THE HORSE. 
79 
from a veterinary surgeon, particularly describing the unsouudness, 
must accompany the horse so returned ; when, if it be agreed to by the 
veterinary surgeon of the establishment, the amount received for the 
horse shall be immediately paid back; but if the veterinary surgeon of 
the establishment should not confirm the certificate, then, in order to 
avoid further dispute, one of the veterinary surgeons of the college 
shall be called in, and his decision shall be final, and the expense of 
such umpire shall be borne by the party in error.” 
DISEASES OF THE HORSE AND THEIR TREATMENT.— This work, not 
being prepared for the veterinary practitioner, but for all horse owners, 
our aim, therefore, in arranging this part of it will be to make them 
acquainted with the causes, nature, and remedies of the diseases of the 
horse, so that they may avoid the causes, detect the existence of disease, 
and themselves apply the remedies, or secure their application by ex- 
perienced persons. 
It may be readily supposed that the animal doomed to the manner 
of living which every variety of the horse experiences, will be peculiarly 
exposed to numerous forms of suffering; every natural evil will be 
aggravated, and many new and formidable sources of pain and death 
will be superadded. 
The principal diseases of the horse are connected with the circulatory 
system. From the state of habitual excitement in which the animal is 
kept, in order to enable him to execute his task, the heart and blood- 
vessels will often act too impetuously ; the vital fluid will be hurried along 
too rapidly, either through the frame general!}', or some particular part 
of it, and there will be congestion, accumulation of blood in that part, 
or inflammation, either local or general, disturbing the functions of 
some organ, or of the whole frame. 
Congestion. — Take a young horse on his first entrance into the stables ; 
feed him somewhat highly, and what is the consequence? He has 
swellings of the legs, or inflammation of the joints, or perhaps of the 
lungs. Take a horse that has lived somewhat above his work, and gal- 
lop him to the top of his speed : his nervous system becomes highly 
excited — the heart beats with fearful rapidity — the blood is pumped 
into the lungs faster than they can discharge it — the pulmonary vessels 
become gorged, fatigued, and utterly powerless — the blood, arrested in 
in its course, becomes viscid, and death speedily ensues. We have but 
one chance of saving our patient — the instantaneous and copious extrac- 
tion of blood ; and only one means of preventing the recurrence of this 
dangerous state ; namely, not suffering too great an accumulation of 
the sanguineous fluid by over-feeding, and by regular and systematic 
exercise, which will inure the circulatory vessels to prompt and efficient 
action when they are suddenly called upon to exert themselves. This 
is an extreme case, but the cause and the remedy are sufficiently plain. 
Again, the brain has functions of the most important nature to dis- 
charge, and more blood flows through it than through any other por- 
tion of the frame of equal bulk. In order to prevent this organ from 
being oppressed by a too great determination of blood to it, the vessels 
although numerous, are small, and pursue a very circuitous and winding 
course. If a horse highly fed aud full of blood is suddenly and sharply 
