508 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



the membrane of the mouth. Blajri, or Glos- 

 santkrax, is a vesicular enlargement which runs 

 along the side of the tongue. Its cause is un- 

 known. It should be lanced freely and deeply, 

 and some aperient medicine administered. — 

 Barbs, or paps, are smaller enlargements, found 

 more in the ueighboihood of the bridle of the 

 tongue. They should never be touched with 

 any instrument ; a little cooling medicine will 

 generally remove them. Lampas is inflamma- 

 tion of the palate, or enlargement of the bars of 

 the palate. The roof of the mouth may be 

 slightly lanced, or a little aperient medicine ad- 

 ministered : but the sensibility of the mouth 

 should never b6 destroyed by the application of 

 the heated iron. Canker and wounds in the 

 mouth from various causes, will be best reme- 

 died by diluted tincture of myrrh, or a weak 

 solution of alum. 



Foreign bodies in the gullet may generally be 

 removed by means of the probang used in the' 

 hoove of cattle ; or the oesophagus may be open- 

 ed, and the obstructing body taken out. 



It is on the mucous membranes that poisons 

 principally exert their influence. The ysw is 

 the most frequent vegetable poison. The horse 

 may be saved by timely recourse to equal parts 

 of vinegar and water injected into the stomach, 

 after the poison has been as much as possible 

 removed by means of the stomath-pump. For 

 arsenic or corrosive sublimate there is rarely 

 any antidote. 



Spasmodic colic is too frequently produced 

 by exposure to cold, or the drinking of cold 

 water, or the use of too much green meat. The 

 horse should be walked about, strong friction 

 used over the belly, and spirit of turpentine 

 given in doses of two ounces, with an ounce 

 each of laudanum and spirit of nitrous ether, in 

 warm water or ale. If the spasm is not soon 

 relieved the animal should be bled, an aloetic 

 ball administered, and injections of warm water 

 with a solution of aloes thrown up. This spas- 

 modic action of the bowels, when long con- 

 tinued, is liable to produce introsusception, or 

 entanglement, of them, and the case is then 

 hopeless. 



Superpnrgation often follows the administra- 

 tion of a too strong or improper dose of physic. 

 The torture wliich it produces will be evident 

 by the agonized expression of the countenance, 

 and the frequent looking at the flanks. Plenty 

 of thin starch or arrow-root should be given 

 both by the mouth and by injection ; and, twelve 

 hours having passed without relief being expe- 

 rienced, chalk, catechu, and opium should be 

 added to the gruel. 



Worms in the intestines are not often produc- 

 tive of much mischief, except they exist in very 

 great quantities. Small doses of emetic tartar 

 with a little ginger may be given to the hor.'Je 

 half an liour before his first meal, in order to ex- 

 pel the round white wonn ; and injections of 

 linseed-oil or aloes will usually remove the as- 

 carides, or needle-worms. 



The respiratory passages are all lined by 

 the mucous membrane. Catarrh, or cold, in- 

 flammation of the upper air passages, should 

 never be long neglected. A few mashes or a 

 little medicine will usually remove it. If it is 

 neglected, and occasionally in defiance of all 

 treatment, it will degenerate into other diseases. 

 The larynx may become the principal seat of 

 inflammation. Larnngitis will be shown by 

 e.xtreme difficulty of breathing, accompanied 

 by a strange roaring noise, and an evident en- 

 (1032) 



largeraent and gi-eat tendemcs.9 of the larynx 

 when felt externally. The windpipe must be 

 opened in such case, and the best advice will 

 be necessary. Sometimes the subdivisions ot 

 the trachea, before or when it first enters the 

 lungs, will be the part affected, and we have 

 bronchitis. This is characterized by a quick 

 and hard breathing, and a peculiar wheezing 

 sound, with the coughmg up of mucus. Here, 

 too, decisive measures must be adopted, and a 

 skihful practitioner employed. His assistance 

 is equally necessary in distemper, influenza, 

 and epidemic catarrh, names indicating varie- 

 ties of the same disease, and the product of at- 

 mospheric influence ; differing to a certain de- 

 gree ill every season, but in all characterized 

 by intense inflammation of the mucous surfaces, 

 and rapid and utter prostration of strength, and 

 in all demanding the abatement of that inflamma- 

 tion, and yet little expenditure of vital power. 



Cough may degenerate into inflammation of 

 the lungs ; or this feart'ul malady may be de- 

 veloped without a single premonitoi-y symptom, 

 and prove fatal in twenty-four or even in twelve 

 hours. It is mostly characterized by deathly 

 coldness of the extremities, expansioai of the 

 nostril, redness of its lining membrane, .singu- 

 larly anxious countenance, constant gazing at 

 the flank, and an, unwillingness to move. A 

 successful treatment of such a case can be found- 

 ed only on the most prompt and fearless and 

 decisive measures. The lancet should be freely 

 used. Counter-irritants should follow as soon 

 as the violence of the disease is in the slightest 

 degree abated ; sedatives must succeed to them, 

 and fortunate will he be who oflen saves his 

 patient after all the decisive symptoms of pneu- 

 monia are once developed. 



Among the consequences of these severe af- 

 fections of the lungs are chronic cough, not al- 

 ways much diminishing the usefulness of the 

 horse, but strangely aggravated at times by any 

 fresh accession of catarrh, and too often degen- 

 erating into thick wind which always material- 

 ly interferes with the speed of the horse, and in 

 a great proportion of cases terminates in broken 

 wind. It is rare indeed that either of these dis- 

 eases admits of cure. That obstruction in some 

 part of the respiratory canal, which vaines in al- 

 most every horse, and produces the peculiar 

 sound termed roaring, is also rarely removed. 



Glanders, the most destructive of all diseases 

 to which the horse is expo.sed, is the conse- 

 quence of breathing the atmosphere of foul and 

 vitiated stable.s. It is the winding up of almost 

 everj- other disease, and in every stage it is 

 most contagious. Its most prominent symptoms 

 are a small but constant discharge of sticky 

 matter from the nose ; an enlargement and in- 

 duration of the glands beneath and within the 

 lower javv', on one or both sides, and, before the 

 termination of die disease, chancrous inflamnia- 

 tioc of the nostril on the same side with the en- 

 larged gland. Its contagiousness should never 

 be forgotten, for if a glandercd horse is once in- 

 troduced into a stable, almost every inhabitant 

 of that stable will, sooner or later, become in- 

 fected and die. 



Tiie urinary and genital organs are also lined 

 by mucous membranes. The horse is subject to 

 iuflamviat/on of the kidneys from eating musty 

 oats or mowburnt hay, or from exposure to cold 

 and injuries of the loins. Bleeding, physic, and 

 counter irritants over the region of the loins 

 should be had recourse to. Dialetes, or profuse 

 staling, is difllcult to treat. The inflammation 



