THE HORSE. 79 



from a veterinary snrgeon, particularly describing the unsoundness, 

 must accompany the horse so returned ; when, if it be agreed to by the 

 veterinary surgeon of the establishment, the amount received for the 

 horse shall be immediately paid back; but if the veterinary surgeon of 

 the establishment should not confirm the certificate, then, in order to 

 avoid further dispute, one of the veterinary surgeons of the college 

 shall be called in, and his decision shall be final, and the expense of 

 such umpire shall be borne by the party in error." 



DISEASES OP THE HORSE AND THEIR TREATMENT.— This work, not 

 being prepared for the veterinary practitioner, but for all horse owners, 

 our aim, therefore, in arranging this part of it will be to make them 

 acquainted with the causes, nature, and remedies of the diseases of the 

 horse, so that they may avoid the causes, detect the existence of disease, 

 and themselves apply the remedies, or secure their application by ex- 

 perienced persons. 



It may be readily supposed that the animal doomed to the manner 

 of living which every variety of the horse experiences, will be peculiarly 

 exposed to numerous forms of suffering ; every natural evil will be 

 aggravated, and many new and formidable sources of pain and death 

 will be superadded. 



The principal diseases of the horse are connected with the circulatory 

 system. From the state of habitual excitement in which the animal is 

 kept, in order to enable him to execute his task, the heart and blood- 

 vessels will often act too impetuously ; the vital fluid will be hurried along 

 too rapidly, either through the frame generally, or some particular part 

 of it, and there will be congestion^ accumulation of blood in that part, 

 or inJlammatio7i, either local or general, disturbing the functions of 

 some organ, or of the whole frame. 



Congestion. — Take a young horse on his first entrance into the stables ; 

 feed him somewhat highly, and what is the consequence ? He has 

 swellings of the legs, or inflammation of the joints, or perhaps of the 

 lungs. Take a horse that has lived somewhat above his work, and gal- 

 lop him to the top of his speed : his nervous system becomes highly 

 excited — the heart beats with fearful rapidity — the blood is pumped 

 into the lungs faster than they can discharge it — the pulmonary vessels 

 become gorged, fatigued, and utterly powerless — the blood, arrested in 

 in its course, becomes viscid, and death speedily ensues. We have but 

 one chance of saving our patient — the instantaneous and copious extrac- 

 tion of blood ; and only one means of preventing the recurrence of this 

 dangerous state ; namely, not suffering too great an accumulation of 

 the sanguineous fluid by over-feeding, and by regular and systematic 

 exercise, which will inure the circulatory vessels to prompt and eflScient 

 action when they are suddenly called upon to exert themselves. This 

 is an extreme case, but the cause and the remedy are sufficiently plain. 



Again, the brain has functions of the most important nature to dis- 

 charge, and more blood flows through it than through any other por- 

 tion of the frame of equal bulk. In order to prevent this organ from 

 being oppressed by a too great determination of blood to it, the vessels 

 although numerous, are small, and pursue a very circuitous and winding 

 course. If a horse highly fed and full of blood is suddenly and sharply 



