BALL. 
316 
cal sense, has the same convenience of form in 
farriery, as a pill has in medicine for the human 
subject. It may, of course, be exceedingly varied 
in composition, but it ought to be made up with 
oil rather than with honey or syrup, and to be ad- 
ministered with only a thin pellicle of oiled paper 
and in as fresh a state as possible, before it has 
had time to harden. It ought never to weigh 
more than an ounce and a-half, or to measure 
more than an inch in diameter, and three inches 
in length. An instrument called a balling-iron 
is sometimes used for administering it; but is 
quite as likely to inflict mischief as to afford 
facility. The best method of administration is 
described as follows by Mr. Youatt :—“ The horse 
should be backed in the stall; the tongue should 
be drawn gently out with the left hand on the 
off side of the mouth, and there fixed, not by 
continuing to pull at it, but by pressing the 
fingers against the side of the lower jaw. The 
| ball, being now taken between the tips of the 
fingers of the right hand, is passed rapidly up 
the mouth, as near to the palate as possible, un- 
til it reaches the root of the tongue. It is then 
delivered with a slight jerk ; and, the hand being 
immediately withdrawn and the tongue liberated, 
| the ball is forced through the pharynx into the 
| oesophagus. 
Its passage should be watched down 
the left side of the throat; and if the passage of 
it is not seen going down, a slight tap or blow 
under the chin will generally cause the horse to 
| swallow it, or a few gulps of water will convey it 
| into the stomach.” 
| the hard or soft state of a ball, “ it should be 
White says, with respect to 
made more or less soluble, according as we wish 
it to operate upon the stomach, large intestines, 
or rectum: for those medicines which—like gam- 
boge—are readily dissolved in the stomach, are 
quick and violent in their effects, and liable to 
derange the functions of this viscus ; while those, 
_ on the contrary, which are not so easily soluble, 
pass through a large portion of the intestinal 
canal before they take effect. Thus colocynth, 
whose active principles reside both in soluble and 
insoluble elements, has a wide range of operation; 
and aloes, which are still farther insoluble, pass 
through the whole alimentary canal before they 
are sufficiently dissolved, and, consequently, act 
more especially upon the rectum than any other 
bowel. This enables the practitioner to vary the 
effects of different medicines, by rendering them 
more or less soluble; and we know by experience 
that the operation of aloes is quickened, and its 
tendency to irritate the rectum diminished, by 
combining it with soap or an alkaline salt. Thus, 
when it is wished to empty the large bowels only, 
and aloes be administered for this purpose, they 
should be sufficiently softened with water or 
treacle to cause them to act with greater expe- 
dition. With respect to cordial balls, they should 
always be made very easy of solution, as they are 
intended to act principally on the stomach; and 
ous substance, should always be combined with 
soap, otherwise they become very hard and are 
dissolved with difficulty. When many balls are 
made at one time, great care should be taken to 
mix the powders well together before they are 
formed into a mass, in order that all the balls 
may contain an equal proportion of the ingredi- 
ents of which they are composed.” 
BALLOTA, — popularly Stinking Horehound. 
A genus of hardy, perennial, herbaceous plants, 
of the labiate tribe. They are closely related to 
the horehound and motherwort genera ; and de- 
rive their name from the offensive circumstance 
of their having a fetid smell. Both the black 
and the white species are weeds of Britain, in- 
festing hedges, and growing to the height of two 
feet. The common, the two-rowed, and the gray 
species have been introduced from respectively 
Continental Europe, India, and Nepaul; the ori- 
ental and the woolly species are now regarded, 
the former as a horehound, and the latter as a 
motherwort; and an ornamental species, called 
the elegant or the ashy, was introduced a few 
years ago from Nepaul.—Ballota is also the bo- 
tanical specific name of the sweet acorn, an or- 
namental deciduous tree of the holly genus, a 
native of Barbary, and growing to the height 
of between 20 and 30 feet——Ballota is likewise | 
the botanical specific name of the Barbary oak, 
an evergreen timber tree of the oak genus, a na- | 
tive of Barbary, and growing to the height of | 
about 60 feet. 
BALM,—botanically Melissa. A genus of hardy, 
herbaceous plants, of the labiate family. Its bo- 
tanical name melissa means a bee, and alludes to 
an abundant secretion of honey. Three species 
of recent introduction are cultivated for orna- 
ment; and the heart-leaved species, also of re- 
cent introduction, is cultivated for medicinal 
purposes ; but the garden, common, officinal, and 
well-known species, J/felissa officinalis, is culti- 
vated at once for the pleasant lemon odour of its | 
leaves, and for the uses of medicine and the kit- 
chen. Two species formerly included among the 
balms are now assigned to the catmint genus; 
and three other species formerly included among 
the balms are now assigned to the calamint genus. 
The officinal species grows wild in the south of 
Europe and on the mountains near Geneva, and 
was introduced to Great Britain during the lat- 
ter half of the 16th century. Its stem is angular 
and branching, and grows to the height of from 
12 to 24 inches; its leaves are large and indented, 
and grow in pairs at the joints of the stem, the 
lower ones standing upon long footstalks; and the 
flowers are white, bloom from June till October, 
and grow in loose small bunches at the wings of 
the stalk, in whorls standing upon single foct- 
stalks. Its principal varieties are the Roman, 
with soft hairy leaves, and the variegated, with 
striped leaves. The plant has long been esteemed 
cordial, cephalic, and good for most disorders of 
| those balls that contain turpentine, or any resin- | the head and nerves, and has been employed for 
