AND PnARMACOPCEIA. 515 



OATS. — AvenoB sativcB ISemina. In the choice of oats for 

 horses, such as are perfectly free from unpleasant or musty- 

 smell should be preferred ; also such as are heavy and clean. 

 New oats are injurious, rather difficult of digestion, and apt to 

 scour, but this quality may be, in a great measure, corrected by 

 drying them gradually on a kiln, or by giving with them a 

 small proportion of split beans, and some clover cut into chaff: 

 when this cannot be had, a small quantity of wheat flour may 

 be given in the horse's water, especially if the horse already 

 scours, and then the chill of his water should be taken off; a 

 small cordial ball may be necessary on such occasions if the 

 animal has any extraordinary work to do, but, under such cir- 

 cumstances, even moderate work might be hazardous. Nothing 

 is more liable to produce diseases in horses than being fed on 

 musty oats, that is, oats that have been heated by being kept 

 on board a ship, or in large heaps, without being frequently 

 turned. 1 have known coach and post horse proprietors suffer 

 the most serious losses from this cause; it cannot, therefore, be 

 too carefully guarded against. Food should be so given that 

 digestion may go on without interruption, as many horses have 

 been destroyed by taking them out and putting them to quick 

 work upon a full stomach. Bruising oats, as well as beans, for 

 horses is a great advantage ; and, upon emergencies, oatmeal 

 or wheat flour mixed up with a little water will be found to 

 afford nutriment and vigour without encumbering the stomach. 

 I am satisfied that those cases of gripes or flatulent colic which 

 so often occur among post and coach horses are brought on by 

 indigestion ; and what is so likely to cause indigestion as violent 

 exercise upon a full stomach, especially when the food is of a 

 bad quality, and the stomach in a morbid or weakened state, 

 which is often the case with post and stage-coach horses? 

 When there is a necessity for using new oats, and especially 

 when any stock of such oats is to be kept, they should be dried 

 on a kiln very gradually. They may then be much improved, 

 and, probably, that process may be completed Avhich had been 

 put a stop to by removing them from the mow. 



OILS. — Olea. Oils are either fixed or volatile. The former 

 are procured from various animal and vegetable substances, 

 generally by means of pressure and heat, from which circum- 

 stance, they have also been named expressed oils ; and are termed 

 fixed, because they do not evaporate, except at a very high tem- 

 perature, when they are decomposed. Volatile oils, on the 

 contrary, evaporate ' very readily, and are generally obtained 

 from vegetables by distillation ; and as they commonly contaiu 

 all the "essential qualities of the substance they are procured 

 from, have also been named essential oils. The various oils are 



