290 POISONS. 



they have fastened on the cuticular and insensible coat. They cannot stimulate 

 the stomach, and increase its digestive power, for they are not on the digestive 

 portion of the stomach. They cannot, by their roughness, assist the trituration 

 or rubbing down of the food, for no such office is performed in that part of the 

 stomach— the food is softened, not rubbed down. They cannot be injurious to 

 ■ the horse, for he enjoys the most perfect health when the cuticular part of his 

 stomach is filled with them, and their presence is not even suspected until they 

 appear at the anus. They cannot be removed by medicine, because they are 

 not in that part of the stomach to which medicine is usually conveyed ; and if 

 they were, their mouths are too deeply buried in the mucus for any medicine, 

 that can safely be administered, to affect them ; and, last of all, in due course 

 of time they detach themselves, and come away. Therefore, the wise man will 

 leave them to themselves, or content himself with picking them off when they 

 collect under the tail and annoy the animal. 



The smaller bot,/and g, is not so frequently found. 



Of inflammation of the stomach of the horse, except from poisonous herbs 

 or drugs, we know little. It rarely occurs. It can with difficulty be distin- 

 guished from inflammation of the bowels ; and, in either case, the assistance of 

 the veterinary surgeon is required. 



Few horses are destroyed by poisonous plants in our meadows. Natural 

 instinct teaches the animal to avoid the greater part of those that would be 

 injurious. 



We cannot do better than abbreviate the list of poisonous agents, and the 

 means of averting their fatal influence, given by Mr. Morton, the Professor of 

 Chemistry and Materia Medica at the Royal Veterinary College*. It will 

 occasionally be exceedingly useful to the proprietor of horses. 



He begins with the Animal Poisons. The bite of the viper has been occa- 

 sionally fatal to dogs and sheep. A horse was brought to the Veterinary 

 College that had been bitten in the hind leg while hunting. There was con- 

 siderable swelling, and the place of .the bite was evident enough. Mr. Arm- 

 strong mentions a case in which a horse, bitten by a viper, sunk into a kind of 

 coma, from which he could not be roused. The antidote, which seldom or 

 never fails, is an alkaline solution of almost any kind, taken internally and 

 applied externally. There is no chemical effect on the circulation, but the 

 alkali acts as a powerful counter-irritant. In very bad cases opium may be 

 added to the alkaline solution. 



Hornets, Wasps, &c. — These are are spoken of, because there are records 

 of horses being attacked by a swarm of them, and destroyed. The spirit of 

 turpentine is the best external application, and, if given in not undue quantities 

 and guarded by an admixture with oil, may be useful. 



Cantharides constitute a useful drug in some few cases. It is one of the 

 applications used in order to excite the process of blistering. It was occasionally 

 employed as a medicine in small quantities, and, combined with vegetable 

 tonics, it has been given in small doses, for the cure of glanders, farcy, and nasal 

 gleet. It is valuable in cases of general and extreme debility. It is a useful 

 general stimulant when judiciously applied : but it must be given in small doses, 

 and never except under the direction of a skilful practitioner. A drachm of 

 the powdered fly would destroy almost any horse. In the breeding season it 

 is too often shamefully given as an excitant to the horse and the mare, and many 

 a valuable animal has been destroyed by this abominable practice. It is usually 

 given in the form of ball, in which case it may be detected by the appearance 

 of small guttering portions of the fly, which are separated on the inner side of 



Veterinary Medical Association, 1836-7, s. 41. 



