3 4 
MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 
complaint are known. It appears to be in some degree analo¬ 
gous to the small-pox in the human being; and having 
passed through it, the constitution of the animal seems to 
have undergone purification and improvement. In some 
instances it has affected the animal in so mild a form, that 
it has passed through its various stages and gone off with¬ 
out much inconvenience to it, or any remedial means what¬ 
ever having been employed. Contagion seems to have 
nothing to do with the disorder. Every horse has this 
complaint once during his life, and once only. 
Remedies. —As the principal source of the complaint con¬ 
sists in the swelling between the jaws, the first thing to be 
attended to is, to bring the tumour to a suppuration. A 
sharp blister is the first thing to be applied. This, adminis¬ 
tered in time, will facilitate the discharge a week or two 
earlier than it would have taken place, if allowed to come to 
a period naturally. It will also have a tendency to draw out 
the inflammation from the mucous membrane of the throat, 
and consequently greatly ameliorate the cough. The old 
practice of applying poultices and fomentations were very 
ineffectual appliances, from the great thickness of the skin 
of the horse. The following stimulating ointment may be 
applied with advantage after the removal of the blister 
Camphor . . .1 drachm, 
Hog’s-lard . . 1 ounce, 
Oil of origanum . \ drachm. 
Shortly after having been anointed with the above, a large and 
hot poultice may be applied, and both repeated twice a-day 
until the tumour is full of matter and is quite soft. It fre¬ 
quently breaks of its own accord; but if it should not, it 
must be laid open with a lancet, from the bottom upwards. 
The matter must be well squeezed out, and the lips of the 
incision kept open with a piece of lint for several days, until 
