50 OF BILE-EXCESS AND DEFECTIVE; SYMPTOMS AND CURE. 



to carry it offj it may easily be foreseen, would be the harbinger of jaundice; 

 an»l its approach may be discerned by the yellowness of the eyes, by the in- 

 creased number and thinness of the animal's dungings, and the constant emp- 

 tiness of its belly, which both feels and looks loose and flabby. On the con- 

 trary, too little bile, must leave the intestines without the requisite stimulus 

 to expel their contend which, soon getting dry and hard, a constipation 

 usually follows, that defies the remedy by purgatives: nor is the operation of 

 backraking with clysters always of effectual service. Whichever extreme af- 

 fects the liver, the patient becomes weak: but in case of deficiency, though 

 he may look more brisk for a few days, stretching his hind legs out when un- 

 employed, he afterwards becomes feverish, hot under the tongue, sluggish and 

 dull in the eyes. Schirrous liver — a corrosion or rustiness of its fine surface, 

 accompanies this deficiency of bile, and when it recurs often, the disease be- 

 comes permanent; but whether caused by, or causing the same, I am unable 

 to ascertain. Ulcerated liver is occasioned by a too great heat in this organ: 

 if occurring upon its thin extremity, the disorder cures itself by a natural 

 operation, i. e. by adhesion to the gut, and passing oR by stool ; but when 

 seated higher up, it terminates fatally, by wholly debihtating the system, and 

 sooner or later destroys the patient. 



The preparations of mercury, before alluded to, act variously upon the sys- 

 tem, according to the mode of exhibition the practitioner may adopt : in the 

 form of calomel it assists the liver to discharge its functions by lowering its 

 tone ; the blue pill (pilul. hydrarg.) is finely adapted to solve the crudities of 

 stomach and bowels in carnivorous animals, but has never been extensively 

 tried on the horse. For any disease of the whole system, or "bad habit of 

 body," as Richard Lawrence properly calls that predisposed state of it which 

 ultimately produceth tumours, grease, fistula, farcy — mercury, in all its va- 

 rious shapes, is the only specific. 



Too great a secretion of the bile, although it pass oflf, produces a roughish 

 meagre coat first about the belly ; the patient becomes languid, especially after 

 being compelled to any great exertion, when he perspires too readily on the 

 carcass, his manner is uneasy, and after a while, partial hide-bound commen 

 ces under the chest. Should the bile be of a less acrimonious nature, those 

 symptoms are then perceptible lower down (i. e. farther back), and when his 

 eyes appear yellowish, it is then a confirmed jaundice ; but in very bad cases, 

 producing death, people vulgarly call it "broken hearted," because commonly 

 brought about by bad usage*. 



Inflammation of the liver generally accompanies those appearances; but 

 we can not be certain, though it is to be presumed, that inflammation is always 

 consequent upon an over-quantity of secretion. After much procrastination, 

 medicinal remedies are of little avail when tried on the most extensive scale, 

 although no disorder to which the horse is liable is easier of cure, if it be 

 taken m time : the patient requires only a treatment directly the reverse of 

 that which brought on his ailments, and he gets well, almost of course. 

 Regular work, moderate feeding, and tolerable behaviour comprise these na- 

 tural remedies : they are usually found efficacious in the earlier stages of the 

 disorder, and then only. But those natural remedies being neglected, and al- 

 teratives (the assistants of nature) never thought of, languor of the whole 

 system prevails sooner or later, and the best of medicines fail to act by reason 

 of that languor. The absorbents are then accused of not performing their 



* Snice writing the above, I have ascertained upon the view, that a horse, ranlcling undei 

 tl.n effects of maltreatment, absolutely broke the cells of his heart through high-spirited cha 

 grin. The case is described much at large in the " Annals of Sponing," for July 1822, a pape* 

 which I was induced to draw up at the instance of my friend John Bee, Esq., who was preseij- 

 HI the death ndtheilissection 



