CONSTIPATION. 1 99 



the Other hand, it is desirable not to be over anxious, if what is 

 deemed to be the natural action of the bowels does not invariabh- 

 take place; for in many cases of illness, especially those attended 

 by much fev^er. the heat of the body seems to dry up the natural 

 secretions, and among them the products of the intestinal glands, 

 whereby the faeces, as they pass along the canal, are lacking in 

 moisture and assume an undue condition of dryness; under such 

 circumstances let but the right medicine be selected, appropriate, 

 that is, to the main disease and the totality of the symptoms, and 

 the constipation will yield to the action of the drug, quite in- 

 dependently of an)' specific action upon the bowels; but in this 

 article we are dealing with constipation as an independent and 

 special condition, and as such we have to consider its develop- 

 ments and treatment. 



While we do not admit for one moment that constipation is a 

 condition to be desired, we are perfectly satisfied that a great deal 

 more importance is attached to it than the circumstances warrant; 

 there is a tendency among horsemen and stablemen to jump to 

 the opposite extreme and to treat the condition as though it in- 

 volved the risk of life; no sooner does a horse show some torpidit}- 

 of the bowels than an aloetic ball is prescribed and administered; 

 nay! further than that, if a horse has to be got read}^ for any 

 special work, such as hunting, racing, steeple-chasing or what not, 

 an aloetic purge is considered desirable as a sort of preliminary to 

 further preparation; to question such a course of procedure is of 

 course rank hetorodoxy, nevertheless we have no hesitation in af- 

 firming that a more undesirable and unnecessary course of action 

 was never pursued; one would thmk, judging by common practice in 

 every sort of stable, that a horse's digestive canal was a reservoir 

 of accumulated filth that called for a regular sluicing out, and that 

 the intestines were nothing more than a metal tube which re- 

 quired flushing to render them pure; the positive effect of aperi- 

 ents upon the intestinal canal is completely ignored, and the fact 

 that their action upon the system is "to disorganize the parts on 

 which their force is chiefly expended " (Ruddock ) is entirely over- 

 looked. lyCt us for a moment just look into the pathogenetic 

 effects of Aloes; the action of the drug is mainly brought to bear 

 upon the large intestines, the liver and the pancreas; it evidently 

 excites the secretions of the mucous membranes, because the faeces 



