Book VII. DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 915 



The extremities are not usually cold in gripes; in red colic they usually are. In gripes, the horse 

 attempts to roll on his back, which in red colic he seldom does. There are no marks of fever with 

 gripes, as red eyelids, inflamed nostrils, &c. ; but in red colic they are always present. When the 

 complaint has continued some hours it is always proper to bleed to prevent its ending in inflamma- 

 tion : bleeding in the mouth is quite useless. Back-rake, and throw up clusters of warm water, one 

 after another as fast as possible, which often overcomes the irritation. La I'osse recommends a curious 

 remedy, but as it can always be obtained, and has the sanction of long experience, it may be tried. 

 An onion is pounded and mixed up with some powdered savine : in default of which, use powdered ginger. 

 This is to be introduced up the rectum as high as possible, and the horse is to be then moved briskly about. 

 An onion put up the fundament whole has long been a domestic remedy. The following is recommended 

 by Blaine : spirit of vitriolic cBther, an ounce ; powdered opium, OTie drachm; oil of turpentine, three ounces; 

 warm ale, a pint. He also recommends the following more simple remedy as always at hand : the ex- 

 pressed juice of two or three large onions, common gin, common oil, of each half a pint ; mix and give. 

 White recommends a pint of brandy, or of gin, with water, as an excellent carminative. Clark, who has 

 expressly written on gripes, extols the virtues of a mixture thus made ; which, if it have the qualities he 

 attributes to it, and which there is no reason to doubt, no agriculturist, coach, or post master should be 

 without it : pimento herry, called also allspice, ground fine, half a pound ; spirits ofivine, and of water, of 

 each a pint and a half ; infuse these together, and keep for use. Give a quarter of a pint every hour 

 until full relief is obtained; hand rubbing, wisping, or fomenting the bowels with hot water at the time. 



5808. Inflammation of the intestines from wounds in the belly frequently occurs ; and these injuries 

 may happen in leaping over hedges or pale gates, or may be inflicted by the horns of a cow. Sometimes 

 the strong tendinous covering of the belly is ruptured, while the skin remains entire,; the gut then pro- 

 trudes and forces out the skin into a tumor. The first thing to be done is to put the gut back, taking 

 tare at the same time, otherwise extensive inflammation follows, to remove any dirt or other matter 

 that may be sticking to it ; for which purpose, should it be found necessary, it may be washed with warm 

 water, but with nothing stronger. If the gut cannot be returned, from its being full of air, and the 

 opening in the belly be too small to put it back again, such opening may be carefully enlarged to the 

 necessary size. But if the animal can be thrown upon his back conveniently, a great deal may be done 

 that cannot otherwise be accomplished ; after the gut is returned the skin only should be stitched up, 

 and a cushion of several folds of old linen and tow being placed in the wound, it should be kept in its 

 situation by means of a wide bandage rolled round the body, and carefully secured. The animal should 

 then be copiously bled, and have his bowels emptied by clysters. The only food he should be allowed 

 is grass, or bran mashes, and that only in moderate quantity. When the distention of the intestines 

 wholly prevents their return, it would be prudent to puncture them with a very fine instrument, and 

 thus to suffer the air to escape, which, although subjecting the horse to the risk of inflammation, is 

 better than the certainty of death by having the intestines protruded. 



5809. Worms of horses are found, as bots, in the stomach, but which as they attach themselves to the 

 hard insensible part of that organ seldom do harm. Clark fancifully supposes they do good, and devises 

 means for furnishing them when not in existence. The bot is the larva of the oestrus equi, a fly which 

 deposits its eg?^^, it is supposed, on the grasses on which horses feed, and probably on parts of the horse himself, 

 from whence they pass into the stomach by the food or by being licked off. Certain it is they get there, 

 are hatched, and there remain hanging to the coats of it by two tentacula?, receiving the juices of the 

 masticated food as nutriment. After a considerable time they make their way out by the anus, drop 

 on the ground, and are first transformed into chrysalids, and afterwards into parent flies. When bots 

 fix themselves on the sensible portion of the stomach they may do harm ; but no medicine that we know 

 of will destroy them. The teres or large round worm sometimes occasions mischief, when it exists in 

 great numbers, such as a staring coat, binding of the hide, irregular appetite, and clammy mouth. The 

 best remedy is the spigelia marylandica or Indian pink, in daily doses of half an ounce. T'cenia are not 

 common in the horse, now and then they exist, and are best combated by weekly doses of oil of turpen- 

 tine, three ounces at a time, mixed by means of the yolk of an egg with half a pint of ale. The ascaris 

 or thread worms are best removed by mercurial purgatives. The existence of worms maybe known 

 by the appearance of a yellow matter under the tail, and by the disposition the horse has to rub his fun- 

 dament. Blaine recommends the following vermifuge : powdered arsenic, eight grains, pewter or tin 



Jinely scraped, Venice turpentine, half an ounce, make into a ball, and give every morning. He also 

 recommends salt to be given daily with the food ; which agrees with our own experience as one of 

 the best vermifuges known. It is a fact acknowledged by the residents along the sea-coast, that horses 

 troubled with worms will often voluntarily drink largely of sea water, and thus cure themselves. 



5810. The diseases of the liver are acute inflammation or hepatitis, and chronic ivfiafumation or yellows. 

 Hepatitis is the acute inflammation of this organ, which, like the lungs, stomach, and intestines, may 

 spontaneously take on the affection. The symptoms are not unlike those which attend red colic, but 

 with less violence. If it be not however arrested, the termination will be equally fatal. About the third 

 day, the whites of the eyes turn yellow and the mouth also. Bleeduig, blistering, and purgatives form 

 the methods of cure as practised in red colic. 



5811. Chronic inflammation or yellows. The liver of horses is less complex than that of many other ani- 

 mals, and is therefore not very liable to disease ; indeed some authors affirm that the horse is never 

 affected with jaundice, but that the yellowness of skin i,s a mere stomach aftectioh : this is, however, 

 erroneous, and not only does the liver become hardened and thickened occasionally; but the bile 

 becomes diseased, and is thrown out in that state by the blood over the body. If fever be present, bleed, 

 but if the symptoms present no token of active inflammation, give each night, ten grains of calomel, ahd 

 every ten days, work it off with a mild dose of physic. It is, however, necessary to remark, that ilris 

 not every yellowness of the skin (hat betokens either an acute or chronic inflammation of the liver. It 

 is the property of every serious inflammation of any of the important organs of the chest and telly, to 

 communicate a portion of the evil to the other organs immediately in conjunction with the liver: thus 

 an affection of the stomach or intestines, cf the inflammatory kind, very often occasions redness of the 

 membranes of the nose, eyelids, &c, &c. 



6812. Diseases of the urinary organs. Inflammation of the kidnies is an idiopathic affection, not one 

 of frequent occurrence; but as brought on by injuries, such as over-riding, heavy loads, or violent diu- 

 retics, it isnot unfrequent: when idiopathic, it may be the effect either of cold, heating food, or a trans- 

 lation of some other inflammation, in which cases, it comes on suddenly, and assumes the same febrile 

 appearances that other intestine inflammations produce; but there is not often great apparent pain, but a 

 frequent inclination to stale, the quantity made being so small as almost to amount to a stoppage of urine, 

 whichislessor more complete, as one or both kidnies are afl'ected. What little urine is made is also at 

 first very thick, and then bloody. When the disease is the eflcct of external injury, the urine is not so. 

 scanty, but is more bloody ; and this symptom precedes the other. There is usually much jiain and stiff- 

 ness about the loinp, and we learn from Blaine, that a swelling and a paralytic aftection of the hind leg 

 of the side of the affected kidney, sometimes is a feature in the complaint. To distinguish this inflam- 

 mation from that of the neck orbody of the bladder, with which it may be confounded, the same author 

 recommends that the hand be passed up the rectum, when, if the affection belong to the kidnies, the bladder, 

 whether full or empty, will not be hotter than usual ; but the contrary occurs when any part of the 

 bladder is the seat of the disease. ^ 



5813. The treatment must be active, and in most respects similar to what has been recommended for 

 , red colic, as regards bleeding, emptying the bowels, and endeavoring to lessen the arterial action by bleed, 

 ing : but here we must carefully abstain from irritating the kidnies by diuretics internally, or blisters ex- 



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