THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 135 



The patient evinces pain when even the slightest, pressure is made 

 on the walls of the abdomen ; the belly is quite tense, and drawn 

 up towards the hips. On moving the horse, he groans, indicative 

 of pain, and looks anxiously towards the flanks. When lying 

 down, he stretches himself out at full length, throws his head back, 

 and paws with the fore feet ; sometimes he sweats profusely at 

 the flanks and around the neck ; champs and grinds the teeth 

 together; the nostrils are dilated, and respirations hurried; at 

 times the urine trickles away from the urethra involuntarily, and 

 the faeces are hard, and often covered with slime ; the eyes appear 

 bright, glassy, and the pupils are dilated. In the last stages of 

 this painful malady, a cold sweat stands on the body ; occasional 

 tremors set in ; the lips hang pendulous ; the limbs, ears, and lips 

 feel death-like ; and death soon puts an end to the scene. 



Treatment. — In relation to the treatment of this disease, we 

 remark, that most practitioners recommend, more or less, the ab- 

 straction of blood. Dr. White says, " Seven or eight quarts of 

 blood may be taken with safety, and if no relief is given in the 

 course of a few hours, five quarts more may be drawn away." 

 Most writers, in fact, place the greatest reliance on the fleam for 

 subduing enteritis. " The first and grand thing to be done is, to 

 let blood from the jugular vein to the utmost extent the patient 

 will bear ; the blood can should not be taken from the neck until 

 evident prostration demands it. Should this come on prematurely, 

 however, — should the horse stagger and appear faint from loss 

 of blood, although but a few pints have flowed, — pin up the vein, 

 and administer to him his drench and an injection ; and then, 

 should his strength seem revived, have recourse once more to the 

 fleam ; for blood he must lose, and in large quantities ; upon that, 

 mainly, depends his recovery." — Hippopathology, vol. ii. p. 251. 



Let the reader omit the bloodletting, and have recourse, if the 

 nature of the case requires it, to a drench and injection, together 

 with such other restorative means as we shall recommend, and 

 there will be no need of abstracting blood. As a single illustration 

 of the truth of this proposition, we merely refer to the fact, that, 

 during nine years' practice in the city of Boston, the author of this 

 work has never in a single case of this, or any other form of dis- 

 fw?e, had recourse to the practice of bloodletting. And the reader 



