THE INTESTINES. 227 



a state of great inflammation, but will readily peel or wash off, it must necessarily be 

 a dangerous medicament, and should be banished entirely from the stable.* 



Of the mineral poisons, it will be necessary to mention only two. Arsenic was 

 once in great repute as a tonic and vermifuge. Doses suliicient to kill three or four 

 men were daily administered, and generally with impunity. In some cases, however, 

 the dose was too powerful, and the animal was destroyed. Two of the pupils of the 

 author were attending the patients of a veterinary surgeon, who was confined in con- 

 sequence of a serious accident. Among them was a valuable horse, labouring under 

 inflammation of the lungs. The disease was subdued, and the pati"nt was convales- 

 cent. At this period, our friend began to regain sufficient strength to travel a short 

 distance. The first patient that he visited was this horse, whose aihaents had all 

 passed away. He could not, however, let well alone, but sent some arsenic balls. 

 In less than a week this noble animal was taken to the knacker's. There are far 

 better vermifuges and tonics than this dangerous drug, which will probably soon be 

 discarded from veterinary practice. 



Corrosive Sublimate is given internally, and occasionally with advantage, in farcy, 

 and, as an external application, it is used to destroy vermin, to cure mange, and to 

 dispose deep and fistulous ulcers to heal. 



It may, however, be given in too large a dose, the symptoms of which are, loss of 

 appetite, discharge of saliva from the mouth, pawing, looking eagerly at the flanks, 

 rolling, profuse perspiration, thready pulse, rapid weakness, violent purging and 

 straining, convulsions, and death. 



The stomach will be found intensely inflamed, with patches of yet greater inflam- 

 mation. The whole Qourse of the intestines will be inflamed, with particular parts 

 black and gangrenous. 



The antidote, if it is not too late to administer it, would be — for arsenic, lime-water, 

 or chalk and water, or soap and water, given in great quantities by means of the 

 stomach-pump ; and for corrosive sublimate, the white of eggs mixed with water, or 

 thick starch, or arrow-root. 



Is there really occasion for the owner of horses to be acquainted with these things'? 

 Long experience has taught the author that poisoning with these drugs is not so rare 

 a circumstance as some imagine. In the farmer's stable, he has occasionally been 

 compelled unwillingly to decide that the death of one or more horses has been attri- 

 butable to arsenic or corrosive sublimate, and not to any peculiar disease, or to anj^- 

 thing wrong in the manner of feeding. A scoundrel was executed in 1812, for 

 administering arsenic and corrosive sublimate to several horses. He had been 

 engaged in these enormities during four long years. The discarded or offended carter 

 has wreaked his revenge in a similar way ; but oftenpr, in his easjerness to get a more 

 glossy coat on his horses than a rival servant could exhibit, he has tampered with 

 these dangerous drugs. 



The owner may easily detect this. "Arsenic, if mixed with charcoal and heated, 

 emits a very perceptible smell of garlic. Sulphuretted hydrogen, added to a watery 

 solution of arsenic, throws down a yellow precipitate — lime-water a white one — and 

 the ammoniaco-sulphate of copper a green one."| 



The foUov/ing are the tests of corrosive sublimate : — "It is sublimed by heat, leav- 

 ing no residuum, and is soluble in water, alcohol, and sulphuric ether. Lime-water 

 gives either a lemon-yellow precipitate, or a brick-dust red one. The iodide of potash 

 occasions a scarlet precipitate. . The most curious test is, however, by means of gal- 

 vanism. A drop of the suspected solution is placed on a sovereign, and a small key 

 being brought into contact simultaneously with both the gold and the solution, an 

 electric current is produced which decomposes the bichloride of mercurv, for such it 

 is. The chlorine unites with the iron, and the mercury with the gold."i 



THE INTESTINES. 



The food having been partially digested in the stomach, and converted into chyme, 

 passes through the pyloric orifice into the intestines. 



* See an account of some experiments on these substances, by Mr. Cupiss, in the early 

 numbers of " The Sportsman." 



t Manual of Pnarmacy, by Professor Morton, Lecturer on Veterinary Medicine at the St. 

 Pancras Veterinary College, p. 42. 



t Ditto page 184. 



