36 



of any serious ailment of tlie hoi-se; and only once lias my father, in 

 a practice extending over fifty years, known bots to be the cause of 

 death. In this instance the bots seemed to have simultaneously 

 loosened their hold xv^on the mucous lining of the stomach, and were 

 forced as an impermeable wedge into the pjdoric orifice, or outlet, of 

 the stomach, and thus, preventing the i)assage of food or medicine, 

 produced death. Were the bots to attempt to fasten themselves to 

 the sensitive lining of the bowels in their outward passage they might 

 cause irritation and expressions of pain in the foi*m of colicky symp- 

 toms, but this they seldom or never do. The opinion frequently 

 expressed at post-mortem examinations, when the stomach is found to 

 be ruptured, that "the bots have eaten through the stomach," is 

 again a mistake. Bots never do this; the rupture is due to overdis- 

 tention of the viscus with food or gases. Some writers on veterinary 

 medicine have even urged that bots, by their presence, stimulated 

 the stomach secretions, and were thus actually an aid to digestion. 

 This opinion is as far from the truth as the more general one referred 

 to above, concerning the harm they do. 



Bots may, and probably do, when in large enough numbers to be 

 fastened to the true digestive jjortion of the stomach, slightly inter- 

 fere with digestion; the animal may not thrive, the coat stares, and 

 emaciation may follow; but beyond this, with the exception already 

 noted, tliey are harmless. Even were they the cause of trouble, there 

 are no medicines that affect them ; neither acids, nor alkalies, anthel- 

 mintics (worm medicines), nor anodynes cause them to become loose 

 and to pass out of the body. To i^revent them it is necessary to 

 watch for their eggs on the legs and different parts of the body in the 

 late summer and autumn. These eggs are to be carefully scraped off 

 and burned. Horses should not be watered from stagnant ponds, as 

 they frequently swallow the ripening eggs with such water. It is 

 entirely useless to attempt any treatment to rid the horse of bots; 

 they go at their appointed time, and can not be dislodged before this. 

 We should remember that in following their natural course or stages 

 of existence the bots loosen their hold during May and June mostly. 

 They are then expelled in great numbers, and horse-owners, noticing 

 them in the manure, hasten to us saying "my horse has the bots." 

 If we are honest we tell him tliat, in the natural course of events, 

 nature is doing for him that which we can not do. We may say in 

 conclusion, then, that bots seldom produce miy evil effects whatever; 

 that not more than once in ten thousand times are they the cause of 

 colicky symptoms, and that thej'' require no medicine to eject them. 



INDIGESTION. 



Indigestion is a term api3lied to all those conditions where, from any 

 cause, digestion is imperfectly performed. It is not at all uncommon 

 to witness in the horse symptoms similar to those of dyspepsia in man. 



