RECEIPT BOOK. 47 



trappings of the mouth often inflict on a willing 

 and docile servant, and which either render the 

 mouth hard, and destroy ail the pleasure of riding, 

 or cause the horse to become fretful or vicious. 



To cure the Strangles. 



The treatment of strangles is very simple. As 

 the essence of the disease consists in the forma- 

 tion and suppuration of the tumor under the jaw, 

 the principal, or almost the sole attention of the 

 practitioner should be directed to the hastening of 

 these processes: therefore, as soon as the tumor 

 of strangles evidently appears, the part should be 

 actively blistered. Old practitioners used to rec- 

 ommend poultices; which, from the thickness of 

 the horse's skin, must have very little effect, even 

 if they could be confined on the part; and from 

 the diflSculty and almost impossibility of this, and 

 their getting cold and hard, they must weaken the 

 energies of nature, and delay the ripening of the 

 tumor. Fomentations are little more effectual 

 A blister will not only secure the completion of 

 the process, but hasten it by many days, and save 

 the patient mucli pain and exhaustion; and it will 

 produce another good effect — it will, previous to 

 the opening of the tumor, abate the internal in- 

 flammation and soreness of the throat, and thus 

 lessen the cough and wheezing. 



As soon as the swelling is soft on the top, and 

 evidently contains matter, it should be deeply and 

 freely lanced. It is a bad, although frequent prac- 

 tice, to suffer the tumor to burst naturally, by 

 which a ragged ulcer is termed, very slow to heal 

 and difficult of treatment. If the incision is deep 

 and large enough, no second collection of matter 



