Book VII. 



VETERINARY PHARMACOPCEIA. 



991 



After the ball has been given two hours, a warm bran mash may be offered, and a very little hay. He 

 should have walking exercise as usual, moderate clothing, and altogether he should be kept rather 

 more warm than usual. At noon mash again, and give a little hay, which should be repeated at 

 night, giving him at intervals chilled water. On the following morning the physic may be expected to 

 work ; which if it do briskly, keep the horse quiet : but should it not move his bowels, or only relax them, 

 walk him quietly half an hour, which will probably have the desired effect Continue to give mashes 

 and warm water, repeating them every two or three hours to support him. When physic gripes a horse, 

 give him a clyster of warm water, and hand-rub the belly, as well as walk him out. If the griping 

 prove severe, give him four ounces of gin in half a pint of sound ale, which will soon relieve him. On 

 the next day the physic will probably set, but should it continue to work him severely, pour down some 

 boiled starch ; and if this fail, turn to the directions under diarrhoea. (6473.) The horse should return to 

 his usual habits of full feeding and full exercise by degrees ; and if more than one dose be to be given, a 

 week should intervene. It is often requisite to make the second and third doses rather stronger than the 

 first. A very mild dose of physic is likewise often given to horses while at grass in very warm weather, 

 and without any injury. When worms or skin fouhiess are present, and mercurial physic is deemed 

 necessary, it is better to give two drachms of calomel in a mash the previous night, than to put it into the 

 purging ball. 



SuBSECT. 7. Castration, Nicking, Docking, ^c. 



6546. The operations of castration, docking, nicking, and that of cropping (which is now seldom practised), 

 all require the assistance of a veterinary surgeon ; and it is only necessary to remark of them, that the 

 after treatment must be the same as in all other wounds. To avoid irritation, to preserve a cool tempera- 

 ture and a moderate diet ; and if active febrile symptoms make their appearance, to obviate them by 

 bleeding, &c. &c. It likewise is piroper to direct the attention of the agriculturist who attends to these 

 matters himself, that the moment the wound following any of these operations looks otherwise than 

 healthy, locked jaw is to be feared, and no time should be lost in seeking the best assistance that can be 

 obtained. {6-i32.) 



SuBSECT. 8. Bleeding. 



6547. Bleeding is a very common, and to the horse a very important operation , because his inflamma- 

 tory diseases, on account of the great strength of his arterial system, run to a fatal termination very soon, 

 and can only be checked in the rapidity of their progress by abstracting blood, which diminishes the 

 momentum of circulation. Bleeding is more particularly important in the inflammatory diseases of the 

 horse ; because we cannot, as in the human frame, lower the circulation by readily nauseating the stomach. 

 Bleeding also lessens irritation particularly in the young and plethoric, or those of full habit : hence we 

 bleed in spasms of the bowels, in locked jaw, &c., with good effect. Bleeding is general or topical 

 General, as from the neck, when we mean to lessen the general momentum. Topical, when we bleed 

 from a particular part, as the eye, the plate vein, the toe, &c. Most expert practitioners use a large 

 lancet to bleed with ; and when the habit of using it is acquired, it is by far the best instrument, particu- 

 larly for superficial veins where a blow might carry the fleam through the vessel. In common hands the 



838 fleam {fig. 838.), as the more general instrument, is best adapted to 



the usual cases requiring the agriculturist's notice. Care should, 

 however, be taken not to strike it with vehemence ; and the hair 

 being first wetted and smoothed down, it should be pressed close 

 between the hairs, so that its progress may not be impeded by them. 



^ A ligature should be first passed round the neck, and a hand held 



\^ [ / over the eye, unless the operator be very expert, when the use of the 



\i/' fingers will dispense with the ligature. The quantity of blood taken 



is usually too smalL In inflammatory diseases, a large horse, parti- 

 cularly in the early stage of a complaint, will bear to lose eight or ten quarts : and half the quantity may 

 be taken away two or three times afterwards, if the violence of the symptoms seem to require it; and the 

 blood should be drawn in a large stream to do all the good it is capable of After the bleeding is finished, 

 introduce a sharp pin, and avoid drawing the skin away from the vein while pinning, which lets the blood 

 escape between the vein and skin: wrap round a piece of tow or hemp, and next day remove the pin, 

 which might otherwise inflame the neck. In drawing blood, let it always be measured: letting it fall on 

 I he ground prevents the ascertaining the quantity ; it also prevents any observation on the state of the 

 blood, which if it form itself into a cup-like cavity on its surface, and exhibit a tough yellow crust over 

 this cavity, it betokens an inflammatory state of body that will require further bleedings, unless the weak- 

 ness forbid. After the bleeding, it now and then happens, from rusty lancets, too violent a stroke with 

 the blood stick, or from drawing away the skin too much while pinning up, that the orifice inflames and 

 hardens, and ichor is seen to ooze out between its edges. Immediately this is discovered, recourse must 

 je had to an able veterinary surgeon, or the horse will lose the vein, and perhaps his life. 



Sect. VII. Veterinary Pharmacopoeia^ 



6548. The following formulas for veterinary practice have been compiled from the works of the most 

 eminent veterinary writers of the present day, as Blaine, Clark, Laurence, Peel, White, &c. ; and we 

 can, from our own experience also, confidently recommend the selection to the notice of agriculturists, 

 and the owners of horses in general. It would be prudent for such as have many horses, and particularly 

 for such as live at a distance from the assistance of an able veterinarian, to keep the more necessary 

 articles by them in case of emergence: some venders of horse drugs keep veterinary medicine chests; 

 and where the compositions can be depended on, and the uncompounded drugs are genuine and good, one 

 of these is a most convenient appendage to every stable. The best arranged veterinary medicine chest 

 we have seen was in London, at the veterinary elaboratory of Youatt of Nassau Street, Middlesex 

 Hospital. 



6549. The veterinary pharmacopoeia for oxen, calves, and sheep has been included in the arrangement. 

 When any speciality occurs, or where distinct recipes are requisite, they have been carefully noticed ; it 

 will therefore only be necessary to be kept in mind, that with the exception of acrid substances, as mi- 

 neral acids, &c., which no cattle bear with equal impunity with the horse, the remedies prescribed 

 require about the following proportions : A large ox will bear the proportions of a moderate-sized horse ; 

 a moderate-sized cow something less ; a calf about a third of the quantity; and a sljeep about a quarter, 

 or at most a third of the proportions directed for the cow. It is also to be remarked, tnat the degrees in 

 strength in the different recipes are usually regulated by their numbers, the mildest standing first 



6550. AtteraHvet. 



1. 

 Levigated antimony, 2 drachms. 

 Cream of tartar. 

 Flower of sulphur, each half an ounce. 



2. 

 Cream of tartar. 

 Nitre, of each half an ounce. 



^thiops mineral. 



Levigated antimony. 



Powdered resin, each 3 drachms. 



Give in a mash, or in com and bran a 

 little wetted, every night, or make into a 

 ball with honey. 



6551. 7\>nic Alteratives. 

 1. 

 Gentian, 

 -Aloes, 

 Ginger, 



Blue vitriol, in powder, of each 1 drachm. 

 Oak bark in powder, 6 drachms. 



