224 



A DICTIONARY. 



twisted, but the latter is apt to make the 

 mouth callous ; it consists of two pieces, 

 having a sort of hinge joint in the centre. 

 When used for the purpose of breaking 

 young colts, it should be made large, so as 

 not to hurt the mouth. The form of the 

 curb bit resembles somewhat the letter H. 

 The bridle is fastened to the side pieces, 

 which act as levers of different powers, ac- 

 cording to the distance from the cross-bar, 

 to which the bridle is attached. The hu- 

 mane man will never inflict unnecessary 

 severity on the horse, and will avoid contin- 

 ual strain on the reins or bridle, which, 

 aside from the torture they inflict, tend to 

 render the horse's mouth callous. The best 

 form of bit, and the most simple, is the stiff, 

 arched bit. The author has seen a very fine 

 specimen of this article, manufactm-ed by 

 Messrs. Hannaford & Hsley, of this city. 

 The centre piece is large and curved ; the 

 checks are movable, and their upper ends 

 curved outwards, which prevents their injur- 

 ing the cheek bones. It is very important 

 that a horse should be properly bitted; 

 many docile horses are rendered stubborn 

 and unmanageable, by having a bit that is 

 too narrow. INIany young horses are injm-ed 

 while they are teething, and the mouth is 

 tender, by bearing too hard on the rein. 

 The author would suggest a tiial of an 

 Lidia rubber centre piece, in such cases. 



Bite of any Rabid Animal. — In most 

 works on veterinary science, the writers re- 

 commend excision, or cutting out the bitten 

 part, and afterwards cauterizing with the 

 firing iron ; but this method is very unsatis- 

 factory, and only puts the animal to unne- 

 cessary torment. The morbid matter from 

 a rabid animal is generally taken up by the 

 absorbents, sometimes in a few seconds, 

 and the operation of cauterizing would then 

 be of no avail. The treatment we recom- 

 mend is, to dose the animal with a tea of 

 lobelia ; half a pound of the herb and seed 

 may be steeped in two quarts of scalding 

 water, and given in doses of half a pint, at 

 intervals of an hour. A large poultice of 

 the same should be bound on the bitten 

 part, and kept in contact with the parts by 



bandages, and the poultice renewed every 

 six hours, until all signs of poisoning disap- 

 pear. The animal should be kept on scalded 

 shorts, in moderate quantities. 



Bladder. — The bladder is a musculo- 

 membranous bag, situated, when empty, in 

 the cavity of the pelvis. Its use is to con- 

 tain the urine, which flows into it through 

 the m'eters, from the kidneys. It is divided 

 into three parts, viz., the fundus or bottom, 

 the body, and the neck. When full, the 

 fundus of the bladder protrudes out of the 

 pelvis, into the abdominal cavity ; it then 

 receives a covering from the peritoneum. 

 Its other coats are an internal mucous mem- 

 brane, and an external muscular coat, formed 

 of two distinct sets of fibres ; the one lon- 

 gitudinal, and the other circular. The 

 former are thickest about the fundus, the 

 latter about the neck or cervix, — which, by 

 this arrangement, is always kept closed, 

 except dm-ing the time of voiding the mine. 

 On opening horses that have died from 

 accident, we sometimes find the bladder 

 empty, and its muscular fibres so condensed 

 that it appears like a solid mass of small 

 dimensions ; such is the contractile power 

 of its muscular coat, by which, with some 

 assistance from the abdominal muscles and 

 diaphragm, the urine is expelled. The 

 author has opened several horses that have 

 died from lockjaw, and found the bladder 

 distended to its utmost capacity, containing 

 about a gallon and a half of dark-colored 

 fluid, resembling coffee-grounds. In one 

 case, the muscular fibres about the neck 

 of the bladder were lacerated by the over- 

 distention and spasm of the neck of that 

 organ. When horses are accustomed to 

 drink too much water, without being al- 

 lowed to stale often enough at work, the 

 bladder becomes over-distended, and often 

 paralysis, weakness, or local debility sets 

 in, and the neck of the bladder becomes at 

 length so relaxed as to be unable to offer 

 sufficient resistance to the muscles that pro- 

 pel the urine into the urethra, so that it is 

 constantly dribbling off as fast as it is 

 secreted. This is termed incontinence of 

 mine. 



