HEREDITARY DISEASES OF HORSES. 
635 
on account of young animals, and particularly the horse, that 
they employ to this end, precautions, consisting especially in 
thick clothing of dromedary’s and sheep’s wool, called djettal , 
under w T hich animals are protected from harm. But, in 
general, oxen, sheep, goats, dromedaries, apes, and mules, are 
exposed to all rigorous and intemperate weather, without 
therefrom any precaution being taken. — Rec. de Med . Vet., 
September , 1853. 
Home Department 
ON THE HEREDITARY DISEASES OF HORSES. 
By Ftnlay Dun, Jun., V.S., Lecturer on Materia Medica, &c., at 
the Edinburgh Veterinary College. 
Prize Essay. 
{From the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society , vol. XIV.) 
THIRD PART. 
{Concluded from p. 591 .) 
Diarrhoea and Colic are to certain extent hereditary, inas- 
much as they are very prone to attack horses of particular 
form and constitution, as those with narrow loins, large flat 
sides, and of what is generally termed a washy appearance. 
If such animals be overworked, especially soon after being 
fed, if their food be guddenly changed, or if they be allowed 
an unusual quantity of fluid, they are almost certain to be 
attacked either by purging or colic. The tendency to 
these diseases appears in such cases to depend on a want of 
adjustment among the different organs of the body ; a want 
of balance amongst the different functions of digestion, 
circulation, and respiration. 
Many farm-horses, as well as others without much breeding, 
are remarkable for consuming large quantities of food, for 
soft and flabby muscular systems, and for round limbs 
containing an unusual proportion of cellular tissue. These 
characters are notoriously hereditary, of which indubitable 
evidence is afforded by their existence in many different 
individuals of the same stock, and their long continuance, 
even under the best management and most efficient systems 
of breeding. Such characters indicate proclivity to certain 
diseases, as swelled legs, weed, and grease. If horses of this 
