t8 PHTSIC. 



pleasure of its superior. Then let the practitioner uncork the bottle, 

 and, putting the left hand gently under the quadruped's jaw, empty with 

 the other the contents, gradually, through the interspace which divides 

 the incisors from the molar teeth. 



But when adopting the above plan, the operator must be alone. No 

 noisy or officious assistant must be near at hand to excite alarm or to 

 create distrust. No pain must be inflicted ; no angry words should be 

 employed ; no violent or hasty action ought to be used to frighten native 

 susceptibility. All must be quiet. Should the animal be slow to swallow 

 a nauseous draught, the creature must not be scolded for a natural dis- 

 like ; but it should be encouraged by kind and cheerful accents, spoken 

 as softly as though the words were addressed to a sick child. So alive 

 is the equine heart to the seductiveness of benevolence, so unsuspecting 

 is the full confidence of its species, and so happy is its spirit made by 

 the praises of its superior, that rather than not deserve his commenda- 

 tion it will gulp down the most distasteful solution. 



Blistering. — It is not praiseworthy to the human race that the animal 

 given to man, with a mind thus impressible and yearning for kindness, 

 should be treated with severity, and regarded as a brute, to be beaten 

 and to be subdued. Such, however, is the case, and upon the poor body 

 of this amiable life all kinds of cruelties are practiced. There is no bar- 

 barity more common than to blister the legs of the quadruped. Only 

 of late years has the blistering application been somewhat reduced in 

 strength ; but it is still far more potent than is necessary. Our fathers, 

 however, added all kinds of fiery and irritating drugs to Spanish fly, and 

 never used to filter the extract; whereby particles got into the sores and 

 cracks induced by the blister, and it was common for large pieces of skin 

 to be removed by the sloughing process. A blemish was thus created. 



Horses have perished under the ^gony attendant upon the blistering 

 of all four feet. It is, however, still a recognized custom for horse doc- 

 tors to score a leg or sometimes two legs with the red-hot iron, and over 

 the lines thus created on a living frame to apply a liquid blister. To 

 fully appreciate the abhorrent barbarity or the inutility of such a cus- 

 tom, the reader must recognize that animals suffer awfully from the 

 wounds occasioned by fire, and understand that the sores are newly 

 Blade, when the irritating liquid is placed upon the tender parts. A 

 blister necessitates that the oil which contains the extract of the fliy 

 should be thoroughly rubbed in. Therefore the horse, when blistered, 

 after having been fired, has to endure the friction of a rough hand, 

 applied with all the coarse energy of an uneducated man, made upon 

 a member smarting under the agony produced by the agent of which 

 the creature has an instincMve dread. 



