on the haunches may denote
something very wrong to be present; but it gives no definite direction
to our ideas. Animals are known to have assumed it, and subsequently to
have recovered. The diaphragm when it yields generally gives way upon
the tendinous portion. Through the opening the peristaltic action soon
causes the bowels to obtrude; and death is produced by displacement and
strangulation of the intestine. The posture previously delineated is
common to all injuries of the abdomen; so is the opposite peculiarity--or
the horse remaining upon its chest. The last attitude may not, to most
persons, appear so strange, seeing that the creature assumes it whenever
it rises or lies down. Then, however, it is only momentary. When it
denotes abdominal injury, it is comparatively of long continuance. At the
same time the breathing and the countenance bespeak the greatest internal
anguish.

[Illustration: TEST FOR HEMORRHAGE FROM THE SPLEEN.]

=Ruptured spleen= is the gentlest death of all those which spring from
abdominal injury. The spleen is at present a mystery to veterinary
science. It has been discovered after death of enormous size; but the
symptoms during life had not led to the expectation of any very serious
disorder. Ruptured spleen and ruptured liver are both productive of
similar symptoms; both answer to the same tests, and the termination of
each is alike.

[Illustration: A RUPTURED STOMACH.]

=Ruptured stomach= mostly happens with old and enfeebled horses. Night
cab-horses are very liable to it; so also are animals of heavy draught.
The drivers often neglect to take out the nose-bags. The horse's most
urgent necessities always yield to man's passing convenience; so the
creature has to journey far or to remain out till the empty stomach
grows debilitated. It is then taken home and placed before abundance.
Elsewhere this folly has been commented upon. It was shown that light
food and perfect rest were the best restoratives for an exhausted frame.
The drivers, however, refuse to be taught. The horse eats and eats. No
contraction of the exhausted stomach warns the animal when to stop. The
viscus is crammed. Then digestion endeavors to commence. With rest the
organ recovers some tone. The muscular coat of the sac starts into action,
and, encountering opposition, the vital powers exert themselves with the
greater energy. The stomach is thus burst by its own inherent force; the
largest division of its various structures always being exhibited by the
elastic peritoneal covering--the lesser rent being left upon the inelastic
mucous lining membrane. Excessive colic, followed by tympanitis, are the
only general symptoms which attend ruptured stomach. The history of the
case, if it can be obtained, is, however, a better guide; but there are
too often interested motives for distorting the facts. Vomition through
the nostrils has been thought to particularize ruptured stomach; but
experience has ascertained that vomition may be induced by any lesion
which is sufficiently great to cause revulsion of the system.

[Illustration:

    THE INTESTINE DIVIDED SO AS TO CLEARLY SHOW THE NATURE OF
    INTRO-SUSCEPTION.
]

=Intro-susception= is always preceded by colic. The last-named affection
causes portions of the bowels to contract. Such contracted intestines
become small, firm, and stiff. They are, while in that condition, by the
peristaltic action readily pushed up other portions of the canal, which
are of the natural size. The entrance of the contracted bowel acts upon
the healthy tube as if it were a foreign substance. Contractibility is
excited. The displaced and intruding bowel is grasped as by a vice, and
the accident is of that kind which provokes its own continuance. Cure is
hopeless, while consciousness remains; the only hope is the administration
of chloroform in full and long-continued doses; thereby to arrest vitality
and chance the release of the imprisoned gut. While intro-susception
lasts, all passage is effectually stopped. Inflammation soon commences,
and the symptoms of outrageous colic are exhibited. However, such is
not always the case. Mr. Woodger, veterinary surgeon of Bishop's Mews,
Paddington, attended a case of this description, in which the symptoms
present seemed to denote congestion of the lungs.

[Illustration: THE CŒCUM INVAGINATED WITHIN THE COLON, AND BLACK FROM
INTENSE INFLAMMATION.]

=Invagination= is here used to express the entrance of one entire division
of the bowels within another. In this sense it is chiefly witnessed upon
the large intestines; whereas intro-susception is mostly present upon the
smaller bowels. The mesentery must be ruptured before such an accident can
take place; but then the agony attendant upon the previous derangement
is so powerful that it is impossible for the hugeness of this lesion to
increase the violence of the torture; nor is there any sign by which so
sad a catastrophe can be predicated.

Before =strangulation= can possibly occur, the mesentery must be sundered.
It almost always happens to a portion of the small intestines. The bowel,
freed from its support, soon involves itself with numerous complications;
or the rent membrane may twine round a knuckle of the gut.

[Illustration: A KNUCKLE OF INTESTINE STRANGULATED BY THE RUPTURED
MESENTERY.]

[Illustration: RUPTURE OF THE SMALL INTESTINES.]

The above illustration, however, shows one of the simplest forms in which
the accident can possibly take place; but no person, however acute, could
distinguish between strangulation from rupture of the intestines. The last
generally occurs upon the smaller bowels, and happens to the interspaces
upon the superior portion of the tube, between the vessels which nourish
the digestive canal. The ingesta, is consequently forced between the
layers of the mesentery. The most intense anguish, inflammation, and death
are the consequences.

[Illustration:

    THE SAC FORMED IN THE BOWEL; THIS THE CALCULUS HAS QUITTED, WHILE
    ANOTHER PORTION OF THE INTESTINE HAS SO FIRMLY GRASPED IT AS TO
    RUPTURE ITSELF.
]

=Calculus= or stone may be present, either in the stomach or in the canal.
Those in the stomach are of small size; those within the intestines may
attain the weight of more than twenty pounds. Those of the stomach are
always smooth, as also may be those of the bowels. To the intestines,
however, there are common three kinds of, or differently composed calculi:
the triple phosphate or the earthy; one formed of the minute hairs which
originally surrounded the kernel of the oat; and another composed of dung,
held together by the mucous secretion of the bowel. Any of these calculi
may, as the size increases, gradually stretch the intestine; thus forming
a living sac within which the stone abides. While it remains there, the
food passes over it and no injury is occasioned. But by any movement it
is likely to be dislodged and thrown into the healthy channel: There it
is firmly grasped with such force as to produce rupture of the intestine,
and the hold is only relaxed after inflammation has ended in mortification
and in death. The bowels, in truth, are impacted by calculus. The passage
is stopped. However different the causes of abdominal injury may appear,
they are each generally characterized by the severest possible abdominal
pain. This symptom is often so violent that the agony conceals all other
indications; or if any others can be exhibited, they are so partially
shown and displayed for so very brief a space as not to permit of their
being rightly interpreted.

It is very desirable that every one should witness a powerful horse in its
agony. No stronger means could be found for enforcing such a lesson than
the sufferings which spring from abdominal injuries. When this is proposed
it is not intended the person should look on misery only so long as the
spectacle stimulated his feelings; but that he should watch hour after
hour and behold the afflicted life resigned under the pressure of mighty
torment. Were such a sight once contemplated--were man fully conscious of
how brimming with horrible expression every feature of the horse's frame
can become--the thought of anguish wrenching life out of so huge a trunk
would surely compel the better treatment of a gentle, inoffensive, and
serviceable slave. Ruptured stomach a little forethought would prevent.
The triple phosphate calculus is common among millers' horses, which are
foully fed from the sweepings of the shop. But if man will oblige duty to
bow before convenience, or make it secondary to expense, the misery he
inflicts will surely in justice recoil upon himself.

=Abdominal injuries= are probably the sources of the greatest agony
horse-flesh can endure. To account for the generality of such lesions, it
is merely necessary to regard the places in which horses are housed and
the manner in which they are fed. In the owner's estimation a horse seems
to be a horse, in the same sense as a table is a table. Both objects are
necessary to his comfort, to his pride, or to his profit. Neither have
higher claims. Both are to be used and to be flung aside. The one is to
be cleaned and repaired at the cheapest rate; the other is to be lodged
and supported at the lowest cost. When either grow old in his service,
each is equally to be discarded. The two things apparently rank in man's
estimation as simple chattels subject to his will and made to please his
fancy. That there is a huge life, a breathing sensibility attached to one
of these articles; that it delights in its master's pleasure, and, if
properly trained, it is capable of sharing its master's emotions, is so
preposterous a sentimentality as to be "with scorn rejected."

Nobody speaks of the horse as a creature enjoying man's highest gift--as
a _living_ animal. Everybody talks about his or her constitution; but no
one imagines the horse has a constitution which can be destroyed. All
horses are expected to thrive equally. They are regarded as things to be
used, and to be sold or packed away when not required. They are obliged
to live by man's direction, and are expected to display the highest spirit
whenever they are taken abroad. Should it be astonishing if the framework
nature has so exquisitely balanced occasionally becomes deranged under
man's barbarous and selfish sway? Is it cause for legitimate wonder if,
under so coarse a rule, disease sometimes assumes strange forms, or
attacks parts which are beyond the reach of human science?


WORMS.

=Worms= are of various kinds; but all, according to the notions of
ignorance, announce their presence by particular symptoms. The parasites,
when really present, can, however, cause no more than intestinal
irritation, the continuance of which may give rise to several disorders.
Chronic indigestion is by the groom always recognized as a "wormy
condition."

The only certain proof of the existence of such annoyances is visible
evidence. Upon suspicion, careful horse proprietors may administer
certain medicine, because some physics only cool the body and cleanse
the system. The generality of worm-powders are, however, too potent to
be safe. Like all drugs sold as "certain cures," they are so powerful
that they frequently do more than remove the disorder which they pretend
to eradicate--for they also destroy the animals to which they are
administered.

Having premised thus much, the author will now commence to describe the
usual form of irritation to which worms of different kinds give rise.

[Illustration: THE TÆNIA OR TAPE-WORM.]

The parasite especially inimical to colts is the =tænia= or =tape-worm=.
It is mostly perpetuated by the farmer's prejudice, which procures foals
from dams that are done up for work: which starves the mother till her
produce runs by her side, and which attempts to rear young stock upon the
sour grass of a public common. Both sire and dam should be in perfect
health if a valuable colt is desired: neither can be too good. The mare
should not, during gestation, be "turned out" to distend the abdomen
with watery provender--to have the stomach and intestines filled with
bots--to allow filth and excretions to accumulate upon the coat and to
check the healthy functions of the skin. Gentle work, only sufficient to
earn the stable-keep, will injure no animal. The mare will rather be
benefited by _moderate_ exercise, and by also having all the food and
attention to which she has become habituated. But to expose a mare during
the summer months, and to stint the animal during the winter season, can
produce nothing which shall repay the expense of rearing. The little
progeny before it sees the light is the inhabitant of an unhealthy home;
after birth the mother's secretion is thin, poor, and watery. It neither
satisfies the cravings of hunger nor can nourish a body into growth. Ill
health in the young encourages parasites. The colt soon becomes the prey
of the tænia.

[Illustration: IRRITATION CAUSED BY WORMS. THE NOSE RUBBED VIOLENTLY
AGAINST A WALL.]

The young when afflicted with the above parasite may not die, but they are
reserved for a miserable and a useless life. The developments are checked.
The foal grows up with a large head, low crest, tumefied abdomen, and long
legs. If it be a male it cannot be operated upon before the fourth year;
even then it is cast only because there is no hope of further improvement.
The appetite during the long time of rearing is more than good; the
ribs, nevertheless, are not covered with flesh; the dung is not well
comminuted--it is friable and sometimes partially coated with slime; the
anus projects--occasionally it is soiled by adherent strips of tenacious
mucus, almost like to membrane; the coat is unhealthy; the breath fetid;
the animal may rub its nose violently against a wall or remain straining
it upward for a considerable time; the eye becomes unnaturally bright;
the colt begins to pick and bite its body, often pulling off hair by the
mouthful.

[Illustration: A COLT PICKING THE HAIR FROM ITS LEG BECAUSE OF WORMS.]

All this agony and the deprivation, of a life depends on the parsimony
of man. Women know that the body during certain times requires extra
nutriment. Thus delicate ladies in peculiar states are accustomed to take
"hearty pulls" at porter or at stout. It is very general for physiologists
to argue from animals up to man. Why should not the custom be reversed?
Why should not veterinary science reason from the human being down to the
horse, and thereby instruct the stolid in the necessary requirements of
the mare during particular states? "Stint the dam and starve the foal" is
certainly a true proverb.

Tænia is best destroyed by the spirits of turpentine in the following
quantities:--

    A foal                      Two drachms.
    Three months old            Half an ounce.
    Six months                  One ounce.
    One year                    One ounce and a half.
    Two years                   Two ounces.
    Three years                 Three ounces.
    Four years and upwards      Four ounces.

Procure one pound of quassia chips. Pour into these three quarts of
boiling water. Strain the liquor. Cause the turpentine to blend, by
means of yolks of eggs, with so much of the quassia infusion as may be
necessary. Add one scruple of powdered camphor to the full drink, and give
every morning before allowing any food.

This probably may kill the worms; but as every link of the tænia is a
distinct animal of both sexes, and capable of producing itself, the eggs
must be numerous. For the destruction of these, nourishing prepared food
is essential, such as gruel, scalded oats, etc.; but little or no hay. At
the same time a tonic will be of all service. Take

    Liquor arsenicalis           From one to eight drachms.
    Muriated tincture of iron    From one and a half to twelve drachms.
    Extract of belladonna        From ten grains to two drachms.
    Ale or good stout            Half a pint to a quart.

    Mix. Give every morning to the animal--strength being proportioned
     to age--till the coat is glossy.

[Illustration:

    THE LUMBRICUS, A WORM NOT PECULIAR TO HORSES. ONE-FOURTH OF THE
    NATURAL SIZE.
]

[Illustration: AN ASCARIDIS, NATURAL SIZE.]

[Illustration: A STRONGULUS, NATURAL SIZE.]

=Lumbrici= are more dreadful to contemplate than they appear to be fearful
in reality; specimens are not rare which measure eighteen inches, This
worm preys upon the weakly, be they old or young. One tænia will produce
immense disturbance; whereas numbers of the lumbrici will cause little or
no effect. Whoever has remarked the dunghill in a knacker's yard has seen
it to consist quite as much of lumbrici as of excrement. Mr. Woodger, of
Bishop's Road, Paddington, removes these pests with ease and certainty.
The above-named veterinary surgeon gives two drachms of tartarized
antimony with a sufficiency of common mass, as a ball, every morning,
until the parasites are expelled.


ASCARIDES AND STRONGULI.

[Illustration: THE APPARATUS BY MEANS OF WHICH A TOBACCO SMOKE ENEMA IS
ADMINISTERED.

_a._ The sole opening by which air can enter. It is placed upon the ground
and guarded by a valve; so that air, after having entered, cannot leave
the instrument by this opening.

_b._ The box containing lighted tobacco, through which all air drawn into
the instrument must necessarily pass.

_c._ The pump.

_d._ The end of the tube through which the fumes are driven.

To load the instrument: unscrew the lid of the box. Fill that with lighted
tobacco. Fix on the lid again. Rest the air entrance upon the ground, and
move the handle of the pump up and down. By this movement the air is first
drawn through the lighted tobacco into the pump, and is then sent through
the tube. ]

[Illustration: A HORSE THAT HAS RUBBED ITSELF VIOLENTLY AGAINST A WALL.]

These parasites inhabit the large intestines. They produce extraordinary
ravages, notwithstanding their insignificant appearance. The last is
difficult to eradicate because of the extent of bowel which it infests.
The =stronguli= will sometimes eat through important structures, but the
=ascarides= are always located within the rectum. Then, most medicines
being deprived of activity, are inoperative before they reach the last
locality. For this reason it is best to commence the treatment with
injections of _train_ oil. Should these be followed by no result at the
expiration of a week, resort to a solution of catechu--one ounce to the
quart of water: give that for seven mornings. Upon the eighth, give
the animal a mash, and at night administer a mild physic ball; about
four drachms of aloes and one drachm of calomel. Repeat the medicine if
required; but if not, resort at once to the arsenicalis and ale or stout,
which was recently recommended.

Tobacco smoke enemas are sometimes efficacious when all the previous
measures are powerless. Frequently the posterior irritation is
distressing. It is sometimes so provoking that the horse will thereby be
induced to destroy its personal appearance by rubbing the tail and quarter
violently against the wall, or any rough surface within its reach. In such
cases the injections of train oil are most likely to prove beneficial; the
local itching may be in some measure removed by inserting up the anus a
portion of the following ointment night and morning:--

    Glycerin                          Half an ounce.
    Spermaceti                        One ounce.

Melt the last and blend. When nearly cold, add--

    Mercurial ointment (strong)        Three drachms.
    Powdered camphor                   Three drachms.


SPASMODIC COLIC.--FRET.--GRIPES.

=Spasmodic colic= is an affection which every loiterer about a stable,
from a postboy to a farrier, imagines he is able to cure. Many attacks
no doubt would depart of themselves; others might be removed by simple
motion. Nevertheless such possible remedies should never be trusted.
Neither should gin and pepper, red pepper and peppermint, hot beer and
mustard, rubbing the abdomen with a broomstick, kneading the belly
violently with a man's knee, or any popular measure be permitted. Such
remedies are likely to get rid of colic by causing enteritis. When
inflammation of the bowels thus originates, it is generally fatal, the
strength being exhausted and the powers of nature worn out by the previous
disorder--not to mention the prepossession of the spectators, which
prevents the more serious disease from being early recognized.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM EXPLAINING HOW THE BOWELS ARE AFFECTED BY SPASMODIC
COLIC.

_a a._ The healthy intestine rendered much more vascular by the blood
being spasmodically driven out of other portions of the tube.

_b._ A portion of the tube much diminished by the presence of abdominal
spasm.

_c._ The pallid appearance, denoting the place which colic has recently
attacked.]

Any cause may kindle colic. It is common after fast driving; hence many
gentlemen take colic drinks to Epsom races. That affection which in ladies
is designated spasms, in gentlemen is called pain in the bowels, and in
children is known as the bellyache, is, in the horse, colic; and from the
largeness of the animal's intestines, the affection probably provokes more
anguish in the quadruped than the same disorder does in the entire human
race. Under whatever term it may be recognized, spasmodic colic is never
more than partial contraction of the muscular coat of the intestines. The
action so compresses a part of the tube as to expel the blood and render
the natural pink of the tissues, for some time after the disorder has
departed, a glistening white. The blood, driven from particular spots,
is forced into those parts in which no disease exists. Excess of blood
predisposes to inflammation; hence we probably trace the reason why, if
spasmodic colic be suffered to continue, the affection is so apt to end in
incurable enteritis.

Colic most often attacks the small intestines, though the disease is by
no means confined to those parts. It first occurs on a limited space;
presently it vanishes altogether, and afterward reappears on some distant
portion of the alimentary canal; or, in other words, colic dodges about,
its attacks becoming more numerous and the intermissions shorter as the
period of its commencement grows more distant. Change of water, change of
food, getting wet, fatiguing journeys, are all likely to originate it;
but, perhaps, it is most frequently exhibited when no known cause is in
operation. Aloes, however, are proved to be among the surest provocatives
of this disease. Many horses cannot swallow pure aloes in any form,
without being severely griped. For such animals, the following drench is
recommended, instead of the above-named drug in substance:--

    Sulphuric ether and laudanum, of each                      One ounce.
    Compound tincture of aloes made with diluted spirits
     of wine                                                 Five ounces.
    Cold water                                                  One pint.

[Illustration: THE FIRST STAGE OF SPASMODIC COLIC.]

If greater strength be requisite, obtain it by the addition of tincture of
gentian, every ounce of which is equal, when combined, to one drachm of
aloes.

Colic always commences suddenly; it starts into life ready armed for
mischief. The animal may be apparently well and feeding. Without visible
cause the head is raised and the occupation ceases. Should the pain last,
the hind foot is lifted to strike the belly, and the fore leg begins to
scrape the pavement. The groom, who has merely left to procure a pail of
water from an adjacent pump, on his return discovers his charge exhibiting
evident signs of uneasiness. As the man stares, wondering what can be the
matter, the horse is pawing and the nose slowly points to the flank. All
then is explained. =Fret= is the matter, and it would be "_fret_," should
the disease prove to be of a very different nature.

While the horse is being watched, every indication of disturbance may
disappear. The countenance tranquilizes and the nose is again inserted
into the manger. A few minutes elapse and the pangs are renewed. The
second fit may last longer and be slightly more severe. Then another,
but a shorter period of ease follows: thus the visitations will ensue
upon spaces of entire exemption from anguish. The recommencement of agony
usually is denoted by a disposition to lie down. The animal crouches;
next it turns round as though the intention was to stretch out the limbs;
but suddenly the erect attitude is assumed--the design, lately so nearly
executed, having been forgotten. Then pawing and striking at the abdomen
quickly follow; and while the horse looks toward the flank, a morbid fire
is perceptible in the eye.

[Illustration: THE SECOND STAGE OF SPASMODIC COLIC.]

No relief being afforded, the pains lengthen, while the intervals of
tranquillity become shorter. The action grows more fierce and the aspect
more wild. The pawing is more brief, but more energetic; often during its
continuance the foot is raised and violently stamped upon the ground. The
animal now does not attempt to feed, but stares for a minute at a time,
with an inquiring gaze, toward the abdomen. At length, without warning or
preparation, the body leaps upward to fall violently upon the floor. The
shock is often fearful; but the animal in its torment appears to derive
ease from the violence. Being down, it rolls from side to side and kicks
about, until one of its feet, touching the wall, enables the horse to
poise itself upon the back.

[Illustration: THE THIRD STAGE OF SPASMODIC COLIC.]

Should relief not be quickly provided, colic soon passes into enteritis.
The pulse, from being unchanged at first, then simply quickened by pain,
grows harder and more wiry. The intermissions are lost, and though
the anguish may for a space be less, yet in its continuity it is more
exhausting.

On the appearance of colic, the morbid action ought to be immediately
counteracted. Aloes in solution is generally administered; such a
medicine, unless guarded as before recommended, is by no means advisable.
Sulphuric ether and laudanum should be in the possession of every horse
proprietor. One pint of each--the two being mixed together, with one ounce
of rank oil floating on the top to prevent evaporation or mistakes--will
be perfectly safe in any household. The mixture should, however, be well
shaken before it is employed: two ounces of the combination in half a pint
of water constitutes an excellent colic drink. Give three of these, one
every ten minutes. If no improvement be displayed, double the quantity of
the active agents and continue the drenches at the period stated: these
medicines should be persevered with until the symptoms disappear.

Turpentine, as an enema, is an excellent adjunct. Mr. T. W. Gowing, of
Camden Town, cured a lingering fit of colic by administering a pint of
turpentine mixed with a quart of the solution of soap. The strong liquor
of ammonia, diluted with six times its bulk of water and applied by means
of a saturated cloth, held to the abdomen in a rug several times doubled,
is likewise frequently beneficial. If these means, used simultaneously,
produce no amendment in two hours, watch the pulse, for there is most
probably something beyond simple colic to contend with.

[Illustration: APPLYING AN AMMONIACAL BLISTER.]

Upon the earliest symptom the horse should be removed to a loose box
amply protected by trusses of straw ranged against the walls. Into this
the animal should be immediately led--for the reader must understand
colic does not always observe the stages in which it has been described.
Occasionally it commences in the wildest form; and if a loose box be not
at hand, one can always be extemporized by removing the carriage from its
house, by throwing the doors wide open and by placing a bar across the
entrance.

No disease is more quickly dispelled if treated at the commencement;
nor is there one which, being left to run its course, occasions greater
agony, is more fearful to witness, or leads to more terrible results than
spasmodic colic. A single dose of ether and of laudanum may vanquish the
malady at the commencement; yet if the attack be allowed to progress, the
fit may set all skill and remedial measures at defiance. The principal
attention of the proprietor must be given to prevent the administration of
the "groom's favorite" or other ignorant nostrums. The case, when properly
treated, is cured for a few shillings; and a horse cannot be killed with
decency for less money.

Besides, let any human being, having feelings capable of impression,
regard an instance of spasmodic colic which has been aggravated by
mistaken treatment; and as he views the fibers of a living body quiver,
sees the frame bedewed in sweat and wrenched in mighty torture,
contemplates the sad condition of the companion of his pleasures, and
hears vented from its throat sounds expressive of agony,--let him, having
the image present to his eyes, ask himself whether any man, possessing
means at his command, has a right to make a money question of the
creature's suffering, which exists in a state of dependence on his bounty.

Horses must be gifted with a certain amount of reason. However furious may
be the attack of colic, the mute expression of anguish is quieted when
preparation is made for the administration of medicine. The most nauseous
drenches are swallowed with a patience that speaks a perfect comprehension
of their intent. The most wonderful proof of reason is, however, given by
the manner in which the horse will recognize the veterinary surgeon. The
author has known animals, in the intervals of spasmodic colic, walk close
up to him, look full into his face with an eye beaming with intelligence,
and a strain upon the features as though the creature "did _so_ wish to
speak;" then finding utterance impossible, the nose has mutely directed
attention to the flank.

Every assistance is, by the animal, afforded to him who displays a desire
to alleviate its distress. Where language is denied, motives appear to be
the more quickly comprehended; and he who wishes to mingle safely among
horses, may best protect himself by treating them gently and sympathizing
with their emotions.


FLATULENT COLIC, WINDY COLIC, TYMPANITIS, ETC.

[Illustration: THE FIRST STAGE OF FLATULENT COLIC.]

This is peculiarly the affection of old age. Horses, though not so liable
to hoven as are horned cattle, nevertheless may be blown out if permitted
to gorge upon moist, green food. =Flatulent colic= in the vast majority of
instances, however, is not caused by any special fodder, but springs from
disordered digestion living for years upon stimulating diet, breathing a
tainted atmosphere, being now weakened by a long fast, then distressed
by a too abundant supply; next exhausted by a tedious journey, and
subsequently cramped by days of enforced stagnation,--all of these things
ultimately tell upon the strong body of our domesticated quadruped. The
stomach, as the earliest evidence of general debility, loses its tonicity.
It cannot digest a full meal; the provender ferments, gas is released, and
flatulent colic is the consequence.

A traditionary belief in the stable asserts this disorder is provoked
by crib-biting, wind-sucking, etc. etc. The author is indebted to Mr.
Ernes, a most successful veterinary surgeon of Dockhead, for the earliest
comprehension of the impossibility that such causes should operate. Let
the reader endeavor to swallow air; the mouth being deprived of all
saliva, the attempt at further deglutition is fruitless; besides, to use
the words of Mr. Ernes, "though the stomach or the bowels do contain a
small portion of atmospheric air, flatulent colic is generated by carbonic
acid or sulphureted hydrogen gas, the products of decomposition; either of
which, if respired, destroys vitality."

[Illustration: A HORSE DYING OF FLATULENT COLIC.]

The horse which is to be oppressed by flatulent colic exhibits uneasiness
after feeding; it hangs the head; breathes laboriously; fidgets; rocks
the body, and rests first on one leg then on the other. These symptoms
are exhibited before any enlargement of the abdomen is to be detected.
With the swelling of the belly pawing commences; that action is, however,
far too leisurely displayed to be for an instant confounded with the same
energetic movement which characterizes spasmodic colic.

W. Percivall asserts that animals roll and kick at the abdomen during
flatulent colic. Every fact requires to be respectfully considered which
is recorded by so estimable a writer; but the author has never witnessed
such symptoms in genuine flatulent colic. The horse will stand in one spot
throughout the day; even the movement of the foot, before noticed, appears
to be an exertion. The eye is sleepy, the pulse heavy, wind frequently
passes from the body, and in such a condition the animal remains, slowly
becoming worse.

Almost in the same place the horse may stand three or four days; then
the abdomen is much increased in size; the animal is restless; the pulse
is extremely feeble; the breathing is very fast; the pupil of the eye
is dilated and the sight is lost. A walk as in a mill is commenced;
obstacles are run into or upset; delirium begins; weak neighs are uttered
in reply to visionary challenges; the coat is ragged; copious and partial
perspirations break forth; the beat of the artery is lost at the jaw; an
intermittent flutter is to be indistinctly felt at the heart. At last
the limbs fail; the body falls; struggles ensue, and the creature dies
in consequence of the distended abdomen compressing the lungs, thus
preventing the breath being inhaled.

Relief should be afforded before the distress grows urgent; when the
flatulence comes on without green provender being consumed, the chances
favor recovery; even then, however, the gas may be confined to the
stomach, which obliges entire dependence to be placed upon internal
remedies. In the beginning, a ball composed of two drachms of sulphuret of
ammonia, with a sufficiency of extract of gentian and powdered quassia,
may be repeated thrice, half an hour being suffered to elapse between
each administration. No benefit ensuing, one ounce of chlorate of potash,
dissolved in a pint of cold water and mingled with two ounces of sulphuric
ether, may, at the expiration of the time named, be horned down. After
another hour, should no amendment be perceptible, two ounces each of
sulphuric ether and laudanum, half an ounce of camphorated spirits, and
one drachm of carbonate of ammonia may be given in a pint of cold water.
Should no good effects ensue, in another hour throw up a tobacco-smoke
enema by means of the machine here represented.

[Illustration: THE TOBACCO-SMOKE ENEMA. WORMS.]

As a last resort, should the previous remedies prove of no avail,
procure a stick of brimstone; light it and let it fill the place with
the sulphurous fumes which are the product of its combustion. However,
mind that the air is not too strongly impregnated, though, at the same
time, it should be so pungent as to allow a human being to breathe with
difficulty. This last measure ought to be continued for two hours, at the
end of which period repeat the remedies already recommended, resorting to
each by turns; and do not fear being active, for flatulent colic becomes
more difficult to remove as the period of its origin grows more distant.
Should the affection appear to be approaching a fatal termination, and
the size of the belly convince the spectator that the gas has entered the
intestines, a desperate remedy remains. The situation where the vapor has
accumulated may be ascertained by percussion; gently cut the skin which
covers the abdomen on the left side, over those places indicated by white
spots in the second engraving. A hollow sound will be emitted when the
proper point has been struck; be certain of the last fact, as mistakes
made in this operation are very awkward affairs. When assured, take a
sharp-pointed knife, and, drawing the skin tight over the place selected,
nick the integument slightly; then take a fine trocar and push it through
the opening which has been made.

[Illustration: A TROCAR ARMED WITH A CANULA FOR PUNCTURING THE ABDOMEN.]

This being accomplished, withdraw the stilet, and the gas should rush out
with violence; be provided with a small probe to clear the canula in case
it should become impacted. The gas being released, the abdomen is reduced;
withdraw the canula and the skin will fly back, effectually excluding all
atmosphere.

[Illustration:

    THE PLACES WHERE THE ABDOMEN MAY BE PUNCTURED IN THE LAST STAGE OF
    FLATULENT COLIC.
]

The gas, on rare occasions, will be generated a second time; therefore the
points where other punctures may be made are indicated; for it is never
well to interfere with those openings which in the first instance were
instituted. However, should the operation have to be repeated, pull the
integument in the opposite direction, so as not to disturb the original
wounds into the abdomen.

Puncturing the abdomen for flatulent colic has been practiced both in this
kingdom and in foreign lands; it is by no means a certain success, neither
is it a certain failure. It assuredly requires boldness to perform it; but
probably it is quite as beneficial and far more speedy in its effects than
the great majority of medicinal remedies.

The duration of flatulent colic cannot be absolutely stated; it may
continue for days, it may be cured in a single hour. However, should
the abdomen be rapidly distended, then the termination will be sooner
reached; but be the attack quick or slow, neither food nor water should be
allowed during its continuance. The groom, while the disease lasts, should
occasionally sponge out the eyes, mouth, nostrils, etc. Indeed, humanity
would dictate such relief during every serious affection. Subsequent to
recovery, feed for a few days on gruel and mashed oats; give a ball night
and morning, composed of extract of gentian and powdered quassia, of each
a sufficiency; of extract of belladonna and of sulphate of copper, half a
drachm. Continue this medicine and the above food until the stomach has
regained its tone.

Is flatulent colic a disease provoked by domestication? Certainly! The
wild horse would have to travel for his food; in domestication it is
placed ready gathered before the animal. Besides, the free animal being
ever with his provender, the temptation to gorge the stomach would be
absent; moreover, the untrained creature is protected by its instincts,
which the care of man destroys. Little, however, is thought of this;
the fact even may be unknown to the great majority of educated horse
proprietors. The sense of repletion is no longer indicated with such force
as to warn the stabled animal. The responsibility thus cast upon the
master has possibly never occurred to the mass of mankind. So entirely has
the notion of any duty being due to the animal been ignored by society
that, notwithstanding nature in the above fact asserts the obligation, its
announcement most probably will be received with laughter.




CHAPTER IX.

THE URINARY ORGANS--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.


NEPHRITIS OR INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.

The straddling gait is not peculiar to any one disorder. It denotes no
more than the region in which the affection is to be sought; but it does
not characterize any special disease. Therefore so general a trait is
placed at the head of the chapter treating of ailments confined to the
urinary organs, so that he who perceives the horse assume this position
may at once recognize that part of the body in which the disorder resides.

[Illustration: THE GENERAL SYMPTOM WHICH ATTENDS ALL DISEASES OF THE
URINARY ORGANS.]

=Nephritis= is not so common at the present time as it used to be
formerly; the growing information of the people has in some measure
altered the practices of the stable. The master is not quite so much
the slave of a groom's ignorance as was once universally the case; the
animal is no longer regarded as a mysterious creature which it required a
particular education to understand. Urine balls, therefore, are no longer
regularly kept in every loft. Niter--one ounce of "_sweet_ nitre," or, to
speak correctly, an overdose of _harsh_ saltpeter--may, however, be still
permitted, and by particular horse proprietors regarded as a charm against
every ill. It is true that such a dose of a powerful diuretic is four
times the strength which science would, under any circumstances, approve;
but certain people in remote parts are happy in the conviction that an
ounce of "_sweet_ niter" can _possibly_ do no harm.

The urinary organs of the horse must be little disposed to disease; they
must be capable of surmounting a vast quantity of ill treatment. Were not
ignorance thereby protected from the consequences which it provokes, half
the horses in England would be disabled; inflammation of the kidneys would
become the most common of equine disorders.

The horse has small need of diuretic medicine; it is much exposed in that
direction. Every purge, should it not act as intended, passes out of the
body by stimulating the kidneys; the ordinary provender of the animal may
operate in the same manner. Foxy oats, kiln-dried oats, new oats; musty
hay, mow-burnt hay, new hay; beans in particular conditions; grasses,
when first in season, and water of any novel kind, will all operate
energetically upon the renal glands; therefore the horse, in its ordinary
food, will possibly imbibe more than a sufficiency of a most debilitating
medicine; and the knowledge of such a liability may induce some men to
withhold "_sweet_ niter" from the future diet of the creature.

It may be necessary to inform men and masters that a horse needs rest when
under the operation of diuretic, quite as much as when subject to the
action of purgative medicine. It is never safe to take the horse from the
stable while the animal is passing any unusual amount of water. Excess of
secretion proves the eliminating organs are excited. Before any part can
exhibit excitement, an extra quantity of blood must circulate within it,
or it must be in a condition bordering upon inflammation. The urine is
secreted from the blood by the kidneys; therefore before a greater bulk of
water can be passed, of course more blood must flow through the glands.

The animal in such a state is not fit for work; every step taken brings
into action muscles which pass directly under the kidneys, and which
must, therefore, when contracted, compress those organs. During labor,
in proportion to the force required must be the power of the contraction
exerted by the organs of motion; in a healthy state, such exertion is not
always free from danger. Excitement is, however, far from a healthy state.
Then the glands are gorged with blood; being squeezed for an hour or two
while thus swollen or plethoric, they are very likely to be bruised;
inflammation may thereby be engendered, or renal abscess may possibly
ensue.

Agriculturists are entreated to pause over the above statement. Such
persons often possess a well-bred and promising colt. The farmer,
however, is mostly uneasy until he has, according to his own notions,
"tried the beast." He may be a personable man, riding fully "eighteen
stun." The colt, probably, would be taxed to carry a third that load. The
"_sweet_-niter" dose is administered over night to take all fever out
of the body; and, while the kidneys are excited, the animal is saddled,
mounted, and ridden to the hunt. Everybody knows the manner in which most
farmers ride. The horse may have a hard run and be kept out for a long
day. On the return, a full rack and a heaped manger are placed before
the overridden quadruped. Neither are touched. The saddle is removed and
the back appears to be "queerly sticking up." The large full eyes are
repeatedly turned round; and the renter of land is in doubt whether the
creature is staring reproachfully at him or is simply inspecting its
own quarters. However, with the apathy which too many agriculturists
habitually display, the colt is left for the night. By the next morning
the animal is ruined, even should it survive an attack of acute nephritis.

[Illustration: A COLT BROUGHT HOME AFTER THE FARMER HAS TRIED "WHAT KIND
OF STUFF IS IN IT," BY A HARD DAY WITH THE HOUNDS.]

The symptoms of inflammation of the kidneys are a hard pulse, decidedly
accelerated; quickened and short breathing, suggestive of pain; pallid
mucous membranes; frequent looking toward the seat of anguish; head
depressed; back roached; hind legs straddled, and the urine scanty. The
animal almost refuses to "come round" in its stall, seldom lies down, and
crouches beneath pressure when made upon the loins.

Subsequently, as the symptoms alter, pus or matter may subside in the
water. It is indicative of an unfavorable termination should a fetid
odor attend the secretion, and should it be deeply tinted by the blood.
Death is generally close at hand when the pulse grows quicker but more
feeble, when pressure elicits no response, when the body is covered with
perspiration, and when a urinous smell is perceptible on approaching the
animal.

[Illustration: THE TEST FOR NEPHRITIS OR INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.]

The treatment of nephritis consists in applying fresh sheepskins to the
loins. Should the case be urgent, a quantity of lukewarm made mustard may
be first rubbed in and the sheepskin placed over it; or mustard poultices
in any case may be employed and covered over to prevent them becoming dry,
till sheepskins can be procured. Injections of warm linseed tea should be
thrown up every hour, as these are the nearest approach that can be made
to actual fomentation. Two scruples of croton farina, mixed with half a
drachm of belladonna, may be given immediately in the form of a ball,
the bulk of which should be made up with crushed linseeds and treacle.
One scruple of calomel, with one drachm of opium, may be sprinkled on
the tongue every hour while the acute stage continues. A pail of good
linseed tea should be kept before the horse; but as for more substantial
provender, none is requisite during the agony of the disease.

Should the slightest doubt be entertained concerning the nature of the
affection, immediately insert the arm up the rectum. This intestine is
anatomically spoken of as "a floating gut." It is suspended from the
spine by mesentery or a loose fold of thin membrane, and, therefore, is
easily raised or depressed. It is situated under the kidneys, and nothing
consequently interposes between the diseased organ and the inserted
hand but the pliable coats of the bowel and the fatty substances which
immediately surround the glands. The hand is not conscious of the soft
wall of the intestine which covers it. The motion is so free, and the
fingers are so readily moved, that previous knowledge alone assures the
operator his arm is within a circumscribed canal, and not located in a
free space.

[Illustration: _a a a._ The spine. _b b b._ The mesentery. _c c c._ The
rectum.

A. The extent to which the rectum may by very gradual force be depressed
without injury to the animal.

B. The rectum, with the natural length of mesentery, when not depressed.

C. The rectum raised, showing that the mesentery is very pliable.]

By inserting the hand and moving it gradually upward, an approach can be
made to the immediate vicinity of the inflammation. Sensitiveness will
be exhibited as the seat of disease is touched. Heat will also be felt.
A fore leg should, however, be held up on the same side as the operator
stands. Should the horse struggle violently and denote positive agony
when the hand is approaching the region of the kidneys, the signs may be
considered conclusive without attempting farther exploration. Should the
animal remain quiet at first, nevertheless let the operator be cautious,
as the too near vicinity to the inflamed part provokes resistance, which,
in its utter heedlessness, is closely allied to madness.

[Illustration: A CERTAIN TEST FOR INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.]

Several reasons will suggest the point at which the hand should pause.
In the first place, pressure cannot benefit a delicately-formed and a
diseased organ. In the second place, the agony of the animal may endanger
the safety of the operator. In the last place, anything approaching to
downright resistance brings the muscles that pass under the kidneys into
energetic action, which circumstance is by no means favorable to ultimate
recovery.

Many men can speak of the pain induced by affections of the kidneys.
The torture consequent upon disease of an internal organ appears to be
so excessive as at times to destroy reason in the human being. No one
can look upon a horse suffering from nephritis, without feeling that, in
sensibilities at all events, the two creatures are alike. Sympathy has
been interpreted to mean no more than a conscious similarity of emotion.
Such a definition must be erroneous, or more sympathy would actuate man
toward his slave. The life is devoted to the service of the master. The
body is disabled before its time for the pleasure of mankind. The horse is
such a slave as no words can express. It lives but to obey. Its master's
whim is the animal's joy. It is happy to exist where and how its superior
may appoint. Still there is no sympathy felt toward its tortures, no
feeling evinced for its sufferings: its life is one long solitude, its
death is the degradation of misery. Were man to read of some wild beast
capable of such sincere docility, what pains would not be spent to secure
so valuable a companion! The animal is beside him and it is disregarded;
or its goodness is converted into the means for its mutilation.

The additional treatment of nephritis consists more in the food than in
the physic; linseed, both the seeds and the infusion, may be given for
the body's support. The best oats should be procured upon recovery, and
the quality of the hay also should be attended to; as for physic, that is
almost limited to belladonna and to aconite. Belladonna is administered
mixed with four times its amount of opium, so long as the pain is acute.

    Extract of belladonna                Half a drachm.
    Crude opium                          Two drachms.

Make into a ball with linseed meal and honey; give three daily while the
symptoms require them; or, should the pain be excessive, administer one
every hour.

The aconite root is intended to lower the circulation. When the pulse is
quick and hard, a scruple of the powder may be thrown upon the tongue
every half hour, till the beat of the artery soften, or till the animal
appear to be affected by the medicine. The above measures are to be
adopted without regard to the calomel and opium previously recommended.

A horse having survived one attack of nephritis, can scarcely, however
successful may be the treatment, be restored to its original condition.
The glands which have suffered inflammation must be left in an irritable
state.


CYSTITIS--INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER.

This disorder is somewhat rare in the horse. Few cases have occurred;
even those were not strongly marked. Besides the general indications
present during nephritis, such as quickened breathing, accelerated pulse,
straddling gait, etc. etc., the most prominent sign concerns the emission
of the urine. The bladder is irritable at the commencement; the kidneys
have not secreted half a pint of fluid before it is violently expelled,
and much straining, accompanied by sounds expressive of pain, follows the
act. As the disease progresses, the bladder is contracted, and the water
issues drop by drop, or as a constant dribble. This particularity marks
the disease, which is also distinguished from nephritis by the roached
back being absent; the spine rather being hollowed more than is usual in
=cystitis=.

[Illustration: A DANGEROUS TEST FOR INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER.]

Most lecturers direct the student to insert the arm up a horse affected
with cystitis and to feel the compressed bladder; this is easily
accomplished, as the engraving demonstrates; but is the operation
perfectly safe? White muscular tissue, when inflamed, becomes acutely
sensitive. The bladder possesses a thick coat of that substance, and the
hand, grasping an organ of this formation when in a state of disease,
would probably torture the sufferer to frenzy. It is not wise to excite
a creature commanding so huge a strength. There is, however, a test
which yields as certain a response, and, at the same time, is far less
hazardous. This consists in placing the hand under the flank and keeping
it there till all the action which could be attributable to skittishness
has disappeared; then press the abdomen, which, should it be hard and
resistant, is a convincing proof cystitis is not present; for contraction
of the recti abdominis muscles would force the contents of the cavity into
violent contact with the inflamed bladder. Should any doubt be entertained
concerning the condition of the muscle named, a little more pressure will
soon ascertain the fact. However, let the person who applies the test be
prepared for the consequence, as the application of pressure to a diseased
organ provokes a sudden and energetic resistance, intended to strike the
tormentor backward.

The treatment for inflamed bladder and diseased kidneys is alike as
regards the administration of aconite root, extract of belladonna, calomel
and opium. The reader is, therefore, in some measure referred to the
article upon nephritis; there is, however, a difference in application of
counter-irritation by means of a rug doubled over a cloth, which last is
saturated with strong liquor of ammonia diluted with six times its bulk
of water; should this not be within reach, hot cloths retained under the
belly are the next best application; but these require constant change
and a larger supply of heated fluid than most private establishments can
command. Should both recommendations prove useless, then apply cloths
dripping wet from a cold bath, and keep renewing them so often as they
become warm.

[Illustration: A SAFER TEST FOR INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER.]

[Illustration: APPLICATION OF THE AMMONIACAL BLISTER.]

The cause of cystitis is the same as produces many cases of inflamed
kidney, namely, the abuse of medicine, or new and unwholesome food;
blows likewise may induce it. Kicks under the belly, the too common mode
of expressing impatience among carters, are very likely to provoke it.
Horses are frequently seen in the streets of every town now whipped to
make them proceed; then the rein jagged to command the animal to "stand
still." Next the whip is again applied; afterward the animal's belly is
spitefully aimed at with the heavy boot of the countryman. The horses
know not how to interpret these different signs: they become confused;
they turn various ways, as if they hoped by such devices to please their
chastiser. All is in vain! At length the animals burst into perspiration
and shiver violently; by their alarm they are rendered stupid. But so
disgusting an exhibition of folly and of cruelty on the part of the
driver mostly creates small indignation in the wayfarers who behold it.
The spectators generally look on with smiling countenances, and for the
most part move onward without a word of displeasure or rebuke. To the
human mind a man appears invested with absolute authority over the life
which he has bought. So also no man risks reprobation, who keeps his
animals upon poisonous provender. The hay, oats, and beans may be of a
character calculated to engender disease. But has not the owner purchased
the right to treat his property as he thinks proper? It is true, religion
teaches that life is not in the custody of man, and that health is not at
mortal command; but where horses are involved, all restraints appear to
be forgotten, and mankind seem leagued together to inflict suffering on
the dumb. For, is it not universally agreed that heavenly precepts were
intended for man alone, and do not stoop so low as to include all the
creatures the existence of which dates prior to the origin of the human
being? Animals, according to modern interpretation, are excluded from the
ample embrace of Christian charity. An all-merciful power looks down with
pity only upon one inhabitant of earth!


SPASM OF THE URETHRA.

This affection is commonly designated =spasm of the neck of the bladder=.
The part named, however, has no fiber capable of excitation; and it is
difficult to understand how the elastic tissue at the opening of the
receptacle can display a condition which is inherent only within the
contractibility of muscle. The compressor urethræ muscle, however, being
morbidly excited, is more than capable of preventing all discharge of
urine.

The causes which provoke the spasm are not thoroughly understood. The
affection is mostly attributed to some acridity existing in the food or
water; else the supposed agent is said to be developed during the process
of digestion.

The symptoms are: a widely straddling gait; total suppression of urine,
or small portions forcibly ejected at distant intervals. The suffering
attendant on distention of the bladder is sometimes so violent that the
affection has been mistaken for phrenitis. At other times the horse has
been imagined to be griped. Both these blunders are unpardonable. The
haggard countenance, copious perspirations, and the frequent glances
toward the flanks, joined to the straddling gait and to the desperate but
at the same time guarded struggles, are all opposed to such conclusions.
Were a proper examination instituted, the real nature of the affection
would at once be made apparent, beyond the possibility of error.

[Illustration: MODE TO ASCERTAIN THE DISTENTION OF THE BLADDER.]

Insert the greased arm up the rectum, and, when fully advanced, make
pressure downward; the dilated bladder will then be under the hand. The
best remedies are sulphuric ether and laudanum, which should be given in
large quantities. Four ounces of each should, in a quart of cold water,
be administered by the mouth: the like quantities, blended with three
pints of cold water, ought to be thrown up as an injection. The last being
given, the hand should be placed over the opening and pressed upon it for
ten minutes. Should one dose not succeed, in a quarter of an hour the
injection may be repeated. Again and again it must be had recourse to;
till the spasm is vanquished or till the urine flows freely forth.

Should the horse be seized where no medicine can be obtained, then
extract blood from free openings till fainting takes place. Several small
depletions are very weakening, and a large quantity of the vital fluid
drawn at different times is far less likely to overcome the disease
than one full venesection. Open both jugulars: allow the blood to flow
from both veins till the water rushes forth or the animal falls, when,
insensibility being produced, everything like spasm disappears, and the
bladder will mechanically empty itself. Should not such a relief ensue,
the greased arm may be inserted up the rectum, and gentle pressure
made upon the gorged viscus. Advantage is thus taken of the animal's
insensibility to adopt a mode of relief which we dare not hazard while
consciousness is retained.


CALCULI.

Stones within the urinary apparatus are designated by various names, that
are derived from the situations in which they are found. Thus =renal
calculus= represents a stone which has been discovered within the pelvis
of the kidney. =Uretal calculus= implies a stone found within the tubes
leading from the kidneys to the bladder; but calculi of this kind are
as yet unknown in the horse. =Cystic calculus= signifies a stone which
resides in the cavity of the bladder. =Urethral calculus= denotes a stone
which was detected within the passage leading from the bladder. Of these
the cystic are altogether the largest, and the renal, at a considerable
distance, rank as the next in magnitude. All consist of carbonate of lime
or of common chalk, held firmly together by the secretion of the mucous
membrane.

The symptoms which characterize renal calculus are not well marked. The
urine may become purulent, thick, opaque, gritty or bloody. Exertion may
provoke extreme anguish, resembling a severe fit of colic; but the attack
is distinguished from genuine gripes by the back, during the pain, being
always roached. However, the most decided symptom is of a negative nature;
being the absence of stone in the bladder to account for the diseased
urine. The inference is, moreover, strengthened if, when the hand within
the rectum is carried upward, pain and alarm are elicited; or if pressure
made upon the loins causes the animal to shrink.

Cystic calculus is denoted, as is the previous kind of stone, by certain
conditions of the urine. Added to these general signs, the water, when
flowing forth, will often be suddenly stopped, and every emission is
followed by violent straining. Abdominal pains also are present; but
the back is rather hollowed than roached. The point of the penis is, in
particular instances, constantly exposed; and the horse, when going down
hill, sometimes pulls up short, either to recover from torture or to
relieve the bladder.

[Illustration: A CERTAIN METHOD OF ASCERTAINING IF THERE BE CALCULUS IN
THE BLADDER.]

The way to ascertain the presence of cystic calculus is to make an
examination per rectum. Make the investigation with all gentleness.
The foreign body may then be distinctly felt; even its size, form, and
irregularities can by this means be discovered.

Urethral calculus is a small stone which, during the flow of urine, has
been carried out of the bladder and is spasmodically grasped by the muscle
of the urethra. The passage is effectually closed and great suffering
is induced. Should the stone be impacted within the exposed part of
the canal, the precise situation is easily told. Behind the stoppage
the passage is distended by fluid; while before it all is natural. The
calculus should be cut down and removed; the wound being afterward dressed
with a solution of chloride of zinc--one grain to the ounce of water.
This is an easy and by no means a dangerous operation. Any person of
ordinary skill having a sharp knife may undertake it.

For renal calculus little can be done. That little, however, consists in
mingling two drachms of hydrochloric acid with every pail of water, and
allowing the animal to imbibe as much as it pleases. Should the medicated
drink be refused, the horse must be starved into accepting it. With
this liquid, however, the stone must be small to be dissolved; but it
effectually checks the further increase of the calculus.

=Lithotomy= is the name given to that operation by which large stones are
removed from the bladder of the horse. It is far too complicated and too
serious a proceeding to be entrusted to any general reader. No direction
which possibly could be misconstrued shall, therefore, be attempted. When
an operation is required for stone in the bladder, a qualified veterinary
surgeon had better be employed. Mr. Simmonds, of the Royal Veterinary
College, Camden Town, however, deserves praise for having invented an
instrument by means of which stone can generally be removed from the
bladder of the mare without resort to the knife being necessary.


HEMATURIA, OR BLOODY URINE.

The name fully characterizes this affection. The blood emitted may consist
of small clots; it may congeal after it has left the body; or it may be
entirely mingled with--giving a brownish tinge to--the water. Upon the
exhibition of this disorder, always treat the symptoms first; when all
chance of immediate danger has disappeared, examine the body to ascertain
whence the hemorrhage proceeded, because in this affection the symptoms
really constitute the disease; and when the first has disappeared, the
last is cured.

[Illustration: A HORSE SUFFERING FROM HEMATURIA, OR BLOODY URINE.]

The extent of the bleeding, of course, regulates the symptoms. When that
is copious, the breathing is short and quick; the pupils of the eye are
dilated; the pulse is not to be felt at the jaw; the head is pendulous;
and the visible mucous membranes are cold as well as pallid. Lifting the
head produces staggering; if continued, the animal would fall. The back
is roached; the flanks are tucked up, and the legs widely separated, as
though the horse was aware of its inability to support its body.

The treatment consists in disturbing the sufferer as little as possible;
in acting upon the report received, for in a case of this kind it is
hardly credible there should be any mistake. Administer, as gently as
it can be done, two drachms of acetate of lead in half a pint of cold
water, or as a ball, if one can be delivered. If this has no effect, in a
quarter of an hour, or sooner should the symptoms demand haste, repeat the
dose, adding, however, one ounce of laudanum or two drachms of powdered
opium. Give two more drinks or balls of the like composition; but should
these be followed by no beneficial result, change the medicine after the
administration of one ounce of acetate of lead.

When the indications are not alarming, the horse may be left for a couple
of hours, with strict orders that the animal be watched, but on no account
disturbed. Should, however, activity be required, obtain some of the
coldest water, and have several pailfuls dashed from a height upon the
loins. After this inject some of the same fluid, allowing the water to
flow freely forth from the anus--the object only being to procure the
advantages of excessive cold. For medicine, a trial may be made of the
ergot of rye. Pour on to four drachms of the drug half a pint of boiling
water, and, when cold, add one ounce of laudanum and four ounces of dilute
acetic acid--not vinegar, as that always contains sulphuric acid, which
would counteract the action of the lead. Two drinks, two enemas, (each
lasting twenty minutes,) and any quantity of water upon the loins will
serve for the second hour.

If these remedies have produced no change, all further treatment must be
suspended for eight hours, at the expiration of which period the treatment
may be resumed, and the previous measures repeated.

Should the hemorrhage have ceased, leave the horse undisturbed for the
night. On the following day, if no blood has been noticed, have the animal
gently led under cover. Then proceed to examine the horse per rectum. If
the kidneys are not enlarged, hardened, or sensitive, and if the bladder
is without stone, but of its natural thickness, there is every prospect of
a favorable termination.

Should the bladder be thickened, adopt the treatment laid down for
cystitis; if stone is discovered, an operation is indicated; be the
kidneys disorganized, the case is hopeless. If none of these are present,
then any of the following medicines may be experimented with, it always
being uncertain which will prove beneficial:--

    Extract of catechu                In one-ounce doses daily.
    Strong infusion of oak bark       Three pints daily.
    Alum                              One ounce daily.
    Sulphate of iron or of copper     One ounce daily.
    Muriatic acid                     Six drachms daily.


DIABETES INSIPIDUS, OR PROFUSE STALING.

In this affection, which, properly treated, is but a passing annoyance,
the thirst is enormous; but more fluid is voided than the animal drinks.
The strength and condition are quickly lost, while the flesh fades rapidly
away.

Either the horse has been tampered with by the groom, or the hay, oats,
or beans are unsound. A sudden change of water is said to produce the
disorder; but that, probably, is far more a stable excuse than an
established cause. However, change both food and water. Take into the
stable two slips of blotting-paper. Dip the ends of them into some of
the urine, which will always be retained in the interspaces of the brick
flooring. Smell one piece. If it communicates a scent resembling violets,
that is proof positive turpentine has been administered. Dry the other
piece. Should that, when perfectly dry, and a light is applied, prove
to be touch-paper, the evidence is conclusive: "sweet niter" has been
secretly given to the animal. Should both these tests fail, the groom is
innocent, as other diuretics are unknown in the stable.

The horse should not be taken out while the prominent symptom lasts; it
is languid; is unfit for work or even exercise. No brutality can quicken
the body when the vital powers are exhausted; but inattention to the
suggestion of mere humanity may change a slight and temporary evil into a
severe and critical disorder--nephritis.

A pail of good linseed tea, made by pouring boiling water on whole
linseeds, and afterward allowing the infusion to stand till lukewarm,
should be constantly before the manger. The animal may drink according to
the dictates of its condition. The linseed, when strained off and mixed
with sound bruised and scalded oats, may be given as food. No hay or grass
should be allowed. Attend to the grooming, although it is a sick horse
and does not go out. Nothing relieves the kidneys more than the restored
action of the skin. A ball may be given every day. It should consist of--

    Iodide of iron                One drachm.
    Honey and linseed meal        A sufficiency.

Or, should a drink be preferred, dilute--

    Phosphoric acid              One ounce.
    Water                        One pint.
      Give night and morning.

The author was once prepossessed in favor of iodide of potassium for the
cure of diabetes. He is indebted to Mr. Woodger, the excellent practical
veterinary surgeon of Paddington, for a knowledge of the very superior
efficacy of the drug just named. It exercises a potent action over the
kidneys, at the same time it is a first class tonic, and in a surprising
manner reduces the desire for fluids. It is in all respects the exact
medicine which could be wished for in a case of =diabetes insipidus=.


ALBUMINOUS URINE.

Two cases of this description occurred in the extensive practice of the
late William Percivall, Esq. They are narrated in the admirable work
entitled "Hippopathology," bequeathed to posterity by the estimable
author. The present writer having been honored by the friendship of the
gentleman named, is, from frequent conversations upon the subject, the
better able to describe and to depict the disorder.

[Illustration: THE POSITIONS ASSUMED BY HORSES HAVING ALBUMINOUS URINE.]

The positions of both horses were remarkable. One stretched the fore and
hind legs out, as though it were about to urinate; the other roached the
back and brought the hind feet under the body as far as possible. Turning
in the stalls was, in each case, accomplished with difficulty; and the
straddling gait remarkable in both, indicating the seat of the affection.

Some urine being caught by the groom, it was thick but clear--like melted
calves' foot jelly--and, when cold, the surface was uneven. Bichloride of
mercury being added to a portion of the fluid, caused a thick, colorless,
opaque substance--resembling coagulated white of egg--to be thrown down,
leaving a clear straw-colored liquor above the settlement. Another portion
being first treated with acetic acid, afterward mixed with prussiate of
potash and subsequently boiled, became in appearance like to milk. With
time, however, a white sediment occurred, leaving the fluid perfectly
clear.

Mr. Percivall's treatment was mildly depletive. He bled moderately, gave
a laxative, and applied mustard to the loins for a brief space. Perfect
rest, strict attention to diet, and repeated doses of opium, constituted
the after-measures. It is also mentioned that diuretics, tonics, and
stimulants were tried, but all proved injurious. Both animals ultimately
recovered.

[Illustration: THE TESTS FOR ALBUMINOUS URINE.

    A. The appearance of the urine when cold, being partially rough on
    the surface. Sometimes, however, the fluid is merely thicker than
    usual, appearing like water in which a portion of gum has been
    dissolved.

    B. The white precipitate produced by the addition of a portion of
    the solution of bichloride of mercury.

    C. Some urine to which a little acetic acid was first added. A
    portion of the solution of prussiate of potash was subsequently
    introduced. The liquid was then boiled, when it became thick, white,
    and opaque, like milk.
]

Those who desire ampler details are referred to "Hippopathology," by W.
Percivall, published by Longman & Co.




CHAPTER X.

THE SKIN--ITS ACCIDENTS AND ITS DISEASES.


MANGE.

This troublesome disease, which is the itch of the stable, generally
preys upon the poorly nurtured, the aged or the debilitated. Neglect is
the almost necessary associate of poverty; loss of pride attends loss
of means, for seldom can the spirit of man brave the frowns of fortune.
The want of emulation is always seen most emphatically without the doors
of the home; the garden denotes the failure of industry, and the stable
languishes under an absence of activity. The grooming is avoided; the
horse's food is proportioned to the master's means, and is not given at
regular hours; coarse diet and a filthy abode generate that weakness which
will assuredly breed =mange=.

[Illustration: SYMPTOMS OF MANGINESS WHEN CAUGHT IN THE FIELD.]

The disease, once developed, is highly contagious; all horses standing
near the one affected, all that may touch it, or the shafts to which it
was harnessed, or anything that has been in contact with the contaminated
body, are inoculated. The very robust, to be sure, may escape; but this
circumstance is to be regarded as the most stringent test of actual
health rather than as the declaration of that state which the majority of
mankind are pleased to term perfect condition. The animal which escapes
must be of so sound a body as to afford no nutriment to the disorder which
preys upon debility. Probably not one horse in ten thousand could resist
so searching a test; the trial, however, after all, would be no more than
a negative proof; and it is to be much regretted that science, up to
the present time, has not discovered any means by which the presence of
established health can be demonstrated.

Mange depends upon the presence of an insect which is classed with
spiders, though to the uninitiated it looks, under the microscope, far
more like a deformed crab. A representation of this parasite, very
highly magnified, is here given, from Dr. Erasmus Wilson's paper upon
the subject; and the reader may indulge his ingenuity by discovering its
likeness to the spider.

[Illustration: THE MANGE INSECT.]

The parasites are, when attentively searched for, to be recognized by the
naked eye. Any man, by scratching the roots of the hair upon the mane of
a mangy horse, may loosen a portion of scurf; let this scurf be received
or cast upon a sheet of white paper. The paper then should be subjected
to a strong light; the glare of the noonday sun is to be preferred,
as warmth greatly influences the activity of the parasites. Numerous
very small shining points may thus be seen moving about the mass in all
directions. Those points are the insects, and, considering the easy means
we now possess of demonstrating their existence, it seems astonishing
that veterinary science was so long before it recognized the true source
of the contagion. Even at the last moment, the sight was quickened by
the research of a human physician, Dr. Erasmus Wilson; but after that
gentleman soon followed Mr. Ernes, veterinarian, of Dockhead.

Mange would be far less general than it is, did not the convenience or
the prejudice of mankind predispose them to favor a "run at grass." The
horse there placed is all at once taken from a stimulating diet, while,
the groom being relieved of his charge, foulness accumulates upon the
coat. The animal, instead of standing still and feeding upon nourishing
provender, has to travel far and to distend the stomach with a watery
substance before the cravings of hunger can be appeased and satiety
impress the creature with a consciousness that existence has gathered a
sufficient support. The quadruped while at grass is necessitated to be
eating the major portion of both day and night; little leisure is left
from the cravings of appetite for rest or for repose. No comfortable bed
is placed beneath the jaded limbs. There may be an open shed under which
all the inhabitants of the field are free to shelter themselves from the
storms of autumn and from the colds of early morning. That building is,
however, generally taken possession of by horned cattle, or by the victor
of the steeds, and none but favorites are allowed to share the comfort of
the tyrant.

It is assuredly true that the horse, in its primitive state, must have
galloped over the plains free from human care and without a roof to harbor
it. In a similar state man also must once have existed. The early Britons
are described as walking about in painted costume, and as living on acorns
and wild berries. Which of her Britannic Majesty's present subjects would
like for six weeks in every year to return to the habits of our ancestors?
The horse is even more artificial than man himself. It proves nothing,
therefore, that the creature has existed upon the plain; any more than the
possibility of rearing human beings apart from civilization can establish
that the latter mode is beneficial to the body's development. Man has lost
the desire for a wild existence. Then, why is the horse expected to be
benefited by a return to the so-called natural state, although securely
fenced from that freedom and extent of choice which primitive nature would
have afforded?

Horses, when huddled together, often commit fearful injuries upon their
companions. The creatures are unused to the society into which they are
forced, and awkwardness is apt to be rude. Any want of manners in the
heels of a horse is a serious business. But, to put upon one side so
weighty an argument against the grass field, as foreign to the present
subject,--all sorts of animals are there congregated. Some are turned out
"to regain condition;" some to become "fresh upon the legs;" and some
to live cheaply till their services are required. Others are allowed "a
run," after some virulent disorder; and others merely to afford time
for the eradication of obstinate disease. The pony, the cart-horse, the
thorough-bred, and the roadster,--all are crowded together. All sizes and
conditions meet as at a common table. Is it very wonderful, or much out of
the scope of ordinary probability, if one of the creatures so exposed, so
fed, and so tended, should engender mange? A few years back, the children
kept at Yorkshire schools were much exposed to a similar affection. Those
babes, however, had not been more accustomed to cleanliness than the
horse, nor were they exposed to half the neglect which the animal at grass
is obliged to endure. Is it then surprising that the lower creature should
breed a disease like to that which afflicts the human being? Let mange
appear in one, and the rest are prepared by exposure and unwholesome food
to imbibe the disorder; the contagion rapidly spreads; posts and rails
are loosened or overthrown by horses rubbing against them; or, should
such things be wanting, constant irritation instructs instinct, and the
miserable animals scrub one against the other in the open space.

Besides the grass field, foul lodging or filth and poor provender will
breed mange in the horse, as the same causes operating upon the human
subject will engender a like disorder. It is sad to think that with the
horse, as years increase, ailments accumulate and strength departs;
it is sad to think, that as the animal's life becomes more hard to
sustain, its food is always the less nourishing and its labor the more
exhausting; that as care is necessary, so is neglect encountered; that
the wretched quadruped at length is sold to some costermonger, who, when
he makes the purchase, nicely calculates how many days of labor the
emaciated life is capable of before it is turned over to the knacker.
Many a nobleman must have looked upon an animal in the last stage of a
weary life which was formerly the companion of his pleasures. The rusty,
lean, and worn-out carcass most probably was not recognized, or how must
reflection have whispered that power was not given to turn away existence
into wretchedness after willfulness had rendered the body less capable of
sustaining suffering!

In the vast majority of cases this disease first appears in the mane,
among the hairs of which a quantity of loose, dry scurf is perceptible.
Before such a sign, however, is to be recognized, excessive itchiness
is exhibited. The disease, once established, soon extends to the head,
to the neck, to the withers, to the sides, to the loins, and to the
quarters; only in very exceptional cases are the legs exposed to its
attacks. As the disorder proceeds, the hair falls off, leaving vacant
places upon the body; these have a peculiar, dry, acrid, and irritable
appearance; they suggest that portions of the body have been scorched with
quick-lime, so irregular, patched, and scabby are the parts just referred
to. The integument in these places greatly thickens and is no longer soft
and pliable as a lady's glove, but becomes corrugated or thrown into
well-defined folds.

The hairs, however, are not all removed; a few and only a few remain;
these cling with exceeding tenacity to the surfaces which their fellows
have quitted. The force required to pull out one of these remaining hairs
is somewhat surprising, and the hair being extracted, the roots, upon
close examination, will be discovered enlarged and far more vascular than
is usual.

The above are the broad and more obvious indications of mange. However,
should the diseased locality be more minutely inspected, a number of small
pimples are discerned; these elevations are clustered upon different
spots. As they mature, the point of each contains a very slight quantity
of gelatinous fluid; the vesicles ultimately burst; the contents exude and
become dry through the absorption of the atmosphere, forming incrustations
upon the surface. Add to this, the irritation provokes the diseased animal
to scrub itself against any irregular, projecting surface which may be
at hand. Raw places, frequently of magnitude, are often occasioned by
the friction so rudely applied; from this source another set of crusts
spring up. The places which are denuded, therefore, may present a very
varied aspect, but still the parched appearance of the scurfy and dry skin
affords the best external evidence of the presence of mange.

[Illustration: A MANGY PIECE OF SKIN.]

[Illustration: THE HEAD OF AN OLD, MANGY WHITE HORSE.]

An animal, which from being gray in youth has grown white with age, still
retains to its death the signs of its youthful color upon its skin. The
integument is dark, although the hair may have lost the last vestige of
its original hue; the checkered appearance established by mange gives to
the white horse a particularly ragged and dejected aspect.

[Illustration: THE TEST FOR MANGE.]

Unfortunately, man is not, at the present moment, sufficiently enlightened
to recognize the symptoms which indicate an approaching attack of
mange; but the animal energetically announces the malady so soon as the
contamination is established. The disorder being confirmed, its existence
is readily ascertained; the fingers have only to be inserted among the
roots of the mane, and the part titillated with the nails. The horse thus
treated will stretch forth the head and neck, will compose its features
into an expression of excessive pleasure, and will continue motionless so
long as the hand remains upon the crest.

This sign, being witnessed, may be esteemed conclusive. Let such an
animal be placed in the sunshine for an hour, should the weather permit;
otherwise allow it to stand in the warmest house which is unoccupied; then
have the coat thoroughly dressed or whisked, until all the loose scurf
and incrustations are removed; afterward have the following ointment well
rubbed in. Mind the man who whisks the horse goes near no other animal for
eight and forty hours. See that every portion of the skin, from the tip of
the nose to the point of the tail, is anointed; mark that no crevice or
irregularity escapes, from the bottom of the coronet to the apex of the
ears.


_Liniment for Mange._

    Animal glycerin                  Four parts.
    Creosote                         Half a part.
    Oil of turpentine                One part.
    Oil of juniper                   Half a part.
      Mix all together, shake well, and use.

It is impossible to state accurately how much will be required to dress
the horse--the disease, the coat, and the size vary so materially in
different animals. About one pint and a half is, however, the general
quantity employed for one application; every portion of the coat must be
saturated, and in that condition the animal should be left till two clear
days have expired. Thus, supposing the liniment to be used upon a Monday,
it is left on until the following Thursday. Then have the surface washed
with soft soap and warm water; dry the body and allow the animal to stand
in a warm spot as before, so that every portion of moisture may evaporate.
Afterward employ the whisk as has been previously directed; subsequently
repeat the anointing. That operation must be again gone through for the
third and last time after two clear days have once more expired, when the
disease ought to be cured; all the insects should have perished, and the
skin have been benefited by the stimulation to which it has been subjected.

There are many preparations employed to cure mange. All have some repute,
though all (save that already given) are attended with some danger. The
author, however, will recite two, at the same time warning the reader that
neither of those which follow can be sincerely recommended.


_Ointment for Mange._

    Strong mercurial ointment        Three ounces.
    Soft soap                        One pound and a half.
      Mix.


_Wash for Mange._

    Corrosive sublimate                                 One drachm.
    Spirits of wine                                     One ounce.
    Tobacco (made into an infusion)                     One ounce.
    Hot water (which is to be poured into the tobacco)  One quart.

    Dissolve the corrosive sublimate in the spirits of wine. Soak the
    tobacco in the boiling water. When cold, mix.

The question has been much debated, "whether man can derive the itch from
an animal?" Imaginary proofs favoring the possibility are every now and
then confidently promulgated; but all doubts seem to have been put to
rest by the investigations conducted by M. Bourguignon. That gentleman
demonstrated the unfitness of one creature to support the parasite
generated by another. Horses may be violently irritated by insects bred
by fowls; but, remove the birds, the supply ceases, and the irritation
dies away. So an individual handling mangy horses may get some of the
acari upon him and cause vexatious itching; but let the man keep away from
the contaminated stable and the sensation is quickly lost. The repeated
and repeated renewal of the pest gives a seeming warranty to the popular
belief. Certain disorders assuredly are communicable throughout every
species of life, as though to prove to the stubbornness of mankind that
all nature is akin. Such are hydrophobia in the dog, and glanders in
the horse; were all affections, however, equally interchangeable, the
inhabitants of this world would speedily become one breathing mass of
disease.


PRURIGO.

This affection may lead many a gentleman to imagine his horse has caught
the mange; the leading symptom in each disorder is the same. Excessive
irritability of the skin is, in =prurigo=, generally exhibited during
the spring of the year; the animal will rub itself with a fury which
often removes portions of the coat, but which never exposes the dry and
corrugated patches that characterize genuine mange.

[Illustration: THE PROOF OF PRURIGO.]

It is very annoying to behold the horse, when in the stable, scrubbing its
neck upon the division to the stall; it is provoking to witness the animal
leave its corn for the same employment. It excites the fancy of the
master and conjures up the dread of every cleanly horse proprietor; the
symptom is, however, easily eradicated. It only denotes heat of body; let
a portion of the hay be abstracted and a couple of bundles of cut grass be
allowed each day; let a mash be given night and morning, until the bowels
freely respond, and, without further measures, the annoyance usually
ceases.

The irritation may not, however, subside so quickly as shall be desired;
to hasten its departure, either of the annexed may be applied externally:

_Washes for Prurigo._

    Animal glycerin                  One part.
    Simple water or rose-water       Two parts.
      Mix.

    Sulphuric acid                   One part.
    Water                            Ten parts.
      Mix.

    Creosote                         One part.
    Oil                              Eight parts.
      Mix.

Either of these probably will answer, but the writer strongly recommends
the first; at the same time it is well to try and reach the source of the
disease, or to improve the blood. For this purpose the following drink
should be given every night after the last meal:--

_Drink for Prurigo._

    Liquor arsenicalis               One ounce.
    Tincture of muriate of iron      One ounce and a half.
    Water                            One quart.
      Mix, and give half a pint for a dose.

A week after the irritation has subsided, all medicine may be withdrawn;
but it is always well to see that a sufficiency of exercise be given, and
to allow an extra feed of oats with a pot of porter every day. These last
will restore the strength; for every form of disease is to be regarded as
the most emphatic testimony of weakness.


RING-WORM.

This affection at first is simply a disfigurement; but, if neglected, it
becomes a troublesome disorder. In the primary instance, the hair falls
off in patches, leaving visible a scurfy skin; some say there are pimples
under the scurf, but the author must confess he was unable to discern
them in those cases which he examined. The scurfy particles, however, are
somewhat large, and resemble, in no little degree, the scales which form
the bulk of bran. At first, these pieces or flakes of cuticle cover the
entire surface; but ultimately they congregate upon the circumference,
which, by their numbers, is made to assume a raised appearance. Should
the =ring-worm= not be attended to, the outward margin at last begins to
ulcerate, becoming the more difficult to eradicate in proportion to the
time of its continuance and the extent of the ulceration.

[Illustration: A REPRESENTATION OF A RING-WORM ON A HORSE.]

For the cure of ring-worm, a rigid attention to cleanliness is imperative;
the parts should, at all events, be washed night and morning with mild
soap, and hot, soft water; to the places--these having been rendered
perfectly dry--one of the following preparations must be applied and laid
rather thickly upon the denuded spot:--

_Ointments for Ring-worm._

    Animal glycerin              One ounce.
    Spermaceti                   One ounce.
    Iodide of lead               Two drachms.

Rub the glycerin and spermaceti together, and, when thoroughly
incorporated, add the iodide of lead, or use any of the appended:--

    Nitrate of lead             Two drachms.
    Simple ointment             Two ounces.
      Mix.

    Oil of tar                  Half an ounce.
    Simple cerate               One ounce.
      Mix.

    Creosote                    Two drachms.
    Simple cerate               One ounce.
      Mix.

    Oil of juniper              One drachm.
    Simple cerate               One ounce.
      Mix.

Besides the above, which are not one-half of the remedies in general use,
some parties are loud in the commendation of a saturated solution of a
sulphate of iron. Others are strongly prejudiced in favor of pure liquor
plumbi; another class protest they employ nothing but compound alum water,
which invariably and speedily affords relief. There are people who regard
a strong infusion of tobacco as a charm for ring-worm; while another set
will hear of nothing for that purpose but hellebore ointment.

The author, however, has always employed the first preparation, which, in
his hand, has never occasioned disappointment. It has, however, always
been aided by the following drink, administered every night. No medicine
could possibly act better than those here proposed; they seem to go
directly to the skin; but as the state of the integument may be accepted
as evidence with regard to the condition of the entire body, a most
powerful alterative may not, in this instance, be out of place.

_Drink for Ring-worm._

    Liquor arsenicalis                   One ounce.
    Tincture of the muriate of iron      One ounce and a half.
    Water                                One quart.
      Mix, and give every night half a pint for a dose.

This drink must be continued till every vestige of the disease has
disappeared. However, it frequently happens that, after the central bare
spot has been cured, ulceration remains about the circumference. Treat
this with either of the following lotions:--

    Permanganate of potash               Half an ounce.
    Water                                Three ounces.
      Mix, and smear gently over the part six times daily. Or--
    Chloride of zinc                     Two scruples.
    Water                                One pint.
      Mix.

The ulcers should be punctually moistened with the last preparation at
the periods already stated, and the horse should be thrown up during the
treatment. The food should be of the best, and a month ought to be allowed
for the cure.


SURFEIT.

Old practitioners generally entertain very false opinions concerning the
importance of =surfeit=; they being inclined to employ more stringent
measures for its eradication than the real nature of the disease demands.
The affection is rather annoying than dangerous; it makes its appearance
suddenly, and seldom involves the entire body. It is a sudden rash or a
quantity of heat spots bursting out upon the skin; the spots are round,
blunt, and slightly elevated; they resemble the blotches which, during
hot weather, often appear upon the human countenance, only the horse's
integument being so much more active than the skin of man, the outward
affection in the animal may be regarded as proportionably the more severe.
Frequently, during the eruption, the pulse is tranquil, the spirit and
appetite being good; when such is the case, the lumps mostly disappear in
a few hours. Still the food should be looked to; about eight pounds of
hay should be abstracted and two bundles of cut grass allowed per day;
the corn should be kept up or even increased, and a handful of sound, old
beans, which have been properly crushed, should be mingled with each feed.
The stable should be airy, and the following drink should be given every
day for a month:--

    Liquor arsenicalis                 One ounce.
    Tincture of the muriate of iron    One ounce and a half.
    Water                              One quart.
      Mix, and give once daily, one pint for a dose.

[Illustration: A HORSE AFFECTED WITH SURFEIT.]

Should the horse be young, and have been neglected throughout the winter,
a surfeit sometimes appears which is of a different character. The lumps
do not disappear; but an exudation escapes from the center of each. The
constitution is involved in this form of disease, and the malady, if
unattended to, is apt to settle upon the lungs.

Should the attack assume the last appearance, on no account take the
animal out, not even for exercise. Attend to the perfect cleanliness of
the bed, and keep every door and window in the stable open during the
day. Feed as directed for the previous form of surfeit, and allow two or
three bran mashes whenever the bowels appear constipated; but do not give
mashes after the constipation is removed. The desire is not to weaken the
system by purgation, but simply to relieve the body; administer the drink
recommended above only, giving one night and morning, but, should the
appetite suffer, reduce the quantity, or withhold all medicine.

Clothe warmly; bandage the legs, and remove from the stall to a loose
box; if the pulse suddenly sink, two pots of stout may be given at
different times during the day. If the appetite is bad, good gruel instead
of water must be constantly in the manger; cut carrots, if presented a
few at a time, will generally be accepted. However, with all such care,
a very speedy termination is not to be expected; nature is casting forth
something imbibed during a winter of neglect, and no art can quicken the
process. The shortest cases of this kind mostly last a fortnight, during
which time the treatment, and the entire treatment, merely consists in
good nursing and in liberally supporting the body.


HIDE-BOUND.

Strictly speaking, the condition signified by the above term is not so
much a disease as the consequence of exposure, of poor provender, and of
neglect. Thrust a horse which has been accustomed to wholesome food and a
warm stable, thrust such an animal into a straw yard and leave it there
through the long and severe winter of this climate. Let the creature which
has been used to have its wants attended to and its desires watched--let
it for months exist upon a stinted quantity of such hay as the farmer
cannot sell--let it go for days without liquid, and at night be driven by
the horns of bullocks to lie among the snow or to shiver in the rain--let
an animal so nurtured be forced to brave such vicissitudes, and in the
spring the belly will be down, and the harsh, unyielding skin will
everywhere adhere close to the substance which it covers.

[Illustration: ONE OF THE CAUSES OF HIDE-BOUND IN HORSES.]

Straw yards are abominations into which no feeling man should thrust the
horse he prizes; and no feeling man should long possess a horse without
esteeming it. The docility is so complete, the obedience so entire, and
the intelligence so acute, that it is hard to suppose a mortal possessing
a creature thus endowed, without something more than a sheer regard for
property growing up between the master and the servant.

Every amiable sentiment is appealed to by the absolute trustfulness of
the quadruped. It appears to give itself, without reservation, to the
man who becomes its proprietor. Though gregarious in its nature, yet, at
the owner's will, it lives alone. It eats according to human pleasure,
and it even grows to love the imprisonment under which it is doomed to
exist. Cruelty cannot interfere with its content. Brutality may maim its
body and wear out its life; but as its death approaches, it faces the
knacker with the same trustfulness which induced it, when in its prime, to
yield up every attribute of existence to gain the torture and abuse of an
ungrateful world.

Liberal food, clean lodging, soft bed, healthy exercise, and good grooming
compose the only medicine imperative for the cure of =hide-bound=. The
relief, however, may be hastened by the daily administration of two of
those tonics and alterative drinks which act so directly upon the skin:--

_Drink for Hide-bound._

    Liquor arsenicalis                 Half an ounce.
    Tincture of muriate of iron        One ounce.
    Water                              One pint.
      Mix, and give as a dose.


LICE.

These parasites are the consequences natural to the states of filth and
debility. Insects, which have been mistaken for =lice=, sometimes infest
large stables and almost drive the horses frantic with the itching they
provoke. Application after application, intended to destroy lice, is made
use of. Every recognized source of contagion is exterminated. Internal as
well as external medicine is resorted to, but every endeavor to remove the
annoyance signally fails. The horses are fat and feed upon the best; yet
they seem to breed the parasites peculiar to the opposite condition. At
last some one points to the hen-roost which leans against the stable. That
building is pulled down, and with it the nuisance disappears.

It may to the reader appear strange that the application which killed lice
did not destroy the insects derived from fowls. Those parasites which
were upon the horse doubtless perished; but the dressing being washed off,
the pests came again and again, being supplied by the source of all the
mischief.

Insects breathe through the skin. On that account, a hornet is more
readily destroyed by dropping a little oil upon the exterior surface than
by immersing the head in hydrocyanic acid. All, therefore, requisite for
the removal of lice is smearing the entire body with any cheap oil or
grease. But when the skin is washed, the business is not ended. Generally
the horse troubled with lice is hide-bound, and may have various other
affections derived from the debility which generated the parasites.


LARVA IN THE SKIN.

These annoyances are another result of turning an animal out to grass, the
fly whence the trouble is derived never entering the stable. The insect
rejoices in the freedom of the field; and man, by turning out his horse,
finds the creature a fitting spot for the deposit of its eggs. This body
is carefully deposited upon the back or sides. The warmth of the animal
hatches the =larva=; no sooner is it endowed with life, than, with the
instinct of its kind, it burrows into the skin. The integument of the
horse, however thick it may appear, is soon pierced by the active little
maggot, which, thus snugly housed, retains its lodging until the following
spring. During the winter, a small lump denotes its abiding place; but as
the second summer progresses, a tolerably large abscess is instituted.

[Illustration:

    _a._ The winter residence of the larva.

    _b._ The summer abode of the insect.

    _c._ A drop of tallow falling upon the center of the abscess.
]

[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE LARVA ABSCESS, DIVIDED THROUGH ITS CENTER.

    1. The spot through which the larva breathes.
    2. The insect, full size.
    3. The mouth of the parasite.
    4. The pus surrounding the body, and upon which
    the creature lives.
    5. The sac of the abscess.
    6. The fat of the horse, or the adipose tissue much
    swollen and inflamed.
    7. The skin.
    8. The superficial muscle.
    9. The muscle proper to the body of the animal.
]

The interior of the abscess, of course, contains pus. Upon that secretion
the insect lives and thrives. The inhabitant of a warm abode, and
surrounded by its food, the early period of life no doubt is, for an
inactive being, highly agreeable. A division of one of these abscesses,
when fully matured, is represented in the second cut, page 233.

Such swellings are acutely painful and prove the sources of much
annoyance. They mostly occur upon the back. The saddle cannot be laid on
one of these tumors; and, as the spine supports much of the harness, the
proprietor has the vexation of beholding his horse rendered perfectly
useless; for suffering, should service be exacted, occasions the creature
to excite displeasure; besides, the pranks thus provoked by torture often
continue after the cause has been removed.

Upon the summit of the abscess appears a black spot. It is at this spot
the larva receives the air needed to support a dormant existence. This
fact being known to certain people, the knowledge is employed to destroy
the parasite. The swelling is first slightly greased, and then a drop of
melted tallow is let fall upon the breathing place. By such means the
insect is effectually suffocated, and assuredly dies.

Others employ a darning needle as the instrument of execution. The needle
is thrust through the central spot into the swelling for three-eighths
of an inch. The larva thereby is pierced, and the life certainly is
sacrificed.

Neither method occasions at the time the slightest pain to the horse,
and therefore may by some persons be esteemed highly humane; but, in
the end, such plans of cure prove the very reverse. In either case the
maggot dies; but the business, unfortunately, is only rendered worse
by killing the source of evil. The dead body putrefies. A foreign and
corrupting substance beneath the skin may enlarge the abscess to many
times its original dimensions. After all, the system has to cast forth the
irritating matter, and for that purpose inflammation, with its attendant
fever, must be perfected. Much suffering is thus occasioned, and the
proprietor is, for several weeks, forced to forego the employment of a
valuable servant.

The safest, the surest, and the quickest manner of eradicating these
parasites is, with the point of a lancet, slightly to enlarge the central
opening, and then with the finger and thumb, applied on either side of the
swelling, to squeeze out the intruder. The abscess rapidly disappears; and
it only requires a few dabbings with the solution of chloride of zinc,
one grain to the ounce, to close the wound. However, the best manner to
avoid such annoyances is not to endeavor at saving money by treating a
domesticated animal as though it were an untamed quadruped.


WARTS.

A =wart=, when of a fixed cartilaginous nature, should, in the horse, be
eradicated immediately upon its appearance; being permitted to exist, such
growths always increase in number and in magnitude. By certain people, or
rather by a tradition, these excrescences are imagined to breed, or it is
thought that one can produce many. That warts are possessed of any such
inherent property science refuses to acknowledge; but the same system
which has generated one may generate several. The faculty of casting forth
such growths may even be encouraged by allowing them to remain; and it is
possible that the slight shock occasioned by their removal may alter the
tendency of the body. Certain it is that, by some mysterious law, nature
refuses to build up only for human agency to destroy. Youatt asserts that
it was once fashionable to crop the ears of horses until animals were
ultimately born with the ears ready shortened.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF THE HEAD OF A HORSE WITH WARTS.]

A portrait of an extraordinary instance of warty disposition, showing
the imprudence of permitting such accumulations to continue, is here
given. The writer's experience cannot at all equal the disfigurement
there represented; the animal was the favorite saddle-horse of a lady
who could not bear the idea of the creature being put to pain. One wart
first appeared upon the inside of the thigh; the motion of the legs
used to chafe the excrescence, and frequent discharges of blood were
the consequence. The growth increased in size, and three times was it
"charmed." However, the cure, said to be potent over the human being, was
inoperative upon the horse; housewife's remedies were next resorted to,
but all of these proved equally unsuccessful.

At length, smaller warts began to show; it would have been easy to have
removed the original excrescence, but the numerous after-growths assumed
a form which would have rendered them difficult to destroy. Many of them
came with wide bases and slight elevation; to have attempted the excision
would have almost necessitated the flaying of a living body. The remedy,
which at first was easy, was by time rendered impossible; the horse being
permitted to exist, could only see imperfectly. It could not move or feed
without hemorrhage being provoked. The animal, of course, became useless;
but still its kind mistress could not consent to its destruction. A
country farrier, previous to the author seeing the animal, had slit up
one nostril to relieve the breathing, which before was much impeded. Of
course nothing could be done for such an object.

There are three different sorts of growth, all of which are recognized
under the term "wart." The first is of a cartilaginous nature and is
contained in a distinct sac or shell, which last is entirely derived from
the cuticle of the skin. Upon the sac being divided, the substance drops
out, leaving behind a perfectly clean cavity, which soon disappears.
Little hemorrhage and less pain attend upon this trivial operation. The
second sort also is cartilaginous, but, unlike the first, is not contained
within a cuticular sac. It adheres firmly to the skin, and is apt to grow
large; sometimes it becomes of enormous bulk, when regarded simply in
its character of a wart. The crown is rough and unsightly; the body is
vascular, and the growth, from its magnitude and uneven texture, is apt to
be injured, when it never heals, but invariably exhibits the ulcerative
process in a tedious form. This species of wart is often to be found,
though of a smaller development, upon the human hand. The third variety is
hardly to be esteemed a true wart, and would not here be named, were it
not universally accepted as one of these abnormal growths. It consists of
a cuticular case, inclosing a soft granular substance.

It is impossible always to distinguish the first and third from the
second; therefore, in a case of this kind, it is advisable to cut into
the excrescence as soon as it is large enough to be operated upon. When
the warts are ascertained to be inclosed in a defined cuticular shell,
the quickest and the more humane practice is to take a sharp-pointed
knife and impale them, or run the blade through each in succession. The
edge should be away from the skin, and the knife being withdrawn with an
upward, cutting motion, the sac and substance are both sundered. This
accomplished, the interior is easily removed and all that can subsequently
be necessary is to occasionally touch the part with the solution of the
chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of water.

When the growth proves of the fixed cartilaginous kind, no time should be
lost in its removal. The quickest plan--and not, perhaps, the most painful
method--of doing this is by means of the knife. The excrescence should be
thoroughly excised, being sundered at the base. Some bleeding will follow.
This may be readily commanded by having at hand a saucepan of water
boiling on a small fire. Into the heated liquid a budding-iron should be
placed, by which artifice sufficient heat is obtained to stimulate the
open mouths of the vessels when the instrument is applied to the bleeding
surface, without any danger being incurred of destroying the living flesh.

Should excision be objected to, the next best plan is the use of caustic.
Strong acetic acid, only to be generally obtained as aromatic vinegar, is
the mildest cautery; the next in strength is butter of antimony; after
that, ranks nitrate of silver, or lunar caustic; and lastly, comes a
preparation invented by Mr. Woodger, to whose perceptions the veterinary
profession is so largely indebted. It consists of sulphuric acid, made
into a paste with powdered sulphur, and applied by means of a flat piece
of wood.

Whichever remedy is adopted, it must be remembered that the application
will occupy time in exact proportion to the mildness of the means
employed. It may also be proper to hint to the reader that, as an animal
has no foreknowledge to alarm its anticipatory fears, and as, the anguish
past, the mind of the creature does not linger upon painful recollections,
probably the knife is to be very much preferred.

Some people remove warts by ligatures. To this custom the author strongly
objects, for the following reasons: Because the process is slow; because
the pain is great and continuous, till the removal is accomplished;
because the ligature soon becomes filthy, the wart, when large, often
turning putrid before it falls off; and because, when small, the breadth
of base and the slight projection render fixing a ligature an utter
impossibility.


TUMORS.

[Illustration: AN ABNORMAL GROWTH UPON A HORSE'S CHEST.]

It is impossible to particularize the nature of every =tumor= to which
the horse is subject, such formations being so very various. Seldom are
two cases met with in which a precisely similar structure is developed.
More seldom are two cases encountered located upon the same part. These
growths are liable to every possible change. One may be very small,
but extremely malignant, or of that kind which seems to resent the
slightest interference. Employ the knife to this last sort, and incurable
ulceration may start up. All remedies may be powerless and the life may
be sacrificed. Such growths are, happily, rare in the equine species;
but the author has heard of their occurrence, although it has not been
his misfortune to encounter one. Another shall be of such enormous size
as to impede the motions, yet will be perfectly bland in its nature. A
portrait, not of the largest tumor which the writer has witnessed, but
of the most awkwardly situated, is represented herewith. It was not
malignant. The horse which carried about this burden was brought to the
veterinary college during the time when the author was attached to that
establishment. The animal had previously been under the treatment of
various veterinary surgeons. All had cut and cauterized the enlargement,
but without reducing its magnitude. The wounds healed quickly, and the
constitution appeared not to be in the slightest manner affected.

Why was not the swelling removed with the knife, when the kindly nature
of the growth had been ascertained? For good and sufficient reasons. No
operation could, with the slightest prospect of success, be hazarded. In
the first place, nature is apt to resent the loss of so large a substance,
or, in other words, although the surgery may be perfect, the life, from
some unexplained cause, is likely to depart before the operation is
finished. In the next place, most bland tumors, when of magnitude, are
of a semi-cartilaginous nature, and spring either from tendon or from
bone--usually from the latter. This tumor impeded the action; hence
it was inferred that the substance ramified among the fibers of the
pectoral muscles. Those fibers are large, and are divided; they present
interspaces, between which the abnormal growth might readily penetrate.
Now, unless every portion of the tumor were excised, the enlargement would
sprout again, and the surgeon would be disgraced. To remove the pectoral
muscle of a man, would be esteemed of little consequence, so that the life
was preserved. But the limbs of the horse constitute the value of the
creature's existence and to disable these from being safely moved, would
be to return a burdensome life to the proprietor. Therefore that which
is compatible with human surgery could not be entertained in veterinary
science.

A tumor may be small and soft, yet it must be respected. It may be
hard, or even ulcerated and large, still its excision may be readily
accomplished. The majority of these growths which appear upon the horse,
however, are not malignant. Nevertheless, let every man consult some duly
qualified veterinarian of experience before he resorts to measures which,
possibly, may lead to the acutest regret.

One caution must be given before the subject is concluded. Gray horses,
which have grown paler with age, or have become white, are liable to an
incurable and malignant disease termed =melanosis=, which hereafter will
be fully described. The presence of this disorder is generally testified
by the appearance of some external tumor. Unless that enlargement be of
great size and admirably situated for removal, it on no account should be
interfered with. Let, therefore, every light-gray or white horse having
a tumor be submitted to some experienced judgment, and let the owner be
guided by the opinion he receives.


SWOLLEN OR FILLED LEGS.

These are one of the most common troubles of the stable; the coachman is
very apt to complain piteously that in the morning he is sure to find such
and such a horse with the legs filled. Commonly the hinder limbs below
the hock are thus affected; sometimes the fore legs below the knee will
be involved. The coachman mostly bandages the parts. In mild cases this
resort may answer; but in bad instances the leg above the bandage is apt
to enlarge. The cloth or flannel, before applied, should be wetted; this,
however, affords but a temporary relief; the wet often causes the hair to
curl, and the uniformity of the appearance is thereby spoiled. After some
time, the bandage frequently leaves its impress upon the leg, and it is
astonishing how long in peculiar cases this impress will continue.

[Illustration: THE HORSE'S LEG OF A NATURAL SIZE.]

[Illustration: THE HORSE'S LEG WHEN FILLED.]

=Swollen legs= mostly occur in heavy animals and in overgrown carriage
horses; such creatures are of weakly or soft constitutions. They have a
vast tendency to become partially dropsical. Fast work exhausts the system
of the carriage horse, while high food stimulates its natural disposition
toward disease. With heavy horses, the prolonged hours of labor are
equally debilitating, and the Sunday's stagnation generates disorder;
neither have any innate hardiness to withstand injurious influences; both,
when highly fat, have the weakness inherent to their constitutions greatly
increased. The quadruped, loaded with the accumulations of many months'
repletion, may please the eye of the master; but it is rendered more
subject to disease, and less capable of labor or of activity.

Persons who require fast work, should employ light vehicles and small
horses; the creatures should be principally supported by grain--a little
hay may be allowed during certain times, when the animal's attention
requires to be engaged; but the chief sustenance ought to consist of oats
and beans. When the carriage is not wanted for the day, care should be
taken to see the groom gives at least four hours' exercise.

With regard to the heavy animals, the custom of blowing them out with
chaff or hay is not to be commended. A good horse is surely deserving of
good provender, and the best manger food is not generally deserving of
any higher character than the word "good" may convey. A horse for work
should be in sound flesh without being fat; when not required, it should
not be allowed to remain in the stable all day. Who, however, ever saw a
cart-horse being exercised? These animals have to stand in the stall of a
heated stable throughout the Sabbath; the excuse is, that the creatures
may enjoy a day's rest. But four hours' easy exercise given at different
times, although it might occupy the time of the attendant, would assuredly
greatly add to the comfort of the quadrupeds which he is paid to look
after.

When a horse is troubled with swollen legs, take it from the stall
and place it in a roomy, loose box; nothing more quickly removes this
affection than easy and natural motion. At grass, dropsy generally attacks
the abdomen; but the author has not heard of the legs being affected in
the field, the limbs there being in constant action. Having placed the
animal in a loose box, abstain from giving hay for some weeks; procure
some ground oak-bark; having damped the corn, sprinkle a handful of the
powder among each feed of oats. Particularly attend to the exercise; and
should the legs still enlarge, do not allow bandages to be employed, but
set both groom and coachman hand-rubbing till the natural appearance is
restored.


SITFAST.

This, whenever it occurs, provokes great vexation. Generally it affects
animals of the highest value or of fast capabilities, which are used only
for saddle purposes. The affection consists of a patch of horn, resembling
a corn upon the human foot. These patches are not absolutely large, though
of course in size they vary. Neither are they all similar in form or in
thickness. In one respect, however, a family likeness runs throughout
the kind. They are not simple corns, but their different nature is shown
by a margin of ulceration. The situation which they invariably occupy is
under the saddle-tree. Their presence, of course, obliges the horse to
be disused; and they are the more annoying, since there is no chance of
these comparatively trifling ailments disappearing without treatment.
The treatment, moreover, cannot be speedy. Whatever measures may be
resorted to, time is necessary for the cure; and, during this space, the
proprietor sees his horse in high health and spirits, but is forbidden
to mount it because of a petty blemish which, in his eyes, is perfectly
contemptible.

[Illustration: A SITFAST, AS IT APPEARS UPON A HORSE'S BACK.]

Sitfasts, though all said to be caused by the friction of the saddle,
have several distinct excitants. The saddle is without life, and cannot
of itself injure the quadruped. It is common to account for a sitfast by
saying the saddle does not fit. Such may occasionally be the case; for a
saddle, if badly made, will chafe the skin and produce a sitfast. But this
cause is in operation less often than is imagined. A retired surgeon, whom
the author had the honor of visiting at Reigate, wore a cork leg. That
gentleman stated that, whenever the leg used to chafe the stump to which
it was attached, he always considered his body was out of order. Medicine
then was taken, and the symptom disappeared. We mortals refuse to think
the horse ails anything unless the animal is alarmingly prostrated. All
smaller ills are disregarded; yet that derangement of the stomach which
caused the stump of a man's leg to become painful from pressure may, if
not attended to, also cause the skin of a horse to exhibit a sitfast.

An awkward horseman is the more frequent source of the complaint. There
are gentlemen so very energetic as riders that the best of saddles may be
readily moved under them. The saddle must be well made indeed which can,
under no circumstances, be stirred upon the back to that extent which is
required to generate a sitfast. Loose girths will likewise establish the
nuisance, and so also may the saddle-cloth whenever it is hastily put on
so as to become thrown into a fold when the horse is mounted.

The speediest cure for a sitfast is the knife. The excrescence is quickly
removed; and the wound, if treated with the solution of chloride of
zinc, one grain to an ounce of water, soon heals. A more tedious plan of
removal, and one not recommended by any proper feeling, is to rub into the
sitfast, every night and morning, a small quantity of blistering ointment.
Such is the usual direction; but the ointment may be applied, for some
time, to a layer of compact horn, before the true skin or flesh beneath is
affected. The unguent must therefore cover the perhaps ulcerated margin of
the sitfast; and even then it is a tedious and a painful operation, not
likely to improve the disposition of an animal which it is so desirable to
keep free from every excitement.

While the sitfast is being operated upon, the bowels should be rendered
pultaceous by bran mashes. Four of these per diem will usually loosen the
most constipated body in two days. That effect being gained, while the
food is liberal and the animal is led to plenty of exercise, give one of
those drinks, night and morning, which are tonic to the system, but seem
to exhaust their virtue upon the skin.

_Drink for Sitfasts._

    Liquor arsenicalis                 Half an ounce.
    Tincture of muriate of iron        Three-quarters of an ounce.
    Water                              One pint.
      Mix, and give.


GREASE.

This filthy disorder is a disgrace to every person concerned with the
building in which it occurs; it proves neglect in the proprietor, want
of fitness or positive idleness in the groom, and culpable ignorance or
the absence of the slightest moral courage in all people entering the
doors of the stable. It is one of those disorders which it is easier to
prevent than to cure. By an ordinary regard to cleanliness, and by an
average attention to the necessities of the animal, this taint may be
avoided; wherever it is witnessed, it not only argues the human being to
whom the building belongs to be in the lowest stage of degradation, but it
also testifies to the sufferings endured by the poor creatures which are
compelled to drag out life in such custody.

The =grease= is, in the primary instance, inflammation of the sebaceous
glands of the legs; but it soon extends beyond the limits of its origin,
and involves the deeper-seated structures. A white leg is more subject
to the disorder than one of another color, and the fore limbs are almost
exempted from the ravages of grease. The reason of that exemption is found
in the greater proximity of the anterior extremities to the heart or to
the center of the circulation. Consequently the vitality in the fore legs
is more active, and the flow of blood much more energetic; hence the
anterior extremities can resist that ailment which fixes with impunity
upon the posterior limbs. Added to this, in the fore legs the vessels
describe almost perpendicular lines, whereas in the hind members the
arterial current is impeded by numerous angles; these conditions doubtless
operate upon the health of parts, but, above everything else, ranks the
fact that the front legs are not subject to the same external causes as
are the members more backwardly located. The stalls are drained from the
manger to the gangway; consequently all the contamination of the space
in which the horse is confined flows toward the hind feet; there are,
moreover, other reasons, which the intelligence of the reader will not
require should be particularized.

Grease is banished from every decent stable; it may, however, be
occasionally encountered in situations very much secluded; there yet
remain places whence so foul a disgrace is never absent. The wretched
animals which are employed in brick-yards, in dust-carts, and in drawing
canal boats are hardly ever free from this loathsome disorder. These
creatures labor incessantly, and are removed far from the wholesome
check which brutality receives from public opinion; they are resigned to
the mercies of men who, as a class, are certainly not the most refined,
and are seldom inconvenienced by any excess of feeling. The places, not
stables, into which the miserable quadrupeds are thrust can rarely be
entered without the peculiar smell which announces the existence of grease
almost overpowering the stranger. The fact is unpleasant to human sense,
but it is only right that the probable effect upon the creature, which is
doomed for the duration of its weary life to inhale such an atmosphere,
should be considered.

Smell is perhaps the most acute sense with which the equine race are
endowed; the horse can appreciate that in which the human being vainly
endeavors to detect even the slightest odor. Not only is the scent far
more acute than that of man, but the two beings have to be compared as
regards their habits; the animal is most cleanly in its tastes. Flesh
it abhors, and all fatty substance it shrinks from; men eat such things
with appetite. Then, the human subject can dwell, and even labor, in a
tainted atmosphere with comparative impunity. A quadruped may be forced
to toil in such a place; but those who oblige the creature to do this
kind of work know the certain consequences of the act. They buy cheap and
old horses--animals which have suffered much, and have but a year or two
longer to exist. Were younger or dearer quadrupeds purchased, in which an
energetic constitution would render disease more malignant, and were such
animals obliged to breathe such contamination, the loss in every way would
be fearful.

There is, at present, a great fuss made about sanitary laws; but the
attention of those to whom such subjects are confided seems to be
engrossed by man and his excretions. No one yet appears to have imagined
that the subject involves life in all its varieties; the horse cannot
exist in the air which human lungs have exhausted; man cannot live in the
atmosphere in which the horse has perished. The two creatures are not,
therefore, entirely distinct; but the open nostrils and huge lungs of one
horse can consume the oxygen which would support many men. Then, the dung
of the horse, which is always exposed, gives off fumes only slightly less
dangerous than those which emanate from the human body. Yet officers pry
into alleys and into courts; they enter the habitations of the poor, and
count the number of those who _sleep_ in each room. The impacted people
are pointed to as the source of certain diseases, and society shudders as
the medical report is circulated. No one, however, visits the stable; no
one inquires whether horses _live_ in the space which affords sufficient
atmosphere to support existence; no one has yet traced disease in man
as probably originating in the close and contaminated fumes of nearly
every London mews. Still, if the over-crowded rooms of the poor merit an
elaborate report as so very dangerous to society, may not the stifling and
reeking condition of the stables deserve a passing comment in its relation
to the same effect?

Cutting the hair from, and thereby exposing the hinder heels to the
operation of cold and of wet is no unfrequent cause of grease. Such is
a common practice with lazy horsekeepers when not stimulated by the
proprietor's eye. In winter, when the legs most require warmth and
protection, the heels are deprived of the covering which nature intended
should protect them; and parts where the blood flows most tardily are laid
bare to the effects of evaporation and of frost. When the animal returns
soiled from work, most grooms will sluice a pail of cold water over the
legs; the dirt is thereby washed off, but the legs are suddenly chilled,
and soon become more cold, because of the moisture which they retain and
of the evaporation which ensues; for very few stablemen, finding the
appearance pleasing to mortal perceptions, think about the comfort of the
creature which is principally concerned.

Sudden chill striking a part, and followed by gradually-increasing cold,
will certainly induce congestion; the foundation of disease is thus
laid. The better plan would be to instruct the groom that appearance is
secondary to the welfare of his charge. Order the man not to mind about
leaving his horses so very clean and tidy; never allow the hair, which
grows long and luxuriant about the heels, to be cut off. Leave strict
orders that, when the animal returns with dirty legs, the stableman is to
take several wisps of straw and rub them until the surface is quite dry.
The absence of wet will greatly add to the comfort of the horse, while the
friction will increase the circulation and prove the very best preventive
to disease. With the moisture, of course, much of the dirt must be
removed; any which is left behind will readily fall out on the following
morning, upon the hair being carefully hand-rubbed and combed. However,
mind and see this is done, for it entails some trouble; and, if you are
content with merely giving orders, the "old buffer's megrims" are sure to
be laughed at and disobeyed.

Turning out to grass, especially during the colder months, when the wet is
particularly abundant, and the bite peculiarly short, is another fruitful
source of this affection. If a well-bred, aged animal, which has done
its work, after a life spent under the protection of the stable and in
the enjoyment of its carefully-prepared diet, is, from mistaken motives,
turned into the field, life may be prolonged, but it is at the expense of
much suffering, with the almost certain visitation of grease in a virulent
form.

[Illustration:

    A HORSE SCRATCHING ONE LEG WITH THE OTHER FOOT--A SYMPTOM OF THE
    EARLIEST APPEARANCE OF GREASE.
]

The earliest symptom of approaching grease is enlargement of the legs,
accompanied by considerable heat of the skin. If the animals be now
observed, they will be seen to be uneasy in their stalls; the hinder feet
are occasionally noisily stamped upon the pavement. Should the hair be
examined, it will be discovered loaded with scurf about the roots, while
one hind foot will be frequently seen employed to scratch the back of the
opposite leg.

Should these indications attract no attention, the hairs soon begin
to stand on end or to project outward, as though each was actuated by
a separate purpose, and each desired nothing so much as to avoid its
fellows. At the same time, the part begins to exude a thick, unctuous
moisture, from which the disease derives its name. This hangs upon all the
hairs of the heel in heavy drops. It is an offensive secretion. It emits a
remarkably pungent and a very peculiar odor, which, once inhaled, is never
afterward to be forgotten.

[Illustration: FIRST STAGE OF CONFIRMED GREASE.

EXUDATION.]

[Illustration: THE SECOND STAGE OF CONFIRMED GREASE.

CRACKS.]

Should no regard be now bestowed upon the sufferer, and should the horse
be worked on despite the lameness which it now exhibits, the skin swells,
while cracks, deep and wide, appear upon the inflamed integument. The
lines of division ulcerate, sometimes very badly; a thin, discolored,
and unhealthy pus mingles with the discharge; the odor grows still more
abominable, while the wretched animal becomes yet more lame.

[Illustration:

    THE THIRD STAGE OF CONFIRMED GREASE. HORNY BUNCHES WHICH ARE
    COMMONLY CALLED GRAPES.
]

Should, even at this period, no proper remedy be applied to check the
disease, the leg enlarges. Proud flesh, or fungoid granulations, sprout
from the lines of ulceration. The granulations grow in bunches, and have a
ragged surface. Often the masses are of great size, and shake, as though
about to fall, with every movement of the foot. The points, from exposure,
become dry and hard; their nature, from that of fungoid granulations,
changes to a substance resembling horn, like which, they are without
sensation. These bunches have been named "grapes," which they are vulgarly
thought to resemble. The likeness, however, is very distant--the one
being pleasant to look upon, the other forming a painful and disgusting
spectacle.

However insensitive the points of the bunches may become, the limb itself,
throughout the disorder, possesses a morbid sensibility. The gentlest
touch occasions exquisite torture, and the animal will tremble lest
the agony should be repeated. Upon the slightest impression, the leg
is instantly snatched up, nor is it trusted again upon the earth until
fatigue necessitates rest or till the cause of suffering has departed.
Horses have even suppressed their urine, lest the fluid, splashing upon
the seat of disease, should provoke any access of the infliction. Few
greasy animals ever have a bed under them, the straw of which might arrest
the liquid in its flight. Indeed, such a luxury might save them from one
source of torture, but assuredly would start up another. The ends of the
straw, pricking or even touching the disorder, would cause such agony as
must occasion the animal constantly to stand in terror.

One peculiarity, witnessed during grease, has not been indicated in the
above illustrations. It has been purposely omitted, because, though
invariably attendant upon the disorder, it in reality forms no part of
the malady, being only a sympathetic effect. The cutis is continuous with
the coronet and lamina, which secrete the outward horn of the hoof. Any
disease fixing upon the one, of course cannot but affect the other. The
irritation which involves the skin of the leg, therefore, necessarily
stimulates the growth of the foot. The hoof of a greasy leg, from this
cause, often becomes of enormous dimensions but this peculiarity has not
been noticed, because it was desired to keep the attention of the reader
fixed wholly upon the more immediate symptoms of the loathsome affection.

The remedy for grease is simple enough. Indeed, did not a sense of duty
oblige it to be resorted to, the smell would, in the majority of persons,
induce it to be employed. In the first place, clip off the hair--if any
remains to be cut off. The natural protector of the heels now can conserve
nothing. It can only heat the skin and retain the discharge. This being
accomplished, if the leg merely be hot and scurfy, have it thoroughly
cleansed with curd soap and warm water. Then a cloth, saturated with the
lotion for the earliest stage of grease, should be laid upon the inflamed
integument. This should be removed so soon as it becomes warm, and
another, also dripping, should immediately supply its place. Thus a wet,
cold cloth should constantly cover the part till the heat is destroyed, or
at all events is greatly mitigated.

For this purpose, two men are required, one to remove and the other to
apply. Four old cloths will be necessary. These, when removed, should be
flung over a line, so that as large a space as possible may be exposed to
the cooling action of the atmosphere. There is nothing so disagreeable
in performing this office as might at first appear. The active agent of
the lotion is a powerful disinfectant and deodorizer. The first cloth
removes almost all the fetor, and hanging the wrappers subsequently over
the line effectually purifies the atmosphere. The part being reduced
to a comparatively natural temperature, the after-treatment consists
in renewing the cloths so often as the heat returns; and in otherwise
moistening the limb with some of the subjoined lotion thrice daily:--

_Lotion for the earliest stage of Grease._

    Animal glycerin                             Half a pint.
    Chloride of zinc                            Half an ounce.
    Water                                       Six quarts.
      To be employed after the manner already directed.

When the cracks, with ulceration, appear, the previous lotion is too weak
to be of much service; but the same treatment must be adopted: only one of
the lotions subsequently given should then be used:--

_Lotion for the ulcerative stage of Grease._

    Permanganate of potash or phosphoric acid    One pint.
    Water                                        Six quarts.

Or--

    Chloride of zinc                             One ounce.
    Creosote                                     Four ounces.
    Strong solution of oak bark                  One gallon.
      Both to be used after the manner of the previous solution.

Should the spurious granulations have begun to sprout, lose no time in
having the horse cast. Have near at hand a small pot, with a charcoal fire
beneath it. Let the vessel be full of boiling water. Within the fluid,
previous to the casting, insert several irons; then throw the animal.
With a keen knife excise the external bunches of proud flesh. As each lump
is removed, much bleeding will ensue; therefore, before using the knife
again, take an iron and lay it flat upon the raw surface. Should one not
check the hemorrhage, return the first to the saucepan and apply a second.
It is necessary to operate with as small a loss of blood as possible;
for horses having grease are always old and debilitated. In this manner
proceed till all the external growths are cut away. Then let the animal
rise. Enough has been suffered for one occasion; more agony the exhausted
system of the animal might not sustain. Besides, with every attention
concerning the irons, the bleeding, generally, will not permit more to be
accomplished.

One thing has been forgotten. When removing the fungoid excrescences,
it is always well, for the comfort of the operator, to have the leg
previously saturated with chloride of zinc; also to have a man, with a
sponge and a quart of the solution, ready to bathe the limb as fresh
surfaces are exposed. Subsequently wet the leg frequently with the lotion
last recommended.

In another three days the animal may, a second time, be cast. The
operation being again confined to the crop of growths which on the
former occasion were exposed; all the previous directions should also be
strictly carried out. After three days have once more been suffered to
elapse, the horse, if necessary, should be thrown for the last time, and
the knife once more employed. The after-treatment will depend much upon
circumstances. If the ulceration predominates, employ the last lotion.
Should the granulations appear likely to grow, make use of the first
solution of chloride of zinc--only it should be double the strength which
was originally recommended. When both ulceration and granulation appear
equal, the first and last lotions may be alternated.

Such are the chief remedies necessary for the cure of grease. The other
measures are: the removal to a loose box thickly bedded with refuse tan;
the food should be liberal--old beans are now of every service; each feed
of oats should be rendered damp, and a handful of ground oak-bark ought
to be thoroughly mixed with it. For medicine, those excellent tonic and
alterative drinks may be thus prepared, and given daily:--

_Drink for Grease._

    Liquor arsenicalis                 One ounce.
    Tincture of the muriate of iron    One ounce and a half.
    Porter or stout                    One quart.
      Mix, and give one pint night and morning.

Chopped roots, speared wheat, hay tea, and a little cut grass, should it
be in season, are all proper in this disease. At the same time, walking
exercise is much to be commended. Motion quickens the circulation; but in
grease it seems, in a manner which is not understood, also to allay pain.
A horse having grease will be led out of the stable limping lame; but
after an hour's exercise it may return walking firmly and almost soundly.
After cleanliness, good food and medicine, nothing is so beneficial to
grease as moderate exercise.


MALLENDERS AND SALLENDERS.

[Illustration: MALLENDERS, OR A SCURFY PATCH AT THE BACK OF THE KNEE.]

[Illustration: SALLENDERS, OR A SCURFY PATCH IN FRONT OF THE HOCK.]

These names are to be traced to no derivation, but in their arbitrary
signification they denote a certain condition of the parts situated on
the points of principal flexion in either limb. =Mallenders= appear upon
the back of the knee; =sallenders= are located in front of the hock.
Both, in the first place, are scurfy patches exhibiting a roughened state
of hair and suggesting considerable irritability. Either, if neglected,
will degenerate into a troublesome sore from which a foul discharge will
issue. With ordinary care they neither do much harm; but are rather
regarded as proofs of idleness and as eyesores, than as actual diseases,
to which importance they now seldom attain. For their relief it is
essential to pay scrupulous attention to cleanliness; as, when the coat
suffers from neglect, it is very probable the same cause may likewise
influence the constitution. Therefore, always begin the treatment with the
tonic alterative drinks described on the previous page; at the same time
applying with friction a little of the annexed ointment thrice daily:--

_Ointment for Mallenders and Sallenders._

    Animal glycerin                 One ounce.
    Mercurial ointment              Two drachms.
    Powdered camphor                Two drachms.
    Spermaceti                      One ounce.
      Incorporate all thoroughly together, and apply as directed.

When the scurf, through neglect, degenerates into a sore, treat after
the manner subsequently advised for cracked heels. But in every case of
this kind always begin the treatment with a change of stable attendant;
for where certain diseases appear, these are conclusive proof that duty is
neglected. No remonstrance, no chiding, can amend the habits of the groom,
who has, from drink or other indulgence, lost pride in the stable over
which he should reign supreme.


CRACKED HEELS.

This is, save where very wrong-headed measures are pursued, the affection
peculiar to the cold and wet months of the year. Even during the inclement
weather of the summer, however, the horse may, if badly managed, exhibit
this form of disease. Should the hair, which nature with kind intention
placed upon the fetlock, be ruthlessly cut away, the animal is thereby
rendered liable to =cracked heels=. The wet very rarely penetrates that
designed defense. When it does, the ample covering of hair falling over
the skin prevents evaporation, and the moisture rather promotes warmth
than causes any excess of cold. The dirt of the road always lodges upon
the surface of the hair, and if the horse-keeper exercise only ordinary
care it can never soil the flesh.

[Illustration: THE HEEL OF A HORSE IN A CRACKED CONDITION.]

The liability induced by removal of the natural covering exemplifies the
folly of those practices which have lately become so very fashionable as
at the present time to be almost universal. But there has always appeared
to exist in the human mind a restless desire to improve the beauty of the
horse. Now the tail has been docked; then the ears have been cut. A short
space prior to these amendments, the skin was tampered with to produce a
star, as a white spot upon the forehead was termed. At the passing hour
almost every man who owns a horse must have the body clipped or singed.
The length of hair is given in this climate as a necessary provision.
Nature never forms anything without its use; though man in his ignorance
may not always be able to comprehend her intention. Were finer coats
desired, it would probably be wiser to obtain them by warming the stable,
increasing the clothing, and avoiding those long stagnations during which
the animal has to remain motionless before street doors. A long coat is
a defense against a cold winter; and unless man provides against the
consequences of our climate, it is evidently flagrantly wrong to deprive a
dumb creature of the protection which nature has bestowed.

Shortening the coat, if anywhere justifiable, is certainly most pardonable
among hunters. Animals used for this purpose always have, or should have,
plenty of attendance; these creatures also are mostly required during
the autumn and early winter. Removing the coat certainly does stimulate
the body. The horse assuredly is capable of greater exertion immediately
after the deprivation. At the same time, however, a greater susceptibility
to disease is engendered, and often the deprived animal falls a victim
to man's fancy, notwithstanding all the care and attention which the
hunting-stable can command. A burst and then a check, when a piercing
wind blows from the northeast, invariably produces sad effects among the
horses, especially at the commencement of the season. A gentleman who
prizes the animal he rides should take it to "the meet" unclipped; and,
perhaps, should the run be long, the quadruped may hold a better place at
the death than horses adorned after the prevailing fashion.

The folly of the custom is shown in the animals attached to London
vehicles. These horses are mostly wanted for spring service. The stimulant
of the autumn is purchased at the cost of debility during the spring.
The coat is shed the later because of the previous deprivation. When the
summer hair is growing, the creature presents a very uneven and ragged
appearance in consequence of the points of the new and the roots of the
old coat being of opposite colors. The gentleman who, therefore, has his
nag and carriage horses shorn of their natural coverings at the time when
hunters are thrown up, beholds the objects of his pride deficient in
animation and beggarly in aspect, while the animal that has been allowed
to wear its native garments dashes past him in all the briskness of the
season and the smartness of new apparel.

The question of clipping and of singeing is simply this. Do you require
your servant's services all the year round, or do you want its utmost
exertions for a comparatively short space immediately subsequent to the
removal of the outer hair; and, at how great a hazard are you prepared to
purchase your wish?

Were the legs of horses allowed to retain that adornment which nature
gave, and were the parts not shorn of their shaggy beauty--were men
not inclined to confound the different breeds of horses, and, because
the thorough-bred has clean legs, to imagine the cart-horse can be
artificially made to display members equally fine--were masters more
resolute in resisting the selfish suggestions of lazy grooms, who love to
have the bushy heels clipped--were the stable-keeper not afraid of doing
his duty, but would go down upon his knees and rub the fetlocks dry,
instead of drenching them with water, and then leaving them to chap in
moisture and in cold,--were these things attended to, there is no reason
why cracked heels should not speedily become a thing which has been, but
no longer is.

However, if animals are exposed throughout the wintry season, under the
pretense of being placed in a straw-yard, the proprietor must expect
to take the creatures up with some defect. The worst case of cracked
heels the author ever looked upon, was produced after the last-mentioned
method; the skin was much thickened and deeply marked by fissures. In
places it had sloughed, and where the integument was absent fearfully deep
ulceration was established. Fortunately, the absorbing process had reached
none of those important structures which are situated about the heel of
the horse; and the animal, after lengthened treatment, was cured.

For cracked heels, if bad, the animal must rest, at all events till the
parts are improved. When slight, always wash them with tepid water and
mild soap, upon the animal's return to the stable; dry them thoroughly
with a soft leather; then damp them with the following:--

_Wash for Cracked Heels._

    Animal glycerin                        Half a pint.
    Chloride of zinc                       Two drachms.
    Strong solution of oak-bark            One pint.
      Dissolve the zinc in water, then mix, and use thrice daily.

Should sloughing and ulceration have commenced, that condition claims the
first attention as being the most dangerous.

Forbear all exercise while such a state exists. Throw up the animal. Allow
it to rest in the stable. Give a few bran mashes or a little cut grass to
open the bowels; but do not take the horse out even for exercise while
such an unhealthy action is in existence. Ulceration is too dangerous and
morbid a process not to be treated with every consideration; and it is far
too irritable and painful a state not to necessitate perfect inaction for
its relief. Apply the following to the heels:--

_Wash for Ulcerated Cracked Heels._

    Animal glycerin or phosphoric acid      Two ounces.
    Permanganate of potash or creosote      Half an ounce.
    Water                                   Three ounces.
      Mix, and apply six times daily.

Upon the ulceration being arrested, the last prescription may be
discarded, and the former recipe resorted to; with these, however, it is
always well to attend to the constitution. A drink, each day, composed of
liquor arsenicalis, half an ounce; tincture of the muriate of iron, one
ounce; water, half a pint, should be given every night. This composition
has been often recommended, but the author knows of none which is more
beneficially tonic to the general system, and which, at the same time,
acts so directly upon the skin.

Stablemen are fond of urging various excuses to hide their disinclination
for exertion. Thus it is common for such people to assert that the horse's
heels cracked while the animal was out on a cold, a wet, or a windy day:
this is nonsense. Stablemen, of course, do not desire the creatures which
they look after to be exposed to that soil which it is their duty to
remove; but nature, that ordained the climate, formed the animal to endure
it.

Were not the heels clipped, nothing short of extreme stable neglect
could occasion those parts to crack. If the hair is removed, nothing but
excessive good fortune will prevent this affection. The groom in the last
case is not to blame, should the heels become sore. However, the best
method of avoiding this affection, where the hair is cut short, experience
has proved to be the following: Upon return to the stable, wash the feet
scrupulously clean with cold water; then dry them thoroughly. Use several
cloths to effect the latter purpose, and do not relinquish the object
while the slightest moisture remains; nor cease to rub them until the
parts are in a glow. Subsequently, smear over the heels a little glycerin;
but even this will not in every instance prevent the affection. No care
can render safe that which human folly has exposed.




CHAPTER XI.

SPECIFIC DISEASES--THEIR VARIETIES AND THEIR TREATMENT.


BROKEN WIND.

[Illustration: CONVULSIVE SPASM, INDUCED BY FATIGUE, IN A BROKEN-WINDED
HORSE.]

=Broken wind= in the horse approaches very nearly to dry asthma in the
human being. Man, however, can suit his work to his capabilities; but all
horses have only one employment, which, to be sure, may differ in its
intensity; still, the most afflicted animal always has to perform the
severest kind of draught. Let any person propose that individuals having
dry asthma should pull loaded trucks, to earn their bread or to purchase
a right to live; the cruelty of such a proposition would be apparent to
the dullest sense. Yet is it the horse's doom that, no matter with what
disease it may be afflicted, the animal must work or die. Old or sick,
weak or disabled, still the body's toil must earn the creature's food and
the master's profit. Spasm or agony can excuse no pause; let the sufferer
even slacken the space sufficiently to mitigate in some degree the pangs
it endures, and the long whip, aided by the harsh voice of the driver,
will urge the flagging cripple onward. The horse has no words to plead
with; the signs of its distress are not understood; the law which assumes
to protect it is a delusion; the animal is given up, helpless, friendless,
and unpitied, to the almost unrestrained barbarity of its master. It is
born doomed to live in solitude, to wear its life out under the goad, and
to yield up existence in a knacker's yard.

"Broken wind" is a sad affliction; it is the more sad because no men but
the very careless or the very poor will keep an animal thus diseased. The
author has known it to be a frequent reason given by the better class
of horse proprietors for having the life destroyed; which decision may
have been quickened by the fact that the horse is generally old before
this disease appears. In the knowledge of the writer there is no recorded
instance of a colt having "broken wind." The malady is usually witnessed
after the adult age has been attained, or during the latter period of
life, whether the affection has been naturally induced or aggravated by
the cruelty of man.

It is said to have been produced suddenly; thus a man has been reported to
have ridden an untrained horse after the hounds, and so have provoked the
disorder. Another is asserted to have galloped a nag with a stomach loaded
either with food or water, and thus to have broken the wind. Doubtless the
seeds of the disorder may by either process have been sown; but that the
disease was fully developed after either incident, is more than doubtful.

The seat of this affliction is not confined to any one organ; its ravage
is universal. No part escapes; that the entire animal economy can change
all at once, like a trick in a Christmas pantomime, is a circumstance
which has yet to be established. The malady is most general among the
agricultural districts; the farmer's poor team, in many parts of England,
seldom tastes much of that which can be taken to market. Cut grass
constitutes its chief summer food; the coat is rarely groomed; the stable
often left open, and only cleaned when manure is wanted. During the winter
months the animals have to luxuriate in the strawyard; the body's abuse,
in such horses, may readily lead to the body's degeneration. Green-meat
will not support the strength, though upon it the life may be sustained.
The occupiers of the soil would find it to their account, could the class
be brought to bestow a little more attention upon their living property.
The years of labor would be prolonged, and the activity of the laborer be
quickened; fewer horses need then be kept, and the anxieties of the farmer
would be lightened. Agricultural teams would not then be encountered
slowly creeping along the highway, and sleeping as they journeyed. Care
naturally begets pride, and worth generally resides where pride is
exhibited. Increased value would reward the farmer, whose animals would
not then so often present the spectacle of horses doing slow work, being
touched in the wind.

Broken wind is evidently a disorder of slow and of long growth; any abuse
may lay the foundation of such an affliction. Where abuse of life is
possible, there folly is too often habitual; thus repetition may hasten
the development of broken wind, but no one act could provoke so lamentable
a consequence.

There is some dispute whether broken wind originates in the stomach or in
the lungs. The mass of evidence would favor the opinion that originally it
was a disease of the digestive organs; but, as the disorder proceeds, all
parts of the body appear to be involved.

The symptoms of broken wind are a short, dry cough, which is described
as "_hacking_," and which may be readily imitated by any person making
a coughing noise while he withholds from enlarging the mouth, moving
the lips, or employing the tongue, but at the same time endeavoring to
pronounce the word "hack."

The cough arises from irritability of the larynx, the mucous membrane
of which is directly continuous with that proper to the lungs, and is
joined to that of the stomach, any disease of which organ is frequently
accompanied by cough.

The appetite is ravenously and unscrupulously morbid; the thirst is
insatiable; the flatus is most abundant; the dung is but half digested;
the abdomen is pendulous; the coat is ragged, and the general aspect is
dejected.

The leading symptom, or that which is looked for as indicative of broken
wind, is found in the breathing. Respiration is accomplished by a triple
effort: inhalation is quick and single, expiration is slow and double. The
air is drawn upon the lungs as by a gasp. This being quickly accomplished,
the ribs commence to expel the vapor, and move laboriously to their utmost
extent without being able to effect the purpose. The movement of the chest
and the inhalation are counted as two efforts. Then ensues the third.
The abdomen begins to rise, with an evident desire to aid in emptying
the lungs by driving forward the diaphragm, and thereby diminishing
the capacity of the thorax. These two last efforts are comparatively
laborious; but the double effort is only partially completed before a
sense of suffocation forces the animal to gasp once more for breath.

There certainly are several circumstances which favor the opinion that
broken wind is a disease of the digestive organs. In the first place, the
great majority of broken-winded horses are to be found in those stables
where the animals are badly fed; moreover, it is no unusual thing for a
gentleman to turn his nag out to grass, or into the straw-yard, and to
take it up broken winded. Then, again, low dealers, who frequent fairs and
public houses, have a method of what they term "setting broken wind;"
this consists in pouring into the stomach various substances which cause
the indicative symptom of the disease to be for a time concealed. Grease,
tar, shot, and many filths are used for this purpose--anything which
seems to induce nausea appears capable of producing such an effect. These
things may conceal, but they cannot destroy, the characteristic cough; a
copious draught of cold water, by refreshing the stomach, will induce the
restoration of all those signs natural to the disorder.

Formerly there was very generally accepted a supposed cure for broken
wind. The flatus is one of the most marked and troublesome symptoms of
the disease; that, when coaches had possession of the roads, rendered
a broken-winded animal unsuited to run in such vehicles. To master
the objection, and also, by relieving the intestines, to enable the
broken-winded horse to live through the pace, a hole was bored into the
rectum from without by means of a heated iron; into this hole a leaden
tube was inserted, and by that the flatus found egress without the outside
passenger being unpleasantly aware of its perpetual escape.

For broken wind, prevention is far more easy than cure; in fact, the
utmost which science can at present accomplish is to relieve the distress.
To effect this, water should be given only at stated times, and never
immediately before work. Four half pails may be allowed each four and
twenty hours; one the first thing in the morning, another the last thing
at night, and the other two at convenient times during the day. Into every
drink of water it is likewise well to mingle half an ounce of dilute
phosphoric acid, or half a drachm of dilute sulphuric acid.

Besides this allow oats and beans, five feeds each day, with only five
pounds of hay; two pounds in the morning, when being dressed, and the
remainder in the rack at night. Crush the oats and beans; thoroughly damp
all the food before it is presented to the horse, and also scald the corn.

Remove all bed by day, and muzzle when littered down for the night. Place
a lump of rock-salt at one end of the manger, and at the other put a block
of chalk.

Such is the little science can propose for the alleviation of an
incapacitating disorder. All other recommendations rather concern the
owner than the stable. A horse thus afflicted should never be pushed hard
or called upon for any extraordinary exertion. Fatigue, when severe,
is apt to provoke alarming spasm; a spectacle which the author once
witnessed, of an animal which had journeyed far, pulling a heavy load, is
represented at the head of this article. The horse had only paused while
the carter took his beer, and had received nothing but hay upon the road.
It had traveled all night, and it was still in the chains when the writer
beheld it on the afternoon of the succeeding day.

After death, the body which has suffered from the disease declares the
ravage of the malady. The lungs are larger than usual, and always pallid;
small bladders containing gas are upon their surface, and when taken from
their cavity the organs do not collapse as do the healthy lungs, nor can
the air by compression be entirely driven forth. The hand being forced
upon the surface elicits crepitation, or provokes a crackling sound,
induced by the vapor passing out of one cell into another; for broken wind
causes the terminations of the bronchial tubes to give way or to freely
communicate one with another. Now, it is within these air-cells that the
blood absorbs the oxygen from the inhaled atmosphere, and purifies itself
by yielding up carbonic acid. How much must the destruction of their
integrity, therefore, affect the entire body! Impure blood cannot nourish
a healthy life; and the reader, after the above explanation, will easily
account for the ragged and dejected aspect of the horse with broken wind.

The diaphragm is also disintegrated; the fibers of its tendinous portion
are separated. The stomach is distended and thin; the bowels are enlarged
and blown out with gas; the muscle of the anus is flaccid; the visible
mucous membranes are of an unhealthy tint; the lining of the windpipe
and the bronchial tubes is greatly thickened; the muscles are soft and
deficient in color; and, where fat should have been, is only found a
gelatinous fluid.

[Illustration: HOW TO HEAR THE SOUND MADE WITHIN THE HORSE'S WINDPIPE.]

Having related the living and the morbid changes which characterize the
malady, it remains now to inform the reader how so terrible a scourge
may be avoided. The horse is so valuable a helpmate that it merits, for
its own sake, man's greatest care. Never, for any reason, therefore,
drive the animal from the shelter of the stable to the exposure of the
field; never turn the steed which has thriven upon prepared food to the
starvation of a "run at grass," or rankness of the "straw-yard." Never,
for cheapness, buy damaged provender; never load a famishing stomach; be
generous in all provision for those creatures which devote their lives to
your service. Never, where such a thing is possible, permit the groom to
ride or exercise the nag out of your sight. Be very attentive that the
times of watering are rigidly observed. Never suffer an animal to quit the
stable soon after it has drank or eaten. Be very attentive to all coughs;
accustom yourself to the sound of the healthy horse's windpipe, that when
the slightest change of noise indicates the smallest change of structure,
you may be prepared to recognize and to meet the enemy before disease has
had time to fix upon the membrane.

Having laid down the above rules, it may, to the ignorant, appear that
every possible movement of the proprietor has been interfered with; that,
in fact, the horse owner has been left no freedom of action. To the
informed, however, it will seem that nothing more than every gentleman
should observe has been proposed; and the horseman will smile when he
learns that by such trivial matters can so heavy an affliction as broken
wind be avoided.


MELANOSIS.

A quantity of black deposit, accumulated in large quantities upon certain
parts of the frame, and contained within an increased amount of cellular
tissue, constitutes this disease. At an early period swellings may be
detected externally; they may be as small as a millet-seed, or as large
round as a plate. These may remain dormant for years, or, if cut into
before they start into activity, are almost white, and very glistening in
parts, much resembling cartilage.

[Illustration:

    A MELANOTIC TUMOR DIVIDED, SHOWING THE INTERIOR IN THE MIDDLE STAGE
    OF DEVELOPMENT.
]

[Illustration: THE SPLEEN OF A HORSE LOADED WITH MELANOTIC TUMORS. THE
BLACK SPOT TOWARD THE RIGHT HAND REPRESENTS ONE OF THE GROWTHS DIVIDED.]

As time progresses, however, all the white disappears, and its place is
filled by a material not unlike lamp-black when thoroughly incorporated
with water. These growths increase both in number and in size. Should one
be cut into after it is fully matured, an inky fluid follows the knife.
The disease is not confined simply to external tumors; the coverings to
nerves, the coats of arteries, and the recesses of the closest bones, are
each found to bear minute evidences of a melanotic tendency. The deposit,
however, seems principally to attack the internal organs. The interior
of the sheath is not unfrequently clogged to that degree which forbids
the passage of the natural emission; while the preceding engraving of a
loaded spleen by no means represents an extreme case.

A tumor should be admirably placed for operation, and its removal should
be almost imperative, before the surgeon presumes to meddle with it. As a
general rule, the best treatment for =melanosis= is to let it alone. Our
present knowledge points to no medicine which can prevent or disperse such
deposits, and the tumors appear to resent the slightest interference. The
integrity of one swelling being violated seems to start off the disease
with enraged intensity. If let alone, melanosis may exist for years, and
cause little inconvenience to the body in which it resides. The horse is,
by its daily service, exposed to various accidents. The large majority of
the tribe perish before their youth has passed. The animal may, therefore,
cease to live by other causes than disease, or die before disease has
become formidable. But irritate the system by employment of the knife, and
a lamentable malady may speedily render the knacker's office an act of
charity.

Above all, let the master not permit any man to blister, seton, rowel,
fire, stimulate, or slough out the tumor; such deeds are cruel folly.
Bleeding is worse than useless. Purging weakens the body which disease is
sapping. All medicines used in ignorance are probable hazards. Let such
things, therefore, be discarded; but if something must be done, let the
animal have daily an eight-ounce dose of any bland vegetable oil. Some
linseed may likewise be mingled with the corn, or a decoction of the whole
linseed may be presented as drink before the seeds themselves are given
with the oats.

[Illustration: THE COLORED HORSES WHICH ALONE ARE EXPOSED TO MELANOSIS. TO
THE LEFT IS THE OLD HORSE, WHICH HAS BEEN GRAY; TO THE RIGHT IS THE YOUNG
ANIMAL, WHICH WILL WITH AGE BECOME WHITE.]

It is but natural to connect melanosis with the changed aspect of the
skin. A young gray horse seems to be exempt; but as the dark hairs
disappear from the coat, and the animal with age turns white, a black
deposit accumulates upon various parts of the body. Creatures of other
colors are not liable to so terrible a scourge; and seeing that the
disease is in some manner connected with a change in the skin, probably
some attention to the integumental covering might be of service.

All use of the curry-comb should be forbidden. The dressing should be long
continued, only with the brush; but it cannot, at the same time, be too
gentle. Twice a week the body should be anointed with the following:--

    Animal glycerin        One part.
    Rose-water             Two parts.
      Mix.

A brush should be moistened with the liquid, and the hair of the body
should be rendered thoroughly damp, not wet, with the fluid. The
after-dressing should consist in the long employment of the brush, so as
to carry the glycerin from the hair and to lodge it upon the cuticle.

Glycerin has the peculiar property of destroying scurf; therefore, if
glycerin be used, the curry-comb may be dispensed with. It likewise
renders soft and moist the cuticle, which invariably becomes harsh and dry
with age. Acting thus, it will, in the human subject, so far restore the
color to the hair as to conceal the presence of the gray or white ones
common to advancing years. The effect on one animal argues favorably for
its action in another direction.

A dappled gray is perhaps the most beautiful covering in which bounteous
nature could invest a graceful body. Creatures so clothed are usually
the favorites of their owners, as well as generally the pets of the
stable. Therefore the author may assert there are more than a few horse
proprietors who would not bestow a thought upon any expense which could
secure to them the services of their much-prized steeds.

When melanosis threatens, a tumor no larger than an egg generally appears
upon some part of the body. It may show on any locality. It has no fixed
abode. It is hard to the touch, and apparently devoid of sensibility. In
this state the disease may remain for one, or it may continue stationary
for six, years. When the next and the more active stage commences, the
tumor suddenly enlarges. It becomes soft in places, and will fluctuate
under the pressure of the fingers. The horse, at the same time, grows
slothful. The tumor, which previously seemed in no way to affect the
animal, by its enlargement marks the departure of all spirit. This
sluggishness rapidly increases till the poorest owner becomes dissatisfied
with the perpetual use of the goad.

The body, when opened, generally displays a condition which, from the
outward signs, was far from expected. The internal organs are covered
with tumors. Numberless morbid growths, of various dimensions and in
every stage of development, crowd upon every part. These readily account
for that disinclination to move which characterized the latter days of
existence.

[Illustration: THE SIGN THAT TELLS OF THE EXISTENCE OF MELANOSIS.]

There is one test for melanosis which does not invariably meet with a
response, but which, when successful, seldom deceives. This is a pimple
near to the root of the dock; it is very rarely of magnitude; there may
only be one or there may be several, and the largest may not exceed
the dimensions of half a pea. When, however, such an indication can
be detected upon a gray horse which is turning white, the evidence is
almost conclusive. The author does not know an instance, where it has
suggested the presence of melanosis, that the post-mortem examination has
contradicted the indication.

With regard to the ultimate termination of this disorder, the author has
no experience. Horses thus affected are always slaughtered when the second
stage interferes with their utility; but, judging from the similarity of
the disease in man and in the animal, it is conjectured the last stage in
each would be alike.


WATER FARCY.

=Water farcy=, like so many equine disorders, is the offspring of
weakness. Man, having a servant willing to work and incapable of
complaining, too often proportions the toil only to the master's desire or
the master's convenience. Many horses--which perform slow labor--are in
harness eighteen hours out of the four and twenty; their rest is while the
carter drinks, eats, and sleeps. No, not even can they enjoy such brief
respite as is afforded by avarice to the laboring fellow-being; often is
one of the drivers seen soundly sleeping on the top of the load which the
stiff and jaded animals are compelled to draw. Thus the horse's toil is
almost constant; wagoners are well aware that many horses sleep while in
the shafts or in the chains. Overcome by fatigue, the animals doze, but
continue to walk and to pull the burden onward. Who, knowing such a fact,
can wonder that a living frame thus abused should often bow beneath its
yoke, and, through death, set torture at defiance?

Water farcy is a warning which nature gives to human selfishness; it is,
when rightly viewed, an intimation that, if the owner does not use the
life intrusted to him more gently, the common parent will speedily take
the sufferer to its rest. The complaint proceeds from debility; should
the cause of exhaustion be continued, the affection soon changes its
character. Water farcy is dropsy of one hind leg; very rarely does the
malady involve two members. Such is the form of the admonition; but the
labor undiminished, or the dropsy removed by means of coarse and drastic
medicines, the local affection speedily becomes a constitutional disorder;
and true farcy releases an ill-used slave from custody of the tyrant who
has abused his power.

Horses that are liable to water farcy are mostly of the heavy breed, or
are animals which perform slow work. It is usual, on a Saturday night, for
the driver to throw much provender before such creatures, and then to lock
the stable door, satisfied he has discharged his duty.

[Illustration: THE CARTER'S FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE STABLE ON A MONDAY
MORNING.]

Often he does not visit them on the Sunday; the creatures pass "the best
of all the seven" confined in a close atmosphere, and eating food which
they have contaminated by breathing upon. The man observes the day of
rest himself, and takes his ease; for the "brutes" he has heaped up rack
and manger--so they have to eat; what more can dumb animals require? Upon
opening the door on Monday morning, he may see one horse with a swollen
leg. The drudge generally, not invariably, is lame, and holds the enlarged
member in the air; the coat stares; the aspect is dull; and much of the
abundance which was placed before the animal remains untouched. The poor
creature was too tired and in too much pain to eat; but agony has created
a consuming thirst, and it will drink the foulest water.

The horse doctor is sent for. In the opinions of veterinary surgeons
there are two kinds of water farcy--one springs from debility, the other
is accompanied with irritable symptoms. It, however, requires no vast
knowledge of physiology to recognize debility and irritability as the
children of one parent; indeed, most veterinarians admit the sameness in
practice, however much they may dispute it in theory. They bleed, purge,
and send in half a dozen diuretic balls, when, the swelling having been
removed by such coarse measures, the horse, still further weakened, is
once more put to its work.

Let every man who keeps cart-horses view a case of water farcy as a
caution, proceeding direct from nature, that the management of his
stable requires immediate change. The work is too heavy; pecuniary loss
will soon follow, if the system be not amended; true is it, the writer
has known men rated "good" in the world's report, and who were very
"professing Christians" in their own esteem; he has known these men never
to give more than ten pounds for a horse, and, at the time of purchase,
the premeditated sin was to work out the life over which money had
established authority. It is the most offensive feature of what is termed
modern civilization that, rarely as individuals, never as a society, do
mankind entertain the slightest sympathy for the animals by which they are
surrounded. Most men are only eager for the services of the horse; they do
not regard its ailments with the smallest feeling; they seek a veterinary
surgeon merely to restore their animal to labor, and care only for a
fellow-creature's sufferings as these disable it from toiling for their
profit.

Water farcy is, however, an admonition which all men should understand;
the horse, when thus attacked, announces that farcy hovers over the
stable. Let the work of the team be made less prolonged and less
exhausting; let the provender be improved. Green food is no sufficient
sustenance for a working horse; it may fill the stomach, but it brings
down the belly, and it impoverishes the blood. The team may not travel
fast, but they are out for many hours; generally they cover more ground
than horses of a quicker pace; they also pull weights before which none
but a cart-house would be harnessed. On the appearance of water farcy,
therefore, let the distances be shortened and the loads lightened.

Then, for remedial measures, let the diet be nourishing, the bed cleanly,
the house drained and airy. As for exercise, let the horse, so soon as it
can bear the motion, be gently led out morning, noon, and night, for one
hour each time. Do not turn the creature from the stable to the field.
Grass may be the cheapest food; but it never yet did a domesticated animal
good "to blow itself out" upon such a diet.

As for medicine, when the limb can bear friction, let it be well and often
hand-rubbed; the oftener and the longer the better. Every morning saturate
it with pails of cold water; wipe it dry immediately, and then set to work
hand-rubbing the leg. This is all that is absolutely necessary, save that
if the lameness continues longer than the first day, a few punctures may
be made through the skin. These should be equally distributed, each being
about three-eighths of an inch deep, and one inch long, so as to divide
the skin but not to wound the muscles beneath. Through these incisions the
fluid, by which the limb is distended, will escape. As for physic, the
following ball should be given every morning, if the proprietor can think
a sick servant merits such trouble and expense:--

    Iodide of iron                One drachm.
    Powdered cantharides          Two grains.
    Powdered arsenic              One grain.
    Cayenne pepper                One scruple.
    Sulphate of iron              One drachm.
    Treacle and linseed meal      A sufficiency.
      Make into a ball, and give.

This should be made as it is wanted, for, by keeping, the ingredients
become hard, and are apt, when given in that state, to cause injury to the
animal.

By such slight and simple means, water farcy has generally been removed;
but no delay should occur in having recourse to them, as some cases will
set all endeavors at defiance, and delay is always dangerous where health
is concerned. A few days of neglect will often permit the limb to become
organized. It ceases to pit on pressure. Fibrin has been effused under the
skin. The swollen leg is even harder than is the healthy member. Then the
horse, should it escape true farcy, will carry about an enlarged member
for the duration of its remaining life.


PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA.

This disease formerly was unknown, though at present it appears to be
rather common. What is there can shut up the sight of man like ignorance?
It is but fair to conclude that =purpura= was as frequent in past
times as it now is; yet men, having professional zeal to quicken their
recognitions, could not read what was before their eyes, because they
had not been tutored to know and to understand it. It was so with our
forefathers, and, we may not deny, it is so with the existing generation.
Science begets an infatuation. Men, because they have learned much,
imagine nature has no more lessons to enforce. At all events, they act as
though such were their convictions; else why is it that genius every now
and then startles pedantry, by widening the sphere of human perceptions?

[Illustration: A HORSE'S HEAD DEFORMED BY PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA.]

The cause of this terrible affliction is a mystery. The horse has worked,
fed, and looked well, when locked up for the night. The next day the
animal is discovered breathing with difficulty, and having several parts
of the body greatly enlarged. The creature appears, by the disorder, to
be rendered stupid rather than insensible. It stands erect, but seems not
to be acutely conscious of its condition. Not only are several portions
of the horse's frame swollen beyond all recognition, but through the skin
there issues streams of serum fearfully variegated by the admixture of
blood. The openings to the nostrils and the lips soon enlarge; then the
tongue likewise increases in size, a portion of it hanging out of the
mouth. The appetite is never entirely lost, though the affliction prevents
deglutition. In this lamentable state the wretched horse may continue for
several days, or the disorder may reach its termination in a few hours.

As the horse begins to recover, extensive sloughs occur, generally in
those parts which have been much enlarged.

Recovery appears to restore the consciousness in some degree, and the life
is prolonged at the expense of much suffering. The appetite remains. The
power to eat is, nevertheless, slowly attained. The desire for fluids,
however, appears to exist throughout the attack, and should be taken
advantage of to nourish the patient, by presenting thin gruel in the place
of water.

=Purpura hemorrhagica= is universal congestion. If the body of an animal
which has succumbed to this disease be examined, the cellular tissue will
be found distended with serum and with blood of a dark venous character.
In this case, therefore, a blood-letting judiciously managed may be
beneficial. No pulse can be felt, nor is any needed to guide the surgeon.
So soon as the heaviness is ameliorated, the can is to be withdrawn, and
the orifice is to be pinned up. The smaller the quantity taken the better,
as the patient has no strength to spare. Should the congestion return,
a second venesection may be imperative to relieve the vessels; such a
resort, however, should be practiced only upon the conviction of its
absolute necessity.

Mr. Gowing, of Camden Town, in two cases reported in "Blain's Veterinary
Art," gave turpentine with success. Turpentine is, however, a potent
diuretic to the horse, and therefore, the writer thinks, not the best
diffusible stimulant in these cases. Preference would, by him, be given to
sulphuric ether or to chloroform. Half an ounce of the last, blended with
a pint of linseed oil, should be given in the earliest stage. Half an hour
having elapsed, the dose may be repeated. No amendment being witnessed,
discard the chloroform and administer two ounces of sulphuric ether in one
pint of cold water. After a little space, as in the previous instance,
more diluted ether may be administered, though it will seldom be required.

It is imperative to be speedy in adopting the measures intended to relieve
purpura; for the disease rapidly attains its termination. For that reason,
if the breathing is distressed, as is pretty certain to be the case, at
once perform tracheotomy. Impure oxygenation of the blood is one of the
most active causes of congestion; indeed, that state appears only possible
during impeded respiration.

The tongue often becomes infiltrated, and, hanging out of the mouth,
renders the appearance of the head most unsightly. It is, when thus
enlarged, a fixture, and is in danger of being injured by the teeth. So
soon, therefore, as the member is protruded, several free incisions should
be made through its integument. The organ should then be manipulated, so
as to cause the fluid to exude. These processes should again and again be
had recourse to so often as they are required to return the tongue to the
mouth.

The sloughing of the skin is a serious matter. It is treated by the
solution of the chloride of zinc--one grain to the ounce of water--applied
by being squeezed from a sponge on to the denuded part. This lotion will
not only promote healing, but it will also destroy the fetor which results
from decomposition.

[Illustration: THE HIND LEG OF A HORSE ENDURING PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA.]

After all, however, these cases are mostly very unsatisfactory. They
would prove less so were tracheotomy more generally resorted to; but, in
some instances, the horse seems to be rendered stupid by the disease.
Instead of courting man's assistance and yielding up itself to his will,
it appears to resent every effort made for its relief, as though all it
desired was permission to die in peace. The beautiful resignation and
the pleading solicitude for human sympathy appear to be lost. The brain
evidently is affected; and when it is known the purpura hemorrhagica
consists in universal congestion, no wonder will be expressed that an
organ so sympathetic as the brain is affected during this disease.

The condition of the animal suffering from this terrible disorder is
indeed dreadful. If the brain be oppressed, the body is deformed out of
all recognition. The beauty of the animal is lost, and the carcass becomes
so misshapen as to be commonly compared to a hippopotamus. The legs share
with the trunk the general disorder; and from these, as from other parts,
blood and serum will exude.


STRANGLES.

=Strangles=, in its effects upon the body of the horse, is similar to
measles in the human being. Both are diseases peculiar to the young; both
sometimes occur after the attainment of maturity; and both are dangerous
in proportion as their advent is delayed. Both, also, are attended with
evil consequence if driven inward, or if any irregularity warps the even
tenor of their course.

Here, however, the similarity ends. Strangles is developed as an abscess
under the jaw; measles appears as a rash all over the body. Both, however,
are eruptive, and both are cast outward at some expense to the system.

Strangles is peculiarly the property of the rich man's horse. It is spoken
of as relieving the body of some matter prejudicial to the after-health.
The author has known several poor men's horses which never exhibited
strangles. Those animals certainly seemed none the worse for escaping
the disorder. Nevertheless, it may relieve the body of the high-bred
and tenderly-nurtured animal of something which might prove injurious
if retained, although every quadruped does not appear to need such a
cleansing. And the man must have some extraordinary faculty who would
enter a certain stable, and point out the creatures which had suffered and
which had escaped the strangles. Still, it may be, and probably is, an
effort of nature to adapt the body to a sudden change of circumstances,
though whether these circumstances are natural or induced remains to be
proved.

Highly-bred horses are cared for from the moment of their birth. Up to a
certain period--varying in different parts of the country and in different
animals--the colt is allowed to roam the field. All at once, however,
it is taken up, and its education commences. From the dew, and from the
grass under its feet and within its mouth, the colt is suddenly removed to
dry food, and is imprisoned inside a hot and fetid stable. Nature rebels
against such treatment. The strangles is the consequence, after which the
poor captive becomes better adapted to its unnatural situation.

[Illustration: THE HEAD OF A HORSE WITH STRANGLES.]

Strangles is ushered in by slight general indisposition, which, however,
does not pass away. Sickness rather hovers over the colt than plumps
directly upon it. The animal is then, in stable phraseology, "breeding
strangles." After a few days, a stiffness of the neck is conspicuous;
subsequently an enlargement can be perceived. It is, at first, very
hard, hot, and tender. A discharge from the nose appears. The symptoms
of general disease become aggravated. The throat is sore; the breathing
is oppressed; the discharge is copious; the coat stares; the appetite is
lost; the creature stands, with eyes half closed, the picture of mute
distress.

At length the tumor softens. It becomes prominent at a particular spot.
Upon this place the surgeon makes an incision. A pint or more of pus
escapes, and the animal quickly recovers.

Such is the history of a case of strangles, as the disorder generally
develops itself. Of course it will vary in degree, though in every
instance a sufficient similarity will be apparent to guide the student.

With regard to treatment: never purge or bleed a colt when it exhibits
a dubious sickness. It may be "breeding strangles," and the strength
then will be needed to cast off the disease. Give all the nourishment
the animal can imbibe. If food should be rejected, whitened water, or
_boiling_ water into which some flour has been stirred, or thin gruel,
is useful for that purpose. A little green-meat is generally relished.
But, if the colt is not frightened at the approach of a stranger, the
food should be offered, little at a time, by the hand--not forked into
the rack or cast upon the ground, for the animal to breathe upon and then
turn from with disgust. Corn, crushed and scalded, may be allowed, if it
can be eaten. No grooming must annoy the feverish body; the clothing must
be light; the bed should be ample, and scrupulously clean; the loose box
ought to be large, perfectly well drained, with every door and window open
during the day, and only partly closed at night.

Some persons blister the abscess, and then apply a poultice over the
blistered part: to this practice the author objects. In the first place,
sufficient friction cannot be employed to insure the effects of a blister.
In the second place, a blister is said to be endowed with the properties
of bringing forward or of dispersing a tumor. In strangles, one of these
processes alone is desirable, the dispersion being much to be dreaded. In
the third place, though oil and water are in their natures antagonistic,
yet water will creep through a coating of oil, and warm water, especially,
thickens the cuticle. This action may possibly prevent the vesicatory from
reaching the cutis, should the emollient be applied immediately after
the blister. In the last place, the weight of the poultice is likely to
stretch the cloth in which it is applied; when, being removed from the
skin, the cold air of course finds its way between the poultice and the
tumor. Cold is not desirable where we seek to promote suppuration; but
cold is increased by damping a surface, and allowing it to be swept by a
current of air. Evaporation then takes place, and the warmth is decreased
by many degrees.

The writer prefers gently stimulating with the following mixture:--

    Spirits of turpentine        Two parts.
    Laudanum                     One part.
    Spirits of camphor           One part.

This may be applied, by means of what cooks term a "paste brush,"
morning, noon, and night, until soreness is produced. It will, at first,
seem cool, and be grateful to the part. After every application, have
ready three pieces of flannel--no house-cloth, no open and thin stuff,
which some economical housewives presume to think is good enough for
the stable, but soft, thick, and warm, new flannel, such as any feeling
person would bind around a sore and inflamed part. Put these over the
embrocation, and bind all on with a flannel eight-tailed bandage. An
eight-tailed bandage is simply a long piece of flannel having three slits
at either end. Its use, and the manner of applying it, is shown in the
above illustration.

[Illustration: A HORSE WITH STRANGLES WEARING AN EIGHT-TAILED BANDAGE.]

When the tumor points, the surgeon takes with him two assistants into the
box where the horse is confined. One proceeds to apply the twitch; this
twitch is an instrument of torture--it is a strong stick, having a short
loop of cord at one end. The sensitive upper lip of the horse is grasped
by the assistant's left hand, which has previously been thrust through the
loop of the twitch. The loop is next slid over the left hand, and with the
right hand placed upon the lip, while the fellow-assistant, by twisting
the stick round and round, tightens, and thus pinches into a ball this
most sensitive lump of imprisoned flesh; for in the upper lip of the horse
resides the sense of touch--anatomy shows us it is more largely supplied
with nerves than any other part in the body.

The attendant, who had first put on the twitch, gives the stick to his
companion, and lifts up one of the animal's legs. The horse, with its
attention engrossed by the agony of its lip, is rendered disinclined to
motion, and is comparatively powerless while standing on three legs. The
surgeon then takes an abscess knife, not a lancet, which is a coarse and
clumsy instrument--the lancet simply punctures, whereas in an abscess more
is desirable. A free opening is always wished for; and where living flesh
is to be operated upon, it is, for very many reasons, preferable to do all
the cutting at once. The knife is held lightly in the hand, with the thumb
resting on the back of the blade. The horse, when it feels the incision,
is apt, spite of the twitch, to drag suddenly backward. Thus it pulls
against the back of the knife, and no injury can occur; whereas, with a
double-edged lancet, an ugly and a dangerous wound has, by the motion of
the animal, been inflicted. The thumb, in this situation, also serves
another purpose. It allows only so much of the blade to enter the abscess
as is above the nail of the member--this is usually about three-quarters
of an inch. The thickness of the skin, increased by disease, requires so
much; and if not, the pus, accumulated beneath the skin, will save the
more important parts from being injured.

[Illustration: OPENING THE ABSCESS OF STRANGLES.]

The leg being raised and the head guided upward by the elevation of the
twitch, the operator approaches the horse. He looks well at the part he
has to open, and mentally determines where to make his incision. He also
ascertains the extent of the tumor. This is necessary; for if the swelling
be to one side, a single incision will be sufficient; but if this extend
(as is usually the case) from right to left, two incisions are requisite.
In either case the surgeon seizes the left rein with the left hand, and,
placing his right hand in a proper position, by a short and simple motion
of the wrist the knife is driven through the skin.

The horse, during every operation, is usually blinded. Darkness invariably
increases terror, and is unnecessary, since the horse cannot see what
is being done under its jaw; nevertheless, the creature is obviously
amused by watching the people about it. From the behavior, we have no
reason to imagine the animal draws any conclusions. To blind the horse
is, therefore, to increase to fears of excessive timidity. It is easily
accomplished. Double a handkerchief into close longitudinal folds; then
tie either end to the sides of the bridle, so that the handkerchief may
rest upon the eyes, and the object is attained.

Every case of strangles will not be settled so readily. Occasionally the
soreness of the internal throat will cause much annoyance. The animal is
continually gulping its saliva. When it attempts to drink, the fluid flows
back through the nostrils. The animal will not eat, and the strangles
or tumor may threaten to be absorbed. In such cases the food must be
carefully prepared. No mashes, made by merely pouring hot water into
a pailful of bran, stirring it round once or twice and splashing the
mess into the manger, will now do. Even malt mashes will not answer the
purpose. Good gruel must be carefully prepared and frequently changed.
The drink must also be varied, so as to tempt the sick stomach,--as a
general rule, equal parts of grits, (not oatmeal,) linseed meal, bean
or pea flour, may constitute the ingredients. Let the drink be always
just warm when placed before the animal. Sometimes clover-hay, or simple
hay tea, may form the basis of the drink; sometimes one or other of the
constituents may be withdrawn. Too much care cannot be taken of the horse
at this period. Good nursing is now the most effectual, as well as the
cheapest medicine; and all warranted expense at this time is a saving
in the end. The breathing also is frequently most acutely distressed.
In severe cases the symptoms are so alarming as to demand the immediate
performance of tracheotomy. This the surgeon is forced to have recourse
to, although at the time he knows it will only be temporarily required.
When, though distressing, the disease is not of so fearful a character,
relief may be sometimes obtained by mingling steam with the air which the
animal inhales, and casting upon the source of vapor ten or fifteen drops
of the etherial tincture of phosphorus. This last artifice may be renewed
every quarter of an hour should it appear to afford even the slightest
relief.

Avoid physic as much as possible. In strangles, purge and kill is the
rule. Open the bowels, if it be imperative, by green-meat; if that should
not answer, let them alone, however confined they may be. Let the fever
rage, but do not potter with one drug and another "_to cool_" the body.

[Illustration: A BAD CASE OF STRANGLES.]

Some horses suffer terribly when they have strangles. The reasons for
such a difference have not hitherto been ascertained; but doubtless
science will one day discover them. In bad cases the tumor appears under
the throat, but it is larger than usual, and longer in maturating than
is customary. Tears, frequently mingled with pus, flow from the eyes; a
copious discharge runs from the nose; the pendulous lips are disfigured by
long bands of thick saliva; the coat is dull, erect, and rusty; the heavy
lids close the sight; often the nostrils become dropsical; the breathing
is fearful; the tumor presses against the larynx, and a roaring sound is
audible at each inspiration.

For this case no more must be done than was directed for the milder form
of the disease. The animal may be gently cleansed, but this office must
be tenderly performed; for the filth will do far less harm to the horse
than the provocation of irritability. Gruel, repeatedly changed, should
always be within easy reach of the mouth; the pail should be hung upon
a hook, so that the head may not be necessarily raised to reach the
nourishment. A little of the sediment, strained from the gruel, should be
placed in the manger, as some quadrupeds will only eat; others will only
drink; a third class will be content with such nourishment as they can
suck up from the more solid form of slops; a fourth may all but starve,
yet no coaxing will induce the sufferers to look at aught but the dry,
hard food, which they dare not swallow. Most, however, will feed on
green-meat, and this should always be at hand. Should the animal become
worse, tracheotomy may be necessitated. Then stout and treacle should be
liberally horned down--half a pound of treacle being mingled with the
quart of stout, and the whole mixed with a quart of good thick gruel.
However, give at one time only so much as can be taken without distress
being occasioned.

Such cases, bad as they may appear, are not to be despaired of; nor are
the tumors, on any account, to be opened before they have thoroughly
maturated. Hasty incisions may throw the abscesses back upon the system.
When that is the case, real danger is provoked; the horse seldom thrives
afterward.

In some instances the tumor will burst internally. It may find egress
through the nostrils; but if it burst into the large guttural pouches of
the animal, the pus may be there imprisoned until it becomes inspissated,
and, by the motion of the jaws, kneaded into numerous distinct masses,
resembling small sea-side pebbles. Such has been witnessed, but should
hardly now occur; since Professor Varnell, of the Royal Veterinary
College, has invented an instrument by means of which these cavities can
be effectually injected, and even washed out.

Besides those varieties already mentioned, there is yet another form of
strangles: that is, where no tumor appears beneath the jaws, but several
form on other parts of the body. The greatest number of abscesses the
author has heard of, being developed on one body, is seven. They generally
contained about a pint of pus; and, if the direction given for the
treatment of strangles be observed, the animal will usually recover upon
these being opened.

The great danger of strangles is in the disease fixing upon any internal
organ; the horse is of no use afterward. It sinks from bad to worse, till
it resembles the illustration appended to "Chronic Indigestion." The
best thing which can happen in such a case is the death of the wretched
creature. To prevent so lamentable a termination to a generally mild
affection, nurse with every possible care, and begrudge no expense which
can add to the comfort of the patient.


GLANDERS.

This is the most loathsome disease to which the horse is subject. It
is provoked by stimulating food combined with exhausting labor. It was
formerly very common in posting stables; long stage teams were seldom
free from it. The London omnibuses, by night, are said to drive glandered
horses, and the proprietors of those vehicles are reported to keep
glandered stables.

In all of such cases the food is of the best and most stimulating
description--twenty pounds of oats and beans with five pounds of hay, per
day, are needed to keep a glandered horse in working condition. Gentlemen
formerly used to fee the post-boy to "push along." We well remember the
quivering forms of gasping flesh which were unharnessed whenever the old
coach changed horses.

Omnibuses are very heavy; the constant stoppages make the draught still
more severe. The animals which appear in front of these vehicles are small
in size, rarely sixteen hands high, but the best and strongest their
proprietors can afford. A little breed is desirable, as a coarse horse
would lack the courage to take the collar and to persevere. The age of
these horses is generally three years when first bought in. Some animals
have worked through many seasons, but such instances are exceptions.
Numbers annually yield to the drag upon the constitution. These are sold
for what they will fetch. But several, either from weakness or some other
cause which our science yet lacks perception to discover, annually become
glandered.

Youth and high feeding, conjoined with excessive labor and damp lodging,
will certainly produce =glanders=. Age, starvation, and ceaseless toil
generally induce farcy. The glanders and the farcy, however, are one and
the same disease, modified by the cause which originates them. Glanders is
the more vigorous form of the disorder; farcy is the slow type, fastening
upon general debility.

These disorders have been the scourges of horse-flesh. They still are the
inheritance which man's willing slave gains by service to a harsh and
cruel master. Men, to their fellow-men, sometimes confess, without any
sense of shame, that they buy cheap horses to work them up. It is, in
some cases, esteemed more economical to exhaust the life than to purchase
and to maintain that number of animals which would be equal to the labor.
This horrible system is in daily operation in a country professing
Christianity!

Glanders is provoked by human depravity. Had people common feeling for the
life over which they are given authority--would they only admit, in its
largeness and its truth, that "the laborer is worthy of his hire"--the
disease might, in one year, become a tradition.

At present the affection exists as the dread of every horse proprietor.
It is highly contagious--all owners of horses know this. The stable may
be scrupulously clean, yet the poison may have been lodged there by the
last inhabitant. It is not only contagious to horses, but it is equally
dangerous to men. Three sad instances of this fact have come to the
author's knowledge. Two respectable gentlemen, moving in good society,
were each contaminated, and both pitiably perished of this terrible
disease. They were no stable-helpers, moving and living among suspicious
beasts, but individuals whose avocations did not oblige them to mix with
horses--gentlemen of professional standing, who were inoculated they
knew not how. Mr. Gowing, of Camden Town, informed the writer, of a boy
who once went from a shop to stand at the head of a pony the master of
which wished to make a purchase. The animal, while the boy was so placed,
cleared its nostrils, and a portion of the ejected matter flew into the
lad's eye. The handkerchief removed the soil, and the accident was soon
forgotten. However, the poor youth was glandered, and became a patient in
the University Hospital.

Such facts sufficiently prove all men have an interest in opposing any
conduct likely to generate so horrible a scourge. Man, as a community, is
answerable for the comfort of every creature intrusted to his charge. He
may refuse to accept the conditions of the trust, but he cannot escape the
responsibility. In proof of the truth of this conclusion, glanders is now
recognized as one of those incurable diseases, generated by neglect, to
which the human being is liable, in every hospital throughout the kingdom.

Why is the legislature behind the medical profession in the extent of its
recognitions? Any man may now, according to law, drive or ride a glandered
animal through the crowded streets of any town in the three kingdoms. He
may, without fear of punishment, endanger the lives of the unsuspecting
wayfarers, whom it is the especial province of the Parliament to protect.
Why should not the glandered stable be detected, and the animals,
dangerously diseased, be slaughtered? Why should any man be allowed to
retain, and openly use as property, that which is perilous to society; and
wherefore should law protect him, when harboring pestilence for the sake
of profit?

That the foregoing observations are correctly based, is proved by the pest
becoming less common as the public have morally improved--only, why leave
so immediate an evil to be cured by so slow a process? Years ago, an
affected horse, led through the streets, was an almost hourly occurrence.
Since that time we have improved, and such sights are no longer common.
Therefore the morality here alluded to is not of limited meaning. It
implies improvements in drainage, and all those innovations by which life
has been made more secure. He is the truest benefactor of mankind who
lessens the ills to which existence is exposed.

Glanders is the phthisis of the horse. Phthisis is, in some countries,
esteemed even more dangerously contagious than glanders and farcy are in
England admitted to be. Man, however, employs a handkerchief; the plates
off which he feeds are washed. The manger is never cleansed; and the
discharge soils the boards on which the corn reposes.

The lungs of very many horses, however, which have perished of the
pest, will exhibit numerous tubercles; these, in the human subject, are
considered conclusive evidence as to the existence of phthisis.

[Illustration: THE LUNGS OF A HORSE WHICH HAD PERISHED FROM GLANDERS.

(A portion of the left lung has been excised, to show the ravage of the
disease.)]

By some practitioners glanders is esteemed a purely local disorder. In
books, schools, and elsewhere, the running from the nose has been pointed
out as the disease itself; and the situation of the affection is said to
be the frontal sinuses--hence the dependence placed in various caustic
injections forced up the nostrils.

A very little reflection will, however, enable the reader to take a
more extended view of the malady. When glanders exists, a staring coat
generally declares the skin affected; and the customary termination of the
disorder--farcy and dropsy--proves more than the surface of the body to be
implicated. The lungs--or, at all events, the air-passages--never escape.
Loss of flesh and swelling of the glands demonstrate the absorbent system
to be involved. Absence of spirit and inability to work, toward the close
of the affection, are evidence the nervous system does not escape. The
secretions are derived from the blood; and the blood, it has been shown,
by a silly experiment, is capable of generating the malady. Their pallid
aspect, after death, convinces us the muscles were far from healthy. Of
all parts, perhaps, the abdominal contents are least diseased, though the
marked decay of appetite does not favor such an opinion. What disease,
then, can be considered a constitutional disorder, if one which involves
so many and such various structures is to be regarded as a strictly local
affection?

A horse, full of corn, and in the prime of health, if unfortunately
inoculated with the virus of glanders, generally has the disease in its
acutest form: the animal may be dead by the expiration of a week. Other
quadrupeds, in which the disorder is provoked by natural causes, may, on
the contrary, exhibit glanders in the most chronic shape. If the exciting
cause has a strong constitution to act upon--especially if the horse,
soon after imbibing the poison, be removed to easier work or a more dry
abode--the malady may exist for years in a subtle, undeveloped form. A
thin discharge only may run, irregularly, from one nostril. At times no
fluid may appear, nor is the liquid ever copious. One of the kernels, or
lymphatic glands, situated between the branches of the channel, may be
more or less fixed. But, otherwise, the horse is active, full of fire, and
exhibits nothing to excite suspicion. During all this time the creature
may be endowed with a fatal power of communicating the disease. Horses,
having received the taint from such a source, may die within the week,
while the cause of the mortality eats well, works well, delights the
master's eye by its thriving appearance, and in such a condition even may
exist for years.

[Illustration: THE HEAD OF A HORSE WHICH HAD BEEN SLAUGHTERED FOR GLANDERS.

    1. The lymphatic gland enlarged, hard, and adherent firmly to the
    interior of the jaw-bone.
]

In the early stage it is difficult to pronounce positively upon a case
of glanders. Ulceration of the nasal membrane would be confirmation of
the worst doubt; but the ulceration may be situated so high up as to
defy all our efforts to distinguish it. Yet running from the nose may
be perceptible, and the gland may be fixed to the jaw. Both of these
symptoms, although lawfully provoking our fears, are frequently attendant
upon aggravated or upon prolonged colds. The only lawful test, in such
cases, is the administration of three doses of solution of aloes, eight
ounces to the dose--allowing three days to elapse between each. If the
horse be glandered, before the last purgative has set the real nature
of the malady will be apparent in the aggravation of the symptoms. If
glanders be not present, a little careful nursing will generally remove
all effect of the medicine.

The glanders is mostly ushered in by febrile disturbance. The appetite is
bad, the coat stares, and the pulse is quickened. A mash or two, however,
apparently sets all right, and the matter is forgotten. Soon afterward a
slight discharge may issue from one nostril; but it is so very slight,
it excites no alarm. One of the lymphatic glands, on the same side as
the moist nostril, alters in character. It may remain loose and become
morbidly sensitive. Usually, however, it grows adherent to the jaw, turns
hard, insensitive, and, from being wholly imperceptible in the healthy
animal, enlarges to about the size of half a chestnut.

[Illustration: THE PRIMARY DISCHARGE OF GLANDERS. SIMPLY A SLIGHT WATERY
DEFLUXION.]

[Illustration:

    THE SECONDARY DISCHARGE. A THICK AND COPIOUS BUT STILL TRANSPARENT
    EXCRETION, CONTAINING PIECES AND THREADS OF MUCUS.
]

At a later period the discharge, retaining its clear appearance, becomes
more consistent, and, to a slight degree, the hairs and parts over which
it flows are incrusted. It subsequently adheres to the margin of the
nostril, and then, in the transparent, albuminous fluid may be seen opaque
threads of white mucus. This marks the second stage.

[Illustration: THE THIRD, OR SUPPURATIVE STAGE OF GLANDERS.]

The next change takes place more rapidly. The transparent fluid entirely
disappears, and in its place is seen a full stream of unwholesome pus. At
this time there is some danger of glanders being mistaken for nasal gleet.
A little attention will, however, rescue any person from so imminent a
peril. The smell of glanders is peculiar. It is less pungent but more
unwholesome, suggesting a more deep-seated source, than characterizes
the disease with which it has been confounded. The ejection of glanders,
moreover, is obviously impure; whereas that of nasal gleet generally flows
forth in a fetid stream of thick and creamy matter.

[Illustration: THE FOURTH, OR LAST STAGE OF GLANDERS.]

When the third stage is witnessed, the disease is rapidly hurrying to its
termination. The membrane of the nose changes to a dull, leaden color.
The margins of the nostrils become dropsical, and every breath is drawn
with difficulty. The defluxion exhibits discoloration. Scabs, masses of
bone or pieces of membrane, mingled with patches of blood, next make their
appearance; and the internal parts are evidently being broken up by the
violence of the disorder.

The above description of filthy facts is, probably, sufficiently explicit;
but to render the foregoing more clear, the following diagram is appended.
The reader will perceive there are two kinds of tubercles--the large and
the small. One is no bigger than a grain of sand; the other is as large
as half a pea. The disease which follows both is the same,--is equally
contagious and is equally fatal. It will also be remarked, the membrane
appears swollen and partially discolored in the case of glanders. It
loses its bright, fleshy, or healthy hue; and it assumes a dull, heavy,
and dropsical aspect. It will likewise be observed that comparatively few
blood-vessels are ramifying upon the affected membrane, which sign, in a
well-marked case, is often so obvious as to become a leading indication of
the disorder.

[Illustration: THE SEPTUM NASI OF AN OLD HORSE, SHOWING THE DIFFERENT
KINDS AND STAGES OF GLANDERS.

    1. A large tubercle.
    2. The same in the ulcerative stage, pale in the center and dark at
         the edges.
    3. The same ulcers after they have united, sloughed in one another,
         or become confluent.
    4. The roughness which announces granular tubercles to be beneath
         the skin.
    5. The slightly elevated condition of the membrane when granular
         tubercles appear.
    6. Granular tubercles in the vesicular stage.
    7. Granular tubercles in the ulcerative stage.
    8. Granular tubercles after they have ulcerated and assumed the
         confluent form.
]

[Illustration: THE TURBINATED BONES OF A YOUNG HORSE WHICH WAS FREE FROM
GLANDERS, SHOWING THOSE APPEARANCES A GLANDERED NOSTRIL IS OFTEN ASSERTED
TO EXHIBIT.

    1. A punctured wound, the skin removed, but darkest toward the center.
    2. A lacerated wound, with a flap of pendant membrane.
    3. A scratch--long and rough--having the edges slightly raised.
]

It is usual for low dealers, when a tubercle in the vesicular stage
is detected, to assert that it is only a piece of mucus. To test such
assertion, wrap a portion of tow, or anything soft, round a small stick,
and wipe the place. If it be mucus, it will be removed; but if it remains,
the reader may rest assured as to its nature. When an ulcer is seen,
the dishonest salesman will laugh, and ask if that is all the inspector
can discover--declaring the horse recently hurt itself against a nail.
The interior of the nostril is a very sheltered part, and, therefore,
very unlikely to be wounded. Yet so that the reader may be prepared to
recognize such reality, in spite of the hard swearing and loud jocularity
which is designed to confuse him, a diagram of a portion of the nostrils,
covered with healthy membrane and showing the veins natural to the part,
also displaying the shapes and appearances of wounds--when they occur--is
inserted.

The reader has been told what constitutes glanders. He has been instructed
how to recognize its more marked indications. There, however, remains
to teach him the manner in which a suspected horse should be handled or
examined.

The animal's head should be turned toward the strongest light obtainable;
if toward the blaze of the noonday sun, so much the better. The examiner
should then place himself by the side of the creature's head, not in
front, but in a situation where, though the animal should snort, he is in
no danger of the ejected matter falling upon him. With one hand the upper
and outer rim of the nostril should be raised; when, grasping this part
between the finger and thumb, no fear need be entertained. The case would
be something more than suspicious, were any risk of contamination incurred.

[Illustration: THE PROOF OF GLANDERS.

    1. Termination of the lachrymal duct--a natural development.

    2. A discolored membrane, disfigured by ulcerative patches.
]

The wing of the nostril being raised, the examiner must note the
appearances exposed; this he will best do by knowing where to look and
what to expect. His eye has nothing to do with the skin nor with the marks
that appear upon it. The opening of the lachrymal duct often challenges
observation by being well defined and particularly conspicuous; but
that natural development does not concern him; to that no attention
must be given. The inspection must be concentrated upon the membrane
more internally situated than the skin seen at the commencement of
the nostrils. The skin, moreover, suddenly ceases, and is obviously
defined by a well-marked margin; there is, therefore, no difficulty in
distinguishing the membrane by its fleshy and moistened aspect, as well as
by its situation. If, on this membrane, any irregular or ragged patches
are conspicuous, if these patches are darker toward their edges than in
their centers, and if they, nevertheless, seem shallow, pallid, moist,
and sore, the animal may be rejected as glandered. Should any part of
the membrane--after being wiped as before directed--seem rough or have
evidently beneath its surface certain round or oval-shaped bodies, the
horse assuredly is glandered. The membrane may present a worm-eaten
appearance, or be simply of a discolored and heavy hue. In the first
case, the animal ought to be condemned; in the second, it is open to more
than suspicion.

No animal should be permitted to slowly perish of glanders. The disease,
as it proceeds, affects the fauces, pharynx, and larynx; all become
ulcerated. Not a particle of food can be swallowed; not a drop of
saliva can be deglutated; not a breath of air can be inspired, without
the severest torture being experienced. As the disease proceeds, the
obstruction offered to the breathing grows more and more painful. Farcy
breaks forth, and, as a consequence, superficial dropsy is added to the
other torments. The edges of the nostrils enlarge; the membrane lining the
cavities bags out, while the fauces and larynx contract: the discharge
becomes more copious and the breathing is impeded. Thus the difficulty of
respiration is increased, just as the condition of the lungs renders the
necessity of pure air the more imperative. Ultimately, however, laborious
breathing induces congestion of the brain, and the wretched sufferer falls
insensible--it is hoped--to die of actual suffocation.

Such is a brief description of glanders, to cure which every now and
then pretenders arise. No medicine, however, can restore the parts
which disease has disorganized. There is no cure for glanders, which is
essentially an ulcerative disorder. Every horse being thus contaminated
should be at once destroyed: it is now lawful to do this when animals are
taken in Smithfield market; but what is just in one place is surely not
unjust in another. Moral rectitude resides on no particular spot. The
blackguards who deal in contagion, driven from the public market, now
reap a rich harvest by private sales. A chronically-glandered horse is an
actual property to these rogues. It is sold. No sooner is the money paid
and the vendor out of the way, than an accomplice appears and points out
the nature of the bargain. The unfortunate purchaser seeks advice, and
finds his worst fears confirmed. The accomplice offers to buy the horse
at a knacker's price. It is obtained; and again it is advertised as "a
favorite horse, the property of a gentleman deceased."

Any person ought by law to be empowered to give any man, driving or
riding a glandered horse, into custody. There should be appointed certain
qualified practitioners who should have authority to enter any stable at
any time. Those abominations, where numbers of glandered horses are now
stived together, whence they only are taken out to draw public vehicles
by night, would then soon cease to exist. Were glandered horses by law
condemned, men, from mercenary motives, would soon cease buying cheap life
for the purpose of working disease to utter exhaustion. Such proprietors,
were glanders declared just cause for slaughtering any horse wherever
found, would soon discover their cheap purchases to be dear bargains. It
is terrible now to witness animals, in almost the last stage of a most
debilitating malady, goaded through the public streets with cruel loads
behind them. It is horrible, when we reflect that every citizen in a
large town is, by the avarice of unscrupulous people, exposed to a most
loathsome disease, and to a most torturing death.


FARCY.

When the horse, which has been the pampered favorite in its youth, grows
old, it generally becomes the half-starved and over-worked drudge of
some equally half-starved proprietor. In the fullness of its pride and
the freshness of its strength, it had to canter under the airy burden
of my lady's figure. When the joints are stiff--when accident, disease,
and sores, have rendered every movement painful; and when its energy is
poorly fed upon the rankest provender--then the wretched animal is, by
the whip of a thoughtless hireling, forced to toil between the shafts of
some creaking cart. It is sad to watch the vehicles on a London road, and
speculate upon what has been the past fortune and will be the future fate
of the animals which propel them!

[Illustration: THE OLD FAVORITE AND THE NEW PET.]

=Farcy= is peculiarly the lot of the poor man's horse. It is the
consequence of utter exhaustion. It is the horrid friend--the last and
dreadful rescuer of the thoroughly wretched. No one cause will produce it.
To generate farcy, there must be a congregation of evils: the constitution
must be weakly; the grooming must be neglected; the food must be stinted;
the bed soiled; the dwelling small; the drainage bad; the master
unfeeling, and the work excessive. All of these things, or so many of them
as nature can endure, must exist before farcy can be generated.

It is true the disease can be communicated by inoculation. But that
source of farcy is of very small importance. Not one case in a thousand
thus originates. Farcy is essentially a skin disease. It commences with
specific inflammation of the superficial absorbents. This inflammation
leads to suppuration and to ulceration. Abscesses first appear. They may
come on any part of the body. They seem to be, in the primary instance,
lumps or hard enlargements. Something of the annexed form is first
observed. There may be one of these, or there may be many. Ultimately
they burst or are opened. Apparently healthy matter then issues from the
interior. But the first discharge being released, the wound does not heal.
The edges grow rough, the center of the sore becomes pale, and moistened
by a thin, semi-transparent fluid. Then, if the neighborhood of the sore
be felt, cords, more or less thin, will be discovered running from it
toward some other lumps on the body.

[Illustration: A FARCY BUD.]

Such is the distinguishing sign by which to recognize farcy. Lumps
appear, which prove to be abscesses. They, after discharging, do not
heal; they become ulcers. From them run certain cords, which are the
swollen lymphatic or absorbents. Till the enlargement of the absorbents
is discerned, a man, from the other signs, may suspect, but he cannot
pronounce with certainty, the disease to be farcy.

If a recent case of farcy be slaughtered and dissected, the affection
appears to go no deeper than the skin. The cellular tissue will exhibit
indications of dropsy, which invariably is present. The muscles will be
pallid and flabby, suggesting bodily debility; but, to most observers,
such signs will be all that is discernible.

Is farcy, then, strictly, a local disorder? Can such be asserted of a
malady which appears to be so constitutional in its origin? Is there
nothing continuous with the skin? Yes, there is. Intimately connected
with the outward covering of the body, imperceptibly blending with it,
and capable, after exposure, of assuming its appearance, is the mucous
membrane. Mucous membrane lines the interior of the body, and is very
abundantly supplied with absorbents. The French, who are far more minute
observers and more accomplished dissectors than the generality of English
surgeons, have, in cases of farcy, detected signs which assure us the
disease is not strictly an external affection. It has an internal and a
deep-seated origin, as is evidenced by the discovery of a few tubercles
upon the mucous membrane of the interior.

The course of the disease would likewise teach us to arrive at this
conclusion. The appetite often fails; sometimes it becomes voracious.
The matter is, by pressure, to be squeezed through the skin. The thirst
becomes torturing; the horse will cry for water. All it drinks, however,
passes quickly through the body, and the desire for fluid cannot be
satisfied. At last--as though to prove the correctness of our opinion
concerning the constitutional nature of farcy--glanders breaks forth.

Glanders and farcy seem to be the same disease, modified by certain
circumstances to which the animal is exposed. Thus a horse, inoculated
with the matter of glanders, may become farcied; or an animal, infected
with the taint of farcy, may exhibit glanders. These results, together
with the fact of a glandered horse displaying farcy prior to death, and
of a farcied animal exhibiting glanders previous to decease, are pretty
conclusive evidence.

[Illustration:

    FARCY ON THE INSIDE OF THE HORSE'S THIGH, WHERE THE SKIN IS THIN AND
    THE HAIR ALMOST ABSENT.
]

Farcy is of two kinds, the large and the small. The large may appear as
one or more abscesses. Generally it is disposed to select, in the first
instance, those places where the skin is thin and the hair all but absent.
It breaks, and becomes shallow ulcers, which, however, may heal upon the
application of any escharotic. The abscesses are not, in every instance,
of one absolute figure. They vary in such respect, and have a tendency, if
neglected, to generate large ulcers, from which spring unsightly bunches
of fungoid granulations.

The smaller description of this disorder has no preference for any
particular locality. It appears, like surfeit, in small lumps all over
the body. These lumps, from their size and uniformity, have been likened
to buttons--hence the term "button farcy." Cords soon connect them; they
maturate and burst, like the larger sort. The "button farcy," however,
leaves a deeper and a more painful ulcer. It yields less readily to
treatment, and seems to exhibit itself before the body is utterly
exhausted.

[Illustration:

    A PORTION OF SKIN, TAKEN FROM A FARCIED HORSE, INJECTED WITH
    MERCURY.
]

How very numerous the absorbents of the skin are, may be conjectured from
the subjoined engraving of a prepared specimen--and not a very successful
one either--of a piece of farcied skin, when deprived of hair. In this
case, the animal suffered under the large or common form of the disease.
In the button variety, the tumors would only be smaller, of a more even
size, and far more numerous.

Farcy is, by the generality of practitioners, regarded as a more tractable
disease than glanders. Certainly the course of the disorder is arrested
much easier; but, to cure the malady, there is a constitution to renovate
and a virus to destroy. Is it in the power of medicine to restore
the health and strength, which have been underfed, sapped by a foul
atmosphere, and exhausted by overwork? Tonics may prop up or stimulate
for a time; but the drunkard and the opium-eater, among human beings,
can inform us that the potency of the best-selected and the choicest
drugs, most judiciously prescribed and carefully prepared, is indeed very
limited. What, then, can be hoped for in an animal whose treatment is
generally an affair of pounds, shillings, and pence? Sulphate of copper
or of iron, oak-bark, Cayenne pepper, and cantharides, probably, are the
chief medicines the practitioner will give. With such the horse may be
patched up; it may even return to work. But at what a risk! It carries
about the seeds of a disorder contagious to the human species, and in man
even more terrible than in the quadruped. Is it lawful, is it right, to
save an avaricious master the chance of a few shillings, and to incur the
risk of poisoning an innocent person? The author thinks not. Therefore he
will give no directions how to arrest the progress of farcy. The horse,
once contaminated, is, indeed, very rarely or never cured. The animal,
after the veterinary surgeon has shaken hands with the proprietor and
departed, too often bears about an enlarged limb, which impedes its
utility, and, at any period, may break forth again with more than the
virulence of the original affection.

[Illustration: A GENTLEMAN'S SERVANT OUT OF PLACE.]




CHAPTER XII.

LIMBS--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.


OSSEOUS DEPOSITS--SPAVIN.

"One horse could wear out two pairs of legs," is an old jockey's phrase.
Most men, when purchasing a dumb slave, pay great attention to the lower
extremities. If an animal be used up or has performed hard work, the
indications are sure to be found on those parts; but what a comment does
the language and the act referred to pass upon the conduct of those
masters, the history of whose treatment, or rather whose abuse of a living
creature, is thus sought for and often found upon a breathing frame!

[Illustration: A PARK NAG WITH BONE SPAVIN LED OUT OF THE STABLE.]

Before the strength has departed, or the legitimate number of years
are exhausted, cruelty deprives a most obedient drudge of its power to
serve. The history of almost every horse in this kingdom is a struggle
to exist against human endeavors to deprive it of utility. Nature, when
she made the animal, formed a creature hardly second to her master-piece
in anatomical perfection; the legs are strong, but, in his impatience
and in his blind obedience to the dictates of fashion, man _will_ put
them to their fullest use before their structure is confirmed. Racers go
into training when one year old. Carriage horses, omnibus machinery, cart
horses, nags, roadsters, may-birds, and park hacks generally come into
work about the third year. The animal, however, does not cut all its teeth
till the completion of its fifth birthday. It requires to look upon eight
seasons before its adult period is entered upon; and yet at the third
year, or before that period, it is put to such work as only a horse can or
does perform.

When the horse was designed to be only matured, the frivolity of mankind
pronounces the creature to be _aged_. The life is, indeed, generally
worthless before the eighth year is entered upon. The young flesh, bones,
and sinews, long before that time arrives, are made the seats of poignant
diseases. Work, not in the first instance laborious, but sudden and
energetic beyond what the frame of the young horse can endure, casts it
out of the gentleman's stable. Once removed from that place, its descent
is rapid. From the carriage to the cab is a leap often cleared in equine
history; but every change adds misery to its lot. It fares worse, lodges
worse, and works harder with every new proprietor, till at length, as
its years and wretchedness accumulate, Nature interposes and takes the
sufferer to herself.

At the head of this article stands an engraving of the mildest form of
reward which docility reaps by service unto cruelty. When will this land,
which so loudly boasts its Christianity, apply in its fullness and its
strength the sacred maxim--"Do unto others as you would others should do
unto you"? When will churchmen teach that the religion which does not
enlarge the heart toward every breathing life upon the earth, is unworthy
of the _Christian_ title? Men who would rage to hear their faith called
in question, nevertheless feel no shame when they urge the young steed to
that act which probably will cripple the animal for the short remainder of
its life.

=Spavin=, =splint=, or =ring-bone= are no more the legitimate consequences
of equine existence, than nodes and anchylosis are the natural
inheritances of human beings; yet what would the world look like, if men
had their motions impeded and their joints firmly locked by bony deposits
in anything like the proportion which such misfortunes are witnessed in
the inferior life? The most useful, the most trusting, and the most joyous
of animals is the one toward which man acts as though his study was to
abuse the authority intrusted to him. Its utility lies in its legs; its
play also is a canter; but before its body is set, its limbs are disabled.
Kindness can subdue the creature, which, however, is never taken out of
its prison without the whip; it is treated as a thing without feeling:
but its body is not more impressible to brutality than its feelings are
sensitive to gentleness. The one is often injured, and the others are
frequently vitiated by the master it too literally obeys.

[Illustration: BONE SPAVIN.

    A swelling or bony tumor, situated upon the lower and inner part of
    the hock-joint.
]

Spavin and splint both are the change of ligamentous structure into bone:
spavin occurs at the inner and lower part of the hock; splint also may be
sometimes found at the same part of the knee. The name splint is likewise
applied to any bony enlargement upon the shins or below the hocks and the
knees.

Splints in the fore leg are mostly seen on the inner side. On the hind
limb, however, such growths principally favor the outer side. The advent
of splint, when near the knee, is generally accounted for by saying
the inner side of the joint lies more under the center of gravity,
and, therefore, is the more exposed to injury. Such an interpretation,
however, leaves the preference for the outer locality--when splints are
witnessed on the hind leg--unexplained. Perhaps the reader will--after
having contemplated the two following engravings, and subsequent to having
observed that the artery of the hinder limb crosses the inferior part
of the hock, to take its course down the outer side of the leg, while
in the fore extremity the vessel continues along the inner side of the
shin-bone--conclude with the author that, in splint, the distribution
of the blood is more to be regarded than the weight, which, originally
conveyed through a ball-and-socket joint, can hardly afterward affect one
part to the release of the rest.

[Illustration:

    THE _inside_ OF THE FORE LEG, SHOWING THE VESSELS PROPER TO THAT
    PART OF THE LIMB GENERALLY AFFECTED BY OSSEOUS DEPOSITS.
]

[Illustration:

    THE _outside_ OF THE HIND LEG, DISPLAYING THE VESSELS NATURAL
    TO THAT PART OF THE LIMB WHICH IS COMMONLY THE SEAT OF OSSEOUS
    DEPOSITS.
]

Having explained the peculiarity attending some bony tumors on the hind
extremity, it now becomes our duty to explain what actually constitutes
a spavin. Any bony growth or bony enlargement, however small, which is
to be seen or felt upon the inner side of the hock, is a "spavin." But
of spavins there are three kinds. The low sort, or the "Jack" of the
horse-dealer's phraseology. This answers to the splint of the fore leg,
and originates in the top of the splint bone.

[Illustration:

    A SHIN-BONE HAVING AN OSSEOUS DEPOSIT UPON ITS HEAD AND ON THE INNER
    SIDE, WHICH MIGHT BE A SPLINT OR A SPAVIN, AS IT OCCURRED UPON THE
    FORE OR HIND LEG.
]

[Illustration:

    THE INNER SIDE OF THE HOCK AFFLICTED WITH HIGH OR INCURABLE SPAVIN.
]

The bony enlargement, should it be located comparatively high upon the
joint, often produces acute and incurable lameness. When low down, the
granules of bone have little to interfere with. Being placed higher up,
the tendons have to play over the osseous deposit; and, when that happens,
the cure is hopeless.

The above form of disease, however, does not ensue upon every case of
spavin. Many good racers, and most seasoned hunters, have spavins, which
do not in any way detract from their speed, however much these growths may
interfere with their action.

[Illustration:

    THE NATURAL POSITION OF THE HEALTHY FOOT WHEN RAISED FROM THE EARTH
    DURING AN EASY TROT.
]

[Illustration:

    THE FOOT, INCAPABLE OF BEING FREELY RAISED FROM THE GROUND, BY A
    HORSE WHICH IS BADLY SPAVINED.
]

Bony spavin does, when the quadruped starts, sensibly deteriorate that
grace of motion which should characterize the action of the perfect horse.
During the trot, the leg should be lifted clear of the earth, while,
by an involuntary movement within the hock-joint, the hoof is inclined
outward. This peculiarity is exhibited in the engraving on page 289, which
supposes the spectator to be standing by the side of the animals.

Exostosis, formed on any part, locks together the bones which the deposit
may involve, or it unites the several distinct parts into one osseous
mass. By the bones of the hock being thus joined, all movement of the shin
is effectually prevented; the foot of a spavined horse is, to a spectator
who is laterally situated, always presented in a side view. Moreover, when
severe spavin is present, the entire flexion of the lower portion of the
limb is rendered impossible.

[Illustration:

    THE FOOT OF A SPAVINED LIMB, SHOWING THE WEAR OF THE TOE OF THE HOOF
    AND SHOE; BOTH ARE CONSEQUENT UPON DRAGGING THE MEMBER UPON THE
    GROUND.
]

The toes being moved along, instead of being lifted from the ground,
occasions the hoof and shoe to suffer wear. The hoof generally presents
a toe blunted by perpetual friction; while the shoe of a spavined horse
is, in front, worn to a state of positive sharpness. These indications
of disease should always be sought for, and, when present, they are so
obvious as hardly to be mistaken.

Another test for spavin consists in observation made upon the manner
of going. A horse thus affected comes out of the stable always stiff,
and sometimes lame. Exercise, by warming the body, seems to soften the
stubbornness of the disease; and the same animal, which left the stable in
a crippled condition, may return to it in a state which, to the generality
of gentlemen, would represent soundness. So well are dealers acquainted
with this fact, that it is a custom with these folks for a spavined horse
to be warmed before it is shown to a probable purchaser. No person,
however, should hazard an opinion on any quadruped which is not perfectly
cool, especially when there is a motive to be suspected of the slightest
desire for a favorable judgment. The horse which, after exercise, should
trot past with no obvious sign of spavin, having stood for an hour in the
stable, would come forth a decided cripple, or, at all events, with such
faulty action that a novice would immediately detect something wrong about
the legs. This peculiarity is illustrated by the engraving which heads the
present chapter.

Should the dealer refuse to exhibit the animal when cool, such refusal
would be convincing evidence as to the condition of the horse. The sale
should, under such circumstances, be at once repudiated.

However, when judging of disease, it is always well to divest the mind of
every kind of prejudice. Animals of a certain kind of conformation are
said to be disposed, or to be more than ordinarily subject, to spavin.
Creatures of the foregoing sort show what are denominated sickle-hocks or
cow-hocks. A sickle-hock is not a diseased joint, but it is one which the
majority of horsemen have stigmatized as very liable to become diseased.
Weakness, it it is only natural to imagine, such a malformation indicates;
but, so far as the author's experience goes, creatures thus formed often
continue sound when limbs of model shape give way.

[Illustration: A SICKLE-HOCKED OR COW-HOCKED HORSE.]

It is now our duty to inform the reader how to examine a horse for spavin.
In this operation there are four points of view to be taken--behind the
animal, though always at a safe distance from the heels; in the front,
but not close to the horse, yet so near that the examiner must bend to
view the hocks between the fore legs; and from both the sides. In all
these positions, it is prudent now to elongate the distance and now to
approach nearer; then to move the head about, and occasionally to step
to the right or to the left. In short, it is advisable to get as many
different points of sight as possible; for in one, and only in one, may
a spavin be detected on the hock, which, seen from any other spot, shall
look perfectly clean. At the same time, from every point care should be
taken to compare one hock with the other; if the slightest difference in
point of size can be detected, it is fair to suppose one is enlarged by
the commencement of disease. Any indication of this sort is always to be
sought for. The disease may have just begun, but it is impossible to say
where it may stop. The spavin may be very small; yet who can assert its
growth is perfected? In the examination for spavin, however, allowance
should be made for the age of the horse. Spavins, in young horses, may
be regarded with alarm; in old animals, they generally are perfected,
and, however large they may be, probably they will grow no bigger--on
the contrary, as the years increase, they are usually diminished, being
absorbed; but the bones, once locked together, are never subsequently
unloosed, although all the swelling should entirely disappear.

The examination having been up to this point properly performed, there is
yet another test to be adopted before the animal is trotted forth; here
a well-trained and attentive groom is of every value--one who will keep
on the same side as you may be upon, and who will follow your footsteps
whenever you change from right to left. The duty of this groom is to hold
up the front leg; the more stress is placed upon his attention, because no
horse can kick with the hind foot of that side upon which one fore leg is
off the ground. The attempt would deprive the body of all lateral support,
and a fall would ensue; whereas many quadrupeds can, for a short time,
balance themselves upon two legs, each being on opposite sides of the
body: therefore the examiner, probably engrossed in his occupation, would
be in considerable danger, should the groom forget to follow his movements.

[Illustration: THE POINTS OF VIEW WHENCE TO LOOK FOR SPAVIN IN A HORSE.]

Most horses are averse to having the hocks fingered; such liberties are
apt to call up vehement indignation; it is necessary, therefore, to guard
him who undertakes to inspect them. This the groom does most effectually;
but the examiner should also take some caution--he should stand as close
to the foot of the horse as may be convenient. Thus, should the animal
kick out, he may escape, or, at most, be very rudely pushed on one
side. The horse's kick is only severe after the heels have reached some
distance, or have obtained power by propulsion; for that reason is the
advice given to stand as near the hind foot as may be convenient.

[Illustration: THE MANNER IN WHICH TO FEEL FOR A SPAVIN.]

Being in this situation, one hand is laid upon the top of the hock, and
the entire weight of the body is brought to bear upon that part. The
object is three-fold--to obtain, by this means, the earliest intimation of
any design on the part of the animal to use the limb; to impede in some
measure the extension of the leg; and to gain a point of rest on which
to lean, while the head is bent forward to inspect, the free hand being
employed to feel the part appropriate to spavin. Afterward comes the trot,
the peculiarities to be detected in which have been anticipated.

Now we encounter the important question, What can be done for a spavined
horse? If the animal be not lame, let it alone. However large, however
unsightly the deposit may be, do not run the chance of exciting a new
action in a part where disease exists in a quiescent form.

The regular treatment is to purge, give diuretics, bleed, blister,
rowel, seton, periostoteomy, neurotomy, fire, and punch. The bleeding
may be great or small, local or general; the blister, mild or severe,
applied over half the joint at a time, or rubbed in after the limb has
been scored by the iron. Rowels and setons may also be simple, or they
may be smeared with irritants, which are made of different strengths.
Periostoteomy may be single, or may be made compound by the addition of a
seton and a blister. Neurotomy is very unsatisfactory, and very often a
most tedious affair when employed to cure spavin. The fire may be down to
the true skin; it may be through the skin, and on to the tumor; or it may
be inflicted by means of a blunt-pointed instrument, which, when heated,
burns its way into the bone itself. The punch also admits of variety;
it may be with or without a blister; it may be holes made in a living
body, which holes are filled with a corroding paste. Or the operation may
consist of the exposure of the bone, and cutting off the offending portion
with a saw, or knocking away part of a breathing frame with a chisel and a
mallet.

All these tortures have for centuries been inflicted; they have been
practiced upon thousands of animals, only for men, at this day, to
doubt whether the cruelty has been attended with the slightest service.
Flesh, as capable of feeling as our own, has been cut, irritated, burnt,
and punched for hundreds of years; and now, at the twelfth hour, such
operations are not discarded, but their efficacy is mildly questioned.

Reader, if you have a horse which is lame from spavin, and your
calculations tell you it will not pay to nurse the cripple, have it
slaughtered. Do not consent to have it tortured for a chance; do not sell
it to the certainty of a terrible old age and of immediate torment.

The cure for spavin is good food and rest--perfect rest: such rest or
stagnation as a healthy horse submits to in the stable. This, enjoined for
months, with the occasional application of a mild blister, with the best
of food, to enable nature to rectify man's abuse, will do more good, cost
no more money, and occupy no more time than the devilries usually adopted,
and very often adopted without success. As an additional motive on the
side of humanity, it may be stated that the horse suffers much more when
disease is located in the hind than when it is exhibited upon the fore
leg. The ravages which, in the first case, would endanger the life, in the
last would be borne with comparative tranquillity. The posterior parts of
the animal seem to be endowed with exquisite sensibility; yet, in spite of
this, the so-called cure for spavin, and the boasted treatment for ages,
only consists in torturing the hocks of the animal.

While inflammation exists, apply poultices, and well rub the part with a
mixture of belladonna and of opium--one ounce of each drug rubbed down
with one ounce of water. Or place opium and camphor on the poultices;
or rub the enlargement with equal parts of chloroform and camphorated
oil. The pain having subsided and the heat being banished, apply, with
friction, some of the following ointment. It may reduce the disease by
provoking absorption; at all events, it will check all further growth by
rendering further deposit almost an impossibility.

    Iodide of lead                 One ounce.
    Simple ointment                Eight ounces.
      Mix.


SPLINT.

The horse, could it only speak, would have sufficient cause to overwhelm
man with its injuries. It is to be hoped that He who heeds not language,
but reads the heart, will not peruse the horror written on that of the
most contented and sweetest-dispositioned of man's many slaves. It is
true, colts have spavin and splints. Creatures, whose days of bitterness
are as yet to come, exhibit exostoses; but these blemishes are the sad
inheritances of the cruel service exacted by thoughtless masters from the
progenitors of the deformed. Nature gave the horse a fibro-cartilaginous
or elastic union to particular bones, so that all its motions might be
bounding and graceful. The animal, thus formed, was presented to man;
but the gift was not prized by him to whom it was given. The authority
possessed was abused. The capability of the horse was only measured by
what it was able, at the risk of its life, to perform. The most humane of
modern proprietors is an ignorant tyrant to his graceful bond-servant.
The most meek of owners likes his horse to possess high action. The
consequence is, the leg, lifted from the ground to the highest possible
point, is forcibly driven again to the earth. This pace is imposed upon
a creature so docile, it only seeks to learn that which pleases its
master, and, in the entirety of its confidence, never mistrusts its
instructor. The lesson is learned. The animal soon becomes proud to
exhibit its acquirement. High action, however--especially that kind of
action the horse is taught to exemplify--soon deranges the system. It
breeds inflammation in the fibro-cartilaginous tissues, upon which its
chief strain is felt. The union between the splint bones and the cannon,
or between the shin-bone and the accessories, one on either side, speedily
becomes converted into osseous matter.

However, man cannot say to nature, "Thus far shalt thou go, and no
farther," otherwise the alteration of structure, if unseen, might
distress the horse, but would little affect the owner. A diseased action,
once started up, is apt to involve other parts than those in which it
originated. Thus, a splint is strictly an exostosis or bony tumor on the
inner and lower part of the knee-joint; but there are found to be others
which this definition will not embrace. Here, for instance, are the
ordinary kinds of splint to be seen, more or less, in every animal subject
to man's usage.

[Illustration: THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SPLINT.

    1. A high splint, near the knee.

    2. A low splint, far from the knee.

    3. A small bony growth on the front of the leg, which is also called
    a splint.
]

Number 1 is unsightly. Moreover, it gives an unpleasant jar to the rider
of the poor horse thus deformed; and few men, when they state this fact,
ever think of what sensation that which jars the equestrian must occasion
to the steed. It will produce lameness at first; but, this surmounted
and the tumor fully formed, it causes no inconvenience beyond a loss of
elasticity when in motion; and because it provokes no lameness, man says
it is unattended by feeling.

Figure 2 is a splint on the side of the leg. It also is unsightly, and
produces a disagreeable sensation to the person in the saddle. Moreover,
it is exposed to accidents. If the horse has high and close action, the
tumor may be struck when the foot is being raised. Such a possibility is
not altogether free from danger. The horse, having grazed the swelling,
will often fall down as though it were shot. That circumstance warrants
the supposition that these growths are not quite so devoid of sensibility
as most horse owners are pleased to assert they are.

The slight enlargement, opposite which stands figure 3, denotes a growth
of small size. It may be of no great consequence, if it appear on a vacant
part of the bone, or on a place over which no tendon passes; but it is of
serious import, if situated beneath a tendon, as then it causes incurable
lameness.

Man having provoked these blemishes, Nature generally strives to remove
the effects of his stupidity. She will smooth the top of the tumor by
the interposition of cartilage and of ligament, that the skin may not be
irritated when passing over these enlargements. She will also develop a
false bursa on the top of each, thereby causing the integument to move
with an approach to ease.

Yet there are other sorts of splints which often are very serious affairs.
That the reader may comprehend these, let him attend to the next engraving.

1--Represents a splint which has involved the bones of the knee, and which
has left the horse only the joint formed by the lower end of the radius to
progress with. This is a sad business. The action is injured for life;
and death, or a cart, is the lot of the wretched animal so diseased.

[Illustration: SPLINTS OF A SERIOUS KIND.

    1. A splint involving the bones of the knee-joint.

    2. A splint interfering with the action of the back sinews.

    3. A small splint situated under the tendon of an extensor muscle.
]

2--Shows fine points of bone, so placed that they would impinge upon the
suspensory ligament, if not upon the flexor tendons. Lameness, in its
acutest form, would thereby be caused wherever the limb was bent. The
lameness, probably, would last till death, as splints in this situation
are rarely discovered during life.

3--Denotes an enlargement, probably produced by a blow received during
a leap, or given by an impatient groom. It is placed directly under one
of the extensor tendons. In consequence of this minute substance, the
severest agony is endured, or the most marked lameness exhibited, whenever
the leg is advanced.

The great majority of these maladies may result from the present rage for
high action, and the too general practice of pushing the horse beyond his
speed. Racers and hunters commonly have splints: almost every roadster
exhibits them. Few draught-horses are without them: they are all but
universal. It may be easy to detect or to feel a full-sized splint; but it
is rather difficult to discover these tumors when they are small, or when
they are just beginning to develop themselves. At that period they are
most painful. They may be mere deformities when fully formed; but, when
growing, though not to be seen, they are apt to cause decided lameness.

[Illustration:

    A HORSE "DISHING," OR CARRYING THE FRONT LEG OUTWARD, WHEN ON THE
    TROT.
]

The cause of such failing action very often can only be guessed at. To
detect a fully-developed splint, stand at the side of the animal's leg
and grasp the posterior part of the shin; then, by running the thumb down
on one side and the fingers on the other, in the groove formed by the
junction of the two small splint-bones with the cannon-bone, the examiner
may recognize enlargement or feel heat, should either exist. By making
pressure where the heat or swelling is perceived, he may cause the leg
to be snatched up. Should nothing result from this trial, the animal is
trotted gently up and its action is observed. Horses with splints, when
lame, generally "dish" or turn the leg outward, when it is raised from
the ground. That is done because the bending of the limb pressed the
splint-bone downward, the outward carriage of the shin being an endeavor
to lessen the pain which attends upon the natural action.

Should no "dishing" be remarked, next observe whether the leg is fully
flexed or advanced; and, after the hints thus received, the investigation
may be resumed with a better prospect of success.

The treatment of splint is conveyed in the old maxim, "time and patience."
Rest will do more than physic. A man, therefore, may as well let his horse
rest in his own stable, as pay for rest, lodging, and useless treatment in
another place. Splints, moreover, if only subjected to rest, accompanied
with liberal feeding, are likely the sooner to attain their maximum
magnitude. If they are interfered with under the pretense of treatment,
the irritation may cause them to increase; thus the proprietor, through
his impatience, may purchase an injury.

When they are acutely painful, a poultice, on which one drachm of opium
and one drachm of camphor is sprinkled, will frequently afford relief.
They may also, at such times, be rubbed with a drachm of chloroform
combined with two drachms of camphorated oil. These measures, however
simple, aim at mitigating the present symptoms--they do not even infer the
possibility of curing the disease. Periostoteomy pretended to do something
of that sort; but has failed so often, it is now seldom recommended by
practiced veterinarians.

When, however, a particle of the bone interferes with a tendon, the
lameness is so acute that often the choice lies between cure and death;
for some, even of present proprietors, scorn to sell a favorite horse
which has become sick in their service. In these cases, it is lawful to
open the skin, and with a fine saw, a chisel or a sharp knife, to remove
the offending growth; after the operation, leave the skin open and dress
the wound with a lotion made of chloride of zinc one grain, to water one
ounce. This application has the great merit of keeping down granulations;
but employ nothing irritating to the bone, or the result may be worse than
the injury which has been removed.

Splints sometimes occur on the outer side of the hind leg; there, however,
they are little thought of. The hind leg propels the horse, but does not
support its body; therefore, splints of this last sort are less unpleasant
to the rider. The hind leg, not bearing much weight, splints, when
situated on that member, do not occasion very severe lameness, and the
enlargement being located upon the outside of the shin, is thereby removed
from the possibility of being struck by the opposite hoof. For these
reasons, splints of the foregoing nature are considered trifles, and are
rarely esteemed worthy of much notice.

To check the further enlargement of a splint with a fair chance of also
removing the deformity--though with no hope of releasing the parts locked
together by bony union--employ the ointment already recommended for
spavin:--

    Iodide of lead           One ounce.
    Simple ointment          Eight ounces.
      Mix, and apply with friction thrice daily.


RING-BONE.

The whole soul of the horse seems devoted to man's will; who has not seen
a team of small but sturdy horses contrive to drag a heavy load up a steep
hill, as though nothing could afford them such content as to leave their
hoofs behind them! What Londoner but has witnessed the cart-horse dig its
toes into the stones of Ludgate Hill, and make the muscles bulge out upon
the glossy coat as though life had but one object, and to that object the
animal was straining every nerve!

[Illustration: A HORSE STRAINING TO MOUNT A STEEP HILL.]

A sight such as this, when properly contemplated, cannot otherwise than
teach man to esteem his fellow-laborer; for what creature on earth toils
so willingly in the service of humanity as the horse? At any hour it is
ready--in health it is willing, and in sickness it is obedient; even when
worn out, entirely used up and driven to the slaughter-house, it looks
upon its slayer with large placid eyes, stands quietly in the place where
it is bid, with no mistrust in the kindness of its abuser, and ends a life
of devotion by accepting the blow almost as a favor. It is the only animal
which lives but to more than share the burden of its owner; yet, of all
existing quadrupeds, the horse is the most ill treated.

=Ring-bone= is an osseous deposit; so far it resembles splint and spavin:
it differs, however, in the kind of horses it attacks. Splint and spavin
are principally witnessed upon quadrupeds of speed. Ring-bone is all but
confined to the cart-horse. It is caused by those violent efforts this
animal makes, in obedience to the voice of the driver, when dragging a
heavy load up some sharp ascent. The entire force is then thrown upon the
bones of the pastern; inflammation ensues; lymph is effused; the lymph
becomes cartilage, and the cartilage is converted into bone. Then an
exostosis is established, and a ring-bone is the consequence.

The disease may implicate one or more bones; it may involve one or more
joints; it may also be confined to one bone; it may be either partial or
complete. It may exist as a slight enlargement in front of the bone, or
it may quite encircle it. On page 299 is a specimen of the disease. The
exostosis, as in this case, was prominent during life. The disease did
not quite encircle the bones, and though, when the preparation was dried,
the different parts could be slightly moved one upon another, yet, during
life, the joints were firmly locked.

[Illustration: THE PASTERN AND PEDAL BONE OF A HORSE AFFECTED WITH SEVERE
RING-BONE.

    1. The joint between the pastern bones, showing the groove in which
    the tendon of the extensor pedis muscle reposed.

    2. The joint between the lower pastern and the bone of the foot.
]

[Illustration: THE FOOT OF A LIVING HORSE WITH AGGRAVATED RING-BONE.

    The animal, from which the above sketch was taken, although used to
    propel a cart, was by no means of a cart breed. The creature rather
    hobbled than went lame; but all flexion was entirely lost in the
    pastern bones.
]

One of the above sketches depicts this disease as it appeared prior
to death. The reader has now to consider the consequences of such a
deformity; it materially interferes with the value. The hind limbs are
the instruments of propulsion in the horse; these are much incapacitated
by the presence of ring-bone. An animal thus affected might move an easy
load upon even ground; but when the weight had to be drawn up hill, the
creature would obviously be unable to use the toe; the foot, placed flat
upon the ground, or so shod as to have an even bearing, would perceptibly
be of comparatively little use in such a case. So, also, in descending an
inequality, the horse with severe ring-bone will be unable to bite the
earth. Ring-bone, therefore, does incapacitate the animal for many uses,
besides interfering with the free employment of the muscular energy; no
persuasion or brutality can induce a maimed animal to cast its full weight
upon a diseased limb. The pace may be quickened by the lash; but the horse
will, nevertheless, continue to hop when the affected member touches the
earth.

Let mankind, therefore, reflect that the horse is given as their
fellow-laborer. The life of the quadruped is the property of the master;
but who, being sane, would abuse his own property? The being who should
destroy chairs and tables--although such things can be mended--would be
speedily confined as mad. Yet it has not entered the mind of man, as a
reasonable idea, that to deface a living image--to destroy the value or
to deteriorate the property which is present in the animal--deserves
more than the very mildest of punishments. The breathing creature,
when defaced, cannot be made sound again. Horse property is notoriously
hazardous. It should be the care of men to use a tender thing with a
greater gentleness. Instead of which, horses are galloped till they become
blind, and lashed to drag weights beyond the proper limits of their
strength. Men, who never think in whom the fault really lies, complain
that Providence has not suited the horse to purposes such as would derange
most iron-wrought machines!

When a horse first shows ring-bone, seek to allay the pain. Apply
poultices, on which one drachm of powdered opium and one of camphor has
been sprinkled. Rub the disease with equal parts of oil of camphor and of
chloroform. The pain having ceased, have applied, with friction, to the
seat of enlargement and around it, some of the following ointment, night
and morning:--

    Iodide of lead              One ounce.
    Lard                        Eight ounces.
      Mix.

Continue treatment for a fortnight after all active symptoms have
disappeared, and allow the animal to rest--being liberally fed for at
least a month subsequent to the cessation of every remedy. When work is
resumed, mind it is gentle, and be very careful how the horse goes to its
full labor.


STRAIN OF THE FLEXOR TENDON.

The flexor tendons of the legs are liable to a variety of accidents.
Injuries to these structures, according to their severity, are
denominated: =strain of the flexor tendon=, =clap of the back sinews=,
=sprain of the back sinews=, and =breaking down=.

The first accident is common enough, and springs from the horse being
forced to perform extraordinary work on uneven ground. Else it is caused
by the irritability of the rider; tugging now at one rein, then at the
other; forcing a timid animal into strange contortions, and at the same
time elevating the head, thereby throwing all the strain upon the muscles.
This is a spectacle repeatedly presented to him who walks about town. An
angry rider is seen sawing, without compunction, at the mouth of some
patient horse. The spectators look on complacently.

There is nothing offensive to them in an enraged man venting his anger
on an unoffending creature. Were the act generally reprehended, it would
not be so frequently exhibited; but the only emotion the contemplation of
another's brutality appears to elicit, is a desire in the passengers to
provide for their own security.

The main cause, however, of the most prevalent of these sad deformities is
that of the shaft-horse descending a steep declivity with a load behind
it. The weight would roll down the descent: this the horse has to prevent,
and the chief stress is then upon the back tendons. The injuries to such
parts are generally of a chronic character. The strain seldom occasions
decided lameness. But the horse being harnessed to the shafts, the cause
is in daily operation. The part injured is being constantly excited.
Thus, without the development of a single acute symptom, the tendons are
stretched--a low kind of inflammation is generated--and this action being
kept up, the sinews gradually lose their elasticity, and shorten.

When strain of the fore leg is received, the animal goes oddly, but is not
lame. However, if put into the stable and taken out the next morning, the
horse is found to be stiff and apparently very cramped. The halting action
may disappear upon exercise; but assuredly it will again be present on
the following dawn. The proprietor may resolve to work "the brute" sound.
Such a speculation with disease may occasionally answer; but, on the large
scale, it is a losing game, for it more often fails than succeeds: the
limb, on work, commonly does not amend. The symptoms are aggravated in
every way; and what was curable in the first stage is apt, after the lapse
of time, to degenerate into an intractable malady. The many horses to be
seen in the London cab ranks, with the fore limbs permanently contracted,
are evidences as to the result of such very knowing treatment.

When a horse slightly strains the flexor tendon, do not expect to discover
the seat of the affection till several hours have elapsed. Then pass the
hand gently down the injured limb. A small swelling may be detected. The
enlargement may feel soft, slightly warm, but hardly tender. Bind a linen
bandage round the leg rather tightly, and keep this constantly wet with
cold water. For the three first nights, have men to sit up in the stable
and perform that operation. After that time, if everything goes on well,
wet the limb only during the day.

Throw up the horse till more than recovered, and do not put it to full
work till some period after that event. Give immediately four drachms of
aloes. Allow only two feeds of corn per day; but do not turn out to graze,
under the idea that it saves cost and gives a chance that the animal may
be taken up sound. At grass, the horse must walk many miles to eat poor
food, sufficient to support life. This kind of motion will not suit a
strain, which does best with absolute rest. Keep, therefore, in a stall,
and do not begrudge the necessary meat to support the life which has
suffered injury, and is now enduring pain, in consequence of exertion made
in your service.


CLAP OF THE BACK SINEWS.

When the accident is more severe, and the sprain more decided, it is
spoken of as "=clap of the back sinews=;" this is a serious affair.
The usual fate of the wretched animal thus maimed is to be sold to the
highest bidder. It passes from a carefully-tended stable to some wretched
out-shed; and its new master is made happy, if the crippled horse can only
limp, and somehow get through a day's labor. No pity is wasted upon agony;
"the beast," as it is now called, has to live worse, work harder, and drag
out a miserable existence with the heavy burden of an almost useless limb.

[Illustration:

    THE EARLIEST SYMPTOM OF CLAP OF THE BACK SINEWS, OR SEVERE SPRAIN OF
    THE TENDON.
]

Clap of the back sinews results from exertion; it may be the work of an
instant. The horse sometimes is pulled up, or, in severe cases, it falls.
If it be pulled up, it refuses to move at a quicker pace than a hobble,
and stands still again so soon as whip or spur are not applied to the
sufferer's body. The maimed limb is flexed, and rests upon the toe of the
injured leg. There can be no mistake now about the seat of lameness; the
foot of the affected limb will hardly be put to the ground. The seat of
the malady is soon declared. In a short space a tumor displays itself;
it is small, hot, tender, and soft, in the first instance, though it
soon enlarges, and grows very hard. The animal does not exhibit much
constitutional distress, for it requires excessive pain to call forth such
a display in the patient and most enduring horse.

[Illustration: THE BLEMISH LEFT BY CLAP OF THE BACK SINEWS.]

Physic is necessary in this case; a gentle blood-letting, even, may be
required, followed by a few doses of febrifuge medicine; but the treatment
should be carried no further than is necessary to reduce the pulse to
fifty-five degrees. The leg should be wrapped in a stout linen bandage;
day and night the part should be saturated with the coldest possible
water until the primary symptoms have abated. Cut grass should be the
food while any fever rages, but no longer, for the wish is not to destroy
the powers of reparation by weakening the body. The cold water should be
continued till recovery appears confirmed; but it will be many months
before the horse, thus disabled, will again be fit for full or energetic
work. Commonly, however, this accident takes place in the hunting-field;
and sportsmen, silly as may be their amusements, are no niggards. If they
occasionally injure a horse, they will spare no expense that can aid its
restoration; and a summer's rest may not be thrown away upon the favorite
which has met with such a mishap. However, the mark will remain for
life--an obvious swelling will, during existence, denote the place where
clap occurred to the back sinews.


SPRAIN OF THE BACK SINEWS.

=Sprain of the back sinews= of the hind legs is very general among animals
which have to perform slow work upon hilly roads. People in the carrier
trade can afford to bestow small attention upon the lameness which does
not incapacitate. Every journey, however, aggravates the disease. The
horse works on till his owner is told by the blacksmith the animal's legs
are contracting, and higher calkins are given as a cure.

[Illustration: HIGH CALKINS.

    The earliest attention commonly paid to sprain of the back sinews of
    the hind leg.
]

At length, however, calkins become of no use. The work continues, and the
disease progresses. The position of the foot is now so altered, that the
smith discovers his office is unable to render the animal useful. Perhaps
these circumstances would little affect the owner, but the horse evidently
loses power. At first it is longer on the road. The passengers grumble
at the delay, (for country carriers reap no little profit by carrying
passengers;) and the driver, flog as he may, can oblige the horse to move
no faster. Excessive beating is apt to provoke pity; and every word of
pity which is lavished on the evidently eager animal is distasteful to the
carrier, who vents his anger upon the wretched cause of all "this rumpus."

[Illustration:

    THE SURE RESULT OF CONTINUED WORK AFTER STRAIN OF THE BACK TENDONS.
]

At last the horse cannot guide the cart down hill, even when lightly
loaded. Assistance is at first procured; but very soon the assistant has
to do all the labor. The proprietor cannot imagine what ails his horse;
it keeps getting worse and worse. He takes the animal to a farrier.
Remedies--oils and blisters--are applied to no effect. A veterinary
surgeon is consulted, and the master learns that the only hope left him
lies in division of the tendons of the hind leg.--(_See operation._)

When a cart-horse's heel heightens, always attend to the back sinews. Feel
them gently, to discover if one place is more tender, harder, softer,
or slightly warmer, than the rest. Should this not succeed, pinch them
hard, and run the fingers down them, marking the part at which the animal
flinches. Healthy tendon will endure any amount of pressure; diseased
tendon is acutely sensitive. Having discovered the locality of the injury,
order the hair to be cut short. Put a linen bandage round the lesion, and
see that it is constantly kept wet; but do not expect a speedy cure. Those
structures which are slow to exhibit disease are always tardy in resigning
it. Bone and tendon are of this kind.

Therefore do not expect any relief before three months have expired,
and it will certainly be six months before the horse is fit to resume
labor. Do not blister, bleed, seton, or fire: these things are expensive,
and occupy much time. Have patience. Grant the time which the supposed
specifics would employ, and the effect, with or without their use, is very
likely to be the same. The only remedy for a badly-contracted tendon is an
operation, and to that subject the reader is referred.

The horse, however, which has been subjected to such a remedy will never
be fit for its former uses. No art can restore the primary strength of
nature, although human intelligence may arrest the progress of disease.
The thought, that the consequences of ill treatment are not always to be
eradicated, should surely induce greater care of that property which, once
lost to man, can never be replaced.

When a tendinous structure is injured, the best treatment is gentleness
and patience. Blisters, setons, etc. can only change an acute disorder
into a chronic deformity. Entire rest, with such applications as ease
the attendant agony, and a sympathy that can afford to wait upon a tardy
restoration, are better than all pretended specifics.


BREAKING DOWN.

=Breaking down= is the severest injury which the tendons can endure. In
proof of this may be cited the general notion that, when a racer breaks
down, some of the back sinews are ruptured. This, however, does not often
occur; but though the tendons are, generally, only severely sprained, some
of the finer tissues, which enter into the composition of the leg, are in
all cases actually sundered.

The animal is at its full pace--doing its utmost, and delighting its
rider, who feels confident of coming in first. Instantaneously the horse
loses the power of putting one fore leg to the ground. The jockey knows
what has taken place. He flings himself from the saddle, and hastily
glances at the animal's foot. It probably is distorted; or, perchance, the
accident may have taken effect higher up, and the injury merely be severe
clap of the back sinews. Be it which it may, with a heavy heart at loss of
money and credit, thus suddenly snatched from him, the jockey leads the
horse toward the stand, or, by the shortest road, to the stable.

[Illustration: BREAKING DOWN.]

Many horses, after encountering this accident, are instantly shot. The
poor animals, by such a proceeding, are saved from a painful cure and a
crippled existence. Such conduct is, however, seldom actuated by thoughts
of mercy. Nevertheless, to an animal of motion, whose every feeling is
displayed by means of its limbs, and which is instinctively more perfect
in action than the most accomplished ballet-master, the incumbrance of a
leg misshapen, callous, and unwieldy, must be a serious affliction. The
limb is spoiled for life in the horse which has broken down. The pain in
time departs; the breathing becomes quiet; the pulse sinks to the normal
point; the appetite returns, and the spirits grow to be as high as ever.
But no art can replace the structures which have been disorganized; and
the limb, after everything approaching to inflammation has subsided,
remains a huge, unsightly object--an affliction to its possessor.

[Illustration: THE CONSEQUENCE OF "BREAKING DOWN" IN THE HORSE.]

The treatment of breaking down has not been much experimented with.
However, constitutional measures are, at first, imperative. At the
same time, a bandage should be applied to the injured limb, and this
bandage should be kept constantly wet with cold water. A high-heeled
shoe should be put on as soon as may be possible; but no treatment can
hope to restore the horse to its departed agility, or even to fit it
for ordinary usefulness. However, should it be a stallion or a mare, it
may be as valuable as a sounder animal for stud purposes. Accidents are
not hereditary; nor is there any reason why the foal of a horse which
has broken down should not excel the progeny of a more fortunate sire.
Among racers, emasculation not being the general practice, this opinion
may probably save many a favorite from the doom which a disappointed
proprietor now too often inflicts.


CURB.

This is one of the evils which chiefly are the property of the better
breed of horses. Man delights to show off the animal he is mounted upon.
Be it male or female, old or young, the equestrian is always pleased by
the prancing of the horse. The creature seems to comprehend, and to derive
gratification from obeying the wish of its superior. It enters into the
desires of its dictator, without a thought of prudence or a care for its
personal safety. In hunting or in racing, the simple horse more than
shares the excitement of its rider, and often encounters the severest
accidents in consequence of these amusements. That which is pastime to
man frequently proves death to his amiable servant. Often is the animal
so maimed by these sports as to necessitate its life being taken upon the
course or in the field.

[Illustration: A CURB.]

These reflections are very painful to any body who appreciated the loving
and devoted character of the quadruped. Among the least of its sufferings
probably may be reckoned =curb=, although the mark of the affection nearly
always remains for life, and the misfortune sometimes quite disables the
horse which incurs it. It consists of an enlargement, or a gradual bulging
out, at the posterior of the hock.

There is some dispute about the seat of curb. The author examined a hock
which had chronic curb, and found the perforan tendon disorganized. The
late Mr. W. Percival (the respected originator of the very best work
upon the horse and its diseases which is extant in the English language)
also inspected a hock, and found the sheath of the tendon more involved
than the tendon itself. However, a slight acquaintance with the mystery
of anatomy assures us that the tendon must have been stretched when the
sheath was injured, since the first invests and is inserted into the last.
It is well known that synovial membrane is far more sensitive than tendon.
It is therefore probable that the membrane would exhibit disease before
the tendon displayed the slightest symptom of being affected. The membrane
is also capable of displaying the signs of injury long after every trace
may have disappeared from the tendon itself.

The effect of the treatment at present adopted is to confirm the
enlargement, or to change the swelling into a lump of callus, which will
accompany the sufferer to its death. Curbs are said to be the inheritances
of animals of a certain conformation. Horses born with what are termed
curby hocks are asserted to be much exposed to this kind of accident.
The author has, for many years, particularly inspected animals of this
description; and he never recollects to have seen a curb upon a hock
of that peculiar conformation. To be sure, no man is likely to select
either a hunter or a racer from a tribe thus bearing upon their limbs
the signs of weakness. The creatures are consequently exempted from the
great provocatives of the accident. However, that the reader may fully
comprehend what is meant by a curby hock, one is here represented,
together with a sound or naturally-formed, clean joint.

[Illustration: A CLEAN HOCK.]

[Illustration: A CURBY HOCK, SLIGHTLY BULGING OUT BEHIND.]

The custom of blistering a horse the instant a curb appears is most
injurious. Harm is done, in every point of view, by such a habit. The
animal should have a high-heeled shoe put on immediately, so as to ease
the overstrained tendon. The part ought then to be kept constantly wet
with cold water, so as to lower or disperse the inflammation. It should
not be blistered, to heat and increase the vascularity of the structures.
A cloth, doubled twice or thrice, is easily kept upon the hock by means
of an India-rubber bandage, of the form delineated in the accompanying
engraving. Such a cloth, so placed, is afterward to be made constantly
cool and wet.

[Illustration: AN INDIA-RUBBER BANDAGE, FOR KEEPING WET CLOTHS UPON A
CURB.]

This treatment should be continued; the animal being confined to the
stall and made to move as little as possible, until the heat and swelling
are diminished and the leg is almost sound. The part being quite cool,
a blister should then be rubbed all over the joint; and with that this
treatment, in the great majority of cases, is ended. On no account
should any man allow his horse's hock to be fired for curb. This is a
very general practice; but the author has never witnessed any good result
therefrom. He has, however, seen much agony ensue upon the custom. The
form of the marks perpetuated upon the skin of a living creature is shown
herewith, and were plainly visible in the case of curb, which the writer
dissected.

[Illustration:

    THE LINES MADE, FOR SOME IMAGINARY BENEFIT, WITH A HEATED IRON, UPON
    THE HOCK OF A HORSE HAVING CURB.
]

Pulling horses up on their haunches is asserted to be a frequent cause of
curb; yet curb is not an accident commonly met with among those animals
which drag London carriages. These creatures are being constantly thrown
upon their haunches, it being, by ladies, considered "very pretty and very
dashing" to make their servants tug at the reins, regardless of the living
mouths on which these operate. Pulling suddenly up, however objectionable
for other reasons, does not seem to induce curb, as London carriage horses
are all but free from that affection. The disease is mainly caused by
uneven ground wrenching the limb; by galloping at the topmost speed; by
prancing when mounted, or by leaping when after the hounds. Perhaps more
curbs are to be seen in a district on which several packs are kept, than
in any other part of the country.

[Illustration: THE SUREST MANNER OF PRODUCING CURB.]


OCCULT SPAVIN.

The horse is subject to many fearful maladies, but to none which is more
terrible than ulceration between the bones composing the joints. Synovial
membrane, cartilage, and bone are without sensation during health. The
author hopes his reader is not conscious of a bone in his body; it is also
wished that he may read with surprise, that the ends of bones are covered
with cartilage, and that many are invested with synovial membrane. As has
already been observed, these structures in health are not sensitive; but
when disease starts up, be it only the slightest blush of inflammation,
the acutest anguish is thereby occasioned.

Ulceration of the joints is, unfortunately, rather common among horses;
the animal, while being ridden, usually drops suddenly lame. It has
trodden on a rolling stone, or made a false step, or put its foot into
some hole, and injured the bone. After a little time, continuance of the
impaired gait causes the rider to dismount; nothing is to be found in the
foot, yet the animal is taken to the stable decidedly lame. The foot is
searched, the limb is examined, pressure, even of the hardest kind, is
endured with provoking complacency. No heat or swelling can be discovered;
but one thing is to be discerned, the lameness is most emphatic. After
some time, a peculiarity in the trot may be remarked; the lame foot
hardly touches the earth before it is snatched up again, and that very
energetically. Then, closer observation notes that the leg, when flexed,
is always carried in a direct line, as it is when displaying the symptoms
of bony spavin. The hoof is never even partially turned outward. Still,
neither of these traits is always displayed in so prominent a manner as
to force attention; frequently, a conclusion is to be drawn only from
negative testimony--as the duration of the lameness, the soundness of the
foot, and the perfect condition of the tendons; these evidences, taken
with the suddenness of the complaint, cause the practitioner to comprehend
he has a case of =occult spavin= under treatment.

[Illustration:

    THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE LEG IS CAUGHT UP WHEN OCCULT SPAVIN EXISTS;
    ALSO THE VIEW OF THE FOOT PRESENTED TO THE SPECTATOR WHO IS PLACED
    AT THE SIDE OF THE HORSE, WHEN, DURING THIS DISEASE, THE LEG IS IN
    MOTION.
]

Such is the origin of the disease: some authors assert the synovial
membrane has been ruptured; some, on the contrary, say the bone has been
injured. The author, knowing nothing, cannot tell how the disease begins,
but he knows that from the date of its origin the horse is lame; very
bad one day, but better, probably, the next. Generally improved after
rest, and always badly limping subsequent to work; never to be depended
upon, for proprietors say the animal is sure, wherever its services are
required, to be obstinately lame.

Usually the wretched horse is blistered; setoned; blistered again; and, at
last, fired. All failing to do the smallest good, the horse is next turned
out for three months; while at grass, the poor animal, with an acutely
diseased joint, which is enlarged and stiffened by mistaken treatment,
has to take one step for every morsel it bites of poor and watery food. It
is forced to travel long and far, or literally to starve; its body must
rest upon the ulcerated bone, and the weight even be increased by the
pendulous head before enough herbage can be cropped to sustain the life.
At every step two ulcerated surfaces grate upon each other and are forced
violently together; while anguish consumes the flesh, the nature of the
food may keep in the life, but cannot otherwise than depress the spirits.
Besides, the horse has been turned from a sheltered stall where it was
daily groomed, into a field where it has to brave the utmost stress of the
elements, uncared for and unnoticed.

At the end of three months the horse is taken up: to the master's disgust,
it is found to be not looking smarter and not to be going sounder. More
routine treatment is now permitted, and the diseased limb undergoes
further torture; another three months is passed, and the lameness becomes
worse than ever. The proprietor is loath to part with his property; but he
often says "he wishes the animal were dead." At last, losing all patience,
and never having possessed any care for the life which had suffered injury
in his service, the horse is lent to some carter, who undertakes to "work
it sound." This process never, in occult spavin, succeeds; the wretched
quadruped gets worse day by day, till neither oaths nor lashes can prevent
misery from limping on three legs.

At length, worked to a skeleton, the horse is returned to its proprietor,
who, inviting pity upon _his_ misfortune, that life will feel, and that
horse-flesh is subject to the ailments affecting all creatures which
breathe, orders his servant to take "the beast" to the knacker's and to
get what he can for it.

Such is the history of ulcerated joint. All joints are exposed to
ulceration; every bone in the fore and hind leg may be thus affected. The
small bones of the hock are those most commonly diseased; whenever this is
the case, the only termination which can reasonably be hoped for is that
the inflamed surfaces may be united. The bones are then bound together
by osseous union, and are, of course, firmly locked; they are no longer
capable of the slightest movement one upon the other; but this is no vast
evil: many animals are now at work having the smaller bones firmly united
by osseous deposit. Horses in that condition are far from useless, even
for the highest purposes.

The man whose animal gets ulceration of the hock-joint ought to allow the
injured quadruped even twelve months of uninterrupted rest. The first
thing is to get the sufferer into slings; the earlier this is done the
better; it takes off the weight from the affected joint, relieves the
pain, and gives the system full opportunity to rectify the lesion. To
draw blood to the part and so promote deposit, rub in, once every two
days, some of the embrocation recommended in the article on "Rheumatism,"
which is thus composed: of soap liniment, sixteen ounces; liquor ammonia,
tincture of cantharides, and of laudanum, of each two ounces. There
need be no fear of applying friction; the utmost pressure made upon an
ulcerated joint can call forth no response. When the joint is embrocated,
wrap the part loosely in flannel, using an elastic webbing to fasten the
portion above and below the hock, and not tying any fastening around the
painfully-diseased member; give three feeds of corn, a few old beans, and
sweet hay for each day's support, while the treatment lasts.

The improvement will be denoted by the animal bearing upon the affected
limb; after three mouths or longer, the slings may be removed; in another
three months, the horse, should the pace be sound, may perform gentle
work. However, the first three months must be reckoned from the date when
the animal commenced to bear continuously on the ulcerated joint; in
short, the slings are not to be removed until long after the quadruped
has, by its carriage, declared them to be useless. Then, for the three
subsequent months, the work must not be violent; time should be allowed
for the union to be confirmed, for, among the many diseases the horse is
exposed to, there is not one more treacherous or more liable to relapse
than occult spavin.

Such is all that is necessary for the treatment of this disorder;
rest--perfect rest, with food capable of supporting nature in the
reparative process--is everything which is absolutely necessary. A loose
box even does injury, so entire must be the rest, which should be as
near to stagnation as it is possible to make it. The embrocation is
simply recommended to draw blood to the part, and promote the required
deposition. One caution only is necessary--give no purgative; keep the
bowels regular by means of cut grass and bran mashes.

[Illustration:

    THE DISEASED BONES OF THE HOCK. THE DARK PLACE INDICATES WHERE THE
    ULCERATION IS GOING FORWARD.
]

If the above measures fail, as in the majority of cases they certainly
will, nevertheless good will have been done by abating the violence of
the ulcerative process. Before the last resort of all is adopted, another
chance remains, which, as an experiment, is justifiable. Puncture the
joint--a very small incision will be required; have the limb forcibly
retracted or pulled backward; then inject, with a syringe having a fine
point, about one ounce of dilute spirits of wine, in which is dissolved
half a drachm of iodine. Immediately afterward place the animal in slings,
and apply cold water to the hock by means of the India-rubber bandage
described in the preceding article. Keep the horse liberally so soon as
the pulse becomes quiet, and do not allow it to leave bondage till the
tread is firm; as exercise is endured, work may be very gradually resumed.

Remember, the above is proposed only as a last experiment; the design
is to change the ulcerative action to one of a secretive character,
and thereby promote union of the diseased bones. A trial of this kind
has never been instituted; but, certainly, judging from the result of
a similar operation upon the human subject, there are the best grounds
for anticipating good effects. That it may be known where to make the
puncture, a drawing made from the bones of a diseased hock is inserted on
page 311; the darker line marks the place where the ulcerated surfaces
existed, and into which the fluid should be injected. This, however, is
so nice an operation that, although unattended with any immediate danger,
none but a skilled anatomist should undertake it. In proper and judicious
hands it is perhaps as safe, and more likely to be accompanied with
benefit than the great majority of veterinary remedies.


RHEUMATISM.

This form of disease in the horse is commonly known as following more
serious affections. After influenza it is very frequent; it is not rare as
coming in the train of thoracic disorders; most important organs, being
acutely affected, will leave it behind them. On rare occasions it may
appear without any forerunner.

Its advent is announced by swelling about the joints, accompanied by the
most painful lameness; the animal may not dare to put its foot to the
ground. Often the disease flies about, now seizing upon one or two joints,
next attacking the hitherto free members, and generally clinging to
similar parts, as the hocks, knees, etc. Then it will return to its former
abode--thus shifting about, to the torture of the animal and the confusion
of him who may undertake its relief.

One almost constant symptom is an increase of synovia. For synovial
membrane, whether in the sheaths of tendons or on the heads of bones,
rheumatism always displays a marked partiality. This structure is, as
has been already noticed, without sensation during health; in disease,
however, its involvement communicates extreme agony. The afflicted
horse stands with difficulty; its pulse and its breathing declare its
sufferings--both are quick and jerking; the limbs may be greatly swollen;
and the parts secreting joint-oil bulged out, soft, and puffy, from the
increase of their contents.

No disease is accompanied with such long and extreme pain as rheumatism;
the remedies, therefore, should be quick and effective. Procure the
steaming apparatus recommended for bronchitis; fill the warm, loose box,
into which the horse should be brought, with vapor; while that is being
accomplished, get ready the slings; put the belly-piece under the animal,
and fix them so as not to take the entire bearing from the ground, but so
as to relieve the diseased joints of some portion of their burden, and
allow the horse to rest its body when it is disposed to repose.

[Illustration: THE STEAMING APPARATUS USED IN BRONCHITIS.]

Keep up the steam for one hour; at the end of that period, have several
men ready with dry cloths--wisps would be too exciting; let the men wipe
the horse quite dry, with as little noise and as much speed as possible.
This over, order some of the assistants to put on the hood and clothing,
also wrapping the sound limbs in flannel; the disengaged helpers are to go
upon their knees and rub into and about the seat of disorder a liniment
thus composed:--

    Compound soap liniment         Sixteen ounces.
    Liquor of ammonia              Two ounces.
    Tincture of cantharides        Two ounces.
    Tincture of opium              Two ounces.

When the liniment has been applied, incase the affected limbs in warm
flannel.

Many persons are at a loss to comprehend this last direction; it is easily
accomplished. Have ready some rings of elastic webbing to fasten over the
members; also procure four pieces of flannel, each rather more than the
length of a limb. To the small ends of two pieces of flannel, one yard and
a half long, attach a band of broad, elastic webbing, and fix a buckle and
strap at the other terminations; at similar points of the other two pieces
of flannel, only these last are to be two yards long, likewise fix broad
elastic bands, and also append a buckle and strap. Place the long pieces
of flannel by the hind limbs; put the shorter flannels by the fore legs;
buckle the straps, the fore ones over the withers, and the hind straps
over the loins. This will keep the flannel up to its proper height; fasten
it with the rings of elastic webbing to the hoofs, while the assistants
are wrapping it loosely round the limbs.

The horse being in the slings, no surcingle can be put on, nor is any
needed. The animal with acute rheumatism is certain to stand quiet enough.
So much being accomplished, give the horse a bolus formed of powdered
colchicum, two drachms; iodide of potassium, one drachm; simple mass, a
sufficiency.

These measures are to be taken regardless of the condition of the body;
if the attack, however, follow another disease, the bodily support must
not be too low. It should be all prepared or softened by the action of
heat and water; the oats should be of the best description; they should
be crushed and boiled; a few old beans, also boiled, may be added, and a
malt mash occasionally will do no harm. To open the bowels, and likewise
to allay excitement, give green-meat when required; but do not make a
practice of allowing this sort of food in quantity, as it blows the animal
out, weakens the digestion, and soon loses all laxative effect.

[Illustration: A HORSE DRESSED FOR RHEUMATISM.]

Next morning repeat the steaming, etc., and give a ball composed of a
scruple of calomel and two drachms of opium; allow only five pounds of hay
during the day. At night, again steam, etc., and give the ball which was
recommended on the first occasion.

When the horse begins to bear upon its legs, should the liniment not have
blistered the joints, the following may be applied with a soft brush, but
without friction:--

    Tincture of cantharides        One ounce.
    Camphorated oil                Half an ounce.
    Tincture of opium              Half an ounce.

The horse may be of a full habit when affected; in that case, pursue the
measures already recommended, but do not give the food before advised;
instead, allow bran mashes twice a week, and a bundle of green-meat once
a day, and sweet hay must make up the sustenance for twenty-four hours.
Should the horse, however, appear to lose flesh and spirit, boiled corn
must form a portion of the diet, and the quantity can be regulated only by
him who has charge of the case.

One caution must be given before concluding this article. A sick animal is
very sensitive as to noises; a door banged to will excite the terror of
the poor creature, which, probably, was half asleep, with the head hanging
down. A loud word or an energetic action will not unseldom call forth
symptoms of such alarm as may threaten, through their utter recklessness,
to demolish the structure in which the horse is confined. For these, if
from no purer motives, respect the sufferings and wisely try to soothe the
animal. As the creature is devoid of reason to shape its fears, approach
it noiselessly; speak softly at first; ascertain--although the eye be
closed--by the motion of the ears, whether your voice is heard. Then lay
the hand upon the neck and gently caress the sick body; after that you may
do what you please, so nothing be very sudden or very loud.

Such slight considerations will not be thrown away, even in a medical
point of view. A moment of excitement may do the injury which no physic
will remove; nay, in critical stages, many a life has been lost from want
of thought in the attendants about a diseased horse.


DISTENTION OF SYNOVIAL MEMBRANE--WIND-GALLS.

Man treats the horse after a strange fashion. He buys the animal for a
large sum, because it possesses some particular quality; but, hardly has
he obtained it, before he behaves as though he desired only to destroy
the property he has so dearly purchased. A horse, for private use, is
generally bought for its beauty; in a short time afterward it is sold
as having become too deformed for its master's service. A year or two
commonly suffices to spoil the most perfect animal. Many are ruined in
their colthood; many more are made worthless by the trainer. Of all
creation, the horse is most abused. So universal is this custom that the
marks of ill usage are in the market even regarded as if they were natural
consequences. Those affections designated =wind-galls= are generally
lightly esteemed by most horsemen when the animal is required for actual
service--as hunting, racing, coaching, etc.

Such marks, however, are evidences of hard work having been performed.
They are not natural formations; but are blemishes, which man, in his
consideration for a dumb servant, is pleased to make light of. They do not
generally impede the action--and lameness is the only fact a true horseman
cares to notice. He will not stay to inquire what must have been the kind
of work which could occasion the =synovial membrane= to bulge out upon a
living body. He does not care to ask whether Nature, when deformity first
appeared, instituted the fact without intention. He will not condescend
to question whether every unnatural appearance is not designed to be a
warning. But he views wind-galls rather as a proof that the poor animal
exhibiting them is a seasoned horse, and, therefore, is bettered by the
distortion of a sensitive structure.

Wind-galls are the result of severe work. The back sinews are incased in a
fine sheath which contains synovia, or, as it is commonly termed, "joint
oil." The use of the synovia is to facilitate the motions of the two great
flexor tendons one upon the other; so, when the pace is too fast or the
labor too energetic, the delicate membrane which secretes the synovia
becomes irritated. The consequence of irritation is increased secretion.
More joint oil is poured forth than the natural sac can contain. The
membrane, therefore, bags out at those parts which are weakest. Two such
places are situated above the fetlock and one below it. The localities,
with the size of the tumors, as they generally are exhibited, the reader
will find delineated in the following engravings.

[Illustration: THE SITUATIONS AND SHAPES OF WIND-GALLS.]

[Illustration: WIND-GALLS, AS THEY APPEARED TO THE AUTHOR, UPON
DISSECTION.]

Wind-galls generally appear on the hind leg. They used to be regarded
as swollen bursæ; but Mr. Varnell, Assistant Professor at the Royal
Veterinary College, by careful dissection, first pointed out their real
character. He proved them to be synovial enlargements; and the writer,
benefiting by Mr. Varnell's instruction, has verified the fact.

Very slight physiological knowledge was required to detect they were not
bursæ. Bursæ are little round sacs, secreting a fluid like synovia, but
always placed so as to facilitate motion. Now, wind-galls appear close
to a synovial sheath ordained to serve the same purpose. They, moreover,
start up in the hollow between the flexor tendons and the suspensory
ligament, in which arteries, veins, nerves, and absorbents reside. The
merit in discovering they had been misnamed was, perhaps, small; but the
credit of demonstrating what they actually were--which demanded a more
elevated talent--remains with Mr. Varnell.

Wind-galls are fond of the hind leg; or rather, the hinder limbs do the
heaviest portion of the horse's work; therefore these deformities are
commonly found on those members. There may be one or three on both sides
of each leg: they generally are quiescent; but occasionally they prove
wind-galls to be something more than the simple blemishes which man is
pleased to esteem them. After a hard run it is not unusual to hear a
huntsman complain that the wind-galls have disappeared and the back sinews
of his hunter have become puffy. When that occurs, the entire sheath
suffers excessive irritation, and has enlarged. The horse is then very
lame, but a day or two of rest reduces the sudden enlargement, and the
animal recovers its soundness.

[Illustration:

    THE DISAPPEARANCE OF WIND-GALLS AND THE PUFFINESS OF THE SYNOVIAL
    MEMBRANE, PROPER TO THE FLEXOR TENDONS, WHICH ENSUES UPON EXCESSIVE
    LABOR.
]

Sometimes, however, repeated irritation starts up a new action; the
secretion becomes turbid, displays enormous floating threads of cartilage
and occasional sanguineous infiltration; the sac enlarges; the walls begin
to thicken; the tumor feels less pulpy and more firm; it grows harder.
First becomes cartilage, and ultimately may be converted into bone. Mr.
Gowing, of Camden Town, has a fine specimen of this species of disease.

During these changes the animal is very lame; yet wind-galls are so
lightly esteemed by horsemen as scarcely to lessen the price of a steed;
they are, in general, accounted hardly worth mentioning, although men have
been known to be strangely anxious to have them removed. This, however, is
not easy to bring about; all the common methods are worse than useless;
the only treatment which promises any benefit is the application of
pressure. Fold a piece of soft rag several times; saturate the rag with
water; lay upon the wetted rag one drachm each of opium and of camphor;
put these upon the enlargement. Upon the moistened rag place a piece of
cork big enough to cover the wind-gall, and of such a thickness as may
be necessary; above the cork lace on a vulcanized India-rubber bandage.
Constant and equal pressure will by these means be kept up; however, mind
the groom be strictly ordered to take the bandage off the leg the last
thing when the horse leaves the stable, and to put it on again immediately
on the animal's return; otherwise, the proprietor may chance to enter
the building and find his steed without an application, which, to be
beneficial, should be perpetually worn.

Such is the history and the occasional termination of wind-galls. What
kind of man is he who, when purchasing a horse, can confidently assert
the animal will not exhibit the worst stage of the affection? A horse
displaying wind-galls is prepared for the advent of the more serious form
of disease; still, horsemen will persist in deeming synovial enlargements
a trivial affair, when seen in the body of a creature whose utility
resides in its power to move the limbs with agility.


BOG SPAVIN.

=Bog spavin= is a mark which man makes to signalize his authority over
breathing flesh; man, in his stupidity, will form notions of what animals
should be; he will not learn from nature. Thus the horse, which is made
up of timidity and affection, he loves to chronicle as fierce, fiery,
noble, and courageous; he talks largely of having mastered such or such
a creature; he boasts highly of having laid whip and spur to a "brute"
which, had he courted with gentleness, and wooed with sympathy, might not
have been subdued so quickly, but assuredly would have been attached to
him for life.

The hocks suffer severely through such erroneous opinions. These
convictions are widely spread and influence every horseman; they control
the breaker, who acts as though he had a wild beast to conquer into a show
of submission, not to train a living animal which is naturally willing,
only afraid to submit. Instead of courting such a being, the bit, the
lash, and the cold steel are brought to bear upon a frame every fiber of
which already quivers with alarm; many a colt, consequently, is ruined by
the breaker. The creature is pulled up with a tug at the reins; and pain
never yet enlightened an understanding; the horse is forced to do what
he would cheerfully perform, if man would only take necessary trouble to
communicate his wishes to a creature which, not comprehending words, is
naturally somewhat slow to interpret heavy chastisement.

[Illustration:

    BOG SPAVIN, OR DISTENTION OF THE PRINCIPAL SYNOVIAL MEMBRANE OF THE
    HOCK-JOINT.
]

The breaker, however, is considered equal to his office, if he be a light
weight and a very resolute man. The young colt is sprained and jarred in
every possible manner; it is at last returned to its master more than half
broken--in the literal sense--for the seeds have been sown which, in time,
will assuredly crop into a host of virulent diseases.

This affection is an increase of synovia in the upper or chief joint of
the hock; it lies upon the most inward and forward portion of that part.
The increase of the contents causes the membrane to bulge out after the
manner represented in the wood-cut on page 318.

It is produced by repeated shocks to the limb, and in this respect
resembles wind-galls; though situated in a different locality, it is also
liable to the same changes. In short, the affections are the same, and are
dissimilar only with regard to their relative situation.

Bog spavin is thought slightly of by professed horsemen; however, the
reader must ask himself, if it be viewed as no deterioration, can it be
also regarded as a recommendation? Is a blemished leg, or a limb with
disease, which is liable to assume an aggravated type, properly considered
a sound member? The writer thinks not. Bog spavin does not, in its
ordinary stage, lame the horse; but can such an unnatural enlargement add
to the pleasure of the animal's existence? Were pain in man judged of
entirely as it affected the walk of the human being, the disorders of how
many people would the doctor esteem of little consequence! Such a standard
of agony is ridiculous. It is most difficult to say when no anguish is
felt by the life which is denied the faculty of announcing its sensations
through the medium of speech.


THOROUGH-PIN.

This disease is so called, because in some cases it pierces right through
the thinnest part of the hind leg, or appears on either side immediately
before the point of the hock. It, however, is often single. It is rarely
present without bog spavin; and in every instance which the author has
examined, it communicated with the large synovial articulation of the
joint.

[Illustration: THOROUGH-PIN.]

It is provoked by the same causes as generate bog spavin; it is similar
to that disorder in not being generally accompanied by lameness, and in
being liable to the same fearful changes. Pressure and rest are the best
remedies; pressure, applied after the manner recommended for wind-galls,
may in some cases answer. The bog spavin and the =thorough-pin=, however,
should not in every case be treated at the same time; as a general rule,
it is prudent only to attack one affection by means of an India-rubber
bandage. This should be so cut as to release the bog spavin from all
pressure; and where the slightest uneasiness is evinced, all bandages
should be instantly removed, while the corks and cloths--employed as for
wind-galls--are taken off the thorough-pin.

It is never well to attempt to cure the bog spavin first; the treatment
ought always to commence with the thorough-pin; therefore, for a horse
which will not endure the bandage, a truss must be procured from the
instrument-maker. The truss is of the ordinary description, only adapted
to bear upon the parts. This will probably act with efficacy equal to
the bandage. When the truss has performed its office, then a perfect
India-rubber bandage may be safely applied. Only, mind and also employ
with the last the corks and cloths; else, when endeavoring to remove one
disorder, you may reproduce another. Watch the animal while wearing the
bandage; on the slightest change, either in habit or appearance, remove
the India-rubber. Should the pressure affect the skin, (as it will in
certain cases,) rags, thoroughly wetted, should be wrapped round the hock
before lacing the bandage up. If the rags appear to be of no avail, it is
better to forbear for a time, and to renew the attempt hereafter.

[Illustration:

    DISSECTION OF THOROUGH-PIN AND BOG SPAVIN, DEMONSTRATING THE
    JUNCTION OF THE TWO AFFECTIONS.
]

The horse which exhibits bog spavin and thorough-pin also generally shows
wind-galls on the hind legs. Let the reader consider the hard usage the
limb must have undergone before it could have become thus deranged.
Here is a specimen, demonstrating the connection which exists between
thorough-pin and bog spavin. It was made in consequence of Mr. Varnell
having informed the author that thorough-pin was a bulging out of the
synovial sheath, proper to the flexor tendon; and was not, as is generally
taught and credited, an enlarged bursa. The author found them to be in
accordance with the description he had received: the enlargement called
thorough-pin, and the synovial membrane of the hock, had united, and free
communication existed between them, in the joint which the writer examined.

Nature formed the synovial cavity of the joint as a distinct and
separate part. It is usual for teachers to promulgate a maxim that
Nature is all-wise. Man, however, it appears, can violently disarrange
her provisions; yet, by his fellow-men, he is accounted to have done no
wrong who destroys the harmony of Nature. Thorough-pin is not, in popular
estimation, essentially unsoundness. A horse thus disfigured is believed,
nay, professionally pronounced to be, perfect, although two distinct parts
are battered into one. If two are beneficial, why was one only created?
The horse may not be lame; but, granting Nature to be all-wise, must not
the uses for which the limb was designed be injured? The question is not,
whether an animal trots sound; but it is, whether it really is sound. What
sane man would assert such to be the case, where the anatomical structures
have been disorganized?


CAPPED KNEE.

=Capped knee=, in the fore limb, answers to bog spavin in the hind leg;
the diseases are alike in most respects. Both affect the principal
articulation of a complicated joint; both may be provoked by the like
causes; but the fore leg, being less exposed to shocks than the hinder
member, must have been much abused before it could become thus deformed.

[Illustration: THE SYNOVIAL MEMBRANE OF THE KNEE-JOINT ENLARGED.]

Blows, also, are common originators of capped knee. This disorder is
likewise peculiar for a course it takes. The fluid within the swollen
joint is, upon excitement, secreted in such quantity as to tighten the
enlargement. Ultimately it lames the horse, and at length bulges out, or
points, after the manner of an abscess. If let alone, it would burst. Much
of the surrounding parts would have to be absorbed or would be effectually
destroyed before such a termination could ensue. The life would be
endangered, or a lasting blemish would be left behind. To prevent this,
the surgeon draws the skin to one side, and, holding the point of his
lancet upward, opens the capped knee upon its lower surface. A quantity
of synovia, more or less in a turbid state, escapes, and an open joint
remains. For the treatment of this contingency, the reader must turn to
"Open Joint." (_Injuries._)

Capped knee is, by certain persons, viewed as a trivial accident.
Generally, however, it is regarded in a more serious light, because it is
_more conspicuous_ than bog spavin. We also should object to it, because,
while liable to the same changes as wind-galls, etc., it is also likely
to expose the horse to an open joint. It is, like wind-galls and bog
spavin, to be reduced by pressure, though sometimes pressure will call up
aggravated symptoms. Rest is the best treatment; during the rest pressure
may be safely applied. Pressure does not answer, however, while the limb
is exposed to the irritation of work. The horse must be thrown up during
treatment, and gently used after the animal has been patched up or "cured."


CAPPED HOCK.

When an injury is formed near an important part, Nature is so conservative
of her creature's welfare that she always has some means ready to preserve
the utility of the structure. Thus when, from external violence, the hock
becomes capped, or a swelling like to that represented in the following
engraving ensues, to prevent the joint being thrown out of use Nature
allows the skin to enlarge. The cap of a hock, originally, was a bursa.
A bursa is a little bladder or round sac, formed of the finest possible
membrane, and filled with a fluid similar to joint oil. Its use is to
facilitate motion; hence it eases the tightened skin over the points of
the bony hock. But when it becomes deranged and swollen, the skin, which
was dense, hard, and solid, stretches so as to cover the increase of bulk.

[Illustration: CAPPED HOCK.]

[Illustration: THE LARGEST SPECIMEN OF CAPPED HOCK WHICH THE AUTHOR HAS
MET WITH.]

The tumor, however, having been produced, may in time subside, should
the injury which provoked it not be repeated. Too often, however, the
cause springs from motives over which the animal has no control; and the
violence being renewed again and again, the swelling enlarges, and that
which was soft and pulpy at first becomes hard to the feel, while all
sensation of fluid disappears. The provocative being repeated, the part
first grows firm, then solid, while its bulk also enlarges to a fearful
magnitude. There appears to be no limit to the size; but the largest the
author has encountered was nineteen inches in its greatest circumference,
and seriously interfered with progression. Above, on the right hand, is a
portrait of the tumor.

These unsightly growths have two causes--the ignorance of the groom
and the timidity of the animal. To speak of the last first: Dogs will
dream; often, as they lie before the fire, they work their legs and utter
suppressed noises, being at the time soundly asleep. Dogs also have
imagination. Almost everybody must have remarked the dog slink away from
some object which is to be indistinctly seen in the dusk of evening.
Nobody, however, seems to have credited the horse with either of these
faculties. Because it is of service to man, it is appropriated, and the
attributes belonging to the creature are overlooked; the groom locks
the stable door, and, having bedded the horses down, leaves them in the
dark, "comfortable" for the night. One dreams--awakens in terror, similar
to that which causes children to start out of their sleep with terrible
crying. The hind legs are the means of defense with the horse; it has no
other, for it seldom, and not habitually, employs its teeth. The animal,
in alarm, begins kicking, for terror becomes powerful as the reason
diminishes. Animals have passions; these man can, in himself, subdue with
reason; but the poor horse has no reason to restrain its emotions. Fear,
once awakened, unopposed, possesses it; it begins to kick before it knows
why. Bodies of men are exposed to panics. Can we wonder, therefore, at a
timid and unreasoning animal being subject to the same influences? The
kicking commenced, terror spreads; and a whole stable full of horses,
each chained to its stall, each alone, forbidden the consolation of
society, and prevented from scampering from the unknown horror, takes
up the action; thus thirty or forty horses may be heard, in the depth
and darkness of a night, kicking at the same time. The hind legs, when
forcibly projected, are apt to hit the point of the hock; the bursa there
developed is injured by the blow, and a capped limb is the consequence.

Another cause is kicking while in harness. This habit is always attributed
to vice: to speak of vice as associated with the ideas of a simple animal
is purely ridiculous. Fear is a much more probable cause, if man would
only expand his understanding to comprehend the motives likely to actuate
an unreasoning creature; vice is far too heroic an impulse, far too human
a failing, for the horse to embody. Fear is essentially an animal passion;
that some mighty influence agitates the quadruped, when it begins to
kick in harness, is proved by the serious accidents the horse encounters
through this habit. No life can be careless of its own existence; all
creatures are conservatives where their own being is concerned. Would
mankind only admit this fact, and seek to gain the confidence of, as they
now labor to establish authority over, the horse, gentle words, spoken
when the impulse was awakened, might reassure the animal, and would thus
frequently save the owner from impending danger.

A third cause is lazy drivers riding on cart-horses, when unhooked, as
leaders of the wagon; the poles, called spreaders, which keep the chains
asunder, frequently hang so low that, at every movement of the leg,
they strike the point of the hock. The uneven paving of some stables is
likewise said to produce the disease; in short, anything which may cause
the point of the calcis to suffer violence will produce a capped hock.

The cure for capped hock has been differently directed. Some hobble the
hind legs of the horse, to prevent its kicking in the night; some fasten
a chain and a log to one hind limb, for the same purpose; others suspend
a piece of loose cloth at the back of the horse; but the best plan is
always to leave a lantern lighted in the stable. The power to see around
reassures timidity, while darkness is an awful instigator of terror;
horses often fly back in their stalls, but never kick, during daylight.

Then, as to the cure: Such a tumor, when recent, is hot and somewhat
painful; at this time, keep it wet with cold water or with a lotion formed
of spirits of wine and water in equal parts; when the tenderness has
subsided, procure some men who want employment and have strong arms; set
these fellows to rub the cap of the hock constantly, and the tumor, in
three or four days, or in less time, will have disappeared.

[Illustration:

    THE SKIN FROM BENEATH WHICH THE TUMOR OF CAPPED HOCK HAS BEEN
    REMOVED.
]

Should the enlargement, however, have become hard, the knife then must
be employed; the horse must be cast, and the substance must be carefully
dissected out without opening the sac. This being done, remove none of the
skin; leave that bagging about the hock; simply treat it with a lotion
composed of chloride of zinc one grain, to water one ounce, and the
integument will contract. Ultimately there will remain no more than will
be required to cover the part, whereas, if any be taken away, the wound,
which in these cases never heals quickly, will be very long before it
closes, and, in proportion to the skin which has been removed, there will
remain a lasting blemish.

There is another caution we have to give the reader before leaving this
subject; let no advice persuade, no temptation induce him to puncture,
seton, or merely to open capped hock. The membrane lining the swelling
is, when diseased, so extremely sensitive that the writer has known the
lives of animals endangered by these so-called remedies. The author,
moreover, never knew the enlargement to be much reduced by these means;
neither has it been the author's lot to witness much good follow the
application of blisters. No; extirpation is the only remedy, and it
should be accomplished without puncturing the sac; this is as safe an
operation as there is in the entire range of veterinary surgery. There
is neither nerve, muscle, membrane, vessel, nor any important structure
to avoid; with ordinary care, the removal is most easy. There is but one
thing annoying connected with the business, and that is, the length of
time which the healing of a necessary wound, made upon a point of motion,
almost invariably occupies.


CAPPED ELBOW.

This is very common, especially among cart-horses; it is attributed to the
calkin of the fore foot; to the point of the hind hoof; or to a stable
floor, thinly bedded, and composed of sharp stones. So, likewise, blows
with the butt-end of the whip will induce it; but the harness probably
guards the elbow, which therefore can be struck only in exceptional cases.

[Illustration: A CAPPED ELBOW.]

It consists of a bursa, which, as in the former instance, has been
injured, and has consequently enlarged; in appearance and in its
subsequent course it greatly resembles capped hock, from which it differs
only in a greater liability to ulcerate and become sinuous when allowed
to remain until it is of extreme magnitude. It is said to derive that
unenviable peculiarity from being situated nearer to the center of
circulation. Capped hock is so little disposed to take on such a form of
disease that the author cannot remember having seen a case of the kind;
with a tumor on the elbow, however, ulceration is unfortunately too
common. That probability should forbid the owner to allow the tumor to
attain any great size; when large, moreover, it is apt to encircle the
elbow-joint, and then its size seems to render the removal apparently
impossible. It, however, may be extirpated. All said of capped hock
applies to capped elbow.


LUXATION OF THE PATELLA.

That is displacement of the whirl-bone of the stifle, (which answers to
the knee-cap of the human being.) Such an accident, fortunately, few
horses incur; there are many veterinary surgeons who, during a practice
extending over many years, have not encountered a single case; whereas
other gentlemen will have hardly started in their profession before
=luxation of the patella= is submitted to their notice. It is not peculiar
to any district, it is not confined to any special breed; it may affect
all kinds of horses in all sorts of places; for it is produced more by
the parsimony or the uncharitableness of mankind than by any fault in the
structure of the animal.

In several localities throughout the country agriculturists, under the
notion of saving money, determine to rear horses on short grass. The
creatures are out in the fields during all kinds of weather; the body
becomes debilitated under such a starvation system; those parts which are
naturally weak become weaker, while those structures which were originally
endowed with strength grow comparatively stronger. The beautiful balance
of nature is overthrown, and each portion becomes at discord with all the
rest; any trivial disease may destroy the life thus at war within its own
dominion. Colts frequently exhibit luxation of the patella before they
are broken; but it is always provoked by weakness, and commonly only seen
where the management is faulty or the food is stinted.

When the whirl-bone is displaced, it is always found as an unnatural
lump upon the outer side of the thigh; it cannot, for three sufficient
reasons, be drawn to the inner part of the leg. The inner condyle of the
humerus, over which the patella plays, is sufficiently large to oppose any
unnatural motion in that direction; the inner ligaments are the weakest,
and are, therefore, most readily stretched in the outward direction; the
circumstances permit the bone to be displaced from the inside of the leg.
Then, moreover, the muscles are altogether more powerful upon the outer
side. Any force acts more energetically as debility increases, and, to
favor it, there is less resistance in the direction opposite to which the
force pulls; for these reasons the bone is invariably luxated upon the
outer side of the animal's haunch.

[Illustration: THE PATELLA, OR WHIRL-BONE DISPLACED.]

The symptoms denoting luxation of the patella are: the leg thrust out
behind, and remaining fixed; the horse's entire frame is affected; the
head is erect; the muscles quiver; the pastern of the protruded leg is
violently flexed; there is an unnatural swelling upon the outer and
lower part of the buttock. If the animal be forced to move, it can only
imperfectly hop upon three legs; such an accident may occur at any time,
and never be repeated. It may, however, become so common as to be mistaken
for a species of habit; for luxation of the patella, when by frequency
confirmed, will take place upon the slightest possible cause.

In stinted colts the most trivial motion will often give rise to this
accident; the creature can hardly move without its leg being thrust out
behind it. The cure is, in these cases, anything which may flurry the
animal. A noise, made by moving the hand quickly and rather energetically
from side to side within a hat, the crack of a whip, or any sudden and
loud sound, will occasion the bone to return, with apparent ease and the
utmost rapidity, to its natural situation. The colt, however, may the next
moment exhibit the misfortune which, in young life, can only be cured by
kindly treatment and liberal sustenance.

Probably the author will best describe the nature of the affection in old
animals, by narrating a case which a few years ago happened to himself.

At the request of a friend he visited one of those auction marts for the
sale of horses which in London are somewhat notorious. The object of his
visit being, if possible, to purchase, his attention was directed to
certain animals. As usual, a glance enabled him to pass by all the marked
"lots," and he had reached the third stable, when his eye rested on a
horse which seemed wrongly placed among such companions. It was lively,
young, clean legged, short backed, well ribbed up--in fact, one of those
rare creatures every inch of which seems made for service. The height was
fifteen hands three inches; the color was a dark brown. The author tried
in vain to discover if it had any "vice." It appeared perfectly quiet. He
examined the feet; he could detect no unsoundness. He went to the office
and ascertained the price--twenty-four guineas! It was too cheap! Such an
animal would be thrown away if sold for fifty guineas. "Would they give a
warranty?" "It was not their custom to give any warranty." "Had the horse
megrims?" "No." "Would they grant a trial?" "It was contrary to their
rules." Still the author wanted to buy; he would "deposit the cash, and if
all proved right take the horse." "They never granted trials; but there
stood the owner--the writer could talk to him."

The person alluded to was lounging close to the writer's elbow, and was
habited in that half-blackleg, half-blackguard costume which characterizes
the low London dealer. The contemplation of this individual did not
improve any previous opinion of the matter. However, the man's eye
was firmly fixed upon that of his would-be customer, and, rather than
encounter a disturbance, the author approached the fellow, to whom he
repeated his request. The answers given were too similar to those received
from the clerk for the likeness to be purely accidental. The dealer
nevertheless saw a trial was imperative to convert the inquirer into a
purchaser; and, rightly judging from appearance that there was little of
the jocky in the writer's attainments, reluctantly consented to afford the
demanded test.

The horse was speedily between the shafts of a very light gig. The man
took the reins, placed the whip behind him, and we moved off at the
gentlest of possible trots. No objection was taken to the pace; it gave
the better opportunity of examining into the soundness. All was right in
that particular. The steps were loud and even. After some time, during
which the man frequently inquired if "I had had trial enough _now?_"
we left the paved streets, but no entreaty could cause the pace to be
improved. At length we came to a rise in the ground, and, as it was
approached, my companion turned sulky. Hardly had the horse began to
ascend the inequality, before it suddenly stood quite still. The gig was
brought to with a jerk, which almost threw both of its occupants upon
the footboard. The author was the first out of the vehicle; there stood
the horse--the leg out, the foot flexed, the head erect--displaying the
evident symptom of luxation of the patella.

An inn was fortunately near the spot. To the yard of the hostelry the
animal was with difficulty led. Being sheltered in an unoccupied building,
a groom was placed at the horse's head. A long rope, thrown over a beam,
was fastened to the fetlock of the protruded limb. By this rope the owner
stood; and while he pulled the leg upward and forward, the writer was by
the quarters, with both hands pushing the luxated bone inward. The patella
soon slipped into its situation; and the horse was afterward sold by
auction for four guineas more than the author had refused to pay for it.

[Illustration: THE MANNER OF RETURNING THE PATELLA OF AN ADULT ANIMAL.]

Mr. Spooner, in his lectures at the Royal Veterinary College, always
recommends his hearers, after this bone has been returned, to place an
assistant by the horse's side, with strict orders to hold the patella in
its situation for some hours. Such advice is most excellent; to which
we can only add, perfect rest, and as much strengthening food as the
animal can consume. If such measures are pursued, and the horse be not
used for six weeks subsequent to the accident, there need be little fear
entertained of a second luxation of the patella.


BLOOD SPAVIN.

This disease is, happily, with the past; the writer has not seen an
instance. Neither had the late Mr. Percival--the highest veterinary
authority--after a life laboriously passed in scientific research. It is
described to have existed as varicosity of the vena saphena, where the
vessel crosses the hock. The cause is said to have been bog spavin when of
magnitude: this, it is asserted, opposed circulation within the vessel;
but the author conjectures the swelling must have assumed the callous
state, before it could have offered sufficient resistance to the flow of
blood to occasion the vessel to enlarge or to become varicose.

There is no cure for such a disease. The knife may remove the deformity
but a larger blemish was often left as the consequence of the operation.
Should such a case be known to any of the present readers, the author
would advise the enlargement should be left alone, and trust placed in the
absorbing powers of nature for its removal.

[Illustration: A BLOOD SPAVIN, AS IT IS REPORTED TO HAVE ONCE EXISTED.]




CHAPTER XIII.

THE FEET--THEIR ACCIDENTS AND THEIR DISEASES.


LAMENESS.

Of all inventions intended to mitigate the sufferings of the horse, none,
perhaps, is so generally useful as the foot-bath; certainly, not one is so
decidedly beneficial in its operation. It consists merely of a wooden or
iron trough, one foot deep; the shoes of the animal should, if possible,
be taken off before the hoof is allowed to tread within the bath; or, if
such a measure be not possible, then the burden of the horse's body should
be counterpoised by means of weights. This precaution is always prudent,
for, should the shod horse occasion fracture or breakage, an alarm might
be excited which probably would ever after prevent the employment of the
foot-bath with the same quadruped.

[Illustration: A READY MEANS OF SOFTENING THE HORN, WHERE PRESSURE OF THE
HOOF AGGRAVATES THE LAMENESS.]

The water should always be mixed without the building; it is never
well to excite an animal's fears by allowing it to witness unnecessary
preparation. The author is fully aware that most people assert the horse
has a very limited comprehension: so it may have; but it has an active
terror, which is apt to misconstrue the simplest of motives. Whoever
has seen the busy eye of the quadruped watching all that takes place
around it, and noting every triviality whenever any unusual movement
gives intimation to the animal that something is about to be attempted,
will readily allow the need there is for excessive caution. The horse may
comprehend nothing, but it is not, therefore, the less to be propitiated.
Its terror has to be soothed and its confidence has to be gained; the last
is soonest won by avoiding anything which possibly might excite the first.

Always have the heat of the water ascertained by a thermometer. Sensation
is only a relative test with regard to the presence or absence of warmth;
were it not so, the coarse hand of a groom, nevertheless, might easily
endure that degree of temperature which should pain the foot and leg of a
horse. Let the fluid in the first instance stand at 70°; after the animal
has entered the bath, gradually and without noise increase the temperature
up to 90°.

At that standard the water ought to be maintained; the hoof should remain
soaking from four to six hours at each operation; the groom, doubtless,
will complain of having frequently to fetch warm water, and when not so
employed, of being obliged to watch a thermometer; but the present book
is not written to please the likings of any individual. To contribute to
the welfare of the horse is the object of the writer; that he has not
unnecessarily imposed an irksome duty upon any human being, the purpose
for which the bath is introduced into the stable should be sufficient
evidence.

The horse's hoof is of considerable thickness; it is far from unusual with
stablemen to saturate the healthy hoof with various greasy preparations;
therefore it will require some time before the heat and water can soften
that which is, as it were, prepared to resist their action. The hoof
should be rendered perceptibly soft when the object is to relieve a
painful =lameness=; the warmth and moisture should not only saturate the
covering to the foot, but should also soothe the internal structures.
The pressure of the horn may thus be mitigated, and the deep-seated
inflammation likewise be ameliorated.

When the bath is removed, the foot should not be left exposed to the air,
as the horn then quickly dries; it soon becomes harsh and brittle. In this
condition, it is likely to do more injury to the sensitive parts than good
was anticipated as the consequence of its immersion. The hoof, when taken
from the water, should be incased in warm and air-proof bandages--the
intention being to retain the heat, while evaporation is prevented. The
bandages likewise answer another purpose; they protect the foot, which,
being without a shoe, and covered by horn that has been deprived of its
resistant property, is therefore much exposed to accidents.

To obtain the full benefit of the bath, the foot should enter it night
and morning; the animal should be subjected to its operation for at least
four hours each time, and the ingenuity ought to be exerted to prevent the
hoof from becoming dry in the interim. Perhaps nothing is better for this
purpose than the leather case, which is lined with sponge, and which can
be procured of most tradesmen who deal in veterinary instruments; it is
made to fit the foot, also to envelop the pastern. The bottom portion is
formed of the stoutest leather, and will afford all desirable protection;
while the sponge will retain the moisture, which this material permits
to be renewed, should circumstances, such as the heat of the hoof or
the warmth of the weather, cause the fluid to evaporate. However, such
additions must always be made with warm, cold water being unsuited for the
purpose.

These particulars have been thus fully detailed because lameness
constitutes no inconsiderable portion of equine misery, and because such
ailments are more frequently encountered than special forms of disease.
To judge quickly and surely of such affections proves in no small degree
veterinary proficiency; in every shade of lameness, the gentleman, unless
more than usually practiced in such ailments, had better be guided by an
educated opinion. Where it is possible to mistake another's misery, it
displays no boldness to risk chances upon our own judgment.

Lameness is simply the difference of bearing cast, during progression,
upon the several legs. Pain in the joints, bones, or tendons is most
severe. It is even more terrible when inflammation of such structures is
confined within the horny hoof; of this torture man can know nothing--he
may rest the angry limb, may recline the body, or may seek consolation in
friendly converse and in mental diversion. From all the higher pleasures
the horse is excluded. It cannot rest the leg; and the instinctive dread
which the sick animal displays of being unable to rise again prevents the
quadruped seeking that relief a change of posture might afford.

The horse always stands when seriously diseased; often the erect position
is continued to the last, for the sufferer ceases to maintain it only
with the relinquishment of life. During severe lameness in one foot, the
animal seldom lies down; it stands and stands, often for months. How the
limbs must ache! Yet the relief which the slightest motion might induce is
avoided with the tenacity which pain begets when operating upon excessive
timidity. Often one spot is occupied for months! During this tedious
period one foot is held from the earth. The mind shrinks from conjecturing
the torture which could prompt such an act; the reason retreats from
contemplating the agony by which the deed can alone be occasioned; we
shudder as the imagination remotely pictures the pains by which it must
be accompanied! Yet who has been much among stables, and has not witnessed
many such sights?

It requires small knowledge to recognize those lamenesses to which the
heavy breed of horses is particularly exposed. Agony, being excessive,
always obliges this species of animal to indicate the limb, or to attract
the attention of the spectator toward it. These creatures, when thus
affected, if compelled to move, hop onward upon three legs; the weight is
never thrown upon the foot which has been severely injured.

[Illustration: THE MANNER IN WHICH THE HORSE PROGRESSES WHEN ONE FORE LEG
IS INCAPACITATED.]

Illustrating this subject is the annexed figure of a horse which has been
hurt upon the off fore foot; the figure is supposed to be desirous of
progressing, or to be in the act of bringing the hind limbs forward. The
entire weight having for a certain space to rest upon a single support,
some time is spent in accurately balancing the body before this action is
hazarded. The slightest mistake would necessitate a fall, of which it has
been observed the sick horse is endued with a particular dread. Therefore,
after a certain time spent in preparation, the legs are, with much
muscular exertion, lifted from the ground, and the sufferer hops onward.

The wretchedness of the quadruped, however, is not complete until one or
both hind legs are implicated. From some hidden cause, the anguish of the
animal, great as it may be, is not perfected while the lameness resides in
front. The horse, suffering in a fore limb, has even laid on flesh during
the period of enforced idleness. But when the posterior extremities are
injured, the constitution is involved. The body wastes rapidly, and every
fiber within the huge framework seems to quiver with sensibility.

[Illustration: THE MANNER OF ADVANCING THE HIND MEMBERS WHEN ONE POSTERIOR
FOOT IS INJURED.]

If the creature, thus disabled in one leg, is obliged to advance, the
chief difficulty is to so place the sound limb upon the earth that the
balance shall not be destroyed. There are the two fore legs to rest upon,
and the head to act as a kind of counterpoise; therefore there is little
impediment to raising of the trunk; but the obstacle consists in the peril
to be surmounted when the sound member reaches the ground. A certain shock
has then to be sustained, and the fear apparently is lest the slightest
want of preparation should bring the body to the earth.

[Illustration: A HORSE, HAVING ONE HIND LEG RENDERED USELESS, BY A SUDDEN
EFFORT ADVANCES THE FORE LIMBS.]

The next motion delineated necessitates the greatest care and the
mightiest exertion. There are several signs which declare such to be the
case. To advance the two sound fore legs is an effort of despair always
preceded by a pause. During the time the feet are from the earth, the
entire weight, unrelieved by the slightest counterpoise, must be supported
by one sound limb. The muscles on that side have to raise the trunk, or
to perform double labor, for the step invariably is a species of leap.
The body has not only to be lifted, but the strain must be maintained to
continue or rectify the balance. A pause of more than ordinary length
declares the magnitude of the approaching struggle. The teeth are
clinched; the head is thrown backward; a deep inspiration is inhaled; the
muscles are powerfully excited; and, with a spasmodic suddenness, the feet
are projected onward.

The step accomplished, the breath is released in a kind of heavy sigh; the
animal remains quiescent for a brief space, as though the greatness of the
late effort had partially deprived it of consciousness. It is, however,
an exceptional ease for a horse of the lighter breed to be thus "hopping
lame." In all animals, nevertheless, lameness is a heavy affliction; in
all, the manner of progressing is characteristic of pain. Suffering, more
or less intense, is declared every time the injured foot touches the
ground.

[Illustration: A HORSE, IN THE ACT OF TROTTING, BEARS THE WEIGHT UPON THE
SOUND FORE FOOT.]

One fore foot being affected, the head and body drop, or slightly sink,
whenever the sound member rests upon the earth. This peculiarity a little
reflection will readily account for. Of course the desire of a lame animal
is to spare the disabled foot as much as possible. The injured part
scarcely touches the earth, before, with an effort which raises the head
and body, it is lifted again into the air. The least possible burden is
thrown upon the disabled foot. However, the weight must be cast somewhere;
and by how much less one leg has to carry, so much more must the other
support. Consequently, when the sound hoof comes to the ground, the extra
burden rests upon it; the head and body perceptibly drop, and the footfall
emits an emphatic sound, the accent of which is increased by the all but
inaudible tread of the opposite member.

The indication, however, is in some measure reversed when the lameness
is situated behind. The movements of the head no longer accompany those
of the fore legs; for, although the head be not steady, it evidently
is not influenced by the forward members. If, however, the motion be
closely observed, it will be found to be regulated by the movements of the
posterior extremities, only with a difference. When the sound hind limb
rests upon the earth, the head is raised; but the sinking or elevation
of the whole body is never so marked as it is in the previous case of
anterior injury. The movements characteristic of posterior lameness are,
however, well shown in the haunches. When the sound limb reaches the
ground, the hind portion of the body obviously drops upon that side; when
the painful member is caught up, that side of the haunch on which resides
the disabled foot is also jerked upward.

[Illustration: A HORSE, BEING LAME IN ONE HIND FOOT, RESTS THE WEIGHT UPON
THE SOUND LIMB WHILE TROTTING.]

There are other sorts of lameness to be described. A horse is sometimes
returned by the smith lame all round. The gait is peculiar, because it
is caused by the shoes being too small or tight. It has been likened
to skating; and the author thinks the term so applicable that he has
no desire to change it. There can, however, be then no difficulty in
detecting the cause of the affliction. The horse was, a short time before,
sent to the forge a sound animal, and it has been returned a positive
cripple.

It is lamentable to remark the number of horses which are driven through
the streets of London in a disabled condition. People appear to be without
feelings or recognitions when the sufferings of horse-flesh are before
them. An animal with scarcely a sound limb, or else "hopping lame," may
frequently be seen, in broad daylight, attached to some gentleman's
carriage or tradesman's cart, to a hired vehicle or a costermonger's "all
sorts." From the highest to the lowest, all are equally disgraced; the
toil of a life seems incapable of purchasing a day's commiseration. A
little forbearance might be a profitable investment in these cases; but no
person seems able to keep a horse and to allow the animal a day of rest.
So long as it can crawl, so long must patience work!

Other forms of suffering than those confined to the feet affect the
progression of the horse; the "whirl-bone" or hip-joint is sometimes
visited by ulceration. The symptoms then in a degree resemble those
exhibited when occult spavin is present; the affected limb is, however,
after touching the earth, caught up more sharply when the hip is
diseased. The hoof, moreover, is presented more fully during motion in
the last-mentioned affection. The best method, however, to ascertain the
existence of the ulceration, is to hold some soft substance over the
joint, then to strike it with a mallet; the shock will be communicated to
the seat of lameness, and elicit an energetic response.

[Illustration: ACUTE LAMENESS CAUSED BY ULCERATION WITHIN THE HIP-JOINT.]

Nothing can be done for such a condition; certain barbarities are proposed
as experiments by continental veterinarians; but man obviously has no
right to run chances with cruelty practiced upon breathing life. Hip-joint
disease is decidedly incurable, and renders every step a separate agony.

The shoulder is a very favorite seat of injury with those who pretend to
a knowledge of equine ailments; with such simple folk, if a horse be lame
behind, the cause is always traced to the whirl-bone; should an animal
have partially lost the use of an anterior limb, the injury is invariably
found in the shoulder. The proof of their correctness is always exhibited
in the lessened bulk of the parts referred to; but throw a limb out of
use, as lameness in the horse always does, and the absorption of the whole
extremity, from want of exercise, naturally ensues.

[Illustration: DRAGGING THE LIMB, THE INDICATION OF SHOULDER LAMENESS.]

The shoulder-joint is occasionally ulcerated; but more often disease is
found upon the tendon of the flexor brachii, a muscle which, arising from
the shoulder-joint, is of service in flexing the radius. In both cases the
seeming length of the arm is remarkable; so also is the fixedness of the
shoulder, and the obstinate refusal to advance or to flex the arm. The
consequence is, that a horse with disease of the shoulder drags the limb,
and never lifts the toe from the ground.

Ulceration is sometimes, though rarely, witnessed within the elbow-joint;
a case of this description is recorded by the late W. Percival. The chief
symptom indicated subacute laminitis; the affection appeared gradually,
and, without intermission, proceeded from simple bad to the very worst.
The foot was, however, neither hot nor tender; by this sign the affection
was distinguished from every form of fever in the feet, although the
animal endeavored to bear only upon the heels of the fore extremities, and
brought the hind legs as far under the body as was possible.

[Illustration: THE MANNER IN WHICH A HORSE HAVING ULCERATION OF THE
ELBOW-JOINT ENDEAVORS TO PROGRESS.]

Disease of the knee-joint is far from unusual. Mr. Cherry first directed
attention to this fact; for, although dissection had frequently exhibited
the carpal bones united, no one prior to Mr. Cherry drew any inference
from the obvious indication.

Mr. Cherry describes the symptoms of the affection to be a stiffened
protrusion of the fore leg, a long step, and an entire want of flexion in
the diseased limb.

The author is unable to corroborate the above observations, possibly from
his attention only having been directed to a few cases, and those not of
a very acute character. The writer has, however, remarked, in certain
instances, a perpetual knuckling over, without deposit in the knee or
contraction in the tendons being present to account for the assumption of
so uncomfortable an attitude. A want of power to bend the leg was noted in
a few animals. Such horses either placed the limb outside the body when
they lay down, or rested upon their sides; and lameness, though always
present, was never witnessed in an aggravated shape.

[Illustration: THE HEALTHY LEG WHEN THE HORSE IS LYING DOWN.]

[Illustration: THE NEAREST APPROACH MADE BY THE HEEL TO THE ELBOW IN
CERTAIN CONDITIONS OF THE KNEE-JOINT.]

No human lamentation could embody the deep sorrow which the crippled
condition of one leg occasions to the horse. The creature thereby is left
a clog upon the earth. Its existence is deprived of the power which alone
made it pleasant. Progression is laborious, and even rest is painful. The
quadruped, thus disabled, stands motionless on one spot; the head is
lowered; the eyes are dejected; the breathing is fitful; and the entire
frame is apparently resigned to a huge sense of degradation. All the pride
of life is lost. Every trace of animation has fled. The animal evidently
is, in its own conviction, useless and disgraced. A horse in such a
state is, indeed, a melancholy spectacle; and the feelings of that man
who, understanding the image, can contemplate it unmoved are not to be
envied. Still, for how many years has such a sight been before the eyes of
mankind, without any individual possessing the heart to interpret it!

Surely in all life there exists no other creature so willing to obey--so
happy in its labor, and so entirely obedient under command--which is
equally subjected to abuse! All the horse demands, in requital for its
manifold services, is food and shelter: kindness it does not insist
upon, and even bad usage it submits to. For permission to live, it
mildly pleads; and in return for the liberality which merely supports
the strength, it contentedly resigns its body and relinquishes its
intelligence. Yet the natural wants are often stinted, although the toil
is always bitterly exacted. Surely in all life there exists no other
creature equally subjected to abuse!

The patience of the reader is solicited, while the author notices a
circumstance connected with the present subject, which has repeatedly
come under his observation. Nothing can so entirely subdue the spirit
of a horse as an acute lameness: the suffering must be intense. To a
distant conception of the agony endured man cannot excite his imagination.
Still, all of the effect upon the quadruped is not to be attributed to
that cause. Other diseases are painful, but by them the constitution is
affected. Lameness, generally, is a local affliction--it is not a general
involvement; it leaves the constitution healthy. Yet a high-mettled, or
even a savage animal, is often quieted as by a charm when the foot is
disabled. The intractable of the species has, by a sudden visitation of
this nature, been rendered passive. The existence seems then to be given
up to misery, and the horse becomes disregardful of whoever approaches
it. On such a sufferer expend but a little time striving to convince it
of your intent. It is astonishing how quick affliction is to comprehend
humanity; and the painful foot is given up to man's desires--nay,
sometimes it is even advanced for his inspection.

The writer has applied to the crippled feet of horses certain remedies
which must have augmented what previously appeared to be the extreme of
anguish. The author has been painfully conscious of the agony attendant on
the operation; but to his surprise the animals have not flinched, neither
have the feet been withdrawn. The quadruped appeared to suffer torture
with the patience of stoicism, influenced by the abandonment of utter
confidence. The most caustic dressings have been freely employed upon
the most sensitive part; yet the creature which, when in health, seemed
made up of the acutest sensibilities, has submitted to the torture with
more than mortal fortitude. Once win the reliance of timidity, and so
beautiful, so entire, so self-nugatory is its confidence.

Little can be said concerning the cure of lameness. The causes are
various, and, of course, the remedies are as numerous as the provocatives.
One thing may, however, be advised: have the shoe taken off and the foot
searched. Never mind the horn being pared away--many a horse limps upon
a whole hoof; and it is astonishing upon how small a portion of horn an
animal may go sound. The seat of the injury being ascertained, and so
much of the inorganic covering removed as may be necessary to afford some
relief, always soak the foot in the bath before permitting the final use
of the knife. The water cleanses the part, favors the discharge of pus,
lowers the inflammatory action, softens the anguish, and destroys the
harsh character of the dry horn. This last substance, as was observed, by
the united action of warmth and moisture loses its resistant property. It
cuts easily when newly released from the bath; and if the knife be sharp,
it may be excised without any of that dragging sensation which frequently
provokes the animal to snatch away the member while it is being operated
upon.


PUMICE FOOT.

=Pumice foot= is a deformity produced by hard work; it does certainly
appear strange, when we regard the beauty and strength united in
the frame of the horse, that man's barbarity should exceed Nature's
ingenuity. A more captivating present--heightening human pleasures,
lessening human toil--than the horse, it is impossible to imagine; but
its beauty seems only given for man to deface. A stronger helpmate, when
speed is considered, it appeared beyond the most excited imagination to
fancy. But the cruelty of the master found it easy to incapacitate the
power so exquisitely endowed. The speed was too slow for the eagerness
of the rider; the docility was not apt enough for the impatience of
the possessor; in every particular the servant seems to have been at
fault; and now we hear men gravely lamenting the invention of railroads,
because these will interfere with the breeding of horses. Let us hope the
establishment of railroads may supply a deficiency which the willingness
of flesh and blood was unable to gratify.

Animals bred on a marshy land, and of a loose habit of body, are apt to
have weak feet, a specimen of which is given on next page, though not of
one belonging to the heavy cart-horse. All the delineations inserted in
this book are necessarily extreme cases; it is easy for the imagination
to soften the evil when the mind is impressed with characteristics of the
thing which is depicted; but not always so free from difficulty for an
untutored imagination to magnify a reduced portrait.

A weak foot has a long, slanting pastern; the hoof is marked by rings,
showing the irregularity of the horny secretion, and the crust is broken
in those places where nails have been driven to fasten on the shoe,
proving the brittle nature of the hoof.

[Illustration: A WEAK FOOT.]

[Illustration: THE SOLE OF A WEAK FOOT.]

Such are the outward signs of a weak hoof; but if the person beholding
that sort of foot be in any doubt, let him lift it from the ground and
inspect the sole. That part will also present peculiarities which can
hardly fail to attract attention.

The sole of a weak foot has a thin and irregular margin of crust; a flat
surface; well-developed bars, and a healthy frog. Creatures with this
kind of hoof, when brought to work upon hard roads or London stones, are
apt to throw the foot down with heedless force at every step, and thereby
soon to bruise the sole. These horses generally have high action, and this
circumstance lends additional force to the blow; the injury reaches the
coffin-bone, which begins to enlarge, and ultimately forces the horny sole
outward. A pumice foot has the appearance of the member represented on the
next page, though the reader must not anticipate the illustration will
accurately indicate every stage of the disorder.

Feet of the above description generally have very weak and brittle crusts;
but the frog almost invariably is large and prominent; there is no kind of
foot which so generally exhibits a healthy frog, and the next page shows
an engraving of the ground surface of a pumice foot, in illustration of
the fact.

There are many methods proposed for amending a pumiced foot. One is
the removal of the shoe; then allowing the deformed foot to stand a
certain portion of time upon flat flag-stones. But as stamping the foot
upon stones produced pumice foot, prolonged stress thereon does not
seem calculated to remove the deformity. A pumice foot is not a lump of
pudding, to be flattened by simple pressure. In the horse's hoof there
is bone and flesh to operate upon. Even supposing the standing upon
flag-stones was beneficial, what immediate result could be anticipated
from a medicine which was to be administered once in three weeks, and for
half an hour only at each application?

[Illustration: THE SIDE VIEW OF A PUMICED FOOT.

Showing the swollen or rounded state of the sole, with the brittle and
uneven condition of the crust.]

[Illustration: THE SOLE OF A PUMICED FOOT.

Displaying a ragged wall, and exhibiting a very healthy frog and a bulging
sole.]

Another artifice is to draw a hot iron over the sole at every shoeing. The
intention is to stimulate the horn and thus render the sole of greater
thickness. But that which may affect the secreting membrane of the foot
may also stimulate the bone to which that membrane is attached. Thus the
intended remedy may turn out to be a positive aggravation. There are also
other methods of intended relief, but all are equally useless.

[Illustration: A PUMICED FOOT DIVIDED.

Showing the altered state of the internal structures.]

[Illustration: A DISH SHOE.

Employed in cases of severe pumice foot.]

The only means of real benefit lies in the treatment of the hoof and in
the mode of shoeing. For the last, select what is denominated a "dish"
shoe; that is, a bar shoe, having the web hollowed out like to the sides
of a pie-dish. The only part of this shoe which touches the ground is the
rim of the inner circle.

This kind of shoe will protect the bulging sole, and if shod with leather,
the protection will be greater, though the shoe will, in that case, be
more difficult to retain. The flat surface at the posterior part of the
shoe presents a point for the bearing of the frog, which can afford
almost any amount of pressure. The many nail holes made around the shoe
denote the difficulty the smith encounters when fixing a protection of
this sort upon the pumiced hoof. The crust of the foot is always brittle,
and the weight of iron employed being greater than usual requires an extra
number of nails to fasten it securely. The smith consequently, in such
cases, has no choice. He must drive a nail wherever he can find the horn
which will sustain one.

With regard to the horn, keep that continually dressed with equal parts
of animal glycerin and tar. Moisten the hoof with this mixture twice a
day. No improvement may be remarked in a week; but in two or three months
the crust will have become perceptibly less brittle, and the labor of the
smith will be rendered far less perplexing. For the abnormal condition of
the foot--that is permanent and nothing can be done beyond employing such
artifices as are calculated to relieve the affliction.


SANDCRACK.

Any cause which weakens the body of the horse by interfering with the
health of its secretions may induce =sandcrack=. Treading for any length
of time upon ground from which all moisture is absent, by rendering the
horn hard or dry, may cause the hoof to be brittle and give rise to
sandcrack. However, this last provocative seldom operates in this country;
when sandcrack occurs in an English horse, it is generally generated by
debility, which leads to the secretion of faulty horn. So far, however, is
this from being the prevailing opinion, and so little sympathy does the
horse receive in its diseases, that the endeavor, indeed the custom, of
all veterinary surgeons is to continue at work the horse having a division
running completely through the hoof.

Sandcracks are of two sorts. Quarter crack, which chiefly happens among
the lighter breed of animals; toe crack, which occurs principally with
cart-horses, and mostly with those which work between the shafts.

Quarter sandcrack is of the least importance of the two. It is oftenest
seen upon the inner quarter of the hoof, where the horn, being thinnest,
is most subjected to motion. Usually it commences at the coronet,
extending to the sole, and also to the sensitive laminæ.

A horse thus affected should be thrown up; should be placed in a large,
loose box, and receive soft, nutritious food, such as boiled oats, boiled
linseed, and scalded hay. A little green-meat occasionally should be
allowed to regulate the bowels; greased swabs should be placed over the
hoof and under the sole. A bar shoe should be worn upon the affected
foot. This treatment should be continued till the horse has recovered from
its debility.

[Illustration: QUARTER SANDCRACK.

Generally met with, in fast horses, upon the inner side of the fore foot.]

With regard to the crack itself, take a fine knife and gradually scrape
off the sharp edges till the division assumes the appearance of a
groove. If the crack does not reach through to the flesh, no fear need
be entertained concerning the lower edges of the crack, because the horn
secreted by the laminæ is of a soft nature, and will most readily yield.
Besides, paring the outer horn often prevents the inner layer being
cracked by the motion of the foot; this being done, should the division
not descend the entire length of the hoof, or reach from the ground to
the coronet, with a firing-iron, heated to redness, draw a line at each
extremity of the fissure. The line need not be made so deep as will
occasion pain; it is only necessary that the mark should go through the
hard outer crust of the foot to prevent extension of the division.

Should the separation be the whole way down the hoof, it is as well
to adopt either the plan followed by the late Mr. Read, or the mode
pursued by Mr. Woodger, the clever practical veterinarian, well known in
Paddington. Mr. Read used to make a semicircular line near the coronet
with the hot iron: Mr. Woodger has for years been accustomed to draw
lines from the coronet to the crack in the shape of a V, with the same
instrument. Both methods have a like intention, namely, to cut off the
coronet from the inferior portion of the hoof, thereby preventing the
movements of the foot from operating upon the newly secreted horn.
However, Mr. Woodger's plan being the easiest, and quite as effective as
that of the late Mr. Read, is certainly the best.

[Illustration: A PARTIAL QUARTER SANDCRACK DRESSED AND SHOD.]

[Illustration: THE METHODS OF ERADICATING A SANDCRACK: EITHER THE
SEMICIRCULAR OR THE ANGULAR LINES ARE EQUALLY EFFECTIVE.]

Sandcrack, when it occurs at the toe, usually extends the entire length
of the foot, and leaves a portion of bleeding flesh exposed. The laminæ,
being opened to the stimulating effects of the air, are very apt to throw
out a crop of luxuriant granulations. These, of course, are pinched
between the two sides of the division. They bleed freely; often, from the
pressure, they turn black, and then smell abominably. The putrid action,
having once commenced, is apt to extend, and portions of the coffin-bone
are likely to exfoliate.

Now to prevent this, so soon as the horse is brought in with a sandcrack,
wash the part thoroughly with the chloride of zinc lotion, one grain to
the ounce of water. The bleeding having ceased, pare down the outward
edges of the separation, and put on a bar shoe, eased off at the toe,
and with a clip on either side of the division. If the injury has not
extended the length of the hoof, you must make a line at each extremity
with a heated iron, as in quarter crack, than which it is also of more
consequence that the coronet should be isolated; because the external
horn being thickest at the toe, is the more likely by its movements to be
influential upon the new and plastic horn of the coronet.

[Illustration: A FOOT WITH TOE SANDCRACK.

Illustrating the mode of shoeing with clips, and of easing off at the toe;
also exemplifying the manner of paring down the hoof, and showing the part
where granulations are likely to appear.]

Should, however, the granulations have appeared, and the horse, with
appetite lost and the head dejected, the pulse thumping and the injured
foot held in the air, appear the picture of a living misery, first
cleanse the wound thoroughly with the chloride of zinc lotion. Then apply
a firing-iron, of a black heat, to the hoof, near to the crack. The
intention, in doing this, is to warm and thus to soften the horn. This
effect being accomplished, pare down or scoop off the edges--using the
heated iron again, if necessary. Do all this leisurely, and with every
consideration for the animal, which endures intense agony; for anything
like violence or impatience tells fearfully upon the sufferer's system.

The horn being lowered, take a very sharp drawing-knife, and, with one
movement of the wrist, excise the granulation. Set down the foot, and
leave it to bleed; the loss of blood will lower the inflammation and will
benefit the internal parts. Give a little green-meat to cool the system
and act upon the bowels. Then, with the constant use of the lotion, enough
has been done for one day.

The following morning you may again apply the lotion, and continue to use
it afterward thrice daily. Any further lowering may also be accomplished
to the edges of the crack, as well as the coronal portion of the horn be
separated from the lower part of the hoof, by means of lines drawn as
before illustrated.

If the horse must go to work, remember, it should not be in the shafts,
upon long journeys, or with a heavy load behind it. Before the animal
quits the stable, lay a piece of tow saturated with the lotion within the
crack, and bind that in with a wax-end; tie a strip of cloth over all;
give this bandage a coating of tar; and, when the horse returns, be sure
to inspect the part. Should any grit have penetrated, wash it out with
the lotion, and do not begrudge a minute or two to remove that which, if
allowed to remain, may cause the animal much additional anguish. Then give
the suffering creature a nice, deep bed, some scalded hay, and a mash made
of bruised oats, into which has been thrown a handful each of linseed and
of crushed beans; moisten these last constituents with the water drawn
from the scalded hay, and, if the horse should not appear hungry, throw
among the hay half a handful of common salt.

[Illustration: A HORSE'S FOOT DRESSED FOR TOE SANDCRACK.

Showing the way in which it should be bound up when work is imperative.]

The poor man may have some excuse for working an animal with sandcrack;
such a person cannot afford to keep the horse in idleness for the months
which the cure will occupy. But the worst cases of this kind the author
ever beheld have always been in quadrupeds belonging to wealthy tradesmen,
who had ample means to gratify their desires, but wanted the heart to feel
for mute affliction.


FALSE QUARTER.

=False quarter= is the partial absence of the outer and harder portion of
the hoof; the consequence is, that the sensitive laminæ, in the seat of
the false quarter, are only protected by their own soft or spongy horn.
This is frequently insufficient to save the foot from severe accident;
it is apt to crack, being strained by the motion of the hoof. The fleshy
parts are then exposed; bleeding ensues, and fungoid granulations
sometimes spring up; these are often pinched by the two sides of the
divided horn, between which they protrude. When such occurs, the treatment
should be the same as that recommended for sandcrack.

[Illustration: FALSE QUARTER, OR A DEFICIENCY OF THE OUTER WALL.]

[Illustration: THE ONLY POSSIBLE RELIEF FOR FALSE QUARTER.]

No art can cure a false quarter; a portion of the coronary substance has
been lost, and no medicine can restore it. All that can be done is to
mitigate the suffering; a bar shoe with a clip at the toe may be used,
the bearing being taken off at the seat of false quarter. The portion of
crust near to the weakened part should be beveled off, so as to join the
soft horn with an insensible edge. Some persons recommend a mixture of
pitch, tar, and rosin to be poured over the exposed quarter; the author
has not found this compound to answer; it peels and breaks off upon the
horse being put in motion. A piece of gutta-percha, of proportionate
thickness, fastened over the place, has sometimes remained on for a week,
and answered to admiration.


SEEDY TOE.

It appears not to have occurred to writers upon veterinary subjects that
the horse, which breathes but to work--for the instant its ability to toil
ceases the knacker becomes its possessor--that an animal which exists
under so severe a law, should occasionally be "used up;" that a creature
which is sold from master to master, all of whom become purchasers with
a view only to "the work" each can get out of the "thews and muscles,"
should occasionally be debilitated to that stage which might interfere
with the healthiness of its secretions, is a notion that seems to have
been beyond the reach of those writers who have hitherto composed books
upon the equine race. A separation between the union of the two layers
of horn which compose the crust has been long known; it has been much
thought about, and the fancy has been somewhat racked to account for its
origin. Still, although the human physician has recorded the brittle state
and abnormal condition of man's nails in peculiar stages of disease, no
one seems thence to have argued that a certain condition of body might
possibly affect the hoofs of our stabled servant.

[Illustration: SECTION OF A HORSE'S FOOT AFFECTED WITH SEEDY TOE.]

The method of cure which the author adopted, led thereto by the admirable
lectures of Mr. Spooner, and the success it met, soon made apparent the
fact of its origin; but, before describing this, it may be as well to
inform the reader in what consists a seedy state of the horse's toe.

The wall of the foot is composed of two layers--the outer one, the
hardest, the darkest, and the thinnest, is secreted by the coronet; the
inner layer, the softest, thickest, and most light in color, is derived
from the sensitive laminæ. These different kinds of horn, in a healthy
state, unite one with the other, so that the two apparently form one
substance. The junction makes a thick, elastic, and strong body, whereto
an iron shoe can be safely nailed, and whereon the enormous bulk of the
horse's frame may with safety rest.

But when overwork affects the natural functions of the body, the two kinds
of horn do not unite; their division invariably begins at the toe, as it
always commences in the nail of the human being at the outer margin. If
the seedy toe be tapped or gently struck, it emits a hollow sound; and if
the shoe be removed, there will be found a vacant space between the two
layers of horn; into this space a nail, a piece of broom, or a straw is
commonly pushed, to ascertain the depth of the lesion.

[Illustration: THE APPEARANCE PRESENTED BY SEEDY TOE WHEN THE SHOE IS
REMOVED, AND THE GROUND SURFACE OF THE WALL IS INSPECTED.]

Mr. Spooner advised that the whole of the detached horn should be cut
away. The writer, however, insists that the horse should be thrown up--not
turned out to grass, but placed in an airy, loose box, and liberally
fed, or otherwise so treated as its condition may require. Once every
fortnight, for two months, the smith should inspect the foot, and should
cut away so much of the outer wall as may still be disunited. It commonly
takes three or four months for the hoof to grow down or to become perfect;
and rest, with liberal feeding, during this time, is sufficient to
renovate an exhausted frame. A new and sound covering for the hoof of the
invigorated horse is secreted by the expiration of the period named; nor
has it reached the knowledge of the writer that any animal, after such a
mode of treatment, has been liable to a second attack.

[Illustration: THE APPEARANCE OF THE HOOF AFTER THE SEEDY TOE HAS BEEN
REMOVED WITH THE KNIFE.]

The ordinary method of cure is to cut away the hoof; then, having nailed
a shoe on, to send the disfigured horse to resume labor. Under this
form of treatment, the seedy division, once confined to the toe, has
extended to the quarters; the structure of the hoof being destroyed, the
horn was unfitted for its purposes. The weight of the body forced the
sensitive laminæ from the coronary secretion, and the foot, after long
treatment, became a deformity. The author has never beheld so lamentable
a termination; but it is described by writers upon seedy toe with a
complacency which seems to regard so grievous a result as the natural
consequence of an intractable disorder.


TREAD AND OVERREACH.

=Tread= is a very rare occurrence with light horses; the author has met
with but one instance. Then, from the horse being a good stepper, and
from the accident happening toward the end of a long journey, as well as
from certain indications of the wound itself, it was conjectured to have
occurred in the manner depicted below.

[Illustration: TREAD IN LIGHT HORSES.

The hind foot, from fatigue, not being removed soon enough, is wounded by
the heel of the fore shoe being placed upon its coronet.]

[Illustration: TREAD UPON THE HIND FOOT OF CART-HORSES.

The animal become unsteady from exhaustion; the feet cross, and a wound
results.]

However, among cart-horses such a form of injury is more frequent; these
poor animals have to drag heavy loads, at a slow pace, it is true, but to
long distances; they are generally badly fed. Farmers' horses, especially
during the spring and summer months, being supported upon green-meat,
the watery nourishment impoverishes the blood, and the exhausting labor
undermines the system. Often the load has to be taken down hill, toward
the end of a tedious journey; the whole burden then rests upon the shafts,
and the wretched horse which is between them rocks under the weight like a
drunken man. The legs cross, till at last the calkin belonging to the shoe
of one hind foot tears away a large lump of the opposite coronet. A piece
of flesh is commonly left upon the ground; the hemorrhage is extreme, and
the wagon is brought to a stand.

The worst case of the kind the writer ever saw occurred after the
preceding fashion; and the carter--who, by-the-by, was proprietor of
the sufferer--left the poor horse in a forge, giving orders that the
smith was to do what he could, or to have it killed, as he pleased. The
smith consulted the writer, and he treated the wound after the method
recommended for open joint, or by bathing it thrice daily with the
solution of chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of water. In a week a
large slough took place; this opened the coffin-joint, and left a portion
of the extensor pedis tendon hanging from the orifice. The treatment was
continued; the lameness, which at first was excessive, gradually grew
less; the piece of tendon sloughed out, and the wound began to heal. It
had closed when the animal was fetched away by the owner; but the writer
was unable afterward to learn whether false quarter ensued upon the
injury. This, from the extent of the wound, the writer would conjecture
to have been probable; indeed, false quarter and quittor are the general
consequences of severe tread.

[Illustration: OVERREACH OCCURRING DURING THE EXHAUSTION OF LIGHT HORSES.]

=Overreach= is confined to fast horses; it happens to those which are good
steppers. When tired, the feet are apt to be moved irregularly; thus, one
foot is often in its place before the other has been lifted; the result
is, that the inner part of the hind foot strikes the outer side of the
fore coronet. A wound, and frequently a severe one, is the consequence.
False quarter or quittor is likely to ensue; the treatment must be the
same as was before described. No poultices are required; these only add to
the weight of the injured limb, and augment the distress of the animal. No
harsh measures should be allowed; the horse has enough to bear; a slough
has to take place. This is a severe tax upon the strength; all the good
food and prepared water the animal can consume will not now be thrown
away; the treatment is materially shortened by the nourishment being
sustaining of its kind, and liberal in quantity; but the injury should be
treated only with the knife, and the chloride of zinc lotion described in
the course of this article.


CORNS.

=Corns= are of four kinds--the old, the new, the sappy, and the
suppurating; all are caused by bruises to the sensitive sole. The shoe is
the passive agent in their production, when they occur in large, fleshy
feet; the thick, unyielding, horny sole is the passive agent, when they
are present in contracted feet. The coffin-bone, in both cases, is the
active agent; the wings, or posterior portions of this bone, project
backward nearly as far as the bars, or immediately over the seat of corn.
When the horse is in motion, the coffin-bone can never remain still; it
rises, or rather the wings are drawn upward by the flexor tendon, every
time the foot is lifted from the earth, and sinks, because of the weight
cast upon it, every time the foot touches the ground. The wings of the
bone, thus in constant action, when the horny sole is weak, often descend
upon the fleshy sole, and bruise that substance upon the iron shoe; what
is called a corn is the consequence. In contracted feet, where the sole
is high, thick, and resistant, the horny sole does not descend, even when
the immense weight of the horse's body rests upon it. It remains firm and
fixed during every action of the animal--not so, however, the coffin-bone,
which is in continuous motion. The result, of course, is, the imposed
burden forces the wings of the coffin-bone downward. The horny sole will
not yield, and the fleshy sole is therefore bruised between the wings
of the coffin-bone and the horn bottom of the hoof; a corn is thereby
established.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM

    Showing the position of the hindermost part of the coffin-bone when
    in a passive state; also portraying the shoe in the fleshy or flat
    foot.
]

[Illustration: DIAGRAM

    Illustrating the relative positions of the wings of the coffin-bone,
    and the thick, concave, horny sole of the contracted foot when not
    in motion.
]

Corns in a horse do not answer to those excrescences found upon the feet
of man; being bruises, they consist of effusion in every instance. The
effusion may either be of blood or of serum; blood constitutes the old and
the new corn, serum gives rise to the sappy corn. The suppurative corn is
an after-consequence of either of those just named; when the effusion has
been so large as to defy absorption, a new action is started up--pus is
secreted, and a suppurative corn is then created.

[Illustration: THE SITUATION AND ASPECT OF AN OLD CORN UPON A LARGE,
FLAT FOOT.]

[Illustration:

    THE DEEPLY-SEATED AND SMALL, SCARLET SPOT WHICH DECLARES THE
    PRESENCE OF A NEW CORN.
]

An old corn is the least serious, especially when it is easily cut away;
it appears as a black mark upon the surface of the horny sole, and is
little thought of when it can be speedily removed by the knife, because
this shows the horse had a corn, but at present is free from such an
annoyance. When, however, a superficial corn cannot be scooped out with
the drawing-knife, but becomes brighter and brighter as more and more horn
is cut away, till it assumes the scarlet aspect of a new corn, the matter
is rather grave, because it denotes the horse to have had, and not to have
been free from, corns during the growth of the present sole.

The new corn, as has been just intimated, consists of a portion of blood
effused into the pores of the horn, and is of a bright-scarlet color.
The size is of some consequence, as it best intimates the extent of the
injury; if the stain be small and deep seated, it is of least moment.

The sappy corn is the consequence of a more gentle bruise, when serum and
lymph only are effused--the horn being thereby merely rendered moist, not
discolored. This species of corn is not very common, and by proper shoeing
is readily removed.

The suppurating corn is the worst of all; it engenders heat in the foot,
and causes excessive lameness; it creates all that anguish, a shadowy
taste of which the human being endures when pus is confined beneath the
substance of the finger-nail. The foot cannot be put to the ground; the
arteries of the pastern throb forcibly; the countenance is dejected; and
every symptom of acute suffering in a large body is exhibited.

Corns, which in man are found on the lower members, in the horse are
generally witnessed only upon the fore feet. The writer has rarely seen an
instance of their presence behind; but in whichever foot they appear, they
must be the production of an instant, though, probably, the suppurative
may be an exception; yet from these always being suddenly observed,
even this species are said to be of instantaneous origin. A horse, when
progressing, makes a false step; a sanguineous or sappy corn is by that
faulty action established. The same horse may trot home perfectly sound,
and be put into the stable for the night a healthy animal; but on the
following morning it may be discovered standing on three legs. Pus may,
in the interval, have been secreted, and the corn may have assumed the
suppurative character.

[Illustration: THE SOLE OF THE HORSE'S FOOT BEING TESTED FOR CORNS.]

The manner to examine for corn is, in the first place, to mark the age of
the horse; then observe if, in the trot, either leg is favored. The animal
being young, splint is the common cause of uneven action; if old, corns
are more generally expected; the horse is brought to a stand and the smith
sent for. The man raises the fore foot, and, taking a portion of crust and
sole between the teeth of the pincers, gradually increases the pressure;
he thus proceeds till he has by successive trials squeezed the sole all
round. If the leg, while undergoing the operation, be withdrawn near
either of the nails, the ideas take a different direction to that of corn;
but if the foot be held steady, the seat of corn is lastly squeezed.
Should no flinching be witnessed, the examination is not esteemed
satisfactory until the smith has, with a small drawing-knife, denominated
a searcher, cut away a portion of the sole at the seat of corn.

The sensibility will be extreme should suppurating corn be present; in
that case the sole must be gradually removed until the pus is released.
That being done, the shoe should be taken off and the foot put into a bran
poultice. By this means the horn will be rendered more soft and the wound
cleansed. The smith, on the following day, must again cut the foot, every
portion of detached horn being very carefully excised.

The horn is itself a secretion, and, in a healthy state, is intimately
united with the source of its origin. When, however, pus is effused, this
always lies between the secreting membrane and the horn, which has been
already secreted. The horn so displaced by the presence of a foreign
substance is called under-run or detached; and all horn, so under-run or
detached, must be removed. When this operation is properly performed, all
signs of lameness will have generally disappeared. It is usual, however,
to tack the old shoe on again; and having dressed the injury with chloride
of zinc and water--one grain to the ounce--there remains only to examine
the foot from time to time till new horn covers the surface; merely taking
precaution for the present to shield the wound with a little tow, fastened
in its place by a couple of cross splints.

When sanguineous or sappy corns are found, the method is, firstly to thin
the sole, so as to render it pliable, especially over the seat of corn.
Should a sappy corn have rendered the horn moist for any space, or should
the discoloration caused by sanguineous corn be of any size, it is as well
always to open the center of the part indicated: no matter should the
cut release only a small quantity of serum or a little blood. Take away
a small portion of horn; pare the sole till it yield to the pressure of
the thumb. When such a proceeding is necessary, the bars may be entirely
removed, and the wounds should be covered with some tar spread upon a
pledget of fine tow. As soon as the orifice is protected by new horn, the
horse may be shod with a leathern sole and returned to its proprietor.

Such a course would occupy little time--a week at most. Yet the great
majority of horse proprietors appear to have "flinty hearts," as nearly
all of them begrudge the necessary day of rest to the maimed animal
which has been injured in their employment. The cry, where the horse is
concerned, is "toil, toil!" The veterinary surgeon is often asked "if
_absolute_ rest is imperative." He is frequently solicited to patch up the
poor animal, so that it may do a _little_ work. As day after day passes
onward, the tone becomes more and more authoritative. The horse is at
last too often demanded from the hospital, and taken to resume ordinary
labor before the injury is effaced. Should no evil effect ensue on such a
culpable want of caution, the proprietor is apt to chuckle over his daring
with another's sufferings, and to blame the science which would not incur
risk, even to propitiate an employer.

[Illustration: THE POSTERIOR OF A HORSE'S FOOT SHOD WITH LEATHER.

    The central angular mark indicates the place into which the liquid
    stopping should be poured.
]

Corn is not generally reckoned unsoundness. If a horse be lame from corn,
the lameness renders the horse unsound; but the corn does not. Such is the
beauty of horse logic when pronounced in a court of justice! A corn may
suppurate, or may provoke lameness at any moment. Still the corn, in the
bleared eye of the law, is no sufficient objection to the purchase of a
horse. The suppurated corn may lead to quittor--still, corn is not legal
unsoundness. It is a pity such is the case, since it leads men to neglect
that which is removable. When the sole is high, the shoe should always
be accompanied by a leathern sole. Liquid stopping should be poured into
the open space at the back of the foot; and at every time of shoeing, the
smith should pare the sole quite thin, even until drops of blood bedew the
surface of the horn. When corns appear in flat or fleshy feet, as shoeing
time comes round, only have the very ragged portions of the frog taken
away. Have the web of the shoe narrowed so as to remove all chance of
pressure against the iron. Lower the heels of the shoe, or try a bar shoe
with the bearing taken off over the seat of corn; should that not answer,
next put on a three-quarter shoe: many horses, however, will go sound in
tips, that cannot endure any other sort of protection to the foot. By
resort to one or the other of these measures, that injury, which in the
learned eye of the law is of no consequence, but which, nevertheless, may
lead to terrible lameness, or even lay the foundation for a quittor, may
be greatly mitigated.

=Bruise of the sole= is an accident leading to effusion of blood--so
far it resembles corn; but it is dissimilar in not occurring on a part
subject to the same degree of motion, and, therefore, is not so severe in
the consequences to which it leads. It is caused by treading on a stone,
and is removed by paring off the horn which has been discolored or lies
immediately beneath the injury. It seldom leads to great lameness or gives
rise to serious results. It is treated after the manner directed for corn;
but it is always advisable to shoe once, with leather, the horse which
has suffered from bruise of the sole. The difference between corn and
bruise of the sole is simply this: the first is an injury produced by a
cause which is always within the control of the proprietor, and which, if
neglected, is likely to lead to the most disastrous maladies; the last is
purely an accident, to which any horse at any time is liable, and with
ordinary care is not likely to give rise to any serious consequences.

=Prick of the foot= is an injury incurred while the horse is being shod.
There are two sorts of this accident: one, when the nail penetrates the
fleshy substance of the sensitive laminæ and draws blood; the other is
when a nail is driven too fine, or among the soft horn which lines the
interior of the hoof, and consequently lies near to the sensitive laminæ.
The first is of the more immediate importance; but the last may be equally
serious in its effect. As the horse works, the strain upon the shoe bends
the nail fixed into soft horn. It thus is made to press upon the sensitive
laminæ, and may provoke suppuration.

[Illustration: PRICK OF THE FOOT AND BRUISE OF THE SOLE.

    The smaller opening represents prick of the foot: the larger space
    indicates bruise of the sole. The extent to which the horn may be
    removed, in the generality of cases, is also indicated.
]

To detect whether the smith is at fault, the foot should be first squeezed
between the pincers as for common corn; then have the nails withdrawn one
by one, and mark each as it is removed. If one appears moist or wet, have
the hole of that nail freely opened. Let the shoe be replaced, leaving
that nail out. Put a little tow, covered with tar, over the wound, and
shoe with leather. If, however, lameness should still be present, the
shoe must again be taken off and the injury treated as recommended for
suppurating corn.

Blame the smith who pricks a horse and conceals the fact; punish the
fellow to the extent of your power. But the man who pricks a foot and
acquaints you with the circumstance, deserves civility. The last enables
you to take proper measures, such as paring out, etc., and thereby you
avoid all unpleasantness. The first braves chances with your living
property, and deserves to suffer if the hazard go against him.


QUITTOR.

This is a severe and painful disease. Many a horse is, at the present
moment, working with a suppurative wound above the hoof, within the
interior of which run numerous sinuses. The police arrest the driver of
the horse when the condition is so bad as permits the collar to wring the
shoulders. Of all other shapes of misery they seem ignorant. Animals limp
over the stones, every step being an agony; but the policemen look on at
such pictures with placid countenances. Horses are driven at night in a
state of glanders which renders them dangerous to mankind; yet no officer
thinks of looking at the head of an animal for the sign of suffering or
the warning of public peril. Creatures, in every stage of misery, may
be seen openly progressing along the streets of the metropolis; but so
the shoulders be sound, the brute who goads them forward performs his
office with impunity. Still, it is something gained, that the law has
recognized the want of man's _absolute_ power over the feelings of those
creatures intrusted to his care. Let us hope, as knowledge extends, the
legal perceptions will be quickened. It is partly with this view that the
present "illustrated work" is published.

=Quittor= is a terrible disorder. To comprehend thoroughly the pain which
accompanies it, the reader must understand the structures through which
it has to penetrate, and the substances it has to absorb. All parts are
slowly acted upon in proportion as they are lowly organized. Cartilage is
the structure into the composition of which no blood-vessels enter. Next
to cartilage is bone, which, though supplied with vessels, is, on account
of its mixture with inorganic matter, exposed only to slow decay, and the
exfoliation of which is effected at a vast expense to the vital energy.
These substances mainly compose the foot of the horse. In addition,
there is ligament, almost as slowly acted upon as bone; disease in which
substance is accompanied by the greatest anguish. Horn is an external
protection; but that material, though an animal secretion, is strictly
inorganic: when cut it does not occasion pain--neither does it bleed. If
a portion of horn should press upon the flesh it must be removed by the
knife; for, unlike the more highly-gifted structures, there is no chance
of its being absorbed.

The hoof, therefore, being the external covering to the foot of the horse,
and not being liable to the same action as organic secretions, serves
to confine pus or matter when generated within its substance. Pus could
work through the largest organized body; but it cannot escape through the
thinnest layer of horn. Now, most of the other substances which enter into
the composition of the horse's foot are such as slowly decay; but those
parts which slowly decay being without sensation during health, occasion
the most extreme agony when diseased.

The cause of quittor always is confined pus or matter, which, in its
effort to escape, absorbs and forms sinuses in various directions within
the sensitive substances of the hoof. In the hind feet of cart-horses
quittor generally commences at the coronet; the coronet is wounded or
bruised by the large calkins or pieces of iron turned up at the back of
the hind shoes, which are universally worn by animals of heavy draught.
Any one who has punctured or cut the coronet of a dead horse knows
this structure is as difficult to penetrate and as hard to divide as
cartilage itself; the consequence of an injury to such a part is, the
bruise produces death of some deep-seated portion of the compact coronet.
Nature, after her own fashion, proceeds to cast off that which is without
vitality, or, in other words, she divides the dead from the living tissues
by a line of suppuration; but the matter thus located cannot readily
escape through the harsh material of the horse's coronet. It is confined
and becomes corrupt, while the constant motion of the foot and the higher
organization of the secreting membrane of the horn inclines the pus to
take a downward direction. However, it is more difficult for pus to pierce
the horny sole than to penetrate the coronet; so the effort is renewed
above; numerous pipes or sinuses are thus formed upon the sensitive
laminæ; the fleshy sole is often under-run, and this mischief goes on
until the coronet, which becomes of enormous size, at last yields to the
increasing evil.

Another cause is pricking the sensitive part of the foot with a nail
during shoeing; the wound generates pus, the pus cannot penetrate the
horn, and the motion of the coffin-bone causes it to absorb upward, until
after some time it breaks forth at the coronet.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM.

    Which supposed the outward covering of the coronet and the horny
    wall of the hoof removed, to expose the ravages of quittor, when
    commencing in the coronet of a heavy horse.
]

[Illustration: DIAGRAM.

    The covering of the coronet and horny crust supposed to be absent,
    and exposing the manner in which any suppurating injury to the sole
    of the foot ultimately causes a wound above the hoof.
]

Another cause is corn; the horse's corn is nothing more than a bruise; the
bruise, in some instances, is severe, and takes on the suppurative action.
The pus, as before, is confined, and by the motion of the coffin-bone it
is propelled upward till it breaks forth at the coronet, which, as before,
enlarges to deformity; in short, any injury done to the sole of the foot
or to the coronet above it may produce quittor.

The leading sign of quittor, before it breaks, is a large swelling at the
coronet, attended with heat and excessive lameness. In cart-horses, it
is usually present in the hind feet; but in the lighter species it more
frequently occurs in the fore feet. It generally appears upon the inner
side of the hoof, though, of course, it has often been witnessed upon
the outer coronet. Quittor becomes a huge swelling before it breaks. The
amount of tumefaction symbolizes the amount of anguish; it is, indeed, a
most painful disorder.

[Illustration:

    A QUITTOR, AS IT DENOTES ITS EXISTENCE BEFORE THE PUS ABSORBS ITS
    WAY THROUGH THE CORONET.
]

[Illustration: A QUITTOR, AFTER THE PUS HAS FOUND AN EXIT AT THE CORONET.]

The animal, after the pus has found vent, becomes easier; fever departs;
the appetite returns, and the enlargement greatly diminishes.

In the cure of a quittor, all depend upon the time during which the
disease has been allowed to exist; if brought under notice at first, and
from an examination a belief is confirmed that the sinuses are wholly
superficial, no treatment is comparable to the plan of slitting them up,
the method of doing which will be described in a subsequent chapter; this
at once affords relief. The horse, which was limping lame, upon getting up
puts the foot fearlessly to the ground, and trots sound.

If we have reason to believe the matter has burrowed inwardly, and that
one or more sinuses have penetrated the cartilages and threaten the
deeper-seated parts, still we should settle with the knife all those pipes
which are superficial. This gives a better view of the structures supposed
to be diseased; then, if among the matter thrown out by the healing
wounds there is seen a speck or two of fluid, which, being gelatinous and
transparent, looks dark among the opaque creamy pus, be sure there remains
further work to be accomplished.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM.

    An attempt to depict the small size of the transparent fluid,
    indicating the existence of a sinus, when it appears at the wound
    whence issues the stream of thick and creamy pus.
]

Cut a small twig from the stable broom; this is pliable, and, where a
sinus is concerned, makes the best possible probe. With a knife, render
it perfectly clean, as well as round or blunt at one end; then, while an
assistant holds up the foot, insert it in the center of the dark fluid. If
it should not at first detect an opening, you must not give up the trial;
the probe must be moved about, and even a smaller one procured. A sinus
does exist; of that you have positive proof; the pipe being found, mix
some powdered corrosive sublimate with three times its bulk of flour;
then wet the probe; dip the probe into the powder and afterward insert it
into the sinus. Do this several times till you feel certain that every
portion of the pipe is brought in contact with the caustic.

The horse, subsequently, will become very dull; the foot will grow very
painful: thus it will continue for two days. About the third day, a white,
curd-like matter is discharged from the orifice. The lameness disappears,
and the spirits are regained.

It is against our inclination to publish such directions; but the author
has knowledge of no gentler or more speedy measure. The better plan for
the gentleman who is tender of his servants' feelings, and infinitely the
cheaper for the person who is regardful of his pocket, is to have every
animal inspected by a qualified veterinary surgeon so soon as it displays
acute lameness. Were such the practice, corn, prick of the foot, or wound
of the coronet need not run on to quittor. That is an affection which
loudly pronounces man to utterly disregard the welfare of his most willing
slave. It always originates in neglect. It always requires time for its
development. It springs from that idle and silly maxim which, when a horse
falls lame, treats the circumstance as though the honest animal were
shamming, and teaches a hard-hearted proprietor to work the poor drudge
sound again.


CANKER.

=Thrush= is a disease that causes a certain liquid to be secreted which
has the property of decomposing the horn. =Canker= is a disease which not
only is attended with a liquid having a like property, but the last-named
affection also causes fungoid horn to be secreted. Canker, therefore,
appears to be an aggravation of thrush; and anybody who has been much
among the animals of the poorer classes may have observed these diseases
lapse into each other: thrush will, through neglect, become canker.

Thrush appears to be the commencement of the disorganization of the food.
Canker is the total perversion of the secreting powers belonging to the
same organ. In thrush, a foul humor having a corruptive property is poured
forth. In canker, something is superadded to this. The horn itself is sent
forth in large quantity as a soft, unhealthy material, totally divested of
elasticity and devoid of all healthy resistance.

Any animal, being exposed to the exciting cause, may exhibit thrush; but,
before canker seems capable of being produced, poor living must have
undermined the constitution. Old horses--pensioners, as they are humanely
termed--when turned out to grass, frequently have canker, which otherwise
should be confined to the animals of poverty, on which bad lodging, no
grooming, stinted food, and hard work produce sad effects. The stable in
which a case of canker occurs is lamentably disgraced. Every attendant
in it ought to be discharged, as the surest evidence of a gross want of
industry is thereby afforded.

A horse, perhaps once the pride of the favorite daughter, may descend to
be the hack of some bawling dust collector. Its wants increase as age
progresses; but with the accumulation of years its hardships augment. It
is sad, very sad, to stand within the shed of some corn-chandler, and
witness, as the day draws in, ragged boys advance and shout out, "Three
pen'orth o' 'ay bunds." Upon those hay-bands it is even more sad to
reflect what creature will be obliged to subsist--probably the darling
once of some aristocratic children! Now, cramped and diseased, it may
receive no other food between this time and the following evening. The
diet being meager, all the rest is on a parallel. The wretched animal is
purchased only for such a space as it may pull through before it passes to
the knackers. Every day of life is looked upon as a clear gain, for the
carcass may be sold for very nigh the price which has been paid for the
living body. The commonest attention is denied; its bed is filth, and its
nightly hay-bands are cast upon the flooring.

What, the humane reader may inquire, can be done to prevent such a state
of things? Something surely might be accomplished. To make men good,
it is first necessary to educate them by communicating knowledge and
also by preventing the commission of wickedness. Were the sanitary laws
enforced in their spirit, no man would keep an animal who had not proper
accommodation for the creature he possessed as a property. A horse or a
donkey consumes much more air than any human being. The air ejected from
the lungs of a quadruped is deprived of all life-sustaining qualities.
The filth of a stable is as corruptive as any cess-pool connected with a
laborer's cottage. The atmosphere which can in the horse engender disease
cannot promote health in the superior animal. Yet how does it happen
that, while sanitary reports are eloquent upon filth and fluent about
cess-pools--while they descant learnedly upon foul abodes, and enter into
all particulars concerning corrupted atmosphere--the close, contaminated
stables in which all costermongers, and some gentlemen, shut up their
drudges when the labor of the day is over, are never alluded to, are
altogether abjured, as though such nuisances had no existence?

Canker, like thrush, is not generally attended with much lameness. It
often astonishes us that, with a foot in such a condition, the animal can
progress so soundly. It invariably commences at the seat of thrush or in
the cleft of the frog. A liquid more abominable than that of thrush, and
rather more abundant, issues from that part. Likewise it frequently exudes
from the commissures, which unite the horny sole to the frog. The horn,
also, becomes not only disorganized, but more ragged than in thrush. It
bulges out at first, and ultimately flakes off, exposing a substance not
much more resistant than orange-peel. The substance is horn in a fungoid
state. Its fibers run from the center to the circumference; and between
the space of each fiber is lodged a clear liquid, which becomes tainted
and dark colored by mingling with the horn that it dissolves and corrupts.

[Illustration: THE PRIMARY ESTABLISHMENT OF CONFIRMED CANKER.

    The horn turned back, so as to display the altered state of the
    frog, which indicates a severe attack of the disease.
]

[Illustration: THE SECOND STAGE OF CANKER.

    Showing the great abundance of fungoid horn secreted around the
    margin of the foot. No notice is purposely taken of the frog in this
    illustration.
]

The fungus is secreted in quantity, and always is most abundant when
located about the edge of the sole. Here the papillæ are largest, and
here the granulations attain their greatest magnitude. The unresistant
horn of canker becomes somewhat hard upon the surface of the sole, and
large flakes peel off. Cut into, it displays no sensation; and this
is fortunate, inasmuch as it considerably reduces the difficulties
surrounding the treatment of a badly-cankered foot.

Concerning treatment, when the disease is confined to one hind foot, or
even affects both posterior feet, the case may be undertaken with some
degree of confidence. When it has involved one or more of the fore feet,
it is always difficult to eradicate; and, in the majority of cases--being
guided by the age of the animal--a cure had better not be attempted.

When a horse is cankered all round, the disease is apt to seem capricious.
It may be cured in three feet; but it will linger in the fourth, resisting
art's resources. Suddenly measures before tried in vain seem to be endowed
with marvelous efficacy. The diseased member, which hitherto no treatment
could touch, now heals as by its own accord. However, before we can
express the full of our satisfaction, canker once more breaks out again
in one of the feet which had been cured; thus the affection dodges about
till patience is exhausted.

Canker has hitherto been reckoned an intractable disorder. It is mostly
seen in heavy horses, with weak, flat feet. These creatures proverbially
receive but little grooming. They are esteemed only for their labor, and
honored with small attention, which does not decidedly fit them for their
work. Their stables are seldom to be cited as examples of what a horse's
home should be. Their beds are never too clean; and a number of foul
disorders, as thrush, grease, etc., are located among them. Their food is
generally measured by the scale of profit and loss; for few cart-horses,
in the generality of establishments, can boast of any extraordinary care
being lavished on their comfort.

For the treatment of canker, the first thing is to attend to the stable.
See that the building is lofty and well drained; that the ventilation is
perfect, and the bedding unexceptionable. Then inspect the water, the
oats, and the hay. Allow the horse a liberal support, and with each feed
of oats mingle a handful of old beans. These things being arranged, order
the animal into the forge. Cut away every portion of detached horn. When
that is done, pare off carefully so much of the soft, diseased horn as
the knife can readily separate. Then apply a dressing of the following
strength to the diseased parts:--

    Chloride of zinc            Half an ounce.
    Common flour                Four ounces.
      Mix, and apply dry on the foot.

To the sound parts use--

    Chloride of zinc            Four grains.
    Flour                       One ounce.

Cover over the sound parts before you begin to dress the fungoid
granulations.

Afterward tack on the shoe. Pad well, so as to obtain all the pressure
possible; and fasten the padding on the foot by means of cross pieces of
iron driven firmly under the shoe. Let the horse be carefully groomed, and
receive four hours' exercise daily.

On the second day remove the padding. Cut off so much of the granulations
as appear to be in a sloughing condition. Repeat the dressing, and
continue examining and redressing the foot every second day. When some
places appear to be in a state of confirmed health, an application of
the following strength should be employed to such parts; but where the
granulations continue to sprout, or the horn appears to be of a doubtful
character, the caustic mixtures of the original strength must be used:--

    Chloride of zinc            Two grains.
    Flour                       One ounce.

After some time, the dressings may be lengthened to every third day, but
should not be carried to the distance which some practitioners recommend.
When so long a period elapses between each examination, the foul and
irritating discharge, being confined, does more injury than the delay can
possibly produce good.

[Illustration:

    THE BOTTOM OF A HORSE'S FOOT WHICH HAS BEEN DRESSED FOR CANKER,
    SHOWING HOW THE CROSS PIECES ARE PLACED AND FIXED.
]

[Illustration: AN IMPROVEMENT IN A CANKERED FOOT.

    1. That portion of a cankered foot which is advancing toward a
    healthy condition.

    2. Canker in a mitigated form, but still present.
]

In the plan of treatment here proposed, the chief reliance is placed
on the action of chloride of zinc. It is the peculiar property of that
agent to suppress fungoid granulations. The author has some experience
in the use of this salt. Whenever he gave it to a groom to apply, and
subsequently he found the wound clogged with proud flesh, the man was
accused of having neglected to employ the lotion. The evidence on which
the charge was made never, in a single instance, proved erroneous. To
suppress fungoid granulation is to cure canker.

The application here advised is, moreover, cleanly. It is the most
powerful disinfectant. It does not discolor, like the messes now in
general use. It is more gentle in its action than undiluted sulphuric
acid, etc. etc. It will cause none of those terrible fits of agony, during
which all applications have to be removed, while the foot has to be bathed
and poulticed. Notwithstanding all authors agree that the absence of water
and the presence of pressure are indispensable to the cure of canker, the
frequent dressings will not endanger the life, nor leave the foot in that
condition which entails a deformed hoof upon the horse for the remainder
of its existence.


THRUSH.

Veterinary writers are very fond of splitting hairs about words. =Thrush=,
therefore, in most books, becomes "frush;" notwithstanding, if the reader
should consult any professional authority, or a professor at either of the
colleges, the person so appealed to will decidedly designate the disease
as it is here spelled. The disorder therefore bears, in these pages, the
name it carries in ordinary speech, and all far-fetched distinctions are
discarded.

[Illustration:

    THRUSH IN THE FORE FOOT, WITH A THICK CRUST, A CONCAVE SOLE, AND A
    SMALL FROG.
]

Thrush is a foul discharge issuing from the cleft of the frog, and
attended with disorganization of the horn. It is derived from two
causes--either internal disease or bad stable management. When internal
disease gives rise to thrush, it is present in the fore foot. The quarters
of the hoof are strong and high; the sole is thick and concave; the frog
small and ragged. When bad stable management provokes the disorder, it
shows itself in the hind foot, which may be of any shape; but the frog is
generally large, while the discharge is more copious than in the former
instance.

It is sad to think that the creature which lives but to toil, and whose
existence is a type of such slavery that its greatest freedom is to
labor, should be begrudged the bed whereon it reposes, or be doomed to
stand in filth which will generate disease. The horse's foot is not very
susceptible to external influences. It is incased in a hard and inorganic,
yet elastic substance. Thus protected, it appears like praising the
ingenuity of man when we say such a body is not proof against his neglect.
The hoof is made to travel through mud and through water; it is created
to canter over sand and over stones. It is capable of all its purposes;
but it only seems not fitted to be soaking days and nights in the filth
of a human lazar-house. The drainage of the stable is too often clogged;
the ventilation bad; the bedding rotten, and more than half composed of
excrement. All that passes through the body, from the inclination of the
flooring, tends toward the hind feet. Over this muck the animal breathes.
In it the creature stands, and on it the victim reposes.

[Illustration: THRUSH IN THE HIND FOOT.]

No wonder the horn rots when implanted in a mass of fermenting filth. The
fleshy, secreting parts, which it is the office of the hoof to protect,
ultimately become affected; they take on a peculiar form of irritation;
from the cleft of the frog a discharge issues; it becomes colored and
offensive through being mixed with the decaying horn; the smell is most
abhorrent; frequently it taints the interior of the place, and to the
educated nose thus makes known its presence.

The first thing is to clear the stable, then to cleanse it thoroughly. Bed
down the stalls with new straw, and attend to the animals themselves. Wash
the feet well with water, in every pint of which is dissolved two scruples
of chloride of zinc. The fetor will thus be destroyed, and the animal
be made approachable. Place some of the fluid, to be used as required,
near the smith, while the man cuts away the diseased frog. All the ragged
parts are to be excised. The knife is to be employed until all the white,
powdery substance is effectually removed.

[Illustration:

    AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE ABUNDANCE OF WHITE POWDER INVESTING DECAYED
    HORN, AND OFTEN FOUND AFTER THE RAGGED PORTIONS OF A THRUSHY FROG
    HAVE BEEN REMOVED.
]

The knife must then be used fearlessly. Every particle of the colorless
investment of the frog must be excised. This is absolutely necessary
toward the cure. It must be accomplished, although the flesh be exposed,
or a large, bulging frog be reduced to the dimensions indicated in the
annexed engraving.

[Illustration]

Then the shoe is to be nailed on, and the horse to be returned to a clean
stall.

The cause being removed, the effect will soon cease. No ointments are
required. A little of the chloride of zinc lotion, three grains to the
ounce of water, may be left in the stable, and the keeper should receive
directions to bathe the frog with this once a day, or oftener if required.
A piece of stick, having a little tow wrapped round one end, should also
be given to the man, so that he may force the fluid between the cleft of
the frog. No greasy dressing need be employed. The ordinary shoe is to
be used. The diseased part is to be left perfectly uncovered, so that it
may be the more exposed to the sweetening effects of pure air, while the
earliest indication of any further necessity for the knife may be readily
perceived. When the stench has disappeared, a little of the liquor of
lead, of its original strength, will perfect the cure; and all that is
requisite to prevent a return of the disorder is a reasonable attention to
the cleanliness of the stable.

At this place, however, the reader may well reflect that, if the filth
of the stable is capable of rotting the resistant and insensitive horn
of the horse's foot, how much more is it likely to affect some of
those delicate structures of which the bulky frame of the animal is
composed! The air in which a man might object to live is altogether
unfit for a horse to inhale. It is true, animals have breathed such an
atmosphere, and continued to exist. So, also, is it true that men have
been scavengers, and have followed that calling on account of what they
esteemed its extraordinary healthfulness. Neither case establishes aught.
The animal is by nature formed for large draughts of pure air. All other
sustenance is as nothing, if the primary necessity of life be withheld.
Tainted atmosphere is the source of more than half the evils horse-flesh
is exposed to. Glanders, farcy, inflammation of the air-passages,
indigestion, bowel complaints,--in fact, all diseases save those of a
local character may spring from such a parent. Let every horse-keeper,
therefore, if from no higher motive, at all events to conserve his
property and to promote his pecuniary interest, be especially careful
about the purity of his stables.

When thrush occurs in the fore feet, it is generally significant of
navicular disease, and is most frequent in horses which step short or
go groggily. The hoof feels hot and hard; a slight moisture bedews the
central parting of the very much diminished frog. No odor may be smelt
when the foot is taken up; but by inserting a piece of tow into the cleft
of the frog, the presence of the characteristic symptom will be made
unpleasantly apparent.

In this case, it is best to remove the ragged thrush and unsound horn,
doing so, if required, even to the exposure of the sensitive frog.
Afterward, simply wash the part with a little of the chloride of zinc and
water, previously recommended. Repeat the cleansing every morning; the
intention being, not to remove the thrush, as the horse mostly goes lame
the instant that is stopped, but merely to correct the pungency of the
morbid discharge, and thus prevent it in some measure from decaying the
horn.

Clay, cow-dung, and other favorite filths, employed for stopping the
horse's feet, if long continued, will produce thrush.

The worst specimen of the affection the author has encountered, was in a
horse which had been turned into a moist straw-yard and neglected. The
thrush generally witnessed in the hind feet may be present in all four;
but the writer knows of no instance in which the thrush peculiar to the
fore feet was also observed in the posterior limbs.

Thrush does not generally provoke lameness. In its more aggravated
forms, however, it interferes with the pace; and the horse having only
incipient thrush is liable to drop suddenly, if the foot be accidentally
placed upon a rolling stone. Now, knowing our roads are made of stones,
and that the bottom of the horse's foot is, in the ordinary manner of
shoeing, entirely unprotected, it is curious to state that this disease is
commonly not esteemed unsoundness. Any thrush, when present, may lead to
acute lameness; then the lameness would be unsoundness; if thrush simply
interferes with the action, although it endanger the safety of the rider,
it is, by the code of veterinary legislation, esteemed no reasonable
objection to the soundness of a horse. In the author's opinion, any animal
should be esteemed unsound which has suffered from loss of or from change
of any structure that ought to be present, or has any affection which
reasonably could subject it to remedial treatment.


OSSIFIED CARTILAGES.

This signifies a conversion into osseous structure of the cartilages
naturally developed upon the wings of the coffin-bone, or the bone of the
foot. Here is a drawing of the largest specimen of this transformation
which the writer ever witnessed. This was borrowed from the museum of T.
W. Gowing, Esq.; and, from the magnitude of the disease, the writer should
imagine the posterior of the pastern must have been in the living animal
somewhat deformed.

[Illustration: OSSIFIED CARTILAGES.

    The lateral cartilages of the horse's foot have undergone change and
    become bone; being now continuous with the os pedis.
]

In heavy horses, working upon London stones, so certain are the cartilages
to become ossified that several large firms pay no attention to this
defect. They prefer an animal with a confirmed disease to a sound horse,
which will be certain to be ill during the change, and the extent of whose
subsequent alteration no one can predicate. So far these purchasers act
wisely; but, in horses designed for fast work, =ossified cartilages= are
a serious defect. They frequently occasion lameness, and always interfere
with the pleasantness of the rider's seat. When accompanied by ring-bone,
ossified cartilages give rise to the most acute and irremediable lameness.

Ossified cartilages are incurable. No drugs can force Nature to restore
the original structure which has been destroyed. Once let a cartilage
become ossified, and it remains in that condition for the creature's life.
There is little difficulty in ascertaining when this change has taken
place. The hand grasps the foot just above the coronet; the fingers are on
one side, and the thumb upon the other. The cartilages lie at this place,
immediately under the skin. Cartilage is soft, pliable, and semi-elastic.
It yields very readily to pressure. However, when the thumb and fingers
forcibly press the part, if, instead of feeling the substance under them
yield, the hand is sensible only of something as hard as stone, or any way
approaching to such a character, that is proof positive the cartilages
are ossified, or are approaching change. If the horse has recently gone
lame, and the seat of cartilages feels of a mixed nature--partly soft
and partly hard--apply a blister to the coronet, so as to convert that
which is a subacute process into an acute action, and with the cessation
of activity hope to stop the deposit. Repeat the blister if absolutely
necessary; but there is no occasion to subject more than the coronet,
and a couple of inches above that structure, to the operation of the
vesicatory. Indeed, blisters act more effectually upon confined spaces.
This is all that can be accomplished, save by good feeding and liberal
usage: these are essential, because every abnormal change denotes a
deranged system; and this is, in the animal, soonest mended by generous
diet. Perfect rest and two pots of stout per day may even be allowed,
should the pulse be at all feeble.

[Illustration: THE CERTAIN TEST FOR OSSIFIED CARTILAGES.]


ACUTE LAMINITIS, OR FEVER IN THE FEET.

This term implies that the disease is confined to the laminæ; the word
certainly warrants an inference that the other secreting surfaces within
the hoof are not implicated; such a meaning is generally conceived to
be intended. The name, by inducing erroneous opinion, does much injury;
the old appellation of fever in the feet is, therefore, much more
characteristic and altogether more correct.

The entire of the fleshy portion of the foot is involved in this terrible
affliction; any man, who has had an abscess beneath some part where the
cuticle is strong, or who has endured a whitlow, may very distantly
imagine the pain suffered by the horse during fever of the feet. Such
an individual, if his creative powers be very brilliant, may vaguely
conjecture the torture sustained by the quadruped; but no power possibly
can realize to the full the anguish sustained by the animal. Man does not,
like the horse, rest upon his finger's end, and, if he did, the pain he
would then suffer could not be likened to the terrible affliction borne by
the animal, for the following reasons: What is the weight of any man to
that of a quadruped? What is the thickness of his skin or the substance of
his nail to the hardness and stoutness of the horse's hoof? The human skin
is elastic, and the end of the finger permits some swelling of its fleshy
portion; but the secreting membrane of the horse's foot lies between two
materials almost equally unyielding. Bone is within, and horn is without;
the heat soon dries the last and deprives it of its elasticity; the first
is naturally unyielding; thus the secreting substance, largely supplied
with blood, because of inflammation, and acutely endowed with sensation
when swollen and diseased, is compressed between the two bodies as in a
vice. To conceive the amount of anguish and to imagine the violence of the
disorder, we have only to recognize the pathological law, that Nature is
conservative in all her organizations; she protects parts in proportion to
their importance to the welfare of her creatures, and reluctantly allows
injury to be inflicted on any vital organ, though she may even permit
deprivation of those members which are not essential to the animal economy.

A man may lose a leg; he can live, enjoy life, and to a certain extent
effect progression with a wooden substitute. Touch the heart of a man,
however, and being ends. The heart is guarded by the ribs, and so securely
is it protected that, even in battle, the organ is seldom punctured; the
hoof of the horse is almost as important to the animal as is the heart to
the human being. In a free state progression is necessary to the support
of the body; when domesticated, the horse is valued according to its power
to progress.

Yet, the member so important to the creature is, by the nature of
=laminitis=, frequently disorganized, and a valuable quadruped, by the
affliction, may be reduced from the highest price to a knacker's purchase
money.

There is some dispute about the kind of hoof most liable to this disease.
English authors incline toward the weak or slanting hoof. Continental
writers, however, suppose the strong or upright hoof is most exposed to
the affliction. Neither party, however, assert any kind of hoof to be
exempt; therefore, it may be supposed, were all circumstances similar,
every kind of foot would be equally subjected to laminitis.

There is but one cause for =acute laminitis=--man's brutality. Horses
driven far and long over hard, dry roads, frequently exhibit the disease.
Cab and post, as well as gentlemen's horses, after a fine day at Epsom
or at Ascot, not unfrequently display the disorder. Animals which have
to stand and strain the feet for any period, as cavalry horses upon a
long sea voyage, if, upon landing, they are imprudently used without
sufficient rest, will assuredly fail with this incapacitating malady.
Any extraordinary labor may induce laminitis. Hunters, after a hard run,
and racers, subsequently to heats, are liable to be attacked; especially
should the ground be in the state we have before intimated.

Acute laminitis does not immediately declare itself; the pace of the
animal, when its work is drawing to a close, may be remarkable; but this
is attributed to the effects of exhaustion. The creature reaches the
stable; the surface of the body is rubbed over; the manger and the rack
are filled; a fresh bed is quickly shaken down, for, in the opinion of
grooms, quiet does horses extreme good. The animal is left for the night,
under the impression that it has everything one of the race could require.

The next morning the horse is found all of a heap, and the food untouched;
the flesh is quivering; the eyes are glaring; the nostrils are distended,
and the breath is jerking. The flanks are tucked up, the back is roached,
the head is erect, and the mouth is firmly closed; the hind legs are
advanced, to take the bearing from the inflamed fore members; the front
feet are pushed forward, so as to receive the least possible amount of
weight, and that upon the heels; but the feet thus placed are constantly
on the move. Now, one leg is slightly bent; then, that is down and the
other is raised; the horse is, according to a vulgar phrase, "dancing on
hot irons."

The first indications--food untouched, glaring eyes, etc.--represent only
excessive agony; the position of the body is symptomatic. The hind feet
are thrust under the body in order to take the weight from the front, or
the diseased organs; the fore feet are thrust forward and the head held
erect, that the inflamed parts may be as much as possible beyond the
center of gravity. In this attitude the wretched quadruped will stand,
its sides heaving and its flesh creeping with the pain within the hoofs,
and with the fire that burns within the blood. The teeth are occasionally
heard to grind against each other; expressive sounds sometimes issue from
the throat, and partial perspirations burst forth upon the body; it is a
horrible picture of the largest agony!

[Illustration: ACUTE LAMINITIS, OR FEVER IN THE FEET.]

The fore feet are mostly the seat of the disorder; all four may be
involved, but the author has only witnessed the two front affected. The
implication of the others are rather recorded wonders than general facts.
The writer, in his professional experience, has met no one to whom a case
of laminitis involving all four hoofs has been submitted.

Everything concerning laminitis is in confusion. It is not yet
authoritatively ascertained whether horses lie down or stand up--whether
the shoes should be taken off or left on--and what kind of treatment
it is proper to adopt. Any dispute about general facts pronounces both
parties wrong; it assures us that the experience of the disputants is
somewhat limited. The circumstances cannot be very marked where the
recognition is not universal: the treatment can only be not confirmed,
because none attended with conspicuous benefit has been proposed.

Horses do often lie down in laminitis; but they more generally stand. When
down, they should be suffered to remain; and when up, the first thing done
should be the employment of slings. Place the cloth under the belly with
the least possible noise; the man the horse is accustomed to, with orders
to soothe the animal when alarm is excited, should be stationed at the
head. The men who are arranging the slings should pause on the slightest
sign of fear, and only resume their labor when confidence is restored. The
ropes, however, must not be drawn tight and fixed. The ends of the cords
should, by means of two extra pulleys, be carried to some distance from
the animal. To the end of each rope ought to be fastened a stout ring, and
on this, by means of hooks, weights should be suspended. As the weights
are added, the man should caress the sufferer till sufficient counterpoise
be attached to take the principal bearing from the feet without offering
much obstacle to the breathing.

[Illustration: A HORSE IN SLINGS, WITH THE FORE FEET IN HOT WATER, FOR
ACUTE LAMINITIS.]

With regard to the shoes, we should first soften the hoof by allowing
the feet to soak in warm water in which a portion of any alkali has been
dissolved. The slings being applied, the fore feet are to be placed in
a trough of hot, soft water, and allowed to remain there till the hoof
is quite pulpy. Then one foot is to be gently raised and the trough
partially removed. All this must be done very quietly--not a word being
spoken--and all operation suspended at the appearance of the smallest
alarm. The man at the head must not for an instant quit his post.

The foot being released from the water, a sharp-pointed knife is to be
employed and the horn cut, so as to free every nail, till the shoe drops
off; but the iron should not be allowed to clatter on the ground.

[Illustration:

    THE MANNER IN WHICH THE NAILS, WHICH FASTEN ON THE SHOE, ARE TO BE
    RELEASED FROM THE HORSE'S HOOF DURING ACUTE LAMINITIS.
]

This method is infinitely better than the common practice of taking off
the horse's shoe. The smith removes the shoe by a wrench, using his pliers
for the purpose of gaining extra power. No doubt the metal had much better
remain on than be thus rudely displaced. But, in removing the shoe from
a softened foot, no smith is necessary, and no smith should be employed:
the veterinary surgeon should himself cut out the nails; and no matter if
an hour or two be occupied over each foot. In laminitis there must be no
hurry.

Before the shoes are removed, half a drachm of belladonna and fifteen
grains of digitalis should be placed in the horse's mouth. Both drugs
should be gently introduced, not as a draught or a ball, but in substance,
or in the smallest possible bulk. These medicines should be repeated every
half hour, till the breathing is easier and the pulse somewhat altered in
character. Then some additional weight may be added to the slings; and, by
taking advantage of similar opportunities, the animal may be eventually
lifted almost off the ground without displaying any inclination to resist.

[Illustration:

    THE SYRINGE TO BE EMPLOYED TO INJECT BLOOD-WARM WATER INTO THE VEINS
    DURING ACUTE LAMINITIS. THE MARK ON THE ROD DENOTES HOW FAR THE
    HANDLE IS TO BE PUSHED DOWN. (See _Enteritis_, p. 170.)
]

When the horse is in this position, open the jugular vein with a lancet,
making the least possible flurry. Abstract one quart of blood, which may
be obtained with the greatest ease. Have ready a quart syringe filled with
water; inject one pint into the orifice whence two pints of blood have
been abstracted. The effect will be produced in a few minutes. Copious
purgation and perspiration will ensue, and the fever will be greatly
abated. Clothe the horse well up. Place before him a pail of thin gruel
with a bundle of green-meat, and enough has been done for one day. But
mind and leave two men to watch in the stable throughout the first three
nights.

On the following morning give a dose of ether and laudanum--two ounces of
both in a pint of water. Let the horse take his own time in swallowing: do
not care if half the drink should be lost. In fact, if the attempt to give
the physic should call forth much opposition, abstain from administering
it: quiet is of more importance than medicine. On that account, strict
orders should be given to admit no visitors, and the strictest injunction
concerning silence should be enforced.

The pulse and breathing must be watched; and, as either appear to augment,
the drugs before recommended must be introduced. Should the artery on
either side of the pastern throb, that sign indicates the foot to be
congested. This condition must be relieved. With a lancet open both
pastern veins, which are sure to be in a swollen state, and plunge the
foot up to the fetlock in warm water. A little blood abstracted by this
method does more good than the ample venesections so generally advised,
but which, from their tendency to lower the system, are apt to prepare the
way for the worst terminations to acute laminitis. Our object should be to
conquer the disease without reducing the strength; had the horse ten times
its natural vigor, such an affliction as acute laminitis would more than
exhaust it all. The failure of former practitioners has been chiefly owing
to their inattention to this fact.

While the affection lasts, these measures must be pertinaciously adopted;
the feet, the entire time, must be repeatedly put in warm water, not only
to soften the horn, but because the chief pain is caused by the congested
or swollen condition of the secretive portion of the foot; congestion,
likewise, induces the terminations to be most feared; heat or warmth is
perhaps the best means of relieving loaded vessels. Cover over the water
or blind the horse's eyes while in the slings, because acute disease is
likely to disorder the vision, and a sick, imprisoned animal is too apt to
be startled by the reflection of its own image. The author has had reason
to lament the neglect of such necessary precaution.

The termination to be feared is disorganization--either from the casting
of the hoof or the descent of the coffin-bone from its natural situation.
The first result is preceded by chronic suppuration. A slight division is
observed between hair and horn; and from the opening thus occasioned a
small quantity of unhealthy pus issues, mingled with much bloody serum.
Ultimately the entire hoof loosens and drops off, exposing the fleshy
parts beneath. Now, all these fleshy parts must have been diseased before
they could have separated from their secretion, and such fleshy parts are
not the laminæ only, but all those represented in the engravings on page
373.

The sudden exposure of parts which, during health, are covered and
protected, cannot otherwise than cause an extraordinary effect upon the
body of the sufferer. Persons who have lost a nail seldom have that
substance renewed in all its original integrity. Deformity or an imperfect
secretion is generally retained to mark the deprivation. Nature appears
averse to the restoration of any of her original structures.

[Illustration: THE SENSITIVE LAMINA AND CORONET DIVESTED OF THEIR HORNY
COVERING.]

[Illustration: THE SENSITIVE SOLE--FROG AND BARS DIVESTED OF THEIR HORNY
COVERING.]

Such a catastrophe is denominated sloughing of the hoof. After that has
occurred it is useless to prolong the suffering by permitting the horse
to live. Doubtless in time a sort of new hoof would be produced, but it
would only be a deformity. It would want the toughness and strength of the
original formation.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM.

    The new horny covering which invests the foot of the horse after
    sloughing of the hoof, as a termination to acute laminitis.
]

Such was the hoof which used to succeed sloughing under the old plan
of treatment; the author is happy to state he has not witnessed such a
misfortune since he has followed the practice which he here recommends.

The suppuration just spoken of was not of the copious kind, but was a
tardy secretion mingled with bloody serum; it is astonishing such a fact
should not have warned veterinary surgeons against following depletive
measures. The effusion, however, of which the writer has next to speak
is entirely the result of weakness. It does appear most strange that
exhausting treatment should have been pursued as with infatuation, despite
of so evident a warning. The parts which in health only secrete horn,
during exhaustion throw out serum, or the thinner portion of the blood.
This separates the coffin-bone from its attachments, while the imposed
weight forces the loosened bone from its natural position. To make this
more clear, diagrams of a natural foot, and of one which has suffered
distortion from acute laminitis, are represented on page 374. In the
natural foot, the pedal bone is situated close to the outer crust; in the
laminitic foot, the bone is forced downward toward the sole, which it
ultimately penetrates. There is an artery running around the lower edge
of the coffin-bone; upon this artery the animal, if suffered to live,
would, after displacement of the coffin-bone, be obliged to tread. The
consequence is that a horse, having a foot thus distorted, cannot by any
possibility take a sound step; it lives in torture and moves in anguish.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM.

    A section of the horse's foot, showing the natural and relative
    situations of the bones which enter into the formation of the
    horse's foot when in a healthy state.
]

[Illustration: DIAGRAM.

    A section of the horse's foot after one of the terminations to acute
    laminitis, exposing the interior of the hoof when the coffin-bone
    has fallen from its original situation.
]

This formation has been too generally spoken of as pumice foot, whereas
that peculiarity is altogether distinct. Pumice foot does not entirely
incapacitate the horse for labor; it is a chronic disease leading to a
very opposite species of distortion, or to a bulging of the sole such as
is here illustrated.

[Illustration: A SECTION OF THE HORSE'S FOOT, ILLUSTRATING THE DISTORTION
WHICH CONSTITUTES PUMICE FOOT.]

[Illustration: THE DEFORMITY WHICH ENSUES UPON DROPPING OF THE
COFFIN-BONE.]

After dropping of the coffin-bone has taken place, it is commonly said
that the hoof, struck upon the spot once occupied by the coffin-bone,
emits a hollow sound; such is not the fact.

The space supposed to be empty is immediately filled by an impure horn--a
soft, transparent substance, which, if the animal be permitted to live,
dries, or diminishes in bulk, and the front of the hoof falls in. The
author once beheld, working in a lime-pit near Reigate, an aged animal
which, some time previous, had suffered dropping of the coffin-bone; the
animal was shod with leather, and had a shoe lifted from the ground by
means of large calkins both before and behind. The hoof, however, was
terribly misshapen; it hardly admits of such a description as would be
readily understood; therefore the hoof is represented from a sketch made
upon the spot.

The other terminations to acute laminitis are metastasis and mortification.

Metastasis is when the fever leaves the feet to fix upon some other and
remote part, as the lungs, bowels, brain, eyes, etc. Or, fever of the
feet is frequently asserted to be caused by the inflammation "dropping"
from those parts into the hoofs; when such changes ensue, the body
being already weakened, the attack is seldom of a very acute type; but,
nevertheless, it may be attended by disorganization, by distortion, or
even by death.

It is a bad symptom should no change be observed in the course of the
disorder before the expiration of the fifth day; some sad ending may
then be expected, but it does not invariably follow. The animal should
be watched night and day; all that can possibly be done to alleviate
its suffering should be put into practice. For that end, the writer has
found nothing equal in its soothing effects to perfect quietude, and good
gruel made with a portion of linseeds and of beans mixed with oatmeal.
But be sure that laminitis has departed from the feet before the slings
are removed; then, even supposing no metastasis to have occurred, do not
suddenly take all support from the horse, but remove a weight every day,
so that the restored parts may become gradually used to their original
functions. On the first sign indicative of a return to the disorder,
restore the full counterpoise and recommence treatment; for acute
laminitis is somewhat treacherous. Very cautiously exercise the invalid
upon a piece of meadow land and, as the health appears restored, gradually
return to the usual method of treatment.


SUBACUTE LAMINITIS.

This is a variety of the former disease; the characteristic differences
between the two are thus stated by the esteemed late William Percival:--

"In neither form is laminitis the disease of the unbroken or unused
horse. Now and then acute laminitis will appear in the four or five year
old horse when newly taken into work; more commonly it is witnessed
incapacitating the horse when at work, and during the middle period of
life. =Subacute laminitis=, on the other hand, is very apt to select
the aged and worked animal. Secondly, acute laminitis is the immediate
effect of labor, hard either from its distressful character or its
endurance. Subacute laminitis, on the contrary, will make its appearance
in the stable where the horse has been for some time living in a state
of idleness or absolute rest. Thirdly, acute laminitis makes its attack
directly or shortly after the application of the exciting cause;
subacute laminitis approaches so gradually that it is often present some
days before its existence is discovered. Fourthly, acute laminitis is
marked by great suffering and accompanied by raging fever; in subacute
laminitis fever is not to be detected, and the mode of progression
alone indicates suffering. Fifthly, acute laminitis may terminate in
metastasis, suppuration, and mortification; in subacute laminitis neither
of these issues is to be dreaded, for, if we do not succeed in producing
resolution, dropping of the coffin-bone is the customary ending to the
disorder."

The above, quoted from memory, presents a graphic contrast and an
admirable portrait of the disorder. It is so eloquent in its brevity that
it leaves nothing to be added; therefore the author will at once proceed
to state his views of the subject.

Subacute laminitis is always first noticed in the manner of progressing.
The master complains that the horse has become slower; that the whip has
lost influence over the body; and that the animal, when progressing,
appears to jolt more than usual. This last observation indicates the kind
of horses to which subacute laminitis is principally confined. Acute
laminitis is almost the property of fast saddle-horses; the subacute
variety more especially belongs to harness-horses. The author has lately
seen specimens of the subacute disease tugging those vehicles which were
once fashionable and which were called "cabriolets." The animal suffering
this disorder endeavors to bring the heels only to the ground. All its
fumbling gait, its supposed sluggishness, and want of appreciation for the
whip are to be attributed to this desire--to take the weight as much as
possible from the seat of agony.

[Illustration: THE MANNER OF PROGRESSING WHEN SUFFERING UNDER SUBACUTE
LAMINITIS.]

The success of treatment, in a great measure, depends upon the disorder
being early detected. Get the horse immediately into slings, as was
directed for acute laminitis, and proceed in the same manner with the
removal of the shoe. Omit all bleeding. If the bowels are costive, allow
a portion of green-meat until the evil is removed; but do not produce
purgation. All medicine of a debilitating character must be withheld.
Give, night and morning, a quart of stout; allow two drinks, each
containing one ounce of ether, in half a pint of water, during the day.
This, with half-drachm doses of belladonna as needed to allay any symptoms
of pain, will constitute the whole of the treatment.

As regards food, it should consist of sound oats previously ground, and a
moderate allowance of crushed, old beans. The water should be whitened,
and all hay strictly withheld. The animal should not be left night or day,
and gentleness should be enjoined upon its attendant. The food, however,
should not be without limit; five feeds of corn are enough for one day, if
the horse will eat so much.

Should dropping of the coffin-bone end the attack, it is only charity to
terminate the existence. In Mr. W. Percival's admirable work the reader
will find described at length a method proposed for restoring the bone to
its original position. The author has seen that plan tried more than once,
but never beheld any good result. The knacker has, in every case, been
called in to finish the unsuccessful experiment.

The horse, however, which recovers from an attack of laminitis, either in
the acute or subacute form, should ever after be shod with leather; and
were this admirable practice universal, probably, by deadening concussion,
it might altogether eradicate the disease. The expense is the objection
to its adoption; but against the cost, the horse proprietor has to ask
himself, What are a few shillings extra, at each shoeing, to secure
immunity from that horrible disorder to which the servant of his pleasure
is exposed?


NAVICULAR DISEASE.

This is the scourge of willing horse-flesh; it is the disease from which
favorite steeds mostly suffer; it is not less fatal in its termination
than vexatious in its course and painful during its existence.

The malignancy of the disorder is expended upon the substances which in
health are without feeling, but which occasion the most acute anguish when
affected by disease--namely, bone, tendon, and synovial membrane. Strictly
confined to these structures, and frequently limited to a space not half
an inch in diameter, the suffering it occasions is such as often provokes
the sacrifice of the life, and invariably renders the animal next to
useless.

It is confined to the interior of the foot, being, as its name implies,
strictly located upon the navicular bone. The navicular bone is a small
bone attached to the posterior portion of the os pedis, and resting upon
the perforans tendon, which is inserted into the inferior surface of the
coffin-bone. A synovial sac is placed between the navicular bone and
superior surface of the tendon, on which the ossoeus structure reposes.
Synovial sacs are only found in places where motion is great and almost
incessant; thus the existence of this formation apprises us that the bone
and tendon, in a healthy state, are designed to move freely upon each
other. They do this while unaffected by disease; the foot, indeed, cannot
be flexed, extended, retracted, or placed upon the ground without this
busy little joint being put into motion. It is, perhaps, as essential a
part--though of small size--as any of the larger structures which enter
into the horse's body.

[Illustration: A DIAGRAM TO EXPLAIN THE SEAT OF NAVICULAR DISEASE.

_a._ The perforans tendon running beneath the bone, and on which the bone
reposes.

_b._ The comparative size and relative situation of the navicular bone.

_c._ The synovial sac which facilitates the motion of the bone on the
tendon; upon the superior surface of this sac navicular disease is alone
exhibited.]

=Navicular disease=, however, affects only the lower surface of the bone;
the upper surface shares another synovial sac, which lubricates the
articulation of the coffin-bone with the lower bone of the pastern. This
upper surface is never affected; the navicular bone may diminish or wither
through disease, still the affection remains confined to its original
situation; disease may lead to fracture of the bone or to rupture of the
perforans tendon, still the superior portion of the navicular bone to the
last exhibits a healthful condition.

This most annoying and terrible disorder springs from two causes. The
first was a very favorite crotchet of the late Professor Coleman, who was
always theorizing to the injury of the animal it was his office to cure.
The disease is now largely distributed through that gentleman's favorite
maxim concerning the absolute necessity that there should be pressure upon
the frog. Every smith thus instructed tried to bring the frog as near
the ground as possible, and the consequence was the spread of navicular
disease. It is true, the frog, in a state of nature, was designed to bear
pressure; but surely it is folly to talk about the natural condition of
the horse when nothing like a wild horse exists. Here was Coleman's error;
he legislated for the most artificial of living creatures, which consumes
only prepared food, and which moves only over laboriously manufactured
roads, as if it had been in an undomesticated condition, gamboling upon
the unfilled earth.

The second cause is, the parsimony of most horse proprietors. Would these
gentlemen have their favorites shod with leather, the smith would be
obliged to slightly raise the frog; while the leather--if good, stout,
sole leather--and the stopping would protect the seat of navicular
disease from injury. With regard to the first cause, it was recognized by
the late W. Percival, one of Coleman's most enthusiastic pupils; and, as
concerns the last, its efficacy as a preventive needs no pleading nor any
reference to establish its merits.

The horse, when attacked, commonly has a good open foot--in fact, before
disease commences, the foot is healthy. An animal in this condition is
being ridden or slowly led out of the stable. In the last case it, being
fresh, may rejoice to feel and sniff the cool air of heaven. It may prance
about, and we may admire its attitudes; but in an instant it becomes dead
lame. So a horse may be mounted by a kind master; the creature may be
going its own pace, when, of a sudden, the movement shall change, and the
rider will be made conscious that his steed is lame.

In either case the foot is examined. It is cool, quite cool; no stone
appears to have injured it--nor is any pebble sticking between the web of
the shoe and the sole. Yet the lameness is acute and does not pass off.
Now, to explain this, let the reader turn to the illustration which was
last presented.

The portion of the foot, immediately under the navicular bone, has been
placed upon a stone; the stone has been forced against the foot by the
immense weight of the horse imposed upon it. The stone, under this
impulse, has bruised the navicular bone. But the fleshy frog and the
perforans tendon would have to be passed before this effect could reach
the bone. Are neither of these also hurt? Doubtless they are. But the
fleshy frog is a highly organized, secretive organ, and probably, by
its innate energy, soon recovers from the effect. The tendon is, on the
contrary, too soft and yielding to retain any harsh impression. The bone
is firm and solid; and thus that which failed to act upon either of the
intervening parts, leaves a lasting injury upon the osseous structure,
which, moreover, is held stationary by the coronary bone, and which is
disposed to display injury, being covered by synovial membrane.

The navicular bone belongs to a peculiar class called "sesimoid, or
floating bones." These are more highly organized than the generality of
osseous structures--in short, quite as much, or rather more, than the
human tooth. Everybody must be acquainted with the anguish occasioned
by unexpectedly biting upon a hard substance. The tooth, however, is
coated with crystalline enamel. The bone is covered by delicate synovial
membrane. The impression is, therefore, more likely to be lasting with the
last than the first.

After the expiration of a week, however, the lameness disappears, and
the proprietor fondly hopes all is over. The animal may work soundly for
months--sometimes it never fails again. Generally, however, after some
period, extending from six to nine months, the lameness reappears. This
time the treatment occupies a longer space; and the subsequent soundness
is of shorter duration. Thus the malady progresses; the period occupied in
curative measures lengthens, while the season of usefulness diminishes;
till, in the end, the horse becomes lame for life.

The worst of it is, that the pain in the lame foot occasions greater
stress to be thrown upon the sound member; the result generally is that
both legs ultimately become affected with the like disease: such is
ordinarily the case. The horse with a tender foot will always bring it
gently to the earth; but this circumstance obliges the animal to cast
the other foot to the ground with heedless impetuosity. The consequence
is, the sound foot is sooner or later forced upon some stone or other
inequality; from the law of sympathy, the disease subsequently makes rapid
strides; for at death both feet are usually found in a similar condition.

[Illustration: A HORSE, WITH NAVICULAR DISEASE, POINTING IN THE STABLE.]

The effect of these repeated attacks is soon shown. The anguish has
been likened to toothache, only it must assuredly be a toothache twenty
times magnified. All people know "there never yet was philosopher who
could withstand the toothache;" but think of the poor horse with twenty
toothaches compressed into one agony! The man can seek a thousand changes
to divert his suffering; the simple horse cannot even drink intoxicating
fluids, and has hitherto not learned to smoke. The suffering, therefore,
continues. And as man strives to spare a decayed tooth by masticating on
the other side of the mouth, the horse endeavors to ease an aching foot
by leaning all its weight upon a sound limb. Thus it learns to point in
the stable or to advance one leg beyond the center of gravity, leaving the
healthy member to support the entire weight of the body.

[Illustration: THE UPRIGHT PASTERN AND HARD, UNYIELDING HOOF, INDICATIVE
OF CONFIRMED NAVICULAR DISEASE.]

A foot thrown out of use decreases in size. Nature has given certain parts
for certain purposes; and if these purposes are avoided, those parts
diminish in bulk. Wear the arm in a sling for any extended period, and the
arm will sensibly grow smaller, or become withered. So the horse's foot,
spared in progression and pointed in the stable, obviously changes its
shape. The quarters draw inward; the heels narrow; the frog hardens and
decreases; the sole thickens and heightens; the crust becomes marked by
rims and grows considerably higher. In fact, the foot, from being an open,
healthy foot, becomes a strong, contracted, or diseased member.

[Illustration: THE TROT, PECULIAR TO NAVICULAR DISEASE, GENERALLY TERMED
GROGGINESS.]

The effect of the disease is speedily shown by the animal progressing
entirely upon the toe, whereby the front of the shoe becomes much worn, as
shown in the following engraving. Indeed, it is not unusual to see shoes
taken from horses having navicular disease with their front edges worn
positively to a cutting sharpness. When the animal is in this stage, the
mode of progression is usually what is termed groggy--that is, the hind
feet, which are never affected, step out as boldly as ever; but the fore
feet are limited in their action. They cannot be advanced far, because
extension causes the perforans tendon to press upon the navicular bone;
the leg cannot be bent, because flexion moves the perforans tendon upon
the navicular bone. The animal, thus doubly disabled, endeavors to make
up by quickened movement for that which it lacks in perfect action. It
dare not bring the heel to the ground or take long steps. It therefore
progresses upon the toes, and indulges in very short but quick movements
of the fore feet; and a horse thus affected may be challenged, though
unseen, by the "_patter, patter! clatter, clatter!_" which it makes.

Navicular disease appears to the author to have been entirely mistaken
as regards its treatment. It is administered to as though it consisted
in violent and acute inflammation, whereas it is caused by a different
process--namely, ulceration. Inflammation excites the whole system, and
occurs in strong bodies: ulceration is a diseased condition peculiar to
the aged and to the weakly. Navicular disease is, so far as the writer's
knowledge extends, unknown in the unbroken animal. It mostly affects the
adult or the aged. It is not inflammatory; for the foot, in the first
instance, exhibits no heat, and, in the after-stages, never becomes more
than warm. Often the warmth is so very slight that practitioners have to
adopt a kind of stratagem to determine which is the more hot of the fore
feet. A pail of water is brought forward, and sufficient to thoroughly wet
both hoofs is thrown over the feet. The parts are then watched; and that
which becomes dry the sooner is reasonably considered the warmer hoof of
the two.

Moreover, the consequences of this disease are absorption, which it takes
years to effect--not deposition, which is accomplished in a few days.
The bone lessens in size, sometimes grows thin, till ultimately it may
fracture; the tendon loses in substance, and its fibers separate, till
at length they may rupture. All internal structures which enter into
the composition of the foot grow less and less, till the hoof becomes
obviously small or contracted; for it is a law of nature that, in the
living creature, the contents should govern the covering: thus the brain
controls the skull, the lungs regulate the chest, etc. etc. The horn
alone increases; but it is a curious fact that Nature always endeavors to
protect the part she allows to suffer from disease: thus in rickets, with
children, the bones of the legs frequently curve; but Nature, true to her
principles, strives, by extra deposition, to strengthen the parts which
threaten to break through weakness.

All tokens declare the navicular disease to be a chronic affection,
attended by symptoms of bodily weakness. The accompanying example of the
disorder, taken from the body of a horse which was killed for incurable
lameness, will illustrate fully this fact.

[Illustration: A MORBID PREPARATION, KINDLY LENT TO THE AUTHOR BY T. W.
GOWING, ESQ.

The diseased surface of the navicular bone exposed, and the affected
tendon turned back upon the lower part of the os pedis.]

In this specimen, the navicular bone occupies its natural situation
between the wings of the os pedis. That portion of the tendon which once
shared and concealed the disease is turned back upon the sole of the
coffin-bone. What does the inspection disclose? Three small holes within
the bone, and a few stains of blood, which denote irritation upon the
tendon. For, as the disease progresses, synovia ceases to be secreted,
the navicular joint becomes dry, and is subject to the most torturing
irritation every time the leg is moved.

That the one presented may not by the reader be supposed an extreme case,
produced to support the writer's opinions, another specimen of the disease
is given; but, on this last occasion, both sides of the navicular bone
shall be exhibited. The upper surface appears perfectly healthy; the lower
surface only displays a large clot of blood, and a small but comparatively
a deep hole.

[Illustration: THE SUPERIOR SURFACE OF THE NAVICULAR BONE.]

[Illustration: THE INFERIOR SURFACE OF THE SAME BONE.]

Supposing the reader to be convinced of the justness of the writer's
views, the treatment which these recommend shall be stated. Ulceration in
any form proves the body to be weak or exhausted. Feed liberally, chiefly
upon crushed oats and old beans. Attend to any little matter in which
the horse's body may be wrong; but do little to the foot beyond, every
other night, soaking it one hour in hot water, for the first fortnight.
Afterward apply flannel bandages to the leg, put tips upon the hoofs,
and wrap the feet up in a sponge boot, having first smeared the horn
with glycerin. This, with a very long rest, is all it is in our power
to accomplish. The rest, however, should be proportioned only to the
proprietor's pocket or to his powers of endurance. In the first instance,
six months' rest in a well-aired stable, and three subsequent months at
slow agricultural employment, will not be thrown away, but will be likely
to prevent future annoyances. After one relapse, the treatment is all but
hopeless. The horse may be again restored to soundness; but the disease,
which has with time gained strength, will be all but certain to reappear.

This, probably, may be the fittest place for stating the writer's reason
for objecting to the treatment generally adopted.

Bleeding from the toe is decidedly objected to, because there never are
any signs of inflammation present, but rather those symptoms which favor
the belief that too little blood circulates within the foot. Blistering
the coronet is more likely to augment the crusts than to reach the
disease; and the tendency of navicular derangement is to thicken the
horn. The same reasoning applies to paring out the foot and placing the
hoof in poultices; it is more likely to act upon, and lead to activity
in, the secreting membrane, which is near the surface, than to operate
beneficially upon a remote joint. Objection is taken to the feet standing
in clay, because the cold produced by evaporation is disposed to drive
blood from the parts, which already have too little.

In extreme cases, neurotomy, or division of the nerve, is the only resort.
For a detailed account of that operation the reader is referred to the
next chapter. It permits the horse to be of some service to the master,
and allows the animal an escape from the agonies of a cruel disease; it
is, however, not final. It conceals the lameness; it rarely cures the
disorder. The internal ravages may still go on; and, though the nerve
of the leg has been properly divided, yet at an uncertain period nerves
generally reunite, and the part which was deprived of sensation may become
once more sensitive to pain. Moreover, no eye can look upon the internal
ravage. Sensation destroyed in a foot tempts the horse to throw even more
than its proportion of weight on a part weakened by disease. The bone has
fractured, or the tendon has ruptured, under too sudden a test of their
integrity.

For the above reasons, neurotomy is always most successful when early
performed. In the primary state of the disorder, a restoration of the foot
to its healthy functions has seemed to banish the affection. Pressure
being given to the neurotomized organ, health has occasionally returned;
and when the time has arrived for the reunion of the nerve, that event has
been signalized by no reappearance of lameness.

But when the disorder has continued so long as to weaken the structures
of the foot, operation is always attended with hazard. The nerve may
be properly divided; the operation shall be admirably performed; still
the parts, weakened by the joint actions of active disease and of long
rest, have become disorganized. Pressure being suddenly restored, the
debilitated structures could not sustain the restoration of that burden
they were originally formed to endure. Rupture or fracture was the result;
and the veterinary surgeon, despite his admirable talent, is disgraced by
being obliged to order the immediate destruction of that animal which it
was intended he should have benefited.

For the above reasons, and because the sound member is always disposed to
exhibit the disorder which incapacitates one foot, never delay adopting
the only chance of certain relief. If from pecuniary motives, or from
better but mistaken feelings, the proprietor hesitates to subject his
dumb companion to the surgeon's knife, never afterward should he repent
of such a resolve. With delay the opportunity of benefit has passed;
the operation, to be successful, should be resorted to upon the second
appearance of acute and decided lameness.




CHAPTER XIV.

INJURIES--THEIR NATURE AND THEIR TREATMENT.


POLL EVIL.

=Poll evil= consists of a deep abscess, ending in an ulcerous sore which
has numerous sinuses. The situation of the affection is the most forward
portion of the neck, near the top of the head, which part is peculiarly
liable to injury, especially in agricultural horses.

[Illustration: POSITION OF THE HEAD BEFORE AN ENLARGEMENT ANNOUNCES THE
EXISTENCE OF AN ABSCESS ON THE POLL.]

The gentlemen who superintend the laying down of stable floors always
make the pavements of the stalls to slant from the manger to the gangway.
They either know nothing about the habits of the horse, or they disdain
to think about so trivial a matter as the convenience of an animal. Their
stables are built for men; and it is sufficient if the places will hold
whatsoever man chooses to put into such out-buildings.

The horse is most at ease when the position takes the strain off the
flexor tendons. That end is accomplished when the hind legs are the
higher portion of the body, or when the ground slants in precisely the
opposite direction to which the flooring of all present stables incline.
The animal, finding the slope which is most convenient for the builder's
purposes adverse to its comfort, endeavors to compound the matter by
hanging back upon the halter, thus getting the hind feet into the open
drain which always divides the stalls from the gangway.

The rope should be stout which has to sustain the huge weight of the
horse; in proportion to that weight, of course, must be the pressure
upon the seat of poll evil. Pressure, as a natural consequence, stops
circulation. Upon circulation being freely performed, health, secretion,
and even life itself is dependent. The flow of blood to any part of
the body cannot be long prevented without unpleasant sensations being
engendered. Numbness and itching are the first results. The horse tries
to master these by rubbing its head violently against the trevise or
division of the stall. Friction, when applied to an irritable place, is
never a soothing process; when instituted by the huge strength of a horse,
its probable ill effects may be easily surmised. It is, therefore, no
legitimate cause for wonder if some of the fleshy substances, compressed
between the external wood and the internal bones of the neck, become
bruised, and deep-seated abscess is thus provoked.

This, however, is not the sole cause; there are others equally potent and
generally springing from the same source--namely, from human folly. How
much of animal agony might be spared if man, in the pride of superiority,
would deign to waste an occasional thought upon the poor creatures which
are born and live in this country only by his permission and to labor
in his service! Stable doors are commonly made as though none but human
beings had to pass through them. The tallest of mankind, probably, might
enter a stable without stooping; but does it therefore follow that a
horse can pass under the beam without assuming a crouching position? Many
horses learn to fear the doorway. They shy, rear, or prance, whenever
led toward it. Man, however, refuses to be instructed by the action of
his mute servant; those symptoms of fear, which are the bitter fruits
of experience, are attributed to the patient and enduring quadruped as
exhibitions of the rankest vice.

Low doors, such as usually belong to stables, are among the most frequent
causes of poll evil. The horse, when passing through them, is either
surprised by something it beholds outside the building, or checked by the
voice of the groom. The sudden elevation of the head is, in the animal,
expressive of every unexpected emotion. Up goes the crest and crash comes
the poll against the beam of the doorway. A violent bruise is thereby
provoked, and a deep-seated abscess is the sad result.

The horse likewise suffers from the representatives in brutality of him
for whose benefit it wears out its existence. Carters display their
ignorance by getting into violent passions with their teams. "Whooay"
and "kum hup" are shouted out; the huge whip is slashed and snaffle
jagged, till mute intelligence is fairly puzzled. Were mortals in the
like position, subject to the same terrible chastisement, and, at the
same time, forbid to inquire the wishes of their commander, they would
be in no better condition. The panting, sweating, and starting of the
poor, confused quadrupeds announce their terror. The driver, too enraged
to understand himself, and too impatient to delay punishment upon the
objects of his wrath, resorts to the butt-end of his heavy whip. Some
wretched animal is struck upon the poll, for the head is always aimed at
when stupidity quarrels with its own ignorance, and a dreadful disorder is
established.

All the causes of poll evil may, however, be reduced to one--namely, to
external injury. The first result of such a cause is pain whenever the
head is moved. Motion enforces the contraction of the bruised muscles;
and the agony growing more and more acute, the sufferer acquires a habit
of protruding the nose in a very characteristic manner long before the
slightest symptom of the malady can be perceived. When forced to bend
the head toward the manger, it generally hangs back to the length of the
halter; for although so doing occasions pain, the position renders the
necessary angle of the head upon the neck as little acute as possible. The
anguish attendant upon the earlier stages of the disease is exemplified by
the length of time occupied in emptying the manger. At this stage nothing
is apparent; at this period also great cruelty is too often exercised when
the collar is forced over the head regardless of the struggles of the
acutely-diseased animal.

Should the seat of poll evil at this stage of the disease be particularly
examined, the most lengthened inspection, when prompted by expectation,
may fail to detect even an indication of probable enlargement. Pressure,
or enforced motion of the head, excites resistance. A few weeks in
some cases, and the swelling becomes marked or prominent. In others,
the enlargement is never well developed: instances of this last kind
invariably are the most difficult to treat, for in them the seat of the
disorder is always most deeply seated. The size of the tumor is therefore
always to be hailed as a promise that the injury is tolerably near the
surface, and, consequently, more under the influence of remedial measures.

After pressure has been made, the agony occasioned causes the animal to be
difficult of approach. The common method of examination is, however, very
wrong. No good is done by inflicting torture. Something, on the contrary,
is concealed. Place the fingers lightly on the part, and allow them to
remain there till the fear, excited by a touch upon a tender place, has
subsided. Then, and not till then, gradually introduce pressure. The more
superficial the injury, the more speedy will be the response. The longer
the time and greater the force requisite to induce signs of uneasiness,
the deeper, as a general rule, will be the center of the disease.

In either case there is little good accomplished by those applications
which are recognized as mild measures. Fomentations and poultices commonly
waste valuable time, and, at last, prove of no avail. Therefore, blister
over the place. Obviously, the employment of more active treatment is
at present forbidden. Do not, however, give the carter so much liquid
blister, to be rubbed in by his heavy and coarse hand; but lightly paint
over the seat of the supposed hurt with spirituous or acetous tincture
of cantharides. Do this daily till copious irritation is produced, and,
before that dies away, repeat the dressing. Keep up the soreness, but do
no more. Never apply the tincture upon active vesication, otherwise a foul
sore, ending in a lasting blemish, may be the result. Make the poll merely
painful. An additional motive will thereby be instituted to keep the head
perfectly quiet, for constant motion provokes the worst consequences of
poll evil, causing the confined pus to burrow, or to form sinuses.

The foregoing treatment has been proposed because the tincture, when
applied by means of a brush, penetrates the hair more quickly, acts quite
as energetically, and is less likely to run down upon other parts than the
oil of cantharides, which the heat of the body always renders more liquid.
It is advised to be used, because it establishes an external inflammation.
Inflammations in living bodies, like fires preying upon inanimate
substances, have an attraction for each other. All injuries which lead
to suppuration likewise have a tendency to move toward the surface; and
these two laws, acting together, very probably may tend to the speedier
development of poll evil, thereby shortening the sufferings of the animal.
Should they not have that effect, the vesicatory is beneficial. About the
head of the horse are numerous layers of thin tendon, which are termed
fascia. Through this substance matter absorbs its way with difficulty. It
is, therefore, almost imprisoned, and motion always disposes the pus to
seek new outlets. Thus pipes or sinuses are formed; these constitute one
of the worst symptoms attendant upon poll evil.

[Illustration: POLL EVIL DURING THE FIRST STAGE.]

As soon as the swelling appears, watch it attentively. Wait till some
particular spot points, or till it feels softer, if it be not more
prominent than the surrounding substance. Then have the animal cast. Being
down, take a keen knife and open the spot before indicated. That being
accomplished, pause while the secretion flows forth. Afterward insert into
the cut a small, flexible probe. When its progress is impeded, employ the
knife with a director. Continue doing this till the seat or center of the
disease has been gained.

Remember, however, you are not hacking at the family loaf; it is living
and sensitive flesh you are wounding. Therefore, be very careful your
knife is thoroughly sharpened, and is of sufficient size; mind, also,
that all the cuts run smoothly into one another, so as to leave clean
surfaces for the healing process to unite. Having reached the heart of
the disorder, proceed to empty out all the concrete matter. That done,
wash out the part with a syringe and the coldest spring water. Afterward
examine the cavity. Excise any loose pieces of tendon or of ligament, and
cut until a healthy aspect is everywhere presented. Then rub the sides
of the deep-seated wound with lunar caustic. Let the horse rise, giving
orders that the sore is to be thoroughly moistened thrice daily with the
solution of the chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of water, and,
placing a rag dipped in a solution of tar over the wound to keep off the
flies, return the horse to the stable.

If the disease be left to run its course, the swelling generally
increases, while numerous openings at last disfigure the enlargement. From
such drain a glairy discharge. This adheres to the surrounding parts,
and, joined to the miserable expression of the countenance, gives to the
horse a peculiarly unpleasant appearance. The flesh wastes under the
perpetual anguish, and the half-conscious aspect of the creature justifies
a suspicion that the brain is affected.

In that case, proceed as before directed concerning casting the horse and
the knife with which you operate. Have the blade rather too large than too
small. Most veterinary instruments are mere adaptations of those employed
by the human surgeon. The author never remembers to have seen anything
approaching to the magnitude of a proper horses operating knife in the
hands of his fellows. A small blade compels numerous small cuts. The part
is rather snipped asunder than divided by one clean incision. The recovery
is thereby materially delayed; and the lengthened operation greatly
deteriorates from its chances of success, not to dwell upon the increased
suffering occasioned to the quadruped.

The horse being down, do not attempt any display of your proficiency. Look
well and long at the part intended to be operated upon. Decide in your
own mind the course in which the knife is to move. That course should
be influenced by the direction in which you may probably separate the
greater number of sinuses. In the engraving inserted below there are four
holes, each indicating the presence of a sinus. The supposed direction of
the knife is laid down by dotted lines. The primary and lower incision
includes three of the pipes. That made, another connects the other sinus
with the longer incision; the after-labor necessitates the cleaning of the
central sac, removing all the hanging pieces, also probing the sinuses,
and making sure all are fairly opened. If any are found unopened, a
director should be inserted, and the channel should be connected with the
chief wound by means of a smaller knife.

[Illustration: POLL EVIL IN ITS SECOND STAGE, OR WHEN READY FOR OPERATION.]

Two cautions are necessary to be given with regard to the treatment of
poll evil: Never permit the knife to be applied upon the root of the
mane. Underneath the hair which decorates the neck of the horse lies an
important ligament, by means of which the head is chiefly supported. All
the evils which might be anticipated may not spring from the division
of that development; but it is well to spare it, although the prostrate
animal should have to be turned over, and the operation have to be
continued on the other side. Also, when working the creature subsequent to
its recovery, never use a collar. Wounds, although perfectly healed, are
apt to remain morbidly sensitive; serious accidents, over which the reader
would deeply grieve, may occur from the harness touching the part which
once was diseased. A breast strap is, therefore, to be much preferred.

There are several popular methods of treating this disease. All, however,
are cruel; one is barbarous; when properly conducted, none are efficient
under the direction of a person possessing the smallest feeling. The
injection of potent caustics in solution, or violent compression upon an
exquisitely tender swelling even until the force employed amounts to that
power which can bring the sides of a distant internal cavity together,
drive out the corruption, and hold the part in that position while healing
is established, have been largely advocated. Whoever could increase the
suffering of a mute and patient life to that degree which the last method
necessitates would merit a much severer punishment than the writer can
afford space to detail. Of these modes of cure the author can profess no
experience. He has, however, seen injections used; in no instance have
they been successful. The time which they occupied was enormous, and the
expense with which they were attended by no means small. The man who
hopes to eradicate this disease should never have recourse to them.

Another process, formerly very popular, consisted in slicing the living
flesh in a very coarse and vulgar manner; that, however, was merely
preparatory. The chief dependence was placed in boiling liquor, which
was inhumanly poured into the wounds. After such a method were all
sinuous sores treated by an ignorant and uneducated quack, who especially
delighted in eradicating such forms of disease. The writer has heard
terrible descriptions given of the agony produced, and equally revolting
has been the picture of the filth employed by this unqualified horse
doctor. While, however, the course which has been mentioned is reprobated,
our heaviest condemnation should alight upon those persons who could so
violate the sacredness of their trusts as to surrender any creature to the
torments of so horrible a remedy.

In poll evil, the only certainty reposes on the knife. When properly
employed, the operation is brief; the temporary agony bears no proportion
to the years of subsequent relief thereby secured. To be properly
employed, however, it should be used as though the person invested with
it was, for the time, divested of all feeling. He who accepts it must
think only upon what he is about to perform, and must summon resolution
to do it quickly. In surgery, hesitation is positive cruelty; the knife,
to be curative, should be gracefully moved through the living flesh.
All notching and hacking are tortures, and worse than folly; the blade
should sweep through the substance; and, to prevent the struggles of
the quadruped from interfering with the intentions of the surgeon, all
that will be necessary is for some person to sit upon the cheek of the
prostrated animal.


FISTULOUS WITHERS.

This disease, in its chief characteristics, closely resembles poll evil.
It, however, differs from that disorder in one fortunate particular; poll
evil must come to maturity before its cure can be attempted with any hope
of success. Injury to the =withers= is easiest eradicated when attacked
upon its earliest appearance; both, however, in their worst periods,
proceed from pus being confined, from it decomposing and its establishing
numerous sinuses. When disease has reached this stage, the only certain
cure is the free but skillful use of the knife.

=Fistulous withers=, in the first instance, is an injury to one of the
superficial burst which nature has provided to facilitate the movement of
the vertebral, points spinal under the skin. The hurt is occasioned by
badly-made saddles, but more especially by the ladies' saddles. Some fair
equestrians delight to feel their bodies lifted into the air, and enjoy
the trivial shock of the descent; such movements, however, necessitate
the weight should be leaned upon the crutch and stirrup. This kind of
exercise is never indulged in by good female riders, as no saddle, however
well constructed, can resist the constant strain to one side. Friction
is produced; a bursa is irritated, and the animal will, under the best
treatment, be rendered useless for a fortnight. Rolling in the stalls
is also reported to have occasioned this affection; so likewise is the
heavy hammer of the shoeing smith, intemperately employed to chastise the
transient movement of an observant horse.

When first produced, the remedy is certain and easy. A swelling about
the size of an egg appears near the withers, upon the off side of the
body. Go up to the horse upon that side; have with you a keen-edged and
sharply-pointed knife of pocket dimensions. Stand close to the animal;
then impale the tumor, and, having the back of the blade toward the
quadruped, cut quickly upward and outward. Mind, and stand very close to
the center of the body, as the pain of this trivial operation is apt to
make the creature lash out and prance. At the spot indicated a person is
perfectly safe; neither hoof nor leg will touch that particular place, or
even come near it. Rest one hand on the back, and by your voice reassure
the startled creature.

[Illustration:

    THE SLIGHT ENLARGEMENT WHICH, BADLY TREATED OR UNATTENDED TO, MAY
    END IN FISTULOUS WITHERS.
]

The swelling being divided, exchange the knife for a lunar caustic case;
smear over the interior well with the cautery, and all the business is
over. Never, however, attempt to pass by the heels of a steed which has
been pained. The animal may suspect your motives, and the hind feet of the
horse are the most powerful weapons of offense and of defense. Have the
creature backed from the stall ere you attempt to quit it. Subsequently
keep the wound moist with the lotion composed of chloride of zinc--one
grain to the ounce of water; also have the part covered with a rag,
moistened with solution of tar. In nine or ten days the incision will have
healed, and after the lapse of a fortnight the animal may return to its
ordinary employment.

Should this remedy be neglected, pus is soon formed within the
enlargement, and the formation is accompanied by swelling, heat, and
pain. The horse is useless, and continues thus till the affection is
eradicated. The animal cannot wear a collar; it cannot endure a saddle;
at length numerous holes are formed upon the enlargement. These are the
mouths of so many sinuses, and from each exudes a foul discharge. The poor
quadruped evidently suffers greatly; it will almost stand still and starve
rather than brave agony by violent motion.

The only remedy is by operation; make an incision so as to embrace the
greatest number of holes. Then cut from the other openings into the main
channel; this done, have the sides of the wound held back, while the
center of corruption is cleaned out. Such is a very filthy and unpleasant
office; if the bones are affected, all the diseased parts must be removed.
When slight, the tainted portions may be scraped away; when of long
standing, the spines of the vertebræ have been sundered with the saw and
thus taken from the body. At any risk, none but healthy bone must be
suffered to remain; all discolored or white portions of the bony structure
must be extirpated, and none but that which, is of a healthy pink color
suffered to continue. If a particle of unhealthy, osseous growth is left
behind, the wound may close, but it will break out again, and the disease
become as bad as ever.

[Illustration: A HORSE WITH FISTULOUS WITHERS IN THE WORST STAGE.]

The cleansing being accomplished, apply the cloth over the wound, and keep
wet with the lotion formerly directed to be used.

Sometimes the sinuses will take a dangerous direction, and, favored by
the action of the shoulder, will burrow from the withers to the chest or
elbow. Then the knife cannot be employed. Should a pipe incline to this
course, but be of comparatively short extent, insert a little bichloride
of mercury down the channel. This is best done by powdering some of the
salt. Dip the elastic probe, which has recently been down the sinus, into
the powder. Reinsert it, and continue to repeat this action till all the
bichloride is expended.

If the sinus should have run its entire course, but not have found an exit
below, then employ a long guarded seton needle, such as can be purchased
at all veterinary instrument makers. Insert this in its guarded state,
and, having pushed it as far as it will go, give, upon the end of the
handle, a moderately sharp blow; this will force out the cutting edge and
drive the point through the flesh. Pass a long tape, with a knot at the
further end of it, through the opening near the point, and withdraw the
instrument, leaving the tape in after another knot has been tied at the
other extremity.

Thus a seton is established, and a depending orifice is instituted. The
tape will act as a drain to the morbid secretion, while the irritation
produced by it will also remove the callous lining of the pipe. A healthy
action will thereby be established; and so soon as the inferior wound
discharges a full stream of thick, creamy pus, the seton may be cut out,
with a conviction that its office is fulfilled.

[Illustration: A GUARDED SETON NEEDLE.]

[Illustration: THE SETON NEEDLE PROTRUDED, AND SECURED WITHIN THE HANDLE
BY MEANS OF A SCREW.

The screw being loosened, the button is struck, and the sharp needle
shoots forward, cutting its way through any interposing obstacle.]

However, never turn animals afflicted with fistulous withers or with
poll evil out to grass. In the last disease, the motion of the head, the
outstretching of the neck, and movement of the jaws occasion agony; and
in the first instance, the necessity for perpetual action entails so much
misery as soon renders the life worthless. The horse which is not worth
the best of food in the best of stables, should not be doomed to a life of
starvation and of torture. It is the shame of society that rich men are
tempted by a few pounds to dispose of the creature which has been maimed
in their service. Wounds endured when obeying the wishes of the master
should endear the slave unto his lord. In the case of the willing steed,
the law is reversed. The owner blemishes; and instead of nursing the
wounded life, he disposes of it. The injured animal is sold to the first
purchaser for so much as the damaged article will fetch.


FISTULOUS PAROTID DUCT.

This is a most serious evil, rather than a quickly-killing disease.
The animal which is thus afflicted may endure for years; but each meal
consumed and each day survived rates as a period of misery. When it is
considered how much the happiness of the lower order of beings depends on
merely feeding and living, it will be at once apparent how much the horse
has lost when all enjoyment has departed from eating; when mere existence
is embittered by being a prolongation of the suffering. The digestion
becomes deranged, because the saliva, or a valuable secretion imperative
to the proper performance of the function, is absent; while every movement
is a pain occasioned by the agony of a diseased stomach and the anguish
attendant upon a fistulous sore. The wretched creature, in this condition,
speedily becomes an object of disgust to the most humane master; and,
according to the convenient morality of modern times, is therefore sold
to the highest bidder. Purchased only for the work which remains in the
carcass, a fearful doom lies before the sick and debilitated quadruped.
It rapidly sinks lower and lower, at each stage of its descent the food
growing more scanty as the labor becomes more exhausting.

The =parotid duct= is the tube by which the saliva secreted by the gland
is, during the act of mastication, conveyed into the mouth and mingled
with the food. The parotid gland lies at the spot where the neck joins the
jaw; within the interior of that body numerous fine hollow vessels connect
and unite. These at each junction become larger and fewer in number, till
at length they all terminate in one channel, which is the duct immediately
about to be considered. It leaves the gland and travels for some space
upon the inner side of the jaw; after which it curls under the inferior
border of the bone and runs in front of the large masseter muscle of the
horse's cheek.

Its injury is frequently occasioned by hay-seeds or particles of food,
during the process of comminution, entering the open mouth of the duct;
these, subsequently becoming swollen, prevent the free egress of the
saliva. The secretion, nevertheless, goes forward and accumulates within
the tube, which it greatly distends. A confined secretion produces the
most exquisite agony. The motion of the jaw stimulates the gland to pour
forth its fluid; thus every mouthful which the animal is forced to eat not
only is the cause of suffering, but likewise occasions additional pressure
to a channel already enlarged to bursting, and which at length bursts.

[Illustration: THE PAROTID DUCT DISTENDED BY A SALIVARY CALCULUS.]

Another provocative is calculus, or stone, which is sometimes taken from
the cheeks of horses, they being of enormous comparative magnitude;
the natural tube would not admit a pea. Concretions have been removed
from this narrow passage as large as a pullet's egg. Such an obstacle
not only impedes the flow of saliva, but produces additional anguish by
the distention it occasions, and by the hinderance so hard a substance
offers to every motion of the animal jaw during the necessary period of
mastication.

Every puncture made into the substance of the duct, and every rupture
of the canal, speedily becomes fistulous sores. The saliva constantly
pours through the opening thus instituted; the healing process is thereby
prevented, and the edges of the wound rapidly become callous. It is,
however, painful to be obliged to state that the stable fork, in the hand
of an intemperate groom, is the instrument by which these punctures are
too frequently occasioned.

Gentlemen when engaging people to attend upon their animals should always
be very particular concerning temper. An irritable person, however smart
he may appear, is obviously disqualified for such an occupation. A man
of an evil temper should never be engaged. Still, the great majority of
present grooms are rather conspicuous for an exuberance of conceit, than
remarkable for any openness of countenance. Smartness may gratify the
pride of the master; but it is difficult to comprehend in what manner it
possibly can benefit his horse.

There is an old proverb which, being "the condensed wisdom of ages,"
teaches that "the master's eye fattens the steed." Most of modern masters
dislike nothing so much as trouble. The stable is given over to the
servant. No Eastern despot is so absolute as the groom in his dominions:
he kicks and abuses its inhabitants at his pleasure. If the free exercise
of his will occasions injury, a lie is easily invented and readily
believed by the lazy superior. All that comes into or passes out of the
building pays toll to the invested ruler. Five per cent. is levied upon
the hay and corn merchant; the dung is sold as a legitimate perquisite;
the bills of the harness and the coach makers are taxed one shilling
in the pound by the most ignorant groom, and often much higher by the
properly initiated. Thus the idle man pays dearly for his ease. There is
no luxury so expensive as a want of wholesome energy.

[Illustration: A HORSE, HAVING A FISTULOUS PAROTID DUCT, IN THE ACT OF
EATING.]

The process of mastication causes the saliva to be secreted. At each
motion of the jaw it is squirted forth with violence; every drop of the
fluid passes through the false opening--no portion finds its way into the
mouth. The running of the stream down the cheek wears away the hair, while
the absence of a valuable constituent toward perfect digestion occasions
the diet not to nourish the body. The animal loses flesh, and quickly
assumes a miserable appearance, which makes the proprietor long to rid his
sight of so pitiable an object.

The cure for this disease was aptly illustrated by Mr. Gowing, the
excellent veterinary surgeon of Camden Town. That gentleman made an
adhesive fluid, by either saturating the strongest spirit of wine with
gum mastic, or dissolving India-rubber in sulphuric ether. Then, when the
horse was not eating, he pared off the hardened edges of the wound till
blood issued therefrom. He subsequently allowed the bleeding to stop, and
placed over the orifice a piece of strained India-rubber. Over that he put
a thin layer of cotton; fastened one end of the cotton to the hair of the
cheek by means of the adhesive preparation. That being dry, he tightened
the cotton and glued down the opposite extremity. Next he attached another
layer of cotton, and subsequently another. Afterward he fastened more
cotton, some of it crossways; and, having added as many layers as would
make a good body, saturates the whole with the adhesive solution before
alluded to.

The hair affords a good ground to which any other substance can be
fastened; but it is rendered better by being thoroughly washed with soft
soap and warm water. The ablution deprives the skin of the horse of its
naturally unctuous secretion, and permits the adhesive application a
better chance.

The horse should be allowed no food which necessitates mastication. The
head should be fastened to the pillar-reins during the process of cure.
Thin gruel only should be presented while treatment is progressing,
and that should be continued until the covering falls off. Should the
wound not be healed, allow a couple of days to elapse; but give no solid
food. Permit the horse to rest on refuse tan--not straw, which might be
eaten--during all this time. Afterward renew the attempt, and repeat it
again if necessary--though the first trial generally succeeds.

Before concluding, it may be well to arm the reader against those
practices generally adopted by horse doctors. These practices consist in
the use of the red-hot budding iron, which is among them a very popular
application to a =fistulous parotid duct=. The theory which induces this
resort is, a belief that the heated iron induces an eschar, and the
wound closes before the crust falls off. Red-hot iron is, however, far
more disposed to destroy substance than to favor growth; and, probably,
its curative properties could have gained faith among no other class.
Possibly there exists no other body which would credit that, to burn a
hole larger, was the best way to close it. Another artifice is to inject
caustic lotions up the duct, and thereby occasion the gland to slough out.
Against such cruelty the author is pleased to think little need be said.
The operation, when successful, causes so much irritation as endangers
the life; for the body of the gland is permeated by so many and such
important vessels as render the termination always very dubious.


PHLEBITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE VEIN.

Formerly it was the custom to bleed horses for everything and for nothing.
It was not even suspected that a creature which exists only to labor unto
the limit of possibility is far more likely to be the victim of debility
than of repletion. It never occurred to any master that his wretched
animal wanted blood putting into it rather than abstracting the smallest
quantity of blood from it. However, formerly bleeding was a favorite
resort with the apothecary, and the old veterinary surgeon seems to have
followed the bad example. Aged people have informed the writer that they
remember the time when, on a Sunday morning, a long shed was filled with
agricultural horses standing in a row. These victims were all waiting
to be bled. The veterinary surgeon's assistant used to take the fleam,
and to open a vein in the first animal's neck. Then he would proceed to
the second; and thus, in turn, he would open the jugulars of the entire
number. No account was taken of the quantity of blood lost; that flowed
forth till the last had been operated upon, when all the creatures stood
simultaneously draining forth their lives.

The veterinary surgeon's assistant subsequently returned, and pinned up
the orifice of the first horse; then he went and performed that office for
the succeeding animal. Thus he, a second time, progressed down the row,
pinning up as he proceeded; and the poor horses often tottered before he
came. All this was done for a human fancy: man thought the loss of blood,
at spring and autumn, beneficial to all kinds of life. The writer has
heard of old ladies who were very skillful in bleeding cats. Most cats,
however, resist such an application of medical talent; not so the horse:
this animal submits itself patiently to the master's will. The creature
seems to recognize that it has no right to exist except by the permission
of its owner. There is no living being which acknowledges so abject a
dependence.

In return it is made a sport of the idlest whims. Hence horses, after
bleeding, were all thought to be much benefited. They were expected to
perform greater labor and to continue in sounder health. In vain did the
disease visit the stable more frequently; to no purpose was diminished
capability displayed. The ungrateful bodies of the "plaguy beasts" were
blamed, which would go wrong even after mortal science had expended its
wealth upon them. Man never doubted his own wisdom; he never questioned
his own conduct; and it is astonishing the quantity of prejudice which is
from year to year perpetuated for the want of a small amount of so cheap
an article as mental inquiry.

The worst of the evil still remains to be told. The creatures, being bled,
were esteemed so greatly benefited as to require no subsequent attention.
=Phlebitis= was consequently, in other days, a rather common affection.
If neglected, the disease may terminate in death. In cases aggravated by
mistaken measures, the disorder mounts to the brain, and occasions awful
agonies. Taken early and properly administered to, this disposition is
easily arrested. It was formerly wrongly treated, and was traced to an
erroneous origin. Phlebitis was, to the perfect satisfaction of learned
judges seated on the bench, attributed to the surgeon's want of care. So
serious an evil was imagined to be caused by culpable neglect during a
trivial operation. It was thought to have been provoked by the use of a
foul instrument, or by employing anything else to strike a fleam than a
properly-made blood-stick.

Experiments, however, which were instituted at the Royal Veterinary
College, have proved that no want of care, during the performance
of bleeding, can provoke the disorder. Wretched horses, in that
establishment, have been punctured with dirty, rusty, blunt, and jagged
fleams; all manner of blood-sticks have been employed in every description
of way. These have been struck violently and tapped in the gentlest
fashion. Every possible sort of pinning up has been adopted; but the
utmost endeavor of intentional perversion could not produce inflammation
of the vein. There appears to be only one ascertained cause: that is,
bleed; do not tie up the head, but turn it into a field, or present
fodder to be eaten off the ground, and the animal will have phlebitis.
The pendulous position of the head and the motion of the jaws alone
seem capable of starting inflammation in the jugular vein. Therefore,
should the reader ever permit a horse to be bled--which, save in extreme
cases, is perfectly unnecessary--let him remember to place the animal
subsequently in the stable, to tie the halter to the rack for twenty-four
hours, and, during the same space, to abstain from allowing any food.
These injunctions, however, do not refer to the bleedings sometimes
adopted to counteract acute disease.

There is one circumstance which should always be well considered before
any horse is bled: Certain animals have a constitutional predisposition
toward this peculiar form of disease. The horse whose vein shall inflame
no man can, by sign, mark, or investigation, pick from a herd. It is,
however, an ascertained fact that particular animals, of no fixed breed,
and apparently characterized by no recognized state of body, have a
mighty tendency to exhibit this particular disorder. The horse may appear
unexceptionable as regards health; but, nevertheless, strike it with
a fleam or puncture it with a lancet, and phlebitis will undoubtedly
be generated; none of the usual precautions can _always_ prevent the
misfortune. Such predisposition evidently depends on a determinate
condition of system which science has hitherto failed to recognize.

This fact, or eccentricity in the constitutions of isolated horses, ought
to be generally known. Men have recovered heavy damages in courts of law,
and blameless veterinary surgeons have been ruined, by circumstances over
which the utmost stretch of human precaution could possibly exercise no
control. However, a more extended knowledge concerning the real origin of
this disorder may do some good, since it will guard juries from delivering
wrongful verdicts, and may tend to check that love of venous depletion
which is still too prevalent with ignorant horse owners.

There was formerly a great diversity of opinion concerning a supposed
eccentricity in the facts observed during this disease. If a horse was
bled in the neck, and subsequently exhibited phlebitis, the brain became
affected. If an animal was depleted from the fore leg, and displayed the
disease, the heart became involved. In one case, the disorder proceeded
from the center of circulation; and in the other, it mounted directly
toward the organ. A great many hypotheses were published to explain or to
account for this imaginary peculiarity. Much nonsense was spoken, and more
was written, to point out the real cause of an imaginary difference. Yet,
calmly viewed, the seeming diversity appears to agree with the commonest
law of nature. Phlebitis always closes the vessel at the seat of injury.
The disease, therefore, in each case, is prevented from descending, and
consequently ascends above the orifice--the only peculiarity being the
relative situations of the structures involved.

This affection is most common after blood has been taken from the neck.
That seeming preference for a particular part may, however, be nothing
more than a circumstance dependent upon the greater number of animals
which have their jugulars opened. Were the brachial or the saphena veins
punctured as frequently as the vessel which carries the blood from the
brain, the apparent difference might appear in the opposite direction.
However, from whichever vessel the depletion is effected, always tie the
quadruped's head up, and present no food. A stall is to be preferred to
a loose box, as the confined space is more likely to prevent action.
Motion is the source of all danger. This fact was aptly illustrated by
an anecdote which used to be related by the late Mr. Liston, the eminent
surgeon. In his lecture, that gentleman surprised his class by stating
that the last person whom he bled perished of phlebitis. Bleeding is the
most simple operation in human surgery. Most surgeons leave this office
to the apothecary; consequently it was rather a condescension in one who
deservedly ranked so high in his profession to stoop to such an act. What,
therefore, could possibly cause disease to follow the operation, when
performed by him who was accustomed to surgery upon its grandest scale?

The cause was soon explained. The person operated upon chanced to be a
lunatic. This insane individual embraced the notion that the healing
process was much favored by constant motion; consequently he kept on
flexing and extending his arm with all the violence which is natural to
the demented. In vain was every effort made to persuade him from so mad an
action. He clung with extraordinary pertinacity to his unwholesome theory.
On the following day, Mr. Liston was surprised to find his patient in bed,
but still moving the arm in which disease had already declared itself.
Measures were taken to keep the limb quiet, but it was found impossible
to accomplish this in a satisfactory manner; and when Mr. Liston again
called, the patient was no more!

A vein being about to inflame, the earliest intimation of the fact is
given by the separation of the lips of the wound, while through the
opening drains a small quantity of a thin discharge. Should this warning
excite no attention, a round and hard swelling appears. That may be like
a hazel-nut in size, or it may resemble half a chestnut in magnitude;
and this is soon followed by a swollen state of the vein superior to the
orifice.

[Illustration: A HORSE WITH PHLEBITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE VEIN, IN THE
SECOND STAGE.]

Then supervenes the second stage of the disorder. Unhealthy abscesses are
formed along the course of the vein. As these mature, they burst, and send
forth an unsightly and filthy liquid resembling thin, contaminated pus. On
examination, these tumors are found to be united. They penetrate to the
interior of the vessel, and are joined together by numerous sinuses. They
literally constitute so many holes in the neck.

[Illustration: THE THIRD STAGE OF PHLEBITIS.]

If no attention be now paid to the aggravated symptoms, worse speedily
ensues. In the direction formerly indicated the vessel feels hard under
the skin. Supposing this sign to be neglected, unhealthy pus issues in
quantity from the wounds and soils the neck. This secretion is soon
converted into a dark, impure, and fetid discharge resembling decayed
blood. The horse grows dull and stupid; the inflammation ultimately
affects the brain, when the suffering and the life are extinguished in the
violent agonies of phrenitis.

The cure is easy, but everything depends upon the energy of him who
undertakes it. When the lips of the wound which have been brought together
by means of the twisted suture--as the "pin with tow wrapped round it"
is professionally termed--display a tendency to separate, and, instead
of being dry, appear moist, let no prejudice incline toward the ancient
practice of fomenting and poulticing the injury. Without the loss of a
moment in hesitation, withdraw the pin; remove the substance which was
twined round it, and apply a moderate-sized blister immediately over
and around the puncture. Should the disease have ascended up the neck,
still rub in a blister; only a proportionate amount of surface must then
be acted upon. If the case be as bad as possible, and yet the animal is
alive, still a blister is indicated.

[Illustration: THE TWISTED SUTURE.

    A pin is first stuck through the lips of the wound; a portion of
    tow, thread, or hair is then wrapped round the pin, and, to complete
    all, the point of the pin is lastly clipped off.
]

With the progress of the disease a larger space should always be subjected
to irritation, so as to cover every part the most active imagination could
suppose to be involved. One blister, moreover, will not suffice; another,
and another, and another must be employed, till every sign of disorder
has vanished. They must, however, be applied in quicker succession as the
symptoms are more urgent, while a greater interval may be allowed between
each when the affection is less serious. In the worst stage of phlebitis,
another blister must be put over the part upon which the irritation of the
first has not entirely ceased to act. In the second stage, the surface
must have been barely healed before another vesicatory is resorted to.
During the primary symptom, a single application frequently is sufficient;
or, at most, two blisters generally suffice.

When the vessel assumes the corded state, a blister can effect no more
than to check the progress of the disorder; no agency, however, which
science has placed at the disposal of man can restore the uses of the
vein. The vessel is lost, and lost forever. If a foul and black discharge
issue from the openings, insert a director and enlarge the wounds, joining
the holes by slitting up the sinuses which unite them; but do not cut the
entire extent of the hardened vessel, as in that case you may be deluged
in blood. The employment of the knife and the free use of blisters
constitute the chief means toward the cure of phlebitis. The sinuses must
be laid open. The probe should then be most patiently employed, for every
sinus _must_ be slit up. This may be done at once, when the hardness
indicates the vessel to be closed above the part which the incision
interferes with. To such an extent the knife may always be employed, while
blisters after blisters are used, regardless of the severe wounds over
which they are applied.

Much relief is afforded by the large and pendulous incision, through
which the corruption freely finds an exit. Some horses, however, from the
pain occasioned by the raw and inflamed condition of the neck, will not
allow the blister to be rubbed in after the ordinary fashion, especially
when the irritation caused by the former application has not thoroughly
subsided. In cases of this sort, do not employ the twitch or resort to
greater restraints. Exercise your reason. Regard the painful aspect of
the wounds. Ask yourself how you should enjoy the hard hand of a groom
violently scrubbed over such a part, were the soreness upon your own body.
Act upon the response. Procure a long-haired brush, such as pastry-cooks
use to egg over their more delicate manufactures. Go then into the next
stall. Speak kindly to a sick inferior that is at your mercy. Have the
creature led forth, and, with the brush just described, smear the part
with oil of cantharides or liquid blister. The extract of the Spanish fly
does not occasion immediate agony, and the application of oil will cool or
soothe the anger of the wounds.

With the jugular vein inflamed, the horse, during the period of treatment,
should consume no solid food. Hay tea, sloppy mashes, and well-made gruel
should constitute its diet. However, the gruel must not be given in such
quantities or made so thick as the same substance would be allowed to a
healthy horse. Gruel may not be very sustaining to the human being, but it
is nothing more than the oat divested of the shell or refuse part. To the
equine species such food, whether given dry or boiled in water, is highly
stimulating; and, as fever invariably accompanies inflammation, oats in
any form evidently are contraindicated. Should the animal, however, become
ravenous, a portion of potatoes, being first peeled, may be boiled to
a mash. Some water and a sufficiency of pollard ought to be added, and
the whole presented in such a state as requires no mastication, but in a
condition that will allow the mixture to be drawn between the teeth. The
same thing may be done with carrots and with turnips, only all mashed
roots, except potatoes, should be passed through a colander, and moistened
with some of the water in which they are boiled.

Any animal, during treatment, should be placed in a loose box. No creature
should be turned into the field. It is cheaper to pasture than to stable
a horse; but the constant motion of the legs, as the field is traversed,
is injurious to the punctured vein of the limbs, while the pendulous state
of the head and the perpetual movement of the jaws are most prejudicial
when venesection has been performed upon the neck. The stable is, in every
point of view, the cheapest and the best residence. The head of the animal
must be tied to the rack throughout the day; while, at night, the halter
may be lengthened, permitting the creature to lie down; but the floor
should be littered with tan, as straw might be eaten.

Let the horse remain thus for six weeks subsequent to the completion of a
cure. Then give gentle exercise to the extent which it can be borne--the
quantity being small, and the pace very slow at first, but gradually
augmented. This exercise should be maintained for three months. The
animal may afterward return to slow work; but if the neck is the place
affected, it must not wear a collar or be harnessed to the shafts for
the next six months. At the end of that time the horse may return to its
customary employment; but, if ridden or driven, it is always well to bear
in mind the late affliction, and to grant more than the usual time for the
performance of the journey. At the expiration of the year, the smaller
veins, having become enlarged, have adapted themselves to the loss which
the circulation has sustained, and the horse may resume full work.

For the first year, gruel, crushed and scalded oats, with two bundles
of cut grass per day, should constitute the diet. The manger should be
heightened, and the halter be so arranged as to prevent the head being
much lowered. Do all in your power to render useless violent mastication;
and, as the horse never chews when the operation is unnecessary, the
animal will obviously second your endeavors.

At the expiration of twelve months the animal which has lost a vein may be
sold, and, _in law_, has been accounted sound. Such a blemish, however,
is far from a recommendation; in this case law and common sense may be at
variance. The reader, therefore, is advised never to purchase a nag in
such a condition without insisting upon a special warranty, in which it is
provided that the animal is to be taken back should the loss of a vessel
be productive of any evil effects within the space of one twelvemonth.


BROKEN KNEES.

These accidents affect the exterior of the central joint of the fore
legs. They may be very trivial or very serious: they may simply ruffle
the hair or scratch the cuticle covering the integument; the same cause
may, however, remove the hair and lay bare the cutis. Moreover, the wound
is often aggravated by the nature of the road on which the animal is
traveling. A fall upon a very rough surface might even destroy a portion
of the skin, and deprive more or less of the cellular tissue of vitality.

[Illustration: BROKEN KNEES OF VARIOUS DEGREES OF INTENSITY.

The hair ruffled and the cuticle scratched.

The hair removed and the true skin exposed.

The skin destroyed and the cellular tissue injured.]

Accompanying such accidents there is generally some amount of contusion.
When it falls, the horse is in motion, and the impetus lends violence
to the descent. Probably the animal is being ridden when it comes to
the ground. The weight of the blow is not only then proportioned to the
heavy body of the horse and the rate at which it is progressing, but its
effect is augmented by the load upon its back. These considerations render
=broken knees= the proper dread of every horse proprietor. An animal
may stumble and come down which, prior to the mishap, would have been
sold cheap for several hundreds. It may be raised from the ground with
almost all its worth demolished. The nature of the hurt is not, however,
always shown at first. The chief danger, in broken knees, lies in the
accompanying contusion. The horse which rises without a hair ruffled, but
which fell with violence, is always, with informed persons, a cause of
considerable anxiety. Contusion is to be more dreaded in its consequences
than is the largest wound when devoid of anything approaching to a bruise.

The reason why contusion is thus gravely regarded is because, when that
occurs in severity, the vitality of all the coverings to the knee is
destroyed, and, in very bad cases, even the bones are materially injured.
All dead parts must be cast from a living body; and no man can predicate
how deep may be the injury, or how important may be the structures which
shall be opened, when the slough takes place.

Proprietors of horses thus injured are commonly very earnest in their
solicitations for a professional opinion as to the extent and probable
consequences of the accident. No certain judgment can, however,
be pronounced, nor should one be given. Any surgical calculation,
notwithstanding it may be most prudently qualified, is apt to be
misconstrued by the anxiety of distress. The most guarded hint at a
probability of recovery is too likely to be seized upon as a positive
guarantee of perfect restoration; and the possible evils which may
have been alluded to, confusion causes the individual not to remember.
Therefore silence is wisdom in these cases, however slight the broken knee
may appear in the first instance.

Broken knees are principally caused by the imprudence of him in whom
authority is invested. Certain people imagine the public admire the man
who chastises a horse. Such persons slash away for every trivial error.
Every imaginary fault is punished with the whip, which too often curls
around parts that should be respected. The animal, pained and frightened,
thinks only of the slasher behind it, and entirely disregards the path
upon which its eyes should be directed. The cutting is incessant, and
the horse's pace is incautiously fast. An impediment is encountered; the
animal trips; it is cast to the ground with violence, while the man is
probably rendered fitter for a hospital than for the continuance of his
travels.

Other riders and drivers always visit with severity the slightest
indication of weak limbs. A sudden drop or a false step is, to such
people, the signal for the reins to be jagged, the voice to be raised, and
the whip to be freely exercised upon all parts of the animal's body, but
mostly about the face and ears. The man likes to behold the poor creature
shake its head, and loves to imagine he is then teaching the terrified
quadruped to be careful. Equine pupils, no more than human scholars, are
to be tutored by barbarity, which may slay the reason long before it can
instruct the mind. Composure is imperative to the acquirement of any
knowledge. Thrashing calls forth terror, and alarm is synonymous with
confusion of mind. The horse is susceptible of a fear which humanity,
happily, finds it difficult to conceive; and how far such a creature is
calculated to be educated by cruelty, the intelligent reader is left to
infer.

Could the animal argue, it might plead that the weakness objected to was
caused by exertion made in man's service; that the stumbling gait was
consequent upon no negligence on its part; that it afforded the beaten
wretch no pleasure to have the knees broken, but, if the quadruped might
profess a choice, it would prefer not falling down, etc. etc. If such
pleas were properly considered, they perhaps might still the turbulence of
the punisher.

The great majority of these injuries are consequent upon the prejudice
or thoughtlessness of mankind. Popular admiration is, in this country,
much in favor of a good crest. Every animal, no matter how nature may
have formed the neck, must carry a good head. The rider, therefore, drags
upon the bridle, while the form of nearly every gentleman's harness-horse
is distorted by the bearing-rein. The constraint thus enforced not only
obliges additional muscular action, but it disqualifies the animal to see
the ground. In England there should be no objection to a blind horse,
since such of the species as have eyes are, by the prejudices of society,
seldom permitted to use them. The horse, being urged on when virtually
blindfold, must of necessity stumble upon any unusual impediment being
encountered. Such an accident shows no fault in the quadruped; but the man
is truly responsible for those consequences which his folly has induced.

When a horse stumbles, never raise your voice--the creature dreads its
master's chiding; never jag the reins--the mouth of the horse is far more
sensitive than the human lips; never use the lash--the horse is so timid
that the slightest correction overpowers its reasoning faculties. Speak
to the creature; reassure the palpitating frame; seek to restore those
perceptions which will form the best guard against any repetition of the
faulty action. When the legs are weak, the greater should be the care
of him who holds the reins. No cruelty can restore the lost tonicity of
the limbs; therefore all slashing is utterly thrown away. If the reader
regard his own safety, let him not, when riding, hold the head up, or,
when driving, sanction the employment of a bearing-rein. No inhumanity can
convert an animal with a ewe neck into the creature with a naturally lofty
crest. The disguise of such a defect as a head badly placed on the neck is
an impossibility. Therefore, if you are desirous of a well-carried head,
think of it when making the purchase. Pay something more, and any kind of
quadruped is obtainable; but be above the meanness which purchases for a
low figure, and then endeavors to palm off its cheap article as a jewel
procured at the highest price.

When a horse has been down, never judge of the injury by the first
appearance. While the animal stands in the yard, order the groom to fetch
a pail, with milk-warm water and a large sponge. With these he is to clean
the knees--not after the usual coarse and filthy fashion now universal;
not by first sopping the part, and then squeezing the soiled sponge into
the pail whence more fluid is to be abstracted. The dabbing and smearing a
wound simply irritates it; and the dirt, having all entered into the pail,
the fluid is rendered unsuited to after cleanly purposes.

[Illustration: THE PROPER WAY TO WASH A BROKEN KNEE.]

To perform the office properly, the knee should not be touched. The sponge
should be saturated, then squeezed dry above the seat of injury. The water
thus flows in a full stream over the part, and, by the force of gravity,
carries away any loose dirt that may be upon the surface. Sopping,
dabbing, wiping, and smearing occasion pain, and can remove nothing which
may have entered the skin and which is protected from the action of the
sponge by a covering of hair; whereas by the plan recommended the dirt
is removed, the part is not debilitated, neither is its natural energy
destroyed. The last drop of water, moreover, is as clean as was the
first, and the animal is not irritated immediately prior to a surgical
examination.

The wound being cleansed, a certain time should be allowed to elapse for
the horse to recover its composure. It should return to the stable, have
a feed of corn, and be watered. Then the real business commences. The
animal should be gently approached; its condition should be observed. If
any nervousness is exhibited, the person ought to retire, and a further
pause should be allowed. If, on the second visit, any unusual symptoms are
displayed, have the quadruped led into the yard and blindfolded. Let a man
take up the other fore leg, when the knee may be examined with safety.

Place the palm of the hand over the joint. Hold it there to ascertain if
any heat or swelling is to be detected. Should there be swelling, make
gradual and gentle pressure upon it with the thumb or one finger. If,
upon suddenly removing the hand, an indent is conspicuous, it argues
considerable effusion, and justifies fear as to the result. Should neither
heat nor swelling be remarked, further pressure is to be made with the
thumb upon the knee. The force should be gentle at first and gradually
increased. If the action is sustained well, or even moderately endured,
it allows of hope being entertained. But should the horse attempt to rear
upon the first impress of the thumb, the result is very dubious. The
absence of agony is far from anything approaching to a positive proof,
as bone and synovial membrane, tendon and ligament, do not take on acute
inflammation when first injured; but, from the response thus elicited, a
fair inference as to the probability may be drawn.

Should the skin be lacerated, the probe must be employed. Such injuries
are very deceptive. They may be much more extensive than the size of the
wound would indicate. The probe being of metal, ought not to be thrust
violently against every exposed part. This kind of proceeding can effect
no good. The probe should be held lightly between the thumb and fore
finger; no pressure should be made upon it--the instrument ought rather
to fall of its own gravity than be forced into the flesh. A thin piece
of wire can be readily driven into soft structures; but where an actual
division exists, no opposition necessitating force will be encountered.

Broken knees always happen when the horse is in motion. The onward
impulse is not by the fall immediately destroyed; but after the horse is
down there always exists an impetus which has a tendency to propel the
body forward. Should the skin of the knees be divided by the fall, the
after-force obviously cannot affect the upper line of such division; but
the lower edge of skin will present an acute obstacle to the roughened
ground, and will, by the grating of the body, in all probability be rent
from its attachments. When the animal rises, the action and the elasticity
natural to the integument will occasion the torn portion of the skin which
has been driven backward to once more assume its original position. By
this means a kind of bag or purse is formed upon the knee. Grit, mud, and
all kinds of impurities may be retained and concealed within this pouch.
These will be disposed to irritate the structure with which they are in
contact; suppuration is certain to be established, and sad consequences
have followed such sacs not being early detected.

[Illustration: PROBING THE SAC OF A BROKEN KNEE.]

[Illustration: A SETON BEING INSERTED THROUGH THE SAC OF THE KNEE.]

Such a cavity having been discovered, the next object is to ascertain its
dimensions. That is done by gradually moving the probe along its sides.
Should it be small, it will be sufficient that a hole be made through its
most depending portion with a sharp seton needle. If it be large, the
needle should be armed with a piece of tape knotted at one end. The sac
being punctured, the needle is to be drawn through the opening, the tape
being left in the cavity, and a seton is thus formed. The seton should
be knotted at the other end, and moved its entire length every night and
morning. It will prevent all premature attempts to heal, will stimulate
the soft parts to suppuration, and will remove the dirt, as the tape
affords a guide to the secretion. When inserting a seton into the knee,
always use a large curved needle. The size of the instruments should never
be regulated by any foreign standard, but should always be proportioned to
the magnitude of the patient and the intention of the operator.

Three days subsequent to the full establishment of suppuration, cut off
one of the knots, and, laying hold of the other knot, withdraw the seton.
Its advantages by this time are gained, and its longer stay, by hardening
the opening through which it passed, would occasion lasting blemish.

The reason of its insertion is thus explained. Where foreign matter is
confined, no wound will heal; the orifice may close, but soon after
abscess forms. This process is repeated until the suffering is long
protracted. Danger is generally proportioned to the duration of the evil,
where wounds not of a mortal character are concerned. By the agency of
the seton, the foreign matter is removed and the healing process thereby
considerably expedited. After the above plan, all blemish may be lost by
the expiration of the third month, and the once injured knee restored to
its uses, being as fine as any other part of the body.

Everything being accomplished as it is here directed, no attempt must in
the first instance be made to poke out any particle of dirt which the
probe may touch. The bagging skin being divided by the seton having been
established in the sac, no further thought need, for the present, be given
to a common but most vexatious attendant upon the customary treatment for
broken knees.

The animal should be returned to its usual stall and have the head "racked
up." Some cold water should then be procured, with every quart of which
two ounces of tincture of arnica should be blended. A portion of this
fluid ought, with a clean sponge of moderate size, to be poured into a
saucer; the groom must have strict orders to take the sponge, and, having
saturated it with the fluid, to squeeze it quite dry, allowing the liquor
to run over the injured knee--after the manner previously illustrated,
as washing the wound. Two men are required for this office, which should
be performed every half hour throughout the day and night for half a
week. The injury being thus made continuously wet, the cold produced by
evaporation keeps down inflammation, while the arnica is a potent remedy
for bruises and all kinds of contusions or lacerations.

If at the expiration of the period named no swelling appears, and
suppuration seems to be thoroughly established by means of the seton, the
halter may be released to a great extent, a cradle being merely fixed upon
the horse's neck; the animal will thereby be permitted to lie down and to
enjoy its natural rest.

But should the joint be much enlarged, should the part have become acutely
sensitive, while the horse resolutely refuses to bear any weight upon the
injured limb, then withdraw the seton, give the animal two pots of stout
per day, and all the oats mingled with old beans which it will consume.
Untie the head and place the horse in slings; employ the arnica lotion
night and day, until the slough is thrown off, which, having taken place,
change the liquid application for the solution of chloride of zinc--one
scruple to the pint of water--and continue to employ this last lotion
after precisely the same manner as has been previously directed.

Probabilities, however remote they may seem to be, are here endeavored to
be anticipated; although the author's experience cannot recall a single
case where the arnica lotion has been used with proper assiduity, and
any but the most happy results have followed. When an animal has fallen
violently to the earth, and has been, in the first instance, shown to
the writer with much tumefaction and excessive tenderness, a slough has
in exceptional cases followed; but never has the enlargement or the
sensitiveness increased under the proper use of the arnica lotion. The
slough, moreover, in such instances, has been superficial, only entailing
loss of hair, and never occasioning open joint.

All horses are exposed to these accidents for the reasons already stated.
Whenever such misfortunes occur, employ the arnica lotion. Should the
skin be divided, still use the arnica lotion until copious suppuration
is established. The secretion once seen, resort to the lotion formed of
chloride of zinc and water--one grain to the ounce--which operates most
marvelously upon all suppurating wounds.

No absolute period can be stated which a case of broken knees, when
severe, ought to occupy. The danger, however, is generally passed by the
expiration of a week, and the cure commonly entails loss of services for a
couple of months.

[Illustration:

    AN ORGANIZED KNEE, ENSUING AFTER A LONG COURSE OF THE ORDINARY
    TREATMENT.
]

[Illustration:

    THE APPEARANCE OF THE KNEE SUBSEQUENT TO THE HEALING OF THE WORST
    CASE THE AUTHOR EVER HAD UNDER HIS CARE.
]

When adopting the foregoing mode of treatment, no bandages are to be
employed. Such wrappers only augment the heat inherent in every species of
inflammation. They dam up the pus and speedily become foul and offensive
rags; cleanliness is one of the primary requisites toward good surgery.

No caustics of any kind are imperative or even necessary. The two lotions,
if used with proper zeal, will accomplish all that can be desired. The
arnica lotion should, however, be in all cases applied night and day
during the early stage; the chloride of zinc lotion ought to be employed
only during the time man is usually out of bed.

The wound, in ordinary cases, should not be washed or touched. Should
proud flesh start up, such is positive proof of the negligence of the
groom, whose duty it was to apply the chloride of zinc lotion. If the
mode of treatment here laid down be strictly pursued, the author can
with confidence promise a satisfactory and a speedy cure. To enforce the
value of the measures recommended, the portraits of two knees, which were
subjected to the opposite processes, have been presented. Both were copied
from living subjects in the sixth week after the misfortune had occurred.


OPEN SYNOVIAL CAVITIES.

The primary cause of these fearful accidents is the pride of mankind;
gentility is always striving to impose upon credulity. It loves to be
mistaken for something better than it really is. After all, this vice
of society is nothing more than the child's game of "Lords and Ladies,"
played by grown-up persons. A horse having a naturally defective neck is
obtained; no barbarity is too abhorrent to repress the hope of making
people believe the steed thus deformed is a creature of extremest
value. The animal, if ridden, has the chin pulled in close to the neck;
if driven, the free carriage of the body is prevented by the cruel
bearing-rein. The horse progresses in agony, while gentility sits smiling
at the result of its artifice. The horse cannot see the ground before it,
because of the constraint imposed upon the head; it cannot fix attention
upon its duty, because of the agony which the cunning of gentility
inflicts upon the lips. The pace is always rapid; the action is high as in
the case of blindness; and the animal generally comes to the earth with
violence. The skin upon the knees is divided, and the structures beneath
are penetrated. One or more =synovial sheaths= are opened, while the
cavities formed by the junction of the separate bones may be lacerated.

Sheath or joint may not be immediately opened by the fall, but either
may have their integrity destroyed through the slough induced by the
contusion consequent upon a broken knee. Moreover, various accidents will
occasionally happen--misfortune is of infinite variety. The synovial
bursæ, sheaths, or cavities of the hind legs are occasionally punctured by
the quadruped kicking violently while in harness. The capsule, embracing
the tendon of the flexor brachii upon the point of the shoulder, has
been opened by the animal drawing a vehicle being run into; or by the
horse running away and coming in contact with some obstacle. Any synovial
cavity within the body may be penetrated by an unfortunate combination of
circumstances; or by the unbridled passion of the groom, who may have a
pitchfork near at hand. So also they have been cut into by the arrogance
of unskillful operators. However, it matters not how the misfortune may
arise, the mode of treatment and the manner of cure is in all such cases
exactly the same.

Neither, as regards the primary effect, is it of subsequent importance
whether air be admitted into an opened bursa or sac, a synovial sheath, or
the interior of a joint. All of these structures are formed into bladders
or closed cavities. They all contain a similar secretion, which is a
transparent, albuminous fluid, resembling white of egg. They all are of
one use, or all serve to facilitate motion. The bursa is the smallest;
the synovial sheath is the next in magnitude; and joints may be much the
largest. The secondary effects are proportioned to their size, but in the
first instance much constitutional disturbance will attend the opening of
each.

These structures are not formed to endure the presence of atmosphere;
air is admitted a short time after each displays inflammation. This
creates symptoms of irritability, and air will enter before we see the
wound. The secondary effect is, however, most to be dreaded. Bursæ are
small bladders, or closed sacs, distributed over the body, and located
wherever the natural motions possibly might originate friction. Sheaths
always embrace tendons, being essentially closed sacs. The secondary
effects of tendinous sheaths are so much the more to be dreaded than those
attending punctured bursæ, because the last generally lie loosely between
highly-organized parts; whereas a sheath is partly fixed upon a tendon,
and tendon, being lowly organized, is more difficult to cure when it is
diseased. However, joints are much worse than the preceding two; because
in these the synovial membrane is partly spread over the cartilage, which
lies upon the articular surfaces of bones. Now, cartilage is the most
lowly organized substance in the entire body. When disease fixes upon
it the morbid condition is so slow, so irritating, and so difficult to
eradicate, that science almost despairs of the issue.

The results indicated show that every effort should be made to ward off
the secondary effect. Therefore, when an accident of this nature occurs,
proceed with the utmost gentleness. Having procured a large sponge and a
pail of milk-warm water, saturate the sponge and squeeze it dry, above the
injury. Do not touch the sore, but allow the fluid, as it gravitates, to
wash off all or any foreign matter. With regard to the wound, dirt seldom
enters that. When it does, the suppuration which must ensue upon the
accident will more effectually remove it than could hogsheads of water,
however unfeelingly it might be employed.

The part having been rendered clean, the wound is to be attentively
observed. When nothing but blood or serum, or thin, discolored fluid can
be seen, this argues the more important structures are entire. Should
there be among, and yet distinct from, those discharges, a transparent,
glairy liquid flowing forth, such is absolute proof some synovial
membrane has been severed. The size of the current and the abundance of
the secretion are also evidences not to be despised. Probabilities may
be inferred from these circumstances. If the amount of the synovia be
small, there is hope that a bursa only has been interfered with; when the
amount is large, it demonstrates that either a sheath is punctured or the
joint itself may have been opened. Synovial cavities between bones may be
larger, and are much more active than the sheaths of tendons; therefore
the magnitude of the current should be observed; although, when the
integrity of many parts has been destroyed, little absolute dependence
will be placed upon the comparative quantity of the synovial secretion.

[Illustration: No. 1.

THE TENDONS WHICH CROSS THE OUTSIDE OF THE KNEE-JOINT.

Explanation of No 1.

    1. The extensor metacarpi tendon.
    2. The extensor metacarpi obliquus tendon.
    3. The extensor pedis tendon.
    4, 5, 7. Connecting and restraining bands between the tendons.
    6. The extensor suffraginis tendon.
    8. The flexor metacarpi externus tendon.
    9. The back sinews.
]

[Illustration: No. 2.

THE TENDONS WHICH CROSS THE INSIDE OF THE KNEE-JOINT.

Explanation of No. 2.

    1. The extensor metacarpi tendon.
    2. The extensor metacarpi obliquus tendon.
    3. The flexor metacarpi internus tendon.
    4. The back sinews.

    The letter _a_ denotes the only spot where the knee-joint could
    probably be opened by a fall without lacerating a synovial sheath or
    injuring a tendon.
]

Anatomy is, under the circumstances, a fair guide. Where numerous
structures are involved, a well-grounded learning is requisite for
accurate judgment; but as regards the knee of the horse, the spot whence
the synovial discharge issues is of all importance. The incision must
either be very deep and gaping, (all subjacent structures being divided
before the knee-joint can be exposed,) or else the wound must affect a
very circumscribed place. The reader, by consulting the above anatomical
engravings of the horse's knee, will remark how closely it is laced about
with tendon. Each of the tendons, when crossing the joint, is embraced
in a synovial sheath. From such information, it will instantly be seen
how far more likely a sheath is to be lacerated than the joint is to be
punctured.

The single point where the joint could be entered without severing tendon,
lies rather on one side than directly in the center. The vulnerable spot
is therefore not exposed to the full force of the blow. To lay bare the
joint by an ordinary fall several parts must be divided. Rarely is an
accident witnessed of so fearful an extent. Generally that which is spoken
of as open joint proves to be no more than punctured sheath, the presence
of synovia being commonly accepted as the proof. But when the joint is
really laid open, the immense flow of synovia--so many sheaths being
severed--should at once prove the fact.

[Illustration: PROBING BROKEN KNEE.]

The probe must next be used. In the first instance it should be employed
to ascertain whether the fall has left any purse or sac at the inferior
part of the joint. All which was enforced respecting the use of metallic
wire to a raw wound must here be observed. The probe had better be
altogether discarded than employed with the smallest approach to rudeness.

[Illustration:

    THE MANNER OF OPENING THE DIRT SAC, IN CASE ONE SHOULD BE PRESENT
    WITH OPEN JOINT.
]

The suspected sac having been discovered, a large spatula is placed below
the knee. A knife with a keen point, but with the edge only sharpened for
one-third of its length, is to be used. Upon the cutting point of the
knife a piece of beeswax is firmly moulded. The wax answers the purpose of
a temporary probe; the blade, thus guarded, is cautiously inserted beneath
the loose flap of skin. When the bottom of the pouch is reached, a certain
amount of resistance will be encountered; through this the knife is
driven. The force cuts in twain the wax, and pushes through the integument
the blade, which the spatula guides from the leg. This operation should be
performed quickly; the hand should simply be carried downward, and then
brought upward when all is concluded; care, however, being taken that
the withdrawal of the knife does not injure any part save those it was
designed to cut.

Should the horse be nervous, it is desirable to blindfold the animal and
order the groom to hold up the sound leg; the creature can then only
rear. When thus disabled, that movement is rendered difficult, and it
is proportionably slow. The operation, if properly performed, should be
over before action can be prepared for; and by the knife a considerable
incision is made in the bottom of the sac, through which all grit or dirt
can, with the pus, readily pass.

The examination concludes with a second resort to the probe. The
instrument is in surgery of great use; but as it is commonly employed,
reason may doubt whether injured life has been much benefited by its
invention. It generally is raked and poked about as though the person
holding it was determined, at all hazards, to ascertain the length,
breadth, and every irregularity of the wound he is asked to cure; much
harm is thereby done. Delicate attachments which, if not interfered
with, might induce speedy reunion, are thus broken down, and the injury
aggravated; while the operator thinks he ought to know all about the
lesion he is to treat, and supposes that he can possibly do no harm with
an instrument which the best schools order to be employed.

A good surgeon has no curiosity to gratify; all he desires to know is so
much as will enable him to benefit the patient placed under his care.
Therefore never abuse the probe in cases of open synovial cavities.
Imagine the distance the bones are from the surface; and, if the probe can
enter a very little beyond that distance, such a fact demonstrates the
cavity to be exposed. When a horse is before you with synovia running from
a wound upon the knee, have the leg slightly flexed; look for the most
free space, and into that insert the probe. The bones of the knee-joint
are directly under the skin; and, when no opposition is encountered for
three-quarters of an inch, be sure the joint is exposed.

[Illustration: PROBING AN OPEN JOINT.]

Most of the cases narrated as opened joints were simply punctures into
synovial sheaths; as such, they were sufficiently serious, but not of so
important a character as is assumed for them. Synovia is placed between
the ends of bones, its use being to prevent the friction which otherwise
would be occasioned by the movement of one hard body upon another. Being
confined in a circumscribed sac and incapable of much compression,
the liquid performs all the uses which could appertain to the most
solid substance. When the fluid--which, from its thick appearance and
unctuous feel, was formerly termed "joint oil"--has escaped, the bones
grate against each other, inflammation ensues, all neighboring parts
sympathize, and the constitution suffers from intense irritation.

[Illustration:

    THE INJURED LEG, HARD, HOT, TENSE, AND SWOLLEN--ALL RESULTING FROM
    THE INJUDICIOUS EMPLOYMENT OF BANDAGES.
]

Something of this kind happens when a synovial sheath is punctured.
The tendon comes in contact with its investing synovial membrane; but
there are reasons why that circumstance is not so serious as when the
lubricating fluid is released from the cavity of a joint. Tendons support
no weight, and their motion is, with the sick, almost optional. The
bones are the pillars on which the body rests; even while the frame is
prostrated, a certain degree of pressure is upon them; for that reason,
and also because tendon is more highly organized than cartilage, the
first-mentioned substance is endowed with the greater renovating energy.
An open joint is consequently far more serious than a punctured sheath.

Notwithstanding the serious nature of these accidents when wrongly
treated, few injuries yield more kindly to proper measures than open
joint. However, should the ordinary treatment of caustics and bandages be
adopted, the entire limb, before the expiration of a week, will be hot,
hard, and tense. The health of the animal will be seriously affected by
the continued irritation, and the body will rapidly become emaciated. The
foot of the limb will with evident difficulty be held from the ground.
Should not death interpose--the animal being unable to lie down, and
the entire weight being cast upon the sound limb--the foot attached to
the healthy member frequently becomes affected with the worst form of
incurable laminitis.

[Illustration:

    OSSEOUS STRUCTURE HAS BEEN THROWN OUT, CAUSING ENLARGED KNEE AND
    PERMANENT BLEMISH--THE RESULTS OF USING BANDAGES.
]

[Illustration:

    EXTENSIVE LOSS OF HAIR, GENERAL ENLARGEMENT OF THE KNEE, AND
    ORGANIZED THICKENING OF THE SCAR--RESULTING FROM THE USE OF
    BANDAGES.
]

Even should such a misfortune as laminitis not occur, the after-deformity
and blemish renders the horse almost worthless. The bones sympathize in
the general disease, and a large osseous deposit is engendered to mark
the surgical inaptitude. When bony growth does not follow, the parts
lying immediately over the knee thicken; the skin sloughs, and, the
integument never being restored, a full knee with a lasting blemish is the
consequence.


OPEN SYNOVIAL JOINTS.

The more favorable terminations are never to be anticipated when the
barbarity of bandages and the cruelty of caustics are sanctioned. The
horse which recovers from such treatment is, by an enlarged and blemished
limb, rendered an object painful to contemplate, and is entirely unsuited
to any gentleman's uses, while the life of the creature is rendered
burdensome. There is nothing in the proper treatment which a child might
not safely apply. The measures create no pain and require no force; they
rather soothe than irritate, and therefore are always submitted to with
complacency.

[Illustration:

    OPEN JOINT ENSUING UPON BROKEN KNEE, AND SOLELY CAUSED BY THE ABUSE
    OF BANDAGES.
]

[Illustration:

    THE GENERAL APPEARANCE OF AN OPEN JOINT WHEN FIRST SUBMITTED TO THE
    NOTICE OF THE SURGEON.
]

The animal, when first brought in, never displays symptoms indicating
the full extent of its injury. The part which has been wounded generally
presents something like the aspect represented in the engraving on the
right. Commonly there is an evident flow of synovia, but the most careful
examination can seldom detect positive evidence of an open joint.

The full extent of the evil cannot be known before the slough takes place.
This is certain to follow upon the customary bleeding, physicking, low
diet, bandages, and caustics being employed. As recovery is wished for,
all such aggravations must be rejected. Proceed, in the first instance, as
has been directed for broken knee; and these things being done, give the
following drink:--

    Sulphuric ether        One ounce.
    Laudanum               One ounce.
    Water                  Half a pint.
      Give this without noise or violence.

Treat the frightened animal with even more gentleness and patience than
would be bestowed upon a sick child. A harsh word may now, when the
system is shaken and every nerve unstrung, do that harm which no medicine
can repair.

Having given the drink, look at the animal and take the pulse. Should the
appearance denote inward comfort, should the pulse be natural, give no
more drinks; but if the eye is in constant motion, if the horse breathe
hard and start at sounds, if the head is held high and the ears are
active, repeat the ethereal draught, and continue repeating it every hour
until the foregoing symptoms abate.

The object of the medicine being gained, have the horse quietly led into
a stall; the stall it has been used to is the best, and the favorite
neighbor need not be removed. But all other quadrupeds which might disturb
the sick animal should be taken out of the building. A good, clean bed
should be shaken down, and the diet must be suited to the symptoms. If the
pulse is at all low, no hay should be allowed till it amends; should the
arterial beat denote oppression, a rather large proportion of beans may be
blended with the oats. If the breathing is short, the countenance unhappy,
and the eye sleepy, while a very quick and feeble pulse only is to be
detected, give four of the ethereal drinks in the twenty-four hours. Also
allow two quarts of stout daily.

All horses should be accustomed to drink beer; with very little teaching
they abandon their teetotal habits, and will by very expressive action
signify delight at the sight of a pewter pot. The best means of
introducing the beverage to their notice is, in the first instance, to
break a penny loaf into pieces, to soak the pieces in the beverage,
and then to offer them, one by one, from the hand of the master or the
favorite attendant. Animals quickly learn to recognize their owners. The
dog will bestow such a welcome upon its proprietor as is never lavished
upon any stranger. The horse also learns to recognize the individual whose
property it has become. See the animal which has carried the groom without
excitement to the door, and which has walked before the house with pendant
head and listless ears: the moment the door opens and the master appears,
all dejection is cast off; the creature cannot stand still when the foot
is in the stirrup; and, immediately the weight is felt upon the back, the
happy quadruped prances gayly off, often at the risk of unseating him who
has provoked this demonstration of excessive pleasure.

The master who is unknown has earned his fate by his neglect, and probably
may live to repent his inattention to the duties which Providence has
intrusted to his charge. The affections of the meanest creature that
breathes are blessings which the highest and the proudest may well stoop
to gain. The love of a horse is not to be despised; the noble quadruped is
easier controlled by its uncultivated impulses than by all the restraints
which brutes have invented or fools have adopted. It should enter into the
considerations of every life assurance company, whether the man who takes
out a policy is of a nature likely to be loved by the animals which he
possesses.

Beer is everywhere procurable, and it is not to be altogether contemned
as a medicinal stimulant. Many a horse which is now lost upon every hard
field-day would have been saved if the animal had been pulled up at the
nearest public house to be presented with a slice of bread and a pint of
beer. Such nourishment would not load the stomach; but it would serve to
keep off that utter exhaustion from which too many steeds fail.

[Illustration: THE MANNER IN WHICH LOTION SHOULD BE APPLIED TO AN OPEN
JOINT.]

The animal being in its stall, then apply the lotion, composed of tincture
of arnica, two ounces; water, one quart. Use this by means of a sponge and
saucer. Pour some of the liquor into the receptacle. Saturate the sponge
and squeeze the fluid upon the leg, but above the injured knee. Do this
after the manner which is illustrated as the proper mode of washing the
wounded part.

Continue with the arnica lotion, night and day, for half a week. No
periods can be named for applying the sponge, as inflammations, and
therefore the drying powers, vary in different individuals; but the knee
should be always wet. This should be attended to for the first three days
and a half, during which the halter should be tied to the rack. At the end
of that time turn the horse very gently round. Remember the condition of
the limb, and allow time for the performance of an action which is always
an effort to the most agile of the equine species, as few stalls are a
single inch too wide.

The animal being with its face to the gangway, and fastened by the
pillar-reins, place the slings before it. Leave the creature to
contemplate the apparatus for half an hour. Then take the cloth and hold
it up to the inspection of the quadruped. Afterward place it between the
fore and hind legs--pausing and speaking kindly should alarm be displayed.
Thus by degrees fix it to the pulleys and bring it near to the abdomen,
which, however, should by no means be touched. Then caress the creature's
head, and present some of its favorite food: eating generally tranquilizes
the mind of an animal. So much being done, proceed to fix the straps upon
the chest and withers. Then fondle the sufferer again, and it will permit
the hind tackle to be arranged.

When all is fixed, leave a pail of water suspended from one pillar,
and put an elevated trough, charged with favorite provender, in front
of the horse. Let it be watched till a week from the date of the injury
has expired, and never left during that period even for an instant. If
any restlessness is exhibited, the attendant should approach and caress
the creature. Quadrupeds--though none comprehend the precise meaning of
the language--love to be praised. The hand, fondly applied to the skin,
and the human voice, modulated by kindness, seem to convey a purport to
animals which they will suffer pain to deserve. The writer lately had a
favorite dog, whose aversion was dry bread. It would hold the detested
morsel in its mouth for hours, looking most uncomfortable, but making no
attempt at mastication. Yet, upon praise being lavished, the eye would
brighten, and, rather than prove unworthy of so much commendation, the
hardest and stalest crust would be chewed and swallowed.

[Illustration: A HORSE IN SLINGS FOR OPEN JOINT.]

Watching is necessary, because many horses when thus imprisoned, being
left alone, grow terrified and injure themselves by struggling their
bodies out of the slings. The presence of any human being assures the
timidity and checks the active imagination of a solitary animal. The
author well knows that the learning of the present time denies imagination
to animals. Shying, is only the creature imagining something which is not
actually before it. What are dreams but positive evidences of imagination?
All people have heard the suppressed bark and seen the excited limbs
of the dog as it slept upon the hearth rug. How many grooms have been
surprised, upon their earliest visit, to see the stable knocked to pieces
and the horse prostrated amid the ruin it has created! How is this to
be explained if imagination be not present in the animal? This is the
author's interpretation of the mystery. Dreams are active, in proportion
to the immaturity of the reason. Children often wake up in tears, and
continue screaming in terror for long periods if unattended to. The horse
starts out of a fearful vision; darkness is about it; the fear augments;
the animal begins kicking; the sound made by its own feet increases the
creature's alarm; it lashes out frequently until it has pounded part of
its dwelling into atoms and disabled itself to that degree which makes the
highest punishment the greatest mercy.

A high trough is required to guard against the effects of that itching
which attends the healing process, and provokes the animal to strike its
knees. This it would do against the manger were its head in the customary
position. Were a wall before it, the knees might still be laid open; but
with a high trough nothing is within the reach of its injured joint. Even
supposing one of the slender supports, by the cunning of excitement,
to be struck, the substance should be too light to offer any dangerous
resistance, the blow being far more likely to overturn the machine than to
lacerate the limb.

When the quadruped has remained sufficient time in the slings to have
become familiar with them, pull up the cloth so that it may slightly
touch but not press against the belly. Then well secure it, and leave the
animal to rest its wearied limbs, or not, as it pleases. Its suffering
joints will soon teach the horse to bear the entire weight upon such a
support, and to sleep comfortably in the contrivance. With a few, and only
a few examples, living in slings has induced such confirmed constipation
as necessitated a daily resort to bran mashes. Most horses, however,
speedily accept and grow fat, enjoying the relief thus afforded. Only one
caution need be given--look well to the tackle. The horse is very heavy,
and should a single fastening prove insecure, the result might convert a
healing wound into a hopeless injury.

[Illustration:

    THE ALBUMINOUS BALL, WHICH FORMS IN SHAPE OF AN OPEN JOINT WHEN
    TREATED WITH A SOLUTION OF CHLORIDE OF ZINC.
]

With the employment of slings, change the lotion for one composed of
chloride of zinc, one scruple; water, one pint; this need be applied only
during the day. It is too weak to occasion pain, and should be used with
the saucer and sponge, after the manner of washing a broken knee or open
joint, which has been previously illustrated. The strength, nevertheless,
is sufficient to coagulate the albumen of the synovia. Thus it forms a
species of natural bandage which excludes the air, while at the same time
it stimulates the flesh and causes that to heal under the protection of
its own albuminous secretion.

The coagulated albumen frequently accumulates in front of the knee. The
author has seen it attached to the part quite of the size and very near
to the form of the largest apple. It must on no account be touched,
however large it may grow or however insecure it may appear. Respect
it, and it will fall off when its service is accomplished. The cure is
nearly completed when the white ball falls. Shortly after the wounds being
closed, and pressure made with the fingers--not with the thumb--can be
endured, the slings may be removed; though the healing should be further
confirmed before the horse is allowed to stand opposite to any substance
against which it may strike what recently has been a fearful open joint.


WOUNDS.

To this species of injury the horse is much exposed from the recklessness
or incompetence of those who assume to hold the reins of authority.
Occurrences which are politely termed "accidents," generally entail
suffering upon the blameless animal. The common provocatives of such
_accidents_ are either the drunkenness of man or his utter ignorance
of the mental attributes of the quadruped he has possession of. The
first cause shall be passed over in disgust; the second merits some
consideration, being rather a universal than an individual fault.

When a horse pauses, always endeavor to ascertain the motive; the reason
may be groundless. By gentleness, convince the creature that its fears are
without foundation, and you earn a supremacy as well as win a gratitude
which will always be cheerfully acknowledged. Never employ the whip
to correct "the obstinacy of the brute." The horse is naturally very
fearful; were it not so, man would never have obtained that mastery which
is imperative for domestication. Elderly gentlemen should never thrust
their heads out of carriage windows and shout to the driver to "go on."
Such implied chiding may urge the coachman to display severity, and the
horse is dangerous when alarmed. So long as the animal continues calm,
the superiority of man is submitted to; but once excite the terror of the
quadruped, and all earthly restraint is powerless. Dread assumes the form
of the wildest fury, and the horse tears onward, insensible to mortal
punishment and blind to every danger.

It is in this manner the most terrible wounds are produced. Such injuries,
in surgical language, are defined to be "solutions of continuity," or
"separations of the skin and soft parts underneath." Neither of these
definitions, however, includes a bruise or a contused wound. Therefore,
for the present purpose, a =wound= will be interpreted an injury inflicted
by external violence.

A =lacerated wound= may be too trivial to attract the surgeon's notice,
as a scratch. It may also be a very serious affair, as when a cart-wheel
runs against a horse's thigh, tearing the flesh asunder. Laceration is
generally accompanied by contusion, though contusion forms no necessary
part of a lacerated wound. When such injuries are inflicted, they are
mostly followed by little hemorrhage; yet it is far from unusual for an
animal thus hurt to perish. Shock to the system is the most serious of
the primary effects. Beyond that the immediate consequence appears to be
insignificant. Little blood is lost, for the vessels are stimulated by
the violence which rends these tubes and the soft structures asunder.
Stimulation causes the torn mouths of the arteries and veins to close
or to retract. The ragged coats of the vessels, the loose fibers of the
flesh, and the jagged cellular tissue likewise fall over the orifices, and
help to stay the flow of the vital current.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF A SEVERE LACERATED WOUND.]

The dangers attending lacerated wounds spring, in the first instance, from
collapse. This possibility being overcome, the immediate peril has been
surmounted; all injuries of this nature are commonly attended, however,
with more or less contusion. The force necessary to tear open a portion of
the body will, of necessity, bruise or kill some part of the flesh. Any
animal substance, when deprived of vitality, must be cast off by a living
body; a slough must follow. Now that process is attended with hazard in
proportion as it is tardily accomplished. The period of its occurrence is
always one of anxiety; for when this process takes place, the stimulation
that originally caused the vessels to retract no longer exists. All
mechanical opposition to hemorrhage is, with the loss of the dead matter,
generally removed. Everything, therefore, depends upon the fibrinous
deposit--a sort of glutinous material secreted by the body, which is
commonly largely poured forth when any slough by natural and speedy action
is effected. Should the frame be so far debilitated as to prevent all
secretion of fibrin, the most frightful bleeding must ensue.

The horse which has not recovered from the original injury will then sink
under the terrible depletion. Therefore, it is impossible to form any
opinion of the injurious effects or of the consequences likely to follow a
lacerated wound before some time has elapsed.

An =incised wound= implies a division, more or less deep, of the soft
parts. This form of injury produces less shock to the system, and
generally heals more quickly than any other. The principal danger is
encountered at the moment when the wound is inflicted; vessels may be
sundered, and they are cut in twain with the least possible irritation
to the parts within which they are situated. The veins and arteries,
therefore, do not generally retract any more than do the soft structures.
A gash into a fleshy substance always produces a gaping wound, which is
wide in proportion to the depth and length of the injury. From that hurt
the dark-colored venous blood drains in a stream, while the bright scarlet
or arterial blood is propelled forth in jets, sometimes to a considerable
distance. These jets correspond with the pulsations of the heart; but as
syncope or fainting takes place, the emission ceases with the beating of
the circulatory center.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF AN INCISED WOUND.]

The danger consequent upon an incised wound is ever measured by the extent
of the hemorrhage. When large arteries are divided, that fact is easily
told by the size and the force of the jets sent forth. A strong horse
may, from that cause, be dead in ten minutes. To enforce the difference
between a lacerated and an incised wound, the reader is reminded of those
painful cases, frequently recorded in the newspapers, where a limb is by
machinery torn from a poor man's body, and scarcely a drop of blood marks
the deprivation; also of death by severing a throat, when sensation ceases
ere the stream has flowed forth. The last is an incised, the first is a
lacerated wound.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF AN ABRADED WOUND.]

An =abraded wound=, in its mildest form, is simply a graze. The reader
will, however, remember how acutely painful such accidents always are. The
horse's sufferings are not highly estimated by the generality of people;
nevertheless, an injury of this description is not to be despised, even
when witnessed on the animal. A broken knee, as it generally is exhibited,
is nothing more than an abrasion. An abraded wound may simply mean that
the insensible outer covering of the skin has been injured; it may also
imply that the soft structures beneath have been sundered. Wounds of
this kind are not free from danger when of magnitude. Little blood may
flow, but the cutis is the most sensitive structure of the entire body. A
needle's point cannot enter any part of the skin without sensation warning
the person of a puncture. In human operations, division of the skin, or
separation of the cutis, is known to constitute the major portion of the
patient's agony.

The suffering attendant on the latter class of injuries is increased by
almost every abrasion forcing grit or dirt into the substance of the
cutis. This, of course, is generally washed out. The torture accompanying
a large abraded surface is, therefore, very great; and horses when
suffering from accidents of such a nature sometimes sink from the
irritation consequent upon the injury. When the animals survive, the roots
of the hair too often have been destroyed, and a perpetual blemish is the
result.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF A PUNCTURED WOUND.

    The engraving supposes the soft parts to have been divided, in order
    to show the ragged nature and large extent of the injury, with
    the comparatively small opening by which this amount of harm is
    characterized.
]

A =punctured wound= is always dangerous; the hazard in this, as in every
species of injury, is greatly increased when inflicted on parts liable to
any vast amount of motion. Thus, punctures occurring over the stifle-joint
too often set our best surgery at defiance. The muscles of the hind leg
contract with every movement of the body. Added to that, the part abounds
with fascia.

The majority of these wounds heal by suppuration. Fascia is a substance
no pus can penetrate, and which is more easily rent than punctured. The
exit of the secretion, therefore, is opposed in many directions, while the
ceaseless motion occasions the matter to burrow. The sinuses thus produced
are by the fascia guided to the stifle-joint; and, when once the synovial
cavity is polluted by the intrusion of the unhealthy pus, all the best
efforts of science are useless.

When a punctured wound occurs, the skin, being elastic, stretches before
the instrument by which the wound is inflicted. The soft parts beneath the
skin, not being elastic to the same degree as the integument, break down
before the penetrating force. They are torn or lacerated; for generally
the muscles receive a larger injury than would be calculated from the size
of the instrument by which the blow was inflicted. The rent flesh must be
cast off by a slough--corruption generally attends that process. Much of
the pus secreted cannot find an exit through the opening in the skin; a
large portion of it is confined within the puncture. There it decays, and,
being impelled by the motion of the limb, readily finds its way in all
directions save the upward one.

No judgment approaching to accuracy can be formed at the first sight of
a punctured wound. The probe may ascertain the depth of the injury, but
it cannot tell the extent of damage done to the interior of the body.
Therefore, whether the hoof is pierced by a nail, or the muscles are
lacerated by the shaft of a cart--be the instrument large or small--the
consequences likely to follow upon the injury cannot be foretold.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF A CONTUSED WOUND.]

A =contusion=, in its mildest form, is simply a bruise. Injuries of this
class, when of magnitude, are very deceptive; the surface is unstained
by blood, and there is no flesh exposed. For these reasons the ignorant
are apt to disregard such accidents, and to express surprise when they
terminate otherwise than kindly. When a bruise happens, blood is effused
in smaller or larger quantities according to the extent of the injury. A
small quantity of effused blood, sufficient to discolor the human skin,
may be absorbed; but when the amount is large, the powers of nature are
defied. The blood thrown out, not being taken up again, congeals, and
ultimately corrupts. Then an abscess or a slough is necessitated; both are
attended with danger: the first may be deep seated or superficial; either
form is attended by much weakness. That generates considerable irritation,
and may even be the cause of fatal hemorrhage; or it may lead to sinuses,
the direction, the number, or extent of which, when they do occur, is not
to be predicated. A bruise is, consequently, not to be judged of hastily.
The amount of pain which it provokes is even unworthy dependence, as the
injury may have hurt the bone or the tendon; and then, though the accident
is rendered very serious, in the first instance no sign of agony announces
the extent of the evil.

With regard to treatment, when a =lacerated wound= occurs, the first
attention should be paid to the system, which has always been much shaken.
Give, therefore, the drink composed of one ounce each of laudanum and
sulphuric ether, with half a pint of water; repeat it every quarter of
an hour till the shivering natural to the horse on these occasions has
disappeared, and the pulse has recovered its healthy tone.

Avoid all poultices of the ordinary kind; one composed of one-fourth yeast
and three-fourths of any coarse grain, excepting bran, may be applied. So
also may a lotion thus composed:--

_Lotion for Lacerated Wounds._

    Tincture of cantharides        One ounce.
    Chloride of zinc               Two drachms.
    Water                          Three pints.
      Mix. Keep a rag constantly wet over the part.

Either will stimulate the parts, and probably prevent any tendency to
unhealthy action. The yeast poultice produces this effect by giving off
carbonic acid; the lotion accomplishes this intention by both its active
ingredients. Each is stimulating, also disinfectant, and will counteract
any filthy odor which may attend the sloughing process; but the lotion is
perhaps to be preferred, as it is more easily applied. When the slough
has taken place, should hemorrhage ensue, dash upon the part jug after
jug of the coldest water; or, should no very cold water be at hand, drive
upon the mouths of the vessels a current of wind from the nozzle of the
bellows. Continue to do this till the bleeding ceases, or until a surgeon
can be obtained to take up the arteries.

The after-treatment is simple: apply frequently the solution of chloride
of zinc, one grain to an ounce of water; that lotion will cleanse the
wound and prevent unpleasant smells.

As respects feeding, this must be regulated by the character of the pulse.
Should the beat of the artery be quick and feeble, no hay should be given;
good, thick gruel should constitute the only drink excepting in extreme
cases, when two pots of porter may be allowed each day. Good oats and old
beans, both crushed and scalded, should then constitute the food, and the
utmost gentleness should be exercised toward the animal.

Should the pulse be natural, allow three feeds of oats each day, as, in
every kind of injury to the horse, more danger is to be apprehended from
debility than from any excess of energy.

=Incised wounds.=--When these happen, always dash the part with plenty
of cold water or blow upon them with the bellows. Place the horse in the
nearest shed; motion promotes hemorrhage, therefore a walk is not to be
hazarded. The bleeding being arrested--for, in severe accidents of this
kind, there is no time to send for assistance--let the animal remain
perfectly quiet until the exposed surface has become almost dry, but on
being touched by the finger feels sticky. Then draw the edges together,
and keep them in that position by means of sutures.

[Illustration:

    FIXED SUTURE NEEDLE: VERY USEFUL FOR INCISED WOUNDS OF NO GREAT
    DEPTH.
]

The best means of inserting these sutures is with a curved needle fixed
into a handle. The handle is wanted to obtain the necessary power, and the
needle's point should be sharp to penetrate the hide of the horse, which
in places is of considerable thickness. The needle is thrust through the
integument about one inch and a half from one margin of the incision; it
is brought out about the same distance within the divided soft parts. It
enters the opposite side of the sundered flesh even with the place whence
it came forth, and afterward it appears through the skin about equally
distant from the opposite edge of the wound. There is a hole near the
point of the needle; through this opening a piece of strong twine or
narrow tape is threaded; when, the instrument being withdrawn, the twine
or tape is pulled into the puncture which has been made. The needle is
then released, the suture being left in.

[Illustration: THE MANNER OF USING THE FIXED SETON NEEDLE.

    A second person pushes the wound together, and, when the point of
    the needle appears, threads it with a piece of zinc wire or soft
    string. The needle is then retracted, and released from the wire or
    string, whereby a suture is left in the wound.
]

So many sutures as may be necessary are thus inserted--in small wounds,
these being about two inches asunder, but in larger injuries, three inches
apart. All are duly placed before any are tied; the whole being ready,
the wound is forced together by an assistant, while the strings are
fastened--care being exercised not to bring any of them actually tight,
lest the motion of the body or the swelling of the part should drag the
sutures through the flesh and thereby tear them out.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF SUTURES WHEN TIED AND LEFT IN A WOUND.]

A wound thus united may possibly heal by first intention, or the divided
parts, when brought together, may join, and give no further trouble to the
surgical attendant.

Union by first intention is, however, somewhat rare in the horse; and
should not that take place, suppuration will be established. So soon as
the pus flows freely forth, and the sutures appear to tighten or drag, cut
them out by snipping the twine; but allow the strings to loosen before you
attempt their withdrawal.

If this is not done, the sutures will speedily find an exit for themselves
by causing the flesh against which the tension acts to be absorbed; thus
the original injury will be rendered more complicated, and the ultimate
blemish must be altogether greater.

All that is required after the establishment of suppuration is to bathe
the part with the solution of chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce
of water. This lotion will suppress any fetor, and gently stimulate the
healing process, as well as prevent the sprouting of fungoid granulations;
it is necessary also to attend strictly to the directions laid down for
feeding during the curing of wounds.

[Illustration: TWO KINDS OF SUTURES RARELY EMPLOYED UPON THE HORSE.

    No. 1. The continuous suture, which is employed for sewing up
    portions of bowel when the intestines are injured and exposed.

    No. 2. The deep suture or the quill suture. In the horse pieces
    of wood are substituted for quills. The wood is notched in the
    center; and upon the indentations the sutures are fixed, to prevent
    the movements of the animal from displacing them. It is sometimes
    employed to bring the sides of deep and gaping wounds closer
    together.
]

The treatment of an =abraded wound= chiefly consists in cleansing the
surface with plenty of cold water, which should be allowed by its own
weight to wash off any loose particles of dirt. No cloth or other aid
should be employed to scrub the living flesh as though it were an
insensitive board. The matter which cannot be removed by simply sluicing,
had better remain to be expelled by the secretion of pus. The horse,
especially when terrified, endures pain very badly; indeed, the animal is
so timid and so delicately framed that it is always good surgery to spare
all unnecessary suffering.

Support the body with laudanum and ether drinks, one ounce of each to the
pint of water, as often as they may be needed. Let the food be generous,
unless fever should arise, when the directions already given must be
attended to.

=Punctured wounds= require only one kind of treatment, whether a nail be
driven into the flesh of the foot, or the shaft of a cart be forced into
the substance of the thigh. Here the knife must be employed; and, unless
the animal shows evident symptoms of excessive weakness, it is better,
perhaps, to operate while the parts are partially numbed by the shock,
than to wait until a morbid sensibility is provoked. Always enlarge the
opening; do this in the foot by cutting away the horn of the sole around
the small puncture left by the nail. When the soft parts are penetrated,
probe the wound first; then, if possible, insert a knife to the bottom of
the puncture, and, with the edge downward, draw it forth. By this means a
wound resembling a subverted =<= will be instituted. It will be narrowest
toward the extremity, and widest at the mouth. A free opening affords
a ready egress for all sloughs and pus. It materially aids the healing
process, and effectually prevents the establishment of sinuses; while
the clean incision left by the knife is of small import, when taken into
consideration with the other consequences of a punctured wound.

Support the animal if necessary, or regulate the food by the symptoms.

A =contused wound=, when slight, may be rubbed with the iodide of lead
ointment, one drachm of the active agent to the ounce of lard; when all
enlargement will sometimes subside, and the effused blood may be absorbed.
However, the horse commonly receives injuries of magnitude. In the last
case, take a sharp knife and draw it along the entire length of the
swelling. Make a long gash, only through the integument, at every eighth
inch, and be careful to carry the knife through the integument, or to the
lowest portion of the detached skin. Any sac that may be left is certain
to retain corruption, and may produce fearful after-consequences. The
attendant measures consist in bathing the contusion with a lotion composed
of chloride of zinc, one grain, water, one ounce, and diminishing the food
or supporting the body as nature demands such treatment.

The after-treatment of all injuries consists in keeping any external
orifices open till all sloughs and pus have disappeared. In surgery, a
large and depending opening, by means of which the interior may drain, is
always to be preserved, and the knife, to this end, may be employed so
often as the healing process threatens to prematurely close the wound.

Formerly it was the practice to bleed after every injury; this was done
to prevent fever. However, observation has shown that the vital powers
are more often weakened than increased by the shock attendant on severe
accidents. Whenever the contrary happens, it is far better to lower the
pulse by repeated doses of aconite, than to abstract that which will
subsequently be necessary to repair injury.

It was also once the custom to fill wounds with tents or lumps of tow, and
to bandage every injured part. These habits only served to confine that
which nature was striving to cast out. They consequently did much harm,
and are now happily discarded.

A piece of loose rag, saturated in the oil or the solution of tar, should,
during summer, be suspended over the mouth of every wound, to keep off the
flies. The only tent which the author approves of is when an incised wound
happens where assistance is far away, and difficult to procure. Then, to
arrest the hemorrhage, let the horse rug, a man's coat, or anything else
be violently thrust into the gash, and forcibly held there until proper
assistance can be obtained.

Such is the present method of treating wounds; this to the reader may
appear very cruel; but could he have walked through and have inhaled the
atmosphere of the wards in hospitals appropriated to such injuries as they
existed in former times, he would thoroughly understand that apparent want
of feeling is, in reality, the height of charity.

[Illustration: A BANDAGE DESIGNED FOR WOUNDS ON THE TRUNK OF THE HORSE.]

To conclude this part, the author lays before his readers the following
bandage, intended to meet an inconvenience hitherto experienced when a
horse has the walls of the abdomen punctured. The constant motion of the
part renders ordinary sutures of no avail, and for that reason bandages,
unless so tight as to check circulation, are of little use. The annexed
is made like a broad belt, and is buckled round the body. The bars are
composed of vulcanized India-rubber; they will yield to the movements
of the abdomen, and yet serve as sutures supporting any pendant flap,
while at the same time they will allow the wound to be dressed without
disturbing the bandage. They also offer the advantage of permitting the
attendant to pull one support aside without removing the whole.

Every part in the horse subjected to much motion when wounded, should
have an adhesive plaster placed over it, and retained there until the
suppurative action is confirmed. By this means is excluded the atmosphere,
which, when this precaution was neglected, has entered the wound,
penetrated between the muscles, and by distending the body increased the
suffering, as well as led to the worst of consequences.

Wounds in veterinary surgery rank among the most formidable cases with
which the practitioner has to contend. They are not so because the flesh
of the horse is slower to heal than that of the human being. Indeed, the
scale in this respect inclines toward the animal; but they are rendered
slow to heal and difficult to cure by two causes. The horse is always
impatient of restraint; any effort to confine the creature is more likely
to provoke dangerous resistance than to induce the slightest symptom of
amendment. The quadruped naturally delights in motion. It was formed for
activity. Even when in its stall the body is never absolutely still; the
position is being changed; the legs are frequently stamped; the head,
eyes, ears, and tail are never quiet. This innate quality retards the
union of sundered flesh. It favors the gravitation of pus between the
muscles, and thus generates sinuses. These are the torments of veterinary
surgery. Could the sinus be anticipated, or in all cases eradicated, the
principal difficulty would be removed; but intelligent as the horse is,
it proves impossible to make the animal comprehend the necessity for
quietude. Hence any trivial accident may lead to injuries of so extensive
a character and so malignant a nature as will set the best endeavors or
the most consummate skill at defiance.




CHAPTER XV.

OPERATIONS.


The veterinary art is by no means rendered more successful by the cunning
of its stratagems. Many of its objects are accomplished after the rudest
and the most primitive methods. Not one, perhaps, is more coarse than the
present method of casting or throwing an animal previous to an operation.
The reader has only to ask himself what condition the body must be in
when, with the sight blinded, it is suddenly jerked to the earth; and how
far it is fitly prepared by so violent a practice to be submitted to the
knife of an operator?

[Illustration: THE PRESENT MANNER OF CASTING A HORSE FOR OPERATION.]

There are few operations in veterinary surgery which a person of moderate
nerve and average intelligence might not himself perform. The author has
seen gentlemen with titles, and others holding high rank in the army,
indulge in the strange pleasure of singeing living flesh with the heated
iron. But he has never beheld horsemen handling the knife. The latter
would better become their hands than the first severe and disfiguring
instrument, which, however useful it may have been found in certain
cases met with in human surgery, nevertheless would be well abolished
from veterinary practice, because of its indiscriminate abuse. Firing is
employed for every and for no reason. Now recourse is had to it because
the joints are weak. Then it is adopted because a gentleman is fond of
seeing his horses scored. Next, it is used to gain time, and thus prolong
the treatment. Generally it is brought forward because the practitioner
does not know what else to do. Lastly, it is esteemed the crowning measure
of routine practice.

The author, however, has never been necessitated to resort to so violent
an agent. It is a most unseemly ornament in unprofessional hands; in this
book, which is intended for the general public, the use of the firing-iron
is altogether omitted.

The knife, especially to the animal, is the most humane of remedies. It
often affords instant or immediate relief. The animal seems to suffer
more from the restraint imposed than from the wounds inflicted. The chief
sensation, with all forms of life, resides in the skin; so that the
integument be quickly and effectually divided, the soft parts underneath
have but little feeling. The interference with these last rather produces
faintness or sickness than acute suffering; the knowledge of which fact
will embolden many a humane person, though the writer trusts it will not
be credited by all who are of an opposite character, since boldness,
unrestrained by humanity, only renders the individual a savage without the
savage's excuse.

Such operations as embriotomy, castration, and lithotomy are intentionally
omitted, from a conviction that no gentleman would undertake them; and
because, in every instance, they had better be intrusted to a regular
veterinary surgeon.

Before undertaking any operation, always reflect on what you are about to
do, and make up your mind how you design to do it. Irresolution causes
more suffering than the most perverted determination can inflict. It is
always well (however much in practice the operator may consider himself)
to first perform the intended operation upon the dead subject. This is a
custom which the writer invariably adopted; and frequently it has supplied
his memory with a refresher which, in the hurry of practice, was found a
most timely warning.

Never use small knives. Such things look pretty. The sight of a large
blade may appear very ugly; but it does at one movement that work which
an instrument of notching smallness would not in twenty hacks accomplish.
Understand thoroughly that which you are about to perform, and always
choose the tool likely to get through the business quickly. Periosteotomy
cases were formerly sold by veterinary instrument makers which contained
a knife of moderate doll's dimension. The writer, to accomplish the
purpose which that little knife was specially made for, was accustomed to
employ a bistoury larger than those in ordinary use among gentlemen of his
profession.

Where you anticipate much bleeding, always endeavor, if possible, to
divide the main artery with the first incision. This is by far the most
humane, and therefore the safest practice. The vessel, being divided, can
be taken up, and all further flow of blood thereby checked. But if the
artery be left to the last, it remains to fill the smaller branches. These
are of necessity frequently severed. Each, as it is cut, bleeds more or
less freely; thus the hemorrhage is far greater, and the operation far
more difficult, than if the main trunk had been secured at the earliest
possible period.

Always tie both ends of an artery; because, though the main stream flows
through that portion of the vessel nearest the heart, yet the other half,
being fed by the smaller trunks, and the current having a tendency to
regurgitate, a considerable quantity of the vital fluid may flow out of
the mouth, which, in general opinion, has no medium of supply.

If, during an operation, you make an accidental incision into a vessel,
either take it up, (which is the better way,) or cut it short off when
there is a chance of its retracting and of the bleeding being thus
arrested. Vessels of large size may, when requisite, be excised and tied;
the vital current being afterward carried on by the dilatation of the
lesser ducts.

To tie an artery it is imperative to secure the end of the vessel; this,
if possible, should be accomplished with the forceps. When the mouth of
the vessel is much retracted, it may be necessary to employ the knife; but
that practice should be viewed only as the last resort of the proficient
surgeon.

The end of the artery being fixed and drawn forth, a piece of strong silk,
thrice twisted, (after the method represented in the inferior circle of
the annexed illustration,) is passed over the vessel. The silk is then
drawn tight, and will generally remain fixed. However, sad accidents have
occurred by operators trusting to so doubtful a security; for that reason
it is always advisable to make another twist, (as shown in the smaller
circle of the illustration,) which will render the knot secure.

[Illustration: THE LOUP BY MEANS OF WHICH THE ENDS OF ARTERIES ARE
SECURED.]

Even a vessel of the second magnitude may be obliterated, as the carotid
artery or the jugular vein, without life being necessarily sacrificed.
However, it is always well to spare these parts, or when either is lost
to arrange so that the absence of them may entail the least possible
inconvenience upon the animal. Thus, if the carotid artery be lost, place
the food low down, and thereby aid the flow of blood to the head. If the
jugular vein be destroyed, then put the fodder high up, that the current
from the head may be facilitated.

Never, on any account, remove any portion of skin which is not involved in
some fearful injury, or separated from its attachments by the action of
disease.

Skin is the part of the body which is never reproduced, and even the
place whence it is absent always heals slowly. However loose the skin
may appear, however disproportioned it may seem after some tumor has
been removed, respect every particle of it. Before the wound can heal,
inflammation must set in. That process ended, the skin, under its action,
will have contracted, and in the end there will be only sufficient
integument to cover the part; whereas, if the slightest amount be excised,
to such an extent there will for a long time remain a gaping sore.

Never spare the knife. Think well before you touch that tool; but, having
it in hand, assure yourself its edge is sharp, and never do at two cuts
that which might have been accomplished in one.

Always slit up a sinus where such a proceeding is possible. When the sinus
is too long, supposing the pipe to take an internal direction, as from
the withers to the chest, insert a seton with the guarded seton needle, a
representation of which is given below.

[Illustration: THE GUARDED SETON NEEDLE.]

The blade of this instrument is generally about two feet long. Before
using it, the cutting head is always retracted by pulling back the nut
at the extremity, and securing it in its place by means of the screw
situated on the middle of the handle. The blade then reposes upon a blunt
companion, and may with impunity be inserted down any sinus or false
canal. Having reached the bottom of the pipe, and all important vessels
being passed, the screw is loosened, and the projecting end of the blade
at the extremity of the handle is struck forcibly, when the sharp point is
driven forward, and this pierces the flesh.

[Illustration: THE SETON NEEDLE PROTRUDED, AND SECURED WITHIN THE HANDLE
BY MEANS OF A SCREW.]

Behind the cutting head there is a free space. Through that opening a long
piece of tape is threaded, and the instrument is withdrawn, pulling the
tape into the sinus, in which it remains. A knot is made at either end
of the tape; thus a seton is with safety placed in situations where the
depth to be penetrated would defy ordinary measures, and the vessels to be
passed would render such measures more than doubly hazardous.

The use of a seton is to act as a drain, or to stimulate an unhealthy
canal--to provoke a sinus to secrete healthy pus, instead of a thin and
often a foul discharge--and thus to cause the diseased pipe to heal or to
become obliterated.

When operating, always make your first incision through the skin rather
too large than in the least too small; remember, the division from within
outward occasions much less pain than the separation, made after the
ordinary fashion, from without inward.

Never spare hair; the substance is readily reproduced. It can be wished to
be spared only to conceal the fact of an operation having been performed.
Always refuse to become a party to dishonesty. Do what is necessary for
the proper performance of your office. The removal of hair, which may
otherwise interfere with your sight, is essential: therefore cut it off,
regardless of any wish to the contrary.

Instruct your assistants beforehand how to cast the horse; leave that
business to them: never meddle yourself. The writer has seen veterinary
surgeons, in their operating dresses, push and haul with the utmost
energy. Such silly people have doubtless thought themselves exalted by
this exhibition of violence. It would have been more to their credit had
they devoted half the energy to teaching their people beforehand. But in
what condition must their hands and temper be after having taken a lead in
a struggle with a horse for mastery!

A surgeon should always be cool. His head should direct his hand; his
knife should be held lightly; his eye should be quick, and his mind
prepared to meet any accident. He should do his office neatly, and, if
possible, without soiling his person. The ripping cut and the bloody hands
alone distinguish the ignorant butcher from the scientific operator.

During every operation enjoin the strictest silence upon the spectators.
The horse is never vicious, but it is always timid. Sounds have a powerful
effect upon animals which cannot understand speech. Every word uttered,
even in a whisper, should be of assurance to the sufferer; for the horse
is only to be feared in its efforts to escape from some supposed peril.
It becomes mad in its alarm. It then puts forth its strength and exerts
it without regard to consequences. Man has everything to hope from the
fortitude and noble forbearance of the creature. It responds to kindness
with something more than submission; it answers sympathy by the most
entire confidence and utter dependence. The life, the feeling, the natural
powers are all subservient to the great love which is embodied in a
horse's attachment. There is not among created beings one which has so
large a sympathy; the horse must attach itself to something; to love seems
essential to its being. The stable in which it is captive the patient
prisoner learns to regard, as it were, a palace. The pace is always more
willing when returning to captivity; freedom has no charm; the field has
no allurement to the horse which has lived any time in the most crimped,
confined, and uncomfortable of stalls. It will quit the spring grass to be
fastened once more in the place to which it has been accustomed and has
grown attached.

Then, however much removed from itself, it must pour the richest of its
affections on some animal, should man, in pride, refuse to accept the
offering. Creatures the most opposite have been the horse's favorite. How
often do we hear of the liking formed between a goat, a dog, a cat, and
the horse! Love has a strange freemasonry of its own; how else can we
account for the larger creature being able to make its longing understood
by the smaller life? There may, however, be between animals some
substitute for language; but we can hardly suppose any recognized signs
exist between birds and the equine species. Yet a famous animal-painter
had a pony which formed a violent and lasting affection for a bantam cock.
These two used to march side by side up and down the field in which the
larger animal was confined; for so very expansive is the horse's love
that it will embrace not only its abode, but some life, however distant
apparently from its own.

The voice of the person who is accustomed to groom and feed the animal,
if he has been only ordinarily humane in the performance of his office,
will at all times reassure the beating heart of a prostrated horse. But
vast injustice to the animal's better qualities is done by the mode of
casting it. It is violently jerked off its legs; by a sudden pull it is
thrown "with a burster" upon its side. There it struggles. If mastery
sides with the animal, then let the men be speedy in their flight. The
quadruped, in its fear, designs no harm to any person. It means only
to escape from the terrible danger which encompasses it. Still, it is
regardless in its alarm, and may do more injury than the most evil
intention could accomplish. There is an engraving of the method of casting
horses commencing this chapter. Let the capable reader imagine the effect
produced upon the timid quadruped when it is violently flung upon the
earth with a sound well denominated "a burster."

The horse is much better made to lie down gently, after the method
adopted by Mr. Rarey. Half, and far more than half, the terror excited
by an operation may thus be avoided. The confusion and bustle, conjoined
with violence, which naturally attend "casting," must make a lasting
impression upon the retentive mind of the animal, and, we may suppose,
must aggravate the pain, thus materially endangering the result of an
operation. The hobbles may be fixed quite as readily when the horse is
down as when the animal is standing. Nay, they may be fixed more readily,
as the horse, when down, has lost three-fourths of its power.

Mr. Rarey's method of throwing the most unruly animal is thus described by
that gentleman:--

"Everything that we want to teach the horse must be commenced in some
way to give him an idea of what you want him to do, and then be repeated
till he learns it perfectly. To make a horse lie down, bend his left fore
leg and slip a loop over it, so that he cannot get it down. Then put a
surcingle around his body, and fasten one end of a long strap around
the other fore leg just above the hoof. Place the other end under the
surcingle, so as to keep the strap in the right direction; take a short
hold of it with your right hand; stand on the left side of the horse,
grasp the bit in your left hand, pull steadily on the strap with your
right; bear against his shoulder till you cause him to move. As soon as
he lifts his weight, your pulling will raise the other foot, and he will
have to come on his knees. Keep the strap tight in your hand, so that he
cannot straighten his leg if he rises up. Hold him in this position, and
turn his head toward you; bear against his side with your shoulder--not
hard, but with a steady, equal pressure--and in about ten minutes he will
lie down. As soon as he lies down he will be completely conquered, and
you can handle him as you please. Take off the straps, and straighten out
his legs; rub him lightly about the face and neck with your hand the way
the hair lies; handle all his legs; and, after he has lain ten or twenty
minutes, let him get up again. After resting him a short time, make him
lie down as before. Repeat the operation three or four times, which will
be sufficient for one lesson. Give him two lessons a day; and when you
have given him four lessons, he will lie down by taking hold of one foot.
As soon as he is well broken to lie down in this way, tap him on the
opposite leg with a stick when you take hold of his foot, and in a few
days he will lie down from the mere motion of the stick."

What prevents the hobbles being buckled on? What prevents all necessary
arrangements being carried out? What, indeed, but the stubbornness
inseparable from ignorance! Veterinary surgeons, as a rule, are not an
educated class. In proportion as their information is limited, so is their
adherence to established custom likely to be intractable.

There are, besides the hobbles, two other inventions designed to limit the
capability of resistance. One is the side line. A soft collar is put over
the horse's head and a hobble is fastened to the foot it is desired to
have elevated. From the collar is dependant a metal loop, ring, or other
contrivance. By the side of this a strong rope is attached. The cord is
then passed through the D of the hobble; afterward it is brought back and
ran through the side ring or loop. A man then takes hold of the end of
the rope, and, by gradual traction, causes the leg to be advanced. It is
neither wise nor humane to drag the foot off the ground. A horse which
will stand quiet with both feet resting on the earth, is rendered restless
when one leg is fastened in the air.

[Illustration: THE SIDE LINE.]

The occasion which makes it imperative to apply the side line is, when the
hocks or hinder parts are examined. Many unbroken horses, though quiet in
other respects, will not allow these portions of the body to be touched.
By causing one leg to be advanced, the other is deprived of all power as a
weapon of offense. The horse would obviously fall, if he were to project
the only free hind member; and the timidity of the creature indisposes it
to incur so vast an indignity.

The other invention is the double side line. A rope is fixed to a loop
on either side. The loop or ring is attached to a soft collar. The rope
is afterward threaded through a hobble on each pastern. Both legs are
then gently pulled forward, and the animal, having its posterior supports
drawn from under it, comes to the earth. The ropes are held tight while
the horse is turned upon its back. The instant it is in that position,
somebody seats himself upon the head, while the body of the animal is
propped up by numerous trusses of straw.

[Illustration: THE DOUBLE SIDE LINE.]

This last is but an imperfect method of casting. In general it is rendered
still more cruel by the abuse to which it is subject. The ropes are
commonly pulled with an utter disregard to the living body upon which they
operate. The hind legs are often drawn to the shoulders, and frequently
additional cords are employed to make the poor creatures more distorted
and more fixed. Has man any cause to wonder at a horse being occasionally
what is called "vicious," when the unreasoning creature is thus fearfully
operated upon? Is it not rather a proof of the horse's intelligence that
it can recognize the cause of its suffering, and study ever after to repel
its tormentor?

Let the horse be thrown down after the admirable method introduced by Mr.
Rarey. Let it then be hobbled, and never, during the operation, hear any
sound but soothing accents. Animals do not understand words, but they are
quick readers of characteristics. The language itself these creatures may
not be able to literally interpret; but they comprehend all which the
manner conveys. When kindness is expressed, the meaning is felt, though
the verbiage be lost: it is astonishing how animals will enter into the
intention of speech! How home kind language seems to go to the ignorant
heart, and how true it is that a gentle word is never thrown away! It is
surprising to observe the affection by which the human race is surrounded;
they live and walk among animals eager for permission to adore them,
anxious to love and to serve them; but it is lamentable to see how an evil
spirit repels the feeling which pervades all nature.

There is another point upon which the writer presumes to offer advice.
Veterinary surgeons display ignorance in nothing more than in being
servile copyists. They do not view their sphere of science as a separate
and distinct branch. They always will strive to follow the example of
human practitioners even to particulars. There is no difference in the
dissecting knives used at the King's College and the Royal Veterinary
establishment, though bodies of different bulks are studied in each
school. The operating knives of most veterinary surgeons are ridiculously
small for such purposes. The consequence is, the animal is much longer
down than is absolutely necessary. The author has known one hour employed
in dressing a quittor; whereas six sinuses ought to be laid open and
dressed in less than five minutes. A vast deal of time is thus wasted;
although the opposition to Mr. Rarey's method of throwing will, doubtless,
be the length of time it would occupy. However, granting the objection;
which is the surgeon bound to consider--the welfare of his patient or his
own convenience? It is not every day that the gentleman who enjoys the
largest practice has to cast a horse. It is, in fact, a somewhat rare
and an exceptional occurrence. Could not the most engaged man devote an
occasional half hour to the benefit of his profession?

When operating upon living flesh, always have your knives rather too large
than in any measure too small. The work is performed quicker; besides, the
hands are kept at some distance from the wound, and the eyes thereby are
enabled to direct their movements. The probability of mistakes is thus
lessened, and no man, with a knife in his hand and bleeding flesh under
his eyes, has a right to expose himself to the possibility of an error
which, of course, is not to be erased or atoned for.

Should a horse, when under the knife, struggle, do not attempt to
contend with the animal. Immediately leave hold of your instruments, and
withdraw your person out of danger. Allow your knife, etc. to remain; it
will seldom be displaced, or, if cast out of the wound, can be easily
reintroduced; whereas, did you endeavor to snatch away or to retain your
hold, the most lamentable consequences might be the result.

[Illustration]

Another caution, and this part of the writer's office is concluded. When
you operate upon a leg, have that limb uppermost, unless your incision
is made upon the inner side. Have the foot placed upon a pillow or sack
stuffed with straw, and a strong webbing put around the hoof. The webbing
give to a man who is to pull at it. The dragging sensation renders the
horse inclined to retract the member; therefore place yourself in front of
the limb, or on the same side as the man who holds the webbing. The fore
leg, when advanced, cannot be readily employed as a weapon of offense, and
the hind limb is always, when used in defense, projected backward.


OPERATIONS--TRACHEOTOMY.

This operation is, perhaps, the most humane recourse of veterinary
surgery. Neurotomy may save the horse from greater and longer suffering;
but =tracheotomy= is performed, unlike the former operation, upon an
animal in an unconscious state. Difficult respiration, either from tumor
pressing upon the larynx, infiltration upon the lining membrane of the
larynx, or choking from various causes, produces imperfect oxygenation of
the blood. The vital current being impure, of course the brain which it
nurtures is not in a condition of health or activity. The consciousness
is impaired or altogether destroyed; and immediate relief is experienced
after the performance of the operation. The recovery is as rapid as the
previous symptoms were alarming. The altered aspect of the animal is as
though the body were resuscitated. In certain cases, where every breath is
drawn in pain, the ease afforded by tracheotomy is most marked. It makes
little difference to Nature, by what means the air is inhaled, so that a
sufficiency of diluted oxygen come in contact with the absorbing membrane
of the lungs. This, when the larynx is closed or diseased, tracheotomy
permits to be accomplished. It is equally beneficial, safe, and humane.
However ugly its description may read, it is in practice to be strongly
recommended.

The general fault with veterinary surgeons is the delay which commonly
pushes off the operation to the last moment. In this delay the proprietor
is, perhaps, equally or even more at fault. Hope leads the owner on to
the very last, and even then it is with reluctant horror that consent
is given "to cut the horse's throat." Such is the term by which certain
practitioners characterize tracheotomy; and though it is uttered merely
as a joke, yet it creates an impression which acts against a harmless
operation.

In agricultural districts, the veterinarian is frequently knocked up at
night by a messenger, who announces "Farmer Hodges's horse be a dying."
The farmer may live several miles off in the country; and the reluctant
sleeper hurries on his clothes to obey the implied summons.

In due time the pair reach farmer Hodge's homestead. It needs no finger
to point out the stable. The sound of laborious breathing effectually
notifies it. However, the practitioner, upon entrance into the place, is
horrified to find himself there with no better company than a boy and a
rapidly-sinking animal. The circumstances demand other assistance. The
horse doctor cannot help giving voice to his requirements. The lad hearing
this, says hastily he will fetch somebody very soon--hangs up the lantern
and vanishes into the darkness.

Minutes pass and no footfall greets the ear. The divisions of the hour
are struck by the village church, and still no sound of returning steps.
The animal becomes worse and worse. In its disabled state it fears to lie
down, as that position impedes the breathing. In its efforts to stand,
it reels about--now falling to one side and then to the other. Yet the
departed messenger does not return. The veterinarian finds the limits
of delay are passed: ten minutes more and the quadruped will be down.
He takes out his lancet. One foot from the breast-bone, and as near the
center of the neck as the rocking motion of the horse or the flickering
light of the lantern will allow him to aim, he plunges the blade deeply
into the flesh, if possible at one cut dividing the cartilages of the
trachea. He has little control over the incision. Frequently a gash
results from the tottering of the animal. Mostly he divides more than he
would have done had daylight and assistance been afforded him.

[Illustration: TRACHEOTOMY, AS PERFORMED UNDER DIFFICULTIES--A COMMON
OCCURRENCE.]

The incision being made, the fingers are thrust into the wound to keep
the division open. At first this may be difficult; but as time proceeds,
the standing of the horse becomes firmer and the breathing less noisy.
The veterinarian is, however, impatient at the delay and his enforced
position. He is just beginning to despair, when the messenger returns,
accompanied by a sleepy companion. Both are surprised at the condition of
the horse, and, not observing the wound, imagine the animal has been cured
by magic. However, to the demands of the equine medical attendant, nothing
like a tracheotomy tube is to be invented. At last the spout of the tea
kettle is thought of; and the good dame awakens in the morning to find her
kettle demolished and its spout thrust into the "plaguy horse's throat."

It is the curse of veterinary surgery, that nobody appears to understand
when an operation is required. The practitioner, therefore, is seldom
prepared for its performance. The circumstances allow him little time to
think, and none to return or to fetch the necessary instruments.

However, when he has proper time and choice, he should always make a free
incision through the skin and panniculus carnosus. Make this opening about
one-third up the neck, measuring from the chest. It is more general to
open the windpipe at a similar distance from the jaw, and, assuredly, the
superior incision has this advantage, that there is less to cut through.
But where no important nerves or vessels are endangered, surgery cares
little about the depth of a wound, the chief attention being given to the
probable after-consequences.

The superior portion of the neck is especially the seat of motion; it
varies with every turn and movement of the head. Hence the end of the tube
is apt to be brought into constant contact with the lining membrane of the
trachea, and horses have been slaughtered with huge tracheal abscesses, to
all appearance produced solely by wearing the tracheotomy tube.

To avoid this danger the author chooses for incision a spot nearer to the
chest, where the motion is less constant and not so varied. Even at this
last place all danger is not entirely surmounted, in consequence of which
a horse, while wearing a tracheotomy tube, should never be permitted to
feed from the ground.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM, SHOWING THE STRUCTURES TO BE INTERFERED WITH
DURING THE PERFORMANCE OF TRACHEOTOMY.

1. 1. The sterno-maxillares muscles--a pair--have to be separated, being
joined by fine cellular tissue.

2. The sterno-thyro-hyoidei muscles, lying under the first pair, also have
to be divided, being similarly united.

3. The trachea, which is fully exposed when the above muscles are
disunited.]

[Illustration: THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CARTILAGES OF THE TRACHEA ARE TO BE
EXCISED.]

At the commencement, when the operator has leisure, he generally does not
cut too deep. The first incision fairly divides the skin and panniculus
carnosus quite in the middle of the neck, and is rather longer than a
by-stander would deem to be absolutely necessary. The elasticity of the
skin will somewhat shorten the opening, while the torture of repeated
enlargements will be avoided, and the more important structures beneath
the skin will be fairly brought into view.

In the center of your division will appear two long muscles, joined
together by a fine cellular union; that union you are to separate; it
consists only of cellular tissue, and will necessitate more care than
exertion. Underneath the divided muscles will be found two others, smaller
and paler, but also joined together by means of fine cellular tissue.
These are also to be sundered, and then the trachea lies exposed. There
is neither nerve, nor artery, nor vein to avoid, nor to take up in the
performance of tracheotomy. All consists in making your primary incision
large enough, and, subsequently, in not attempting more than the division
of two pairs of muscles.

The commencement of the incision should be made at the spot already
indicated. After the skin is cut through and the muscles are divided, two
assistants should be obtained to hold them back, while a circular piece is
excised from the cartilages of the exposed trachea.

The trachea is formed of numerous cartilaginous rings each half an inch
wide, but so united by elastic tissue that the whole forms one continuous
tube reaching from the head to the chest of a horse. If possible, only two
of these rings are to be interfered with; that is, a half circle, should
be cut out of each, which, with the elastic connecting medium, will make
an opening of one inch in diameter. Both the rings, however, should be
perfectly divided; but a half circle should be excised from one, leaving
a portion of cartilage to keep the remainder in its place. This matter,
probably, may be made more clear by the engraving on the opposite page.

After the first half circle is made, or when a portion is cut off the
first cartilage, that piece should be bent outward. The elastic connecting
substance will readily permit this to be done, and the current of fresh
air admitted will considerably refresh the animal. The cartilage being
bent outward, it should be leisurely transfixed by means of a sharp needle
armed with strong twine. The string may be fastened to the button-hole of
the operator's waistcoat, and afterward the circle be leisurely completed.

The twine is necessary because the spasmodic breathing has drawn the
excised portion of cartilage upon the lungs, and thereby done as much
mischief as the operator designed to do good. By bending the half circle
outward, some relief is afforded to the breathing, and the character of
the respiration partially benefited. The process is, however, rendered
more safe by the employment of the loop; but care should be taken, when
subsequently using the knife, not to cut the string. Therefore, before the
circle is completed, the cartilage should be bent backward, as shown in
the previous engraving, then laid hold of, and, when firmly grasped, the
excision ought to be perfected.

A tube has to be worn afterward; this is put into the opening, and
fastened in by means of a strap or tape passed round the neck. There are
many tubes sold by the instrument makers for this purpose; the majority,
however, are far too large. None should be beyond one inch in diameter.
The horse only requires to inhale part of the air through the canula,
the remainder coming, as before, through the larynx. A free space of one
inch is, therefore, plenty to admit the deficient oxygen; for no animal
could live through an operation, were air, previous to its commencement or
during its continuance, altogether excluded.

[Illustration: MR. T. W. GOWING'S TRACHEOTOMY TUBE.

A. The canula, with a shifting shield, armed with the pointed trocar.

B. The trocar withdrawn from the canula, showing its peculiar construction.

C. The canula fitted into the horse's trachea, showing how the movable
shield may be adapted, by means of a screw, to the size of the horse or
the swollen condition of the parts.]

The best instrument for hasty and temporary tracheotomy is the invention
of Mr. T. W. Gowing, of Camden Town. To insert this canula no cartilage
need be excised; a puncture is made with a knife through the connecting
medium of the tracheal rings, and through this puncture the tube is
driven. It is of all use for temporary or immediate service, but obviously
would not do for a continuance.

The objection to tracheotomy, when designed to last for any period, is
that the canula, by irritating the lining membrane of the larynx, is apt
to provoke abscess, which impedes the breathing to a degree that destroys
the life. The author has seen some fearful instances of this effect; but
of all tubes, that invented by the French seems to be least open to this
objection.


OPERATIONS--PERIOSTEOTOMY.

[Illustration:

    A PAIR OF ROWELING SCISSORS, FOR MAKING SMALL INCISIONS THROUGH THE
    HORSE'S SKIN.
]

[Illustration: A SETON NEEDLE ARMED WITH A TAPE, _A_, AND FIXED INTO A
HOLLOW HANDLE BY MEANS OF A SCREW, _B_.]

[Illustration: A BLUNT SETON NEEDLE.]

[Illustration: A TUMOR BEING CUT WITH A PROBE-POINTED KNIFE.]

This operation was first applied to the horse by the late Professor
Sewell. It is intended to relieve the lameness consequent upon exostosis
situated on the shin-bone. A pair of roweling scissors are first employed
to snip the skin above and below the tumor. Then a blunt seton needle,
being fixed into a hollow handle by means of a screw, and armed with a
tape knotted at one end, is to be used. The needle is violently driven
through, and breaks down the cellular tissue which attaches the skin
to the tumor. The point is forced to enter at one snip and come out at
the other, after which the needle is withdrawn by the first opening. A
probe-pointed knife is then introduced into the space thus made; the tumor
is sliced into as many pieces as may please the operator or the nature
of the growth will admit of. The knife is afterward retracted, and the
needle, released from the handle, is passed through the openings, or in at
one snip and out at the other. The knot at the end of the tape prevents
that being drawn after the needle. The unknotted end is next withdrawn
from the needle and tied into a large knot--the whole forming a seton. The
operation is occasionally varied by smearing the tape with terebinthinate
of cantharides, and sometimes by blistering over tumor, seton and all.
This last practice may add to the severity of the operation, but it seems
calculated to do little good. Breaking down the attachment of the skin and
slicing the tumor appear designed to deprive the growth of blood, while a
blister seems calculated to draw to the part an excess of that which the
operation was intended to dispel.

[Illustration:

    A HORSE'S LEG WITH TWO SNIPS UPON IT, _c c_, OUT OF WHICH HANG THE
    TWO KNOTTED ENDS OF A SETON, _D D_.
]

=Periosteotomy= is not very highly esteemed by the vast majority of
practitioners. It is, however, sometimes very successful. A horse is
thrown, being dead lame; the animal gets up from the hands of the surgeon
and trots sound. It is difficult, however, to predicate the quadruped
on which it will thus act. Certainly the operation is best adapted to
young horses; but even to all of these it will not prove beneficial.
It is therefore looked upon as a surgical experiment, quite as apt to
disappoint as to please. The seton, moreover, is disposed to cause the
edges of the holes through which it passes to indurate. A blemish which it
takes some months to eradicate is the consequence; and this, added to the
expense attendant upon treatment, is not apt to prove pleasing to horse
proprietors, especially when the operation altogether fails.

A modification of periosteotomy might perhaps be tried. Omit the seton
altogether; make an inferior snip with the scissors; introduce a
sharp-pointed needle, and cut a channel. Then insert a probe-pointed
bistoury, and incise the tumor. If periosteotomy were to prove successful,
it probably would be so in this shape. The author has seen small benefit
result from the after-use of the seton, and by operating in the manner
proposed all the subsequent blemish would be avoided. The cut would soon
heal and leave no scar behind: thus the grand objection to the performance
of periosteotomy, as it now stands, would be removed.

The motive for the above proposal is to spare the suffering of the animal.
If the hair is cut short previously, and pressure made above the snip of
the scissors, the wound need occasion little pain. A sharp point cutting
its way through the cellular tissue would not cause one tithe of the
agony which follows the use of a blunt instrument necessarily tearing,
stretching, and breaking a passage through a living body. Cartilage or
bone in a state of health has small sensibility. The employment of the
knife would therefore provoke no struggle, while all the after-torture of
a seton applied directly to the surface of a wound would be avoided.

Perhaps it would be best to bind a broad tape, with a cork under it and
upon the vessels, round the leg before the operation, thereby pressing
on the nerve and cutting off the supply of blood. This would probably
deprive the leg of all sensation. The most severe part of this method of
periosteotomy would be the after-consequences. The incised tumor would
inflame; the vacant channel would have to unite. The one would occasion
agony, the other be probably attended with violent itching. The limb,
therefore, should be bandaged, even though a wound upon the horse's body
does not do so well when covered up. The bandage, however, will prevent
the animal from injuring the sore leg with the opposite shoe, which a
horse may be provoked to attempt by that irritation which attends the
healing process.


OPERATIONS--NEUROTOMY.

=Neurotomy= is the division of the nerve which supplies the hoof of the
fore leg with sensation. The foot of the horse being moved through tendons
by muscles from above, and having in itself no muscular power, obviously
has no occasion for a motor nerve. Consequently the nerve running to the
foot is wholly sentient. It is the means of communication through which
pain or pleasure is transmitted from the hoof to the brain.

To take away a portion of this nerve is evidently to separate the medium
of such communication. Feeling can no more travel along a divided nerve
than electricity can along a broken wire. The knowledge of this fact has
led to a portion of the nerve being excised; and the doing of this has
been named neurotomy.

A nerve is a very compound structure. It is composed of numerous fine
filaments or small threads bound together by a cellular sheath called
neurilema. Healthy nerve feels firm, and has a brilliant white appearance;
unhealthy nerve is of a yellowish tint, and is of a less solid texture.

The operation of neurotomy is certain relief, but that relief is of
uncertain duration. The divided nerve, after a time, reunites. The
junction thus formed carries on all the functions of the perfect
structure; but a bulb is left behind at the place of union. This bulb is
to be easily felt by pressing upon the seat of neurotomy externally with
the points of the fingers; and the bulb being felt leads to a knowledge
that the horse has been subjected to the operation. Neurotomy, therefore,
can never be concealed, if pains are bestowed upon its detection. The
operation, however, is not successful in every case.

In some animals, the wound has just closed when junction seems to be
formed between the divided ends of the nerve. The lameness then returns as
acutely as ever.

In others, the horse will proceed to work, and continue sound ever
after--the restored power to use the foot having, in the last case,
seemingly destroyed the affection.

Some animals are subjected to operation so late that disease has had time
to weaken the pedal structures. The consequence is that no sooner does the
absence of feeling tempt the horse to throw his entire weight upon the
foot than the navicular bone fractures or the perforans tendon ruptures.

Certain horses, from a tingling sensation in the neurotomized
foot--similar to that felt by men in the imaginary fingers of an arm which
has been amputated--will stamp violently till they injure it and provoke
suppuration; while other feet are so irritable that the head is bent
downward and large pieces from the hoof literally bitten off. To account
for this last circumstance the reader must remember that, though the foot
seems to itch, it in reality has no sensation to preserve it from the
teeth of the provoked animal.

Cases occasionally happen of horses having picked up nails, or having
incurred wounds in the foot, which, being deprived of feeling, the animal
wanted the power to recognize. No lameness was exhibited, and the injury
was necessarily unattended to. The foot has been left alone till the hurt
has induced mortification.

Weak feet have not been able to endure the consequences of operation. They
have sustained no external injury, but the heaviness of tread attendant on
a loss of sensation has so battered the senseless member that suppuration
has been induced. The hoof has therefore been cast off and the horse been
destroyed, although it was discovered in the stable standing with the
utmost composure upon the bleeding and exposed flesh.

These are a few of the disagreeables attending a most humane and
successful operation. The first requisite for the performance of neurotomy
is a sound knowledge of anatomy. A familiar acquaintance with the course
of the nerve is essential. It descends in two main branches from the knee,
one on either side of the leg. It travels in company with and behind the
artery and vein on the inner side of the fore limb. On the outer side it
is accompanied by no vessel. About the center of the leg, however, the two
nerves are united by a branch which travels over the perforans tendon,
connecting the sentient fibers of either side. It is therefore essential,
in the performance of neurotomy, to make the primary incision rather
low down, especially if it is meant that the high operation should be
accomplished, or that all sensation should be destroyed on one side by a
single division.

At the pastern the nerve divides; the posterior branch runs direct to
the frog. The anterior branch travels in front of the artery for some
distance, when it takes a more forward course, dividing into several
separate branches.

The generality of operators remove about an inch of the main trunk before
the nerve divides, or above the pastern; and the result certainly confirms
the soundness of such a practice.

The nerve of the frog is, however, frequently excised. The objection to
this is the junction of a filament of the anterior branch with the nerve
below the excision. That union should deprive the operation of all effect;
but, notwithstanding, the division is sometimes beneficial. The operation
is, however, never certain; and to that circumstance the proprietor must
make up his mind when he sanctions its performance.

[Illustration: THE COURSE OF THE NERVE EXPOSED.

_a._ Denotes the nerve of the frog.]

Always examine minutely any horse submitted to you for neurotomy. Do this
to discover if the operation has been previously performed--the object
being that you may thereby be prepared for some trouble in mastering the
retentive consciousness of the animal; likewise, that by such inquiries
you may decide upon the benefit likely to result from the operation; also,
that you may be warned of a bloody and tedious job. The leg which has
previously been subjected to neurotomy becomes doubly vascular. We know of
no reason to account for this phenomenon, excepting it may denote the cost
at which nature repairs her higher order of structures.

[Illustration: A HORIZONTAL INCISION, WITH THE HAIR CLIPPED ABOVE THE
OPENING.]

[Illustration: A PERPENDICULAR INCISION, WITH THE HAIR CUT OFF ABOVE AND
ON THE SIDES OF THE WOUND.]

Before you consent to operate upon any animal, examine the feet. If the
hoof is weak or even weakly, refuse at once. If the hoof be strong and
thick, the wall upright, and the frog small, you may consent, with the
best hopes of success. Have such a horse put into the stable, and the
diseased foot or feet kept wet for a week prior to the operation. This
frequently has the effect of constringing the arteries, greatly depriving
the part of blood. That result renders the use of the knife more cleanly
and more easy. Two days prior to the important one have the hair cut short
over the place or places where you design to make your incisions. By so
doing, all chance of hair getting into and irritating the wound will be
effectually destroyed. This may happen, and, should the hair be left on,
much delay will be occasioned, while the animal's sufferings must be
augmented if the hair be clipped after the horse is down for operation.

[Illustration: THE MODE OF FASTENING BACK THE SIDE OF A PERPENDICULAR
WOUND.]

Never operate upon a horse with the hair uncut--leave that to parties
who league with the lowest class of horse-cheats. Cut off hair two days
beforehand. Make an incision through the skin about three-quarters to one
inch long. Have a needle and thread ready--a strong surgeon's needle and
a stout twine. Pierce the divided skin from the inside to the outside,
leaving a moderate piece of twine hanging out of the wound. Carry the
twine under the leg, and pierce the integument on the other margin of the
wound--also from the interior to the exterior. Then bring the piece of
twine left hanging out of the first puncture and the needle together, at
the back of the leg. Slightly tighten the twine; fasten these two ends in
a bow, and the effect will be to keep the sides of the incision asunder.

If you design to perform the high operation, choose a spot a little
above the pastern, and incise the skin at one cut, if possible. The
high operation is most approved of for general purposes, and, as before
remarked, destroys sensation in the entire hoof. Some proprietors think
it well to leave a little feeling in the forward portion of the foot,
which is free from disease. This is done to escape those results that have
already been enumerated as the effects of total insensibility. The high
operation is, therefore, performed only on one side, and the posterior or
low division on the other. There are two spots at which the low operation
may be accomplished. The author has given the reader a representation of
the anatomy of the leg. He presents a view on page 455, of the places
where the incisions can be made.

Either of the lower operations, regarded by itself, is very uncertain in
its effect; and, if taken both together, they present no advantage over
the superior opening.

These remarks may be better comprehended, by comparing this engraving
with the course of the nerve shown in the previous illustration.

When the skin is divided--supposing the horse is neurotomized for the
first time--nothing is visible but white-looking cellular tissue. This
must be carefully dissected away with a pair of forceps and a scalpel.
Dissect on until the nerve and artery are exposed plainly to view.
Then take a crooked needle and thread. Pierce the nerve--this you may
do fearlessly. The author has not known it to produce pain. The fibers
composing the nerve are so fine that the needle's point is blunt when
compared with them. It, therefore, glides through them without pricking
any of the filaments.

[Illustration:

    The superior opening represents the place where one side of the foot
    may be deprived of sensation by a single division.

    The two middle incisions denote the part where either the fore
    or after portion of the foot may, perhaps, be rendered void of
    sensation.

    The two inferior cuts suggest the situations where, probably, the
    parts of the foot toward which the incisions point may be made
    insensible.
]

If the horse has been operated upon before, you must expect a tedious
and sanguinary business. It is then of all importance to obtain a very
attentive and equally nimble man to take the sponge. Blood will follow
every movement of the knife. However, with each cut you must retract the
hand, and the man who has care of the sponge must quickly, surely, and
forcibly cleanse the wound. When the sponge is withdrawn, for an instant,
and for an instant only, is there a clear view of the part. The operator
must be ready to make the most of that glimpse; for, the next moment,
blood flows over the lips of the orifice and all is concealed from view.
Thus we proceed, rather snipping than cutting, taking away particles
instead of flakes of cellular tissue, till the nerve is exposed. Then it
is fixed with the needle as before directed.

The nerve being caught, withdraw the needle, leaving the thread behind.
Tie both ends of the thread together, and insert the first finger of your
left hand into the loop thus formed. By gentle traction raise the nerve a
little, and with the knife release its inferior attachments. Then let the
man who held the sponge make pressure with all his force upon the artery
and nerve _above_ the incision. After this has been done about a minute,
and by the stoppage of the circulation you may conclude the sensation to
be in some degree numbed, insert the blade of the knife under that portion
of the nerve which is nearest the body, and cut boldly upward.

[Illustration: THE LOOP RAISING THE NERVE WHILE THE KNIFE LOOSENS ITS
INFERIOR ATTACHMENTS.]

A spasm mostly follows the division; but it is of short duration.
Afterward dissect about one inch of the nerve from its attachments, and
remove this inch from the main trunk. No sign of feeling will follow the
excision when made lower down. All communication with the brain has been
cut off by the previous division, and the sensorium no longer takes notice
of any violence offered to that part of the body which has been isolated.

[Illustration: THE BEST WAY TO CLOSE THE WOUND CONSEQUENT UPON NEUROTOMY.]

Next, having sponged the part, close the wound by means of a pin forced
through the lips of the orifice. Then twist a little tow round it in
the form of a figure of 8. That being finished, so much of the point as
protrudes is to be removed with a pair of wire nippers; a bandage is then
put on; and, if both sides of the limb are to be neurotomized, the horse
is turned over. All being accomplished, return the horse to the stable,
but watch the pin which fastens the wound. If the incision continues
dry, the pin may not be removed till six days have expired; but if the
slightest appearance of pus be suspected, immediately withdraw the pin,
and remove the tow, treating the part with solution of chloride of zinc,
as though it were a common wound.

There are various knives invented for the performance of neurotomy.
That the writer most approves of was the invention of Mr. Woodger, the
admirably practical veterinary surgeon of Bishops Mews, Paddington. The
author has used this instrument himself, and seen it guided by other
hands. In every case it has expedited the operation and thereby shortened
the period of the animal's suffering.

[Illustration: MR. WOODGER'S NEUROTOMY KNIFE.

    To use this instrument.--After the nerve is raised, insert the
    crooked point, with the edge toward the body of the horse; then
    drive the knife forward. By this simple means the cutting portion of
    the blade is brought violently in contact with the nerve, which is
    excised at the proper point, and about an inch is left hanging out
    below the incision.
]

The after-treatment of neurotomy consists in letting well alone, if all
goes on rightly. Should pus make its appearance, bathe the wounds, thrice
daily, with the solution of chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of
water. Remove the bandages from the legs after the horse has entered the
stable. The incisions heal more readily when exposed to the stimulating
effects of the air. Place a cradle round the horse's neck, and feed
liberally. Avoid all purgative medicine; you now want an injury repaired,
and do not desire to reduce the vital energy.

[Illustration: THE AWKWARD TREAD OF A HORSE WHEN NEWLY NEUROTOMIZED.]

When the wounds have healed, the horse may be gradually taken once more to
work, but it should not be fully used. Excessive and too early labor is
the cause of the many serious objections taken to a merciful operation.
The horse for some period does not feel his foot. He does not flex the
pastern as the hoof nears the ground. The foot is placed flat upon the
earth, and with a kind of sensible jar, as though the animal had made "a
false step." This peculiarity unfits the quadruped to trot upon stones, or
hard roads, until it has learned "to handle its feet," or to accommodate
the tread to the new condition of the hoof.


OPERATIONS--DIVISION OF THE TENDONS.

Many horses when standing knuckle over to such an extent as threatens
to throw them upon their knees. Others can only put the toe of the hind
leg to the ground. The natural use of the limb is equally injured in
each case: the fore legs of the horse support the body and the burden:
the hind legs propel the carcass and the load. Both are deformed by
contraction of the perforans tendon; and both deformities are generally
produced by excessive labor, inducing strain, though a few cases have come
to the author's knowledge of animals being born thus afflicted. When we
contemplate the huge frame of the horse, it seems more than fitted for all
man's ordinary purposes. But country carriers have vans proportioned only
to the extent of their custom; their carts are enlarged as their trade
increases; but very seldom is the power which draws the load augmented
in the same proportion. The horse, so agile and so beautiful, as long as
it can move the cart is esteemed to be not over-weighted. It labors up
hill, and then the carrier congratulates himself that the worst of the
work is over; it may be for him, but it is not for his horse. All the
stress in going down hill lies upon the back sinews; the animal has to
put forth all its strength to check the downward impetus of the load. It
is the same with other horses in the shafts of other vehicles. Three or
four animals--according to the usual English fashion--may be attached to
a load; but the weight which three strengths can draw upon level ground,
when descending an inequality, then, never bears equally upon the leaders.

Clap of the back sinews is a common accident with all horses. The equine
delight is the pleasure of the master. So entirely is the horse the slave
of man, that it, by instinct, puts forth its utmost strength to attain
anything in which its owner takes enjoyment. It does so regardless of its
own probable sufferings. In racing, in hunting, in all kinds of pastime
the horse will strain every nerve and even burst its strong vessels
laboring to gratify an ungrateful proprietor. Who does not remember the
old coaching days? The animals then appeared happy in their vocation. A
well-appointed coach, trotting by the White Horse Cellar, was a sight
to contemplate. However, follow the vehicle to the termination of the
first stage. See the poor panting carcasses unharnessed--the perspiration
lathering their sides, their veins swelling, their tails quivering, their
nostrils jerking, and their limbs stiffened. Who then could regret that
railroads were invented to indulge man's desire for speed? See, as the
coach leaves the metropolis behind it, the cattle deteriorate. At last,
behold life with swollen legs, stiff joints, and diseased feet made to
propel the loaded vehicle. Who, properly regarding such a spectacle, and
having a heart to feel, does not rejoice that a method of traveling has at
length been invented which renders the employment of the lash to overcome
the agonies of breathing flesh no longer imperative?

These fast abuses induced contraction of the perforans tendon in the
front legs. There is, however, this difference between contraction in the
anterior and posterior extremities--one hind leg only may be affected;
but the author remembers no instance of one fore leg being alone involved.

When a tendon is sprained, it is usual to apply stimulating or fiery
mixtures to that part, winding up the treatment with blisters and the
heated iron. Notwithstanding such measures are very seldom successful,
man seems incapable of learning anything where another has to bear the
torture, and he will often endure a great deal of agony himself before an
obvious idea can be awakened.

Such slowness is, however, very lamentable in the case of the horse.
=Division of the tendons= was borrowed from the human surgeon by the
veterinary practitioner. The operation, however, till very lately,
remained as it was originally adopted. Human surgery had advanced; but
veterinary practice stood motionless. At length, Mr. Varnell came from
America, and instructed veterinarians in an improved mode of operating,
which at this date should be universally practiced.

[Illustration:

    THE KNIFE EMPLOYED BY MR. VARNELL, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AT THE ROYAL
    VETERINARY COLLEGE.
]

[Illustration: THE POSITION OF THE LEG WHEN THE KNIFE IS INSERTED.]

A stout knife with a probed point, a curved blade, and a smooth, rounded
back, is first obtained. Before the blade is inserted, the skin is
divided, at the point selected for the operation, by the slight puncture
of a lancet.

The leg is then flexed; the tendons are, by the position of the limb,
rendered flaccid. The knife is next inserted sideways, behind the nerve
and artery, under the tendons. This last act is not, however, in practice,
very easy or very safe.

The edge of the knife is now toward the shoulder or haunch, and the
vessels lie upon that side of the blade which is nearest to the bone. The
operator now, by a simple motion of the hand, turns the cutting edge of
the knife toward the posterior part of the limb. A man at the same moment
takes hold of the leg and forces it straight; the perforans tendon is
thus dragged against the knife, while the suspensory ligament and vessels
are safe at the back of the blade. If the tendon be not divided without
any effort on the part of the operator, he makes a sawing motion as he
withdraws the knife. A slight sensation or a feeble sound often testifies
the separation of the structure.

[Illustration: THE TENDON DIVIDED.]

Often, if the contraction be not chronic, the strength of the extensor
pedis muscle, when released from its opponent's force, is sufficient to
straighten the fetlock. When the disease, however, has existed for any
time, it requires some violence to break down the false attachments which
have been formed. For this purpose the knee of a strong man is placed in
front of the fetlock-joint, and the horse's foot is, by pulling hard,
drawn forward.

The wound is then closed with a pin and twisted thread, as in neurotomy,
and the animal, till junction is perfected, should be kept in the stable,
as the shoe to be worn afterward is not favorable to progression. One week
after the operation, a shoe, with a projecting piece at the toe about one
inch and a half long, is to be put on the foot of the diseased limb. Five
weeks after this, the shoe is to be replaced by one having the projecting
point twice as long; and this last is to be worn till union is supposed to
be perfected--till the expiration of three months at least.

[Illustration:

    THE SHOE TO BE WORN ONE WEEK AFTER DIVISION OF THE TENDON HAS BEEN
    ACCOMPLISHED.
]

[Illustration:

    THE SHOE TO BE PUT ON SIX WEEKS AFTER DIVISION OF THE TENDON, AND TO
    BE WORN UNTIL UNION IS PERFECTED.
]

The horse, after having the tendon divided, is said to be as strong as
ever. The author would, however, object to such an animal being put into
the shafts with even a light load behind it, or to its being again used
for saddle purposes. The animal, though forbidden these uses, has still a
large field of service open to it.

This operation is alike effectual and humane. That the last assertion may
not appear based upon a single opinion, the author presents the reader
with an engraving taken from a park near Lewes. That animal seemed to
have all four limbs contracted, or the hind limbs were flexed and much
advanced, to take the weight off the fore members. A foal ran by the side
of the creature thus crippled; though it would be supposed no sane person
would select such a dam to breed from.

[Illustration]

Now had this mare been operated upon, slight pain would have been
inflicted. Tendon, unless in a state of inflammation, has no sensation.
Relief would have been afforded for the remainder of the life, and though,
from her make and shape, the animal might never have held a high station
among her breed, still, with straight legs she must have been worth as
much for work as with bent limbs she could be valuable for stock purposes.


LAYING OPEN THE SINUSES OF A QUITTOR.

Give no opening medicine to any horse previous to this operation. Every
member of the equine race is more likely to be too low from excess of
work, than in any degree inflammatory from over-indulgence. Therefore,
discard the general practice of preparing the horse with a dose of
compound aloes. If the bowels are costive, get them open. But before
employing the drastic drug, try what bran mashes and green-meat can
effect. The entire strength will be needed to repair the injuries effected
with the knife.

Give tonics and high feeding where the symptoms declare the body to be
enervated. It is at all times better to operate upon a system having a
superabundance of vital energy than upon one in which the powers are at
all tardy. Collapse is the greatest enemy the surgeon has to dread. It is
true, animals do not, like men, often "shut up" or die while under the
operator; but frequently the most skillful surgery is defeated by the
horse, after it has been released from the hobbles, never thriving. There
may be no disease to be detected; but the body seems to want the strength
requisite for recovery. To make this apparent to the reader--two gentlemen
shall each perform neurotomy. One shall bungle, yet his patient shall
do well. The wounds shall heal by the first intention, and the horse in
a fortnight be again delighting its owner. The other shall display the
perfection of scientific attainment; yet the horse shall never thrive. The
wounds shall ulcerate, and the animal either gnaw the foot or cast the
hoof. How can such differences be accounted for but by believing the horse
is subject to a peculiar species of chronic collapse?

Rasp the quarter of the horse's foot which has =quittor=, until the soft,
light-colored horn of the laminæ is exposed. Then let the hair be cut off
around the opening on the coronet, and the foot be carefully cleansed.
Afterward throw the horse. Release the quittored leg from the hobbles,
and with a steel director probe each sinus. So soon as the instrument is
well in, take a sharp-pointed knife and run it carefully down the groove
of the director. Then ascertain, with a grooved probe, whether the sinus
decreased in diameter, or whether the whole extent of the pipe be laid
open. If the smallest portion remains, to which the knife has not reached,
use the groove of the probe as a director, and slit it up. Do this to as
many sinuses as may exist.

Next place in each sinus a small piece of tow. These pieces of tow should
be already divided into short and thin skeins. They should be saturated
with chloride of zinc dissolved in spirits of wine, one scruple to the
ounce. Put one of these into each sinus, and let the horse up. In three
days such of the pieces of tow as have not been removed by the sloughing
process may be taken from the wounds, and the foot simply dressed with
chloride of zinc and water, one grain to the ounce, squeezed from a
sponge, as in the case of open joint.

[Illustration: THE QUARTER RASPED BENEATH THE OPENING OF A QUITTOR.]

[Illustration: THE SINUSES OF A QUITTOR BEING OPERATED UPON.]

This operation, when described, reads abhorrent; but it is really most
humane. It is a common thing for a horse to be three, or even six months
under treatment, on account of an ordinary quittor. During the entire
space, the foot--the tenderest part of the horse's body--is burned with
violent caustics, and has had heated wires thrust down its sinuses. By
the operation proposed, the affair is settled in a few minutes. The horse
seldom evinces much sensibility while the knife is being employed; in
three days the animal is so far recovered as to allow the diseased member
almost to be left to nature. The horse should, however, on no account do
any work before the hoof is in some measure restored. Until the outer
covering of dark horn has grown down, a bar shoe, well eased off the
diseased quarter, should be worn. When the hoof is reproduced, instead of
false quarter or other deformities, the usual results of quittor, it is
all but impossible to decide which has been the affected foot, and which
was operated upon.

       *       *       *       *       *

The author has now stated at length that treatment which the horse for its
own sake deserves, and which, for the honor of the being whom it serves,
the animal should receive. He has, designedly, rather appealed to the
reason of his readers than sought to enlist their feelings. The subject
was, indeed, a wide one. Man has hitherto been too content to consider
animals as something given absolutely to him to be treated according to
his sovereign will or merest pleasure. He has not reflected that, when he
was created lord of this earth, he was invested with a title which had its
responsibilities as well as its privileges.

[Illustration]




ALPHABETICAL SUMMARY.




A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE FOREGOING MATTER, ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER.


This abbreviation is made for the purpose of hasty consultation, when
the symptoms exhibited by the horse are so urgent as will not allow the
owner to refer to the body of the book. That, however, he is earnestly
recommended to do after the first anxiety has subsided; because what
follows is to be regarded only as notes of cases, and by no means to be
viewed as a substitute for the more detailed descriptions of diseases and
their treatment.


ABSCESS OF THE BRAIN.

_Cause._--Some injury to the head.

_Symptoms._--Dullness; refusal to feed; a slight oozing from a trivial
injury upon the skull; prostration, and the animal, while on the ground,
continues knocking the head violently against the earth until death ensues.

_Treatment._--None of any service.


ABDOMINAL INJURIES.

_Ruptured Diaphragm_ generally produces a soft cough; sitting on
the haunches or leaning on the chest may or may not be present; the
countenance is haggard.

_Ruptured Spleen_ answers to the tests described under "Hemorrhage of the
Liver."

_Ruptured Stomach_ is characterized by excessive colic, followed by
tympanitis.

_Introsusception_ possibly may be relieved by the inhalation of a full
dose of chloroform; but the result is always uncertain.

_Invagination_ is attended with the greatest possible agony.

_Strangulation_ is not to be distinguished, during life, from invagination.

_Calculus_ causes death by impactment; but however different the causes
of abdominal injury may be, they each produce the greatest agony, which
conceals the other symptoms, and makes all such injuries apparently the
same while the life lasts.


ACITES, OR DROPSY OF THE ABDOMEN.

_Cause._--Chronic peritonitis.

_Symptoms._--Pulse hard; head pendulous; food often spoiled; membranes
pallid; mouth dry. Pressure to abdomen elicits a groan; turning in
the stall calls forth a grunt. Want of spirit; constant lying down;
restlessness; thirst; loss of appetite; weakness; thinness; enlarged
abdomen; constipation and hide-bound. Small bags depend from the chest and
belly; the sheath and one leg sometimes enlarge; the mane breaks off; the
tail drops out. Purgation and death.

_Treatment._--When the symptoms first appear give, night and morning,
strychnia, half a grain, worked up to one grain; iodide of iron, half a
drachm, worked up to one drachm and a half; extract of belladonna, one
scruple; extract of gentian and powdered quassia, of each a sufficiency;
apply small blisters, in rapid succession, upon the abdomen: but if the
effusion is confirmed, a cure is hopeless.


ACUTE DYSENTERY.

_Cause._--Some acrid substance taken into the stomach.

_Symptoms._--Abdominal pain; violent purgation; the feces become
discolored, and water fetid; intermittent pulse; haggard countenance; the
position characterizes the seat of anguish. Perspiration, tympanitis, and
death.

_Treatment._--Give sulphuric ether, one ounce; laudanum, three ounces;
liquor potassæ, half an ounce; powdered chalk, one ounce; tincture of
catechu, one ounce; cold linseed tea, one pint. Repeat every fifteen
minutes. Cleanse the quarters; plait the tail; inject cold linseed tea.
The whole of the irritating substance must be expelled before improvement
can take place.


ACUTE GASTRITIS.

_Cause._--Poison; generally given to improve the coat.

_Symptoms._--Excessive pain, resembling fury.

_Treatment._--Give, as often and as quickly as possible, the following
drink: Sulphuric ether and laudanum, of each three ounces; carbonate of
magnesia, soda, or potash, four ounces; gruel, (_quite cold_,) one quart.
Should the pulse be sinking, add to the drink carbonate of ammonia, one
drachm. If corrosive sublimate is known to be the poison, one dozen raw
eggs should be blended with each drench. If delirium be present, give the
medicine as directed for tetanus, with the stomach pump.


ACUTE LAMINITIS.

_Cause._--Often man's brutality. Horses driven far and upon hard roads are
exposed to the disorder. Any stress long applied to the foot, as standing
in the hold of a ship, may generate the affection.

_Symptoms._--The pace seems odd toward the end of the journey; but the
horse is placed in the stable with plenty of food for the night. Next
morning the animal is found all of a heap. Flesh quivering; eyes glaring;
nostrils distended, and breath jerking; flanks tucked up; back roached;
head erect; mouth closed; hind legs advanced under the belly; fore legs
pushed forward; fore feet resting upon the heels, and the limbs moved as
though the horse were dancing upon hot irons.

_Treatment._--Put on the slings in silence. To the end of the cords append
weights. Soak the feet in warm water, in which a portion of alkali is
dissolved. Cut out the nails from the softened horn. Before the shoes are
removed give half a drachm of belladonna and fifteen grains of digitalis,
and repeat the dose every half hour until the symptoms abate. When the
slings are up, open the jugular vein; abstract one quart of blood, and
inject one pint of luke-warm water. Clothe the body; place thin gruel and
green-meat within reach, and leave two men to watch for the first three
nights.

Next morning give sulphuric ether and laudanum, of each two ounces, in a
pint of water. Should the pastern arteries throb, open the veins and place
the feet in warm water. While the affection lasts, pursue these measures;
and it is a bad symptom, though not a certain one, if no change for the
better takes place in five days.


ALBUMINOUS URINE.

_Cause._--Unknown.

_Symptoms._--These consist of the positions assumed by the horse. The legs
are either stretched out or the hind feet are brought under the body.
Straddling gait, and much difficulty in turning within the stall. Some
urine being caught, it is thick, and answers to certain chemical tests.

_Treatment._--Bleed moderately; give a laxative, and apply mustard to the
loins. As after-measures, perfect rest, attention to diet, and repeated
doses of opium.


APHTHA.

_Cause._--Unknown.

_Symptoms._--Small swelling on the lips; larger swellings upon the tongue.
As the disease progresses, a clear liquid appears in each swelling. The
bladders burst, crusts form, and the disease disappears.

_Treatment._--Soft food, and the following wash for the mouth: Take borax,
five ounces; honey or treacle, two pints; water, one gallon. Mix.


BLOOD SPAVIN.

A disease never encountered at the present time.


BOG SPAVIN.

_Cause._--Brutality of some kind.

_Symptom._--A puffy swelling at the front of and at the upper part of the
hock.

_Treatment._--Pressure, maintained by means of an India-rubber bandage.


BOTS.

_Cause._--Turning out to grass.

_Treatment._--No remedy. Wait till the following year, and the parasites
will be ejected naturally.


BREAKING DOWN.

_Cause._--Violent exertion; generally when racing.

_Symptoms._--The horse, when going, suddenly loses power to put one
leg to the ground. The foot is turned upward; pain excessive; breathing
quickened; pulse accelerated; appetite lost. In time these symptoms abate,
but the leg is disabled for life.

_Treatment._--Bleed and purge, or not, as the symptoms are severe. Place a
linen bandage round the injury, and see that this is kept constantly cold
and wet; put on a high-heeled shoe, and leave the issue to nature. The
animal is afterward serviceable only to breed from.


BROKEN KNEES.

_Causes._--Terrifying a horse, or rendering alive only to fear. Pulling in
the chin to the breast, or driving with a tight bearing-rein.

_Symptoms._--The horse falls; the knee may only be slightly broken, but
deeply contused. A slough must then take place, and open joint may result.
Or the animal may fall, and, when down, be driven forward by the impetus
of its motion. The knee is cut by the fall, and the skin of the knee may
be forced back by the onward impulse. This skin will become dirty; but the
removed integument will fly back on the animal's rising, thus forming a
kind of bag containing and concealing foreign matter.

_Treatment._--Procure a pail of milk-warm water and a large sponge. Dip
the sponge in the pail, and squeeze out the water above the knee. Continue
to do this, but do not dab or sop the wound itself. The water flowing
over the knee will wash away every impurity. Then with a probe gently
explore the bag. If small, make a puncture through the bottom of the bag;
if large, insert a seton, and move it night and morning until good pus is
secreted: then withdraw the seton. "Rack up" the horse's head, and get
some cold water, to every quart of which add two ounces of tincture of
arnica. Pour a little of this into a saucer, and then dip a sponge into
the liquid. Squeeze the sponge dry above the joint. Do this every half
hour for three and a half days, both by day and night. If at the end of
that time all is going on well, the head may be released; but should the
knee enlarge and become sensitive, while the animal refuses to put the
foot to the ground, withdraw the seton; give no hay, but all the oats
and beans that can be eaten, with two pots of stout each day. Place the
quadruped in slings; apply the arnica lotion until a slough takes place;
then resort to the chloride of zinc lotion, one scruple to the pint, and
continue to use this as has been directed.


BROKEN WIND.

_Causes._--Old age, prolonged work, and bad food.

_Symptoms._--Short, dry, hacking cough, caused by irritability of the
larynx; ravenous appetite; insatiable thirst; abundant flatus. Dung half
digested; belly pendulous; coat ragged; aspect dejected. Respiration
is performed by a triple effort; inspiration is spasmodic and single;
expiration is labored and double. The ribs first essay to expel the air
from the lungs; these failing, the diaphragm and abdominal muscles take up
the action. Broken wind can be set or concealed for a time by forcing the
animal to swallow quantities of grease, tar, or shot. A drink of water,
however, will always reproduce the symptoms.

_Treatment._--No cure. Relief alone is possible. Never give water before
work. Four half pails of water to be allowed in twenty-four hours. In
each draught mingle half an ounce of phosphoric acid or half a drachm of
sulphuric acid. Remove the bed in the day; muzzle at night; put a lump of
rock-salt and of chalk in the manger. Never push hard or take upon a very
long journey.


BRONCHITIS.

_Causes._--Riding far and fast; then leaving exposed, especially to the
night air; neglect and constitutional liability.

_Symptoms._--Appetite often not affected; sometimes it is increased. A
short cough, in the first instance; breathing only excited; legs warm;
mouth moist; and nasal membrane merely deeper color during the early
stage. When confirmed, the appetite is lost; the horse is averse to move;
the cough is sore and suppressed; the breathing is audible; the membranes
are scarlet; the mouth is hot and dry; the legs are cold; the body is of
uneven temperatures.

_Treatment._--Do not deplete. Place in a large, loose box; fill the place
with steam; apply scalded hay to the throat; fix flannels wet with cold
water to the back and side by means of a Mackintosh jacket. When the
flannel becomes warm, change it immediately. Do this for two hours. After
that space the flannel may remain on, but must not become dry. Prepare
half a pound of melted Burgundy pitch, and stir into it two ounces of
powdered camphor, with half a drachm of powdered capsicums. Apply the
mixture to the throat. To restore tone to the pulse, give, every half
hour, sulphuric ether and laudanum, of each one ounce; water, one pint.
If no effect be produced by three of these drinks, substitute infusion
of aconite, half an ounce; extract of belladonna, half a drachm, rubbed
down in water, a quarter of a pint. When the pulse has recovered, resume
the former physic, only adding half a drachm of belladonna to each dose.
Support with gruel. Introduce food gradually; "chill" the water; be
careful of hay, and mind, when given, it is thoroughly damped.


BRONCHOCELE.

_Symptom._--An enlargement on the side of the throat.

_Treatment._--Give the following, night and morning: Iodide of potassium,
half a drachm; liquor potassæ, one drachm; distilled water, half a pint.
Also, rub into the swelling the accompanying ointment: Iodide of lead, one
drachm; simple cerate, one ounce.


BRUISE OF THE SOLE.

_Cause._--Treading on a stone or some projecting body.

_Symptom._--Effusion of blood into the horny sole.

_Treatment._--Cut away the stained horn, and shoe with leather.


CALCULI.

_Causes._--Unknown.

_Symptoms of Renal Calculus._--Urine purulent, thick, opaque, gritty, or
bloody; back roached. Pressure on the loins occasions shrinking; the arm
in the rectum and the hand carried upward provoke alarm.

_Treatment._--Two drachms of hydrochloric acid in every pail of water; but
the result is dubious.

_Symptoms of Cystic Calculus._--Same states of urine as in renal calculus.
The water, when flowing forth, is suddenly stopped; every emission is
followed by straining; the back is hollowed; the point of the penis is
sometimes exposed; and, when going down hill, the animal often pulls up
short.

_Treatment of Cystic Calculus._--Examine per rectum. An operation for the
horse, or Mr. Simmonds's instrument for the mare, is imperative. When the
stone is small, hydrochloric acid may be tried.

_Symptoms of Urethral Calculus._--Suppression of urine; great suffering.
If the urethral calculus is impacted in the exposed portion of the
urethra, the passage is distended behind the stoppage.

_Treatment of Urethral Calculus._--Cut down upon and remove the substance.


CANKER.

_Cause._--Old horses, when "turned out" for life as pensioners; aged and
neglected animals will also exhibit the disease.

_Symptoms._--Not much lameness. The disease commences at the cleft of the
frog; a liquid issues from the part, more abundant and more abominable
than in thrush; it often exudes from the commissures joining the sole to
the frog. The horn firstly bulges out; then it flakes off, exposing a
spongy and soft substance, which is fungoid horn. The fungoid horn is most
abundant about the margin of the sole, and upon its surface it flakes off.
This horn has no sensation. The disease is difficult to eradicate when one
fore foot is involved. When all four feet are implicated, a cure is all
but hopeless, and the treatment is certain to be slow and vexatious.

_Treatment._--See that the stable is large, clean, and comfortable;
note that the food is of the best; allow liberal support; pare off the
superficial fungoid horn, and so much of the deep seated as can be
detached. Apply to the diseased parts some of the following: Chloride of
zinc, half an ounce; flour, four ounces. Put on the foot without water.
To the sound hoof apply chloride of zinc, four grains; flour, one ounce.
Cover the sound parts before the cankered horn is dressed; tack on the
shoe; pad well and firmly. When places appear to be in confirmed health,
the following may be used: Chloride of zinc, two grains; flour, one ounce.
At first, dress every second day; after a time, every third day, and give
exercise as soon as possible.


CAPPED ELBOW.

_Cause._--Injury to the point of the elbow.

_Symptom._--It is often of magnitude, and is liable to ulcerate and become
sinuous.

_Treatment._--The same as capped hock.


CAPPED HOCK.

_Cause._--Any injury to the point of the calcis.

_Symptom._--A round swelling on the point of the hock, which, should the
cause be repeated, often becomes of great size.

_Treatment._--If small, set several men to hand-rub the tumor constantly
for a few days. Should the capped hock be of magnitude, dissect out the
enlargement, without puncturing it. Remove none of the pendulous skin.
Treat the wound with the lotion of chloride of zinc--one grain to the
ounce of water--and it will heal after some weeks.


CAPPED KNEE.

_Cause._--The same as the previous affection.

_Symptom._--A soft tumor in front of the knee.

_Treatment._--If let alone, it would burst and leave a permanent blemish.
Draw the skin to one side, and with a lancet pierce the lower surface of
the tumor. Treat the wound as an open joint.


CATARACT.

_Cause._--Looking at white walls, or receiving external injuries. Specific
ophthalmia generates a permanent cataract.

_Symptoms._--When partial, shying; if total, white pupil and blindness.

_Treatment._--Color the inside of the stable green, as cataract, when not
total, is sometimes absorbed.


CHOKING.

_Causes._--Something impacted in the gullet, either high up or low down.

_Symptoms._--_High Choke._--Raised head; saliva; discharge from the
nostrils; inflamed eyes; haggard countenance; audible breathing; the
muscles of neck tetanic; the flanks heave; the fore feet paw and stamp;
the hind legs crouch and dance; perspiration; agony excessive. _Low
Choke._--The animal ceases to feed; water returns by the nostrils;
countenance expresses anguish; saliva and nasal discharge; labored by
seldom, noisy breathing; roached back; tucked-up flanks, while the horse
stands as though it were desirous of elevating the quarters.

_Treatment._--_Make haste when high choke is present._ Perform tracheotomy
to relieve the breathing; insert the balling-iron, or, with a hook
extemporized out of any wire, endeavor to remove the substance from the
throat. If the choking body is too firmly lodged to be thus removed,
sulphuric ether must be inhaled to relax the spasm. The ether not
succeeding, an egg is probably impacted. Destroy its integrity with a
darning-needle carefully inserted through the skin; then break the shell
by outward pressure. _Low choke is seldom fatal before the expiration
of three days._ Give a quarter of a pint of oil every hour; in the
intermediate half hours give sulphuric ether, two ounces; laudanum, two
ounces; water, half a pint; and use the probang after every dose of the
last medicine. Should these be returned, cause chloroform to be inhaled;
then insert the probang, and, by steady pressure, drive the substance
forward.

Subsequent to the removal of impactment feed with caution.


CHRONIC DYSENTERY.

_Cause._--Not well understood; generally attacks old horses belonging to
penurious masters.

_Symptoms._--Purging without excitement, always upon drinking cold water;
violent straining; belly enlarges; flesh wastes; bones protrude; skin
hide-bound; membranes pallid; weakness; perspiration; standing in one
place for hours. At last the eyes assume a sleepy, pathetic expression;
the head is slowly turned toward the flanks; remains fixed for some
minutes; the horse only moves when the bowels are about to act; colic;
death.

_Treatment._--Give, thrice daily, crude opium, half an ounce; liquor
potassæ, one ounce; chalk, one ounce; tincture of all-spice, one ounce;
alum, half an ounce; ale, one quart. Should the horse belong to a generous
master, give one of the following drinks thrice daily, upon the symptoms
being confirmed: Sulphuric ether, one ounce; laudanum, three ounces;
liquor potassæ, half an ounce; powdered chalk, one ounce; tincture of
catechu, one ounce; cold linseed tea, one pint. Or, chloroform, half an
ounce; extract of belladonna, half a drachm; carbonate of ammonia, one
drachm; powdered camphor, half a drachm; tincture of oak-bark, one ounce;
cold linseed tea, one pint. Feed lightly; dress frequently; give a good
bed and a roomy lodging.


CHRONIC GASTRITIS.

_Symptoms._--Irregularity of bowels and appetite; pallid membranes; mouth
cold; a dry cough; tainted breath; sunken eye; catching respiration;
pendulous belly; ragged coat, and emaciation. Sweating on the slightest
exertion; eating wood-work or bricks and mortar.

_Treatment._--Do not purge; administer bitters, sedatives, and alkalies.
Give powdered nux vomica, one scruple; carbonate of potash, one drachm;
extract of belladonna, half a drachm; extract of gentian and powdered
quassia, of each a sufficiency. Or give strychnia, half a grain;
bicarbonate of ammonia, one drachm; extract of belladonna, half a drachm;
sulphate of zinc, half a drachm; extract of gentian and powdered quassia,
of each a sufficiency. Give one ball night and morning; when these
balls seem to have lost their power, give half an ounce each of liquor
arsenicalis and tincture of ipecacuanha, with one ounce of muriated
tincture of iron and laudanum, in a pint of water; damp the food; sprinkle
magnesia on it. As the strength improves, give sulphuric ether, one ounce;
water, one pint, daily. Ultimately change that for a quart of ale or stout
daily.


CHRONIC HEPATITIS.

_Cause._--Too good food and too little work.

_Symptoms._--Cold mouth; pallid membranes; white of eyes ghastly,
displaying a yellow tinge; looks toward the right side; the right side may
be tender for a long time, with generally repeated attacks of this nature,
although the horse may perish with the first fit.

_Treatment._--Hold up the head, and if the horse staggers, this proves
hemorrhage from the liver. Give sufficient of nutritious food, but only
enough of it, plenty of labor, and the following physic: Iodide of
potassium, two ounces; liquor potassæ, one quart; dose, night and morning,
two tablespoonfuls in a pint of water.


CLAP OF THE BACK SINEWS.

_Cause._--Extra exertion.

_Symptoms._--The maimed limb is flexed; the toe rests upon the ground. In
a short space a tumor appears; it is small, hot, soft, and tender, but
soon grows hard. Great pain, but attended with few constitutional symptoms.

_Treatment._--Administer physic, and bleed gently; then give a few doses
of febrifuge medicine, but go no further than to reduce the pulse to
fifty-five degrees. Put a linen bandage on the leg; keep this constantly
wet until the primary symptoms abate. Cut grass for food while fever
exists; continue the cold water till recovery is confirmed. The horse will
not be fit to work for many months.


COLD.

If mild, a little green-meat, a few mashes, an extra rug, and a slight
rest generally accomplish a cure.

_Symptoms_ of severe cold are dullness; a rough coat; the body of
different temperatures; the nasal membrane deep scarlet, or of a leaden
color; the appetite is lost; simple ophthalmia; tears; the sinuses are
clogged, and a discharge from the nose appears.

_Treatment._--Give no active medicine. Apply the steaming nose-bag six
times daily; allow cut grass and mashes for food, with gruel for drink.
If weak, present three feeds of crushed and scalded oats and beans daily,
with a pot of stout morning and evening. Good nursing, with pure air,
warmth, and not even exercise, till the disease abates, are of more
importance than "doctor's stuff" in a case of severe cold. Cold, however,
often ushers in other and more dangerous diseases.


CONGESTION IN THE FIELD.

_Cause._--Riding a horse after the hounds when out of condition.

_Symptoms._--The horse, from exhaustion, reels and falls. The body is
clammy cold; the breathing is labored; every vein is turgid.

_Treatment._--Bleed, if possible; cover the body; lead gently to the
nearest stable; keep hot rugs upon the animal; bandage the legs and hood
the neck; warm the place, either by a fire or tubs full of hot water.
Give, without noise, every half hour, one ounce of sulphuric ether, half
an ounce of laudanum, half a pint of cold water. Should no chemist be at
hand, beat up two ounces of turpentine with the yolk of an egg; mix it
with half a pint of water, and repeat the dose at the times stated. Allow
an ample bed, and place a pail of gruel within easy reach of the horse. Do
not leave the animal for thirty hours, as in that time its fate will be
decided.


CONGESTION IN THE STABLE.

_Cause._--A debilitated, fat horse, unused to work, being driven fast with
a heavy load behind it.

_Symptoms._--Hanging head; food not glanced at; blowing; artery gorged and
round; pulse feeble; cold and partial perspirations; feet cold; eye fixed;
hearing lost; and the attitude motionless.

_Treatment._--Give immediately two ounces each of sulphuric ether and of
laudanum in a pint of cold water. Give the drink with every caution. In
ten minutes repeat the medicine, if necessary. Wait twenty minutes, and
give another drink, if requisite; more are seldom needed. Take away all
solid food, and allow gruel for the remainder of the day.


CORNS.

_Cause._--In a flat foot, the heels of the coffin-bone squeeze the
sensitive sole by pressing it against the shoe. In a contracted foot, the
sensitive sole is squeezed between the wings of the coffin-bone and the
thick, horny sole. A bruise results; blood is effused; and the stain of
this left upon the horny sole--generally upon the inner side and anterior
to the bars--constitutes a horse's corn, which is mostly found on the fore
feet.

_Symptom._--If the stain is dark, and is to be removed with the knife,
this indicates a corn has been, but no longer exists. The smallest stain
of bright scarlet testifies to the existence of a new and present corn.
Corns are of four kinds--the old, the new, the sappy, and the suppurative.
The old and new are produced by the blood, and are judged by the scarlet
or dark-colored stain. The old is generally near the surface, the new is
commonly deep seated. The sappy is when the bruise is only heavy enough to
effuse serum. The new corn alone produces lameness. The suppurating corn
may start up from either of the others receiving additional injury. It
causes intense pain and produces acute lameness.

_Treatment._--Cut out the stain. If a suppurating corn, place the foot
in a poultice, after having opened the abscess. Then, the horn being
softened, cut away all the sole which has been released by the pus from
its attachment to the secreting surface. Tack on an old shoe, and dress
with the solution of the chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce.
Afterward shoe with leather, and employ stopping to render the horn
plastic.


COUGH.

_Causes._--Foul stables; hot stables; coarse, dusty provender; rank
bedding; irregular work; while the affection may attend many diseases.

_Treatment._--Crush the oats; damp the hay; give gruel or linseed tea
for drink. Clothe warmly, and give, thrice daily, half a pint of the
following in a tumbler of water: Extract of belladonna, one drachm, rubbed
down in a pint of cold water; tincture of squills, ten ounces; tincture
of ipecacuanha, eight ounces. No change ensuing, next try--Barbadoes
or common tar, half an ounce; calomel, five grains; linseed meal, a
sufficiency: make into a ball, and give one night and morning. This being
attended with no improvement, employ--Powdered aloes, one drachm; balsam
of copaiba, three drachms; cantharides, three grains; common mass, a
sufficiency. Mix, and give every morning.

A daily bundle of cut grass is good in the spring of the year. A lump of
rock-salt has been beneficial. If the animal eats the litter, muzzle it.
Roots are good. Moisten the hay; and, above all things, attend to the
ventilation of the stable.


CRACKED HEELS.

_Cause._--Cutting the hair from the heels, and turning into a straw-yard
during winter.

_Symptoms._--Thickened skin; cracks; and sometimes ulceration.

_Treatment._--Wash; dry thoroughly; apply the following wash: Animal
glycerin, half a pint; chloride of zinc, two drachms; strong solution of
oak-bark, one pint. Mix. If ulceration has commenced, rest the horse.
Give a few bran mashes or a little cut grass to open the bowels. Use the
next wash: Animal glycerin, or phosphoric acid, two ounces; permanganate
of potash, or creosote, half an ounce; water, three ounces: apply six
times daily. Give a drink each day composed of liquor arsenicalis, half an
ounce; tincture of muriate of iron, one ounce; water, one pint.


CRIB-BITING.

_Cause._--Sameness of food and unhealthy stables, or indigestion.

_Symptoms._--Placing the upper incisors against some support, and, with
some effort, emitting a small portion of gas.

_Treatment._--Place a lump of rock-salt in the manger; if that is not
successful, add a lump of chalk. Then damp the food, and sprinkle magnesia
upon it, and mingle a handful of ground oak-bark with each feed of corn.
Purify the ventilation of the stable before these remedies are applied.


CURB.

_Causes._--Galloping on uneven ground; wrenching the limb; prancing and
leaping.

_Symptom._--A bulging out at the posterior of the hock, accompanied by
heat and pain, often by lameness.

_Treatment._--Rest the animal. Put on an India-rubber bandage, (see page
307,) and under it a folded cloth. Keep the cloth wet and cool with cold
water. When all inflammation has disappeared, blister the hock.


CYSTITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER.

_Causes._--Kicks and blows under the flank. Abuse of medicine, and bad
food, with the provocatives generally of nephritis.

_Symptoms._--Those common to pain and inflammation. Urine, however,
affords the principal indication. At first, it is at intervals jerked
forth in small quantities. Ultimately it flows forth constantly drop by
drop. A certain but a dangerous test is to insert the arm up the rectum,
and to feel the small and compressed bladder. A safer test is to press the
flank, which, should cystitis be present, calls forth resistance.

_Treatment._--Give scruple doses of aconite, should the pulse be excited;
the same of belladonna, should pain be excessive; and calomel with opium,
to arrest the disease. Place under the belly, by means of a rug, a cloth
soaked with strong liquor ammonia diluted with six times its bulk of
water. Or apply a rug dipped into hot water or loaded with cold water;
change when either becomes warm.


DIABETES INSIPIDUS, OR PROFUSE STALING.

_Causes._--Diuretic drugs or bad food.

_Symptoms._--Weakness loss of flesh; loss of condition.

_Treatment._--Do not take from the stable; keep a pail of linseed tea in
the manger; give no grass or hay; groom well. Order a ball composed of
iodide of iron, one drachm; honey and linseed meal, a sufficiency. Or a
drink consisting of phosphoric acid, one ounce; water, one pint. Give the
ball daily; the drink, at night and at morning.


ENTERITIS.

_Causes._--Greatly conjectural. Prolonged colic may end in it.
Constipation may induce it.

_Symptoms._--Dullness heaviness; picks the food; shivers repeatedly;
rolling; plunging; kicking, but more gently than in spasmodic colic;
quickened breathing; hot, dry mouth; wiry pulse. Pressure to the abdomen
gives pain. Remove your coat; insert the arm up the anus; if the
intestines are very hot, all is confirmed.

_Treatment._--Extract one quart of blood from the jugular, and inject into
the vein one pint of water at a blood heat. Give aconite in powder, half
a drachm; sulphuric ether, three ounces; laudanum, three ounces; extract
of belladonna, one drachm, (rubbed down in cold water, one pint and a
half.) As the pulse changes, withdraw the aconite; as the pain subsides,
discontinue the belladonna. The other ingredients may be diminished as the
horse appears to be more comfortable. Should the pain linger after the
administration of the eighth drink, apply an ammoniacal blister. Sprinkle
on the tongue, if any symptoms declare the disease vanquished but not
fled, every second hour, calomel, half a drachm; opium, one drachm. Feed
very carefully upon recovery, avoiding all things purgative or harsh to
the bowels.


EXCORIATED ANGLES OF THE MOUTH.

_Cause._--Abuse of the reins.

_Treatment._--Apply the following lotion to the part: Chloride of zinc,
two scruples; essence of anise seed, two drachms; water, two pints.


FALSE QUARTER.

_Cause._--Injury to the coronet, producing an absence of the secreting
coronet of the crust from the hoof.

_Symptoms._--No lameness, but weakness of the foot. The soft horn of
the laminae, being exposed, is apt to crack. Bleeding ensues. Sometimes
granulations sprout when the pain and the lameness are most acute.

_Treatment._--In cases of crack and granulations, treat as is advised
for sandcrack. Put on a bar shoe, with a clip on each side of the false
quarter. Pare down the edges of the crack, and ease off the point of
bearing on the false quarter. A piece of gutta-percha, fastened over the
false quarter, has done good.


FARCY.

_Causes._--Excessive labor, poor food, and bad lodging operating upon old
age.

_Symptoms._--It is at first inflammation of the superficial absorbents.
Lumps appear on various parts. If these lumps are opened, healthy matter
is released but the place soon becomes a foul ulcer, from which bunches
of fungoid granulations sprout. From the lumps may be traced little cords
leading to other swellings. The appetite fails, or else it is voracious.
Matter may be squeezed through the skin. Thirst is torturing. At length
glanders breaks forth, and the animal dies. There is a smaller kind of
farcy called button-farcy the smaller sort is the more virulent of the two.

_Cure._--There is no known cure for the disease.


FISTULOUS PAROTID DUCT.

_Causes._--Hay-seeds or other substances getting into the mouth of the
duct during mastication. Stones being formed within the canal. The
stable-fork in the hand of an intemperate groom.

_Symptoms._--The duct greatly enlarges behind the obstacle, which,
becoming swollen, prevents the secretion from entering the mouth. Great
agony is occasioned by every mouthful masticated. The duct bursts, and a
fistulous opening is established, through which the saliva jerks at each
motion of the jaw. From the absence of a secretion important to digestion,
the flesh wastes, and the animal soon assumes a miserable appearance.

_Treatment._--Make an adhesive fluid with gum mastic and spirits of wine,
or with India-rubber and sulphuric ether. When the horse is not feeding,
pare the hardened edges from the wound; cover the orifice with a piece of
strained India-rubber; over this put a layer of cotton; fasten one end
to the horse's cheek by means of the adhesive fluid; that having dried,
fasten the other end tightly down. Place other layers of cotton over this,
allowing each layer to cross the other, and fastening all to the cheek.
Fasten the head to the pillar-reins; allow the horse to remain till the
cotton falls off, and give only gruel for food. Put tan under the feet;
and should the first trial not succeed, repeat it.


FISTULOUS WITHERS.

_Cause._--External injury, generally by the lady's saddle, which bruises
one of the bursæ placed above the withers.

_Symptoms._--When first done, a small, round swelling appears on the off
side. If this is neglected, the place enlarges, and numerous holes burst
out, which are the mouths of so many fistulous pipes.

_Treatment._--In the early stage, go to the horse's side, impale the tumor
and divide it. Touch the interior with lunar caustic; keep the wound
moist with the chloride of zinc lotion, one grain to the ounce of water,
and cover it with a cloth dipped in a solution of tar. If the sinuses
are established, make one cut to embrace as many as possible. Clean out
the corruption. Scrape or cut off any black or white bone which may be
exposed. Cover with a cloth, and keep wet with the solution of chloride
of zinc. Should there exist a long sinus leading from the withers to the
elbow, insert a seton by means of the guarded seton needle. This seton
should be withdrawn so soon as a stream of creamy pus is emitted.


FUNGOID TUMORS IN THE EYE.

_Cause._--Unknown.

_Symptoms._--Blindness; a yellow, metallic appearance to be seen in the
eye.

_Treatment._--None of any service.


GLANDERS.

_Cause._--Bad lodging, stimulating food, and excessive work operating upon
young life.

_Symptoms._--Staring coat; lungs or air-passages always affected; flesh
fades; glands swell; spirit low; appetite bad. A lymphatic gland adheres
to the inside of the jaw; the membrane inside the nose ulcerates; a slight
discharge from one nostril. This becomes thicker, and adheres to the
margin of the nostril, exhibiting white threads and bits of mucus; then it
changes to a full stream of foul pus; next the nasal membrane grows dull
and dropsical; the margins of the nostrils enlarge; the horse breathes
with difficulty; the discharge turns discolored and abhorrent; farcy
breaks forth, and the animal dies of suffocation.

_Treatment._--There is no known cure.


GREASE.

_Causes._--Age; debility; excessive labor; neglect; filth. Cutting the
hair off the heels; turning out to grass in the cold months.

_Symptoms._--Scurfiness and itchiness of the legs. Rubbing the leg with
the hoof of the opposite limb; hairs stand on end; moisture exudes, and
hangs upon the hairs in drops. Smells abhorrently; lameness; cracks on
the skin; swelling; ulceration; thin discharge; odor worse. Lameness
increases; leg enlarges; granulations sprout in ragged bunches; their
points harden and become like horn; pain excessive; horn of hoof grows
long.

_Treatment._--Cut off all remaining hair. If hot and scurfy, cleanse with
mild soap and hot, soft water; saturate a cloth with the following lotion:
Animal glycerin, half a pint; chloride of zinc, half an ounce; water, six
quarts. Lay it upon the leg. When this cloth becomes warm, remove it,
and apply another, also wet with the lotion; thus continue applying cool
cloths to the limb till the heat abates; afterward moisten the leg thrice
daily. When cracks and ulceration are present, adopt the wet cloths; but
subsequently use one of the following to the sores: Permanganate of potash
or phosphoric acid, one pint; water, six quarts. Or, chloride of zinc, one
ounce; water, one gallon: employ thrice daily. If the granulations have
sprouted, remove them with a knife, in three operations, (_full directions
are given in the book;_) likewise always place in a loose box. Feed
liberally; allow old beans; give a handful of ground oak-bark with each
feed of oats. Night and morning exhibit liquor arsenicalis, one ounce;
tincture of muriate of iron, one ounce and a half; porter or stout, one
quart: one pint for the dose. Chopped roots; speared wheat; hay tea; cut
grass, and exercise are all good for grease.


GUTTA SERENA.

_Cause._--Over-exertion.

_Symptoms._--Fixed dilatation of the pupil; a greenish hue of the eye;
total blindness. Active ears; restless nostrils; head erect; high
stepping; occasionally a rough coat in summer and a smooth coat in winter.

_Treatment._--No remedy is possible.


HEART DISEASE.

_Symptoms._--Auscultation. The beat of the heart to be seen externally;
haggard countenance; pulse feeble; heart throbs; the beat of the carotid
artery is to be felt; the regurgitation in the jugular is to be seen.
The appetite is sometimes ravenous--often fastidious; the breathing is
not accelerated excepting during pain; lameness of one leg; dropsical
swellings; stopping short when on a journey; averse to turn in the stall;
noises; yawns; sighs. Death always unexpected. No treatment is of any use.


HEMATURIA, OR BLOODY URINE.

_Cause._--Unknown.

_Symptoms._--Discoloration of the fluid. When the bleeding is copious,
breathing is oppressed; the pupils of the eyes are dilated. Pulse is
lost; head is pendulous; membranes are pale and cold. Lifting up the head
produces staggering. Back roached; flanks tucked up; legs wide apart.

_Treatment._--Be gentle. Act upon the report given. Give acetate of
lead, two drachms, in cold water, one pint; or, as a ball, if one can be
delivered. In a quarter of an hour repeat the dose, adding laudanum, one
ounce, or powdered opium, two drachms. Repeat the physic till one ounce
of acetate of lead has been given. Leave the horse undisturbed for two
hours, if the symptoms justify delay. If not, dash pailfuls of cold water
upon the loins from a height. Give copious injections of cold water. Pour
half a pint of boiling water upon four drachms of ergot of rye. When cold,
add laudanum, one ounce, and dilute acetic acid, four ounces. Give two of
these drinks, and two cold enemas, of twenty minutes' duration. Suspend
all treatment for eight hours, when the measures may be repeated. (_For
after proceedings, see the article which is presented in the body of the
book._)


HIDE-BOUND.

_Cause._--Neglect, or turning into a straw-yard for the winter.

_Treatment._--Liberal food, clean lodging, soft bed, healthy exercise,
and good grooming. Administer, daily, two drinks, composed of: Liquor
arsenicalis, half an ounce; tincture of muriate of iron, one ounce; water,
one pint. Mix, and give as one dose.


HIGH-BLOWING AND WHEEZING.

Habits which admit of no remedies.


HYDROPHOBIA.

_Cause._--Bite from a rabid dog or cat.

_Symptoms._--The horse is constantly licking the bitten place. A morbid
change takes place in the appetite. Eager thirst, but inability to
drink, or spasm at the sound or sight of water is exhibited. Nervous
excitability; voice and expression of countenance altered. More rarely the
horse--when taken from the stable--appears well. While at work, it stops
and threatens to fall. Shivers violently, and is scarcely brought home
when the savage stage commences. The latter development consists in the
utmost ferocity, blended with a most mischievous cunning, or a malicious
pleasure in destruction.

_Treatment._--No remedy known. Confine in a strong place and shoot
immediately.


HYDROTHORAX.

_Cause._--Pleurisy or inflammation of the membrane lining the chest.

_Symptoms._--The horse is left very ill. The next morning the animal is
looking better; the pain has abated; the eye is more cheerful; but the
flanks heave. A man is procured; he is told to strike the chest when the
person listening on the other side says "now." The word is spoken, and a
metallic ring follows. The pulse is lost at the jaw; the heart seems to
throb through water. The horse has hydrothorax!

_Treatment._--The first thing is to draw off the fluid. A spot between the
eighth and ninth ribs is chosen, and the skin is pulled back; a small slit
through the skin is made; into that opening an armed trocar is driven.
When there is no resistance felt, the thorax has been entered; the stilet
is withdrawn and the water flows forth. Use a fine trocar; take all the
fluid you can obtain. Should the horse appear faint, withdraw the canula,
and in two hours again puncture the chest. Afterward the food must be
prepared, and a ball administered night and morning, consisting of iodide
of iron, one drachm; strychnia, half a grain; sulphate of zinc, half a
drachm; extract of gentian and powdered quassia, a sufficiency.


IMPEDIMENT IN THE LACHRYMAL DUCT.

_Cause._--A hay-seed or other substance getting into and becoming swollen
within the duct.

_Symptom._--Swollen lid and copious tears.

_Treatment._--Inject, forcibly, a stream of water up the duct.


INFLUENZA.

_Cause._--Unknown but suspected to be generated by close stables. It is
also episotic.

_Symptoms._--Weakness and stupidity; local swellings; heat and pain
in the limbs. Loss of appetite; rapid wasting; every part of the body
is diseased. Youth most exposed, but no age exempt. Spring-time the
general season, but an attack may ensue at any period of the year. The
following symptoms are somewhat uncertain: Pendulous head; short breath;
inflamed membranes; swollen lips; dry mouth; enlarged eyelids; copious
tears; sore throat; tucked-up flanks; compressed tail; filled legs; big
joints; lameness and hot feet. Auscultation may detect a grating sound
at the chest, or a noise like brickbats falling down stairs, within the
windpipe. When the last is audible, there is always a copious discharge.
Sometimes one foot is painful; purgation has been seen; but constipation
is generally present, and the horse usually stands throughout the disease.
Always suspect influenza when it is in the neighborhood, and the membranes
are yellow or inflamed.

_Treatment._--Move to a well-littered, warm, loose box. Suspend a pail
of gruel from the wall; change the gruel thrice daily; sprinkle on the
tongue, night and morning, calomel, one scruple; wash this down with
sulphuric ether, one ounce; laudanum, one ounce; water, half a pint. If
weakness increases, double the quantity of ether and of laudanum. When
the pulse loses all wiry feeling, and the discharge becomes copious,
give from the hand some bread, on which there is a little salt; when the
cough appears, give a pot of stout daily. Beware of purgatives or active
treatment.


INJURIES TO THE JAW.

_Causes._--Pulling the snaffle; abuse of the bit; too tight a curb-chain.

_Symptoms._--Discoloration before or behind the tush; bruise under the
tongue or upon the roof of the mouth; tumor and bony growth upon the
margin of the lower jaw.

_Treatment._--Cut upon the discoloration till the knife reaches the bone;
if fetor is present, inject the chloride of zinc lotion; keep the wounds
open, that the injured bone may come away.


LACERATED EYELID.

_Causes._--Nails in the gangway, or the horses playfully snapping at each
other.

_Treatment._--Bathe with cold water till the bleeding ceases; allow the
separated parts to remain until the divided edges are sticky; bring
together with sutures; place the horse in the pillar-reins till the
healing is perfected.


LACERATED TONGUE.

_Causes._--Sticking to a horse when giving physic; making a "chaw" of the
halter-rope.

_Treatment._--Insert no sutures; if the arteries are excised, cut off the
hanging portion of the tongue; should the vessels have escaped, allow all
to remain; feed on gruel and soft food; after every meal wash out the
mouth with the solution ordered for aphtha, or with the chloride of zinc
lotion.


LAMPAS.

A groom's fancy.


LARYNGITIS.

_Cause._--Foul stables.

_Symptoms._--Dullness; enlargement over the larynx; stiff neck; short
and suppressed cough; breathing hurried and catching; pulse full; nasal
membrane almost scarlet.

_Treatment._--Give drachm doses of tincture of aconite, in wineglasses
of water every half hour, to amend the pulse. Refrain from bleeding.
Put on a steaming nose-bag, and keep it almost constantly applied, to
amend the breathing. Fix some hay, soaked in boiling water, upon the
throat, by means of an eight-tailed bandage. Give, very carefully, the
following drink, thrice daily: Infusion of squills, two ounces; infusion
of ipecacuanha, two ounces; infusion of aconite, half an ounce; extract
of belladonna, one drachm, rubbed down with a pint of warm water. Place
in a cool, well-aired, thickly-littered, loose box; bandage the legs;
clothe the body; give only gruel for food, changing it thrice daily. On
improvement, a little moist food may be allowed. When improvement is
confirmed, put a seton under the throat. Blister the throat; pick and damp
the hay; sift, bruise, and scald the oats. Employ no lowering agents.


LARVA IN THE SKIN.

_Causes._--Turning out to grass. The fly lays its egg upon the hair, the
warmth of the body hatches it, and the larva enters the skin. The next
summer a tolerably large abscess is established, the insect occupying its
center.

_Treatment._--With a lancet open the abscess, and squeeze out the larva.
Dab the wound with a lotion made of chloride of zinc, one grain; water,
one ounce.


LICE.

_Causes._--Filth and debility.

_Treatment._--Rub the skin with some cheap oil or grease. Wash, and then
look for other diseases, as hide-bound, mange, etc.


LAMINITIS, (SUBACUTE.)

_Causes._--Age; long standing in the stable; over-work, and stinted diet.

_Symptoms._--First noticed by the manner of going upon the heels of the
fore feet.

_Treatment._--Get into slings. Remove the shoes. Do not bleed. If
costiveness is present open the bowels with green-meat, but do not purge.
Give a quart of stout, night and morning. Allow two drinks per day, each
consisting of one ounce of sulphuric ether and half a pint of water;
half-drachm doses of belladonna, to allay pain; sound oats and old beans,
both crushed, for food; water to be whitened; no hay. No limit to this
food, but five feeds to be given if the horse will eat so much.


LUXATION OF THE PATELLA.

_Cause._--Bad food and constitutional weakness.

_Symptoms._--The horse stops short, and has one of the hind legs extended
backward. A swelling upon the outer side. The pastern is flexed, the head
raised, and the animal in great pain. In colts it will sometimes appear on
the slightest cause.

_Treatment._--For colts, any flurry may restore the bone; but feed well,
to eradicate the weakness. For horses, get into a shed, and, throwing a
rope, one end of which has been fixed to the pastern, have the leg dragged
forward while some one pushes the bone into its place. A man should be put
to keep the bone in its situation for some hours. Give strengthening food,
and do not use for six weeks subsequently.


MALLENDERS AND SALLENDERS.

_Cause._--Neglect.

_Symptoms._--Scurf upon the seats of flexion; mallenders at the back of
the knee, and sallenders at the front of the hock.

_Treatment._--Cleanliness. Give the liquor arsenicalis drink, recommended
for grease; change the groom; rub the parts with this ointment: Animal
glycerin, one ounce; mercurial ointment, two drachms; powdered camphor,
two drachms; spermaceti, one ounce. If cracks appear, treat as though
cracked heels were present.


MANGE.

_Causes._--Starvation; bad lodging and no grooming; turning out to grass.

_Symptoms._--Scurf about the hairs of the mane; the hair falls off in
patches; the skin is corrugated; a few hairs remain upon the bare places,
and these adhere firmly to the skin; scrubbing the body against posts;
sores and crusts. To test its presence, scratch the roots of the mane and
the horse will exhibit pleasure.

_Treatment._--Place the horse in the sunshine, or in a heated house, for
one hour; then whisk thoroughly, to remove scurf and scabs; then rub in
the following liniment: Animal glycerin, two parts; oil of tar, two parts;
oil of turpentine, half a part; oil of juniper, half a part. Mix. Leave on
for two days; wash; anoint again; wash; anoint and wash once more, always
leaving the liniment on for two clear days.


MEGRIMS.

_Cause._--Unknown.

_Symptoms._--The horse suddenly stops; shakes the head; strange
stubbornness may be exhibited, followed by a desire to run into dangerous
places. Then ensues insensibility, accompanied by convulsions.

_Treatment._--Throw up on the first fit. Give a long rest, and try to
amend the constitution.


MELANOSIS.

_Cause._--Unknown. The disease only attacks gray horses which have become
white.

_Symptoms._--It appears as a lump of uncertain form, size, and situation.
The swelling, if cut into, discloses a cartilaginous structure, dotted
here and there with black spots. Do not use the knife unless the swelling
impede the usefulness, or should be peculiarly well placed for operation.
Feel the tail. A pimple on the dock is an almost certain sign of
melanosis, which disease affects the internal organ even more virulently
than it attacks the external parts. As melanosis proceeds, all spirit
departs, and the animal is at length destroyed as utterly useless.

_Treatment._--Let the tumor alone. Forbid all use of the curry-comb. Dress
very long and very gently with the brush only. Twice a week anoint the
body with animal glycerin, one part; rose-water, two parts.


NASAL GLEET.

_Causes._--Decayed molar tooth; kicks from other horses; injuries to the
frontal bones.

_Symptoms._--Distortion of the face; partial enlargement and softening of
the facial bones; irregular discharge of fetid pus from one nostril. The
discharge is increased, or brought down by feeding off the ground, or by
trotting fast.

_Treatment._--Surgical operation, with injection of a weak solution of
chloride of zinc. Also give daily a ball composed of balsam of copaiba,
half an ounce; powdered cantharides, four grains; cubebs, a sufficiency.
If the foregoing should affect the urinary system, change it for
half-drachm doses of extract of belladonna, dissolved in a wineglass of
water. Give these every fourth day, and on such occasions repeat the
belladonna every hour, until the appetite has been destroyed.


NASAL POLYPUS.

_Symptoms._--An enlarged nostril; a copious mucous discharge; signs of
suffocation, if the free nostril be stopped; a cough generally forces down
the growth.

_Treatment._--Surgical operation, which removes the tumor.


NAVICULAR DISEASE.

_Causes._--Frog pressure, and not shoeing with a leathern sole. The
unprotected foot treads on a rolling stone, and navicular disease is the
result.

_Symptoms._--Acute lameness; this disappears, but may come again in six
or nine months. Acute lameness is then present for a longer time, while
the subsequent soundness is more short. Thus the disease progresses, till
the horse is lame for life. The pain in one foot causes greater stress
upon the sound leg, and from this cause both feet are ultimately affected.
The foot is pointed in the stable. The bulk diminishes, while the hoof
thickens and contracts. The horse, when trotting, takes short steps, and
upon the toe, going groggily.

_Treatment._--Feed liberally upon crushed oats and old beans. Soak the
foot every other night in hot water. Afterward bandage the leg, fix on
tips, and having smeared the horn with glycerin, put on a sponge boot.
Rest very long--six months in the first instance--and then give three
months agricultural employment. In bad cases resort to neurotomy, but
do so upon the second attack of lameness; because continued disease
disorganizes the internal structures of the hoof, and also occasions the
sound foot to be attacked by navicular disease.


NEPHRITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.

_Causes._--Bad provender, or niter in a mash, and long or fast work upon
the following day.

_Symptoms._--Hard, quick pulse; short breathing; pallid membranes; looking
at the loins; depressed head; roached back; hind legs straddling; scanty
urine; refusing to turn in the stall; and crouching under pressure on the
loins. Subsequently, pus is voided with the water. If the urine has a
fetid odor, if blood be present, if the pulse grows quicker, if pressure
gives no pain, and if the perspiration has a urinous smell, death is near
at hand. To be certain of nephritis, insert the arm up the rectum and move
the hand toward the kidneys.

_Treatment._--Rub mustard into the skin of the loins. Cover it over to
prevent it becoming dry. Apply fresh sheepskins as soon as these can be
procured. Inject warm linseed tea every hour. A ball composed of Croton
farina, two scruples; extract of belladonna, half a drachm; treacle and
linseed meal, a sufficiency, should be given immediately; one scruple
of calomel; one drachm of opium should be sprinkled on the tongue every
hour. A pail of linseed tea may be placed in the manger. Feed on linseed
tea, and mind the oats--when allowed--are very good. While the pain is
acute, give, thrice daily, a ball composed of extract of belladonna, half
a drachm; crude opium, two drachms; honey and linseed meal, of each a
sufficiency. When the pain is excessive, repeat the above ball every hour.
Should the pulse increase and become wiry, a scruple of aconite should be
thrown upon the tongue every half hour until the artery softens, or the
animal becomes affected with the drug.

No cure is to be expected; the disease may be arrested, but the kidney
must be left in an irritable state.


OCCULT SPAVIN.

_Cause._--Treading on a stone.

_Symptoms._--Sudden lameness, which never departs, but in the end becomes
very bad. The disease is always worse after work, and better after rest.
The foot is without disease, and the leg is not hot or painful; yet the
lameness continues and gets worse. The leg is snatched up in the walk, and
the foot is not turned outward.

_Treatment._--Get the horse into slings. Rub the front of the hock with an
embrocation composed of compound soap liniment, sixteen ounces; tincture
of cantharides, liquor ammonia and laudanum, of each two ounces. After
the joint is embrocated, wrap it round with flannel, held upon the hock
with elastic rings. Give three feeds of corn, a few old beans, and sweet
hay daily. After the horse bears upon the diseased limb, allow the slings
to remain for three months. Three months after it has left the slings,
put to gentle work, but mind the labor is not in any way exhausting.
The work must not be full till six months have elapsed. Keep the bowels
regular with bran mashes and green-meat. If all treatment fail, cast the
horse; retract the injured limb; make a small puncture, and inject one
ounce of dilute spirits of wine, in which half a drachm of iodine has been
dissolved. Place the horse in slings, and apply cold water to the hock.
When the pulse is quiet, feed very liberally.


OPEN SYNOVIAL CAVITIES.

_Causes._--The pride of gentility, which apes what is not, and tries to
pass off a horse with a ewe neck for an animal with a lofty crest. The
quadruped, being in pain and constraint, necessarily trips, and cannot
save itself from falling. Kicking in harness; running away and being run
into.

_Symptoms._--Air being admitted creates inflammation; inflammation causes
constitutional irritability. Bursæ are attended with least danger when
punctured; sheaths of tendons are more dangerous; joints are by far the
most serious. Judge which is opened by the extent of the wound and the
quantity of synovia released.

_Treatment._--Exercise gentleness toward the injured animal. Wash as was
directed for broken knees. Examine if there be any sac or bag into which
dirt could have entered. If one exists, place a large spatula under the
knee; then take a knife with a sharp point, but with its edge blunted
the two posterior thirds of its length; guard the point with a lump of
beeswax; introduce this into the sac and drive the point through the
bottom of the bag. An opening will thereby be created, through which
the pus and dirt will gravitate. If the probe enters the knee of the
flexed leg, unopposed, three-quarters of an inch, push it no farther; be
satisfied the cavity is opened.


OPEN SYNOVIAL JOINTS.

_Treatment._--Proceed in the first instance as for broken knees. Then
give a drink composed of sulphuric ether and laudanum, of each one
ounce; water, half a pint; look to the comfort. Should the eye rove, the
breathing be hard, ears active, and the horse start at sounds, hourly
repeat the drink before recommended, till these symptoms abate. Then place
in a stall and allow four drinks and two pots of stout daily. Use the
arnica lotion as for broken knees, during the first three and a half days.
At the end of that time turn the horse gently round in the stall, and let
it stand with its head toward the gangways. Place the slings before the
horse and leave the animal to contemplate them for half an hour. Then,
with extreme gentleness, fix them; but do not pull the cloth up to the
abdomen. Leave a pail of water suspended from one pillar, and feed from
a high trough, supported upon light legs. Let the horse be watched night
and day for the remainder of the week. When the animal is at ease in
the slings, these may be heightened till the cloth lightly touches, but
not presses, against the belly. With the slings change to the chloride
of zinc lotion, one scruple to the pint of water; have this frequently
applied during the day. It will coagulate the albumen and promote the
healing of the wound. The albumen will accumulate as a large ball in front
of the injury; do not touch it. Allow it to fall off. The cure is nearly
perfect when it falls. When pressure can be endured, the slings may be
removed; though the healing process should be confirmed before the animal
is allowed to stand near anything against which it could strike the knee.


OPERATIONS.

_Admit of no abbreviation; they should never be hastily undertaken; they
should be only resorted to after time has been allowed for thought, and
opportunity has been afforded for more than one perusal of the directions
detailed in this book._


OSSIFIED CARTILAGES.

_Cause._--Battering the foot upon hard roads.

_Symptoms._--Of little consequence in heavy horses unless accompanied with
ring-bone. The disease causes lameness in light horses used for fast work.

_Treatment._--Rest; liberal food; and small blisters to the foot
immediately above the sides of the hoof.


OVERREACH.

_Cause._--When a good stepper is very tired, this accident sometimes
happens--the coronet of the fore foot upon the outer side being severely
wounded by the inside of the hind shoe.

_Symptom._--A severe wound and a large slough, probably followed by a
false quarter.

_Treatment._--Feed liberally, and bathe the injury thrice daily with the
chloride of zinc lotion, one grain to the ounce of water.


PARROT-MOUTH.

_Cause._--Natural malformation.

_Symptoms._--Projecting upper teeth; an inability to graze or to clean out
the manger.


PARTIAL PARALYSIS.

_Cause._--Violent exertion.

_Symptom._--One hind leg gets in the way of the other, and threatens to
throw the animal down.

_Treatment._--A loose box; warm clothing; good grooming; warmth to loins;
regulate the bowels with mashes and green-meat; absolute rest. Give the
following ball night and morning: Strychnia, half a grain, (gradually work
this medicine up to one grain and a half;) iodide of iron, one grain;
quassia powder and treacle, a sufficiency.


PHLEBITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE VEIN.

_Cause._--Motion. Bleeding in the neck and turning out to grass; or from
either of the limbs, and then forcing the animal to walk.

_Symptoms._--The earliest indication is a separation of the lips of the
wound and the presence of a small quantity of thin discharge. A small
swelling then takes place, and the vein hardens above the puncture. Then
abscesses form along the course of the vessel. These mature, burst, send
forth a contaminated pus. The abscesses are united by sinuses. If these
signs are neglected, a dark discharge resembling decayed blood issues from
the numerous wounds and soils the neck. Dullness ensues; the brain becomes
affected; and the horse perishes phrenitic.

_Treatment._--Remove the pin and apply a blister. Another may be required.
In bad cases, blister must follow blister, but not be rubbed in. A little
oil of cantharides should be put over the sore with a paste-brush.
Place in a loose box and litter with tan; feed on slops, which require
no mastication. Let the horse remain there and be so fed for six weeks
subsequent to the cessation of all treatment. Then give a little exercise
at a slow pace, gradually augmented. At the end of three months the horse
may do slow work. But the horse should not wear a collar or go into the
shafts before the expiration of six months.


PHRENITIS.

_Cause._--Unknown.

_Symptom._--Heaviness, succeeded by fury in excess, but without any
indication of malice.

_Treatment._--Bleed from both jugulars till the animal drops. Then pin
up, and give a purgative of double strength. Follow this with another
blood-letting, if necessary, and scruple doses of tobacco; half-drachm
doses of aconite root; or drachm doses of digitalis--whichever is soonest
obtained. But whichever is procured must be infused in a pint of boiling
water, and, when cool and strained, it ought to be given every half hour
till the animal becomes quiet. But the probable result is by no means
cheering, even if death is by these means avoided.


PLEURISY.

_Causes._--Over-exertion; blows; injuries; cold.

_Symptoms._--These are quickly developed. The pulse _strikes_ the finger;
pain continuous; agony never ceases; horse does not feed. Body hot; feet
cold; partial perspirations. Muscles corrugated in places; cough, when
present, suppressed and dry; auscultation detects a grating sound and a
dull murmur at the chest. Pressure between the ribs produces great pain or
makes the animal resentful. The head is turned very often toward the side;
the fore foot paws; the breathing is short and jerking.

_Treatment._--Should be active. Bleed, to ease the horse; place in a loose
box; bandage the legs; leave the body unclothed. Give, every quarter of an
hour, a scruple of tincture of aconite in a wineglass of warm water. When
pulse has softened, give, every second hour, sulphuric ether and laudanum,
of each one ounce; water, half a pint. Do not bleed a second time. When
the pulse and pain are amended, introduce the steaming apparatus. Do
nothing for the bowels. Place luke-warm water within easy reach of the
head, and give nothing more while the disease rages. When the disease
departs, return with caution to full food. After the affection subsides,
blister throat and chest. If the horse is costive, administer enemas; or a
bundle of cut grass may be presented with the other food.


PNEUMONIA.

_Causes._--Fat; irregular work; and sudden exertion.

_Symptoms._--Breathing labored; oppressed pulse; partial consciousness;
giddiness. Standing with outstretched legs; head and ears dejected; coat
rough; extremities and body cold; visible membranes discolored; bowels
costive; feeling half dead; and general oppression.

_Treatment._--Bleed but once; take only blood sufficient to restore
consciousness; do not attempt to obtain blood, if the liquid flows black
and thick. Place in a loose box strown with damp tan; take off the shoes;
place water within easy reach; no food. If winter, clothe; then introduce
steam; when the steam is abundant, take off the clothes. Give solution
of aconite root, half an ounce; sulphuric ether, two ounces; extract of
belladonna, (rubbed down with half a pint of water,) one drachm. Repeat
the drink three times each day. When the pulse improves, withdraw the
aconite; when the breathing amends, abstract the belladonna; or increase
either as pulse or breathing becomes worse. Allow only hay tea, with a
little oatmeal in it, until the disease abates. On amendment, cautiously
increase the food. Lying down is the first sign of improvement. Do not
disturb the animal: it must require rest, having stood throughout the
attack.


POLL EVIL.

_Causes._--Hanging back in the halter; hitting the poll against the beam
of the stable door; blows on the head; and any external injury.

_Symptoms._--The nose is protruded and the head kept as motionless as
possible; the animal hangs back when it is feeding from the manger.
Pressure or enforced motion excites resistance. Swelling: the swelling
bursts in several places, from which exude a foul, fistulous discharge.
Pus has been secreted; confinement has caused it to decay; while motion
and fascia have occasioned it to burrow.

_Treatment._--Paint the part lightly with tincture of cantharides, or
acetate of cantharides. Do this daily till vesication is produced; then
stop. When the swelling enlarges, open the prominent or soft places. Allow
the pus to issue; then cut down on the wound till the seat of the disease
is gained. Use a proper knife, and include as many pipes as possible in
one clean cut. All others should join this. Empty out all concrete matter.
Wash the cavity with cold water. Excise all loose pieces of tendon and
all unhealthy flesh. Moisten the sore with the chloride of zinc lotion,
one grain to the ounce, and cover the wound with a cloth dipped in the
solution of tar. If the disease has burst, still include the pipes in
one smooth incision; clean out the concrete pus, and treat as has been
directed. Spare the ligament which lies under the mane; and work in a
breast-strap after recovery.


PRICK OF THE SOLE.

_Cause._--Generally the smith's carelessness when shoeing the horse.

_Symptom._--Great lameness.

_Treatment._--Withdraw the nails of the shoe. If one is wet, cut down on
that hole until the sensitive sole is exposed. If not very lame, treat
with lotion of chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of water. If very
lame, treat as if the injury were a suppurating corn.


PRURIGO.

_Cause._--Heat of body.

_Symptom._--Itchiness. The horse rubs off hair; but never exposes a dry,
corrugated surface.

_Treatment._--Take away some hay. Give two bundles of grass per day. Allow
two bran mashes each day till the bowels are open. Apply either of the
following washes: Animal glycerin, one part; rose-water, two parts. Or,
sulphuric acid, one part; water, ten parts. Or, acetic acid, one part;
water, seven parts. Drink: Liquor arsenicalis, one ounce; tincture of
muriate of iron, one ounce and a half; water, one pint--half a pint to
be given every night. Withdraw the drink a week after the disease has
disappeared. Allow a pot of porter and an extra feed of oats each day.


PUMICE FOOT.

_Cause._--An animal reared on marshy land, having high action, batters the
feet upon London stones.

_Symptoms._--Bulging sole; weak crust; strong bars, and good frog.

_Treatment._--The only relief possible is afforded by a bar shoe of the
dish kind, and a leathern sole. The constant use of equal parts of animal
glycerin and tar is also beneficial to the hoof.


PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA.

_Cause._--Unknown. Universal congestion.

_Symptoms._--The attack is sudden. The body, head, and limbs enlarge;
consciousness is partially lost. The horse stands, and the breathing is
quickened. Through the skin there exudes serum with blood. The nostrils
and lips enlarge, and part of the swollen tongue protrudes from the mouth.
The appetite is not quite lost, although deglutition is difficult. Thirst
is great.

_Treatment._--Bleed till the animal appears relieved. A second venesection
may be demanded, but it should be adopted with caution. Give half an
ounce of chloroform in a pint of linseed oil, in the first stage. Repeat
the dose in half an hour. No amendment following, give two ounces of
sulphuric ether in one pint of cold water. In half an hour repeat the
dose if necessary. Perform tracheotomy to ease the breathing. Incise the
protruding tongue. Squeeze out the fluid and return the organ to the
mouth. Should the skin slough, bathe the part with solution of chloride of
zinc, one grain to the ounce of water.


QUITTOR.

_Causes._--Confined pus from suppurating corn; or prick of the sole;
matter results, and this issues at the coronet. Or from injury to the
coronet, generating pus, and this burrowing downward, as it cannot pierce
the coronary substance. The secretion may also penetrate the cartilage,
and thus establish sinuses in almost every possible direction.

_Symptoms._--The horse is very lame. The animal is easier after the
quittor has burst. Probe for the sinuses. If, after the superficial
sinuses are treated, among the creamy pus there should appear a dark speck
of albuminous fluid, make sure of another sinus, probably working toward
the central structures of the foot.


RHEUMATISM.

_Cause._--Generally follows other disorders, as influenza, chest
affections, and most acute diseases. Very rarely does it appear without a
forerunner.

_Symptoms._--Swelling of particular parts, generally the limbs; heat and
acute lameness. The disorder is apt to fly about the body. The synovia is
always increased when the joints are attacked. The pulse and breathing are
both disturbed by agony.

_Treatment._--Lead into a loose box; fill the place with steam. (See page
313.) Get ready the slings; put the belly-piece under the horse, but do
not pull it up so as to lift the legs from the ground. Keep the steam
up for one hour. Then have several men with cloths ready to wipe the
animal dry; mind they are perfectly silent. Next rub into the diseased
parts the following: Compound soap liniment, sixteen ounces; tincture of
cantharides, liquor ammonia, and laudanum, of each two ounces. Afterward
incase the limbs in flannel. (See page 314.) Then give a bolus composed of
powdered colchicum, two drachms; iodide of potassium, one drachm; simple
mass, a sufficiency. Should the attack succeed upon other diseases, the
diet must be supporting, everything being softened by heat and water.
Next morning repeat the steaming, and give calomel, a scruple; opium, two
drachms. At night steam again, and repeat the first bolus. Should the
horse be fat, withdraw all corn, if the strength can do without it.


RING-BONE.

_Cause._--Dragging heavy loads up steep hills.

_Symptoms._--A roughness of hair on the pastern and a bulging forth of
the hoof. A want of power to flex the pastern. An inability to bring the
sole to the ground only upon an even surface. Loss of power and injury to
utility.

_Treatment._--In the first stage apply poultices, with one drachm of
camphor and of opium. Afterward rub with iodide of lead, one ounce;
simple ointment, eight ounces. Continue treatment for a fortnight after
all active symptoms have subsided, and allow liberal food and rest; work
gently when labor is resumed.


RING-WORM.

_Symptoms._--Hair falls off in patches, exposing a scurfy skin. The scurf
congregates on the bare place about the circumference, which is apt to
ulcerate.

_Treatment._--Be very clean. Wash night and morning, and afterward apply
the following ointment: Animal glycerin, one ounce; spermaceti, one ounce;
iodide of lead, two drachms. Many other things are popular. For a detailed
list of these, see the body of the book. A drink is likewise of use when
employed with the ointment. Liquor arsenicalis, one ounce; tincture of
muriate of iron, one ounce and a half; water, one quart. Mix, and give
every night half a pint for a dose. Should the ulceration prove obstinate,
apply permanganate of potash, half an ounce; water, three ounces. Or,
chloride of zinc, two scruples; water, one pint. Moisten the parts with a
soft brush six times daily. Feed well, and do not work for one month.


ROARING.

_Causes._--The bearing-rein; the folly of fashion.

_Symptom._--A noise made at each inspiration.

_Treatment._--No remedy. The cabman's pad is the only alleviation: that
conceals and does not cure the disease.


RUPTURE, OR STRICTURE OF THE ŒSOPHAGUS.

_Cause._--The use of the butt-end of a carter's whip, which either rends
the lining membrane of or ruptures the gullet.

_Symptom of Rupture._--The body becomes distended with gas, and death
ensues. _Of Rent Membrane._--This induces a disinclination to feed, as the
first symptom. A stricture is formed. Excessive hunger. Distention of the
tube. A large sac is developed out of the stretched membrane above the
stricture. Then, after feeding, the animal fixes the neck, and returns
the masticated food through the mouth and nostrils. Accompanying loss of
condition and failure of strength.

_Treatment._--Feed on prepared soft food: though the horse is generally
not worth its ordinary keep at the stage when this is required.


SANDCRACK.

_Causes._--Bad health, provoking imperfect secretion. Treading for any
length of time upon a very dry soil.

_Symptoms._--Quarter crack occurs on light horses upon the inner side of
the hoof. It usually commences at the coronet, goes down the foot, and
reaches to the laminæ. Toe crack happens in heavy wheelers, and is caused
by digging the toe into the ground when dragging a load up hill. From the
sensitive laminæ, when exposed, fungoid granulations sometimes sprout,
which, being pinched, produce excessive pain and acute lameness.

_Treatment._--Always pare out the crack, so as to convert it into a
groove. When the crack is partial, draw a line with a heated iron above
and below the fissure. If granulations have sprouted, cleanse the wound
with chloride of zinc lotion, one grain to the ounce of water, and then
cut them off. Afterward place the foot in a poultice. Subsequently pare
down the edges of the crack while the horn is soft. Use the lotion
frequently. Draw lines from the coronet to the crack, so as to cut off
communication between the fissure and the newly-secreted horn. Shoe with
a bar shoe, having the seat of crack well eased off and also a clip on
either side. If the horse must work, lay a piece of tow saturated with the
lotion into the crack: bind the hoof tightly with wax-end. Tie over all a
strip of cloth, and give this a coating of tar. When the horse returns,
inspect the part. Wash out any grit with the chloride of zinc lotion. Feed
liberally on prepared food.


SCALD MOUTH.

_Cause._--Powerful medicine, which burns the lining membrane of the mouth.

_Symptom._--A dribbling of saliva, with constant motion and repeated
smacking of the lips.

_Treatment._--Give soft food, and use the wash recommended for aphtha.


SEEDY TOE.

_Cause._--Weakness, inducing an imperfect secretion of horn.

_Symptom._--A separation between the crust of the coronet and the soft
horn of the laminæ, commencing at the toe of the foot.

_Treatment._--Remove the shoe. Probe the fissure, which will be exposed.
Cut away all the separated crust. Throw up until the removed portion has
grown again. Feed liberally.


SIMPLE OPHTHALMIA.

_Causes._--Slashing with the whip over the head; hay-seeds falling into
the eyes; horses biting at each other in play; blows, etc.

_Symptoms._--Tears; closed eyelid; the ball of the eye becomes entirely or
partially white.

_Treatment._--Remove any foreign body; fasten a cloth across the forehead;
moisten it with a decoction of poppy-heads to which some tincture of
arnica has been added. If a small abscess should appear on the surface
of the eye, open it, and bathe with chloride of zinc lotion. Should
inflammation be excessive, puncture eye vein, and place some favorite food
on the ground.


SITFAST.

_Causes._--Ill health; badly-fitting saddle; too energetic a rider; loose
girths; ruck in the saddle-cloth.

_Symptom._--Like a corn on the human foot, but the hard, bare patch is
surrounded by a circle of ulceration.

_Treatment._--The knife should remove the thickened skin. Chloride of
zinc, one grain; water, one ounce, to the wound. Attend to the bowels.
Feed liberally; exercise well; and give, night and morning, liquor
arsenicalis, half an ounce; tincture of muriate of iron, three-quarters of
an ounce; water, one pint. Mix, and give.


SORE THROAT.

_Causes._--In colts, change from freedom to work, from the field to
the stable, is the cause. Sore throat, however, may be caused by close
stables, or be an indication of some greater disease.

_Symptoms._--Perpetual deglutition of saliva; want of appetite; inability
to swallow a draught of liquid--the fluid returning partly by the
nostrils, and each gulp being accompanied with an audible effort.

_Treatment._--Forbear all work; clothe warmly; house in a large,
well-littered, loose box. Gruel for drink; green-meat, with three feeds of
bruised and scalded oats, also beans, daily. If the bowels are obstinate,
administer a drink composed of solution of aloes, four ounces; essence of
anise seed, half an ounce; water, one pint. Should the throat not amend,
dissolve half an ounce of extract of belladonna in a gallon of water; hold
up the head: pour half a pint of this preparation into the mouth, and
in thirty seconds let the head down; do this six or eight times daily.
No improvement being observed, try permanganate of potash, half a pint;
water, one gallon: to be used as directed in the previous recipe. Still no
change being remarked, prepare chloride of zinc, three drachms; extract of
belladonna, half an ounce; tincture of capsicums, two drachms; water, one
gallon.

All being useless, give two pots of stout daily, and blister the throat.

No alteration ensuing, cast the horse, and mop out the fauces with a
sponge which is wet with nitrate of silver, five grains; water, one ounce.
Give a ball daily composed of oak-bark and treacle.

If none of these measures succeed, the throat must be complicated with
some other disease.


SPASM OF THE DIAPHRAGM.

_Cause._--Imprudently riding too far and too fast.

_Symptom._--Distress, and a strange noise heard from the center of the
horse.

_Treatment._--Pull up; cover the horse's body; lead to the nearest stable.
Give as soon as possible a drink composed of sulphuric ether, two ounces;
laudanum, one ounce; tincture of camphor, half an ounce; cold water or
gruel, one pint. Give four drinks, one every quarter of an hour; then
another four, one every half hour, and then at longer intervals as the
animal recovers. When first brought in, procure five steady and quiet
men; give a bandage each to four of them, and order them silently to
bandage the legs; give a basin and sponge to the other, and bid him sponge
the openings to the body. This done, and sweat and dirt removed, clothe
perfectly after the skin is quite dry.


SPASM OF THE URETHRA.

_Cause._--Acridity in the food or water.

_Symptoms._--Small and violent emissions; straddling gait. Roached back;
pain; total suppression of urine.

_Treatment._--Insert the arm up the rectum, and feel the gorged bladder.
Give, by the mouth, four ounce doses of sulphuric ether and of laudanum
mixed with a quart of cold water, and, as injection, mixed with three
pints of cold water. Repeat these medicines every quarter of an hour until
relieved. If no physic be at hand, open both jugular veins, and allow the
blood to flow until the horse falls. Should not the urine then flow forth,
insert the arm and press upon the bladder.


SPASMODIC COLIC--FRET--GRIPES.

_Causes._--Fast driving; change of water; change of food; getting wet;
fatiguing journeys; aloes; and often no cause can be traced.

_Symptoms._ _1st Stage._--Horse is feeding; becomes uneasy; ceases eating;
hind foot is raised to strike the belly; fore foot paws the pavement; the
nose is turned toward the flank, and an attack of fret is recognized. _2d
Stage._--Alternate ease and fits of pain; the exemptions grow shorter as
the attacks become longer; the horse crouches; turns round; then becomes
erect; pawing, etc. follow; a morbid fire now lights up the eyes. _3d
Stage._--Pains lengthen; action grows more wild; often one foot stamps on
the ground; does not feed, but stares at the abdomen; at last, without
warning, leaps up and falls violently on the floor; seems relieved; rolls
about till one leg rests against the wall; should no assistance be now
afforded, the worst consequences may be anticipated.

_Treatment._--Place in a loose box, guarded by trusses of straw ranged
against the walls. Give one ounce each of sulphuric ether and of laudanum
in a pint of cold water, and repeat the dose every ten minutes if the
symptoms do not abate. If no improvement be observed, double the active
agents, and at the periods stated persevere with the medicine. A pint of
turpentine, dissolved in a quart of solution of soap, as an enema, has
done good. No amendment ensuing, dilute some strong liquor ammonia with
six times its bulk of water, and, saturating a cloth with the fluid, hold
it by means of a horse-rug close to the abdomen. It is a blister; but its
action must be watched or it may dissolve the skin. If, after all, the
symptoms continue, there must be more than simple colic to contend with.


SPAVIN.

_Cause._--Hard work.

_Symptom._--Any bony enlargement upon the lower and inner side of the
hock. Prevents the leg being flexed. Hinders the hoof from being turned
outward. Causes the front of the shoe to be worn and the toe of the hoof
to be rendered blunt by dragging the foot along the ground. Leaves the
stable limping; returns bettered by exercise. Sickle hocks, or cow hocks,
are said to be most subject.

_Treatment._--View the suspected joint from before, from behind, and
from either side. Afterward feel the hock. Any enlargement upon the seat
of disease, to be felt or seen, is a spavin. Feed liberally, and rest
in a stall. When the part is hot and tender, rub it with belladonna and
opium, one ounce of each to an ounce of water. Apply a poultice. Or put
opium and camphor on the poultice. Or rub the spavin with equal parts of
chloroform and camphorated oil. The heat and pain being relieved, apply
the following, with friction: Iodide of lead, one ounce; simple ointment,
eight ounces.


SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA.

_Cause._--The fumes of impure stables.

_Symptoms._--A swollen eyelid; tears; a hard pulse; sharp breathing; a
staring coat; a clammy mouth; the nasal membrane is inflamed or leaden
colored; the lid can only be raised when in shadow. The ball of eye
reddened from the circumference; the pupil closed; the iris lighter than
is natural. The disease may change from eye to eye; the duration of any
visitation is very uncertain; the attacks may be repeated, and end in
the loss of one or both eyes. If one eye only is lost, the remaining eye
generally strengthens.

_Treatment._--Remove from the stable and place in a dark shed. Open the
eye vein, and puncture the lid if needed; put a cloth saturated with cold
water over both eyes. If the horse is poor, feed well; if fat, support,
but do not cram; if in condition, lower the food. Sustain upon a diet
which requires no mastication. Give the following ball twice daily:
Powdered colchicum, two drachms; iodide of iron, one drachm; calomel, one
scruple; make up with extract of gentian. So soon as the ball affects the
system, change it for liquor arsenicalis, three ounces; muriated tincture
of iron, five ounces. Give half an ounce in a tumbler of water twice
daily. See the stable is rendered pure before the horse returns to it.


SPLINT.

_Causes._--Early and hard work; blows, kicks, etc.

_Symptom._--Any swelling upon the inner and lower part of the knee of the
fore leg, or any enlargement upon the shin-bone of either limb. On the
knee they are important, as they extend high up. On the shin they are to
be dreaded, as they interfere with the movements of the tendons. All are
painful when growing, and in that state generally cause lameness.

_Treatment._--Feel down the leg. Any heat, tenderness, or enlargement is
proof of a splint. If, on the trot, one leg is not fully flexed, or the
horse "dishes" with it, it confirms the opinion. Time and liberal food are
the best means of perfecting them. When they are painful, poultice, having
sprinkled on the surface of the application one drachm each of opium and
of camphor. Or rub the place with one drachm of chloroform and two drachms
of camphorated oil. Periosteotomy (see _Operations_) is sometimes of
service. When a splint interferes with a tendon, the only chance of cure
is to open the skin and to cut off the splint, afterward treating the
wound with a lotion composed of chloride of zinc, one grain; water, one
ounce. To check the growth of a splint, rub it well and frequently with
iodide of lead, one ounce; simple ointment, eight ounces.


SPRAIN OF THE BACK SINEWS.

_Cause._--Cart-work upon a hilly country.

_Symptom._--Gradual heightening of the hind heel.

_Treatment._--The only possible relief is afforded by an
operation--"division of the tendons."


STAGGERS.

_Sleepy Staggers and Mad Staggers are only different stages of the same
disorder._

_Cause._--Over-gorging.

_Symptoms._--Excessive thirst; dullness or sleepiness; snoring; pressing
the head against a wall. Some animals perish in this state; others
commence trotting without taking the head from the wall, and such
generally die, but sometimes recover. Other horses quit the sleepy state;
the eyes brighten; the breath becomes quick. Such animals exhibit the
greatest possible violence, but without the slightest desire for mischief.

_Treatment._--Allow no water. Give a quart of oil. Six hours afterward
give another quart of oil, with twenty drops of croton oil in it, should
no improvement be noticed. In another six hours, no amendment being
exhibited, give another quart of oil, with thirty drops of croton oil in
it. After a further six hours, repeat the first dose, and administer the
succeeding doses, at the intervals already stated, until the appearance
changing indicates that the body has been relieved.

For the full development of the mad stage no remedies are of the slightest
avail.


STRAIN OF THE FLEXOR TENDONS.

_Cause._--Hard work on uneven ground, or the rider punishing a horse with
the snaffle and the spurs.

_Symptoms._--The animal goes oddly, not lame. The defective action will
disappear upon rest, but stiffness is aggravated by subsequent labor. Any
attempt to work the horse sound induces incurable lameness or contraction
of the tendons.

_Treatment._--Allow several hours to elapse before any attempt is made to
discover the disease. A small swelling, hot, soft, and sensitive, may then
appear. Bind round it a linen bandage, and keep it wet with cold water.
Have men to sit up bathing this for the three first nights; afterward
apply moisture only by day. Throw up the horse. Give four drachms of
aloes. Do not turn out, but allow two feeds of corn each day. Keep in a
stall, and do not put to work till more than recovered.


STRANGLES.

_Cause._--Something requiring to be cast from the system, so as to suit
the young body to a sudden change.

_Symptoms._--A slight general disturbance, which, however, remains. The
colt continues sickly. After a day or two, the neck becomes stiff, and a
swelling appears between the jaws. The enlargement at first is hard, hot,
and tender. A discharge from the nose comes on. The symptoms increase;
the throat becomes sore. Breathing is oppressed; coat stares; appetite is
lost; tumor softens, and, being opened, the animal speedily recovers.

_Treatment._--Neither purge nor bleed. Give all the nourishment that can
be swallowed. If all food is rejected, whiten the water, and a little
cut grass may tempt the colt. Corn, ground and scalded, may be offered,
a little at a time from the hand. No grooming; light clothing; ample
bed; door and window of loose box should be open. Gently stimulate the
throat with the following: Spirits of turpentine, two parts; laudanum,
one part; spirits of camphor, one part. Apply with a paste-brush morning,
noon, and night, until the throat is sore. After every application, take
three pieces of flannel, place these over the part, and bind on with an
eight-tailed bandage. So soon as the tumor points, apply the twitch, and
have one fore leg held up. Then open the swelling with an abscess knife.
It may be necessary to make another incision. There are other occasional
varieties of strangles, for which consult the substance of the work, pages
272, 273.


STRINGHALT.

_Cause._--Over-exertion.

_Symptom._--Raising both hind legs, one after the other, previous to
starting.

_Treatment._--None is possible.


SURFEIT.

_Cause._--Heat of body.

_Symptom._--An eruption of round, blunt, and numerous spots.

_Treatment._--If the pulse is not affected, the symptom may disappear in
a few hours. Look to the food. Abstract eight pounds of hay, and allow
two bundles of cut grass per day. Even increase the oats, but with each
feed give a handful of old crushed beans. The following drink will be of
service: Liquor arsenicalis, one ounce; tincture of muriate of iron, one
ounce and a half; water, one quart. Mix. Give daily, one pint for a dose.

_Symptom._--If a young horse has been neglected through the winter, the
surfeit lumps do not disappear. An exudation escapes; the constitution is
involved, and the disease is apt to settle upon the lungs.

_Treatment._--Do not take out. Keep the stable aired, and attend to
cleanliness. Feed as previously directed, and allow bran mashes when the
bowels are constipated. Administer the drink recommended above, night and
morning. Clothe warmly; remove from a stall to a loose box. Should the
pulse suddenly sink, allow two pots of stout each day. If the appetite
fail, give gruel instead of water, and present a few cut carrots from the
hand. The shortest of these cases occupy a fortnight.


SWOLLEN LEGS.

_Cause._--Debility.

_Treatment._--Place in a loose box. No hay for some weeks. Damp the
corn, and sprinkle a handful of ground oak-bark on each feed. Attend to
exercise. If the legs continue to enlarge, hand-rub them well and long.


TEETH.

_Cause._--A thickening of the membrane sometimes conceals the upper tushes
and provokes constitutional symptoms.

_Treatment._--Lance the membrane.

_Symptoms of Toothache._--Head carried on one side, or pressed against
the wall; saliva dribbles from the lips; quidding or partial mastication
of the food, and allowing the morsel to fall from the mouth. Appetite
capricious; sometimes spirit is displayed--then the horse is equally
dejected. The tooth dies; the opposing tooth grows long. The opposite
teeth become very sharp, from the horse masticating only on one side. The
long tooth presses upon the gum and provokes nasal gleet.

_Treatment._--Chisel off projecting tooth; file down the sharp edges of
the opposite teeth, and look to the mouth frequently.


TETANUS.

_Causes._--Cold rain; draughts of air; too much light; wounds.

_Symptoms._--The wound often dries up. The horse grows fidgety. Upon
lifting up the head, "the haw" projects over the eye. The tail is raised;
the ears are pricked; the head is elevated; the limbs are stiff; the body
feels hard. Any excitement may call up a fearful spasm.

_Treatment._--Give a double dose of purgative medicine. Place in solitude
and in quiet. Put a pailful of gruel and a thin mash within easy reach of
the head. Let nobody excepting the favorite groom approach the place; and
allow him to enter it only once a day.


THOROUGH-PIN.

_Cause._--Excessive labor.

_Symptom._--A round tumor going right through the leg, and appearing
anterior to the point of the hock. It is nearly always connected with bog
spavin.

_Treatment._--Never attack thorough-pin and bog spavin at the same time.
Relieve the thorough-pin first by means of rags, cork, and an India-rubber
bandage, cut so as not to press on the bog spavin. If the corks occasion
constitutional symptoms, use a truss to press upon the thorough-pin,
which, being destroyed, apply a perfect bandage and wetted cloths to the
bog spavin. When attempting to cure bog spavin, however, continue the
remedy to the thorough-pin, or the cure of one affection may reproduce the
other.


THRUSH.

_Cause._--Standing in filth, when it appears in the hind feet; navicular
disease, when seen in contracted feet.

_Symptoms._--A foul discharge running from the cleft of the frog. This
decomposes the horn. The surface of the frog becomes ragged, and the
interior converted into a white powder. The affection does not generally
lame; but should the horse tread on a rolling stone, it may fall as though
it were shot.

_Treatment._--Pare away the frog till only sound horn remains, or until
the flesh is exposed. Then tack on the shoe and return to a clean stall.
Apply the chloride of zinc lotion--three grains to the ounce of water--to
the cleft of the frog by means of some tow, wrapped round a small bit of
stick. When the stench has ceased, a little liquor of lead will perfect
the cure. For contracted feet pare the frog, and every morning dress once
with the chloride of zinc lotion; but do not strive to stop the thrush.


TREAD.

_Cause._--Fatigue and overweight.

_Symptom._--In light horses it occurs toward the end of a long journey.
The hind foot is not removed when the fore foot is put to the ground. The
end of the fore shoe consequently tears off a portion of the coronet from
the hind foot. In cart-horses, after the horse is fatigued, the load has
to be taken down a steep hill; the animal, being in the shafts, rocks to
and fro; the legs cross, and the calkin of one shoe wounds the coronet of
the opposite hoof.

_Treatment._--Bathe the sore with the chloride of zinc lotion, one grain
to the ounce of water. Continue to do this thrice daily; feed liberally. A
slough will take place, and the animal be well in about a month; the only
danger being the after-result of a false quarter.


TUMORS.

These are so various and of such different natures, that in every case a
surgeon should be consulted.


WARTS.

_Cause._--Unknown.

_Symptom._--There are three kinds of warts. 1st. Some are contained in a
cuticular sac, and, upon this being divided, shell out. 2d. The second
are cartilaginous and vascular. These grow to some size, and are rough on
the surface. They are apt to ulcerate. 3d. Consists of a cuticular case,
inclosing a soft granular substance.

_Treatment._--When of the first kind, slit up, and squeeze them out. The
second kind, excise and apply a heated iron to stop the bleeding. The
third kind are better let alone.


WATER FARCY.

_Cause._--Overwork and coarse feed, succeeded by periods of stagnation. It
is the warning that true farcy threatens the stable.

_Symptoms._--Load less and work less.

_Treatment._--Improve the diet, and never allow the horse to remain a day
in the stable without exercise. Saturate the swollen limb with cold water
every morning, and have it afterward thoroughly hand-rubbed until it is
perfectly dry. Should lameness remain after the first day, a few punctures
may be made into the limb, but only through the skin. Give the following
ball every morning: Iodide of iron, one drachm; powdered cantharides, two
grains; powdered arsenic, one grain; Cayenne pepper, one scruple; sulphate
of iron, one drachm; treacle and linseed meal, a sufficiency. Mix. The
delay even of a day in treatment is attended with danger in this disease.


WIND-GALLS.

_Cause._--Hard work.

_Symptoms._--Small enlargements, generally upon the hind legs and below
the hocks; no lameness; two wind-galls appear above the pastern, one
beneath that joint; after extraordinary labor, the round swellings
disappear and the course of the flexor tendons becomes puffy. Sometimes
continued irritation will cause the wind-galls to greatly enlarge, and
ultimately provokes their case to change into bone. During these changes
the horse is very lame.

_Treatment._--Fold pieces of rags; wet them; put these on the wind-galls;
place on the rags pieces of cork, and over the cork lace on an
India-rubber bandage. Mind this bandage is constantly worn, save when
ridden or driven by the proprietor. Rest is the only alleviation for the
change of structure.


WINDY COLIC.

_Causes._--Gorging on green food; but more commonly impaired digestion,
consequent upon severe labor and old age.

_Symptoms._--Uneasiness; pendulous head; cessation of feeding. Breathing
laborious; fidgets; rocking the body; enlargement of the belly; pawing.
Standing in one place; sleepy eye; heavy pulse; flatulence; the abdomen
greatly enlarged. Breathing very fast; pulse very feeble; blindness; the
animal walks round and round till it falls and dies.

_Treatment._--Three balls of sulphuret of ammonia, two drachms, with
extract of gentian and powdered quassia, of each a sufficiency, may
be given, one every half hour. Next, one ounce of chloride of potash,
dissolved in a pint of cold water, and mingled with sulphuric ether, two
ounces, should be horned down. In an hour's time, two ounces each of
sulphuric ether and of laudanum; half an ounce of camphorated spirits;
one drachm of carbonate of ammonia may be administered. No good effect
being produced, throw up a tobacco-smoke enema. As a last resort, procure
a stick of brimstone and light it. Remain in the stable while it burns,
or the sulphureous fumes may become too powerful for life to inhale
them. Continue this measure for two hours; then repeat the remedies
previously recommended. All being fruitless, a desperate resort may be
adopted. Puncture the abdomen with a trocar; but this operation can only
be named here; the reader must turn to the substance of the book for its
description.


WORMS

Are of four kinds: the Tænia, the Lumbrici, the Strongulus, and the
Ascarides.

The _Tænia_ mostly affect the young.

_Cause._--Starving the mare when with foal, and breeding from old animals.

_Symptoms._--Checked development; large head; low crest; long legs, and
swollen abdomen. Appetite ravenous; body thin; coat unhealthy; breath
fetid. The colt rubs its nose against a wall, or strains it violently
upward; picks and bites its own hair.

_Treatment._--Give spirits of turpentine. To a foal, two drachms; to a
three months' old, half an ounce; six months, one ounce; one year, one
ounce and a half; two years, two ounces; three years, three ounces; four
years and upwards, four ounces. Procure one pound of quassia chips; pour
on them three quarts of boiling water. Cause to blend with the turpentine
a proportionate quantity of the quassia infusion, by means of yolks
of eggs; add one scruple of powdered camphor, and give first thing in
the morning. Good food is essential afterward. Subsequently give every
morning, till the coat is glossy, liquor arsenicalis, from one to eight
drachms; muriated tincture of iron, from one and a half to twelve drachms;
extract of belladonna, from ten grains to two drachms; ale or stout, from
half a pint to a quart.

The _Lumbrici_ prey upon the old and the weakly.

_Treatment._--Tartarized antimony, two drachms; common mass, a sufficiency
to make one ball. Give one every morning.

The _Strongulus_, during life, is generally not known to be present.

The _Ascarides_ cause great itching posteriorly, which provokes the horse
to rub its hair off against the wall.

_Treatment._--Try injections of train oil for one week. Then use infusion
of catechu, one ounce to one quart of water. On the eighth morning,
give aloes, four drachms; calomel, one drachm. Tobacco-smoke enemas are
sometimes useful, and the following ointment may be placed up the rectum
night and morning: Glycerin, half an ounce; spermaceti, one ounce; melt
the spermaceti, and blend; when cold, add strong mercurial ointment, three
drachms; powdered camphor, three drachms.


WOUNDS.

A _lacerated wound_ is generally accompanied by contusion, but with little
hemorrhage. Shock to the system is the worst of its primary effects. The
danger springs from collapse. A slough may probably follow. The slough is
dangerous in proportion as it is tardy. The horse may bleed to death if
the body is much debilitated.

_Treatment._--Attend first to the system. Give a drink composed of
sulphuric ether and laudanum, of each one ounce; water, half a pint.
Repeat the medicine every quarter of an hour if necessary, or till
shivering has ceased and the pulse is healthy. A poultice, made of
one-fourth brewer's yeast, three-fourths of any coarse meal; or a lotion,
consisting of tincture of cantharides, one ounce; chloride of zinc, two
drachms; water, three pints, may be employed. When the slough has fallen,
apply frequently a solution of chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of
water; and regulate the food by the pulse.

An _incised wound_ produces little shock. The danger is immediate, as the
horse may bleed to death.

_Treatment._--Do not move the horse. Dash the part with cold water, or
direct upon the bleeding surface a current of wind from the bellows.
When the bleeding has ceased and the surfaces are sticky, draw the edges
together with divided sutures. When the sutures begin to drag, cut them
across. After copious suppuration has been established, bathe frequently
with the solution of chloride of zinc, one grain to the ounce of water.

An _abraded wound_ generally is accompanied by grit or dirt forced into
the denuded surface. The pain is so great, the animal may sink from
irritation.

_Treatment._--Cleanse, by squeezing water from a large sponge above
the wound, as was directed for broken knees, and allow suppuration to
remove any grit that is fixed in the flesh. Support the body, and use the
chloride of zinc lotion.

A _punctured wound_ is dangerous, as the parts injured are liable to
motion. On this account those above the stifle are very hazardous. Sinuses
form from the torn fascia opposing the exit of the pus; also because the
small hole in the skin generally bears no proportion to the internal
damage.

_Treatment._--Always enlarge the external opening to afford egress to all
sloughs and pus. Regulate the food by the symptoms, and use the chloride
of zinc lotion.

A _contused wound_, when large, causes more congealed blood than can be
absorbed. This corrupts, and a slough must occur or an abscess must form.
Either generates weakness, produces irritation, and may lead to fatal
hemorrhage. Or sinuses may form. Wherefore, such accidents are not to be
judged of hastily.

_Treatment._--When the contusion is slight, rub the part with iodide of
lead, one drachm of the salt to an ounce of lard. When large, divide the
skin, every eighth inch, the entire length of the swelling. Bathe the
injury with the chloride of zinc lotion, and support the body, as the
symptoms demand liberality in the matter of food.

In all wounds, gain, if possible, a large depending orifice, and cover the
denuded surfaces with a rag saturated with oil of, or in solution of, tar.

       *       *       *       *       *

The author, having now concluded his labors, cannot forbear from repeating
the advice which was given to the reader at the commencement of the
present Summary--always appeal to the body of the work so soon as the
first danger has subsided. Many hints are therein contained which could
not be embodied in anything deserving to be entitled an abbreviation.
Ampler space there enables the writer to describe certain precautions and
to suggest various stratagems which, of course, would be out of place in
the pages where condensation was the professed characteristic. For these
reasons the reader is most earnestly recommended never to depend longer
upon the contents of the Summary, than the pressure of immediate danger
shall render imperative.




INDEX.


    Abdomen, diseases of, 165.

    Abdominal injuries, 184, 467.
      ruptured diaphragm, 185.
      ruptured spleen, 186.
      ruptured stomach, 186.
      intro-susception, 187.
      invagination, 187.
      strangulation, 188.
      ruptured intestines, 188.
      calculus, 188.

    Abraded wounds, 425.

    Abscess of the brain, 19, 467.
      symptoms of, 20.

    Acites, 178, 468.
      symptoms of, 178.
      treatment of, 179.

    Acute dysentery, 172, 468.
      cause of, 173.
      symptoms of, 173.
      treatment of, 174.

    Acute gastritis, 147, 469.
      causes of, 147.
      treatment of, 148.
      symptoms of, 149.

    Acute laminitis, 367, 469.
      cause of, 368.
      symptoms of, 369.
      treatment for, 370.

    Albuminous urine, 218, 470.

    All kinds of treatment have been tried for tetanus, 32.

    Alphabetical summary, 465.

    Alteration in shape consequent upon tetanus, 31.

    Aphtha, 73, 470.
      treatment of, 73.

    Attention to the feeding of horses most important, 20.


    Back sinews, clap of, 302, 477.
      sprain of, 303, 507.

    Bandage for punctured abdomen, 432.

    Best treatment for megrims, 26.

    Blood spavin, 328, 470.

    Bloody urine, 215, 486.

    Bog spavin, 318, 470.

    Bots, 152, 470.
      causes of, 152.

    Brain, abscess of, 19.
      and nervous systems: their accidents and diseases, 17.
      disease of, 17.

    Breaking down, 304, 470.
      cause of, 304.
      treatment for, 305.

    Broken knees, 404, 471.
      contusion generally accompanies, 405.
      cause of, 406.
      proper mode to wash, 407.
      how to probe, 408.
      treatment for, 410.

    Broken wind, 254, 472.
      cause of, 255.
      symptoms of, 256.
      treatment for, 257.

    Bronchocele, 119, 473.
      remedies for, 119.

    Bronchitis, 125, 472.
      symptoms of, 126.
      remedies for, 127.

    Bruise of the sole, 353, 473.

    Buying a captain, 84.


    Calculi, 213, 473.

    Canker, 358, 474.
      cause of, 359.
      symptoms of, 359.
      treatment for, 361.

    Capped elbow, 324, 474.

    Capped hock, 321, 474.

    Capped knee, 321, 475.

    Cartilages, ossified, 366, 495.

    Cataract, 54, 475.
      kinds of, 54.
      preventive for, 54.
      no remedy for complete, 56.
      use of belladonna in, 56.
      no medicine can cure, 57.

    Cavities, synovial, open, 412, 494.

    Chest, the diseases of, 121.

    Choking, 110, 475.
      causes of, 111.
      different kinds of, 111.
      high, most important, 111.
      remedy for, 112.
      low, 113.

    Chronic dysentery, 175, 476.
      cause of, 175.
      symptoms of, 176.
      treatment of, 177.

    Chronic gastritis, 150, 476.
      symptoms of, 150.
      treatment of, 151.

    Chronic hepatitis, 158, 477.

    Clap of the back sinews, 302, 477.

    Cold, 84, 477.
      its causes, 84.
      symptoms of, 85.
      treatment of, 85.

    Colic, windy, 199.
      spasmodic, 194, 505.
      cause of, 194.
      symptoms of, 196.
      treatment for, 197.

    Congestion in the field, 121, 478.
      remedy for, 122.

    Congestion in the stable, 123, 478.
      remedy for, 125.

    Corns, 349, 478.
      causes of, 349.
      old and new, how to distinguish, 350.
      treatment for, 352.

    Contused wounds, 427.

    Cough, 99, 479.
      symptoms of, 99.
      treatment for, 100.
      medicines for, 101.

    Countenance of a horse with hydrophobia, 27.

    Cracked heels, 250, 479.
      cause of, 250.
      symptoms of, 252.
      treatment for, 252.

    Crib-biting, 162, 480.
      symptoms of, 163.
      treatment of, 164.

    Curb, 306, 480.
      cause of, 308.
      treatment for, 307.

    Curb-chain may injure the jaw, 72.

    Cystic calculus, 214.

    Cystitis, 209, 480.
      causes of, 211.
      symptoms of, 210.
      treatment for, 210.


    Diabetes insipidus, 217, 481.
      causes, 217.
      treatment for, 217.

    Diaphragm, spasm of, 145, 504.

    Disease of the heart, 143.

    Division of the tendons, 457.

    Division of the tendons, the necessity for, how provoked, 458.
      how to perform, 459.
      after-treatment required for, 460.

    Do not whip a runaway horse, 19.

    Dropsy of the abdomen, 178.

    Dysentery, acute, 172.
      chronic, 175.


    Enteritis, 165, 481.
      causes of, 165.
      symptoms of, 167.
      mode of making sure that it is present, 169.
      treatment of, 170.

    Excoriated angles of the mouth, 64, 481.
      causes of, 64.
      treatment for, 66.

    Expression of a horse changed by repeated attacks of megrims, 25.

    Extirpation of the eye, 59.

    Eye, fungoid tumors in, 57.

    Eyes, the diseases of, 42.


    Face of a horse with hydrophobia, 27.

    False quarter, 345, 482.
      cause of, 345.
      treatment for, 346.

    Farcy, 282, 482.
      cause of, 282.
      symptoms of, 283.

    Feeding a horse with chronic tetanus, 33.

    Feet, their diseases, 330.

    Fever in the feet, 367.

    Filled legs, 239.

    Fistulous parotid duct, 394, 482.
      its causes, 395.
      symptoms of, 396.
      treatment for, 397.

    Fistulous withers, 391, 483.
      its causes, 391.
      symptoms of, and treatment for, 392.

    Flatulent colic, 199.

    Foot, prick of, 354, 498
      pumice, 339, 499.

    Fret, 194, 505.

    Fungoid tumors in the eye, 57, 483.
      symptoms of, 57.
      horrible alternatives left by, 58.


    Gastritis, acute, 147.
      chronic, 150.

    Glanders, 274, 483.
      cause of, 274.
      symptoms of, 276.

    Gleet, nasal, 91, 491.

    Grease, 242, 484.
      prevention of, 242.
      nature of, 242.
      cause of, 244.
      symptoms of, 245.
      treatment for, 247.

    Gripes, 194, 505.

    Gutta serena, 38, 485.
      causes of, 38.
      symptoms of, 39.
      peculiarities of, 40.
      effect upon the optic nerve, 40.


    Harness horses most subject to megrims, 24.

    Hay rack, evils of its general position, 44.

    Heart, disease of, 143, 485.

    Heels, cracked, 250.

    Hematuria, 215, 485.
      symptoms of, 215.
      treatment for, 216.

    Hepatitis, chronic, 158.
      causes of, 158.
      treatment for, 160.

    Hide-bound, 231, 486.
      treatment for, 232.

    Highblowing, 94, 486.

    Horse quickly learns to recognize the voice of its owner, 19.

    How to treat a runaway horse, 19.

    Hydrophobia, 27, 486.
      symptoms of, 27.
      treatment for, 28.

    Hydrothorax, 139, 486.
      symptoms of, 140.
      treatment of, 141.


    Incised wounds, 424.

    Idiopathic tetanus, 29.
      causes of, 30.

    Impediment in the lachrymal duct, 61, 487.
      causes of, 62.
      treatment for, 62.

    Inflammation of the kidneys, 204, 492.
      of the bladder, 209, 480.
      of the vein, 398, 496.

    Influenza, 181, 487.
      probable cause of, 181.
      symptoms of, 182.
      treatment of, 183.

    Injuries, 385.
      of the abdomen, 184.
      to the jaw, 69, 488.
      the snaffle may cause, 70.
      but often does produce, 70.
      treatment for, 71.
      produced by London stables, 35.


    Jaw, injuries to the, 69, 488.

    Joints, synovial, open, 418, 494.


    Kidneys, inflammation of, 204, 492.

    Knees, broken, 404.


    Lacerated eyelid, 60, 488.
      cause of, 60.
      treatment for, 61.

    Lacerated tongue, 74, 488.
      causes of, 77.
      treatment of, 77.

    Lacerated wounds, 423.

    Lameness, 330.
      treatment for, 330.
      mode of progression when in different feet, 333.

    Laminitis, acute, 367.
      subacute, 375, 489.

    Lampas, 67.
      an imaginary disease, 67.

    Larva in the skin, 233, 489.
      cause of, 233.
      cure for, 234.

    Laryngitis, 101, 488.
      cause of, 101.
      symptoms of, 102.
      treatment of, 102.

    Lash, effect of on the eye of the horse, 43.

    Laying open the sinuses of a quittor, 462.
      how to accomplish, 462.
      intention of, 463.

    Lice, 232, 489.

    Limbs, the diseases of, 286.

    Liver, the diseases of, 145.

    London stables, 35.

    Luxation of the patella, 325, 490.


    Madness, 27.

    Mad staggers, 20.

    Mallenders and sallenders, 249, 490.
      treatment for, 249.

    Mange, 220, 490.
      causes of, 221.
      symptoms of, 223.
      treatment for, 225.

    Megrims, 24, 491.
      a form of epilepsy, 24.
      when the attacks may appear, 24.
      symptoms of, 25.

    Melanosis, 259, 491.
      symptoms of, 259.
      treatment for, 260.

    Mode of feeding a horse with chronic tetanus, 33.

    Mouth, the, its accidents and diseases, 64.
      excoriated angles of, 64.
      roof of, may be injured by the bit, 71.
      the disease of, 64.


    Nasal gleet, 91, 491.
      its causes, 91.
      its treatment, 92.

    Nasal polypus, 88, 492.
      its nature, 88.
      its treatment, 88.

    Navicular disease, 377, 492.
      seat of, 377.
      causes of, 378.
      symptoms of, 379.
      treatment for, 382.

    Nephritis, 204, 492.
      causes of, 205.
      symptoms of, 206.
      treatment for, 207.

    Nervous system, its accidents and its diseases, 17.

    Neurotomy, 451.
      its results, 451.
      manner of performing, 452.

    Nostrils, the diseases of, 84.
      their accidents and their diseases, 84.


    Occult spavin, 308, 493.
      cause of, 309.
      symptom of, 309.
      treatment for, 310.

    Open synovial joints, 418, 494.
      primary treatment for, 418.
      general treatment for, 419.

    Open synovial cavities, 412, 494.
      cause of, 412.
      nature of, 413.
      what is generally spoken of as, 415.
      treatment for, 415.

    Operation of no use in abscess of the brain, 20.

    Operations, 434, 495.
      aids to fetter the horse for, 440.

    Ophthalmia, simple, 42, 503.
      specific, 46, 506.

    Optic nerve, the effect of gutta serena upon, 41.

    Osseous deposits, 286.

    Ossified cartilages, 366, 495.

    Overreach, 349, 495.
      treatment for, 349.


    Parotid duct, fistulous, 394.

    Parrot-mouth, 66, 495.
      evils of, 67.
      no cure for, 67.

    Partial paralysis, 36, 496.
      symptom of, 36.
      the disease of fast horses, 37.
      generally past all cure, 37.
      the only hope of remedy for, 37.

    Patella, luxation of, 325, 490.

    Periosteotomy, 449.
      the intention of, 449.
      its advantages considered, 450.

    Phlebitis, 398, 496.
      experiment with regard to, 399.
      cause of, 400.
      symptoms of, 401.
      treatment for, 402.

    Phrenitis, 17, 496.
      seldom is perceived approaching, 18.
      symptoms of its approach, 18.
      remedies for the early symptoms of, 18.

    Physic of no use in abscess of the brain, 20.

    Pleurisy, 136, 497.
      symptoms of, 137.
      treatment of, 138.
      causes of, 139.

    Pneumonia, 130, 497.
      doubts concerning, 131.
      symptoms of, 131.
      treatment of, 132.

    Poll evil, 385, 498.
      its causes, 386.
      symptoms of, 387.
      treatment for, 388.

    Polypus, nasal, 88, 492.

    Prick of the foot, 354, 498.

    Profuse staling, 215, 481.

    Prurigo, 226, 499.
      symptoms of, 226.
      treatment of, 227.

    Pumice foot, 339, 499.
      causes of, 339.
      symptoms of, 340.
      treatment for, 341.

    Punctured wounds, 426.

    Purgative and quiet, best remedies for tetanus, 32.

    Purpura hemorrhagica, 265, 499.
      symptoms of, 265.
      treatment for, 266.


    Quarter, false, 345.

    Quidding, 79.

    Quiet and a strong purgative, the best remedies for tetanus, 32.

    Quittor, 354, 500.
      cause of, 355.
      symptoms of, 355.
      treatment for, 357.
      sinuses of, laying open, 462.


    Rack, hay, evil of its general position, 44.

    Rheumatism, 312, 500.
      cause of, 312.
      symptoms of, 312.
      treatment for, 313.

    Ring-bone, 298, 500.
      cause of, 298.
      symptoms of, 298.
      treatment for, 300.

    Ring-worm, 227, 501.
      symptoms of, 227.
      treatment for, 228.

    Roaring, 106, 501.
      chronic, is a serious affair, 106.
      causes and effects of, 106.
      remedy for, 109.

    Roof of the mouth may be injured by the bit, 71.

    Rupture of œsophagus, 115, 501.
      how caused, 116.


    Sallenders, 249, 490.

    Sandcrack, 342, 502.
      causes of, 342.
      symptoms of, 342.
      treatment for, 343.

    Scald mouth, 82, 502.
      causes of, 82.
      symptoms of, 83.
      treatment of, 83.

    Seedy toe, 346, 503.
      treatment for, 347.

    Shying, 42.

    Simple ophthalmia, 42, 503.
      nature of, 43.
      causes, 43.
      treatment of, 45.
      symptoms of, 45.

    Sinuses of a quittor, laying open, 462.

    Sitfast, 240, 503.
      cause of, 241.
      treatment for, 241.

    Skin, diseases of, 220.

    Sole, bruise of, 353, 498.

    Sore throat, 96, 503.
      symptoms of, 97.
      treatment for, 97.

    Spasm of the diaphragm, 145, 504.
      symptoms of, 145.
      treatment of, 146.

    Spasm of the urethra, 212, 504.
      causes of, 212.
      symptoms of, 212.
      treatment for, 213.

    Spasmodic colic, 194, 505.
      causes of, 194.
      symptoms of, 196.
      treatment for, 197.

    Spavin, 286, 505.
      cause of, 287.
      symptoms of, 288.
      treatment for, 293.
      how to examine for, 291.
      occult, 308, 493.

    Specific diseases, varieties of, 254.

    Specific ophthalmia, 46, 506.
      eyes supposed most subject to, 47.
      small stables the cause of, 47.
      symptoms of, 48.
      contrasted with simple ophthalmia, 49.
      treatment for, 50.
      preventive for, 51.
      terminations of, 51.

    Splint, 294, 506.
      cause of, 294.
      symptoms of, 296.
      treatment of, 297.

    Sprain of the back sinews, 303, 507.
      cause of, 303.
      treatment for, 304.

    Staggers, 20, 507.
      treatment for, 22.
      origin of, 20.
      sleepy, 22.

    Strain of the flexor tendon, 300, 508.

    Strangles, 267, 508.
      cause of, 268.
      symptoms of, 268.
      treatment for, 269.
      a bad kind of, 272.

    Stringhalt, 33, 509.
      symptom of, 33.
      cause of, 35.

    Stomach, the, diseases of, 145.

    Stricture of œsophagus, 116, 501.
      its effects, 117.

    Subacute laminitis, 375, 489.
      W. Percival's account of, 375.
      treatment for, 376.

    Summary, alphabetical, 465.

    Surfeit, 229, 509.
      treatment for, 230.
      a severe kind of, 230.
        treatment for, 230.

    Swollen legs, 239, 509.
      symptoms of, 239.
      treatment for, 240.

    Synovial cavities, open, 412, 494.
      joints, open, 418, 494.


    Tapping the chest, 141.

    Teeth, disease of, 78, 509.
      symptoms of their disease, 80.
      treatment of, 81.

    Tendons, division of, 457.

    Tetanus, 28, 510.

    Thorough-pin, 319, 510.

    Throat, its accidents and diseases, 96.
      sore, 96, 503.
      the diseases of, 96.

    Thrush, 363, 510.
      cause of, 363.
      treatment for, 364.

    Toe, seedy, 346, 503.

    Toothache, 80.

    Tooth, components of, 79.

    Tracheotomy, 443.
      how to perform, 445.

    Traumatic tetanus, 29.
      causes of, 29.
      test for, 30.

    Tread, 348, 511.
      causes of, in light and heavy horses, 348.
      treatment for, 348.

    True cause of stringhalt, 35.

    Tumors, 237, 511.
      natures of, 238.

    Tushes, a cause of sickness, 78.

    Tympanitis, 199.


    Universal spasm is tetanus, 30.

    Urethra, spasm of, 504.

    Urethral calculus, 215.

    Urinary organs, diseases of, 204.


    Vein, inflammation of the, 398, 496.


    Warts, 235, 511.
      kinds of, 236.
      treatment for, 236.

    Water, certain death, after over-gorging, 21.

    Water farcy, 262, 512.
      cause of, 262.
      symptoms of, 263.
      treatment for, 264.

    Wheezing, 94, 486.

    Wind-galls, 315, 512.
      symptoms of, 316.
      treatment for, 317.

    Windy colic, 199, 512.
      causes of, 199.
      symptoms of, 200.
      treatment for, 201.

    Withers, fistulous, 391.

    Worms, 190, 513.
      cause of, 190.
      symptoms of, 191.
      treatment for, 192.

    Wounds, 423, 514.
      lacerated, 423.
        their treatment, 427.
      incised, 424.
        their treatment, 428.
      abraded, 425.
        their treatment, 430.
      punctured, 426.
        their treatment, 430.
      contused, 427.
        their treatment, 431.


THE END.


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       *       *       *       *       *

    +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
    |                     Transcriber Notes:                             |
    |                                                                    |
    | P. 10. Changed 'necesssity' to 'necessity'.                        |
    | P. 36. Changed 'stinghalt' to 'stringhalt'.                        |
    | P. 49. Changed 'eolor' to 'color'.                                 |
    | P. 54. Changed 'miscroscope' to 'microscope'.                      |
    | P. 71. Changed 'the roof the mouth' to 'the roof of the mouth'.    |
    | P. 98. Changed 'aniseseed' to 'aniseed'.                           |
    | P. 98. Changed 'but, spite of' to 'but, in spite of'.              |
    | P. 105. 'larnyx to rise', changed 'larnyx' to 'larynx.             |
    | P. 119. 'cause of its orign', changed 'orign' to 'origin'.         |
    | P. 123. 'of there be any want', changed to 'if there be any want'. |
    | P. 130. 'making any impresssion', changed 'impresssion' to         |
    |   'impression'.                                                    |
    | P. 147. 'the personal appearace', changed 'appearace' to           |
    |   'appearance'.                                                    |
    | P. 163. 'acting similiarly', changed 'similiarly' to 'similarly'.  |
    | P. 177. 'Choloroform     Half an ounce.', changed 'Choloroform'    |
    | to 'Chloroform'.                                                   |
    | P. 310. 'the lesson' changed to 'the lesion'.                      |
    | P. 414. Image 2. 'synovial heath', changed 'heath' to 'sheath'.    |
    | P. 444. 'sugeons' changed to 'surgeons'.                           |
    | Fixed various punctuation.                                                                   |
    +--------------------------------------------------------------------+