30 THE DISEASES OF HORSES, 



the ears, legs, &c, are of their natural temperature ; in the latter they 

 are col*]. In colio the strength of the horse is very little affected, 

 whilst inflammation of the bowels produces rapid and great weakness. 



Having determined that the attack is colic and not enteritis, as inflam- 

 mation of the bowels is called, care must be taken that the treatment 

 adopted and the supposed remedies given, are not of such a nature as to 

 induce inflammation to take the place of the less dangerous disease- 

 There is generally someone present on such occasions ready with advice 

 gratis that had better be declined— harsh and violent means of cure never 

 do any good, and are correspondingly dangerous; therefore, if anyone 

 proposes a hard gallop, rubbing the belly with the tail of a stable broom, 

 or violently kneading the belly with the knees, or proposing to place 

 cayenne pepper, ginger, onions, &C-, up the sheath, under the ignorant 

 assumption that the horse merely wants to stale to be relieved, do not 

 listen to him ; gentleness in treating the horse is an important element 

 of success in disease as in health, and to put the animal to additional 

 and unnecessary pain is to cause him to knock about with every proba- 

 bility of producing the most serious results. Approach him quietly, 

 and with coarse woollen cloths or hard wisps let a man on each side rub 

 the belly continuously, or, if it can be done conveniently, apply a woollen 

 rug, dipped in hot water, to the belly, covering it with a dry one and 

 changing it as it gets cold. Gentle exercise, as before stated, will some- 

 times give relief, but it must not be more than a sharp walk or moderate 

 trot. If it is suspected or known to have been brought on by costiveness, 

 back raking should be resorted to, and injections of soap and warm water 

 used to relieve the bowels, to which may be added a solution of aloes — 

 about half-a-pint of decoction. 



Of internal remedies, largo and excessive doses of cayenne pepper, 

 ginger, &c, and more especially large quantities of alcoholic spirits, 

 whether alone or with the former, are dangerous, although, in mode- 

 rate doses, they sometimes give relief, and are at times the only remedies 

 at hand. Oil of turpentine in doses of from three to six ounces is a good 

 anti-spasmodic in such cases, and is a favourite remedy, but care must 

 be used in administering it, as if spilt over the animal it creates consider- 

 able irritation ; it may be given floating on water or combined with 

 linseed oil, or shaken into an emulsion with yolk of eggs or mucilage of gum 

 arabic ; it should, however, be given in connection with opium. Sul- 

 phuric ether is also a useful drug in colic— it is a diffusive stimulant — 

 its action passes off quickly, and where relief is not obtained by the first 

 dose it may be repeated in half-an-hour. Pimento has also been much 

 extolled as an anti-spasmodic in these cases : it is given in form of a tinc- 

 ture made by macerating one pound of berries bruised in six pint* of proof 

 spirit for fourteen diiys, and then filtering, the dose being 3oz. to 4oz. The 

 recipes for colic are innumerable, nearly every stableman having his 

 own infallible cure; whilst the "gripe tinctures" of tho druggists are 

 countless. Turpentine has the advantage of being generally obtainable, and 



