MEDICINES. 385 



in the treatment of epidemic catarrh in the horse, and he was very suc- 

 cessful. It is, however, decidedly inferior to the emetic tartar. This, too, 

 is adulterated with chalk, and plaster of Paris, and burnt bones, and other 

 white powders, and that to so shameful a degree, that little dependence cart* 

 be placed on the antimonial powder usually sold by druggists. Muriatic 

 or sulphuric acid will detect most of these adulterations. 



Chloride of antimony is formed by distilling corrosive sublimate with 

 antimony. The butter-like matter which is produced (whence the common 

 name, Buiyr of Antimony) has a strong affinity for water, which h attracts 

 from the atmosphere, and thus becomes converted into a fluid. The 

 h^ss water it is sutTered to attract to itself, the more powerful it remains, 

 and therefore it should be kept in stopped bottles; and the proof of its 

 goodness is its weight. It is decidedly the best liquid caustic we have; 

 it is most manageable, and its effect can most readily be ascertained. As 

 soon as it touches any muscular or living part, a change of colour is per- 

 ceived on the part ; and the effect of the caustic can be fairly judged of by 

 the degree of change. For corns, canker, indisposition in the sole to 

 secrete good horn, wounds in the foot not attended by healthy action, and. 

 for every case where the superficial application of a caustic is needed, the 

 chloride of antimony is unrivalled. 



Anti-spasmodics. Of these our list is scanty, for the horse is subject 

 only to few spasmodic diseases, and there are fewer medicines which have 

 an anti-spasmodic effect. Opium stands first for its general power, and 

 that exerted particularly in locked jaw; and oil of turpentine as almost a 

 specific for spasms of the bowels: camphor assafoetida, and various others, 

 used on the human subject, have very doubtful effect in the horse, or may 

 be considered as almost inert. 



Arsenic. Were it not that some practitioners continue to use it as a 

 tonic, in doses of from ten to twenty grains daily, and others use it to core 

 out old ulcers, we would not include it in our list, for we have little faith 

 in it. There are better and safer tonics, and far better and safer caustics. 

 The method of detecting the presence of arsenic, in cases of poisoning, 

 has been described at page 200. 



Astringents are medicines that contract the living fibres, and thus close 

 the mouths of small vessels, and restrain inordinate and dangerous dis- 

 charges. Opium, alum, and catechu are powerful astringents in arresting 

 intestinal and urinary evacuations; and alum and the superacetate of lead 

 are astringents applied externally. 



Balls. The usual and the most convenient mode of administering 

 many medicines is in the form of balls, compounded with oil, and not with 

 honey or syrup, on account of their longer keeping soft and more easily 

 dissolving in the stomach. Balls sho'uld never weigh more than an 

 ounce and a half, or two ounces, otherwise they will be so large as to pass 

 with difficulty down the gullet. Tliey should not be more than an inch 

 in diameter and three inches in length. The mode of delivering balls is 

 not difficult to acquire; and the balling iron, while it often wounds and 

 permanently injures the bars, occasions the horse to struggle more than 

 ne otherwise would against the administration of the ball. The horse 

 should be backed in the stall; the tongue should be drawn gently put with 

 /he left hand on tiie off-side of the mouth, and there fixed, not by con- 

 tinuing to pull at it, but by pressing the finger against tiie side of the 

 'ower jaw. The ball, being now taken between the tips of the fingers of 

 the right hand, is passed rapidly up the mouth, as near to the palate aa 

 oossible, until it reaches the root of the tongue; it is then delivered with 

 \ Slight jerk, and the hand being immediately withdrawn and toe tongue 



