238 



A DICTIONARY. 



which often depend upon an accumulation 

 of water in the ventricles of the brain, or 

 upon the irritation of worms in the stomach 

 or bowels. During the present year, the 

 author's attention was called to a horse, 

 (the property of jNIr. Downs, of this city ;) 

 the horse was lying down, and at times 

 appeared insensible ; convulsive struggling 

 would take place occasionally. The mus- 

 cles of the eye were affected by spasm, and 

 distorted ; the duration of the fit varied. 

 As the disease progressed, the hind extremi- 

 ties were paralyzed, and the horse would 

 struggle violently at intervals of fifteen 

 minutes. On an examination, after death, 

 nearly a peck-measure-full of the long round 

 worm was found in the small intestines. 

 The author examined the brain of a horse 

 that was said to die in a fit, and found about 

 five ounces of water in the ventricles of the 

 brain. These fits in horses do not exactly 

 resemble those occurring in man. 



Epistaxis. — Bleeding at the nose. This 

 sometimes occurs in glanders, and denotes 

 a considerable idceration within the nostrils. 

 When it happens to a horse in health, it 

 shows an vinequal circulation of the blood. 



Epsom Salts. — Sulphate of magnesia. 

 A neutral salt, often employed as an aperi- 

 ent for cattle ; but it is very uncertain in 

 horses, and is apt to gripe them. 



Eschar. — A slough formed by the appli- 

 cation of caustic. 



Excrescence.— .- Any preternatural for- 

 mation on any part of the body, as warts, 

 wens, etc. 



Exostosis. — An osseous tumor originat- 

 ing from a bone ; such as splent, spavin, 

 ringbone, etc. Perhaps no animal is more 

 subject to this disease than the horse ; and 

 in no department of the veterinary science 

 is there a greater need of reform than in the 

 treatment of the disease now under con- 

 sideration. Almost every man who knows 

 anything about a horse can detect a 

 spavin, etc. ; but not one in a hundred can 

 tell anything about the true nature of the 

 malady, or the indications to be fulfilled in 

 the treatment ; and in consequence of a lack 

 of knowledge on this subject many a poor 



animal has suffered immensely, who, if he 

 was not deprived of the power of speech, 

 w^ould make the cars of his oppressors tingle 

 with a tale of man's barbarity and inconsis- 

 tency. 



The bony structure, being composed of 

 vital solids, although studded with crystal- 

 lizations of saline carbonates and phos- 

 phates, is liable, like other parts of the struc- 

 ture, to take on preternatural or morbid 

 action, and may result from or accompany 

 constitutional idiosyncrasies, resulting from 

 hereditary taints on the side of the dam or 

 stallion. The most frequent causes of 

 splent, spavin, etc., are undue acts of exer- 

 tion on hard pavements, and the imposition 

 of weight disproportioned to the strength of 

 the animal: young horses are particularly 

 liable to exostosis when severely worked or 

 over-burdened. Any sudden or extraordi- 

 nary efforts in backing or suddenly pulling 

 up at full speed, racing before the horse shall 

 have arrived at maturity, while the joints 

 are yet in a state of imperfection, very fre- 

 quently lay the foundation of exostosis. 

 The parts being sprained and taxed beyond 

 endurance, disease is excited in the liga- 

 mentous substance, and extendsitself to the 

 periosteum and bones ; the ligaments often 

 become ossified, and are rendered fixtures ; 

 the periosteum, being raised by bony ac- 

 cumulations, presents itself in the situation 

 of splents, spavin, or ringbone. 



Sir A. Cooper divides exostosis, in refer- 

 ence to its seat, into two kinds, periosteal 

 and medullary ; and again, as to its nature, 

 into cartilaginous and fungous. " But," 

 says Mr. Percivall, " it is to that kind only 

 which is situated between the shell of the 

 bone and the periosteum covering it, that 

 we have to attend in veterinary practice. 

 On dissection we find the periosteum thicker 

 than usual, with cartilage beneath it, and 

 ossific matter within the cartilage, extend- 

 ing from the shell of the bone nearly to the 

 internal surface of the periosteum, still 

 leaving on the surface of the swelling a thin 

 portion of cartilage unossified." 



When the accretion of these swellings 

 ceases, and the disease has been of long 



