*298 THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIKRV. 



in such high condition as maiUcoach horses, that are 

 well fed, and kept in cool stables, and that travel a 

 certain number of miles regularly every day, and these 

 horses are seldom or never purged, except in cases 

 of worms or greasy heels. 



Dr. Bracken, who was a great sportsman, and a 

 great enemy to this indiscriminate practice of purging, 

 cites a case of a mare of his own which he had run for 

 six years, having in that time only given her two 

 purges. He also states that she had no medicine 

 whatever during that period, except about the bigness 

 of a pigeon's e^^ of cordial ball occasionally, and that 

 she performed as well as most of her neighbours, 

 having won eight plates out of nine every year. 



Mr. Clark of Edinburgh, also makes some very 

 judicious observations on the abuse of purging me- 

 dicines. Speaking on this subject, he says, ' It may 

 be of use to the young practitioner to explain what is 

 meant by the phrase of the humours falling down; but 

 at the same time I must inform him that this phrase 

 is so generally in use, that when a horse's eyes are 

 affected, the humours are said to fall down into them, 

 although they are situated nearly in the most elevated 

 parts of the body. But to explain their falling down 

 to the extremities I shall take a case that frequently 

 occurs. When a horse that is in the highest state 

 of health, but is too fat and full of juices, and ac- 

 customed to stand much at rest, is suddenly put to 

 violent and long-continued exercise, his legs will be 

 apt to swell soon after ; they will, perhaps, continue in 

 that state for some time ; they may at last break out 

 in running sores about his heels, and form cracks, &c. 

 When in this situation, it is said that the humours 

 have fallen do rn in the legs. Here a question na- 

 turally occurs where were those humours before the 



