IjjQ THE HORSE. 



strangely prevalent in particular districts. It will attack, at the same 

 time, several horses in the same ill-conducted stable, and others in the 

 neighbourhood, who have been exposed to the same predisposing causes. 

 The practitioner is always afraid of seeing too mnch of tliis disease when 

 he meets with one case of farcy where there has been gross inattention to 

 the horses. Some have denied that it is a contagious disease. They must 

 have had little experience. It is true that the matter of farcy must come 

 in contact with a wound, or sore, in order to communicate the disease ; but 

 accustomed as horses are, to nibble and play with each other, and sore as 

 the corners of the mouth are frequently rendered by the bit, it is easy to 

 imao-ine that this may often be efFected ; and experience tells us, that a 

 horse having farcy-ulcers cannot be suffered to remain with others without 

 extreme risk. We recollect an instance in which virulent and fatal farcy 

 was communicated by a scratch from the currycomb, which had been pre- 

 viously used on a glandered horse. 



The treatment of farcy varies with the form it assumes. In the button 

 or bud farcy, a mild dose of physic should be first administered. The 

 buds then should be carefully examined, and if any of them have broken, 

 the budding iron, of a dull red heat, should be applied to them; or if matter 

 should be felt in them, showing that they are disposed to break, they 

 should be penetrated with the iron. These wounds should be daily in- 

 spected, and if, when the slough of the cautery comes off, they look pale, 

 and foul, and spongy, and discharge a thin matter, they should be frequently 

 ■washed with a lotion, composed of a drachm of corrosive sublimate 

 dissolved in an ounce of rectified spirit ; the other buds should likewise 

 be examined, and opened with the iron as soon as they evidently contain 

 matter. When the wounds begin to look red, and the bottom of them is 

 even and firm, and they discharge a thick white or yellow matter, the friar's 

 balsam will speedily heal them. As, however, the constitution is now 

 tainted, local applications will not be sufficient, and the disease must be 

 attacked by internal medicines, as soon as the physic has ceased to operate. 

 The corrosive sublimate will be the best alterative, and may be given in 

 doses of ten grains, gradually increased to a scruple, with two drachms of 

 gentian and one of ginger, and repeated morning and night until the ulcers 

 disappear, unless the horse is violently purged, or the mouth becomes 

 sore, when a drachm of blue vitriol may be substituted for the corrosive 

 sublimate. During this, the animal should be placed in a large box, 

 with a free circulation of air ; and green meat, or carrots, the latter more 

 particularly, should be given him, with a fair allowance of corn. If he 

 could be turned out during the day, it would be advantageous; but at all 

 events he should be daily exercised. It is related by Mr. Blaine, that a 

 horse so reduced as not to be able to stand, was drawn into a field of tares, 

 and suffered to take his chance; the consequence was, that when he had 

 eaten all within his reach, he was able to rise and search for more, and 

 eventually recovered.* In an early stage of the disease, and if glanders 

 have not appeared, this treatment will frequently succeed. If, after the 

 wounds have healed, the absorbents should continue to be corded, a blister, 

 or light firing, will probably be serviceable. 



It should be remembered, that a horse which has experienced one attack 

 of farcy will be very subject to a relapse, and, therefore, should be regarded 

 with a watchful eye, and occasional alteratives of .^thiop's mineral, with 

 turpentine, in the proportions of one drachm of the former and four of the 



• Blaine's Veterinary Outlines, p. 467. 



