VETERINARY PRACTICE IN AUSTRALIA. 559 
believe, impart such powers of endurance to our horses. Our 
draught horses are also very good. We have many that 
would be no disgrace to the London brewers’ dray, and 
we are doing very much to improve the breed generally. I 
purchased an imported Lincolnshire cart-horse, named 
“ Aggravation/’ who took the prize atyour Peterborough show, 
for a Mr. Robinson, a large breeder here, for £750, and 
entirely for his own use. This will show you that we are 
paying good attention to horse- stock, and I think in a few 
years we shall stand A 1. 
The worst disease we have to encounter is ophthalmia. 
This chiefly occurs during the summer months, and par- 
ticularly when we have the hot winds from the north. You 
can have no idea of these winds. 1 have seen the thermometer 
stand at 113° this summer, and that in the shade, and the 
dust blowing so thickly that you could not see fifty yards 
before you. On one such occasion, I had twelve horses in the 
same stable all nearly blind. Some of them had the disease 
very slightly, and soon recovered by local bleeding and 
fomentations, screening the eyes from light, and exhibiting a 
dose of aperient medicine. Three, however, out of the 
twelve lost their sight. One I bled, purged, setoned, and 
otherwise attended to until I was tired of treatment. He 
got better at last, and apparently without deriving much benefit 
from what had been done. One day you would think the 
horses’ eyes were quickly recovering ; the next you would 
find them worse than ever: in this way the disease 
fluctuates until both the owner and practitioner get heartily 
tired of the affair. 
After I obtained your valuable Manual of Pharmacy, 
I determined to give trial to colchicum, and prepared twenty- 
four balls, containing 5ij each of this agent. Four horses 
labouring under the disease were selected, and I commenced 
giving one ball every morning. This was continued for a 
fortnight. Upon two of the animals the colchicum produced 
a relaxed state of the bowels, after seven or eight doses had 
been administered ; and, in consequence of this, I reduced it 
to 5j daily. It had a decided effect upon the disease at first, 
which led me to expect great things from it, but I was soon 
disappointed, for the disease returned again with all its 
former severity. Notwithstanding this, I still mean to per- 
severe with the colchicum, as it certainly exercises a more 
decided action upon the disease than any other remedy 1 
have yet adopted. 
With reference to other maladies, I may remark, that 
glanders has never yet found its way to this country, and I 
