3o TKEATMENT OF DISEASES 



which might otherwise have remained latent dtrring the natural 

 period of the asamaPs life. 



It is a well known law of the animal economy, that predispositions 

 to various forms of disease are transmitted through the sexual con- 

 gress to offspring, and in the system of the latter may remain latent 

 until the conditions favorable for the development of the constitu- 

 tional malady are presented, which are nothing more nor less than 

 the ordinary exciting causes of disease. 



In some parts of the United States similar errors in the fceding^ 

 of horses produce blind-staggers, stomach-staggers, and organic dis- 

 ease of the brain • tliis goes to show that in such cases the animals 

 are more predisposed to cerebral disease than to disease of the 

 organs of vision. 



In view of preventing diseases of the above character, proper 

 attention must be paid to the principles of breeding, and all animals 

 showing the least symptoms of organic disease should be rejected. 

 The disease itself may not be transmitted, only a predisposition 

 thereto, and this is usually the ease when only one of the parents is 

 afflicted ; when both parents are the subjects of analogous predis- 

 positions or maladies, then they appear in an augmented form in the 

 systems of their offspring. 



Whenever an animal shows the least symptoms of blindness, he 

 should be kept on a light diet of hay and oats. Such horses can be 

 kept in a perfectly good condition on twelve pounds of hay and five 

 pounds of oats. This amount is all that is necessary for the preser- 

 vation of the integrity of their organism ; all beyond this amount is 

 either expelled with the excrements or stored ap in the cellular tis- 

 sues of the body in the form of fat. 



One of the principal symptoms attending incipient blindness, and 

 one which ordinary observers might be apt to notice, is the motion 

 of the fore limbs ; it will be observed' that they are raised from the 

 ground to an unnecessary height, the ears, at the same time, being 

 drawn forwards and backwards in quick succession, showing that 

 the animal is sounding the ground over which he travels, after the 

 fashion of a blind man with his walking-stick, thus placing more 

 dependence on the sense of hearing than on that of sight. 



OPHTHALMIA. {Inflammation of the Membranes of the Eye.) 



Simple Ophthalmia sometimes appears very suddenly, com- 

 mencing with swollen eyelids, and a highly reddened state of the 

 membranes which line the same, as well as of that which covers a 

 portion o-f the eyeball; scalding tears run down the cheeks, and the 

 animal avoids light. There arc several other diseases peculiar to the 

 eye, most of them of an organic character, and incurable, hence, I 

 shall not trouble the reader with any remarks on such subjects. 



Treatment of Inflammation of the Eye. — The treatment is 

 very simple ; bathe the forehead and region of the eyes very fre- 

 quently with cold water, keep the patient in a dark corner of the 



