HORSES AND MULES. 309 



eftected, the horse is out of clanger ; repeat the swabbing out 

 every day until the cure is complete. As soon as a discharge 

 is effected from the head, draw a blister immediately over the 

 brain. 



If any one must feed worm-eaten corn, let it be swept and 

 brushed to scatter the poison. Tobacco dust in the manger will 

 act as a preventive.. Watch the horse under such circum- 

 stances, examine the nostrils often, and if these little passages 

 are closed, the nostrils inflamed, and the head hot, not a 

 moment is to be lost. Prompt action is the only hope. Dis- 

 temper, or Strangles, is another contagious disease, alto- 

 gether too common. It is often designated as horse-ail. It 

 appears in all horses, but usually in the colt, when taken either 

 from his mother's milk, or the tender grass and fresh air of 

 the pasture ; confined in a narrow, dark, dirty cell, standing 

 and sleeping in its own filth, and fed on dry food. Such a 

 change is sufficient to induce distemper. "We believe that it is 

 always caused by some such violent change, and is spread by 

 infection. It seems to be an effort of the system to adapt itself 

 to the change. The symptoms are, in the first stage, a general 

 derangement, some fever, quick pulse, a dry, hacking cough, 

 sore throat, and running at the nose. 



This discharge can be distinguished from glanders "by always 

 being white ; the neck soon becomes stiff, the throat becomes 

 swollen, an abscess forms, the swelling is hard and hot, the lever 

 becomes high, the breathing is oppressed, food and drmk are 

 refused, the swelling comes to a head, and, being opened, the 

 animal speedily recovers. The above symptoms are exceed- 

 ingly suggestive ; first, of care in making the change from the 

 pasture to the stable, from green food to dry, from the mother's 

 milk to fodder, or any other great change in the habits. All 

 change should be gradual. Second, it suggests what we liave 



