314 THE MODERN HORSE DOCTOR. 



In more aggravated cases, the whole body must be first sponged 

 •with lime water, and afterwards smeared with linseed oil. The 

 patient must be drenched with eight ounces of epsom salts, and 

 be kept on scalded shorts. If lime water cannot readily be pro- 

 cured, a weak solution of saleratus and water may be substituted. 



"We have found the above preparation (olive oil and lime 

 ivater) a most valuable external application for allaying the irri- 

 tation of the skin after a horse has been stung, or bitten, by some 

 of the various tribes of winged insects. The relief which the 

 application gives is remarkable, and in many cases it acts in- 

 stantaneously. The remedy is much used in human practice, by 

 the most distinguished of the faculty, in severe burns and scalds, 

 and it never fails to mitigate the pain of the unfortunate sufferer. 

 More prompt is it to act on the horse ; for of all the oleaginous 

 compounds known to the profession, not one is so readily taken 

 up, or absorbed, as linseed oil : you may give a dose internally, 

 and in the course of a few hours it will have pervaded the whole 

 cellular structure of the animal, and can even be detected on the 

 sclerotic membranes of the eye, by merely applying a piece of 

 clean linen, which on removal from the eye will have both the 

 peculiar odor and greasy appearance of the article. Hence an 

 article so highly diffusible as this has proved to be, must have 

 advantages over many others used in the same view. Among 

 the many cases recorded of horses being stung by bees, we select 

 the following, translated from the JRec. de Med. Vet., by the editor 

 of the Veterinarian. The case occurred in the practice of M. E. 

 Clichy, V. S. " Of the five horses attacked by the bees, one was 

 dead on M. Clichy's arrival ; while the four others, which had 

 been withdrawn from the scene of the accident with considerable 

 difficulty, after having cut their ropes, were in an extraordinary 

 state of exasperation. One three-year-old horse, particularly, 

 of very strong constitution, when turned into a loose place, became 

 so outrageous that approach to him was impossible. Under con- 

 tinual agitation, he lay down and rose again incessantly, or he 

 threw himself against the walls of his abode, and tore his flanks. 

 He was deaf to the voice of the man looking after him, and under 

 extreme excitability ; while the eyelids were so swollen as to 

 completely cover his eyes ; his respiration, laborious from agita- 



