278 COMPENDIUM OF THE VETERINARY ART. 



that the hardness, as it is termed, in well water, 

 might occasion the stone or gravel. This is a 

 disease, iiowever, that scarcely ever happens 

 'to horses, though we sometimes meet with 

 stones of a large size in the Iwzvels, formed gra- 

 dually by the earthy matter taken in with the 

 food; and if they were subject to calculous 

 diseases like men, it is almost impossible that 

 the very small quantit}^ of stony matter con- 

 tained in hard water could have any share in 

 their formation, being quite of a different na- 

 ture from that found in the human bladder. 

 It seems to be generally known, that brackish 

 water (that is, water impregnated with saline 

 matter, which is commonly met with near the 

 sea) is rather injurious to horses, causing a 

 rough dry coat, and loss of condition. Tiiis, 

 perhaps, is not occasioned by any direct oper- 

 ation of the saline matter which such water 

 contains, but by the horse not drinking a suf- 

 ficient quantity, on account of its unpleasant 

 taste, for the purpose of digestion. 



It js by no means advisable to accustom 

 horses to warm water in winter, or to let the 

 water stand many hours in a warm stable, so 

 as to become nearly as warm as the air of the 

 stable; as it makes the horse liable to the.fia- 



