THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 203 



clear out the bowels, will be indicated. Fomentations, light 

 frictions with antispasmodic liniment, and the vapor bath, may 

 assist materially in the recovery of the patient. 



In chronic cases of long standing, all hopes of recovery must 

 be abandoned : should the subject, however, be in a state of de- 

 bility, the general health may be improved, and the spine should 

 be daily rubbed with embrocations calculated to restore nervous 

 energy ; in this view, we recommend the following embrocation 

 for springhalt : — 



Linseed oil, 1 pint, 



Spirits of hartshorn, 2 ounces, 



Fine mustard, £ ounce. 



The medicine to consist of 



Powdered goldenseal, ") 



CrelofSar?' • of each 1 ounce, 



Charcoal, J 



Assafcetida, £ ounce. 



Mix ; divide into eight parts ; one to be given morning and 

 evening, in the food. 



HYSTERIA IN MARES. 



Hysteria is derived from a Greek noun, signifying the womb : 

 the disease is of a nervous and spasmodic character, and is sup- 

 posed to arise from derangement in the organs of generation. In 

 the human subject, plethora and suppression of the menses are 

 assigned as the chief causes of this affection ; yet these conditions, 

 probably, had another antecedent, which is quite common among 

 various species, viz., dyspepsia ; for we know that there is a lia- 

 bility of tw r o or several organs to be affected in succession by a 

 disease commencing in one of them : the stomach therefore, and 

 uterus, which are conjoined in the performance of special functions, 

 — nutrition and reproduction, — although having no direct ana- 

 tomical connection, are very apt to display morbid sympathies, 

 commencing in one and ending in the other : this is accomplished 

 through the nervous connections between distant parts. 



From what the author has been able to observe and glean, it is 

 his opinion that hysteria occurs most frequently among virgin 

 mares, after the age of puberty ; and in such as have had a foal, 



