458 G-ENERAL DISEASES. 



at hand, so long as he keeps in good spirits. Give a laxative, 

 though fairly generous diet, which may consist of bran and linseed 

 mashes, gruel, boiled barley, carrots and freshly-cut grass. If there 

 be constipation, administer an enema (p. 643), and, if necessary, 

 give half a pint of linseed oil as a drench. It is advisable that 

 the bowels should be regulated by the nature of the food. Valuable 

 horses, especially those suffering from the dangerous form of the 

 disease, can, if the swelling at the throat does not render balling or 

 drenching dangerous, get 2 drachms of quinine twice a day until 

 the bodily temperature (normal, 100° F.) is reduced to the usual 

 standard. If difficulty of swallowing exists, 1 oz. of liquor 

 arsenicalis given in the food for a week, may be substituted for the 

 quinine. As soon as the swelling under the jaw appears, it should 

 be well blistered with biniodide of mercury ointment (1 to 4 of 

 laid), which has a good effect in checking the development of the 

 abscess. The application should be repeated if necessary. The 

 abscess should be opened with the knife when it becomes soft 

 (p. 78), and the part treated antiseptically (p. 67, et neq.). 



If the breathing becomes painful, the horse may be made to 

 inhale steam from boiling water mixed with about a quarter of a 

 pint of oil of turpentine, the action of which is to accelerate the 

 discharge from the nostrils. If the breathing becomes very 

 difficult — the animal fighting for breath — tracheotomy must be 

 performed. 



During the after-treatment, the horse should be liberally fed 

 and may have a couple of quarts of beer a day, with three or four 

 drachms of iodide of potassium daily in his food or water as a 

 preventive to roaring. As there is danger and difficulty in drench- 

 ing, that operation should be dispensed with, as much as possible. 

 In all cases, the horse should be carefully nursed and his strength 

 kept up. 



Roaring is the chief after-effect to be feared from an attack of 

 strangles. The fact of a horse having safely passed through this 

 disease increases his value. 



Anthrax. 



SYNONYMS. — Loodiana Fever, Horse Plague, Charbon. 



DEFINITION. — A specific disease which runs a rapid and gene- 

 rally fatal course, and is characterised by an imperfectly oxidised 

 condition of the blood, which becomes thick, dark coloured, and 

 more or less incapable of supporting life. 



DISTRIBUTION.— This disease is widely distributed over the 

 world, although it is comparatively rare among horses in England. 



