STOMACH STAGGERS. 35?i 



life, produces intense pain and thirst ; — the former, evidenced by an 

 eager gaze at the flanks, pawing of the ground, or rolling; and 

 sometimes by each of these in succession. The saliva is secreted 

 in increased quantities, and flows from the mouth, as the throat is 

 generally too sore to allow of its being swallowed. The breath 

 soon becomes hot and fetid, and purging then comes on of a bloody 

 mucus, which soon carries ofi" the patient by exhaustion, if death 

 does not take place from the immediate eff'ects of the poison on the 

 stomach and brain. Treatment is seldom of any avail, the most 

 likely remedies being large bleedings, blisters to the sides of the 

 chest, and plenty of thin gruel to sheathe the inflamed surface 

 of the mucous membrane, which is deprived of its epithelial 

 scales. 



Corrosive sublimate* is sometimes employed as a wash in 

 mange, or to destroy lice, when it may be licked ofi", and will occa- 

 sion nearly the same symptoms as arsenic. The treatment consists 

 in a similar use of thin starch or gruel ; or, if the poison has 

 recently been given wilfully, of large quantities of white of egg, 



STOMACH STAGGERS. 



The exact nature of this disease has never been clearly 

 made out, and it is now so rare, that there is little chance of its 

 being satisfactorily explained. The symptoms would chiefly lead 

 one to suppose the brain to be implicated ; but there is so close a 

 sympathy between that organ and the stomach, that we can easily 

 account in that way for the cerebral manifestations. A theory has 

 been propounded, that it is seated in the par vagum, or pneumo- 

 gastric nerve; and as all the parts with which that nerve is con- 

 nected are affected, there is some ground for the hypothesis ; but 

 it is not supported by the demonstration of anatomy, simply, per- 

 haps, because of the difficulty in the way of prosecuting the 

 pathology of the nerves. The first onset of the disease is marked 

 by great heaviness of the eyes, soon going on to drowsiness ; the 

 head dropping into the manger, even while feeding is in progress. 

 It generally makes its appearance after a long fast ; and it is sup- 

 posed by some writers to be owing to the demands made by the 

 stomach on the brain, when in an exhausted condition for want of 

 its usual supplies. This theory is supported by the fact that, in 

 the present day, when every horsemaster knows the danger of 

 working his horses without feeding them at intervals of five, or at 

 most six hours, the stomach staggers are almost unknown. Even 

 when the disease shows itself at grass, it is almost always mani- 



* First. — Give one-half of an ounce of iodide of potassium to convert 

 the mercury into an iodide of the metal, which is harmless comparatively 

 to corrosive sublimate. Then give the white of egg, &c., spoken of in the 

 text. — Editor. 



30 * Z 



