294 STABLE MANUAL AND HORSE DOCTOR 



use an astringent wash or unguent — (E) (F) (G), Astrin- 

 gents (see Horse Medicines) — to repress the discharge of pus, 

 and cleanse the sore. White vitriol, one ounce, twenty 

 drops of laudanum, and water at discretion, is a good eye- 

 wash in such a case. 



OBSTRUCTION OF THE LACHRYMAL DUCT. 



This disease, called " watery eye " by the farriers, is occa- 

 sioned by the stoppage of the small canal leading from the 

 eye to the nostril, at the inner corner of the upper and 

 lower e^yelids, and ending in the dark skin of the nostril on 

 the inner side. This minute sinus obstructed, the tears flow 

 out upon the face of the animal, excoriate the flesh, and 

 make bald places and sores. A bougie, or, better, a thin 

 elastic probe of catgut, a foot long, may be passed through 

 the channel, an assistant holding open the eyelids; a 

 mechanical cure is affected. 



WARTS. 



The eyelids are sometimes affected with warts, which are 

 very irritating to the animal in consequence of his rubbing 

 them on some prominent object ; this causes them to bleed, 

 and increases their number. 



They should be cut off with a pair of sharp scissors, and 

 the roots touched with nitrate of silver (lunar caustic) or 

 blue vitriol. 



III.— Diseases and Injuries of the Teeth, Palate, Tongue, 

 Nostrils, and Pharynx. 



The " dentistry " of the horse will not occupy much space. 

 Teeth disorders are the results of domestication, artificial 

 diet, irregularities in feeding, and injury from the iron bit. 



The teeth are often troublesome to the domesticated horse. 

 Sharp edges on the outer side of the upper molars and the 

 inside of the lower — one wounding the cheek, the other the 

 tongue, and causing the horse to swallow his food unmas- 

 ticated, or producing " quidding " {i.e., throwing out his food 

 in balls from the mouth) are a serious though apparently 

 a trivial defect. The tooth-rasp, which requires no descrip- 

 tion, is the remedy ; and the same when one of the grinders 



