CHAP. I.] CAUSES AND PROGRESS. 267 



distend parts of the gut, will bring on spasm, tor- 

 por, and inflammation in succession. Horses that 

 gormandise much, being worked hard, and the sto- 

 mach becoming empty, occasions the fret, and in- 

 ordinate action of the guts expulseth the mucous 

 secretion that is designed for their defence. This 

 constitutes molten grease, of which we have treated 

 largely just above, and we are decidedly of opinion 

 that the expulsion of offensive matters in all cases 

 where the animal evinceth but small sensations of 

 pain, is but an effort of nature to relieve itself, and 

 ought rather to be assisted than abated by hot or 

 " cordial medicines." 



Strong astringent purgatives, oft repeated, or 

 neglect during the operation, are frequently suc- 

 ceeded by flatulent colic, that soon becomes in- 

 flammatory if the internal commotion be not judi- 

 ciously arrested by sedatives. Cordial balls and 

 drenches, as they impart a short-lived vigour, so 

 when their stimulating effects die away, they leave 

 behind a debility that is more excessive as those 

 factitious effects have been most intense ; in this re- 

 spect, the cause and its consequences assimilate 

 closely with those which succeed the disease of in- 

 flammation, and the debility which follows the cure 

 thereof, with spasmodic colic. Diapente, and other 

 provocatives, that are given to stallions in the sea- 

 son, leave behind them the same species of debili- 

 tating effects after covering, and would devolve into 

 colic first, and inflammation afterwards, but that 

 those horses' evacuations are well looked after, and 



n 2 



