Antispasmodics in veterinary practice possess the power of allaying
inordinate or painful motions in the system, particularly those
involuntary contractions in parts which are naturally subject to the
command of the will.
Medical writers divide antispasmodics into two kinds, viz. stimulants
and sedatives. To the former belong arsenic, preparations of copper,
zinc, and iron; also, ammonia, ether, essential oils, &c. The latter
comprehends opium, musk, camphor, and all the vegetable narcotics.
Medicines of the fœtid kind, such as galbanum, assaœtida, &c., have also
an antispasmodic quality.
When spasm arises from irritation, sedatives are to be given; but when
it depends merely on debility, tonics are evidently proper. The
spasmodic complaints to which horses are liable, are locked jaw and
spasmodic or flatulent colic, commonly named gripes, in which the most
efficacious antispasmodic is opium; but it is generally joined with
others, such as camphor, assaœtida, ether, oil of peppermint, juniper,
caraways, or allspice, or other aromatics.
Spices and aromatic seeds, such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger, caraways,
aniseed, &c., are often joined with opium, either in powder or infused
with it in proof spirit, to form a tincture, and will be found a good
antispasmodic in that form.
ANTLER, _s._ Branch of a stag’s horn.
APERIENT, _a._ Gently purgative.
APEX, _s._ The tip or point.
APIARY, _s._ The place where bees are kept.
APOPLEXY, _s._ A sudden deprivation of all sensation.
APOSTUME, _s._ A hollow tumour filled with purulent matter.
APPARATUS, _s._ Those things which are provided for the
accomplishment of any purpose. (_Vide_ SHOOTING.)
APPLICATION, _s._ The act of applying any thing to another; the
thing applied.
AQUA-FORTIS, _s._ Weak nitric acid.
AQUILINE, _a._ Resembling an eagle; when applied to the nose,
hooked.
ARAB, _s._ or ARABIAN. A horse bred in Arabia.
_The Arabian._—Of all the countries in the world where the horse runs
wild, Arabia produces the most beautiful breed—the most generous, swift,
and persevering. They are found, though not in great numbers, in the
deserts of that country, and the natives use every stratagem to take
them. Although they are active and beautiful, yet they are not so large
as those bred up tame. They are of a brown colour, their mane and tail
very short, and the hair black and tufted. Their swiftness is
incredible; the attempt to pursue them in the usual manner of the chace,
with dogs, would be entirely fruitless: such is the rapidity of their
flight, that they are instantly out of view, and the dogs themselves
give up the vain pursuit. The only method, therefore, of taking them is
by traps hidden in the sand, which entangling their feet, the hunter at
length comes up, and either kills them or carries them home alive. If
the horse be young, he is considered among the Arabians as a very great
delicacy, and they feast upon him while any part is found remaining; but
if from his shape or vigour he promises to be serviceable in his more
noble capacity, they take the usual methods of taming him by fatigue and
hunger, and he soon becomes a useful domestic animal. But the horses
thus caught, or trained in this manner, are at present very few; the
value of Arabian horses all over the world has, in a great measure,
thinned the deserts of the wild breed, and there are few to be found in
those countries, except such as are tame.
The Arabian breed has been diffused into Barbary as well as Egypt, and
into Persia also. Those from the former country are usually denominated
“Barbs.”
Let the Arab be ever so poor, he has horses: they usually ride on the
mares, experience having taught them that they bear fatigue, hunger, and
thirst, better than horses; they also are less vicious, more gentle, and
will remain, left to themselves, in great numbers, for days together,
without doing the least injury to each other. The Turks, on the
contrary, do not like mares, and the Arabians sell them the horses which
they do not keep for stallions.
The Arabs have no houses, but constantly live in tents, which serve them
also for stables, so that the husband, the wife, and the children, lie
promiscuously with the mare and foal. The little children are often seen
upon the body or the neck of the mare, while these continue inoffensive
and harmless, permitting them thus to play with and caress them without
injury.
The Arabs never beat their horses; they treat them gently; they speak to
them, and seem to hold a discourse; they use them as friends; they never
attempt to increase their speed by the whip, nor spur them, but in cases
of necessity;—however, when this happens they set off with amazing
swiftness, they leap over obstacles with as much agility as a buck, and
if the rider happens to fall, they are so manageable that they stand
still in the midst of their most rapid career.
The Arabian horses are of a middle size, easy in their motions, and
rather inclined to leanness than fat. They are regularly dressed every
morning and evening, and with such care, that the smallest roughness is
not left upon their skins. They wash the legs, the mane, and the tail;
the two latter they never cut, and very seldom comb, lest they should
thin the hair.
They give them nothing to eat during the day; they only give them to
drink once or twice, and at sunset they hang a bag to their heads, in
which there is about half a bushel of clean barley: they continue eating
the whole night, and the bag is again taken away the next morning. They
are turned out to pasture in the beginning of March, when the grass is
pretty high. When the spring is past they take them again from pasture,
and then they get neither grass nor hay during the rest of the year;
barley is their only food, except now and then a little straw. The mane
of the foal is always clipped when about a year or eighteen months old,
in order to make it stronger and thicker; they begin to break them at
two years old, or two years and a half at farthest; they never saddle or
bridle them till at that age, and then they are always kept ready
saddled at the door of the tent, from morning till sunset, in order to
be prepared against any surprise. They at present seem sensible of the
great advantage their horses are to the country; there is a law,
therefore, that prohibits the exportation of the mares, and such
stallions as are brought into England are generally purchased on the
eastern shores of Africa, and come round to us by the Cape of Good Hope.
The Arabs preserve the pedigree of their horses with great care, and for
several ages back. They distinguish the races by different names, and
divide them into three classes; the first is that of the nobles, the
ancient breed, and unadulterated on either side; the second, that of the
horses of the ancient race, but adulterated; and the third the common
and inferior kind: the last they sell at a low price, but those of the
first class, and even of the second, amongst which are found horses of
equal value to the former, are sold extremely dear. They know, by long
experience, the race of a horse by his appearance; they can tell the
name, the surname, the colour, and the marks properly belonging to each.
When the mare has produced the foal, witnesses are called, and an
attestation signed, in which are described the marks of the foal, and
the day noted when it was brought forth. These attestations increase the
value of the horse, and are given to the person who buys him. The most
ordinary mare of this race sells for five hundred crowns; there are many
that sell for a thousand, and some of the very finest kinds for fourteen
or fifteen hundred pounds.
* * * * *
Eighty or one hundred piastres are given for an ordinary horse, which is
in general less valued than an ass or mule; but a horse of a well known
Arabian breed will fetch any price. Abdallah, pacha of Damascus, had
just given three thousand piastres for one. The history of a horse is
frequently the topic of general conversation. When I was at Jerusalem,
the feats of one of these steeds made a great noise. The Bedouin, to
whom the animal, a mare, belonged, being pursued by the governor’s
guards, rushed with her from the top of the hills that overlooked
Jericho. The mare scoured at full gallop an almost perpendicular
declivity without stumbling, and left the soldiers lost in admiration
and astonishment. The poor creature, however, dropped down dead on
entering Jericho, and the Bedouin, who would not quit her, was taken
weeping over the body of his companion. This mare has a brother in the
desert, who is so famous, that the Arabs always know where he has been,
where he is, what he is doing, and how he does. Ali Aga religiously
showed me, in the mountains near Jericho, the footsteps of the mare that
died in the attempt to save her master,—a Macedonian could not have
beheld those of Bucephalus with greater respect.
* * * * *
The pure Arabians are somewhat smaller than our race horses, seldom
exceeding fourteen hands two inches in height. Their heads are very
beautiful, clean, and wide between the jaws; the forehead is broad and
square; the face flat; the muzzle short and fine; the eyes prominent and
brilliant; the ears small and handsome; the nostrils large and open; the
skin of the head thin, through which may be distinctly traced the whole
of the veins; the neck rather short than otherwise. The body may, as a
whole, be considered too light, and the breast rather narrow; but behind
the arms, the chest generally swells out greatly, leaving ample room for
the lungs to play, and with great depth of ribs. The shoulder is
superior to that of any other breed; the scapula, or shoulder-blade,
inclines backwards nearly an angle of forty-five degrees; the withers
are high and arched; the neck beautifully curved; the mane and tail
long, thin, and flowing: the legs are fine, flat, and wiry, with the
posteriors placed somewhat oblique, which has led some to suppose that
their strength was thereby lessened—but this is by no means the case;
the bone is of uncommon density; and the prominent muscles of the fore
arms and thigh, prove that the Arabian horse is fully equal to all that
has been said of its physical powers. The Arabian is never known, in a
tropical climate, to be a roarer, or to have curbs, the shape, from the
point of the hock to the fetlock, being very perfect. It is a remarkable
fact, that the skin of all the light-coloured Arabians is pure black, or
bluish black, which gives to white horses that beautiful silvery gray
colour so prevalent among the coursers of noble blood. Bay and chestnut
are also common, and considered good colours. It has been remarked in
India, that no horse of a dark gray colour was ever known to be a winner
on the turf. If an Arabian horse exceed fourteen and a half hands in
height, the purity of his blood is always doubted in India.
* * * * *
Speaking of the docile character of the Arab horse, the late Bishop of
Calcutta writes: “My morning rides are very pleasant. My horse is a
nice, quiet, good-tempered little Arab, who is so fearless, that he
goes, without starting, close to an elephant, and so gentle and docile,
that he eats bread out of my hand, and has almost as much attachment and
coaxing ways as a dog. This seems the general character of the Arab
horses, to judge from what I have seen in this country. It is not the
fiery, dashing animal I had supposed, but with more rationality about
him, and more apparent confidence in his rider, than the majority of
English horses.”—_Le Keux_—_Brown_—_Clarke_—_Heber._
ARBALIST, _s._ A cross-bow.
ARCHER, _s._ He that shoots with a bow.
ARCHERY, _s._ The use of the bow; the act of shooting with the bow;
the art of an archer.
[Illustration]
Archery is the art or exercise of shooting with a bow and arrow.
In this island, archery was greatly encouraged in former times, and many
statutes were made for the regulation thereof; whence the English
archers became the best in Europe, and obtained many signal victories.
The Artillery Company of London, though they have long disused the
weapon, are the remains of the ancient bowmen or archers. Artillery
(_artillerie_) is a French term, signifying archery; as the king’s
bowyer was in that language styled _artillier du roy_. And from that
nation the English seem to have learnt at least the use of the
cross-bow. William the Conqueror had a considerable number of bowmen in
his army, when no mention is made of such troops on the side of Harold.
And it is supposed that these Norman archers shot with the arbalist, or
cross-bow, in which formerly the arrow was placed in a groove, termed in
French, a quarrel, and in English, a bolt. Of the time when shooting
with the long-bow first began among the English, there appears no
certain accounts. Their chronicles do not mention the use of archery
till the death of Richard I.; who, in 1199, was killed by an arrow at
the siege of Limoges, in Guienne, which Hemingford mentions to have
issued from a cross-bow. After this, there appears no notice of archery
for nearly one hundred and fifty years; when an order was issued by
Edward III., in the fifteenth year of his reign, to the sheriffs of most
of the English counties, for providing five hundred white bows, and five
hundred bundles of arrows, for the then intended war against France.
Similar orders were repeated in the following years, with this
difference only, that the sheriff of Gloucestershire is directed to
furnish five hundred painted bows, as well as the same number of white.
Philip de Comines acknowledges what our own writers assert, that the
English archers excelled those of every other nation; and Sir John
Fortescue says “the safety of the realme of England standyth upon
archers.” And hence the superior dexterity of their archers gave the
English a great advantage over their capital enemies, the French and
Scots.
* * * * *
The Normans used the bow as a military weapon; and, under their
government, the practice of archery was not only much improved, but
generally diffused throughout the kingdom.
In the ages of chivalry, the usage of the bow was considered as an
essential part of the education of a young man who wished to make a
figure in life.
The ladies also were fond of this amusement; and by a curious
representation from an original drawing in a manuscript of the
fourteenth century, we see it practised by one who has shot at a deer,
and wounded it with great adroitness; and in another previous engraving,
the hunting equipments of the female archers, about the middle of the
fifteenth century, are represented.
It was usual, when the ladies exercised the bow, for the beasts to be
confined by large inclosures, surrounded by the hunters, and driven in
succession from the covers to the stands, where the fair sportswomen
were placed; so that they might readily shoot at them, without the
trouble and fatigue of rousing and pursuing them. It is said of
Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII., that when she was on her way
towards Scotland, a hunting party was made for her amusement in Alnwick
Park, where she killed a buck with an arrow. It is not specified whether
the long-bow or the cross-bow was used by the princess upon this
occasion: we are certain that the ladies occasionally shot with both;
for when Queen Elizabeth visited Lord Montacute, at Cowdrey, in Sussex,
on Monday, August 17th, 1591, “Her highness tooke horse, and rode into
the park, at eight o’clock in the morning, where was a delicate bowre
prepared, under the which were her highness’ musicians placed; and a
cross-bow, by a nymph, with a sweet song, was delivered into her hands,
to shoote at the deere; about some thirty in number were put into a
paddock, of which number she killed three or four, and the countess of
Kildare one.”
Roger Ascham, in his instructions to the archer, first of all recommends
a graceful attitude. He should stand, says this writer, fairly, and
upright with his body, his left foot at a convenient distance before his
right; holding the bow by the middle, with his left arm stretched out,
and with the three first fingers and the thumb of the right hand upon
the lower part of the arrow affixed to the string of the bow. In the
second place, a proper attention was to be paid to the nocking, that is,
the application of the notch at the bottom of the arrow to the
bow-string: we are told that the notch of the arrow should rest between
the fore-finger and the middle finger of the right hand. Thirdly, our
attention is directed to the proper manner of drawing the bow-string: in
ancient times, says Ascham, the right hand was brought to the right pap;
but at present it is elevated to the right ear, and the latter method he
prefers to the former. The shaft of the arrow, below the feathers, ought
to be rested upon the knuckle of the fore-finger of the left hand; the
arrow was to be drawn to the head, and not held too long in that
situation, but neatly and smartly discharged, without any hanging upon
the string. Among the requisites necessary to constitute a good archer,
are a clear sight, steadily directed to the mark, and proper judgment to
determine the distance of the ground; he ought also to know how to take
the advantage of a side-wind, and to be well acquainted with what
compass his arrows would require in their flight: courage is also an
indispensable requisite, for whoever, says our author, shoots with the
least trepidation, he is sure to shoot badly. One great fault in
particular he complains of, which young archers generally fall into, and
that is, the direction of the eye to the end of the arrow, rather than
to the mark; to obviate this evil habit, he advises such as were so
accustomed, to shoot in the dark, by night, at lights set up at a proper
distance for that purpose. He then concludes with observing, that “bad
tutorage” was rarely amended in grown-up persons; and therefore he held
it essentially necessary that great attention should be paid to the
teaching of an archer properly, while he was young; “for children,” says
he, “if sufficient pains are taken with them at the onset, may much more
easily be taught to shoot well, than men,” because the latter have
frequently more trouble to unlearn their bad habits, than was
primitively requisite to learn them good ones.
Kings and princes have been celebrated for their skill in archery, and
among those of our own country may be placed King Henry VII., who in his
youth was partial to this exercise, and therefore it is said of him in
an old poem, written in praise of the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards
Queen to Henry VII.
See where he shoteth at the butts,
And with hym are lordes three;
He weareth a gowne of velvette blacke,
And it is coted above the knee.
He also amused himself with the bow after he had obtained the crown, as
we find from an account of his expenditures, where the following
memorandums occur: “Lost to my Lord Morgan at buttes, six shillings and
eightpence:” and again, “Paid to Sir Edward Boroughes thirteen shillings
and fourpence which the kynge lost at buttes with his cross-bowe.” Both
the sons of King Henry followed his example, and were excellent archers.
* * * * *
In a curious manuscript of the time of Queen Elizabeth, is this account
of an archer and all his necessary appendages:—“Captains and officers
should be skilful of that most noble weapon, and see that their
soldiers, according to their draft and strength, have good bows, well
notched, well strynged, and every strynge whippe in their noche; and in
the myddes rubbed with wax, braser, and shooting glove; some spare
strynges trymed as aforesaid; every man one shefe of arrows, with a case
of leather defensible against the rayne; and in the same fower and
twentie arrows, whereof eight of them should be lighter than the
residue; to gall or astonye the enemye with the hail-shot of light
arrows, before they shall come within the danger of the harquebuss shot.
Let every man have a brigandine or a little cote of plate, a skull or
huskyn, a mawle of leade of five foote in lengthe, and a fusee, and the
same hanging by his girdle with a hooke and a dagger; being thus
furnished, teach them by musters to marche, shoote, and retire, keeping
their faces upon the enemy’s. Sum tyme put them into great nowmbers, as
to battle appertayneth; and thus use them oftentimes practised, till
they be perfecte; for those men in battel or skirmish cannot be spared.
No other weapon maye compare with the same noble weapon.”
* * * * *
The Royal Company of Scotland, one of the most ancient associations in
the empire, is said to owe its origin to the commissioners who were
originally appointed by James I., to superintend and regulate the
exercise of archery throughout the kingdom. These commissioners, who
were generally people of character and respectability, picked out among
the number of men under their superintendence, the most expert archers;
and, in cases of emergency, made a present of their services to the
government, in order that they might form the king’s bodyguard. While in
this situation, they gave repeated instances of their courage and
dexterity. Within seven miles of Edinburgh, the royal company still
claims the rank of the King’s Chief Body Guards. In the year 1677, this
company was known under the name and title of His Majesty’s Company of
Archers; and in the same year, and by the same act of the privy council,
a piece of plate of the value of twenty pounds was shot for at the
annual parades of the company, called Weapon-shawings; this plate was
denominated the “King’s Prize.” At the period to which we are at present
alluding, the Royal Company consisted of the principal nobility of
Scotland. But the revolutionary principles to which they so tenaciously
adhered, almost annihilated their consequence, and withheld the
continuance of the King’s prize. Their original magnificence was,
however, revived on the accession of Queen Anne to the throne; but their
attachment to the unfortunate and ill-fated house of Stuart, again
proved the declension of their splendour. But these differences, by the
annihilation of the family to whom they are attached, have now subsided,
and they are now reinstated in all their former consequence. In 1788 the
annual prize was revived and shot for, in the presence of a numerous
body of spectators. We may here observe, that the three principal bodies
of archers in England and Scotland, are now incorporated in one; by the
union of the Woodmen of Arden, the Toxopholites, and the Royal Society
of Archers. The prizes, which properly belong to the latter, and which
are annually shot for, are, first, a silver arrow, which was presented
by the town of Musselburgh, which seems to have been shot for as far
back as the year 1603. Whoever gains this may take charge of it for a
year; at the expiration of which period it is returned with any device
that his imagination may suggest. Second, a silver arrow, which, in A.
D. 1626, was granted by the town of Peebles. Third, a silver arrow,
given by the town of Edinburgh, A. D. 1709. Fourth, a silver punch-bowl,
about the value of fifty pounds, made at the expense of the company of
Scotch silversmiths. Fifth, the king’s prize, which is the entire
property of the winner. These prizes are shot for at what is called
rovers: the marks are placed at the distance of one hundred and
eighty-five yards. The uniform of the Royal Company of Archers is
tartan, lined with white, and trimmed with green and white fringes; a
white sash with green tassels, and a blue bonnet with St. Andrew’s
feather and cross. They have also two standards; on one of which is
inscribed, “Nemo me impune lacessit;” on the other, “Dulce pro patria
periculum.”—_Ascham_—_Strutt_—_Ency. Lon._
ARCUBALISTER, _s. obs._ A cross-bow man.
ARM, _s._ The limb which reaches from the hand to the shoulder; the
large bough of a tree; an inlet of water from the sea; in
sporting parlance, that portion of the horse’s fore-leg
comprised between the shoulder and the knee.
AROMATIC, _a._ Spicy; fragrant, strong-scented.
AROMATICS, _s._ Spices; stimulants, as cinnamon, cloves, &c.
ARQUEBUSE, _s. obs._ A hand gun.
ARRACK, _s._ A spirituous liquor.
ARROW, _s._ The pointed weapon which is shot from a bow.
“There are three essential parts in the composition of the arrow,” says
Ascham, “the stele or wand, the feathers, and the head. The stele was
not always made with the same species of wood, but varied as occasion
required, to suit the different manners of shooting practised by the
archers;” he commends sound ash for military arrows, and preferred it to
asp, which in his day was generally used for arrows belonging to the
army; but for pastime, he thought that none were better than those made
of oak, hardbeam, or birch; “but after all,” says he, “in this point I
hold it best to trust to the recommendation of an honest fletcher.” The
feathers from the wing of a goose, and especially of a grey goose, he
thought were preferable to any others for the pluming of an arrow.
English arrows then had forked heads and broad heads, but round pointed
heads resembling a bodkin were reckoned better. The notch, or small
hollow part at the bottom of the arrow, made for the reception of the
bow-string, was varied as occasion required, or at the will of the
archer, being sometimes deep and narrow, and sometimes broad and not
deep.
* * * * *
An arrow, weighing from twenty to twenty-four pennyweights, made of yew,
was considered by archers to be the best that could be made. The
feathers of a goose should be used; and the bird from which they are
taken should be two or three years of age. In an arrow, it is remarkable
that two out of three feathers are commonly white, as they are plucked
from the gander; but the third is usually brown or grey, being taken
from the goose; and this difference of colour shows the archer when the
arrow is properly placed. The expression of the “grey goose’s wing,” in
the old ballad of Chevy Chase, is an allusion to this occurrence;
originally, arrows were armed with flint or metal heads; latterly with
iron of different forms and names. Henry IV. ordained that all arrows
should be well boiled or brased, and hardened at the points with steel.
Arrows were usually reckoned by sheaves; a sheaf consisting of
twenty-four arrows. They were carried in a quiver, called an arrow case,
which served for the magazine. In ancient times, different species of
combustible materials were attached to the heads of arrows, and shot
from long bows; and even subsequently to the invention of gunpowder this
mode has been carried into execution. According to Neade, an archer may
shoot an ounce of fireworks from an arrow twelve score yards. Among the
stores at Berwick and Newhaven, in the reign of Edward VI., arrows with
wildfire are enumerated. Some slight opinion of the strength of an arrow
in its full flight, may be formed from the account given by Edward VI.
in his journal: he observes, that one hundred archers shot arrows each
before him, and afterwards altogether; that they shot at an inch board:
some pierced it through and stuck in the other board, and others pierced
it through with the heads of their arrows.—_Ascham_—_Strutt._
ARSENIC, _s._ A mineral, the preparations for which are sometimes
used in veterinary practice.
There are two kinds, white and yellow: white arsenic is a powerful
tonic, and has been given with success in glanders and farcy. Yellow
arsenic, mixed with lard, is used to remove warts, and in fistula and
poll-evil.
ARSENICAL, _a._ Containing arsenic.
ARTERIAL, _a._ That which relates to the artery; that which is
contained in the artery.
ARTERY, _s._ An artery is a conical vessel, conveying the blood from
the heart to all parts of the body.
ARTICULAR, _a._ Belonging to the joints.
ASAFŒTIDA, _s._ A very offensive-smelling gum. It has antispasmodic
qualities; and in veterinary practice is said to be serviceable
in coughs, thick wind, and lock-jaw.
ASCARIDES, _s._ Little worms generally found in the rectum.
ASCITES, _s._ For this disease in horses and dogs, see _White_,
_Blaine_, &c.—_Vide_ ANASARCA.
ASH-COLOUR, _s._ A colour between brown and gray.
_Ash colour, pearl colour, or golden cinnamon._—Take some _walnut_ roots
and boil till your stuff begins to strike, then add some _galls_; boil
till it comes up near to what you want, and then add some copperas, but
very sparingly.