VETERINARY MATERIA MEDICA. 643 



made fi'om oats, barley, bran, malt, linseed, and some- 

 times chaff: they are also given cold or warm; but, in 

 either case, should always be made hot. In making 

 them, care is necessary to avoid smoking the water, and 

 not to stir them with any thing dirty, or the horse will 

 refuse them. The mode of mashing is sufficiently known : 

 boiling water is poured on the bran, corn, or whatever 

 is the subject of the mash, sufficient to render it of the 

 consistence of a poultice ; it should be covered over, and 

 suffered to remain an hour or two, unless it is to be used 

 hot to steam the head, as in catarrh ; but even here it 

 should not be hung round the neck immediately, or it 

 would alarm the horse. Some horses will not readily eat 

 bran mashes without a handful of corn to make it pala- 

 table : when horses are weakly and much emaciated, it is 

 prudent often to mash all their corn. The quantity in- 

 tended for them the ensuing day may be put into a vessel 

 the over-night, and boiling water poured on it : in this 

 way it is rendered more easy of digestion, and hence 

 more nutritive. Speared corn has been sometimes recom- 

 mended ; which is nothing more than malting a quantity, 

 by soaking it in cold water for twenty-four hours, and 

 then spreading it two inches thick on a floor ; this will 

 make it soon sprout, when it may be given. In this way, 

 it must be made from day to day, or it will become musty 

 or mouldy. 

 Mercury (Hydrargyrus) , or Quicksilver. — This singular 

 mineral yields us some of our most active medicinal 

 agents. 



Corrosive mercury {Hydrargyrus oxymurias), popularly 

 called corrosive sublimate, forms an excellent medical 

 agent in judicious hands. As an alterative, it may be 

 given in doses of ten to twenty grains daily : in glanders 

 and farcy this quantity may be gradually increased to as 

 much as the horse will bear without inconvenience ; but 

 as its noxious effects are often sudden, so it must be 

 most carefully watched. Externally, also, its effects are 

 considerable. As a caustic, it has already been noticed 

 among Escharotics. It formed a discarded wash for mange ; 

 and was often employed as an auxiliary to the stimulant 

 properties of blisters, when used for exostosis. It appears 



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