380 



THE HORSE. 



the mouth as far back as possible, in the hope that they may be 

 gradually swallowed; the bowels should be raked, and copious 

 injections of castor oil aud turpentine, mixed with several quarts 

 of gruel, should be thrown up. If these remedies fail, nature must 

 be left to her own resources, and they will sometimes be found 

 equal to the task, for many eases have recovered after having been 

 given up as beyond the reach of our art. Opium, henbane, 

 digitalis, hellebore, and a host of other drugs have been tried, 

 sometimes with, and sometimes without success, and perhaps it is 

 worth while, after the bowels have been well relieved, to give a 

 full dose of one or other of these powerful remedies, such as two 

 drachms of solid opium ; but I confess that I think little reliance 

 is to be placed on them, and I prefer the adoption of chloroform 

 every six hours, continued for about two or three hours and gra- 

 dually withdrawn, leaving the cure to the action of the blister and 

 purgatives.* 



APOPLEXY AND PARALYSIS. 



Usually these are only different degrees of the same disease, 

 but there are exceptions in which the latter is produced by some 

 chronic affection of the spinal cord or brain. As a rule both de- 

 pend upon pressure made on the brain by an overloaded state of 

 the vessels, commonly known as congestion, or by extravasation 

 of blood, in which it escapes from them. 



Apoplexy, known among writers of the old school as sleepy 

 staggers, is not often met with in the present day, owing to the 

 improvement in the management of our stables, and specially to 

 their better ventilation. It is marked by great sleepiness, from 

 which the horse can be with difficulty roused, soon going on to 

 absolute unconsciousness, attended by a slow snoring respiration, 

 and speedily followed by death. The only treatment likely to be 

 successful is copious bleeding, purgation, and blisters to the head 

 and neck. 



Paralysis is marked by a loss of power over the muscles of a 

 part, and may be confined to one limb or organ or extend to more. 

 It is a symptom of pressure on, or disorganization of, some part of 

 the nervous system, and must be considered as such, and not as a 

 disease of the affected muscles. Thus it requires a knowledge of 

 anatomy to trace it to its seat, without which its treatment would 

 be conducted on false principles. By far the most common form 

 of paralysis is hemiplegia, or paralysis of the muscles of the hinder 

 extremities and loins, generally arising from an injury to the spine. 



* The greatest success met with in curing lock-jaw is by the administra- 

 tion of 30 drops of dilute prussic acid, of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, night 

 and morning, keeping the horse in a quiet, place. In violent cases the 

 chloroform spoken of in the text will be of advantage. — Editor. 



