DISEASES OF THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, ETC. 341 



Bathe the loins, sheath, and adjacent parts with cold salt 

 and ^yater. In hot weather, use ice, if it can be got. 



Let the horse remain perfectly still, or as nearly so as pos- 

 sible. He should have no strong food for a long time, and, 

 unless the owner is willing to dispense with his services for- 

 ever, there should be a total banishment of moldy hay and 

 fodder from his manger, and only the most sparing use of 

 corn for all the future. 



FOUL SHEATH. 



A foul sheath is a low voiced commentary on the neglect 

 and stupidity of the horse's keeper. The number of horses 

 that suffer from thi-s condition — ^growing poor, sinking into 

 low condition, and sometimes even dying from its effects — is 

 really astonishing; and so, also, is the frequency with which 

 it causes other and serious diseases. Inattention in this re- 

 gard has nearly, or quite, ruined many an animal for a time, 

 and sonietimes permanently. 



We have been called to see at least a hundred horses, 

 many of them so reduced as to be " on the lift," when 

 nothing else was the matter ; and to the same cause may be 

 traced mauy cases of stricture of the urinary org^s — sup- 

 pression of urine, bloody discharges, and even inflammation 

 of the kidneys. A horse in this condition will invariably 

 be colicky, for we have good reason to know that the in- 

 flammation set upop these parts often extends its influence 

 to the bowels. 



The difllculty consists in the collection of lumps of black, 

 waxy substance inside of the sheath and its upper extremity. 

 In some cases, there is only one of these lumps, while in others 

 we have found two, three, or four of them, varying in bulk 

 from that of a walnut to a hen's egg of large size. If these 

 are long permitted to remain, they produce soreness, fever, 

 and inflammation, so that the horse dribbles his water from 

 the sheath. Matter begins forming in time; and it has often 

 excited both our astonishment and indignation to see how 

 blind some owners are when the horse is even in this condition. 



