ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICINES. 
643 
Electuaries , Balls, Pills . 
After what I have said, as a general rule, we should 
endeavour to administer medicine to horses in a solid form, 
especially such as is required in sickness, or when the respi- 
ration is oppressed. I am in the habit of giving purgatives 
in the form of pills (or balls) and counter-stimulants and 
diuretics in the form of electuaries. 
In order that medicines in the form of pills act properly, the 
animals to which they are administered must have a certain 
degree of digestive power. Sometimes medicines remain a 
long time within the intestinal canal ; ordinarily it does not 
undergo solution in the stomach ; nor do purgatives produce 
their action until they arrive in the large intestines.* Elec- 
tuaries act quicker, especially when we employ soluble sub- 
stances as vehicles; such as honey, syrup, or soap. Balls 
occupy an intermediate space between these tw r o forms. 
Electuaries are readily administered, provided they are 
formed into a smooth soft paste. Once moulded within the 
mouth, it loses none of its substance, even supposing the 
animal tastes it ; because domestic animals have no power 
of spitting out. On occasions, I have employed the speculum 
oris (called in French pas Pane) an instrument for convey- 
ance of medicinal substances within the mouth. The small 
portable pas Pane of Hertwig is much recommended for this 
purpose. It is desirable, as far as we can, to follow up the 
administration of the electuary by inviting the animal to take 
a drink of cold water. 
Electuaries, like pills, are not ordinarily composed of any 
very irritating substances, unless in a state of great dilution ; 
otherwise, they are apt to occasion inflammation of the 
fauces. This is w 7 hat we have to fear with pigs. To cattle 
w 7 e are not in the habit of giving medicine in a solid form, 
because we suppose that in this form, by forcing the valve of 
the oesophagus, they enter the rumen. 
Pills constitute the form preferred by most veterinarians. 
The practice of making them pass beyond the isthmus of the 
throat by means of the hand alone, or the aid of a stick, 
offers no inconvenience, especially when practitioners give 
them, as we have seen, stealthily as it were, after having 
wrapped them in paper. For this reason it is that different 
instruments have been proposed for the administration of 
pills (balls) to horses. I remember having seen one of this 
* Herlwigs’ ‘ Arzneimittellehre, 1847, p. 63. 
