26 MEGRIMS. 
no man could challenge. One attack, however severe may be its char- 
acter, will not necessarily leave its impress upon the countenance. But 
the creature subject to such visitations soon assumes a heavy, flaccid, 
and stupid expression. The disease distorts no feature, but it leaves its 
mark behind; and any man, acquainted with the subject, would have 
no difficulty in picking from a drove the horse which has endured re- 
peated fits of this disorder. 
Another class of knowing ones pretend they can drive a megrimed 
horse any distance, by simply keeping a wet cloth over the brain. This 
last experiment is, however, not inviting; and the author has yet to be 
assured by science that a wet rag over the brain would repose upon 
the primary seat of the disease. 
When a horse has the first fit of megrims, at once throw the animal 
up. Do not strive to sell the diseased creature, as such a sale is illegal. 
The law presumes everything sold to be fit for its uses. Thus, a person 
buying rotten eggs can recover at law, because eggs are sold for human 
food, and no man can eat a tainted egg. So a megrimed horse is unfit 
for employment. Recovery in this disease is always doubtful. A chance 
is best secured by throwing the horse up on the first attack. Do not 
turn a sick animal out to grass. Keep in a loose box, covered with 
plenty of straw. Feed liberally, and with the best food. Have the 
body regularly dressed, and the animal led to, not ridden to, exercise. 
Allow a quart of stout every morning and half a pint of oil every night. 
Above all things, attend to the stabling. Let the box be large and well 
ventilated. Food is eaten but occasionally during the day. Air is as 
essential as more substantial nutriment to life, and is consumed night 
and day. Food has to undergo a complicated change, and to travel far, 
before it joins the blood. Air is no sooner inhaled than it is imme- 
diately absorbed by the blood. After such a statement, it is left to the 
reader’s reason to decide upon the importance of pure air toward sus- 
taining health. Probably, were stables erected with a little less regard 
to the proprietor’s expense and the builder’s convenience; probably, were 
they made in some degree proportioned to the magnitude of their future 
inhabitants, and were the comfort of the captive a very little considered 
in their construction,—the health of a horse might not be so very telling 
a proverb; while megrims, under a better treatment, if it did not dis- 
appear, might not be so very common. 
