CONSTIPATION. 429 



chiefly a question of diet and stable management. A pint of lin- 

 seed oil may be given as a drench once a week. Mix through the 

 daily allowance of food, 2 oz. of the bicarbonate of soda, which is 

 not only an antacid, but is also a sedative to the mucous mem- 

 brane, and it assists the liver in the removal of deleterious matter 

 from the blood. Not more than seven or eight pounds of corn, 

 of which half may be dry bran, should be given; and the horse 

 should have a liberal though judicious supply of carrots and green 

 food. Much benefit is often obtained by allowing the animal, if 

 he chooses, to eat earth, which may be supplied to him along with 

 fresh out sods. H© should have the free use of salt, say, 3|- oz. 

 a day in his food, or he may have in his manger, a lump of rock 

 salt, to lick when he likes. If there be debility, give vegetable 

 tonics, such as J drachm of nux vomica mixed through the food 

 twice a day, or a quart of ale with 2 drachms of gentian or chiretta 

 twice a day. If the action of the liver be suspected to be at fault, 

 give daily in a ball a drachm and a half of powdered ipecacuanha 

 for five or six days. 



Medicine in this disease should be employed very sparingly. 

 The horse should be warmly clothed, carefully exercised, and well 

 groomed, so as to improve his general health. In winter, clipping 

 the coat has often a good result. 



When everything else fails to restore the horse to health, try 

 the effect of a run. at grass, not forgetting to allow him a supply 

 of salt. 



Constipation. 



This is a symptom of various diseases, and may be due to natural 

 tendency, constitutional weakness, paralysis of the bowels, folding 

 or twisting of the intestines, the action of certain drugs, the 

 presence of calculi (balls of earthy or undigested matter) in the 

 intestines, obstruction of the bowel itself, errors of feeding, or of 

 watering, etc. Horses which have not a plentiful supply of water 

 are liable to obstruction, owing to the dung becoming of too solid a 

 condition to be easily passed onward. For convenience' sake, the 

 term " constipation " may be limited to the retention of dung, 

 generally, in the large intestine owing to its deficient action, to 

 the practice of feeding horses on food which contains an excess of 

 indigestible matter, and to improper methods of feeding and 

 watering. This condition is known to doctors and veterinary sur- 

 geons as faecal accumulation or ooprostasis. The symptoms of this 

 form of constipation, besides the stoppage in the passage of dung, 

 are : distension of the abdomen with gas ; mild and recurring 

 attacks of colic; and sometimes more or less painful efforts at 



