POISONS, POISONOUS SNAKES AND INSECTS, ETC. 385 



INTERNAL POISONS. 



This, of course, is the class of poisons which communi- 

 cate their hurtful influences through the medium of the 

 stomach and the lacteal absorbents of the intestines. Many 

 of them prove deadly at once ; but these are all too well 

 known to need any enlarging upon here. Our object is to 

 warn against the employment of such as are slower in their 

 action, and •whose ill efi'ects, in consequence, are more apt 

 to be overlooked. 



Nux Vomica. — This is used extensively in many parts of 

 the country as a purifier of the blood and a promoter of 

 condition, but never without decided injury to the horse. 

 It is a powertul poison, injuring the teeth, destroying the 

 healthy tone of the stomach, impairing digestion, and pro- 

 ducing general derangement of the bowels. For a time it 

 may possibly appear to benefit the horse, and to abate dis- 

 ease, yet its results are so uniformly disastrous in the end 

 that it should never be given the animal as medicine. Be- 

 sides being an unsafe remedy at all timies, it is wholly unnec- 

 essary, since the prescriptions laid down in this work will 

 accomplish the desired ends more perfectly and without 

 hazard. 



Among the symptoms of poisoning from this source are 

 the following : The pulse is irregular ; the mouth and tongue, 

 white; the saliva, stringy; the membrane of the nose, a dull 

 purple; the eyes, a whitish yellow; the breath, hot and fever- 

 ish ; the skin likewise hot and dry, and the hair rough and 

 standing. I^ot all of these are necessarily present in every 

 case, but some of them always are ; and occasionally others, 

 of &> more* alarming character, supervene, such as colic pains, 

 retching of the stomach, excessive flow of highly-colored 

 urine, etc. Spasms and convulsions may next ensue, and 

 then death is not far oft". 



The antidote, in this case, is grease. Give the horse a pint 

 of sweet oil or lard, with six eggs broken into it, to hold the 

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