428 DISEASES OF DIGESTION. 



a pint of linseed oil and attend carefully to the diet. For plain 

 water, substitute rice water or thin flour gruel. G-ive bruised oats 

 and dry bran. Keep the horse warmly clothed and comfortably 

 stabled. If the horse's mouth has a sour smell, mix 2 oz. of bicar- 

 bonate of soda (baking soda) in his food daily. If the case does 

 not yield to these simple measures, give once or twice a day, after 

 purging, an ounce of laudanum in a pint of rice water. If this 

 fails, adminis'ter the following ball : — 



Powdered opium ... ... ... 1 drachm. 



Powdered catechu ... ... ... 2 drachms. 



Snbnitrate of bismuth.., ... ... 2 ,, 



Treacle enough to make up into -a ball. 



A little port wine, spirits and warm water, or ounce doses of 

 sweet spirits of nitre, may be given now and then, if the horse be 

 very weak. 



Fearnley strongly advises the employment, in cases of simple 

 diarrhoea, of Dick's colic draught, which I have found to act well 

 in such cases, and which consists of — 



Linseed oil ... ... ... ... 1^ pint. 



Oil of turpentine ... ... ... 2 oz. 



Laudanum ... ... ... ... 2 ,, 



In the treatment of diarrhoea, several German veterinary sur- 

 geons have had excellent results from the internal administration 

 of tannoform, in doses of from 6 drachms to 4 ounces, either as 

 a drench (in camomile tea or linseed tea), or in a ball. 



We should always be careful not to administer too much physic, 

 and should avoid cheeking diarrhoea suddenly by medicines, when 

 milder means might suffice. 



The not very uncommon practice, among horse dealers and 

 grooms, of giving arsenic to improve the appearance of the skin, 

 tends to cause irritability of the coats of the intestines, and to 

 render the animal liable to diarrhoea. 



Specific Diarrhoea of Foals. 



NATURE AND CAUSE.— Cadeac, who gives an admirable ac- 

 count of this disease in his " Pathologie Interne des Animaux Do- 

 mestiques," considers that the diarrhoea of foals is generally due 

 to a specific infection, the action of which is favoured by unsanitary 

 conditions. The following remarks, which I have taken principally 

 from Cadeac's work, refer particularly to the severe and presumably 

 infectious form, which is often mistaken for dysentery, and appears 

 to be similar to " white scour " in calves. It is sometimes compli' 



