1 68 VETERINARY HOMCEOPATHY. 



indigestion is brought on in the first place by overloading the 

 stomach beyond its capacit}^ with nutritious food, or by over re- 

 pletion with material of inferior quality; it has already been 

 pointed out in a previous chapter, that errors are frequently com- 

 mitted by stablemen, when by way of compensating for many 

 hours of abstinence large quantities of food are put before a horse, 

 under the impression that extra work calls for an increase of food 

 supply; but we take this opportunity to again point out that at such 

 times the digestive functions, like all the vital powers are wearied, 

 depressed and unequal to extra work ; that at such times and under 

 such circumstances great care and circumspection should be exer- 

 cised to avoid the untoward consequences which so frequently fol- 

 low well-intentioned but injudicious management of this kind; 

 at such times a horse necessarily feels faint and hungry and un- 

 less a higher intelligence is brought to bear regulating the amount 

 of food to be partaken of, will eat voraciously, overload the 

 stomach to such an extent that the function of digestion will be 

 arrested and distension follows as a natural consequence; the re- 

 sult is pain, evinced by constant pawing with the fore feet; the 

 food instead of digesting ferments in the viscus and large quanti- 

 ties of gas are formed, when the horse protrudes his head and 

 makes efforts at eructation, sometimes accompanied b}' vomition 

 of fluid material through the nasal passages; as the pain becomes 

 more severe, the animal will throw itself down with violence and 

 roll about in too evident agony, occasionally resting on the breast 

 bone, with both fore legs bent into position as though it intended 

 to rise; great anxiety will be apparent in the countenance, with 

 considerable though partial sweats over the neck and body. If 

 the stomach is not relieved by a discharge of its contents, the 

 animal becomes sympathetically affected in the brain, stupor and 

 partial unconsciousness supervening, as is indicated by the hang- 

 ing down of its head or pressing the same against the wall; a loss 

 of control over the powers of movement is also e\-inced and the 

 pulse is full and resistant; this condition represents what used to 

 be described as stomach STAGGERS. 



The acute cases of indigestion in which prompt action for relief 

 is called for are much rarer than the chronic form of the disease, 

 which comes on as the result of injudicious feeding, and mild 

 forms of engorgment which the animal manages to get over with- 



