CHAPTER VIII.

THE ABDOMEN--ITS ACCIDENTS AND ITS DISEASES.

ENTERITIS.

The nose turned forcibly upward in horses is only expressive of general

abdominal disease. The author has witnessed this symptom during the

earliest stage of =enteritis=. It is frequently exhibited when no

disturbance calling for treatment is known to be present, or can be

subsequently observed. Still, because it is sometimes the earliest warning

of intestinal disorder, all horses displaying such a peculiarity should

receive pointed attention.

[Illustration:

THE NOSE STRAINED VIOLENTLY UPWARD IS A GENERAL SYMPTOM OF ABDOMINAL

IRRITATION.

]

=Enteritis= is a fearful disease, treating the greatest possible agony.

Aged horses are specially exposed to this scourge, which can rage

with ungovernable fury from the commencement, and consume the life in

eight hours. Its causes, unfortunately, are in a great measure purely

conjectural; such as drinking cold water, etc. etc.

These incentives are formally recounted in books; but surely something

is wanted to complete the catalogue. If all the animals exposed to the

operation of such provocatives were to have enteritis, two-thirds of

the horses inhabiting Great Britain would be dead by to-morrow morning.

The principal thing, therefore, is the predisposition; incline toward a

particular malady, and any triviality may start up the disease; yet this

predisposition we at present are too ignorant to recognize.

A severe fit of colic, long continued, may end in enteritis. This is well

known; yet it was not the colic which induced enteritis; but the real

cause was that which originated the first affection. The predisposition

must be present before the bowels would exhibit that inflammation into

which the colic merged; the injudicious and cruel treatment most horses

receive from those to whose service the life is devoted, may probably be

accused as the root of all these evils; disease is the loudest proof that

the life is stinted in some essential particular. The same food is placed

before all horses; one animal will, however, purge upon exertion; labor,

on the other hand, may constipate the fellow occupant of the same stable.

When the same effect has produced such opposite causes, all the bodies

cannot be alike; an old proverb asserts "that which is one man's food is

another man's poison." The diet which supports one animal in health may

loosen or constringe its companion; yet we are too ignorant to practically

use such distinctions.

Again, there is no practice more general than to load the rack and pile

the manger after any uncommon toil has been endured. The practice may

originate in the best intentions; but no intention can convert that

which is evil into a positive good. The wretched animal is tempted to

cram the stomach when excessive labor has weakened the vital functions.

Horses which are brought home late at night do not usually receive much

notice; the grooms are sleepy and eager for their beds. The dressing

of the animal, however much such attention might conduce to health, is

consequently left to the following morning. Rapid motion quickens the

circulation; the blood is sent to the skin, and copious perspiration

is the result. However warm the stable may be, warmth only promotes

evaporation; cold of the lowest degree results from evaporation; the

consequence is, the body of the quadruped speedily shivers; the blood is

repelled to the internal organs, the bowels are prepared for inflammation,

and thus enteritis often follows upon the midnight return from a long

journey.

Moreover, when the frame is exhausted, rest is far more essential than

food; the nourishment then should be very light, and such as can be

quickly swallowed. A quart of thick flour or of oatmeal gruel should be

first offered after the return. When the cleansing of the animal's body

is finished, another quart should be given; these will occupy little time

in being put out of sight, and the administration need not interfere

with the repose which is desired. The gruel being swallowed, a feed of

crushed and scalded oats may be placed in the manger; no hay should be

allowed; the wish is to sustain a debilitated body, not to blow out an

idle stomach. Then the creature should, after being fully clothed, be left

to itself, and no more nourishment be provided for that night. The danger

of introducing substances into a stomach dead to its functions would thus

be avoided; nothing likely to irritate or to operate as foreign bodies

upon the bowels would be set before the debilitated horse. Besides, the

groom would be obliged to remain up for some space, and, as a good servant

always finds time hang heavy when without occupation, the animal is more

likely to be dressed before the man retires. Moreover, the clothes would

prevent the cold which ensues upon unchecked evaporation.

=Constipation=, if permitted to exist for any period, is always

dangerous; hardened feces are one of the surest causes of enteritis.

Disregarding this fact, the endeavor of the immediate age seems to be to

keep horses cheap. Strange mixtures are now substituted for wholesome

corn, in which the grain and husk are mingled, the one supporting the

strength, the other stimulating the bowels. It is folly to seek for profit

from a life, and to stint the nourishment which feeds the strength, or to

view cheapness as desirable where the service is unlimited. It is wicked

to imprison a living being and then to regard it only in connection with

our conveniences; "much care and no spare" is a good stable proverb. The

food makes the work; omnibus masters know this fact; their horses perform

hard work and eat of the best, however abominably the generality of these

slaves were once lodged. The home of a London horse is mostly a miserable

hole: heated only by fermentation; too often undrained; nearly always

without sufficient ventilation. The stall of such a building is large

enough for the animal to stand in and not wide enough for the recumbent

frame to rest in; the roof is low, and the refuse of the body is piled

near the entrance. When will man learn that his interest is best consulted

by the proper observances due to vitality in every form? A horse cannot

be treated as though it were a jug; it cannot be placed upon a shelf and

taken down when required. The functions which nature has placed within

a beautiful and exquisitely framed body will, if thus regarded, soon

become deranged. Sickness will soon cost more money than health would have

required for its sustainment; and, in the end, he who strives to blend the

animate and the inanimate will speedily find himself possessed only of the

latter description of property.

The predisposing cause may, in most instances, be difficult to discover;

but the premonitory symptoms of enteritis are well marked. The animal is

dull and heavy. It may not notice aught about it, or it picks at its food;

repeated and violent shivering fits usher in the attack. When the above

characteristic signs are observed, at once take away all hay and corn.

Bandage the legs, which will be cold; clothe the body, and, if already

dressed, loosen the surcingle. Litter well the stall or remove the horse

to a loose box; give two or three drinks, one every quarter of an hour,

containing sulphuric ether and laudanum, of each one ounce; water, half a

pint; and observe the animal without disturbing it. These symptoms are,

however, generally unseen, because the groom is between the bedclothes

while his charge is suffering.

The primary symptoms of decided enteritis are termed "=colic=" or

"=fret=." Such words simply represent bellyache; but harm is done and

valuable time lost, if the terms of the stable are accepted in any

absolute signification. Grooms always have some invaluable nostrum

hoarded up; such people are proud of and confident in their secret

knowledge; they will lie rather than communicate the contents of their

charm. With the best hopes the foolish servant will waste precious

moments in useless expectation, and watch for results from an injurious

or worthless potion till the time when curative measures could have been

effective has passed. Never permit the men who clean the horses also to

administer to their diseases; the poor fellows may mean well, but they can

have no knowledge which, in the presence of danger, can be beneficial.

The primary symptom, to an uninformed observer, may simply announce a mild

fit of gripes. When the shivering has subsided, the horse rolls, plunges,

kicks, etc. etc., as he does in spasmodic colic. The struggles, however,

are less abandoned and far more mannered in inflammation of the bowels,

than in genuine spasm. The pain, moreover, which in enteritis accompanies

all movements of the diaphragm, throws the labor of respiration upon the

walls of the thorax. The ribs can only partially dilate the lungs; nature

endeavors by quickening the motion to supply the deficiency. In colic,

the breathing is at first only excited by the exertion; it is deep and

full. At the commencement of spasm, the mouth is moist and in temperature

natural; during enteritis, the breathing is very short and the mouth is

always hot and dry.

[Illustration: THE TEST FOR ENTERITIS AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ATTACK.]

The pulse is disturbed only as colic progresses; in enteritis it is

quick, hard, and wiry, before the disorder is fully established. The term

"wiry" well represents the kind of pulse which accompanies enteritis.

If a thin metallic cord were to strike the finger ends somewhat gently,

and about seventy times in a minute, it would impart the same sensation

as is communicated by the beat of the artery during inflammation of

the bowels. Besides, pressure in colic seems to ease the anguish; in

enteritis, the horse often cannot bear to have the abdomen touched. The

last symptom, however, is not always present, neither is there one,

save those characteristic of general inflammation, which is invariably

to be observed. In abdominal disease, so many organs are influenced

that everything becomes, in a vast degree, mystery and confusion.

Notwithstanding this, pressure, in enteritis, never affords relief;

sometimes, however, the hand placed upon the belly will elicit the most

energetic response. The horse will kick with the hind leg, turn round the

head, and violently snap the jaws together. Then he who applied so rude

a test must stand out of the reach of the hind foot, at the same time

watching the head. Thus all danger is readily avoided; because the ears,

the eyes, and nostrils of the horse express its intentions before these

are carried into effect.

[Illustration: THE TEST OF PRESSURE TO THE ABDOMEN FOR ENTERITIS.]

[Illustration: A CERTAIN TEST FOR ENTERITIS.]

All the tests will, however, not warrant certainty. The heat and dryness

of the mouth may proceed from bodily exhaustion; the pulse, though highly

suspicious, may merely denote general disturbance rather than declare the

particular locality of a disorder. The peculiarity of the breathing may

only express temporary faintness; the resistance to pressure is common

to many horses while in health, and the restrained method of the plunges

may be consequent upon the absence of any incitive to greater energy;

still, when all are put together, they imply a great deal. Faintness

and exhaustion are not to be reconciled with a hard pulse; the heat of

the mouth and the resistance to pressure, especially when united to the

voluntary restraint imposed upon the motion, certainly warrant a strong

inference, and sanction no belief that colic is the sufferer's complaint.

Happily, however, there remains a mode of assuring the most hesitating

individual. The coat must be pulled off, the shirt-sleeves rolled up, and

the arm be well greased or thoroughly soaped. About this there must be no

false delicacy: in human surgery and in veterinary practice many things

have to be surmounted which do not read well when described in cold print.

In this instance, the intention is to relieve a suffering life; the motive

will elevate the act. The fingers of the right hand are to be compressed,

while the left hand raises the tail; the position is on the left side,

as near to the feet as may be possible. Being there, the points of the

compressed fingers are brought to bear upon the center of the anus; gentle

and equable pressure is maintained until the resistance of the sphincter

muscle is tired out; even then, no haste is warranted. Upon the hand

penetrating the body, a cavity is entered; here there is generally some

dung, the removal of which constitutes what is called "back-raking." In

enteritis, the excrement is hard, dry, offensive, in small and dark lumps,

upon the surface of which lie streaks of white mucus. This being done,

the arm must be regreased or again moistened with water, and the hand

gradually advanced to ascertain the temperature of the intestines. If the

health be undisturbed, the operator will be conscious only of a genial

glow; should inflammation exist, the augmentation of the natural heat will

be most decided.

All is then certainty; no further doubt is justifiable, and no additional

symptom need be looked for. The nature of the case is determined, and

should it be enteritis, every moment is indeed precious. Firstly,

neither bleed nor purge. A particular kind of venesection, however, is

allowed. Extract one quart of blood, and inject into the vein one pint of

blood-warm water; a profuse purgation and perspiration almost immediately

follows the disappearance of the fluid. Much uncertainty is thus spared;

and two conditions, both favorable to recovery, are induced.

[Illustration: THE SYRINGE TO INJECT INTO THE JUGULAR VEIN DURING

ENTERITIS.]

For this operation a quart syringe should be employed; a fine curved

nozzle should be affixed to it for the convenience of insertion down the

vein; the tube connected with the handle should be marked to show when a

pint has been forced out of the instrument.

The reason for using a larger and a less handy machine than seems

absolutely necessary to perform a delicate operation is, because nearly

all syringes suck up a portion of air, which, when the instrument is

almost empty, comes forth. Now breath or atmosphere, or gas of any kind

injected into a living vessel, speedily destroys life. To prevent so

fearful an accident the enlarged capacity of the syringe is recommended.

The water being injected, should the pulse regain its inflammatory

character, mingle half a drachm of aconite root, in powder, with every

subsequent antispasmodic draught. The ethereal drenches must be continued,

because pain of the intestines is always obstinate, and we cannot be

certain how far spasm may cause the agony, seeing that a form of colic

always attends on enteritis.

Aconite root, in powder Half a drachm.

Sulphuric ether Three ounces.

Laudanum Three ounces.

Extract of belladonna One drachm.

(Rubbed down in water) One pint and a half.

These drinks should be administered as the pain, pulse, and the general

appearance seem to demand them; they may be employed every quarter of an

hour if requisite. When the pulse is quiet, withdraw the aconite; should

the pain subside, remove the belladonna. The ether and laudanum may be

diminished as the horse appears to be more comfortable.

Should the symptoms denote a dead, lingering pain in the abdomen, after

the administration of the eighth drink, procure some strong liquor

ammonia. Dilute this with six times its bulk of cold water. Saturate a

stout cloth with the dilution; lay the cloth upon several folds of rug;

obtain four resolute men with not very sensitive eyes or noses, and let

them hold the cloth close to the animal's abdomen.

[Illustration: THE APPLICATION OF AN AMMONIACAL BLISTER IN ENTERITIS.]

The action of the ammonia must be from time to time observed. It is a

most powerful agent; in certain states it can blister in ten minutes; in

other conditions, it requires half an hour to take that effect. It is

very uncertain; but, if held too long, it may dissolve the skin and leave

behind a fearful sore, which will establish a lasting blemish. He who

employs it will understand he is using that which must not be abused. The

removal of the cloth allows the ammonia to evaporate, and, consequently,

at any moment effectually checks all further action.

When all is accomplished, should the progress of the disease be

effectually stayed, but the cure not be complete, sprinkle on the tongue

the following powder every second hour:--

Calomel Half a drachm.

Opium One drachm.

But stop all the other medicine as soon as the subsidence of the symptoms

will permit. The food is now of all importance: bran, in enteritis, is

positive poison; mashes are not to be thought of; linseed is too feeding

for an inflammatory subject. The same objection may be taken to gruel; hay

tea, or pails of boiling water poured upon a pound of flour, must sustain

the body for the first day after recovery; on the next day, a feed of

boiled roots may be introduced, but not the whole quantity at once; that

must be divided into three meals. Then the amount may be doubled, and thus

the full bulk of provender be by degrees attained; afterward a few crushed

and scalded oats may be mixed with the rest at each meal; but it should

be some time before hay is permitted to irritate and distend the lately

inflamed surfaces.

Enteritis is a fearful disorder; he who has witnessed one death by that

terrible malady should have received an awful rebuke. The _post-mortem_

examination best describes the violence of the affection. The intestines,

generally the large intestines, are black and swollen; often in color they

approach to a green. Their structure is destroyed; they tear upon a touch,

and are so loaded with inflamed blood that one division of the bowels may

form no inconsiderable burden for a strong man.

The above directions, the intelligent reader will fully comprehend, are

not pronounced in any absolute sense. No two cases of any violent disorder

are precisely similar; the forms, therefore, prescribed in these pages

admit of variations. They are given only as suited to the generality of

attacks; they may be lessened or augmented, as circumstances demand or as

discretion dictates. It would be as easy to make a shoe which should fit

all feet, as to name medicines or point out the quantities which should be

adapted to all maladies.

ACUTE DYSENTERY.

Diarrhœa may be banished from the list of diseases to which horse-flesh

is liable. Certain animals will purge during work; others will scour

upon the smallest change of diet; such peculiarities, however, mostly

check themselves; they demand very slight or no remedial treatment.

Unlike diarrhœa in the human subject, they never terminate in death; but

dysentery is as violent as diarrhœa is mild. The length and size of the

intestines render any disease within them a very serious affair. There

are two kinds of dysentery, the acute and the chronic; the acute form of

disease will constitute the subject of the present article.

The cause of =acute dysentery= is always some acrid substance taken into

the stomach--generally aloes, combined with some preparation of croton;

other substances will, however, induce an inflammatory purgation. Such a

result may ensue upon the injudicious use of arsenic, corrosive sublimate,

tartar emetic, blue-stone, etc. etc. Many of these substances will be

eaten if mixed with the corn--the instinct which protects the lives of

other animals being destroyed in the horse by ages of domestication.

Others may be ignorantly administered with the very best of intention.

The symptoms often are obscure at the commencement; there is abdominal

pain; so there is in most intestinal disorders. The agony may readily be

mistaken for the pangs attendant on spasmodic colic. On other occasions,

the suffering may be slight, not even sufficient at first to destroy the

appetite. No poison acts upon two bodies in precisely the same manner;

violent purgation is generally the first marked sign which makes known

the nature of the disorder. The feces soon become mere discolored water;

the thirst is then excessive; the stench is most offensive; the pulse,

from being hard, shortly becomes thick and feeble, and ultimately it

is intermittent; the countenance is haggard; the position of the body

expresses abdominal pain. Perspirations break forth in patches; tympanitis

starts up, and death speedily ensues.

[Illustration: A HORSE SUFFERING FROM DRASTIC POISON.]

It is of little use to inquire, while the animal is suffering, what has

provoked the superpurgation; it is then most desirable, if possible, to

remove the effect. The best chance of accomplishing this is by destroying

the pain that exhausts the strength, thereby affording nature the better

chance of vanquishing the irritation. Ether, opium, belladonna, chalk, and

catechu present the best means of doing this. These agents, when combined,

support the body, allay the anguish, and check the purgation; blended with

thick linseed tea, which will in some measure supply the mucus lost to the

bowels, they therefore form a good drink for most occasions.

Sulphuric ether One ounce.

Laudanum Three ounces.

Liquor potassæ Half an ounce.

Powdered chalk One ounce.

Tincture of catechu One ounce.

Cold linseed tea One pint.

Give, throughout the acute stage, every quarter of an hour.

At the same time cleanse the quarters, plait up the tail, and throw up

copious injections of cold linseed tea. Expect the horse to become greatly

prostrated when amendment commences. The entire of the irritating agent

must be expelled from the body before improvement can be witnessed.

The subsequent recovery is announced by a pause in the symptoms; the

disease appears to be stationary, whereas previously everything denoted a

hastening termination.

That pause is one of suspense, for no one can say what will follow;

sometimes the cessation of agony precedes immediate dissolution; sometimes

recovery dates from that event. The animal, upon the slightest change

being exhibited, must still be assiduously attended. Care must never

cease; and, after recovery is confirmed, the food for a week must consist

of linseed tea, hay tea, and gruel. On the expiration of the week, a few

boiled roots may be added, three of the drinks previously ordered being

administered every day. Do not bother about the bowels; no matter, should

the animal be constipated for a fortnight subsequent to the thorough

emptying of acute dysentery. Upon the termination of a fortnight, stop all

medicine, and allow some crushed, scalded oats and beans; withdraw some of

the slops as the solids advance; but let a full month expire before a drop

of cold water or a mouthful of hay are permitted to be swallowed.

To escape the loss of so large a piece of property as a living horse, it

is imperative the notion should be abandoned which asserts that because

the horse can swallow most opening medicines with impunity, a strong

purgative cannot otherwise than benefit the animal; the deduction is not

fairly drawn. But not to follow up too closely so lame a prey: aloes is

the general purgative in the stable; it is a drug which should never be

intrusted to the hands of the groom. The difference between the necessary

and the poisonous dose is too close for the uneducated to comprehend it;

more horses have been slaughtered with aloes than have perished from all

the other poisons conjoined. Yet grooms are particularly fond of this

medicine; the dangerous drug enters into every ball which is popular in

the stable; no matter how opposite the end desired may be, in the groom's

opinion aloes must produce it. Like the majority of the uneducated, the

stable-man rejoices in a strong purge. Tenesmus is his delight; he loves

to see sixteen or eighteen full motions, and then he cannot comprehend why

the horse is weak, since the physic passed beautifully through him!

Of all persons living, grooms generally are the most prejudiced and the

worst informed. All advice is disregarded; should the master speak, the

groom shakes his head, and, after the lecture is ended, inquires of

himself, "what the old buffer can know about it?" Here is the curse of

horses! Gentlemen transfer them to the custody of the uneducated. The

groom is accepted as an authority; the master asks for and is mostly

governed by the opinion of an inferior. No other servant possesses such a

power; no domestic more abuses his position; the carriage and the harness

maker, the corn merchant, and the veterinary surgeon all pay this person

five per cent. upon the employer's bills; nothing comes on to the premises

but the man claims a profit from it; nothing leaves the stable but is

regarded as his perquisite. He thus, while occupying a situation of trust,

has an absolute interest in the extravagance of the expenditure. Wear and

tear of the articles over which he watches brings to him actual emolument;

his interest and his duty are at war, and when a weak person has to decide

the battle, it is easy to understand on which part the victory will be

declared.

CHRONIC DYSENTERY.

This affliction is not so common among horses as it is with cattle;

neither is it so frequent at the present day as it appears to have

formerly been. Once it was termed "molten grease," from an unfounded

notion that liquid fat was discharged with the feces. Now it is known that

what our ancestors took for grease is no more than the mucus, which is

expelled during every form of severe intestinal irritation.

The cause of =chronic dysentery= among horses is not well understood. It

is said to follow diarrhœa; but such an explanation seems to confound the

commencement of one disorder with the establishment of another disease.

Horses having chronic dysentery are, generally, old animals, which are

subject to the will of a very poor or a very penurious man. They are badly

kept, and may have to grub a scanty living from lanes and hedgerows;

also, they are goaded to hard work upon watery food and sour grass. In

such cases, disturbance of the bowels should be early attended to. The

food should be immediately changed. Good sound oats and beans should be

freely given, while the following drink is administered thrice daily:--

Crude opium Half an ounce.

Liquor potassæ One ounce.

Chalk One ounce.

Tincture of all-spice One ounce.

Alum Half an ounce.

Mix with a quart of good ale, stir briskly, and give.

Should the primary symptom not be attended to, profuse purgation may

ensue without excitement; but always will happen upon any exertion or

the drinking of cold water. Violent straining often follows; the belly

enlarges; the flesh wastes; the bones protrude; the skin is hide-bound;

the visible mucous membranes become pallid; weakness increases;

perspiration often bursts forth without occasion; the horse will stand

still for hours, not grazing, nor seemingly being conscious that grass was

within its reach.

[Illustration: A HORSE SUFFERING UNDER CHRONIC DYSENTERY.]

At length a living skeleton alone remains of that which was a horse. The

eyes have a sleepy, sad, and pathetic expression; the head is often turned

slowly toward the flanks; the sight remains fixed for some moments upon

the seat of pain; the horse stands on one spot, or only changes it when

the bowels are about to act; colic at length sets in, though frequently

it is present earlier; and the wretched quadruped then fades speedily away.

It is a general practice to turn animals suffering from chronic dysentery

upon some village common. The horse is put there with scanty food and

no shelter, under a plea of humanity, or "to give the old 'oss a last

chance." There can be no feeling in placing a diseased animal far away

from sight or help, where it must pine, shiver, and starve, in a dreary

solitude.

Supposing the affected life to be claimed by a generous master, either of

the following drinks may be given, thrice daily:--

Sulphuric ether One ounce.

Laudanum Three ounces.

Liquor potassæ Half an ounce.

Powdered chalk One ounce.

Tincture of catechu One ounce.

Cold linseed tea One pint.

Chloroform Half an ounce.

Extract of belladonna Half a drachm.

Carbonate of ammonia One drachm.

Powdered camphor Half a drachm.

Tincture of oak bark One ounce.

Cold linseed tea One pint.

The above drinks may be changed, as either appears to have ceased to

operate. The food should be of the best and lightest description. Boiled

roots, boiled linseed, boiled rice, crushed and boiled malt, etc. etc.; no

hay. The body should be frequently dressed, and always clothed. A good bed

ought to be allowed. The lodging must be well drained and roomy.

Yet, after all this trouble, a speedy cure is not to be expected; and

rarely does an old horse, should it recover, prove highly useful. How

sad, however, is that condition where the continuance of the life is

made conditional upon the service of the body--where interest is the

only motive which permits existence! No sympathy to be anticipated

in suffering; no pity in disease! The only feeling that actuates the

custodian is a cold regard for the gain which the jaded being can yet

bring him. A life of usefulness, years of toil, injuries sustained and

accidents surmounted,--all cannot win a day's respite from the doom which

attends the creature whose exertions in man's service have led to the

disablement of its powers. Such, however, is the fate of the horse in

England, which land specially boasts it is a "Christian country."

Chronic dysentery is the inheritance which the horse earns from being

subjected to the dominion of man. Excessive labor, filthy lodging, and

innutritious diet are the causes. Each of these causes increases as the

age advances.

Prior to its domestication, the horse might not have found on every spot

an abundance of excellent fodder; but then it was at liberty to seek a

better fare in another place. Man has taken away all power of choice;

he forces the creature to toil, and obliges it to eat only that which

parsimony may afford to place before it. When so vast and so absolute

a power is claimed, it becomes a positive duty to see the mere animal

necessities are satisfied: it is cruel folly to tax the powers and to

stint the body. It is a crime to undertake a trust and then confide the

fulfillment of its responsibility to an ignorant inferior. It is a sin to

seize on life and to neglect the prisoner you hold in captivity. Where

existence is claimed as a property, and animation is forced to wear out

being in labor for the master's profit, surely the least obligation the

superior could own should be the provision of ample lodging and fitting

sustenance! Both are withheld from the aged horse.

ACITES, OR DROPSY OF THE ABDOMEN.

In the horse, =acute peritonitis= is unknown, save as the result of

operation; then its fury takes possession of the cavity and generally

refuses to yield to medicine. It is different, however, with chronic

peritonitis, which, though not a common disorder, is too often encountered

to be esteemed a rare disease. It is, when early noticed, tractable; but

the earlier symptoms are generally not understood. The first sign is

a ragged coat and a tender state of the abdomen; the horse, which was

passive previously, now shrinks from the curry-comb; snaps and kicks

at him who dresses it. Such actions are viewed as denoting a return of

spirit. Intending to encourage the favorite quality of the stable, the

flank is violently struck or slapped by the servant; and the indication

forced from a dumb animal by agony, is by grooms regarded as the proof of

reviving animation.

Masters should, in justice to themselves if from no higher motive,

visit the stable more frequently than is their custom. The horse is all

gentleness and simplicity; a groom only knows less about the animal than

a child, for he has acquired notions which induce him to misinterpret

plain actions. Every owner of a stable should learn to feel and count the

horse's pulse; he should be acquainted with the normal standard and its

healthy character; chronic peritonitis might then early be discovered. The

pulse under this disease is hard and small, it vibrates about sixty times

in a minute. The head is pendulous; the food is oftener spoiled, rather

scattered about than eaten; the membranes are pale and the mouth is dry;

pressure upon the abdomen elicits a groan, and turning in the stall always

calls forth a grunt.

When such symptoms are observed, the food should be small in bulk, but

nutritious in quality; no work should be imposed; the medicine should be

tonic and alterative.

Strychnia A quarter of a grain, worked gradually up to one

grain.

Iodide of iron Half a drachm, worked gradually up to one

drachm and a half.

Extract of belladonna One scruple.

Extract of gentian A sufficiency.

Powdered quassia A sufficiency.

Make into a ball; give one at night and at morning.

Small blisters should succeed each other upon the abdomen; but as these

cases are always tedious and very much depends upon the constitution of

the animal, charity alone should propose such a disease for treatment, as

the general termination of the malady is incurable dropsy of the abdomen.

=Acites= offers a good illustration of the loss inhumanity brings down

upon man, and of the gain which would attend a loftier conduct. Chronic

peritonitis attacks aged animals; such horses are used only for harness

purposes. Few masters inquire what propels the carriage, so the vehicle

gets over the ground. The affected quadruped cannot drag its own body;

thus more than double duty is cast upon the sound steed. The single horse

has not only to draw the entire carriage and its load, but it also has

to pull along its disabled companion. Servants frequently hide defects,

hoping that time will remedy them, or dreading the reception proverbially

given to the bearer of bad tidings; thus the sound horse ultimately fails,

while the sick animal is rendered worse by violent exercise.

However, with the honesty which seems to prevail in and around the stable,

the diseased horse is often sent to the nearest market. The proprietor,

under some strange quibble of conscience, sells to another that which he

is convinced is worthless. A rich master vends and a poor man buys; the

cheatery of such a bargain is obvious, but to such results always tend a

violated contract. The natural contract between man and horse is outraged;

a conditional gift is construed to imply an unconditional bestowal.

The terms are warped according to the convenience of the receiver; the

possibility of any obligation being implied is never suspected. A few,

and very few good people, from feeling only fulfill the conditions of

the bond; but kindness, when bestowed upon the horse, is regarded as a

weakness and a gratuity. From the highest to the lowest, none think that

all of animated creatures are born with rights; no one behaves as though

domesticated animals were only intrusted to the care of man. Violation of

moral conditions begins the evil, which ends in cheatery and robbery of

one another.

The symptoms which announce that the serous membrane has effused water

into the abdomen are a want of spirit; constant lying down and remaining

in one position for a long period; perpetual restlessness; thirst; loss

of appetite; thinness; weakness; enlarged abdomen; constipation and

hide-bound.

[Illustration: A HORSE WITH ACITES, OR ABDOMINAL DROPSY.]

The enlargement of the belly has something peculiar in it; the swelling

lies toward the inferior portion of the abdomen. Near the loins there

is apparently an empty space; if the hand be placed on the enlargement,

and another person strikes the belly on the opposite side, a sense of

fluctuation can be distinctly felt. If the horse be thrown upon its back,

the swelling will, with the change of position, gravitate toward the

loins. At length small bags containing fluid depend from the chest and the

inferior surface of the belly. Should the disease be suffered to progress,

the sheath and one leg generally enlarge; the hair of the mane breaks off

and is easily pulled out. Where once hung the tail now remains little more

than the dock with a few scattered hairs. Ultimately purgation starts up,

which terminates the suffering.

Of course, after effusion, all treatment is powerless--creatures in

the last stage of dropsy presenting sights which the mind shudders to

contemplate; objects of this kind are sometimes to be seen on commons in

the neighborhood of London. They are turned out to die miserably under

the plea of humanity; the utmost limit of cruelty is justified or made

pleasant by a pretense to sympathy. The poor horse literally starves; were

there food to eat, the remaining strength would not serve to collect it.

Still the proprietor is so very humane he cannot endure to destroy the

property he has paid for; the poor animal is therefore thrust forth to

cheaply live, or to die without trouble to its owner.

INFLUENZA.

This affection may rage throughout the kingdom, or it may be located

upon a very circumscribed spot. In a disorder so eccentric, it is very

difficult to decide the question whether or not it is contagious; it

commonly runs through the stable in which it appears; but it does not

invariably attack every animal within the building. It may, in a large

edifice, first seize the horse nearest the door, then travel to the stall

farthest from the entrance; thus it skips about without regularity, and

often spares many individuals.

Occasionally =influenza= fixes upon an animal when in the field; but it is

a more probable visitant of the stable: this is a seeming proof that the

contagion does not reside in the air, since the atmosphere is as much as

possible excluded from every mews. We may conjecture it is not dependent

upon any vapor exuding from the earth, since the creatures whose noses are

nearly always in contact with the herbage are, of all others, least liable

to the affection.

It is terrible to contemplate the suffering and loss of life which have

been consequent upon the errors of mankind. Influenza is regarded as a new

disease; a new name deceives the world, though it is more than probable

that a disorder of a low, febrile, and typhoid character has prevailed

among animals for many ages. Nature has, for thousands of years, been

striving to enforce the self-evident truth that man is by moral obligation

bound to provide for the welfare of the animal he enslaves. His gain or

the inclination of his will can be no argument against the fulfillment of

so plain a duty; the implied contract, the common parent of all living

things, has been emphasizing with sickness and with death; all has been

to no purpose. Cunning men have been employed, and nostrums have been

invented to maintain misrule; wealth has been sacrificed and ruin endured,

to uphold an unrighteous cause; but the voice of nature pleading for her

children has not been understood.

Even at this day the old fault is to be met with on every hand; it is

exhibited by the rich as well as by the poor, by the highly educated and

by the very ignorant. In every place exist horses of fabulous excellence

in the master's opinion, imprisoned within walls which exclude the vital

air. The roof may not permit the animal's head to be raised, the sides

may not allow the body to be turned; the fumes within the walls shall

oppress the lungs and sting the eyes of the man who enters the building;

yet within a circumscribed space, so foul and pestilential, the horse is

doomed to exist. Then the animal's disease is heard of with surprise, and

its death is lamented as a misfortune!

What cause is there for grief or for wonder, if impurity does generate

disease and death? What need has man to ape the martyr, because influenza

starts from the contamination which by human will has been created?

The pest once originated sweeps onward, nor can mortal exclamation nor

mortal sorrow check the course of the destroyer; all fall alike before

the scourge. The filthy and the cleanly alike are stricken; yet neither

masters nor legislators can draw wisdom from the visitation.

In influenza there is no difficulty in pointing to the structure affected;

it would, however, be hard to allude to the part which was not involved.

The weakness and stupidity which accompany the affection declare the brain

and nervous system to be diseased. Local swellings show the cellular

tissue to be deranged; heat and pain in the limbs and joints announce the

serous, the ligamentous, and osseous structures implicated. The muscular

and digestive functions are acutely disordered; the rapid wasting of the

flesh demonstrate the absorbents are excited. There is no portion of the

body which can escape the ravage of influenza.

Youth, or rather the approach of adultism, is the favorite season of the

attack, which is most prevalent during the spring time of the year. There

is, however, no period or any age which are altogether exempt from its

influence.

All kinds of treatment have been experimented with. Bleeding, purging,

blistering, setoning have all been tried, and each has destroyed more

lives than the whole can boast of having saved; experience has by slow

degrees shown the inutility of active treatment. _Bold_ measures, as

those plans are termed which add to another's suffering, commonly end in

hydrothorax or water on the chest.

It is difficult to determine when the first symptom of influenza is

present. The author is indebted to the acuteness of Mr. T. W. Gowing, V.

S., of Camden Town, for a knowledge of a marked indication declarative

of the presence of influenza. A yellowness of the mucous membranes, best

shown on the conjunctiva or white of the eye, is very characteristic.

Whenever the sign is seen and sudden weakness remarked, caution should

be practiced, for it is ten to one that the pestilence is approaching.

Influenza is a very simulative disorder; it has appeared as laminitis;

disease of the lungs is, perhaps, its favorite type. Bowel complaints are

apt to imitate each other; blowing generally commences such disorders. But

when influenza is prevalent, let the body's strength and the yellowness

or redness of the membranes be always looked to before any more prominent

indication is particularly observed.

The other symptoms--which, however, are very uncertain, as regards any of

them being present or absent--are pendulous head, short breath, inflamed

membranes, swollen lips, dry mouth, enlarged eyelids, copious tears,

sore throat, tucked up flanks, compressed tail, filled legs, big joints,

lameness and hot feet. Auscultation may detect a grating sound at the

chest, or a noise like brickbats falling down stairs at the windpipe;

whenever this last peculiarity is audible there is a copious nasal

discharge. Sometimes one foot is acutely painful, and, notwithstanding

the weakness, the leg is held in the air. Purgation has been witnessed,

although constipation usually prevails, and the animal generally stands

during the continuance of the disorder.

[Illustration: CONFIRMED INFLUENZA.]

Move the horse slowly to a well-littered, loose box; mind the door does

not open to the north or to the east. No food will be eaten; but suspend

a pail of well-made gruel within easy reach of the animal's head. Let

the gruel be changed or the receptacle replenished at stated periods,

thrice daily; sprinkle one scruple of calomel upon the tongue and wash it

down with a drink composed of sulphuric either, one ounce; laudanum, one

ounce; water, half a pint; do this night and morning. Should the weakness

be excessive, double the quantity of ether and of laudanum contained in

the draughts. Watch the pulse--it always is feeble, but at first has a

wiry feeling. So soon as the character of the pulse changes or the wiry

sensation departs, which generally happens when the nasal discharge

becomes copious and cough appears, one pot of stout may be allowed, and

some nourishing food, as bread, on which a very little salt has been

sprinkled, may be offered by hand. The horse feels man to be its master

and appreciates any attention bestowed upon it in the hour of sickness. It

will stand still to be caressed, and advance its hanging ears to catch the

accents of sympathy.

[Illustration: A COMMON SIGHT DURING RECOVERY FROM INFLUENZA, WHEN

ACTIVELY TREATED.]

Beware of what is termed active treatment; a purgative is death during

influenza. It generally will induce the prostration from which the animal

never recovers. Formerly it was common to see four strong men propping

up a horse during its endeavor to walk. But the lower class are fond of

joking one with another. Such was the usual result of their employment on

these occasions. In the fun the horse got but partial support, while the

noise distressed the diseased sensibilities. Horses have large sympathies,

and readily comprehend the attentions dictated by kindness. The disregard

which people too often display toward sickness in an animal acutely pains

the creature: its effects may be told by the altered character of the

pulse. Whereas the voice, when softened by pity, often causes the heavy

head to be turned toward the speaker; and the muzzle of a diseased inmate

of the stable has frequently reposed long upon the chest of the writer.

ABDOMINAL INJURIES.

These are of various kinds. They differ materially, but they all provoke

inflammation of the vast serous membranes lining the abdominal cavity; and

their symptoms are therefore too nearly alike to be distinguished from

each other. A mere list of such perils must astonish the reader; and his

pity will be excited when he learns that such accidents, numerous as they

are, generate the most violent agony. These injuries consist of ruptured

diaphragm, ruptured stomach, ruptured spleen, ruptured intestines,

strangulation, intro-susception, impactment, and calculus.

[Illustration: AN UNNATURAL ATTITUDE, INDICATIVE OF SOME ABDOMINAL INJURY.]

=Ruptured diaphragm= is attended with a soft cough, and symptoms of

broken wind--occasioned by the almost sole employment of the abdominal

muscles--with sitting on the haunches. Still, Professor Spooner, of

the Royal Veterinary College, mentioned in his lectures that an animal

belonging to the Zoological Society lived two years with a ruptured

diaphragm, through which the bowel protruded into the thorax. In the horse

such a lesion is speedily fatal.

[Illustration: A POSITION OFTEN ASSUMED BY THE HORSE SUFFERING FROM

ABDOMINAL INJURY.]

A position so unnatural as that of sitting on the haunches may denote

something very wrong to be present; but it gives no definite direction

to our ideas. Animals are known to have assumed it, and subsequently to

have recovered. The diaphragm when it yields generally gives way upon

the tendinous portion. Through the opening the peristaltic action soon

causes the bowels to obtrude; and death is produced by displacement and

strangulation of the intestine. The posture previously delineated is

common to all injuries of the abdomen; so is the opposite peculiarity--or

the horse remaining upon its chest. The last attitude may not, to most

persons, appear so strange, seeing that the creature assumes it whenever

it rises or lies down. Then, however, it is only momentary. When it

denotes abdominal injury, it is comparatively of long continuance. At the

same time the breathing and the countenance bespeak the greatest internal

anguish.

[Illustration: TEST FOR HEMORRHAGE FROM THE SPLEEN.]

=Ruptured spleen= is the gentlest death of all those which spring from

abdominal injury. The spleen is at present a mystery to veterinary

science. It has been discovered after death of enormous size; but the

symptoms during life had not led to the expectation of any very serious

disorder. Ruptured spleen and ruptured liver are both productive of

similar symptoms; both answer to the same tests, and the termination of

each is alike.

[Illustration: A RUPTURED STOMACH.]

=Ruptured stomach= mostly happens with old and enfeebled horses. Night

cab-horses are very liable to it; so also are animals of heavy draught.

The drivers often neglect to take out the nose-bags. The horse's most

urgent necessities always yield to man's passing convenience; so the

creature has to journey far or to remain out till the empty stomach

grows debilitated. It is then taken home and placed before abundance.

Elsewhere this folly has been commented upon. It was shown that light

food and perfect rest were the best restoratives for an exhausted frame.

The drivers, however, refuse to be taught. The horse eats and eats. No

contraction of the exhausted stomach warns the animal when to stop. The

viscus is crammed. Then digestion endeavors to commence. With rest the

organ recovers some tone. The muscular coat of the sac starts into action,

and, encountering opposition, the vital powers exert themselves with the

greater energy. The stomach is thus burst by its own inherent force; the

largest division of its various structures always being exhibited by the

elastic peritoneal covering--the lesser rent being left upon the inelastic

mucous lining membrane. Excessive colic, followed by tympanitis, are the

only general symptoms which attend ruptured stomach. The history of the

case, if it can be obtained, is, however, a better guide; but there are

too often interested motives for distorting the facts. Vomition through

the nostrils has been thought to particularize ruptured stomach; but

experience has ascertained that vomition may be induced by any lesion

which is sufficiently great to cause revulsion of the system.

[Illustration:

THE INTESTINE DIVIDED SO AS TO CLEARLY SHOW THE NATURE OF

INTRO-SUSCEPTION.

]

=Intro-susception= is always preceded by colic. The last-named affection

causes portions of the bowels to contract. Such contracted intestines

become small, firm, and stiff. They are, while in that condition, by the

peristaltic action readily pushed up other portions of the canal, which

are of the natural size. The entrance of the contracted bowel acts upon

the healthy tube as if it were a foreign substance. Contractibility is

excited. The displaced and intruding bowel is grasped as by a vice, and

the accident is of that kind which provokes its own continuance. Cure is

hopeless, while consciousness remains; the only hope is the administration

of chloroform in full and long-continued doses; thereby to arrest vitality

and chance the release of the imprisoned gut. While intro-susception

lasts, all passage is effectually stopped. Inflammation soon commences,

and the symptoms of outrageous colic are exhibited. However, such is

not always the case. Mr. Woodger, veterinary surgeon of Bishop's Mews,

Paddington, attended a case of this description, in which the symptoms

present seemed to denote congestion of the lungs.

[Illustration: THE CŒCUM INVAGINATED WITHIN THE COLON, AND BLACK FROM

INTENSE INFLAMMATION.]

=Invagination= is here used to express the entrance of one entire division

of the bowels within another. In this sense it is chiefly witnessed upon

the large intestines; whereas intro-susception is mostly present upon the

smaller bowels. The mesentery must be ruptured before such an accident can

take place; but then the agony attendant upon the previous derangement

is so powerful that it is impossible for the hugeness of this lesion to

increase the violence of the torture; nor is there any sign by which so

sad a catastrophe can be predicated.

Before =strangulation= can possibly occur, the mesentery must be sundered.

It almost always happens to a portion of the small intestines. The bowel,

freed from its support, soon involves itself with numerous complications;

or the rent membrane may twine round a knuckle of the gut.

[Illustration: A KNUCKLE OF INTESTINE STRANGULATED BY THE RUPTURED

MESENTERY.]

[Illustration: RUPTURE OF THE SMALL INTESTINES.]

The above illustration, however, shows one of the simplest forms in which

the accident can possibly take place; but no person, however acute, could

distinguish between strangulation from rupture of the intestines. The last

generally occurs upon the smaller bowels, and happens to the interspaces

upon the superior portion of the tube, between the vessels which nourish

the digestive canal. The ingesta, is consequently forced between the

layers of the mesentery. The most intense anguish, inflammation, and death

are the consequences.

[Illustration:

THE SAC FORMED IN THE BOWEL; THIS THE CALCULUS HAS QUITTED, WHILE

ANOTHER PORTION OF THE INTESTINE HAS SO FIRMLY GRASPED IT AS TO

RUPTURE ITSELF.

]

=Calculus= or stone may be present, either in the stomach or in the canal.

Those in the stomach are of small size; those within the intestines may

attain the weight of more than twenty pounds. Those of the stomach are

always smooth, as also may be those of the bowels. To the intestines,

however, there are common three kinds of, or differently composed calculi:

the triple phosphate or the earthy; one formed of the minute hairs which

originally surrounded the kernel of the oat; and another composed of dung,

held together by the mucous secretion of the bowel. Any of these calculi

may, as the size increases, gradually stretch the intestine; thus forming

a living sac within which the stone abides. While it remains there, the

food passes over it and no injury is occasioned. But by any movement it

is likely to be dislodged and thrown into the healthy channel: There it

is firmly grasped with such force as to produce rupture of the intestine,

and the hold is only relaxed after inflammation has ended in mortification

and in death. The bowels, in truth, are impacted by calculus. The passage

is stopped. However different the causes of abdominal injury may appear,

they are each generally characterized by the severest possible abdominal

pain. This symptom is often so violent that the agony conceals all other

indications; or if any others can be exhibited, they are so partially

shown and displayed for so very brief a space as not to permit of their

being rightly interpreted.

It is very desirable that every one should witness a powerful horse in its

agony. No stronger means could be found for enforcing such a lesson than

the sufferings which spring from abdominal injuries. When this is proposed

it is not intended the person should look on misery only so long as the

spectacle stimulated his feelings; but that he should watch hour after

hour and behold the afflicted life resigned under the pressure of mighty

torment. Were such a sight once contemplated--were man fully conscious of

how brimming with horrible expression every feature of the horse's frame

can become--the thought of anguish wrenching life out of so huge a trunk

would surely compel the better treatment of a gentle, inoffensive, and

serviceable slave. Ruptured stomach a little forethought would prevent.

The triple phosphate calculus is common among millers' horses, which are

foully fed from the sweepings of the shop. But if man will oblige duty to

bow before convenience, or make it secondary to expense, the misery he

inflicts will surely in justice recoil upon himself.

=Abdominal injuries= are probably the sources of the greatest agony

horse-flesh can endure. To account for the generality of such lesions, it

is merely necessary to regard the places in which horses are housed and

the manner in which they are fed. In the owner's estimation a horse seems

to be a horse, in the same sense as a table is a table. Both objects are

necessary to his comfort, to his pride, or to his profit. Neither have

higher claims. Both are to be used and to be flung aside. The one is to

be cleaned and repaired at the cheapest rate; the other is to be lodged

and supported at the lowest cost. When either grow old in his service,

each is equally to be discarded. The two things apparently rank in man's

estimation as simple chattels subject to his will and made to please his

fancy. That there is a huge life, a breathing sensibility attached to one

of these articles; that it delights in its master's pleasure, and, if

properly trained, it is capable of sharing its master's emotions, is so

preposterous a sentimentality as to be "with scorn rejected."

Nobody speaks of the horse as a creature enjoying man's highest gift--as

a _living_ animal. Everybody talks about his or her constitution; but no

one imagines the horse has a constitution which can be destroyed. All

horses are expected to thrive equally. They are regarded as things to be

used, and to be sold or packed away when not required. They are obliged

to live by man's direction, and are expected to display the highest spirit

whenever they are taken abroad. Should it be astonishing if the framework

nature has so exquisitely balanced occasionally becomes deranged under

man's barbarous and selfish sway? Is it cause for legitimate wonder if,

under so coarse a rule, disease sometimes assumes strange forms, or

attacks parts which are beyond the reach of human science?

WORMS.

=Worms= are of various kinds; but all, according to the notions of

ignorance, announce their presence by particular symptoms. The parasites,

when really present, can, however, cause no more than intestinal

irritation, the continuance of which may give rise to several disorders.

Chronic indigestion is by the groom always recognized as a "wormy

condition."

The only certain proof of the existence of such annoyances is visible

evidence. Upon suspicion, careful horse proprietors may administer

certain medicine, because some physics only cool the body and cleanse

the system. The generality of worm-powders are, however, too potent to

be safe. Like all drugs sold as "certain cures," they are so powerful

that they frequently do more than remove the disorder which they pretend

to eradicate--for they also destroy the animals to which they are

administered.

Having premised thus much, the author will now commence to describe the

usual form of irritation to which worms of different kinds give rise.

[Illustration: THE TÆNIA OR TAPE-WORM.]

The parasite especially inimical to colts is the =tænia= or =tape-worm=.

It is mostly perpetuated by the farmer's prejudice, which procures foals

from dams that are done up for work: which starves the mother till her

produce runs by her side, and which attempts to rear young stock upon the

sour grass of a public common. Both sire and dam should be in perfect

health if a valuable colt is desired: neither can be too good. The mare

should not, during gestation, be "turned out" to distend the abdomen

with watery provender--to have the stomach and intestines filled with

bots--to allow filth and excretions to accumulate upon the coat and to

check the healthy functions of the skin. Gentle work, only sufficient to

earn the stable-keep, will injure no animal. The mare will rather be

benefited by _moderate_ exercise, and by also having all the food and

attention to which she has become habituated. But to expose a mare during

the summer months, and to stint the animal during the winter season, can

produce nothing which shall repay the expense of rearing. The little

progeny before it sees the light is the inhabitant of an unhealthy home;

after birth the mother's secretion is thin, poor, and watery. It neither

satisfies the cravings of hunger nor can nourish a body into growth. Ill

health in the young encourages parasites. The colt soon becomes the prey

of the tænia.

[Illustration: IRRITATION CAUSED BY WORMS. THE NOSE RUBBED VIOLENTLY

AGAINST A WALL.]

The young when afflicted with the above parasite may not die, but they are

reserved for a miserable and a useless life. The developments are checked.

The foal grows up with a large head, low crest, tumefied abdomen, and long

legs. If it be a male it cannot be operated upon before the fourth year;

even then it is cast only because there is no hope of further improvement.

The appetite during the long time of rearing is more than good; the

ribs, nevertheless, are not covered with flesh; the dung is not well

comminuted--it is friable and sometimes partially coated with slime; the

anus projects--occasionally it is soiled by adherent strips of tenacious

mucus, almost like to membrane; the coat is unhealthy; the breath fetid;

the animal may rub its nose violently against a wall or remain straining

it upward for a considerable time; the eye becomes unnaturally bright;

the colt begins to pick and bite its body, often pulling off hair by the

mouthful.

[Illustration: A COLT PICKING THE HAIR FROM ITS LEG BECAUSE OF WORMS.]

All this agony and the deprivation, of a life depends on the parsimony

of man. Women know that the body during certain times requires extra

nutriment. Thus delicate ladies in peculiar states are accustomed to take

"hearty pulls" at porter or at stout. It is very general for physiologists

to argue from animals up to man. Why should not the custom be reversed?

Why should not veterinary science reason from the human being down to the

horse, and thereby instruct the stolid in the necessary requirements of

the mare during particular states? "Stint the dam and starve the foal" is

certainly a true proverb.

Tænia is best destroyed by the spirits of turpentine in the following

quantities:--

A foal Two drachms.

Three months old Half an ounce.

Six months One ounce.

One year One ounce and a half.

Two years Two ounces.

Three years Three ounces.

Four years and upwards Four ounces.

Procure one pound of quassia chips. Pour into these three quarts of

boiling water. Strain the liquor. Cause the turpentine to blend, by

means of yolks of eggs, with so much of the quassia infusion as may be

necessary. Add one scruple of powdered camphor to the full drink, and give

every morning before allowing any food.

This probably may kill the worms; but as every link of the tænia is a

distinct animal of both sexes, and capable of producing itself, the eggs

must be numerous. For the destruction of these, nourishing prepared food

is essential, such as gruel, scalded oats, etc.; but little or no hay. At

the same time a tonic will be of all service. Take

Liquor arsenicalis From one to eight drachms.

Muriated tincture of iron From one and a half to twelve drachms.

Extract of belladonna From ten grains to two drachms.

Ale or good stout Half a pint to a quart.

Mix. Give every morning to the animal--strength being proportioned

to age--till the coat is glossy.

[Illustration:

THE LUMBRICUS, A WORM NOT PECULIAR TO HORSES. ONE-FOURTH OF THE

NATURAL SIZE.

]

[Illustration: AN ASCARIDIS, NATURAL SIZE.]

[Illustration: A STRONGULUS, NATURAL SIZE.]

=Lumbrici= are more dreadful to contemplate than they appear to be fearful

in reality; specimens are not rare which measure eighteen inches, This

worm preys upon the weakly, be they old or young. One tænia will produce

immense disturbance; whereas numbers of the lumbrici will cause little or

no effect. Whoever has remarked the dunghill in a knacker's yard has seen

it to consist quite as much of lumbrici as of excrement. Mr. Woodger, of

Bishop's Road, Paddington, removes these pests with ease and certainty.

The above-named veterinary surgeon gives two drachms of tartarized

antimony with a sufficiency of common mass, as a ball, every morning,

until the parasites are expelled.

ASCARIDES AND STRONGULI.

[Illustration: THE APPARATUS BY MEANS OF WHICH A TOBACCO SMOKE ENEMA IS

ADMINISTERED.

_a._ The sole opening by which air can enter. It is placed upon the ground

and guarded by a valve; so that air, after having entered, cannot leave

the instrument by this opening.

_b._ The box containing lighted tobacco, through which all air drawn into

the instrument must necessarily pass.

_c._ The pump.

_d._ The end of the tube through which the fumes are driven.

To load the instrument: unscrew the lid of the box. Fill that with lighted

tobacco. Fix on the lid again. Rest the air entrance upon the ground, and

move the handle of the pump up and down. By this movement the air is first

drawn through the lighted tobacco into the pump, and is then sent through

the tube. ]

[Illustration: A HORSE THAT HAS RUBBED ITSELF VIOLENTLY AGAINST A WALL.]

These parasites inhabit the large intestines. They produce extraordinary

ravages, notwithstanding their insignificant appearance. The last is

difficult to eradicate because of the extent of bowel which it infests.

The =stronguli= will sometimes eat through important structures, but the

=ascarides= are always located within the rectum. Then, most medicines

being deprived of activity, are inoperative before they reach the last

locality. For this reason it is best to commence the treatment with

injections of _train_ oil. Should these be followed by no result at the

expiration of a week, resort to a solution of catechu--one ounce to the

quart of water: give that for seven mornings. Upon the eighth, give

the animal a mash, and at night administer a mild physic ball; about

four drachms of aloes and one drachm of calomel. Repeat the medicine if

required; but if not, resort at once to the arsenicalis and ale or stout,

which was recently recommended.

Tobacco smoke enemas are sometimes efficacious when all the previous

measures are powerless. Frequently the posterior irritation is

distressing. It is sometimes so provoking that the horse will thereby be

induced to destroy its personal appearance by rubbing the tail and quarter

violently against the wall, or any rough surface within its reach. In such

cases the injections of train oil are most likely to prove beneficial; the

local itching may be in some measure removed by inserting up the anus a

portion of the following ointment night and morning:--

Glycerin Half an ounce.

Spermaceti One ounce.

Melt the last and blend. When nearly cold, add--

Mercurial ointment (strong) Three drachms.

Powdered camphor Three drachms.

SPASMODIC COLIC.--FRET.--GRIPES.

=Spasmodic colic= is an affection which every loiterer about a stable,

from a postboy to a farrier, imagines he is able to cure. Many attacks

no doubt would depart of themselves; others might be removed by simple

motion. Nevertheless such possible remedies should never be trusted.

Neither should gin and pepper, red pepper and peppermint, hot beer and

mustard, rubbing the abdomen with a broomstick, kneading the belly

violently with a man's knee, or any popular measure be permitted. Such

remedies are likely to get rid of colic by causing enteritis. When

inflammation of the bowels thus originates, it is generally fatal, the

strength being exhausted and the powers of nature worn out by the previous

disorder--not to mention the prepossession of the spectators, which

prevents the more serious disease from being early recognized.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM EXPLAINING HOW THE BOWELS ARE AFFECTED BY SPASMODIC

COLIC.

_a a._ The healthy intestine rendered much more vascular by the blood

being spasmodically driven out of other portions of the tube.

_b._ A portion of the tube much diminished by the presence of abdominal

spasm.

_c._ The pallid appearance, denoting the place which colic has recently

attacked.]

Any cause may kindle colic. It is common after fast driving; hence many

gentlemen take colic drinks to Epsom races. That affection which in ladies

is designated spasms, in gentlemen is called pain in the bowels, and in

children is known as the bellyache, is, in the horse, colic; and from the

largeness of the animal's intestines, the affection probably provokes more

anguish in the quadruped than the same disorder does in the entire human

race. Under whatever term it may be recognized, spasmodic colic is never

more than partial contraction of the muscular coat of the intestines. The

action so compresses a part of the tube as to expel the blood and render

the natural pink of the tissues, for some time after the disorder has

departed, a glistening white. The blood, driven from particular spots,

is forced into those parts in which no disease exists. Excess of blood

predisposes to inflammation; hence we probably trace the reason why, if

spasmodic colic be suffered to continue, the affection is so apt to end in

incurable enteritis.

Colic most often attacks the small intestines, though the disease is by

no means confined to those parts. It first occurs on a limited space;

presently it vanishes altogether, and afterward reappears on some distant

portion of the alimentary canal; or, in other words, colic dodges about,

its attacks becoming more numerous and the intermissions shorter as the

period of its commencement grows more distant. Change of water, change of

food, getting wet, fatiguing journeys, are all likely to originate it;

but, perhaps, it is most frequently exhibited when no known cause is in

operation. Aloes, however, are proved to be among the surest provocatives

of this disease. Many horses cannot swallow pure aloes in any form,

without being severely griped. For such animals, the following drench is

recommended, instead of the above-named drug in substance:--

Sulphuric ether and laudanum, of each One ounce.

Compound tincture of aloes made with diluted spirits

of wine Five ounces.

Cold water One pint.

[Illustration: THE FIRST STAGE OF SPASMODIC COLIC.]

If greater strength be requisite, obtain it by the addition of tincture of

gentian, every ounce of which is equal, when combined, to one drachm of

aloes.

Colic always commences suddenly; it starts into life ready armed for

mischief. The animal may be apparently well and feeding. Without visible

cause the head is raised and the occupation ceases. Should the pain last,

the hind foot is lifted to strike the belly, and the fore leg begins to

scrape the pavement. The groom, who has merely left to procure a pail of

water from an adjacent pump, on his return discovers his charge exhibiting

evident signs of uneasiness. As the man stares, wondering what can be the

matter, the horse is pawing and the nose slowly points to the flank. All

then is explained. =Fret= is the matter, and it would be "_fret_," should

the disease prove to be of a very different nature.

While the horse is being watched, every indication of disturbance may

disappear. The countenance tranquilizes and the nose is again inserted

into the manger. A few minutes elapse and the pangs are renewed. The

second fit may last longer and be slightly more severe. Then another,

but a shorter period of ease follows: thus the visitations will ensue

upon spaces of entire exemption from anguish. The recommencement of agony

usually is denoted by a disposition to lie down. The animal crouches;

next it turns round as though the intention was to stretch out the limbs;

but suddenly the erect attitude is assumed--the design, lately so nearly

executed, having been forgotten. Then pawing and striking at the abdomen

quickly follow; and while the horse looks toward the flank, a morbid fire

is perceptible in the eye.

[Illustration: THE SECOND STAGE OF SPASMODIC COLIC.]

No relief being afforded, the pains lengthen, while the intervals of

tranquillity become shorter. The action grows more fierce and the aspect

more wild. The pawing is more brief, but more energetic; often during its

continuance the foot is raised and violently stamped upon the ground. The

animal now does not attempt to feed, but stares for a minute at a time,

with an inquiring gaze, toward the abdomen. At length, without warning or

preparation, the body leaps upward to fall violently upon the floor. The

shock is often fearful; but the animal in its torment appears to derive

ease from the violence. Being down, it rolls from side to side and kicks

about, until one of its feet, touching the wall, enables the horse to

poise itself upon the back.

[Illustration: THE THIRD STAGE OF SPASMODIC COLIC.]

Should relief not be quickly provided, colic soon passes into enteritis.

The pulse, from being unchanged at first, then simply quickened by pain,

grows harder and more wiry. The intermissions are lost, and though

the anguish may for a space be less, yet in its continuity it is more

exhausting.

On the appearance of colic, the morbid action ought to be immediately

counteracted. Aloes in solution is generally administered; such a

medicine, unless guarded as before recommended, is by no means advisable.

Sulphuric ether and laudanum should be in the possession of every horse

proprietor. One pint of each--the two being mixed together, with one ounce

of rank oil floating on the top to prevent evaporation or mistakes--will

be perfectly safe in any household. The mixture should, however, be well

shaken before it is employed: two ounces of the combination in half a pint

of water constitutes an excellent colic drink. Give three of these, one

every ten minutes. If no improvement be displayed, double the quantity of

the active agents and continue the drenches at the period stated: these

medicines should be persevered with until the symptoms disappear.

Turpentine, as an enema, is an excellent adjunct. Mr. T. W. Gowing, of

Camden Town, cured a lingering fit of colic by administering a pint of

turpentine mixed with a quart of the solution of soap. The strong liquor

of ammonia, diluted with six times its bulk of water and applied by means

of a saturated cloth, held to the abdomen in a rug several times doubled,

is likewise frequently beneficial. If these means, used simultaneously,

produce no amendment in two hours, watch the pulse, for there is most

probably something beyond simple colic to contend with.

[Illustration: APPLYING AN AMMONIACAL BLISTER.]

Upon the earliest symptom the horse should be removed to a loose box

amply protected by trusses of straw ranged against the walls. Into this

the animal should be immediately led--for the reader must understand

colic does not always observe the stages in which it has been described.

Occasionally it commences in the wildest form; and if a loose box be not

at hand, one can always be extemporized by removing the carriage from its

house, by throwing the doors wide open and by placing a bar across the

entrance.

No disease is more quickly dispelled if treated at the commencement;

nor is there one which, being left to run its course, occasions greater

agony, is more fearful to witness, or leads to more terrible results than

spasmodic colic. A single dose of ether and of laudanum may vanquish the

malady at the commencement; yet if the attack be allowed to progress, the

fit may set all skill and remedial measures at defiance. The principal

attention of the proprietor must be given to prevent the administration of

the "groom's favorite" or other ignorant nostrums. The case, when properly

treated, is cured for a few shillings; and a horse cannot be killed with

decency for less money.

Besides, let any human being, having feelings capable of impression,

regard an instance of spasmodic colic which has been aggravated by

mistaken treatment; and as he views the fibers of a living body quiver,

sees the frame bedewed in sweat and wrenched in mighty torture,

contemplates the sad condition of the companion of his pleasures, and

hears vented from its throat sounds expressive of agony,--let him, having

the image present to his eyes, ask himself whether any man, possessing

means at his command, has a right to make a money question of the

creature's suffering, which exists in a state of dependence on his bounty.

Horses must be gifted with a certain amount of reason. However furious may

be the attack of colic, the mute expression of anguish is quieted when

preparation is made for the administration of medicine. The most nauseous

drenches are swallowed with a patience that speaks a perfect comprehension

of their intent. The most wonderful proof of reason is, however, given by

the manner in which the horse will recognize the veterinary surgeon. The

author has known animals, in the intervals of spasmodic colic, walk close

up to him, look full into his face with an eye beaming with intelligence,

and a strain upon the features as though the creature "did _so_ wish to

speak;" then finding utterance impossible, the nose has mutely directed

attention to the flank.

Every assistance is, by the animal, afforded to him who displays a desire

to alleviate its distress. Where language is denied, motives appear to be

the more quickly comprehended; and he who wishes to mingle safely among

horses, may best protect himself by treating them gently and sympathizing

with their emotions.

FLATULENT COLIC, WINDY COLIC, TYMPANITIS, ETC.

[Illustration: THE FIRST STAGE OF FLATULENT COLIC.]

This is peculiarly the affection of old age. Horses, though not so liable

to hoven as are horned cattle, nevertheless may be blown out if permitted

to gorge upon moist, green food. =Flatulent colic= in the vast majority of

instances, however, is not caused by any special fodder, but springs from

disordered digestion living for years upon stimulating diet, breathing a

tainted atmosphere, being now weakened by a long fast, then distressed

by a too abundant supply; next exhausted by a tedious journey, and

subsequently cramped by days of enforced stagnation,--all of these things

ultimately tell upon the strong body of our domesticated quadruped. The

stomach, as the earliest evidence of general debility, loses its tonicity.

It cannot digest a full meal; the provender ferments, gas is released, and

flatulent colic is the consequence.

A traditionary belief in the stable asserts this disorder is provoked

by crib-biting, wind-sucking, etc. etc. The author is indebted to Mr.

Ernes, a most successful veterinary surgeon of Dockhead, for the earliest

comprehension of the impossibility that such causes should operate. Let

the reader endeavor to swallow air; the mouth being deprived of all

saliva, the attempt at further deglutition is fruitless; besides, to use

the words of Mr. Ernes, "though the stomach or the bowels do contain a

small portion of atmospheric air, flatulent colic is generated by carbonic

acid or sulphureted hydrogen gas, the products of decomposition; either of

which, if respired, destroys vitality."

[Illustration: A HORSE DYING OF FLATULENT COLIC.]

The horse which is to be oppressed by flatulent colic exhibits uneasiness

after feeding; it hangs the head; breathes laboriously; fidgets; rocks

the body, and rests first on one leg then on the other. These symptoms

are exhibited before any enlargement of the abdomen is to be detected.

With the swelling of the belly pawing commences; that action is, however,

far too leisurely displayed to be for an instant confounded with the same

energetic movement which characterizes spasmodic colic.

W. Percivall asserts that animals roll and kick at the abdomen during

flatulent colic. Every fact requires to be respectfully considered which

is recorded by so estimable a writer; but the author has never witnessed

such symptoms in genuine flatulent colic. The horse will stand in one spot

throughout the day; even the movement of the foot, before noticed, appears

to be an exertion. The eye is sleepy, the pulse heavy, wind frequently

passes from the body, and in such a condition the animal remains, slowly

becoming worse.

Almost in the same place the horse may stand three or four days; then

the abdomen is much increased in size; the animal is restless; the pulse

is extremely feeble; the breathing is very fast; the pupil of the eye

is dilated and the sight is lost. A walk as in a mill is commenced;

obstacles are run into or upset; delirium begins; weak neighs are uttered

in reply to visionary challenges; the coat is ragged; copious and partial

perspirations break forth; the beat of the artery is lost at the jaw; an

intermittent flutter is to be indistinctly felt at the heart. At last

the limbs fail; the body falls; struggles ensue, and the creature dies

in consequence of the distended abdomen compressing the lungs, thus

preventing the breath being inhaled.

Relief should be afforded before the distress grows urgent; when the

flatulence comes on without green provender being consumed, the chances

favor recovery; even then, however, the gas may be confined to the

stomach, which obliges entire dependence to be placed upon internal

remedies. In the beginning, a ball composed of two drachms of sulphuret of

ammonia, with a sufficiency of extract of gentian and powdered quassia,

may be repeated thrice, half an hour being suffered to elapse between

each administration. No benefit ensuing, one ounce of chlorate of potash,

dissolved in a pint of cold water and mingled with two ounces of sulphuric

ether, may, at the expiration of the time named, be horned down. After

another hour, should no amendment be perceptible, two ounces each of

sulphuric ether and laudanum, half an ounce of camphorated spirits, and

one drachm of carbonate of ammonia may be given in a pint of cold water.

Should no good effects ensue, in another hour throw up a tobacco-smoke

enema by means of the machine here represented.

[Illustration: THE TOBACCO-SMOKE ENEMA. WORMS.]

As a last resort, should the previous remedies prove of no avail,

procure a stick of brimstone; light it and let it fill the place with

the sulphurous fumes which are the product of its combustion. However,

mind that the air is not too strongly impregnated, though, at the same

time, it should be so pungent as to allow a human being to breathe with

difficulty. This last measure ought to be continued for two hours, at the

end of which period repeat the remedies already recommended, resorting to

each by turns; and do not fear being active, for flatulent colic becomes

more difficult to remove as the period of its origin grows more distant.

Should the affection appear to be approaching a fatal termination, and

the size of the belly convince the spectator that the gas has entered the

intestines, a desperate remedy remains. The situation where the vapor has

accumulated may be ascertained by percussion; gently cut the skin which

covers the abdomen on the left side, over those places indicated by white

spots in the second engraving. A hollow sound will be emitted when the

proper point has been struck; be certain of the last fact, as mistakes

made in this operation are very awkward affairs. When assured, take a

sharp-pointed knife, and, drawing the skin tight over the place selected,

nick the integument slightly; then take a fine trocar and push it through

the opening which has been made.

[Illustration: A TROCAR ARMED WITH A CANULA FOR PUNCTURING THE ABDOMEN.]

This being accomplished, withdraw the stilet, and the gas should rush out

with violence; be provided with a small probe to clear the canula in case

it should become impacted. The gas being released, the abdomen is reduced;

withdraw the canula and the skin will fly back, effectually excluding all

atmosphere.

[Illustration:

THE PLACES WHERE THE ABDOMEN MAY BE PUNCTURED IN THE LAST STAGE OF

FLATULENT COLIC.

]

The gas, on rare occasions, will be generated a second time; therefore the

points where other punctures may be made are indicated; for it is never

well to interfere with those openings which in the first instance were

instituted. However, should the operation have to be repeated, pull the

integument in the opposite direction, so as not to disturb the original

wounds into the abdomen.

Puncturing the abdomen for flatulent colic has been practiced both in this

kingdom and in foreign lands; it is by no means a certain success, neither

is it a certain failure. It assuredly requires boldness to perform it; but

probably it is quite as beneficial and far more speedy in its effects than

the great majority of medicinal remedies.

The duration of flatulent colic cannot be absolutely stated; it may

continue for days, it may be cured in a single hour. However, should

the abdomen be rapidly distended, then the termination will be sooner

reached; but be the attack quick or slow, neither food nor water should be

allowed during its continuance. The groom, while the disease lasts, should

occasionally sponge out the eyes, mouth, nostrils, etc. Indeed, humanity

would dictate such relief during every serious affection. Subsequent to

recovery, feed for a few days on gruel and mashed oats; give a ball night

and morning, composed of extract of gentian and powdered quassia, of each

a sufficiency; of extract of belladonna and of sulphate of copper, half a

drachm. Continue this medicine and the above food until the stomach has

regained its tone.

Is flatulent colic a disease provoked by domestication? Certainly! The

wild horse would have to travel for his food; in domestication it is

placed ready gathered before the animal. Besides, the free animal being

ever with his provender, the temptation to gorge the stomach would be

absent; moreover, the untrained creature is protected by its instincts,

which the care of man destroys. Little, however, is thought of this;

the fact even may be unknown to the great majority of educated horse

proprietors. The sense of repletion is no longer indicated with such force

as to warn the stabled animal. The responsibility thus cast upon the

master has possibly never occurred to the mass of mankind. So entirely has

the notion of any duty being due to the animal been ignored by society

that, notwithstanding nature in the above fact asserts the obligation, its

announcement most probably will be received with laughter.