424 DISEASES OF DIGESTION. 



animal warmly clothed, quiet, and allowing him only small 

 quantities of thin gruel made from flour or rice, or boiled milk to 

 drink, care being taken that the milk, if it be used, is not smoked 

 in the slightest ; for it would then be distasteful to him. On no 

 account give linseed or roots, as they are laxatives. 



If the horse gets worse, or symptoms of colic appear, foment the 

 belly with hot water, and give an ounce of chlorodyne, or 3 oz. of 

 laudanum, in a quart of rice or starch water, or in water in which 

 a little flour has been boiled. If this does not afford relief, repeat, 

 after a couple of hours, the chlorodyne, or the laudanum and rice 

 water combined with 1^ oz. of sweet spirits of nitre. Bear in mind 

 that the fluid in which the sweet spirits of nitre or chlorodyne is 

 given should be cold. If the horse be very weak, a bottle of port 

 wine may be given. If neither opium nor laudanum be at hand, 

 substitute for them camphor in 2-drachm doses. To support the 

 strength, give boiled milk with eggs beaten up in it. In super- 

 purgation, a few bruised oats and dry bran with some well-preserved 

 hay may be supplied from time to time ; as they are useful to stop 

 the purging. Bran mashes should not be given ; as bran in that 

 form is a laxative. 



If distension of the abdomen ' appears, give 2 oz. of turpentine in 

 a pint of gruel. 



During convalescence, the patient should be very carefully and 

 gradually brought on to his ordinary food, and kept quiet and free 

 from excitement ; because any unexpected or unusual noise or 

 bustle may bring on a fit of purging. 



Diarrhoea. 



Many horses, more particularly slack-loined, slight, '' washy " 

 animals, purge if worked or excited, as may be observed among 

 race-horses, by their being taken to a racecourse. Such animals 

 are often liable to diarrhoea from trifling changes of food or of 

 temperature. The practice of working horses soon after they are 

 watered or fed, especially after long abstinence from water or food, 

 is very apt to cause them to purge ; because the exertion interferes 

 with the function of digestion by drawing blood to the muscles of 

 the limbs away from the stomach, intestines, and other organs of 

 digestion. It is evident that unduly long abstinence weakens the 

 power of digestion. Diarrhoea may be simply an effort of nature 

 to expel some irritating matter from the bowels or from the blood ; 

 in which case, it should on no account be prematurely checked. It 

 may also be due to worms. 



In India, horses frequently get diarrhoea from being fed on an 

 excess of gram ; a grain almost identical in composition witli peas. 



