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On the Salivary Defluxions in Horses, 



The follorwing papers were written at the request of Mr. 

 William Young near Wilmington Delaware ^and by hbn 

 forwarded to the society. 



Read January 8th, 1811. 



Wilmington December 25th 1810. 

 Dear Sir, 



In conformity to promise, I communicate to you the 

 result of some observations and experiments I have made 

 on the SPOTTED sturge, Euphorbia maculata of Lin- 

 neus, particularly relative to its being the cause of the 

 salivation that has occurred so frequently among horses 

 in this and the adjacent part of the country. Although 

 my experiments have been but few and simple, I con- 

 ceive they have been sufficient to establish the fact. 

 The frequent occurrence of a profuse discharge of sa- 

 liva from horses, and its rapid production of great de- 

 bility and emaciation in that useful animal ; had not 

 only excited the attention and sui*prise of many of the 

 farmers ; but had also given rise to many conjectures 

 as to the cause of it. — Many opinions were founded on 

 no substantial data, but originating only from conjec- 

 ture ; by many it was imputed to a peculiar quality 

 inherent in the second growth of clover, — its generally 

 appearing first when horses w^ere put to pasture on 

 the second crop, and being almost exclusively produc- 

 ed by pasturing in clover fields, were considered as cor- 

 roborating evidences of the correctness of the hypothe- 

 sis; but its not having occurred for many years after clo- 



