USES OF SECRETIONS: REDUNDANT; AND DEFECTrVK 23 



sequel to the same origin ; the first being local, or pertaining to some particular 

 organ or part, whilst lever j)erva(Jes the whole system, and the solids in par- 

 ticular. The total absence of perspirable matter marks both diseases 



On the other hand, when too much of this fluid is secreted, and remains 

 unabsorbed, disease ensues ; upon the heart it forms " droi)sy of the covering 

 of the heart;" on the covering of the lungs it becomes "dropsy of the chest;'- 

 in the membrane of the belly it forms " ascites," or dropsy of that part, and 

 usually falls into the scrotum. The powers of medicine have hitherto proved 

 of no avail in the first description of ailments; and are but partially applicable 

 to the last mentioned ; the operation of tapping too frequently disafipointsour 

 hopes, to induce us to rely upon it as any other than a temporary relief, and 

 it is, therefore, seldom or ever applied to the horse. Thus, in whichever way 

 we view this important secretion, its eminence must strike us as quite equal 

 to any other. Whenever obstruction in this part of the system takes plav'e 

 in the horse, the consequent adhesion of the parts being invisible, he gets 

 worse used by his inexorable master for his inability to perform his usual 

 work, and he soon falls a victim to the lash, the spur, and the bit. At the 

 joints, this fluid is considered to be an oil (cynovia); at the heart it is con- 

 fessedly nothing but water: whilst it partakes of a mucous, or slimy nature 

 at some other parts of the body. This is the case with the membranes of the 

 throat and gullet ; on those of the nostrils, the heat of the horse's breath con- 

 verts it into a ^^ viscid mu'cus;" when the secreted watery particles come oflf 

 by sweating, it assumes a white or milky appearance, after a little time ap- 

 pearing thicker and more slimy as the sweating continues, and the watery 

 particles becoming less and less, its fluidity is also lessened. See membranes, 

 sect. 26, 



21. In all animals, the secretion of this watery fluid is carried on by the 

 membranes, which are thin films placed between the various organs, over the 

 bones and among the fleshy parts. These not only secrete, but sustain the 

 fluid in its place, for the purposes above mentioned, and being of various tex- 

 ture or fineness, the fluid that is so secreted and held to its pur[x)se by each, 

 partakes more or less of water, is more or less slimy, or consists more or less 

 of an oily nature, according to the use it may be designed for. Each kind of 

 membrane, and its proper secretion, has received a learned name, — the first 

 being called serous, the second mucous, the third fibrous ; but, having re- 

 solved to abandon learned words, whenever the thing can be understood as 

 well without them, I find less occasion for introducing them here than is ge- 

 nerally practised. For, the peculiar nature of the horse having assimulated 

 together, by its action, the three kinds of secretion more so than is the case 

 with other animals ; and its habits contributing as much more to the hasty 

 calling off of one kind of fluid from certain parts to the assistance of another 

 part, which may have been exhausted of its kind ; and as the treatment of the 

 horse in all cases of a disordered secretion of these fluids is the same through- 

 out, the action of medicine upon one always affording the assistance to ano- 

 ther (as 1 shall prove shortly), there is no such necessity for carrying the 

 distinction farther in horse -medicine, although it may be so in the human 

 practice. 



Perspiration is always at a great height in the horse ; it is one of th«* 

 chief means of cure in most of his disorders, and consists in drawing tho 

 watery secretions from all parts of the body. These pass to the surface 

 'eadily, coming through the membranes from the joints, the solidsj the bowels, 

 and their coverings; as may be noticed in the case of hide-bound, apon open- 

 ing the animals that die in this state of exhausted nature; the me>-entt:ry 

 canal (hereafter described) is invariably discovered with yellowness, being, a« 

 times, almost orange colour; but 1 have as constantly found the iacteals of a 



