DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 523 



Salicylic acid ma}^ be g-iven in 1 or 2 dram doses every few hours. 

 It is much used for troubles of the serous membranes, lowers the tem- 

 perature, and is of value in this disease in preventing- the exudation 

 into the tissue of the lungs. The alkalines, as the sulphate and bicar- 

 bonate of soda, the nitrate of potash, and verj^ small doses of the iodide 

 of potash, should be employed to regulate the digestive tract, the kid- 

 nej'S, and the other excreting glands, and to stimulate absorption of 

 the waste matter. 



Serums and antitoxins have been used in the treatment of this dis- 

 ease, especially in Germany. The results appear to show some benefit 

 in some instances, but none in others; altogether they are not especially 

 encouraging. 



The diet demands the strictest attention from the outset. In many 

 of the fevers the food has to be diminished in quantity and regulated 

 in the quality of its heat-producing components during the acute part 

 of the disease, so as to lessen the material for combustion in the 

 inflamed organs. In edematous pneumonia, on the contrary, all the 

 food that can possibl}" be digested and assimilated must be given. 

 Choice must be made of the richest material which can be handled by 

 the vreakened stomach and intestines without fatiguing them. Good, 

 sound ha}" should be chopped short and dampened or parth^ boiled; in 

 the latter case the hay tea can be reserved to use as a drink. Oats 

 may be preferred dr}" or in other cases will be taken better scalded; in 

 most cases, hov/ever, it is better to give slops of oatmeal, to which can 

 be added a little bran, barley flour, or boiled milk and wheat flour. 

 Pure cow's milk, not too rich in fatty matter, can be given alone or 

 with ])eaten eggs; frequentlj^the horse will have to be coaxed with the 

 milk diluted with several parts of water at first, but will soon learn to 

 drink the pure milk. Apples and carrots cut up raw or boiled are 

 useful, and fresh clover in small quantities will frequenth^ stimulate 

 the ajDpetite. In other words, tr}^ various foods and combinations and 

 give the horse what he will eat. Throughout the course of the disease 

 and during convalescence the greatest attention must be taken to 

 cleaning the coat thoroughly so as to keep the glands of the skin in 

 working order, and light, warm covering must be used to protect the 

 animal from cold or drafts of air. 



HORSEPOX, OR EQUINE VARIOLA. 



[Synonyms: Variola equina; pustular grease; ^>/(/)/dt'Ho/cZ herpes.'\ 



Dcfin'dlon. — Horsepox is a specific infectious fever of the horse 

 attended by an eruption of pustules, or pocks, over any part of the 

 skin or on the mucous membranes lining the various cavities in the 

 body, but chiefly, and often exclusively, upon the pasterns and fetlocks. 

 The eruption may commence upon the lips, or about the nostrils or 

 eyes. 



