NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



45 



sand were cmplovcJ, and U' that were iii^ire 

 caretully blended, and expeditiously worked, 

 than is common, the mortar would be mucli 

 more perfect than usual in modern times. 



'• Tliis 1 have tried experimentally, with the 

 •desired success.'" 



From the !«. England Journal of Mtdicinc and Surgf ry. 



Messrs. Editors, 

 If you think a publication of the following facts 

 which I hnve obtained by reading- some late 

 writers upon the subjects to which they re- 

 late, will be of any public utility, you are at 

 liberty to insert them in your valuable Jour- 

 nal. J. B. BROWN. 



A knowledoje of the diseases of animals in gen- 

 eral, cannot be inferred from a knowledge of 

 the diseases of any one particular species of an- 

 imals. 



Thus he who is acquainted with The diseases 

 of the horse, would not from that circumstance 

 be able to prescribe correctly for the diseases 

 of quadrupeds generally. The anatomy and 

 pby.siology of animals differ. For example, the 

 <log has no insensible perspiration. The mouth 

 of the horse performs but one office, that of 

 conveying food to the stoKiach. It conveys 

 nothing to the lungs or from them. It has noth- 

 ing to do with the modulation of his voice, as in 

 jnost quadrupeds and in man. The passages to 

 the lungs and to the stomach in the horse, are 

 distinct. 



The horse unlike most other quadrupeds has 

 no gall-bladder, notwithstanding a work which 

 has been through twelve editions, and one at 

 least in this country, (Taplin's Farriery) gives a 

 particular description of the diseases of the gall- 

 bladder, and the symptoms of those diseases. 



It has been stated above, that the anatomy 

 and physiology of animals differ, so also do their 

 iJiseases. 



The horse is not subject to fever, i. e. he has 

 no simple, idiopathic fever, no cold, hot and 

 sweating stage, as man has. The feverish ac- 

 tion, which the heart and arteries of the horse 

 ^sometimcs assume is sympathetic, and is always 

 preceded by some local atfection. It is a dis- 

 ease of irritation. 



The eyes of the horse are subject to a spe- 

 ■cies of cataract, that affects no other aninral. It 

 arises from a constitutional disease, brought on 

 sby bad stabling. It is never produced by local in- 

 jury. This species of cataract commences with 

 an inflammation of the conjunctiva, without any 

 apparent cause. Local applications have no ef- 

 fect in removing it. The only rational method 

 of treating it is to remove, if possible, the con- 

 stitutional disease and improve the health and 

 ■condition of the animal. 



Oxen and cows have the disease called bots in 

 ■their skin, but in the horse this disease (if it may 

 be so called) is confined to the stomach. 



Farcy and glanders, I believe, are diseases 

 peculiar to the horse. I know of no other ani- 

 mal subject to them. They are contaq-ious dis- 

 eases, but may be produced without contagion, 

 by bad stabling. The poisonous matter of farcy 

 w ill produce glanders, and ince versa. Farcy is 

 now ascertained to be a disease of the super- 

 ficial absorbents ; whereas in all the old books 

 on the veterinary art, it is represented as a d;s- 

 .ease of the veins 



A Iioi"se glandered has the whole ma-s of blood 

 ccntatninatod. This may be considered by nic- 

 dicil gentlemen as an important fact, as it goes 

 to ])rove (he doctrine of humoral patholoijy. 

 That the whole mass of blood is diseased in a 

 horse alVected with glanders has been proved by 

 the tiillowing experiment made by Mr. Coleman, 

 Professor at the Veterinary Institution. England. 



Ho took a yoimg healthy ass, an animal, as he 

 states, peculiarly susceptible of the disease, and 

 introduced a pipe having a stop cock into the 

 jnarular vein, united t)y means oi' an ureter to 

 another pipe, which he introduced into the car- 

 otid artery of a glandered horse. He then bled 

 the ass to death, by opening his carotid artery, 

 and turning the stopcock, admitted the blood of 

 the horse into his vessels, and resuscitated him. 

 The result was that the ass became violently 

 glandered. He inoculated other asses from the 

 matter produced in him, and was able to carry 

 on the same disease. 



Corns in the feet of horses are very vmlike 

 corns on the feet of the human subject. There 

 is nothing which grows in the feet of horses that 

 constitutes corns. There is no increase of sub- 

 stance. Corns in the feet of horses are mere 

 bruises. Every body has seen or experienced 

 the effects of bruises upon the human nail. 

 Corns in the feet of horses are injuries of a sim- 

 ilar nature. The red appearance which they 

 have is caused by an extravasatioa of blood 

 which spreads itself among the fibres of the 

 horny hoof Corns are generally occasioned by 

 the shoe. They may, however, arise from 

 other injuries. They are easily cured by suit- 

 able remedies and a proper mode of shoeing, 

 unless the inflammation occasioned by the injury 

 has been of long standing and assumed a chronic 

 character. In this case the cure is more tedious. 



Horse ail. — I will take this opportunity to 

 make a few remarks on the nature of this com- 

 plaint 



Strictly speaking, all diseases of horses are 

 horse ails; but custom has given this epithet to 

 a species of disease very common among our 

 horses. The disease referred to, is called stran- 

 gles in most of the old books on Farrierj'. It 

 consists in an inflammation of the membrane lin- 

 ing the nose and the arytenoid cartilages. This 

 disease is accompanied by a cough and a dis- 

 charge from the nostrils. The cough is sym- 

 pathetic, and is produced by the extreme sen- 

 sibility of the membrane thus inflamed. The 

 lightest dust, or even a drop of water lodged 

 upon this membrane, in this irritable state, pro- 

 duces coughing. The inflammation sometimes 

 extends to the lungs, and then this disease is ac- 

 companied with a disease of the chest, and re- 

 quires speedy and energetic treatment, as in- 

 flammation of the lungs in the horse is apt to ter- 

 minate speedily in gangrene. Copious bleeding, 

 from six to ten quarts at first and smaller bleed- 

 ings afterwards, as the .state of the case may re- 

 quire, and small doses of aloes from one to two 

 drachms, given daily, have been found the most 

 successful remedies in inflammation of the lungs. 

 Drastic purgatives should be avoided, as they 

 increase the irritation, and put the life of the 

 horse in extreme hazard. 



It has been stated above, that the diseases of 

 animals differ as much as their anatomy and 

 physiology. The specific effect of medicine 

 upon different animals is no less various than 

 their structure and diseases. 



Glauber's salts in doses of one pound operate 

 on the ox as a cathartic, but on the horse they 

 operate principally as a diuretic. Castor oil 

 does lint operate on the horse as a purgative, any 

 more than train oil or anv other oil. 



Opium does not produce its specific effect 

 upon the horse. It operates merely as an as- 

 tringent. It has no anodyne effect, as it has 

 upon man. It will nut mitigate pain. It is un- 

 fortunate that most writers on the veterinary 

 art have copied from each other, and have re- 

 commended medicines for the horse which arc 

 known to be useful to men. Thus calomel, rhu- 

 barb and colocynth, have been recommended as 

 purgatives for horses, whereas they are now 

 known to have no such effect on that animal. 



Bark produces no sensible effect upon the 

 horse. 



There are no medicines that operate on the 

 horse as ipecacuanha and tartar emetic do upon 

 the human subject. 



Tartar emetic in doses of four ounces will 

 sometimes occasion a little nausea and purging, 

 but in smaller doses it has no sensible effect. 

 No preparation of mercury will produce sali- 

 vation in the horse. His gums may be made 

 sore by mercury, but ptyajism cannot be produ- 

 ced by it. 



Sugar of lead which is known to be a most 

 deadly poison to man, the horse can take without 

 injury. Tobacco has no deleterious effect upon 

 the horse. 



Hellebore in doses of half a drachm produces 

 a tendency to nausea in the horse. Hemlock is 

 good food for goats, but a deadly poison to man ; 

 and wheat, the natural food for man, is poison 

 to the horse. Spirit of turpentine, which an 

 infant may handle without injury, operates as 

 caustic when applied to the skin of a horse, al- 

 though it may be applied to sores and fungous 

 flesh on that animal without producing pain. 



" All great improvements have originated 

 from men who combined science with practice, 

 and there is not at present a more popular pur- 

 suit in England, nor a more interesting topic of 

 conversation in well informed circles, than the 

 philosophical and leading doctrines of agricul- 

 ture. This art is now clearly understood to be 

 the chief support of national greatness and in- 

 dependence ; and the various questions in poli- 

 tical economy to which it gives rise and affords 

 a solution, all hold a share in the general in- 

 terest." Young''s Letters of Jigricola. 



Speaking of Agriculture, the same writer ob- 

 serves, " I hold it as unquestionable, that there 

 is no other art in the whole compass of human 

 ingenuity and skill, which admits of such inter- 

 esting experiments, of such a clear insight into 

 the laws of matter, of such philosophic contem- 

 plation, of such healthy and invigorating exer- 

 cise, and of such intimate union with all the 

 sciences that ennoble man and exalt him to his 

 just pre-eminence." 



THE PLEASURE OF PLEASING. 



To a man who possesses a good heart there 

 can be nothing more pleasing than the con- 

 sciousness of giving pleasure to others. The 

 luxury of doing good is a most exquisite as well 

 as a most innocent luxury to him whose feelings 

 and affections are such as make a man capable 

 of enjoying as well as bestowing happiness 



