116 cau.:e.s or ^oll-evil cure by dispersion. 



warm weather, or after lirit^k work, at feeling the reins that run through theif 

 head-harness to the leaders : this action is performed, as the reader will have 

 iearnl, by the action of the cervicular ligament, the upper end whereof termi- 

 nates where the ear-band rests, and perhaps pinches the part. Horses that 

 are given to shy are likely to contract poll-evil when hanging back, and throw- 

 ing up the head with a jerk. 



But the most prolific cause of poll-evil I am inclined to attribute to the low 

 stable door-way, whereby the animal gets many a trivial hit at going in and 

 coming out; next in point of frequency is that brutal mode of attacking res- 

 tive horses about the head with the butt end of the whip. Education of the 

 lower classes has effected the abatement of this as well as many other unfeel- 

 ing practices. Ofttimes, the edges of the ear-band, being sharp, create a 

 painful itching, then soreness and irritation about the part, as does also the 

 showy tip, or "cutting at a fly," practised by our flashy four-in-hand men, 

 who may have discovered that touching up the animal in such a vulnerable 

 part is "sure to make him go along." Stage-coach horses, however, do not 

 now acquire poll-evil, so far as I can learn, like what they did formerly; for 

 the great expedition these vehicles are constrained to, compels the proprietors 

 to use better bred cattle than their predecessors — those that are less indolent, not 

 so heavy in the hand, nor sluggish, consequently not so liable to contract dis- 

 eases incident to a bad habit of body, or vitiated state of the blood, like poll- 

 evil and its nauseous train of co-existent evils, that we shall proceed to take 

 into consideration one after another. 



Symptoms. — At first the animal appears restless, throwing his head back 

 and returning it to the former position, as if the efforts had oc(^sioned pain. 

 Soon after, it droops the head, holding it now on one side, now on the other ; 

 appears dull about the eyes, and becomes sluggish in its movements. In this 

 state it continues a longer or shorter time (even weeks) as the violence may 

 have been greater or less that brought about the evil ; the time depending alsc 

 in some measure on the height of the pulse : a languid system making of 

 course the slowest advances towards bringing the abscess to maturity. Thif 

 uneasiness of manner is accompanied by heat, swelling, and shortly by ten- 

 sion of the part, and increase in the pulsation. As it goes on, a disposition 

 to flinch from the touch is evinced whenever the part is approached with the 

 hand ; if the evil be deep-seated, the swelling is wide, but not so high ; but 

 when nearer the surface, it presents a point, is circumscribed within a well- 

 marked circle, and ultimately tells how necessary it is that the contents should 

 escape, by a throbbing which may be felt at this point. Again, to ascertain 

 that the matter is near the surface, apply two fingers alternately on the sides 

 of the tumour, and the matter will recede from side to side. Let it out. 



Cure. — At first, this may be attempted, in the earliest stages of the disor- 

 der, by repression or dispersion, provided the disorder be not deep-seated near 

 the bone ; which will be the case if it has been brought on by violent means, 

 or it be a second attack, when endeavours to repress it would be vain indeed. 

 On the contrary, if we can trace the cause to a hurt of no long standing, or of 

 trivial import, and we know the horse was in good health before the swelling 

 took place, then oui duty is to carry off the evil through the animal system, by 

 means of active physic. Foment the part well with bran and water, warm { 

 rub it dry with cloths, and apply the 



Embrocation. 



Spirits of wine, half a pint, 



Camphor, 2 drachms, 



Goulard's extract of lead, 1 drachm 



