150 OF BILE — SYMPTOMS AND CURE. [BOOK I. 



itself by a natural operation, i. e. by adhesion to 

 the gut, and passing off by stool ; but when seated 

 higher up, it terminates fatally, by wholly debilita- 

 ting the system, and sooner or later consigns the 

 patient to the knackers. 



The preparations of mercury, before alluded to, 

 act variously upon the system, according to the 

 mode of exhibition the practitioner may adopt : in 

 the form of calomel it assists the liver to discharge 

 its functions by lowering its tone ; corrosive sub- 

 llmate rubbed into the glandular parts (of the thigh, 

 &c.) finds its ready way to ulcerous and all other 

 affections of the liver's surface, by increasing the 

 secretion of bile ; the blue pill (pilul. liydrarg.) is 

 finely adapted to solve the crudities of stomach and 

 bowels in carnivorous animals, but has never been 

 extensively tried on the horse. For any disease of 

 the whole system, or " bad habit of body," as 

 Richard Lawrence properly calls that predisposed 

 state of it which ultimately produces tumours, 

 grease, fistula, farcy — mercury, in its various shapes, 

 is the only specific. 



Too great a secretion of the bile, although it pass 

 off, produces a roughish meagre coat, first about 

 the belly; the patient becomes languid, especially 

 after being compelled to any great exertion, when 

 lie perspires too readily on the carcass, his manner 

 is uneasy, and after a while, partial hide-bound 

 miences under the chest. Should the bile be of 

 .1 less acrimonious nature, those symptoms are then 

 perceptible lower down (i. e. farther back), and 



