43 HORSES: 



and closer the stable, and the more profuse the 

 blanketing, the worse it must be for our fever pa- 

 tient. Cold air is not necessarily fresh ; it certainly is 

 not unless it has free communication with the main 

 body of air without; nor do a few cracks and crevices 

 afford sufficient ventilation for any number of horses. 



HAND-RUBBING VS. DRUGS. 



Trainers understand the importance of hand-rub- 

 bing in fitting horses for the track; but its value as 

 a curative measure in fever, or in cases such as I 

 have just cited, is not generally recognized. As in 

 training for the track, the rubbing presses out the 

 fatty globules and leaves the flesh clean and free- 

 making a firm, pliant, springy muscle ; so in the con- 

 dition of disease referred to, the filthy humors which 

 constitute the disease and have rendered the fever 

 necessary are pressed into the circulation, from 

 which they are secreted by the appropriate glands, 

 and find an outlet through the various excretories. 

 In cases where nitre, digitalis, etc., have been given 

 "for the kidneys," many noble animals have been 

 sacrificed who would have been saved by causing 

 them to swallow hot water freely, withholding all 

 food, manipulating their limbs and muscles as before 

 remarked, and keeping the poison-drugs out of them 

 entirely. The diuretic may " start the water," and 

 this manner of starting it may not prove fatal ; but 

 it is too often followed by a complete relapse — the 

 animal dying from blood-poison shortly after. The 

 same may be said with regard to purgative medi- 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



