PHRENITIS. 141 



This being effected, or it having been ascertained that there was no extreme 

 distension of the Btomach, recourse should be had to aloes, and from eight to 

 twelve drachms of it may be administered. It will be proper to add some 

 stimulating medicine to the aloes, with a view of restoring the tone of the 

 stomach, and inducing it to contract on its contents. Gentian and ginger are 

 most likely to effect this purpose. 



The after-treatment must be regulated by circumstances. For some time the 

 horse should be put on a restricted diet ; mashes should be given ; green meat 

 in no great quantity ; a moderate allowance of hay, and very little corn. When 

 sufficiently recovered, he may be turned out with advantage on rather bare 

 pasture. One circumstance, however, should never be forgotten— that the 

 horse who has once been attacked with staggers is liable to a return of the com- 

 plaint from causes that otherwise would not affect him. The distended vessels 

 are weakened — the constitution is weakened, and prudence would dictate that 

 such an animal cannot be too soon disposed of. 



Let no farmer delude himself with the idea that apoplexy is contagious. ]f 

 his horses have occasionally slight fits of staggers, or if the disease carries off 

 several of them, he may be assured that there is something wrong in his 

 management. One horse may get at the corn-bin and cram himself to burst- 

 ing ; but if several are attacked, it is time for the owner to look about him. The 

 general cause is too voracious feeding — too much food given at once and 

 perhaps without water, after hard work and long fasting. 



There is one consequence of this improper treatment, of which persons do not 

 appear to be sufficiently aware, although they suffer severely from it. A horse 

 that has frequent half-attacks of staggers very often goes blind. It is not the 

 common blindness from cataract, but a peculiarly glassy appearance of the eye. 

 If the history of these blind horses could be told, it would be found that they 

 had been subject to fits of drooping and dulness, and these produced by absurd 

 management respecting labour and food. 



PHRENITIS. 



Primary inflammation of the brain or its membranes, or both, sometimes 

 occurs, and of the membranes oftenest when both are not involved. 



Whatever be the origin of phrenitis, its early symptoms are scarcely different 

 from those of apoplexy. The horse is drowsy, stupid ; his eye closes ; he 

 sleeps while he is in the act of eating, and doses until he falls. The pulse is 

 slow and creeping, and the breathing oppressed and laborious. This is the 

 description of apoplexy. The symptoms may differ a little in intensity and 

 continuance, but not much in kind. 



The phrenitic horse, however, is not so perfectly comatose as another that 

 labours under apoplexy. The eye will respond a little to the action of light, 

 and the animal is somewhat more manageable, or at least more susceptible, for 

 he will shrink when he is struck, while the other frequently cares not for the 

 whip. 



In the duration of the early symptoms there is some difference. If the apo- 

 plexy proceeds from distension of the stomach, four-and-twenty or six-and- 

 thirty hours will scarcely pass without the cure being completed, or the stomach 

 ruptured, or the horse destroyed. If it proceeds more from oppression of 

 the digestive organs than from absolute distension of the stomach, and from that 

 sympathy which subsists between the stomach and the brain, the disease will 

 go on — it will become worse and worse every hour, and this imperfect coma- 

 tose state will remain during two or three days. The apoplexy of the phre- 

 nitic horse will often run its course in a few hours. 



In a case of evident phrenitis, blood-letting and physic must be early earned 



