MEDICAL TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 457 



" soon as fluctuation can be perceived, the swelling should be 

 " lanced, and a rowel introduced, to keep the abscess open and 

 " the discharge flowing for a few days. The animal should have 

 " walking exercise, and be treated with green food until the 

 " symptoms abate, when he will require liberal and generous food 

 " to recruit his strength. 



" Worms are sometimes troublesome to a horse, but in a far 

 *' less degree than is generally supposed. Botts have long since 

 " been proved to be perfectly harmless while they are within the 

 *' stomach, — all the stories of their eating through its coats being 

 " pure wy/Zij,' although they are very often troublesome after they 

 " have passed out of the oesophagus and rectum, and begin to 

 " adhere to the orifice of the anus. Common purgatives will 

 " often bring away vast numbers of the long, white worm, teres 

 " lumhricus^ which occasionally, when existing in great numbers, 

 *' consume too large a proportion of the animal's food, and pro- 

 " duce a tight skin, a tucked-up belly, and a rough coat. Calo- 

 " mel should never be given, as it too frequently is, for the 

 " removal of these worms, which will readily yield to balls of two 

 " drams of tartar emetic, one scruple of ginger, with molasses and 

 " linseed oil quantum suff.^ given alternate mornings, half an 

 " hour before feeding time. The smaller worm, ascaris^ which 

 *' often causes serious irritation about the fundament, is best re- 

 " moved by injecting a quart of linseed oil, or an ounce of aloes 

 " dissolved in warm water, which is a most effectual remedy. 



" Diseases of the Bladder are many, serious, and often 

 " mistreated. They require, however, so much skill and so ac- 

 " curate a diagnosis, that none but a regular practitioner should 

 " pretend to treat them. Simple difliculty of staling can generally 

 "be relieved by cleansing the sheath with the Rand, and giving 

 "gentle doses of niter. These are most of the simpler diseases 

 " which may be simply and successfully treated at home, and with 

 "which every horsekeeper ought to be at least superficially and 

 "generally acquainted. We shall touch upon the subjects of ac- 

 " cidents, strains, simple lameness, contusions, and the like, which 

 " can often be perfectly cured by cold lotions, or simple warm 



