58 PHYSIC. 



packed away for use or sent out to such stables as delight in strange 

 property. 



A BALL, OF THE FORM WHICH IT IS QENERAIiT MADE TO ASSUME WHEN GIVEN. 



Previous to a ball being delivered it is customary, with the generality 

 of practitioners, to pinch the sharp edge of the forward extremity until 

 that part of the substance becomes rounded. The intention, when doing 

 this, is so to modify the shape as to facilitate the passage of the body 

 down the gullet. Where the medicine is soft, as all newly-compounded 

 drugs must necessarily be, the muscular contractility of the horse's swal- 

 low would render such trouble useless ; but, as the ball must be rather 

 pulpy which can be thus moulded by the fingers, it would be no more 

 than a prudent regulation should every proprietor insist on this custom 

 always being complied with. Whether the present practice in any degree 

 is beneficial to the animal, the author is very dubious ; at all events, the 

 horse were very fortunate if the sharp edges of the forward extremity 

 were the only danger it encountered when swallowing the physic which 

 is supposed to be curative in its effect. 



Several potent caustics rank among the most common of horse phys- 

 ics. Those agents are of great power; as bichloride of mercury, arsenic, 

 nitrate of silver, sulphate of copper, etc. These burning compounds are 

 frequently administered in substance, and in enormous' doses. Even 

 where the quantity prescribed is not objectionable, the form in which the 

 caustic is generally given is calculated to be highly injurious. In the 

 first place, the use of such things in the veterinary pharmacy is too com- 

 mon an occurrence for the compounder to bestow much care upon the 

 accuracy of the weight — a scruple more or less being commonly esteemed 

 of no importance. Next, small thought is bestowed upon the necessity 

 of incorporating such fiery components with more mild ingredients before 

 the mass is forced down the sensitive throat of a living creature. A ball 

 made of linseed meal and treacle is quickly snatched from one of the 

 drawers of the surgery ; the powerful agent is speedily reduced to pow- 

 der ; the placebo is torn from its envelope ; a slit is cut down its center ; 

 from the mortar the potent material is emptied into the cavity thus 

 formed for its reception ; and the whole, after having been rewrapped in 

 fresh paper, is esteemed to be ready for delivery. 



