296 DISEASES OF THE STOMACH. 



SO ; and therefore we must be prepared to meet the com- 

 plaints of persons who come to us about June or July — and 

 say that " their horses have worms, which must be got rid of 

 — with a remedy for that purpose. Should any other 

 malady exist at the time, no matter what, its origin will 

 commonly be traced to the presence of these mischievous 

 vermin. In all works on farriery we find some recipe extolled 

 as a vermifuge ; which, unless it contain a purgative ingre- 

 dient, we may, sans hesitation, expunge as inefficacious : for 

 we know of no medicine that has the power of destroying 

 bots in the stomach ; and, if we did, are we sure that, even 

 when dead, they would become detached from its cuticular 

 coat : though, should they lie in its vascular part, they 

 would be subjected to the action of the gastric juice ? No 

 medicine, therefore, not even a purge, can operate as an 

 osstrifug^ but at a certain season of the year ; when, as I said 

 before, if we will but suspend its exhibition for a while, the 

 bots will readily enough come away without our assistance. 

 Supposing we are forced to prescribe something to expel 

 them, we have no medicine so suitable as a common purge : 

 a dose of aloes is all that is required, though it is usual to 

 combine it with calomel, which may render it more expellent ; 

 wherein, I believe, resides all the (imagined) specific virtue 

 of the latter medicine as a vermifuge. 



GASTRIC CONCRETIONS. 



This forms part of a subject which stood much in need 

 of scientific veterinary investigation, in our own language, 

 when, in the year 1844, Mr. Morton, of the E.oyal Vete- 

 rinary College, read two papers on it, to the Veterinary 

 Medical Association, which he afterwards collected into 

 adistinct work, entitled, "On Calculous Concretions in 

 the Horse, Sheep, and Dog;'' from which I shall in this 

 place make a few extracts. Mr. Morton arranges these con- 



' I introduce this term to make a distinction between vermifuges and hot 

 cxpellents. 



