ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICINES 



19 



Balls. — The practice of giving medicines in a ball or elongated pill is a 

 very old one, and has much to recommend it. Many nauseous agents, as 

 for example aloes, are thus conveyed to the stomach without causing 

 annoyance and disgust to the patient. They are usually wrapped in 

 paper or enclosed in gelatine capsules. The paper wrapper is the more 



Fig. 437. — Administering a Ball. The manner ot holding the ball is shown at a 



convenient to hold, and the gelatine capsule the less likely to be broken 

 in the act of being administered. 



A ball weighing from one to two ounces is more convenient to ad- 

 minister than one smaller or larger. 



It is a matter for regret that so few stablemen and others in atten- 

 dance upon horses acquire the comparatively simple art of giving a ball. 

 In the absence of this qualification there are several instruments recom- 

 mended for the purpose, but none so good as the human hand properly 

 directed. 



To give a ball, the animal should be turned round in the stall and 

 quietly approached with the bolus between the thumb and two first 

 fingers of the right hand, which may be placed on the face to steady 



