DISEASES OF THE LIVER AND KIDNEYS. 300 



colon, but by waiting a week or ten days (during which time they 

 will have re-entered the rectum) and then repeating the process, 

 they may generally be entirely expelled. The sulphate of iroa 

 must be given here, as before described. 



DISEASES OF THE LIVER. 



The liver op the horse is less liable to disease than that <)t 

 any other domestic animal, and the symptoms of its occurrence 

 are so obscure that it is seldom until a post-mortem examination 

 that a discovery is made of its existence. This unerring guide, 

 however, informs us that the liver is sometimes unnaturally en- 

 larged and hard, at others softened, and in others again the sub- 

 ject of cancerous deposits. It is also attacked by inflammation, 

 of which the symptoms are feverishness; rapid pulse, not hard and 

 generally fuller than usual ; appetite bad ; restlessness, and the 

 patient often looking round to his right side with an anxious ex- 

 pression, not indicative of severe pain. Slight tenderness of the 

 right side; but this not easily made out satisfactorily. Bowels 

 generally confined, but there is sometimes diarrhoea. Very fre- 

 quently the whites of the eyes show a tinge of yellow, but any- 

 thing like jaundice is unknown. The treatment must consi<;t in 

 the use of calomel and opium, with mild purging, thus : — 



Take of Calomel, 



Powdered Opium, of each one drachm. 



Linseed Meal and boiling water enough to make into a ball, 

 which should be given night and morning. Every other dav 

 a pint of Linseed Oil should be administered. 



The diet should if possible be confined to green food, which will do 

 more good than medicine ; indeed, in fine weather, a run at grass 

 during the day should be preferred to all other remedies, taking 

 care to shelter the horse at night in an airy loose-box. 



DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS. 



These organs are particularly prone to disease, and are subject 

 to inflammation ; to diabetes, or profuse staling ; to haematuria, or 

 a discharge of blood, and to torpidity, or inaction. 



Inflammation op the kidneys {nephritis') is generally pro- 

 duced by an exposure of the loins to wet and cold, as in carriage- 

 horses standing about in the rain during the winter season. Some- 

 times it follows violent muscular exertion, and is then said to be 

 caused by a strain in the back, but in these cases there is probably 

 an exposure to cold in a state of exhaustion, or by the rupture of 

 a branch of the renal artery or vein, as the inflammation of one 

 organ can scarcely be produced by the strain of another. The 

 fymptoms are a constant desire to void the urine, which is of a 

 var^ dark color — often almost black. Great pain, as evidenced bv 

 2a 



