24 MEGRIMS. 
clinches something; but what were a hundred teeth to the agony which 
causes every fiber in the huge framework to quiver? The perspiration 
rolls off the creature’s body. The eye glares with anguish, not with 
malice; the body is strangely contorted, but there is no desire to in- 
jure. Who, contemplating such a picture, could forbear speaking the 
word which should grant peace to the sufferer, although the order neces- 
sitate some violence to the feelings of him who is invested with power to 
command? 
MEGRIMS. 
So little sympathy exists between man and horse, so little are the 
ailments of the animal really studied, that the likeness between certain 
diseases affecting the master and the servant have not been observed. 
Megrims, evidently, is a form of epilepsy; yet, to speak of an epileptic 
horse would, probably, induce laughter in any society. Notwithstand- 
ing which, man is not isolated in this world: he is associated with the 
creatures of the earth not only by a common habitation, but by similar 
wants and like diseases. He is united by nature to every life that 
breathes. His heart should feel for, and his charity embrace, every 
animal which serves him. He has his duty toward, and is bound by 
obligations to, every creature placed under his control. None are so 
subject. to his will as is the horse; none have such powerful claims to 
his kindness and forbearance. The noble animal is begotten by man’s 
permission; its course in life depends upon his word: for his service it 
surrenders everything—freedom, companions, and paternity—it relin- 
quishes all. Its owner’s pleasure becomes its delight; its master’s pro- 
fit is its recreation. Itis the perfect type of an abandoned slave; body 
and soul, it devotes itself to captivity. It is sad to think how bitter is 
its recompense, when an obvious similarity, even in affliction, has not to 
this hour been recognized. 
Megrims, like epilepsy in man, will in certain subjects appear only 
during some kind of exertion. In others, it will be present only during 
particular states of rest. It is uncertain in its attacks. It is not under- 
stood; and of the many theories which have been advanced, none ex- 
plain it. 
All horses may show megrims; some when at work, and some only 
while in the stable; others in the glare of day, and a few during the 
darkness of night; but of all, draught horses are the most liable to the 
malady. This may be because harness horses are subjected to the most 
laborious and most continuous species of toil. A horse fettered to a 
vehicle obviously must strain to propel as much or as long as the person 
intrusted with the whip thinks the animal should draw. Men’s con- 
