PUEUINU.] 



MODERN VETEKINAET PEACTICE. 



[I'lUUINO. 



know where to look for an answer, or how to 



explain the meaning of cathartic, or purging 

 nietlioinc. 



Cathartics, or pnrging medicines, act by 

 stinuilatiiig the intestines to a more frequent 

 evacuation of their contents. They also in- 

 crease the matter so expelled ; and, under 

 some circumstances, alter tlie quality of it too. 

 This being the simple operation of purging, it 

 is evident that many erroneous notions are 

 entertained relative to it. 



Purging is nsed to reduce swelled legs ; but 

 no purgative will act on the legs immediately ; 

 for it cannot, in the first instance, remove 

 fluids from any other parts but the stomach 

 and bowels. Ultimately it may remove the 

 fluids from other parts to make up the defi- 

 ciency, and thus the legs become lessened. 



Notwithstanding there are certain peculi- 

 arities of constitution generally, and certain 

 states of the alimentary canal, which particu- 

 larly render this process very salutary to the 

 horse, and which are essentially necessary 

 to keep him up to that standard of condi- 

 tion which is now the pride of every gentle- 

 man and sportsman; still, purging has its 

 limits, and, if carried too far, which is some- 

 times the case by those ignorant of its effects, 

 it ends in the serious injury, and even the 

 death of the animal. 



There are various uses to which purgative 

 medicines become applicable, but they may 

 generally be arranged under such as are given as 

 remedies for existing diseases. Those exhibited 

 as a preventive against a probable one also, 

 are greatly used for promoting a certain state, 

 called condition. 



Cathartics are most beneficially used against 

 inflammation, and almost all diseases of in- 

 creased action, except such as affect the alimen- 

 tary canal. By increasing the waste of the 

 watery parts of the blood, cathartics tend to 

 deplete the system, and to lessen arterial ac- 

 tion. In active inflammation they greatly 

 assist bleeding, and, in other cases, are supe- 

 rior to it, and can be advautngeously employed 

 when that cannot be, with propriety, attempted, 

 as in fevers possessing a low or putrid cha- 



advantages here are striking. In plethoric 

 cases, which produce hltous deposits in the 

 legs, itc, as in horses just removed from grass, 

 wo depend on jmrgatives for their removal. 

 In pursy, thick-winded animals, physic not 

 only prevents further accumulation, but also 

 stimulates the absorbents to tako up >omo of 

 the existing deposit. In dyspeptic cases, in 

 hide-bound, in lampas, and others, arising from 

 the deranged functions of the stomach, mild 

 purgatives act in the most salutary manner. 



In the removal of worms, also, tliey act 

 most beneficially, by ejecting them, as well as 

 the nidus in which they are lodged. 



As preventives, purgatives are extensively 

 employed when horses are taken from grass, or 

 the straw-yard, and at once removed into a 

 heated temperature, covered with clothing, 

 and fed with a full diet. Were it not for 

 bleeding and purging, more particularly the 

 latter, we should find all the consequences of 

 plethora show themselves soon after ; as hide- 

 bound, surfeits, swelled legs, cracked heels, 

 ophthalmia, and, not unfrequently, inflamed 

 lungs also. Here, and in all similar cases, 

 purgatives carry oS the superabundant blood 

 formed. 



It is another fact, which serves to exemplify 

 the absence of analogy between the action of 

 purgatives on the horse and on the human 

 subject. When an emaciated horse is removed 

 from hard work, and harder fare, and at once 

 put to rest and a full diet, so far from his con- 

 dition being improved, unless lie has been pre- 

 pared for the change by previous purging, his 

 skin becomes fixed, his belly still more and 

 more tucked up, and his hair often actually 

 falls off". The same change, when accompa- 

 nied by a judicious use of purgatives, operates 

 so much to his advantage, that in a few weeks 

 he becomes almost a new animal. 



Physic is also most beneficially given at 

 particular seasons, as at the spring and fall, 

 to obviate the effects of the diflerent stat« 

 into which horses fall at those times ; being 

 then apparently weak and emaciated, yet, at 

 the same time, suftering from increased arte- 

 rial action, employed in working the periodical 



racter; for such appear to be often dependent I change in the constitution. At these times, 

 on some morbid change within, or some morbid I two or three mild purges will stimulate the 

 combinations formed by the biliary fluid, which defective digestion, remove morbid accumula- 

 purging acts particularly u^n ; so that its tions from the bowels, occasioned thereby, and, 



li u 



329 



