THE HORSE IN SICKNESS AND DISEASE 317 



potassium and linseed meal, and, at the same time, rub 

 into the swelling as much of the following ointment as is 

 equal in bulk to a small walnut. Take of 



Iodide of potass .... 1 drachm. 

 Simple cerate .... 1 ounce. 



Or, if a drench is preferred : 



Iodide of potass .... J drachm. 

 Liquor potassse .... 1 drachm. 

 Distilled water .... J pint. 



And after the drink rub in the ointment till no grease 

 remains. Should the part become sore, you may pause in 

 the rubbing-in treatment, as the disorder is not active, and 

 the tumour is not morbidly sensible. 



STRANGLES. 



Strangles, a name given when there Vv^as little more 

 known of this disease than its evident danger of strangling 

 the patient, has come down to the present day. The disorder 

 is peculiar to young horses between the second and fifth 

 year. It is seldom met with in aged horses. It is evidently 

 of febrile origin, yet its proximate causes are not known. 

 It appears like smallpox or measles in the human subject ; 

 but it is not contagious. Sometimes it is so mild as to 

 come and go without remedial measures, and the tumour 

 has been absorbed naturally. Often when a young horse 

 is looking sickly, delicate, or thriftless, farmers or breeders 

 will say: "He is breeding the strangles," or that, " Strangles 

 is hanging about him, and he will not get better until he 

 gets over that complaint." The explanation of which 

 appears to be that the animal is suffering more or less from 

 " strangle fever " — a fever, the disposition and tendency of 

 which is to produce local tumour and abscess, and most 

 commonly in that situation — underneath the jaws — from 

 which it has obtained the appellation of " strangles." 



Symptoms. — High-fed colts are more liable to be seized with 

 it at an early age than those which are kept upon a lower 

 diet. The first symptom is cough, difiering but little from 

 that of a common cold, only that there is a more abundant 



