222 
EFFECT OF CERTAIN WEEDS 
the eyes, the enlargement of the lids, and the depression of spirits, 
they certainly were accompanied by symptoms presenting a strong 
resemblance to such cases. There were chaps on the muzzle, and a 
simultaneous breaking out at the heels ; but on careful examina- 
tion I attributed these appearances to the presence of wild parsley , 
which grew in great abundance in the field in which they were 
when I first saw them. Other symptoms there were, for which 
at the moment I found it difficult to account. On reflection, 
having observed in the course of my practice, as indeed, I have 
already stated in The Veterinarian, that some of the effects 
then exhibited were brought on by the animals eating crowfoot 
and hemlock, I thought it not improbable that an examination 
of the pasture might solve the mystery ; the former affecting the 
mouth and eyes, and the latter the coats of the intestines. In 
one of the colts this last symptom was very evident, for the rec- 
tum had a considerable deposit between its coats, and was so 
incapacitated for its functions, that for nine or ten days the faeces 
were expelled only by the assistance of the hand, or by injections. 
I was somewhat foiled in my surmises by looking over the field 
in which I found them, for neither of these poisonous herbs were 
to be seen. Being informed, however, that they had recently 
been removed from another pasture, I soon found, on inspection, 
that my conclusions were well founded. 
This and other cases which I have lately had under my care 
confirm my conviction, that if, in harmony with the views so well 
given by that indefatigable investigator, Mr. Morton, in his last 
year’s oration, we were more minutely to examine the secrets of 
the vegetable kingdom, we should attain to a greater familiarity 
with many causes of disease. 
Having been favoured with the following description of the 
cases above specified by the respected proprietor, perhaps, as it 
contains a confirmatory testimony to the truth of my statement, 
and as it supplies a still more particular account of the features 
which marked both the complaint and the cure, you will do me 
the favour of inserting his letter. 
My dear Sir, 
I send you a few remarks respecting the late illness of my 
fillies, and beg you will make any use you like of them. 
About the latter end of August last, these two yearlings, then 
at grass, began to look rough in their coats and dead in their 
skins, with watery eyes. They were much swollen under the 
jaws, from the bottom quite up to the ears, sometimes so much 
so, and so hard, that they could hardly eat, and with every ap- 
