] 40 The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



it must first be ascertained what has been the cause; 

 the more so from the fact that mad staggers, in its early 

 symptoms, are exactly the same. In this disorder it 

 may be well supposed that medicine will have but little 

 effect from the gorged state of the stomach. Some 

 veterinary surgeons recommend bleeding, but for why it 

 is impossible to tell, as no benefit is derived from it. 

 That which debilitates the system can hardly be expected 

 to assist the action of the stomach. Probably the best 

 thing to do is to let nature work its own cure, by 

 abstaining from giving food. As no certain cure is 

 known, it is best to use prevention, and guard against 

 it. The author has always adopted the following plan — 

 Take away every particle of food, tie the horse's head up 

 so that it cannot get at anything to eat, dissolve six 

 drachms of Barbadoes aloes in warm water, and drench 

 the horse with it ; keep giving warm water at intervals, 

 and when the stomach is relieved of its load, it may 

 recover. Many instances occur of rupture of the stomach 

 from expansion by confined gases. In every post-mortem 

 I have made of subjects dying from stomach staggers, 

 the stomach has been full of improperly masticated 

 food ; in some cases pieces of hay and straw were found 

 in the stomach six inches long, that the hungry animal 

 had swallowed without chewing. 



MEGRIMS. 



This is a malady occasioned by pressure on the brain 

 caused by an unusual flow of blood to it. The How of 

 blood through the brain is quite ten times greater in 

 quantity than through any other portion of the body 



