396 



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Ni:W E^i;L.\^D FAUiMER, 



July 2, 1830. 



ZfbraTD ot £IscCul BnotolcBDt"=f arintrs' Strfes. 



DISEASES OF HORSES. 



[ContinutH].] 



SPKCIKIf OPHTHALMIA, OR MOON-BLIMDJfESS. 



The |)ro|mgalioii of various ilisunaes, nnJ ihis 

 lio:ij^il)ly mor>; lliaii any other, froui tUo :ro to his 

 l>rog'!iiy, hius not been sutVicicntly coiii-nlcreil by 

 brcL-ilers. Let a stnlhon that is bhnd, or whose 

 sight is (lefeelivc, |)ossess every other point ami 

 quality than can he wislied, yet he is worse than 

 useless ; for a very considerable proportion of his 

 ofTspring will most assuredly inherit his weak eyes, 

 or become tofilly blind. There is no fact belter 

 established than this. 



The niDSt freqiiMit conjequences of thii disease 

 are clomlincss of the eye, and cataract. The 

 cluudincss is sinu'ular in its nature. It will cliange 

 in tweiityfoiir hours from the thinnest film to the 

 thickest opiicity ; and as suddenly t)in oye will 

 nearly regain its perfect transimrency, hut only to 

 lose it, and as rapidly, a second time. The most 

 barbarous niolhods have been resorted to for the 

 purpose of removing this cloudiness. Chalk, and 

 salt, and sugar, and even pounded glass, have been 

 introduced into the eye mechanically to rub oflT 

 thcfdm. It was forgotten that the cloudiness was 

 the effect of inflammation, and that means so harsh 

 and cruel were very likely to recall the inflamma- 

 tion ; that these rough and sharp substances must 

 of ncces.sity inflict excruciating \)a\i\ ; and thit, 

 after all, it generally is not a fdm on the surface 

 of the cornea, but a dimness pervading its sub- 

 stance, and even sinking deep within it, and there- 

 tore not cajmble of being rubbed off. Where the 

 cloudiness can bo removed, it will be best eftccted 

 by first abating inflammation, and then exciting 

 the absorbcnis to take up the grey de|)Osit ; by 

 wasliing the eye with a very weak solution of cor- 

 rosive sublimate, containing not more than a grain 

 of the sublimate to an ounce of water. 



GUTTA SKRENA. 



Another S|>ecie3 of blindnc^-s, and of which we 

 B|iok(! when describing the retina, is GuTTA Serk- 

 NA, connnoidy called the glass cjc. Tliu pupil is 

 more than usually dilated ; — it is iminoveuble, and 

 bright, and glassy. Tliis is palsy of the optic 

 nerve, or its expansion, the retina ; and is usually 

 jiroduced by determination of blood to the head. 

 We have described it as a consequence of staggers. 

 So much pressure has been occasioned on tho ba,se 

 of the brain, that the ticrvu has been injured, and 

 its function destroyed. Tho treatment of Gutta 

 Serena is (juite as diflicult as that of cataract. 

 We have heard of successful cises, but we never 

 saw one ; nor should we be disposed to incur much 

 expense in endeavoring to accomplish impossibil- 

 ities. Reasoning from the cause of the disease, 

 we should bleed and physic, and rowel. If we 

 succeeded, it must bi; by constitutional treatment ; 

 but in the majority of ca.ses, the pressure woidd 

 have long ceased, although the mischief which it 

 h:id eflected rcMuained. As to local treatment, 

 the seat of disease is out of our reach. 



DisivA.SK.s or Tin; nosr and mouth. 



niSAL glei;t, or piscuarof. rnoM the ^03r.. 

 The most frequent disenHe of this cavity is nn 



increased ami thicker discharge of fluid from tin; 

 nose. It may bi; proj)erly calh^d a .\asai. (ir.KRT. 

 ThiTe is a constant secretion of fluiil to lubricate 

 and moisten the membrane that lines the cavity of 

 the nose, which, under catarrh or cold, is incrca-ed 



in ipiuniliy, and altered in appearance and consist- 

 ence. This will properly belong to our account , 

 of catarrh or C(dil ; hut that to which we imme- 

 diately refer is a continued and oftentimes i)rofuse 

 discharge when every symptom of catarrh and 1 

 fever has passed away ; an almost incredible quan- 

 tity of ihir-kened mucus, of diflerent colors: — if: 

 the horse is at grass, almost as green as the food 

 on which he lives ; — or, if he l)C stabled, white, 

 straw-colored, brown, or even blooily, and some- | 

 times evidently mingled with matter or pus ; and j 



ther constantly running, or snorted out in masses 

 many times in the day ; teasing the horse, and a 

 perf ct nuisance in the stable, and to the rider. 

 We have known this continue several months, ami 

 eventually destroy the horse. 



If the discharge he not offensive to the smell, 

 nor mixed with any matter, it is jirobably merely 

 an increased and somewhat vitiate<l secretion from 

 the cavities of the nose ; and, all fever having dis- 

 ap[icared, will frequently yield to small doses of 

 blue vitriol, fnnu one or two drachms, and given 

 twice in the day. If fever or c<iugh remain, the 

 cough medicine which will hereafter be described 

 nius< be combined with the tonic. If the dis- 

 charge be ndngled with pus, and very offensive, 

 tho vegetable tonics, gentian and ginger, may be 

 added to the copper in doses of two drachms of 

 the former, and one of tho latter ; but there is 

 then reason to a|)preheiid that the discharge will 

 not be controlled, and will terminate in glanders. 

 Turning into a salt marsh will occasionally effi'ct 

 a cure, when both the mineral and the vegetable 

 tonics have failed. 



glanders. 



The next and most formidable of all tlio diseases 

 to which the horse is subject, is Glanders. It is 

 described by writers fifteen luuulred years ago, 

 and it was then, and is now, not only a loathsome, 

 but an incurable disease ; we shall therefore prin- 

 ciiially confine ourselves to the consideration of its 

 symptoms, nature, and causes, and prevention, 

 and degree of contagion, and these will afford too 

 much matter of interest to the farmer. 



If we could obtain an authentic history of the 

 glandered horse, we should find that, in the ma- 

 jority of instances, if the disease were bred in 

 him, ho had been dull, off his feed, losing flesh, 

 and his coat staring ; and that these 8p|>earances 

 had for several weeks preceded the characteristic 

 synq)toms of glanders. These sytnptoms, how- 

 ever, may lead to, or he the causes of other dis- 

 eases, or they may pass away, and the horse may 

 return to perfect health. That which would be 

 considered as the earliest, and an tinipiestionahle 

 symptom of glanders, would he an increased dis- 

 charge from one or both nostrils ; different from 

 the discharge of catarrh, because it is usually 

 lighter and clearer in its color, and more glutinous 

 or sticky. When rubbed between the fingers it 

 has, even in an early stage, a peculiar, clammy, 

 bird-limy feel. It is not ilischargud occasionally 

 and in large quantities, like tho mucus of catarrh, 

 btit it is constantly running from the nostril. 



It is a singular circutnstance, for which no sat- 

 isfactory account has yet been given, that when 

 one nostril alono is attacked, it is in a great ma- 

 jority of cases tho near or left. M. Dupuy, the 

 director ofih<! veterinary school at Toidouse, gives 

 a most singular account of this. llo .says that out 

 of eight hundred cases of glanders that came im- 

 dcr his notice, oidy one was affected in the right 

 nostril. 



This discharge, in cases of infection, may Co.. 

 tiime, and in so slight a degree as to be scaicrly 

 perceptible, for many weeks or months before the 

 heallli and capabilities of the horse seem to be 

 injured. It will remain for a long time almost 

 truusparcnt, yet gluey ; and then it will begin to 

 be mingled with pus ; retoining, however, its sticky 

 character, and being rarely oflensivc in the ear- 

 ly stages. The constant flow of this secretion, 

 and its stickiness, with the absence of cough either 

 before or during the discharge, will he the only 

 symptoms. In process of time, howc\cr, pus 

 mingles with the discharge, and then another and 

 a characteristic symptom appears. Some of this 

 is absorbed, and the neighboring glands becomo 

 affected ; and, if there be discharge from both nos- 

 trils, the glanils within the umler jaw will be on 

 both sides eidarged. If the disiharge be fnini one 

 nostril only, the swelled gland will be found on 

 that side alone. Glanders, however, will frequent- 

 ly exist at an early stage without the^e swelled 

 glands, and some other diseases, as catarrh, will 

 produce them. Then we must look out for some 

 peculiarity about these glands, and we shall read- 

 ily find it. The swelling may be at first some- 

 what large and diffused, but the surrounding en- 

 largement soon goes off, and one or two small dis- 

 tinct glands remain ; ami they are not in the cen- 

 tre of the channel, but adhere closely to the jaic on 

 the affected side. 



The iriendiranc of tlin nose may now be ex- 

 amined, and will materially guide our opinion. It 

 •will either be of a dark purplish hue, or almost of 

 a leaden color, or of any shade between the two ; 

 or, if there be some of the redness of inflariunn- 

 tion, it will have a purple tinge ; hut there will 

 never he the faint pink blush of I .alth, or the in- 

 tense and vivi<l red of usual inflammation. Spots 

 of ulceration will pro!)ably appear on the mem- 

 brane covering the cartilage of the nose — not sim- 

 ple sore places, or streaks of abrasion, and quite 

 superficial, but small ulcers usually approaching 

 to a circular form, deep, with the edges abrupt and 

 pronrincnt. When these appearances are obser- 

 ved, there can be no doubt about the matter. 

 Care should be taken, however, to ascertain that 

 these idcci's do actually exist, for spots of mucus 

 adhering to tho metnbrane have been more than 

 once taken for them. The finger should, if pos- 

 sible, be passed over the supposed ulcer, to deter- 

 mine whether it can be wiped away ; ond it 

 should bo recollected, as wo have already hinted 

 when describing the duct that conveys the tears 

 to the nose, that the orifice of that duct, just with- 

 in the nostril, and on the inner side of it, hns been 

 jnistakcn for a cancerous ulcer. This orifice is 

 oi\ tho continuation of the common skin of the 

 mn/.7.ln which runs a little way up tho nostril 

 while tho ulcer of glanders is on the prt)|)Cr mem 

 brfllie of the nose above ; and the line of separa 

 tion between the two is evident on the slightest in 

 speclion. 



It is proper to stale that this discharge has con 

 tinued unattended by any other discoie, or even 

 by ulceration of the nostril for two or three years, 

 and yet tho horse was ilccidcdly glanilered from 

 tho beginning, and capable of propagating the 

 malady. 



When ulcers on the mcmlimne ofthe nose have 

 ap|)eHred, the constitution will be evidently aflVct- 

 ed. The hoi-so will lose flesh ; his belly' » ill bo 

 tucked up ; his coat will bo imllirifly, anil rcailily 

 come off; cough will be heard ; the appeiiie will 

 bo impaired ; the strength will fail ; the discharge 



