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accumulation of wind, rupture is succeeded by relief. The restlessness and 

 straining subside, and a period of calm follows, until death results. The 

 countenance is anxious. The pulse is small and thready, and gradually 

 becomes more and more imperceptible. The breathing is short. There is 

 great disinclination to stir. 



In rupture of the large sacculated bowel, the horse frequently sits on his 

 haunches, and may attempt to vomit ; but these symptoms cannot be said 

 to be characteristic. Sitting on the haunches, indeed, is a ver)^ frequent 

 symptom in twists and other forms of disease of the bowels. Treatment is 

 of no avail in rupture of the bowels. 



DYSENTERY. 



Dysentery is of less frequent occurrence in the horse than in the other 

 domesticated animals, and, owing to the comparative rarity of its appearance, 

 It is hardly necessary for us to give our readers a lengthy account of its 

 characteristics. It has not yet been established whether this affection can 

 be communicated from one horse to another, but it is not improbable that it 

 may sometimes spread in this way. In most cases dysentery occurs as an 

 mdependent affection, while sometimes it supervenes on an attack of ordinary 

 diarrhoea. Among the chief causes of dysentery are overcrowding, vitiated 

 air supply, exposure to noxious emanations, insufficient or bad food, foul 

 water, exposure to cold and damp, overwork, and all other depressing 

 agencies. Malarial poison arising from decaying vegetable matter, is also a 

 common cause of dysentery. This is more especially the case in low-lying, 

 marshy tracts, and in shady places. Sometimes dysentery begins insiduously, 

 in which case we may at first not suspect the true nature of the affection. 

 As the disease progresses, however, the appetite becomes more markedly 

 impaired. Great depression and thirst, general wasting, and severe 

 prostration are marked features. Usually the attention is first attracted by 

 the frequency of the alvine discharges, but not unfrequently febrile 

 manifestations, debility, and rapid prostration precede the other symptoms. 

 These discharges are thin and watery, and are sometimes voided with great 

 pain, and in most cases ihere is much straining. 



Mild cases of dysentery usually terminate in recovery, but in severe 

 ones there is not much hope of amelioration. In the treatment of dysentery, 

 it is at first necessary to attend to the sanitary arrangements. The animal 

 should be kept at rest, and the diet should be of an easily digestible, fairly 

 nutritious, moist kind. A small dose of oil, say three-quarters of a pint of 

 linseed oil, may be given in the first instance. This should be followed up 

 by the administration of drenches composed of one ounce of tincture of 

 opium, two drachms of camphor, half an ounce of nitric ether, half an ounce 

 of bicarbonate of potassium, with water to ten ounces. These drenches may 

 be given twice daily. If the progress of the disease be not arrested in a few 

 days, astringent medicines will be necessary. In such, cases, eight drachm 



