OF FARRIERY. 



279 



in£ gentlemen are not satisfied, unless a Horse 

 have from twenty to thirty evacuations. Su- 

 perpurgation has destroyed hundreds of Horses, 

 and ii has irreparably injured thousands. 

 Extra purging debilitates the Horse more than 

 the human subject, probably from a lax state 

 of bowels being more common in man, owing 

 to the presence of both cystic and hepatic 

 bile, as well as a dependent situation, it is 

 hardly possible to conceive a more deplorable 

 object, than a Horse under the action of an 

 enormous purgative. The liquid aliments es- 

 caping almost involuntarily from a red pro- 

 truded anus, excoriated with the violence and 

 frequency of the dejections ; the belly drawn 

 to the flank, cold sweats bedewing the frame, 

 appetite totally lost, and the strength so ab- 

 ject, as to leave the animal Iiardly the power 

 of tottering from one stall to another ; and yet 

 to this state does the brutality and ignorance 

 of an infinite number of the old farriers doom 

 the Horses of their employers to. The number 

 and strength of the purgative doses, are not 

 the only evils also to which the Horse is liable, 

 from improper purgation; the articles u.sed, 

 are likewise often of an injurious nature. Fre- 

 quently, with the coarsest aloes, the groom's 

 prescription directs gamboge, which greatly 

 increases its drastic qualities. Neither, in- 

 deed, are these gentry, or indeed some prac- 

 titioners, so attentive to previous preparation 

 as they should be. 



A powerful dose of physic given to a Horse 

 at hard work, and full keep, vs^ithout previous 

 mashing, huiries the hardened faeces for- 

 wards, until it forms them into an impene- 

 trable mass ; inflammation ensues, and on the 

 third day the Horse is found dead, and swol- 

 len immensely. In hot weather, inflammation 

 supervenes on physic, when at all too active, 



and dysentry is a very common conscijuence 

 of summer purging. When good physic has 

 been properly given, it has been often ren- 

 dered injurious, and even destructive, owing 

 to the carelessness of persons attending on the 

 Horse. Cold water at these times must be 

 avoided ; the doors must not be left open, or 

 a sudden chill may bring on inflammation of 

 the bowels ; also immoderate exercise must 

 be carefully avoided, and only such given as 

 will make the Horse comfortably warm, and 

 then immediately bring him into the stable. 



Of the articles used in purging of Horses. 

 — A great discrepancy of opinion prevails on 

 this head also ; but if the distinction between 

 laxative and purgatives be maintained, it 

 would tend to reconcile these contentions. 

 There are numerous articles which simply 

 relax the bowels, i. e., slightly increase their 

 peristaltic motion ; but very few which pro- 

 duce active purgation. Of the former ; bran, 

 calomel, neutral salts, castor, linseed, and olive 

 oils, are the most usual instances; but it must 

 be confessed, that with the exception of bran, 

 all the others occasionally fail. There are 

 some other medicines which act on the bowels, 

 but are not to be depended on as purgative 

 medicines. The most proper we shall enume- 

 rate, and will place them at the latter end of 

 this work. 



The purgative of Horses is, almost in every 

 instance, aloes. Much difference of opinion 

 exists on the preference due to the various 

 kinds of aloes ; nor can we ever arrive at a 

 just conclusion on this subject, until we unite 

 a conclave of honest druggists, both wholesale 

 and retail, from whom alone something like & 

 knowledge of the various sorts can only be 

 expected. However, for all large Horses, ( 

 should decidedly use the Barbadoes aloec for 



