^ EFFUSION. INSENSIBLE PERSPIRATION. 



fine coateil horse shine through as white as milk. Again, on over-working 

 the horse, so much of the joint-oil is sometimes drawn off by perspiration, that 

 he becomes stiff in the knees, for want of that softening quality which kept 

 the parts supple ; we feel the same ourselves upon such occasions ; and in 

 taking off the knee or the hough of a permanently " stiff-jointed" horse, 1 have 

 invariably found the joint-oil affected ; in very bad cases it no longer existed. 

 During life, the escape of this oil, by reason of wounds (as bad broken knees), 

 leave the joint stiff. Further comment on its uses is unnecessary ; but those 

 facts should teach his owners a practical lesson of moderation. 



On the subject of absorption of these secretions, I noticed many years ago, a 

 very ingenious reason assigned for " lameness of the fore legs, of English 

 horses particularly," in the great work of La Fosse, the elder, on what he 

 calls " Hippo-|)athology," or the diseases of horses. He says, " The fluids 

 which did lubricate the parts (the shoulders) and keep them supple, oeing 

 reduced in quantity, the food flying off by sweat, the remainder gets thicker in 

 consequence, and the solids of his limbs become stiff and dry." it happens, 

 mostly in the fore limbs, and he calls it a cold or chill, and says, page 267, it 

 resembles a " stroke of the shoulder," — " Chevalfroid et pris dans les epau- 

 les.'' A species of founder, that is clearly not to be cured by external appli- 

 cations, (as the oils, firing, &c). but by restoring to the part the function of 

 secreting a sufficient supply of the fluid which had been so exhausted. In 

 these few words are included the whole secret of my method of cure in such 

 attacks; and, in this case, gentle sweating is that remedy which is best calcu- 

 lated for restoring the function. 



22. When the skin does not permit evaporation, and sends forth the secre- 

 tion by perspiration, disease has begun, the hair looks staring near the part 

 ttffected, and not a stable-boy exists, who, when he sees a horse with a rough 

 coat, can not tell that "something or other is the matter with him." This 

 arises from want of moisture within ; the skin itself not having the power of 

 secreting or drawing towards it, by effusion, the moisture which is necessary 

 to keep it supple, it shrivels up, and this important evacuation, which is 

 second only to the urinary, is then stopped, so that even the insensible perspi- 

 ration ceases. Some idea respecting the amount of this insensible evacuation 

 may be formed, by placing a horse, that has been exercised, between ourselves 

 and a well white-washed wall upon which the sun shines : when the shadow 

 of the insensible perspiration may be seen upon the wall ascending in tolera- 

 bly thick volumes, something very like steam from a boiling pot. Indeed, the 

 insensible perspiration is, when cpmpared to sweating, the same as warm 

 compared to boiling water. 



Yet, although we do not know the exact workings by which this internal 

 effusion (as it is called) of the watery particles from one part of the animal to 

 another takes place, we do know, accurately enough for our purpose, that 

 abundantly perspirable matter lies in and upon the intestines; as any affec- 

 tion of the heart, arising from the organs of sense (sect. 30), causes a sudden 

 sufl'usion of blood in the skin, and induces heat and irritation there ;* so do 

 I he intestines send forth their watery particles upon the slightest occasion, to 

 the same place of exit, in order to moisten and render it more supple. 

 Whether the very transparent membrane, called peritoneum, which sustains 

 the bowels, or that other large part of it which covers these and all parts of 



" fear, for instance, of the dealer's whip often occasions the skin to contract and expand, so 

 ax to cause the tail to shake with every alternate vibration of the heart ; and I once rode with a 

 Jjw, a right-out jt.urney of forty-four miles, who whipped and spurred his hor&e to such a 

 egroe, that the liairs actually fell oft' from his tail, ex<-epia few at the end, an occurrence that ia 

 ttially a.scribed to scrophula on ihe horse's hide: a disorder it niisht have also laboared under, 

 •* Hughl I know -.0 I'i.i contrary. 



