acid; the latter are particularly effective in some cases; and if the acute 

 symptoms abate, a long and careful regime must be observed before a 

 stomach thus injured can take upon itself the digestion of ordinary foods, 

 as hard corn and hay. A gradual upward scale of dietary, from linseed- 

 tea and slops, bread, meal, carrots, mashes, and green meat, may lead 

 to a moderate allowance of steeped or scalded corn, and finally oats and 

 hay. 



When an irritant poison has been taken and its nature has become 

 known, direct antidotes should first be administered. A list of these will be 

 found in a subsequent chapter, where the individual in search of a remedy 

 has been supplied with information for his guidance until the services of a 

 qualified veterinary surgeon can be procured; and as cases of this descrip- 

 tion require special care and treatment, no time should be lost in secur- 

 ing veterinary aid, while such antidotes as are at hand may be profitably 

 administered pending his arrival. Eggs, with linseed-oil and gruel, may 

 be beaten up and given in the interval of waiting, or in the absence of 

 these, milk, linseed-tea, or a solution of gum-arabic. 



The rarity of vomition in the horse, elsewhere referred to, and the all 

 but impossibility of exciting it artificially, deny us one of the chief aids 

 available to the human surgeon, who will hasten to empty the stomach of 

 any remaining poison either by means of an emetic or the stomach-pump. 

 In the case of the horse, however, we are compelled to rely on the action 

 of chemical antidotes to neutralize the poison, and on physiological agents 

 to control its action. 



Abdominal pain, which is a leading feature of the affection, should be 

 met by the employment of hot compresses over the region of the stomach 

 — blankets or sheets dipped in hot water (the naked elbow should be the 

 test of temperature) and covered with waterproofs, as loin cloths, to retain 

 the moisture and keep the parts continuously steamed. The intestinal 

 track must be cleansed of the pernicious matter, but not by any heroic 

 remedies; small doses of oil, linseed or castor oil, emulsified by whipping 

 with mucilage, will answer the purpose. 



CHRONIC GASTRITIS 



Chronic gastritis is more frequently met with than the condition 

 previously described. It may follow upon the acute form as a sequel to 

 irritant poisoning or engorgement, or arise out of a long-continued course 

 of improper feeding. Horses passing from the hands of dealers and ex- 

 hibitors who have forced them to a state of obesity by the employment 

 of cooked food are specially liable to gastric disturbance' of an abiding 



