APPLICATION OF KEMEDIES. , 167 



side having to bolt a diuretic ball fortnightly, or oftener, 

 according to the whim of the groom, when his kidneys no 

 more required stimulation than his hocks did blistering. 



A horse of ordinary size contains, on an average, from 

 twenty to twenty-four quarts of blood, and the loss to him 

 of four quarts is not so much as a pound, or pint, to a 

 human being. In cases of acute inflammation, a horse 

 may be bled eight or ten quarts at a time, or until he lies 

 down, with advantage; and if the sj^mptoms do not abate, 

 may be bled again at intervals of an hour or two, to an 

 extent which a person, ignorant how rapidly blood is 

 made, would suppose must drain the animal of his life. 

 Purgatives, in our opinion, on the other hand, should be 

 very cautiously administered; never when there is any 

 inflammation of the lungs or bowels ; very rarely when 

 there is anj^ internal inflammation ; and when given, should 

 never, or hardly ever, in our judgment, exceed five 

 drachms of new Barbadoes aloes. Injections, diet, and 

 mashes are vastly superior, for general practice, to acute 

 p>urgatives, horses being extremely liable to super-purga- 

 tion, and many valuable animals being lost in consequence 

 of it yearly. 



The first branch of this subject on which we propose to 

 treat, is the early application of remedies to horses, sud- 

 denly seized with violent and acute diseases, anticipatory 

 to the calling in of regular medical assistance. It is highly 

 necessary that this should be done as soon as the horse is 

 known to be seized, and the nature of his seizure is fully 

 ascertained, since, in several of the diseases to which the 

 horse is most liable, the increase of the malady is so 

 rapid that, if early steps be not taken to relieve the suf- 

 ferer, the evil becomes so firmly seated that the remedy, 

 if long delayed, comes too late, and an animal is lost 

 which by timely assistance might have easily been pre- 



