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338 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



The symptoms of gravel are generally very much the same 

 as those of spasmodic colic; but they come on less rapidly, 

 and not so severe, while the horse's actions point to a spot 

 further back than in colic as the seat of his suffering. But 

 great difficulty is manifested in voiding the urine, whose 

 passage is attended with violent straining and groans of dis- 

 tress; and, as before intimated, the irregularities of the urinal 

 flow may even amount to a total suppression. The color and 

 heat of the urine is another characteristic indication. In 

 both colic and gravel the sufferer sweats profusely, but there 

 is more of this about the flanks and loins in the latter dis- 

 ease. 



Stone in the bladder is the cause of the most acute suffer- 

 ing. Persons who have been thus afflicted describe their 

 tortures as beyond the power of expression. Even if the 

 passage of urine is not much obstructed, the weight and pres- 

 sure of such a body within the bladder is a constant source 

 of annoyance and irritation, while its rough and jagged edges 

 may lacerate and seriously injure the delicate membranes of 

 all these parts. 



Happily, the farmer rarely has such a case to encounter 

 among his stock ; but when he does, he will always find it a 

 most obstinate disease to manage. At best, it will take time 

 to remove the difficulty, which, in severe cases, it will defy 

 his utmost endeavors to do, nothing but a delicate surgical 

 operation offering any hopes of success. 



TREATMENT. 



We give two remedies, both of which have cured, and 

 both of which have been known to fail — as all treatment 

 frequently must fail in this disease. Our preference, how- 

 ever, is indicated by the order in which we here mention 

 them. 



The first is " jimson seed." That this was of great value 

 rn cases of gravel, we learned in treating a fine horse, be- 

 longing to Mr. Robert McDonald, of Salem, Tippah County, 

 Mississippi. This was a case of chronic distemper, wdth the 



