82 PHTSia 



Horses Have thus been housed, and have been physicked, fired, and 

 blistered, for ages. The folly of such practices is continued even to the 

 present hour. However, let the gentleman who keeps his stable filled 

 take warning from the errors of his inferiors ; and when the groom in- 

 forms him that "Blossom" is getting stale upon her legs, refuse to have 

 the creature tortured. A blister incapacitates a horse for six weeks. 

 The cessation of toil for such a period may do good ; but let the man 

 who pretends to judge in this matter grant the holiday, which the 

 measures, if adopted, would occupy, and employ the time in looking 

 jealously around his premises to ascertain wherefore his dumb servant 

 flags! 



Let no man blister a horse's legs. There is no motor agent situated 

 in or near to those parts. The shin, foot, and pastern are almost with- 

 out muscles. There is nothing, therefore, which could be freshened or 

 rendered more brisk. But these parts are susceptible of the acutest 

 agony. They are largely supplied with purely sensitive nerves. Con- 

 sequently, let all gentlemen discharge the veterinary surgeon who pro- 

 poses to blister the legs of their horses. He does so merely to gain 

 time : the professional man is totally unworthy of confidence who can 

 play with his employers' ignorance and tamper with his patients' sensa- 

 tions, merely from reasons of policy or the chance of pecuniary benefit 

 to himself I The author has beheld hundreds of blisters applied to the 

 legs, but he cannot remember the instance in which such applications 

 were productive of the slightest good. 



Blisters are seldom required, and are only beneficial as counter-irri- 

 tants. Equine medicines are generally too coarse, and much too power- 

 ful. Some practitioners mingle euphorbium, corrosive sublimate, aqua 

 fortis, etc. with the blistering agent, to increase its potency. Therefore, 

 never procure the oil of cantharides from a veterinarian. Never use 

 blistering ointment of any description. Stuffs of this last kind are, for 

 the most part, made of the refuse flies, exhausted by having been used 

 to form the oil of cantharides. Buy the oil of some respectable chemist. 

 Add to this four times its bulk of olive oil; should it not blister after 

 it has been once used, it may be rubbed in a second or a third time. 

 Counter-irritation is certain to be thus secured, and vesication is only 

 a sign which pleases the uneducated eye rather than benefits the 

 animal. 



Never employ any oil that is not perfectly clear. It should be filtered 

 after it is made, and the slightest opacity is proof that some impurity 

 is present. This direction is imperative ; for, though the ingredients 

 which compose the oil are not expensive, there is scarcely an article in 

 the pharmacopoeia more liable to adulteration. Let, therefore, the liquid 



