THE VETERINARY ART IN INDIA. 
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jects, that they are not prejudicial, but, perhaps, assist the insen- 
sible membrane to reduce the contents of the stomach to a pulp, 
in the same manner as the gizzard of fowls. When, however, they 
are too numerous, they produce loss of appetite and general atrophy 
and decay. A particular case of this kind occurred at the Veteri- 
nary College. 
A horse had been a long time falling off, and every effort to re- 
lieve him proved useless. The animal at length died and was 
opened. In his stomach an immense number of these worms were 
found : some had made their way through the coats into the cavity 
of the abdomen, while others had inserted themselves so deep as 
to be scarcely perceptible. There could, of course, be no doubt as to 
the cause of his death. 
The mode by which these worms inhabit the stomach is ac- 
counted for in an ingenious manner. In the summer the horse-fly 
deposits its eggs on the hairs of the animal’s coat, which he 
bites, and they mix with his saliva, and pass into his stomach, 
where the heat brings them forth. Their conversion again into 
flies has also been observed. They have two small sharp angular 
claws towards the posterior part of their body, by which they ad- 
here very tightly to the insensible membrane. 
They cannot be detached by any form of medicine, even when 
the subject is dead. I am, therefore, fearful we can recommend 
nothing in cases of their being troublesome. Many severe stimu- 
lants have been used without affecting them ; and what renders their 
expulsion or destruction the more difficult is their being confined to 
the insensible membrane only, which, lining the upper part of the 
stomach, cannot be much influenced by any medical application. 
When, however, they are voided, a dose of physic will accelerate 
their expulsion, for I believe there is a season when they drop 
off and others accumulate. 
Note . — There is a peculiarity in the horse’s bowels which exists 
in few other quadrupeds. The whole abdominal viscera in most 
animals is covered by the omentum or caul, which is first observed 
when the abdomen is opened : this membrane scarcely exists in the 
horse. 
Diseases of the Intestines. 
Inflammation is frequently the effect of too violent purgatives. 
Sometimes it proceeds from an acrid accumulation in the intestines, 
particularly in the contracted part of the colon ; it also arises from 
other natural causes. 
Great caution is required in order to distinguish this disease 
from the spasm or gripes, which in their symptoms very much 
