ACUTE DYSENTERY. 173 
The cause of acute dysentery is always some acrid substance taken 
into the stomach—generally aloes, combined with some preparation of 
croton; other substances will, however, induce an inflammatory purga- 
tion. Such a result may ensue upon the injudicious use of arsenic, cor- 
rosive sublimate, tartar emetic, blue-stone, etc. ete. Many of these 
substances will be eaten if mixed with the corn—the instinct which pro- 
tects the lives of other animals being destroyed in the horse by ages of 
domestication. Others may be ignorantly administered with the very 
best of intention. 
The symptoms often are obscure at the commencement; there is ab- 
dominal pain; so there is in most intestinal disorders. The agony may 
readily be mistaken for the pangs attendant on spasmodic colic. On 
other occasions, the suffering may be slight, not even sufficient at first to 
destroy the appetite. No poison acts upon two bodies in precisely the 
same manner; violent purgation is generally the first marked sign which 
makes known the nature of the disorder. The feces soon become mere 
discolored water; the thirst is then excessive; the stench is most offen- 
sive; the pulse, from being hard, shortly becomes thick and feeble, and 
ultimately it is intermittent; the countenance is haggard; the position 
of the body expresses abdominal pain. Perspirations break forth in 
patches; tympanitis starts up, and death speedily ensues. 
It is of little use to inquire, while the animal is suffering, what has 
A HORSE SUFFERING FROM DRASTIC POISON. 
provoked the superpurgation; it is then most desirable, if possible, to 
remove the effect. The best chance of accomplishing this is by destroying 
