26 THE COMPLETE FARRIER, 



disorder, though it maybe brought on bj many other things. 

 In my time I have known many horses sufier much by damp 

 stables. I knew a gentleman who had two valuable horses, 

 and he built a brick stable tor them, without any air-holes 

 above their heads. lie put the horses in as soon as the 

 stable appeared dry, and their heat soon caused the walls 

 of the place to sweat, and to run down with water, by which 

 means both the horses were thrown into a Consumption and 

 died. I mention this to caution othei-s. 



Cure. — The first, and indeed one of the principal things to 

 be done, is to bleed in small quantities. A pint, or at most 

 a pint and a half, is sufficient at once, and the operation is to 

 be repeated whenever the breath is more than commonly 

 oppressed. We are assured, by dissection, that in a Con- 

 sumption both the glands of the lungs and the mesenteiy are 

 swelled, and often indurated. The only medicines that can 

 be depended upon, are mercurial purges and ponderous 

 alteratives. I have already given you examples of the 

 former, and the following is a formula of the latter. Mix 



4 ounces of Crocus ^Ictalorum. 



1 ounce of Calomel pp. 



1 pound of Gum Guaiacum, finely powdered. 



Give about an ounce every day in a m^sh of bran and 

 linseed. Iceland liverwort, a handful boiled in a gallon of 

 water, is much better to make maslfes up Avith than water ; 

 for it is a great helper of the blood. But it is to be ob- 

 served that nothing will answer so good an end as Spring 

 grass ; so that if the horse be afflicted with this disease in 

 Spring time, turn him out to grass as soon as you can ; and 

 if the nights be cold, turn him out in the day-time, and take 

 him in a^t nights. Salt marshes are the most proper places, 

 when they can be met with. AVhen a horse has had this 

 disorder, he can never more bear cold and hard service as 

 before. 



A Scouring, and Other Disorders of the Intestines. 



You should consider well what the Scouring proceeds 

 from, whether it is caused by foul feeding, bad water, hard 

 exercise, sudden heat or cold, an overflowing of bile, or ft 

 weakness of the intestines. 



If it is brought on by foul feeding, or bad water, it should 

 not be stopped, but rather be promoted ; for it should be 

 7'emeiBtbered that Nature by this means throws off the seeds 

 of disease, and evacuates the morbid matter which would 

 otherwise be retained to the great disadvantage, and per- 



