MEDICINE. 418 



on the change which is effected in the bran and the other ingredients by the boiling 

 water rendering them more easy of digestion, as well as more aperient. If the horse 

 refuses the mash, a few oats may be sprinkled over it, in order to tempt him to eat 

 it; but if it is previously designed that corn should be given in the mash, it should 

 be scalded with the bran, in order to soften it and render it more digestible. Bran 

 mashes are very useful preparatives for physic, and they are necessary during the 

 operation of the physic. They very soon become sour, and the manger of the horse, 

 of whose diet they form a principal part, should be daily and carefully cleaned out. 



When horses are weakly and much reduced, malt mashes will often be very pala- 

 table to them and very nutritive : but the water that is poured on a malt mash should 

 be considerably below the boiling heat, otherwise the malt will be set, or clogged 

 together. If the owner was aware of the value of a malt mash, it would be oftener 

 given when the horse is rapidly getting weaker from protracted disease, or when he 

 is beginning to recover from a disease by which he has been much reduced. The 

 only exception to their use is in cases of chest affection, in which they must not 

 be given too early. In grease, and in mange accompanied by much emaciation, malt 

 mashes will be peculiarly useful, especially if they constitute a principal portion of 

 the food. 



Mustard, Sinapis. — ^This will be found occasionally useful, if, in inflammation 

 of the chest or bowels, it is' well rubbed on the chest or the abdomen. The external 

 swelling and irritation which it excites may, to a greater or less degree, abate the 

 inflammation within. 



Myrrh may be used in the form of tincture, or it may be united to the tincture of 

 aloes as a stimulating and digestive application to wounds. Diluted with an equal 

 quantity of water, it is a good application for canker in the mouth, but as an internal 

 medicine it seems to be inert, although some practitioners advocate its use, combined 

 with opium, in cases of chronic cough. 



Nitrous tEther, Spirit of, is a very useful medicine in the advanced stages of 

 fever, for while it, to a certain degree, rouses the exhausted powers of the animal, and 

 may be denominated a stimulant, it never brings back the dangerous febrile action 

 which was subsiding. It is given in doses of three or four drachms. 



Olive Oil is an emollient and demulcent. Its laxative effect is very inconsider 

 able and uncertain in the horse. 



Opium. — However underrated by some, there is not a more valuable drug on our 

 list. It does not often act as a narcotic except inconsiderable doses; but it is a pow- 

 erful antispasmodic, sedative, and astringent. As an antispasmodic, it enters into 

 the cholic drink, and it is the sheet»anchor of the veterinarian in the treatment of teta- 

 nus or locked-jaw. As a sedative it relaxes that universal spasm of the muscular 

 system which is the characteristic of tetanus ; and, perhaps, it is only as a sedative 

 that it has such admirable effect as an astringent, for when the irritation around the 

 mouths of the vessels of the intestines and kidneys is allayed by the opium, the undue 

 purging and profuse staling will necessarily be arrested. 



Opium should, however, be given with caution. It is its secondary effect that is 

 sedative, and, if given in cases of fever, its primary effect in increasing the excita- 

 tion of the frame may be very considerable and highl}^ injurious. In the early and 

 acute statre of fever, it would be bad practice to give it in the smallest quantity ; but 

 when the fever has passed, or is passing, there is nothing which so rapidly subdues 

 the irritability that accompanies extreme weakness. It becomes an excellent tonic, 

 because it is a sedative. 



If the blue or green vitriol, or cantharides, have been pushed too far, opium, sooner 

 than any other drug, quiets the disorder they have occasioned. It is given in doses 

 of one or two drachms, in the form of ball. Other medicines are usually combined 

 with it, according to the circumstances of the case. 



Estprnally, it is useful in ophthalmia. In the form of decoction of the poppy-head, 

 it may constitute the basis of an anodyne poultice; but it must not be given in union 

 with any alkali, with the exception of chalk, in over-purging; nor with the supera- 

 cetate of lead, by which its powers are materially impaired; nor with sulphate of 

 zinc, or copper, or iron. 



From its high price it is much adulterated, and it is not always met with in a stat" 

 of purity. The best tests are its smell, its taste, its toughness and pliancy, its faw.i 

 or brown colour, and its weight, for it is the heaviest of all the vegetable extracts 

 35* 



