250 Management and Treatment of the Horse. 



under the careless and wanton folly of masters 

 and grooms, often galloped or otherwise over- 

 heated and permitted to cool in the open air or 

 in the draught of a stable. The stable itself is 

 often too hot, frequently from twenty to thirty 

 degrees above the atmosphere, and most stables 

 are but ill- ventilated, consequently the air is of 

 an impure kind, and being breathed over and 

 over again, affects the membrane which lines the 

 cells of the lungs. The constant irritation from 

 ammonia, which the horse is compelled to breathe 

 in a foul, ill-ventilated stable, weakens the mem- 

 brane of the lungs, hence the susceptibility of 

 irritation and inflammation from breathing an 

 atmosphere which is impregnated with ammo- 

 niacal gas, generated by manure and urine. It 

 is quite evident, from the dangerous nature of 

 this complaint, that the treatment must be imme- 

 diate and decisive, and as the disease is rapid, so 

 also must be the treatment, as every minute is of 

 vast importance, and the life or death of the 

 animal depends upon the treatment first adopted. 

 Although the first symptoms may be of a mild 

 character, yet we have seen how rapid they 

 become in their after-effects; to palliate this 

 would be absurd, the iron must be struck while 

 it is hot, and in this case we cannot hit too hard 

 if we mean to defeat the enemy, therefore the 

 first remedy is to clip off all the hair from the 

 sides, mix mustard tvith turpe7itine and vinegar 

 into a thin paste, rub this well into the sides from 

 near the back all over the ribs, in a circle at 

 least eighteen inches in diameter ; the whole of 



