STOMACH STAGGERS. 157 



horses being seized with it about the same time. It seems rather 

 probable that it was either contagious, or caused, like other epi- 

 demic diseases, by some peculiar state of the air with which we 

 are unacquainted. 



Gibson relates a case of stomach staggers which occurred at 

 grass. " On opening the body," he says, " I was greatly surprised 

 to find his fetomach and all his guts, both large and small, filled 

 and crammed to such a degree that it would have been impossible, 

 by any means in the world, to have procured the least vent ; for all 

 the aliment that was in the stomach, as well as the dung in the 

 bowels, from one end to the other, was entirely dry and without 

 moisture, and, before they were opened, appeared as hard and as 

 full crammed as a Bologna sausage, without the least softness or 

 yielding in any part. The matter contained in them was no 

 less extraordinary, the stomach being filled with acorns, sloes, 

 oak-leaves, and such other things as he could pick u]) about the 

 hedges ; some green and some withered. The contents of the 

 guts were chiefly leaves, neither well-chewed nor digested, with a 

 mixture of grass. But there was little or no grass in his stomach, 

 but chiefly acorn cups and leaves. This horse had been turned 

 into a very rank after-marsh, and had probaljly acquired a de- 

 praved appetite, which led him to eat indigestible and astringent 

 food." 



The horses which I have seen In this complaint have generally 



bleeding is generally necessary. As to the extent of the bleeding, we must 

 be guided by circumstances. I have seen the most copious bleeding avail 

 nothing; but then probably the vital power of the stomach was irrecoverably 

 lost before the disease was observed. In the first kind, there is a repletion 

 of the blood-vessels as well as of the stomach, and the relief of the former is 

 often the primary object ; but in the second kind, which occurs generally 

 among small farmers' horses, which are badly or indifferently fed, and worked 

 hard, probably ke[)t out in some cold wet situation, the horses are generally 

 suffering from poverty of blood and a deficiency of vital power. Here with- 

 out early assistance the stomach soon becomes paralysed, and the relief of 

 this important organ is generally the primary indication. In the third kind, 

 or moor staggers, bleeding "was sure to prove fatal;" and the remedies em- 

 ployed for the two horses which Mv. Poole cured were powerful stimulants 

 and cordials. In the second kind, I have sometimes succeeded by giving 

 warm stimulating purgatives, and clystering the horse frequently, until a 

 discharge was obtained from the bowels. I have bled according to circum- 

 stances, — sometimes from the temporal arteries; but am inclined to believe 

 that bleeding from the jugular veins is preferable, as it is the veins of the 

 brain that are loaded in such cases, and these empty themselves into the 

 jugular veins. A horse affected with stomach staggers requires constant 

 attention. The contents of the stomach and bowels are generally in a dry 

 state ; therefore he should be frequently drenched with warm water, with 

 two or three tea-spoonfuls of compound spirit of ammonia mixed with it. I 

 am inclined to think the carbonate of soda would greatly assist the warm 

 water in softening the contents of the stomach, and thereby facilitate their 

 discharge. 



