50 DISEASE. 



produce an equivalent result to the same quantity in form 

 of a ball. I do not mean that I have entirely abandoned 

 giving drenches ; but that, from the uncertainty attending 

 their operation, I rarely have recourse to them. There are 

 some medicines which we can exhibit, conveniently enough, 

 by dissolving them in the animals water or common drink. 

 Corrosive sublimate is of this kind. We may also mechani- 

 cally mix some light powder that will not easily or at all 

 dissolve in water with his drink, such as croton powder. 

 For the success of a deception of this kind, it will be neces- 

 sary that the pail, the water, and medicine, should all be per- 

 fectly clean ; and, in some cases, the animal will require to be 

 kept short of drink, or even without any for a day or two, 

 before it will take the medicated water, though to our 

 senses the liquid be tasteless and devoid of smell. 



Without adverting to the uncertainty attending the ad- 

 ministration of drenches, there is a stronger objection to their 

 adoption in preference to balls, and this serious hinderance 

 is the danger attendant on their administration. Many a 

 horse has met its death through receiving a drink. A 

 little of the liquid enters above the velum palati : coughing 

 is excited : during this act, the larynx being drawn down- 

 ward, the communication between the nose and mouth is 

 thrown open : the drink quickly flows into the larynx, and 

 falls upon the lungs : the consequence of which is the animal 

 is suff'ocated, and either dies at the moment or is imme- 

 diately attacked with symptoms, too manifestly indicating 

 the cause of death. The way to prevent this accident is, 

 the instant coughing is excited, to let the animaVs head down, 

 thus giving it liberty to cast out through the nostrils, as well 

 as mouth, what otherwise would run down the windpipe. 

 AVhen the animal does not immediately die, but survives 

 for some time, the symptoms evinced are, agony changing 

 into debility and death. As a precaution, it is prudent to 

 filter drenches : because it is not the liquid so much as the 

 substances with which it is mixed that produce the fatal 

 termination — by rendering respiration impossible. 



The Administration or Medicine to horses is, in gene- 



