120 DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS, ETC. 



but is here mentioned to guard against a brutal prac- 

 tice commonly resorted to by farriers as a cure for the 

 disorder. 



The groom complains that his charge is "off his 

 feed," and fancies that the palate is swollen more than 

 usual — the fact being that he never examined it at any 

 other time ; and the farrier proceeds to cure the rejec- 

 tion of food by searing the poor beast's mouth with a 

 red-hot iron, or scarifying it with a knife. The reason- 

 able treatment of an ailment proceeding from heat or 

 disorder of the stomach will be to withhold all heating 

 food, at all events to a great extent, giving occasional 

 mashes, also tonics and alteratives, the latter to those 

 of full habit, the former in cases of evident debility. 



DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE AND UKINARY 

 ORGANS. 



Diarrhoea and Dysentery. — The first (diarrhoea, or 

 mere looseness) is, in the horse, seldom more than a tem- 

 porary debility. In many cases it is an effort of nature 

 to relieve herself, and will probably effect its own cure. 



The symptoms require no definition, except that it 

 may be remarked that they are almost invariably unac- 

 companied by pain or any other inconvenience. Rest, 

 and the use of more astringent food, and leaving a piece 

 of chalk in the manger (which, with horses subject to 

 diarrhoea, should never be absent), will in all probability 

 arrest the attack, which may, to a certain extent, proceed 

 from a predisposition to acidity. 



Animals disposed to this disease should be fed on a 

 drier description of food. 



