THEIR PATHOLOGY, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREATMENT. 69 



fc"sore grievance," as the older writers term it, to afflict himself with 

 the terrible remedies necessary to its eradication, and he may have to blush 

 for the inhumanity of man, that could either by want of that proper 

 care which he owes to the domestic life in his keeping, or through 

 indulgence of brutal passion, inflict such torture, for, be it remembered, 

 this is a wholly preventible evil. 



Poll evil consists in the formation of abscess on the top and back part of 

 the head. It may first be discovered by the animal stretching his neck, and 

 holding his head forward as if afraid to move, which in fact he is, as the 

 pain arising from the injury he has received is great, and tempting as 

 food in his manger may be, he makes but slow progress with it. At 

 this stage, if the hand is applied gently to the poll, and pressure by 

 degrees used, the existence of the disease will be proved by the horse 

 evincing pain, and it may be prevented from going further by the 

 application of a blister, the most appropriate to the case being an etherial 

 and acetous tincture of cantharides applied with a brush daily until 

 vesication has taken place ; but, unfortunately, it is often tampered 

 with, the remedies of impostors being often preferred to the advice of 

 our scientific men ; poultices and cold applications are not sufficiently 

 active, and their use may only waste time and insure the evil it is desired 

 to avert. When not stopped in its first stages, matter is formed, and 

 as the injury is not merely external, nature has difficulty in finding an 

 outlet, so that deep sinuses or canals are formed and must be cut into by 

 the surgeon's knife, at the expense of exquisite pain to the sufferer ; but 

 this temporary pain, keen though it be, is preferable to continuous agony, 

 therefore do not hesitate, but let the experienced surgeon exercise 

 his profession, for such cases are beyond home treatment, and it 

 would be the grossest cruelty to attempt it; above all, be warned against 

 permitting ignorant horse doctors to torture the animal by pouring into 

 the abscess strong caustics, boiling liquors, &c , which can only 

 intensify the disease at a fearful cost of suffering. The cause of 

 poll-evil is always an external injury, often a blow from a stick or 

 butt end of a whip ; and another cause is the stupid plan of building 

 stables with low roof and joists, and doors so low in the lintel, the result 

 being that the horse, having his attention arrested at a critical moment by 

 any unusual sight or sudden sound, throws his head up, receiving a violent 

 blow, which ends in poll-evil. 



Prick of the Sole. — This accident occurs in shoeing, not always from 

 carelessness, although awkward men and novices are the greatest de- 

 linquents. Whenever such a thing does happen it is the smith's duty to 

 admit it, and indeed to acquaint the owner with the mischance. Of course 

 if the nail is at once driven int:> the sensitive part of the foot the injury is 

 made instantly apparent, but if its point only reach into the soft horn 

 contiguous to the sensitive laminse it will not be discovered until the 

 weight of the horse on it bends it into the sensitive part, causing lame- 

 ness, pain, and often a discharge. The obvious duty is to have the 



