44 THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 



gers, especially in the mad symptoms, is highly neces- 

 sary ; the next thing is to unload the stomach and 

 intestines by an active purge, and give that which acts 

 quickest, as in many cases if relief be not speedy a 

 fatal termination of the disease may ensue ; the clyster 

 should be used also, as a more speedy way of clearing 

 away the hard dung balls consequent on the excessive 

 costiveness with which this disease is invariably at- 

 tended. 



Barbadoes aloes - - - 1 ounce, 

 Calomel _ - . - 2 drachms, 

 may be given either in a ball or drink ; if this does not 

 act, a quarter of an ounce of the aloes may be judi- 

 ciously repeated every three or four hours, till purging 

 commences. Blisters m^ade of cantharides may be ap- 

 plied to the head when the disease is more especially 

 seated in that part ; and after the purgation has been 

 effected, such medicines as foxglove, tartar emetic, 

 &c., may be given two or three tirnes through the 

 day ; these will decrease the force of a too rapid cir- 

 culation of the blood and its termination to the head. 

 The croton nut is given in a drink as an active purge 

 in some cases, the first dose being half a drachm, 

 which may be repeated occasionally to the amount 

 of eight or ten grains. It is a good practice to keep 

 the horse without his food for some time after an at- 

 tack, and then commence with bran-mashes. Preven^ 

 tion is better than a cure — and certainly this disease 

 is generally produced through inattention and care- 

 lessness. Farmers, and those who work their horses 

 daily, ought never to suffer them to go more than five 

 or six hours without being fed ; and nothing sooner 

 produces disease than the habitual practice of allowing 

 their animals to fast during the whole of a day's work, 

 and thus not only injuring them, but subjecting them- 



