624 DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



tity of physic should be adapted to age and size. The rule is to 

 give one drachm for each year up to seven. Eight drachms is the 

 largest given at one dose. The following is a good physic ball : — 



Barbadoes aloes, pulverized 7 dr. 



Bar soap , 4 dr. 



Ginger .... 1 dr. 



The usual way is to mix the ingredients in this proportion, then 

 reduce to the weight intended, and give. 



For alterative balls simply - give from one to two or three 

 drachms of mass, as above prepared, two or three times a week, for 

 a week or two. The following are the details advised : — 



The horse should be fed with bran mashes for two or three 

 days, and have moderate but regular exercise, or be worked with 

 moderation. He should be allowed only a moderate quantity of 

 hay, especially if he has a voracious appetite ; and if inclined to eat 

 his litter, he should be prevented by a muzzle, or by being tied up 

 to the rack in the day-time, or what is still better, by having his 

 litter removed during the day, and by applying the muzzle at night 

 after he has eaten his allowance of hay. If in low condition, some 

 oats may be mixed with the bran mashes ; but eight to ten pounds 

 of good hay are a sufficient allowance for a day and night. On the 

 morning when the physic is given, neither hay nor mashes should 

 be allowedy until two or three hours after it has been taken. Some 

 practitioners, however^ direct a small, thin mash of bran only, to be 

 given about an hour after, for the purpose of dissolving or mixing 

 with the physic. This, however, is unnecessary, though supposed 

 to render the effect milder and more expeditious. But this is not 

 the case ; physic should be given fasting. During the day, the 

 horse may have walking exercise for about half an hour, once 

 only, and be fed with bran mashes, and have the chill taken off his 

 water. Grooms ' generally consider exercise unnecessary or im- 

 proper on the day the physic is given ; and on the following day, 

 when the medicine generally operates, they are apt to give too 

 much exercise. But as soon as the purging has taken place in a 

 sufficient degree, which is generally the case about the afternoon of 

 the day after it is taken, exercise is unnecessary and improper. 

 And should the purging continue, or be found to be going on the 

 following morning (that is, on the morning of the third day, includ- 

 ing that on which the medicine was given), it should be restrained 

 by gruel made of arrow-root or fine wheat flour, with which the 

 horse should be drenched if he refuses to drink it. Should the 



