432 MATERIA MEDICA 



which are somethiies an effect of that disease; and often oc- 

 curring fi'om other causes. 



BALLS. — BoU. Medicine is most commonly given to 

 horses in the form of a ball or bolus, the size of which should not 

 exceed that of a hen's esg. Though named a ball, it is gene- 

 rally rolled up in a cylindrical form, about three fourths of an 

 inch in diameter, and two and a half in length ; but the form 

 of an egg, perhaps, is preferable. There is sometimes diffi- 

 culty in giving balls, without using the instrument termed a 

 balling iron; and there are some horses that will not take a ball 

 by any other means. In giving a ball, the horse's tongue is 

 drawn out on the off or right side, and held firmly with the 

 left hand, while with the right the ball is quickly passed over 

 the tongue into the pharynx, or top of the gullet. The hand 

 should be kept as near to the roof of the mouth as possible in 

 giving the ball ; there Avill then be much less danger of being 

 wounded by the teeth. The moment the right hand is with- 

 drawn from the mouth the tongue is let loose, and the ball gene- 

 rally swallowed. The hailing iron is so contrived as to keep 

 the mouth open, while the ball is forced into the throat; it is 

 then immediately withdrawn. 



Balls should be made at the time they are wanted; as by 

 keeping they often become so hard as to be almost insoluble in 

 the stomach, sometimes passing through the intestines unchanged: 

 by keeping they also lose much of their strength, particularly 

 wdien the ingredients are evaporable in the common temperature 

 of the atmosphere, which is the case with camphor, ammonia, 

 essential oils, &c. But the most serious inconvenience which 

 arises from giving balls that have been kept until they become 

 very hard, is, that they are liable to stick in the throat or gullet, 

 and thereby endanger the horse's life; indeed, I have known 

 horses destroyed in this way. 



Balls cannot be conveniently given unless wrapped up in 

 paper ; but for this purpose the softest and thinnest should be 

 chosen. 



The balling iron may be covered with cloth or listing to pre- 

 vent the mouth from being bruised by it. In holding the tongue 

 with the left hand while the ball is introduced, great care is re- 

 quired, as the rough and violent manner in which this is some- 

 times done often injures the tongue or lacerates the under part 

 of it, named the bridle. The muscles by which swallowing is 

 effected may also be seriously injured in this way. In violent 

 colds, strangles, &c., there is often so much soreness of the throat 

 as to render swallowing very painful and difficult ; in such cases 

 neither balls nor drenches should be given, as they are sure to do 

 mischief by irritating the throat, and may even suffocate the 

 animal by getting into the windpipe. (See Deenches.) An 



