9 6 



HORSE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



stituted for the laudanum with advant- 

 age. 



In diarrhoea resulting from cold, or 

 over-exertion, the treatment should be 

 exactly like that prescribed for superpur- 

 gation, but it will sometimes be necessary 

 to give chalk in addition to the remedies 

 there alluded to. The rice or flour-milk 

 may be administered as food, and the 

 following drench given by itself every 

 time there is a discharge of liquid faeces : 



Take of Powdered Opium - - - i drachm. 



Tincture of Catechu - • % ounce. 



Chalk Mixture - - - - I pint. 

 Mix and give as a drench. 



During the action of these remedies 

 the body must be kept warm by proper 

 clothing, and the legs should be encased 

 in flannel bandages, previously made hot 

 at the fire, and renewed as they become 

 cold. 



In dysentery (or molten grease) it is 

 often necessary to take a little blood away, 

 if there is evidence of great inflammation 

 in the amount of mucus surrounding the 

 faeces, and when aperient medicine does 

 not at once put a stop to the cause of 

 irritation by bringing the lumps away 

 from the cells of the colon. Back-raking, 

 and injection of two ounces of laudanum 

 and a pint of castor oil with gruel, should 

 be adopted in the first instance, but they 

 will seldom be fully efficient without the 

 aid of linseed oil given by the mouth. A 

 pint of this, with half a pint of good cas- 

 tor oil, will generally produce a copious 

 discharge of lumps, and then the irrita- 

 tion ceases without requiring any further 

 interference. 



Whenever there is diarrhea or dysen- 

 tery present to any extent, rice-water 

 should be the sole drink. 



HORSE Strangulation and Rupture. — 

 Mechanical violence is done to the stom- 

 ach and bowels in various ways, but in 

 every case the symptoms will be those of 

 severe inflammation of the serous coat, 

 speedily followed by death, if not relieved 

 when relief is possible. Sometimes the 

 stomach is ruptured from over-distension 

 — at others the small intestines have been 

 known to share the same fate, but the 

 majority of cases are due to strangulation 

 of a particular portion of the bowels, by 

 being tied or pressed upon by some sur- 

 rounding band. This may happen either 

 from a loop of bowel being forced through 



an opening in the mesentery or meso- 

 colon, or from a band of organized lymph, 

 the result of previous inflammation — or 

 from one portion of the bowels forcing 

 itself into another, like the inverted finger 

 of a glove, and the included portion be- 

 ing firmly contracted upon by the exter- 

 ior bowel, so as to produce dangerous 

 pressure (intussusception), or, lastly, from 

 a portion or knuckle of intestine forcing 

 its way through an opening in the walls 

 of the abdomen, and then called hernia or 

 rupture, which being pressed upon by the 

 edges of the opening becomes strangu- 

 lated, and if not relieved inflames, and 

 then mortifies. None of these cases are 

 amenable to treatment (and indeed they 

 cannot often be discovered with certainty 

 during life, the symptoms resembling those 

 of enteritis), except strangulated hernia, 

 which should be reduced either by the 

 pressure of the hands, or by the aid of 

 an operation with the knife — which will 

 be described under the chapter which 

 treats of the several operations. When- 

 ever inflammation of the bowels is attend- 

 ed with obstinate constipation, the walls 

 of the abdomen should be carefully ex- 

 amined, and especially the inguinal canal, 

 scrotum, and navel, at which points in 

 most cases the hernia makes it appear- 

 ance. A swelling at any other part may, 

 however, contain a knuckle of intestine, 

 which has found its way through the ab- 

 dominal parietes in consequence of a 

 natural opening existing there, or of one 

 having been made by some accidental 

 puncture with a spike of wood or iron. 

 The swelling is generally round, or nearly 

 so, and gives a drum-like sound on being 

 tapped with the fingers. It feels hard to 

 the touch in consequence of the contents 

 being constricted, but it gives no sensation 

 of solidity, and may be generally detected 

 by these signs. None but an educated 

 hand can, however, be relied on to dis- 

 tinguish a ventral hernia from any other 

 tumor. When it occurs at the scrotum or 

 navel the case is clear enough. 



HORSE, Worms. — Intestinal worms in 

 the horse are chiefly of two species, both 

 belonging to the genus ascaris. Bots, as 

 inhabiting the stomach, have already been 

 described with that organ; and, moreover, 

 they should never be confounded with 

 what are called properly and scientifical- 

 ly, " worms." Of these, the larger spe- 



