rARMERS' REGISTER— WORilS IN HORSES. 



377 



blister be at once resorted to. The tincture of 

 S[)anish Hies, whetlier made with spirit of wine or 

 turpentine, sliould be well rul)bed in. The legs 

 should be well bandaged, to restore the circulation 

 to them, and thus lessen the flow of blood to the 

 inflamed part, and tor the same reason the 

 horse should be warmly clothed, but the air of the 

 stable or box should be cool. 



No corn or hay should be given during the dis- 

 ease, but bran-mashes, and green meat if it can 

 be procured. The latter will be the best of all 

 food, and may be given without the slightest ap- 

 prehension of danger. When the horse begins 

 to recover, he may get a handfid of corn two or 

 three times in the day, and, if the weather be 

 warm, may be turned into a paddock for a few 

 hours in the middle of the day. CI} sters of gruel 

 should be continued for three or four days after 

 the inflammation is beginning to subside, and good 

 hand-rubbing applied to the legs. 



The second variety of inliarnmation of the bow- 

 els affects the internal or mucous coat, and is gen- 

 erally the consequence of phjsic given m too great 

 ((uantity, or of an improper kind. The purging is 

 more violent, and continues longer than was in- 

 tended; the animal shows that he is suffering great 

 pain; he frequently looks round at his flanks; his 

 breathing is laborious, and the pulse is quick and 

 small; not so small, however, as in inflannriation of 

 the peritoneaJ coat, and, contrary to some of the 

 most frequent and characteristic symptoms of" that 

 disease, the mouth is hot, and the legs and cars 

 are warm. Unless the puiging is excessive, and 

 the pain and distress great, we should hesitate at 

 administering any astringent medicine at first. 

 We should plentilially administer gruel, or thin 

 starch, or arrow-root, by the mouth and by clys- 

 ter, removing all hay and corn, aiid particularly 

 green meat. We should endeavor thus to sheath 

 the irritated surface of the bowels, while we per- 

 mitted any remams of the medicine to be carried 

 off. If, however, twelve hours should pass, and 

 the purging and the pain remain undiminished, 

 we should continue the gruel, but add to it chalk, 

 catechu, and opium, in doses of an ounce of the 

 flrst, a quarter of an ounce of the second, and 

 two scruples of the last, repeated every six 

 hours. As soon as the purging begins to sub- 

 side, the astringent medicine should be lessen- 

 ed in quantity, and gradually discontinued. 

 Bleeding vAli rarely be necessary unless the in- 

 flammation be veiy great, and attended by sj'mp- 

 toms of goieral fever. The horse should be warm- 

 ly clothed, and placed in a warm stable, and his 

 legs should be hand-rubbed and bandaged. 



Violent purging, cand attended with mucii in- 

 flammation and fe\er, will sometimes occur from 

 other causes. Green meat will sometimes purge. A 

 horse worked hard upon green meat will scour. 

 The remedy is change of diet, or less labor. Young 

 horses will scour, and sometimes without any ap- 

 parent cause. Asiringents should be used with 

 much caution here. It is probably an efpjrt of na- 

 ture to get rid of something that offends. A few 

 doses of gruel will assist in eflectmg this purpose, 

 and the purging will cease without astringent 

 medicine. 



Some horses that arc not lodl-ribbed home, (hav- 

 ing too great space between the last rib ami the 

 hip-bone,) are subject to purging if more than 

 usual exertion is required from tliem. They are 

 Vol. II.— 20. 



recognised by the term of loashy horses. They 

 are often fr-ee and fleet, but dcsutute of continu- 

 ance. They should have rather more than the 

 usual allowance of corn, with beans, when at 

 work, and a cordial ball, with one drachm of cate- 

 chu, and ten grains of opium will often be service- 

 able either before or after a journey. 



Worms. 



Worms of difi(?rent kmds inhabit the intestines; 

 but except when they exist in very great numbers, 

 they are not so hurtful as is generally supposed, 

 although the groom or carter may trace to them 

 hidebound, and cough, and loss of appetite, and 

 gripes, and megrims, and a variety of other ail- 

 ments. Of the origin or mode of propagation of 

 these parasitical anin)als we will say nothing; nei- 

 ther writers on medicine, nor even on natural his;- 

 torj', have given us any satisfactory account of the 

 matter. 



The long white worm (limihricvs teres) much 

 resembling the conunon earth-worm, and, being 

 fi-om six to ten inches long, irdiabits the small in- 

 testines. It is a formidable looking animal, and if 

 there are many of them they may consume more 

 than can be spared of the nutritive part of the 

 food or the mucus of the bowels; and we think that 

 we have seen a tight skin, and rough coat, and 

 tucked up belly, connected with their presence. 

 They have then, however, been voided in larc-e 

 quantities, and when they are not thus voided we 

 should be disposed to trace these appearances to 

 other causes. A dose of physic will sometimes 

 bring away almost incredible quantities of them. 

 Calomel is frequenlly given as a vermifuge. The 

 seldomer this drug is administered to the horse the 

 better. It is the principal ingredient in some quack 

 medicines for the exjjulsion of" worms in the human 

 subject, and thence, perhaps, it came to be used 

 for the horse; but in him we believe it to be inert 

 as a vermiiltge, or only useful as quickening the 

 operation of the aloes. When tlie horse can be 

 spared, a strong dose of jjhjsic is an excellent 

 vermifuge, so liir as the long round worm is con- 

 cerned; but perhaps a better medicine, and not in- 

 terfering with either the feeding or work of the 

 horse, is two drachms of emetic tartar, with a 

 scruple of ginger, made into a ball, with linseed 

 meal and treacle, and given every morning half 

 an hour before the horse is fed. 



A smaller, darker colored v>-crm, called the 

 needle worm, or ascaris, inhabils the large intes- 

 tines. Hundreds of them sometimes descend into 

 the rectum, and immense quantities have been 

 found in the coecuni. These are a more seriou.s 

 nuisance than the former, for they cause a very 

 troublesome irritation about the fundament, which 

 sometimes sadly annoys the horse. Their exis- 

 tence can generally be discovered, bj- a small por- 

 tion of mucus, which hardening, is converted into 

 a powder, and is found about tlie anus. Physic 

 will sometimes bring away great numbers of these 

 worms, but when there is much irritation about 

 the tail, and much of this mucus indicating that 

 they have descended into the rectum, an injection 

 of a quart of linseed oil, or of an ounce of aloes 

 dissolved in warm water, will be a more eflfectual 

 remedy. 



The tape worm is seldom found in the hor.so. 



