456 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



" tain medicine. Linseed oil is not much better. Olive oil is 

 " safe, but weak. Epsom salt is inefficient, except in enormous 

 " doses, and is then dangerous. It is, however, excellent, given 

 " in clysters of weak gruel, which, by the way, except where 

 " very searching and thorough purging is required, as in cases of 

 " mange or grease, is by far the safest, most agreeable, and mild- 

 " est way of purging the horse, and evacuating his bowels. 

 " Where, however, his intestines are overloaded with fat, where 

 " he shows signs of surfeit, or where it is necessary to prepare 

 "him to undergo some great change of system, as from a long 

 " run at grass to a hot stable, or vice versa^ a mild course of two 

 " or three doses of physic, with a clear interval of a week between 

 " the setting of one dose and the giving of another, is necessary, 

 " and cannot be properly dispensed with. 



" CosTiVENESS. — Ordinary cases can generally be conquered 

 " without medicine, by diet, such as hop or bran mashes, green 

 " meat, and carrots ; but where it is obstinate, the rectum should 

 " be cleared of dry faeces by passing the naked arm, well greased, 

 " up the anus ; and the bowels should be then thoroughly evacu- 

 " ated by clysters of thin gruel, with half an ounce of Barbadoes 

 " aloes, or half a pound of Epsom salts dissolved in it. If the 

 " patent syringe be used, the injection will reach the colon and 

 " coecum, and dispose them also to evacuate their contents." 



" Strangles, or colt-distemper, is a disease which shows itself 

 ' in all young horses, and from which, when they have once 

 ' passed through its ordeal, they have no more to fear. It is pre- 

 ' ceded by some derangement of circulation, quickening of the 

 ' pulse, some fever, cough, and sore throat. The parts around 

 ' the throat swell, the maxillary glands are swollen and tender, 

 ' and sometimes the parotids also. The animal refuses to drink, 

 ' and often declines his food. There is a flow of saliva from the 

 ' mouth, and a semi-purulent discharge from the nose. The 

 'jaws, throat, and glands of the neck should be poulticed with 

 ' steaming mashes, the skin stimulated by means of a liquid blis- 

 ' ter, and the head steamed in order to promote suppuration. As 



