On the Horse Sickness. 441 



must occur to every one on reading the account of the appear- 

 ances on dissection, that the only method of cure which can 

 be adopted, with any prospect of success, is to lower the cir- 

 culation by bleeding largely from the neck immediately the 

 disease is discovered ; I also purge plentifully with a ball, 

 composed of 4 drams of aloes, 1 dram of soap, 30 grains of 

 calomel, and 10 drops of oil of carraway, and occasionally 

 quicken its operation with half a pint or more of castor oil — 

 keeping up the action of the intestines through the whole 

 course of the disease. 



It is an object of primary importance, to irritate the skin 

 of the chest by some acrid application, as blistering flies, 

 scalding water, or what will, perhaps, prove more efficacious 

 thau either, with the bruised leaves of that species of Ranun- 

 culus, called in this country " Brand Boschjes." It grows 

 plentifully in moist places, and will raise a blister on the 

 skin in ten minutes, the effect of which continues much 

 longer than that of a blister raised by Spanish flies, while it 

 costs nothing. I shall take the liberty of troubling you 

 shortly with an account of the medicinal properties of some of 

 the indigenous plants of this District, when I shall be more 

 particular in describing the effects of the Ranunculus, which 

 deserves to be generally known. It is also important to oc- 

 casion a determination to the skin, which may be effected by 

 antimonials or warm clothing, paying particular attention to 

 the atmosphere of the stable. If the animal will eat, I give 

 him a warm mash of wheat bran, with nitre in it. The great 

 difficulty is to discover the disease in its first stages, for it is 

 only then that these remedies can be useful, they never suc- 

 ceed when a large portion of the lung is inflamed, and the 

 progress of the disease is so rapid, that I have known horses 

 fall down before they were thought to be sick, as in the case 

 of the animal whose dissection I have given above. It is no 

 uncommon thing here to find a horse dead in the stable in the 

 morning', which was supposed healthy the night before ; but a 

 careful observer will discover some of the symptoms I have 

 enumerated: the first is generally a slight cough, and then 

 no time is to be lost, for if left to itself, the disease will in- 

 variably terminate in death. 



The disease in question is evidently an Epidemic, produced 

 like other Epidemics, by some unknown peculiarity in the 

 atmosphere, recurring at uncertain periods ; I have no rea- 

 son to believe it infectious, but the contrary. Its remote 

 cause appears to be the sudden application of cold to the sur- 

 face of the body ; hence well groomed and well stabled horses 

 are seldom attacked by it; this is an observation of such con- 

 stant occurrence, that I think it can admit of no doubt ; not 

 that I mean to assert that no stabled horses will die of it; 



3 K 



