HORSE MEDICINES AND REMEDIES 217 



(E) AN ASTRINGENT LOTION. 



Goulard's Extract . . . . 3 drachms. 

 Water J pint. 



(F) ASTRINGENT OINTMENT. 



Super-acetate of lead . . .1 drachm. 



Lard 1 ounce. 



Mix. 



(G) Or, for the same purpose : 



Nitrate of silver, in powder . . J drachm. 

 Goulard's Extract .... 1 drachm. 



Lard 1 ounce. 



Mix. (F) and (G) are good for sore heels. 



Balls. — This is the favourite and most convenient mode 

 of administering horse medicines. 



There are some circumstances, in the preparation of this 

 form of medicines, not in general sufficiently attended to 

 by veterinarians. Substances that are volatile do not keep 

 well in balls, and therefore should only be made when used. 

 The same caution is also requisite with such as liquefy by 

 the absorption of air. All hard substances entering into 

 balls should be finely powdered, and the moist matter that 

 is to form them into an adhesive mass should be of a nature 

 that will not soon ferment or become mouldy. Hence they 

 are better compounded with oil than with honey or syrup. 

 A mass for balls should be pressed down in a jar, and 

 covered with a bladder. Balls should not weigh more 

 than an ounce and a half or two ounces, or they will pass 

 down the gullet with difficulty ; nor more than an inch 

 in diameter, and three inches in length. The mode of 

 " delivering a ball " is not difficult to acquire ; and the 

 balling iron, while it often wounds and permanently injures 

 the bars, occasions the horse to struggle more than he 

 otherwise would against the administration of the ball. 

 The horse should be backed in the stall ; the tongue should 

 be drawn gently out with the left hand on the off side of 

 the mouth, and there fixed, not by continuing to pull at it, 

 but by pressing the fingers against the side of the lower 



