192 GENERAL TREATMENT OF HORSES. 



from the profession, as veterinarians bestow much 

 attention on the making of it up, and obtaining the 

 best aloes, in which there is much difference. The 

 sooner it passes off the better ; and this will be 

 much expedited by three loose bran-mashes on the 

 day preceding the dose, and exercise previously to 

 its working. Recollect there is no virtue in the 

 aloes, beyond doing its duty in clearing and cleans- 

 ing the bowels. Calomel, when administered to the 

 horse, should not be hurried, as it is intended to 

 act upon the system, and should therefore be given 

 twelve hours previous to giv^ing the purge. Horses 

 whose bowels are difficult to be moved, should be 

 kept short of hay a day or two before they are 

 physicked, with an additional allowance of bran- 

 mashes, and encouraged to drink before they expe- 

 rience nausea. 



It may, perhaps, be well to state the " directing 

 symptoms" for administering physic to the hunter, 

 which are thus detailed by Nimrod : — " Among 

 the distinguishing symptoms of foulness in a hun- 

 ter, are these : — He appears unwell, without any 

 specific disease : his mouth is hot, his eyes look 

 dull, and sometimes yellow : his coat loses some of 

 its usual gloss, and stares between the hip-bones, 

 and on the poll of the neck : his appetite frequently 

 remains good, but he is more than usually anxious 

 for water: his heels are scurfy, and sometimes 

 crack ; he stales often, but a little at a time : his 

 urine is highly-coloured, and his excrements hard, 

 and often covered with a slimy fluid : he is dull 

 when at exercise, and frequently coughs without 



