DIARRH(EA AND DYSENTERY. 363 



to reside in the large. It is very difficult, however, if not impos- 

 sible, to distinguish the one from the other by the symptoms dur- 

 ing life, and in ordinary practice they may be considered as one 

 disease, the treatment depending in great measure on the exciting 

 cause. This in most cases is to be found in the use of too violent 

 " physic, " or in not resting the horse after it has begun to act 

 until some hours after it has completely " set." Sometimes it 

 depends on the cells of the colon having long been loaded with 

 faeces, which causes, at length, their mucous lining to inflame, the 

 consequent secretion having a tendency to loosen them and pro- 

 cure their dismissal, either by solution or by the forcible contrac- 

 tion of the muscular coat. This last disease is known by the name 

 of " molten grease" to old-fashioned farriers, the clear mucus which 

 envelopes the lumps of faeces being supposed to be derived from 

 the internal fat that is generally plentifully developed in the highly 

 fed horses that are especially subject to the attack. For practical 

 purposes, therefore, we may consider the different forms under the 

 head of superpurgation, diarrhoea, and dysentery, meaning by the 

 last name that condition which is brought about by and attended 

 with a discharge of lumps of hard faecal matter enveloped in 

 mucus. 



SUPERPURGATION is sometimes so severe as to place a delicate 

 horse in great danger. When the action of the bowels has gone 

 on for three or four days consecutively, and there is no disposition 

 to " set/' the eyes become staring and glassy, the pulse is feeble, 

 and the heart flutters in the most distressing manner ; the mouth 

 has a peculiarly offensive smell, the tongue being pale and covered 

 with a white fur having a brown centre. The abdomen is gene- 

 rally tucked tightly up, but in the later stages large volumes of 

 gas are evolved, and it becomes tumid. 



The treatment should consist in the exhibition of rice, boiled 

 till quite soft, and if not taken voluntarily, it should be given as a 

 drench, mixed into a thin liquid form with warm water. If the 

 case is severe, one or two ounces of laudanum may be added to a 

 quart of rice milk, and given every time the bowels act with vio- 

 lence. Or a thin gruel may be made with wheat meal, and the 

 laudanum be mixed with that instead of the rice. A perseverance 

 in these remedies will almost invariably produce the desired effect, 

 if they have not been deferred until the horse is very much ex- 

 hausted, when a pint of port wine may be substituted for the 

 laudanum with advantage. 



IN DIARRHCEA resulting from cold, or over-exertion, the treat- 

 ment should be exactly like that prescribed for superpurgation, 

 but it will sometimes be necessary to give chalk in addition to the 

 remedies there alluded to. The rice or flour-milk may be admin- 



