On the Salivary Defluxions in Horses. 
The following papers were written at the request of Mr. 
Wilkam Young near Wilmington Delaware, and by him 
Sorwarded to the society. 
Read January 8th, 1811. 
Wilmington December 25th 1810. 
Dear Sir, 
In conformity to promise, I communicate to you the 
result of some observations and experiments Ihave made 
on the sporrEeD sruRGE, Luphorbia maculata of Lin- 
neus, particularly relative to its being the cause of the 
salivation that has occurred so frequently among horses 
in this and the adjacent part of the country. Although 
my experiments have been but few and simple, I con- 
ceive they have been sufficient to establish the fact. 
The frequent oceurrence of a profuse discharge of sa- 
liva from horses, and its rapid production of great de- 
bility and emaciation in that useful animal; had not 
only excited the attention and surprise of many of the 
farmers; but had also given rise to many conjectures 
as to the cause of it.—Many opinions were founded on 
no substantial data, but originating only from conjec- 
ture; by many it was imputed to a peculiar quality 
inherent in the second growth of clover,—its generally 
appearing first when horses were put to pasture on 
the second crop, and being almost exclusively produc- 
ed by pasturing in clover fields, were considered as cor- 
roborating evidences of the correctness of the hypothe- 
sis; but its not having occurred for many years after clo- 
