428 VEGETABLE POISONS. 



the throat. In more serious cases the following will give 

 relief: — 



Si)irit of hartshorn one ounce. 



Olive oil a pint. 



Mix. 



— To a horse, or ox, give the whole ; to a sheep a third 

 may be given, and some of the same may be well rubbed 

 into the bitten place. 



In case hartshorn cannot be procured, substitute carbo- 

 nate of soda two ounces, or a double or treble quantity of 

 any of the spirits, as brandy, rum, or gin. The stings of 

 hornets, wasps, and bees, may be successfully washed with 

 ammonia, or rubbed with the blue used by washerwomen, 

 which is often found to be beneficial. 



VEGETABLE POISONS. 



The stomach of the horse is sensible to the deleterious 

 effects of many narcotic and acrid stimulating vegetable 

 matters. Of some of these, however, it takes an immode- 

 rate dose to seriously disturb the functions ; of which opium 

 is an instance among others : while a moderate dose of the 

 prussic acid in the form of lauro cerasus kills him in a 

 short time. The taxus baccata, or yew tree, is poisonous 

 to horses when they feed upon them, stealing away life 

 speedily, without raising convulsion or commotion. Digi- 

 talis purpurea, or foxglove ; oenanthe crocata, or dropwort ; 

 phellandrium aquaticum, or water parsley ; nicotiana, or 

 tobacco, are deadly ; while conium maculatum, or hem- 

 lock, and cicuta viroso, or water hemlock, are reckoned 

 poisonous by some, and innocuous by others. Vegetable 

 narcotics appear to produce their effect, through the medium 

 of the stomach, on the sensorium : the stomach, however, 

 is found after death to bear small marks of being affected, 

 nor are more to be perceived in the head : the lungs are 

 seen in many cases very highly inflamed. The more acrid 

 vegetables leave very powerful marks of their ravages, by 

 deep inflammatory spots over the villous surfaces of the 

 stomach and intestines. In such cases we cannot hope to 

 effect the removal of the noxious matter by vomits in the 

 horse. We must therefore, in that animal, oppose the 



