ON FEVER. 375 



ought never to be praftifed, I apprehend, upon 

 a fkin which fhews any tendency to perfpira- 

 tion and moifture ; Rich probably is the chief 

 criterion by which we ought to be guided. 



Thofe hot aromatic drenches of the common 

 farriers, with which they do fo much mifchief 

 in fevers, have been already cenfured; another 

 caution is neceffary againft the common ground- 

 lefs apprehenfion of horfes ftarving themfelves, 

 by their abflinence during ficknefs ; this is by 

 no means peculiar to grooms, our good old 

 nurfes, who when we are debilitated, " cram us 

 " till our guts do ache," with that deleftably 

 light, nutritious fubftance, calve's-foot-jelly, 

 coming in for their full (hare of the merit. Let 

 it be remembered, that in general the appetite 

 ought to be the only direftor in this cafe ; and 

 that nothing can be more prepoflerous than to 

 force folid aliment upon a flomach mod proba- 

 bly already overladen with morbid matter, 

 which mixing with the new acceffion, will either 

 remain an inert indigefted flercoraceous mafs, 

 'or going through the common prccefs of di- 

 geftion, fend an impure and vitiated chyle into 

 the blood, to add new force and virulence to 

 , the difeafe. Should the horfe have faded a 

 confiderable time, and no indication appear of 

 returning appetite, his (Irength w^ill be beft fup- 

 ported by nutritious glyllers, which may be 

 exhibited feveral times in the day. Locks of 



the 



