130 THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 



" Supposing that bots in some way or other do good rather 

 than hurt, surely we cannot be solicitous about removing them ; 

 for though we are unable to demonstrate their beneficial influ- 

 ence, we may, from all the circumstances arrived at, at least assert 

 that they in general are not injurious. Howbeit, Ave cannot per- 

 suade the world so ; and, therefore, we must be prepared to meet 

 the complaints of persons who come to us, at certain seasons, 

 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'' 



As far as our experience goes, we have no faith in medicine to 

 expel bots, yet we have seen them voided with the excrement 

 two or three times while the patients were under the influence of 

 a dose of physic; the bots, however, were full grown. Dr. 

 Clark thus reasons on the subject : " We can, it is true, force the 

 medicine down a horse's throat, but we cannot afterwards get it 

 into the throat of the worm, who is placed in his own element, 

 and can refuse the food that does not suit him." 



The nit or egg can easily be got rid of by greasing the horse's 

 hair, and then rubbing it with a coarse cloth, or by applying 



ON THE HORSE'S STOMACH. 



Comparing the size of the stomach with that of the horse, we 

 find it less capacious than in some other herbivorous animals. 

 The ox, for example, has a most complex form of stomach, con- 

 taining four distinct .cavities, through all of which the food has 

 to pass ere it can be properly digested. "In sheep, also, we find 

 a similarly complex form of stomach ; this admits the food as fast 

 as the animal can crop it, from whence it is returned to the mouth 

 to be masticated at leisure. 



The capacity of a horse's stomach varies in proportion to the 

 size of the animal ; thus in a small horse it is about eight quarts, 

 and in one of large proportions it sometimes exceeds thirty. It 

 is occasionally dilated to an extraordinary size. A case came 

 under our observation, a short time ago, of dilated stomach, the 



