ON ENTERITIS. 
153 
drinking a quantity of water at the pit. When I first saw him, 
for he had been purging ten days, he was not uneasy, would eat 
plenty of grass, but not much hay or corn ; the pulse and respira¬ 
tion were natural, and there seemed but little the matter with 
him, except the purging, and a peculiar hollow appearance. I 
gave 5 SS opium, &c., night and morning for about four days, and 
he got much better; but on the next day he was as bad as ever. 
1 continued the opium and other medicine according to circum¬ 
stances. I bled him, and blistered his abdomen ; but the blister 
took very little effect, and on the twenty-second day from the 
time of eating the oats he died. On examination, the whole of 
the mucous membrane of the large intestines was of a blue-black 
colour, with streaks almost black, and completely disorganized. 
The smaller ones were in a similar state, with the exception of 
about a yard or two of the duodenum. It was clearly confined 
to the mucous membrane. In this case there was little apparent 
pain ; but a seeming uneasiness, and rarely lying down. 
I have seen some cases of inflammation of the bowels where 
death has supervened, and where but little marks of inflamma¬ 
tion have been present; but there were thousands upon thousands 
of small kindle-worms amongst the food, and attached to the 
membrane, both in the small and large intestines, especially in the 
latter : in these cases I have found the food in the intestines to be 
drier than usual. Now, whether the worms were here the cause 
of the great irritation and dryness of the food, I leave for your 
consideration. 
Some few cases I have had of great irritation and purging in 
the rectum, produced by the attachment of bots : I have re¬ 
moved them, and the horses were soon well again. 
A few years ago a farmer took to a large farm in this neigh¬ 
bourhood, and in consequence of having a great deal of work for 
his horses to do they became very poor. He was recommended to 
an ignorant fellow, a blacksmith, of the name of Cliff', to give 
them a nourishing drink or two ; but, instead of that, he gave to 
four of them something or other that brought on violent purging, 
and he had them all rolling about the stable at once. 1 was 
sent for, and found one dead ; another died on the next day; an¬ 
other in the course of three weeks ; and the fourth lingered on 
for three or four months, and died at last, purging more or less 
during the greater part of the time. The horses thus destroyed 
were worth £70 or £80, and the rascal of a farrier not worth 2d. 
Another farmer had three valuable horses destroyed by the 
same disease, in consequence of a druggist having prescribed 
some worm medicine. This pretender was obliged to pay very 
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