KHrNO.] 



MODEEN VETERINARY PRACTICE. 



[riRixo. 



as directed, nt lu-^'lit, tlicii there ia the t'ollow- 

 m<; day to watch him, and take advuiitago of 

 auvtliing that niny occur. 



It occasionally happens, that notwithstand- 

 ing every attention, physic will not work on 

 the second day ; in which case, let nothing 

 tempt tho practitioner to give another doso 

 immediately ; for it sometimea happens that 

 purgatives will not act until tho third day. But 

 when a case of non-purgation occurs, always 

 wait until the third day, when, if no symptoms 

 of purging appear, either let the horse rest 

 altogether for two days longer, and then give 

 him rather a stronger dose, or commence by 

 administering to him a quarter of the original 

 dose every sii Lours, till it purges ; giving 

 him mashes, exercise, and warm water, as 

 before directed. Let it also be remembered, 

 that it is erroneous to encourage liquid 

 purging to twenty, thirty, or more dejections. 

 Ko good attends this practice. We never 

 wisli any horse to have more than from twelve 

 to thirteen liquid evacuations. All beyond 

 this weakens the intestines, and injures him. 



In the usual course of physic, on the next 

 day after the operation of the purgative, the 

 faeces will resume nearly their former con- 

 sistency and shape, when the physic is said to 

 be set. If it, however, continues to operate 

 with nearly the same violence as on the day 

 before, it must be regarded as super-purgation, 

 and recourse must be immediately bad to the 

 treatment already directed for that disease. 

 If otherwise, he may now return to his former 

 habits, giving him corn at first rather sparingly, 

 with moderate exercise ; and, in five or six 

 days from the physic setting, if the operation 

 has been only ordinary, a second dose may be 

 given, which is commonly required to be a 

 little stronger than the first. After this, with 

 the same caution, if it be deemed necessary, a 

 third dose may be given, which is usually con- 

 sidered a course of physic ; but the number of 

 doses ought never to be under the arbitrary 

 direction of custom, but should be regulated 

 by existing circumstances. 



FIRING. 



Firing is performed for two purposes ; one 



for the forming a permanent bandage, which 



it does by destroying the elasticity of the 



skin, and lessening its surface ; the other for 



raising an active inflammation, and thereby 

 exciting absorption. Sometimea it is used to 

 answer one of these purposes only ; and some- 

 times to promote both conjointly. 



Tho Arabs fire tho joints of their young 

 colts to strengthen them, by tho constant 

 bandage tho cicatrix forms to the part. Somo 

 English breeders of blood-horses have done 

 tho same ; but it is rare. 



In splents, spavins, and ring-bones, firing is 

 used as a strong stimulus to the surrounding 

 absorbents, to remove any extraneous sub- 

 stance recently deposited ; hence the osseous 

 matter which forms such swellings, becomes 

 swallowed up by these vessels, and is thus 

 removed. These are instances where firing is 

 used, principally to promote external inflam- 

 mation to relieve an internal one. But even 

 here, the future pressure, occasioned by tho 

 cicatrix, is an assistant, and often a principal, 

 in the removal of the adventitious deposit. 



To increase the original inflammation, or to 

 keep it up, it is common in these cases to 

 apply a blister over the firing. In enlarge- 

 ment after violent strains we fire the \e"s, 

 both to excite the absorbents and to remove 

 the deposit of coagulable lymph ; and also, by 

 straightening the skin, to act as a permanent 

 bandage ou the part for the future. The 

 various cases in which firing is considered 

 necessary are dispersed through the body of 

 this \vork ; and it would be unnecessary to 

 enumerate them here. "We may observe, how- 

 ever, that as it is a painful operation, it should 

 never be resorted to but when absolutely 

 necessary ; and the more so, as it leaves a 

 permanent blemish. As blisters act in the 

 same way, except that they leave no perma- 

 nent blemish ; so, when absorption only is 

 required, their repeated application will often 

 supersede the necessity of firing ; and as they 

 can be applied as often as wished, as pro- 

 moters of absorption merely, they are, in many 

 instances, greatly to be preferred. On the 

 subject of blistering immediately after firing 

 different opinions are entertained. 



A morbid sensibility, or rather an affection 

 of feeling, induces some to blame the adoption 

 of such remedial agents as do not square with 

 the popular outcry. A life devoted, as ours 

 has been, to the amelioration of the miseries of 

 some of the noblest of the brute race, prevents 



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