CHAPTER II.

PHYSIC, THE MODE OF ADMINISTERING IT, AND MINOR OPERATIONS.

Let the reader ask any gentleman of his acquaintance, “Whether man

is not morally answerable for the welfare of those animals which are

gathered beneath his roof?” The individual thus appealed to will most

probably lean back in his easy chair, and, with a look of amiable

surprise, may reply “Certainly! certainly! Assuredly, my dear sir, I

regard myself as fully responsible! Every horse in my stable costs me

one hundred pounds, or very nearly, a year. The poor animals ought

to be well looked after for that money! Clerks--many young city

men--receive only fifty pounds annually--from respectable houses too.

Therefore, my horses ought to be especially well cared for!”

But to drive this matter home, allow the author, with all humility, to

inquire if it be in the power of money to discharge the smallest or

the slightest moral bond? Is there no difference between paying and

doing? May there not be certain duties which are equally stringent

upon the very rich and the very poor? Can the wealthy compound for

such obligations, and are the needy, only, to be judged for the

non-fulfillment of these responsibilities?

It is among the worst features of modern society that, while it boasts

of several worthy gentlemen who can draw largely upon their bankers,

there are in its ranks so very few who would willingly submit to the

smallest personal exertion for the fulfillment of that which they

confess to be a moral duty. Would these most agreeable and amiable

individuals occasionally lounge toward the stable, the cost of its

maintenance might be decreased, and, nevertheless, the creatures for

whose welfare the owner is confessedly responsible be better treated at

the diminished outlay.

When a dumb slave fails in the service of some affluent proprietor, all

that might be done is not accomplished when an order is hastily given

“to call in” a veterinary surgeon. It is not sufficient that baskets

of drugs are delivered and paid for; that physicking and bleeding

are practiced and remunerated; that a “horse doctor” is constant

in his attendance, or that a building, by its odor, attests to the

activity of his measures. No. Man is formed capable of investigation,

and is blessed with a power of locomotion. A man is bound to go,

to see, to hear patiently, and to judge conscientiously, of that

which is done to the lives intrusted to his responsibility. Had this

duty been discharged, many processes, still sanctioned by custom,

might have fallen into disuse; some habits, now indulged, might have

been discarded; while a few objectionable measures might have been

altogether forbidden as useless formalities and needless cruelties.

=Horse Balls=--particular forms of veterinary medicine--are generally

sent to stables by the dozen. Physic is thus placed at the pleasure or

the caprice of ignorance to administer. The author has seen a large

chest full of such abominations--looking very pretty, and made up all

of one size, each labeled, and bearing some distinctive title--directed

to an English nobleman resident in the country. Such a supply, the

writer was informed, is dispatched to “my lord’s” address twice in each

year, and is always used by the grooms, and by the stated period, in

accordance with the accompanying directions.

The only safeguard attending such implements of destruction was that

the majority were harmless, either from the worthless nature of the

drugs composing them, or from the change which took place between

the agents being compounded and at the time of their being employed.

Many, no doubt, were thrown away; but that fact excuses neither the

professional man who sent them, the honorable person who ordered them,

or the ignorant servants by whom they were accepted. Each was impressed

with a belief that such things were potent. It is astonishing how

much of this world’s sin is gilt over by its credulity. All concerned

regarded these things as mysterious projectiles, strong enough to

regulate the eccentricities of health and powerful enough to vanquish

the dangers of disease.

One form of ball, however, is neither innocuous nor safe--it is the

aloetic. Aloes is the common purgative of the stable. So general was

the use of the drug, and so unquestioning appears to have, formerly,

been the confidence lavished upon its operation, that this medicine

always took the precedence in every sickness, and, ultimately, by

popular consent, engrossed to itself the significant term of “physic.”

“Has this horse had physic?”--“Prepare this horse for physic”--when

spoken in the stable, signify, has such an animal had aloes? or imply

an order that another quadruped is to be prepared for a dose of aloes.

The groom can only imagine that to be worthy of the title “physic,”

which is capable of producing visible effects; and, certainly, when

judged by the stable-man’s standard, aloes merits the distinction

bestowed upon its drastic results.

Other things will move the bowels of the horse, and will empty its

intestines much more gently, and with altogether more safety; but

the stable cannot, therefore, afford to part with its favorite

representative of the many forms of medicine. Bran mashes, four of

these being given daily, it is well known, will relax the animal’s

system; but the groom employs these agents merely as _preparatory_ to

the favorite dose of aloes; and, though repeated mashes will induce

purgation in the equine patient, the groom is never satisfied unless

that result be aggravated by a dose of aloes.

The horse’s body does not quickly respond to opening medicine; but the

action, once elicited, is not invariably easy to command. The animal’s

life is frequently a prey to a potent purgative. The veterinarian

knows that the different creatures vary much in their capability of

swallowing amounts of aloes; that the dose which will not move one

quadruped may destroy the inhabitant of the next stall. One creature

will imbibe two ounces of the drug without marked effect; another will

be shaken by the action of less than half an ounce of the preparation.

Nevertheless, the stable-man always craves for aloes, and always

experiences an odd delight when watching for its hydragogue operation.

The farmers in Norfolk are strongly tainted with the superstition of

the London mews. They also crave for aloes, and the youthful veterinary

surgeon frequently yields to the demand. Young practitioners delight

in strong doses. Accordingly, a full dose of aloes is sent to the

Norfolk farmer, and by him rammed down the throat of some unfortunate

teamster. The next time the novice encounters his customer, the man of

the diploma is greeted with “Hey, doctor! doctor! what beautiful physic

that were you sent for Slyboots! Oh! how it did work the poor thing, to

be sure! If anything could have saved the beast, that must have done!

But the time were up, and he died of a powerful inflammation. Thanke,

thanke, doctor! Let’s have your bill!”

This is the more lamentable when we consider that in nine cases out

of ten, or rather in twenty-nine out of thirty, the administration

of aloes is unnecessary. In the great majority of cases, its place

could be advantageously supplied by bran mashes, which are readily

made according to the following receipt: Put a peck of bran into a

perfectly clean stable-pail. One person should stir the bran as briskly

as possible, while another person, with speed, empties a sufficiency of

boiling water into the pail to render the contents a pultaceous mass.

The vessel is then covered up, and when it has become cool, the pudding

is thrown into the manger.

However, one horse shall devour bran mashes with avidity, another

will not touch them. This will not partake of the potion unless it be

partially warm; another will not eat until it is perfectly cold; while

most will partake of the mess if it be flavored by the admixture of a

little salt or a few crushed oats.

So it is, also, with water. Certain horses, when feeding upon bran

mashes, refuse all drink; others enjoy frequent draughts of cold fluid;

while a third set seem to crave warm water; and a fourth will neither

imbibe freely nor entirely abstain, being wholly indifferent as to the

temperature of the liquid. Thus the order, which is inserted in most

books, to give to the horse, after the animal has swallowed a dose of

aloes, copious draughts of warm water, is frequently rendered futile;

for, as the proverb teaches, “one man may lead the horse to the pond,

but forty men cannot make the quadruped drink.”

Bran mashes, however, will act without the aid of repeated doses of

warm fluid. Of themselves they do not debilitate, though from the

length and size of the horse’s intestines, purgation cannot be long

maintained without inducing serious exhaustion; and it is never safe

to work the animal while any looseness is observable. A tendency to

inflammation is often announced by repeated and liquid discharges;

therefore, never let the horse be taken out while the bowels are in a

state of excitement, for exercise may increase that action to one of

positive disease. Bran mashes, however, are the safest and the gentlest

of laxatives. Any condition may be induced, according to the number and

frequency of the potions. In general, they act mildly, without inducing

that bodily discomfort and that constitutional weakness which throws

the animal out of condition and renders rest an absolute necessity

for recovery. Altogether, these mixtures are the best and the safest

laxative of the stable; but even these should never be administered to

the horse without the special direction of the proprietor.

On the other hand, aloes can, in no form, be administered to some

horses. Very many cannot receive a full dose of the drug. Several

can only with safety swallow the medicine when highly spiced or in

solution. While a few are all but insensible to the action of the

agent. Alarming spasms often follow the exhibition of a moderate

quantity of aloes, which always renders the quadruped sickly ere

the effects are visible. The drug, in most instances, lies dormant

twenty-four hours; during which period the appetite is lost, the

spirits oppressed, the coat dull, and the entire system evidently

shaken. It is not esteemed prudent to work the patient till several

days’ rest have been allowed for its restoration.

It used once to be the custom to trot the animal which was sickening

under a dose of aloes; but experience has shown the danger of the

habit. The horse is now left in the stable, has an extra rug thrown

upon the back, while a pail of warm water is in most instances placed

in the manger. Where safe, it is obviously unnecessary to ride the

quadruped which is sickening under aloes; since the loss of appetite

shows the medicine has affected the system, and the natural effects of

the physic may, therefore, be anticipated.

Very many animals, when suffering from chronic debility, may be

slaughtered by a moderate dose of aloes, while many never sufficiently

recover from purgation to do a day’s work after the medicine has

ceased to operate. Of all the preparations the veterinarian has at his

command, the writer does not know one which exerts so decided an effect

upon the constitution; nor does the veterinary pharmacopœia contain an

agent which could be more advantageously dispensed with. During the

years the author was in active practice, he does not remember to have

ever given a dose of aloes that the symptoms did not afterward cause

him to regret the administration.

There is another fact rendering the aloetic ball an unsafe agent to

be intrusted to the keeping of a groom. These things, as commonly

compounded, become, in a short time, as hard as stones. The author has

handled many which might be broken, but which could not be indented.

Such bodies are not in a fit condition to be thrust down a horse’s

throat. All unyielding substances are liable to stick in the gullet,

and to provoke choking--the digestive passages of the horse not

contemplating the deglutition of other than moist and soft pellets of

thoroughly masticated food. Aloes was, at one time, in spite of the

objections urged, very popular in the stable; for that consequence,

the late Professor Coleman was mainly answerable. They are at present

chiefly employed in accordance with the dictates of routine, and

usually take precedence of other forms of medicine.

[Illustration: A BALL, AS SUCH THINGS ARE SENT FROM THE VETERINARY

PHARMACY.]

A horse ball represents some substance in powder mixed into a mass

with some moist ingredient, such as soft soap, treacle, palm oil,

etc. The compounds, when united, are usually rolled into sticks about

three-quarters of an inch in diameter. These sticks are subsequently

cut into lengths of two and a half or four inches in extent, according

to the amount required for a dose; each piece is weighed, is dusted

with some non-adhesive powder, is securely wrapped in paper, is

labeled, and is packed away for use or sent out to such stables as

delight in strange property.

[Illustration: A BALL, OF THE FORM WHICH IT IS GENERALLY MADE TO ASSUME

WHEN GIVEN.]

Previous to a ball being delivered it is customary, with the generality

of practitioners, to pinch the sharp edge of the forward extremity

until that part of the substance becomes rounded. The intention, when

doing this, is so to modify the shape as to facilitate the passage

of the body down the gullet. Where the medicine is soft, as all

newly-compounded drugs must necessarily be, the muscular contractility

of the horse’s swallow would render such trouble useless; but, as the

ball must be rather pulpy which can be thus moulded by the fingers,

it would be no more than a prudent regulation should every proprietor

insist on this custom always being complied with. Whether the present

practice in any degree is beneficial to the animal, the author is very

dubious; at all events, the horse were very fortunate if the sharp

edges of the forward extremity were the only danger it encountered when

swallowing the physic which is supposed to be curative in its effect.

Several potent caustics rank among the most common of horse physics.

Those agents are of great power; as bichloride of mercury, arsenic,

nitrate of silver, sulphate of copper, etc. These burning compounds are

frequently administered in substance, and in enormous doses. Even where

the quantity prescribed is not objectionable, the form in which the

caustic is generally given is calculated to be highly injurious. In the

first place, the use of such things in the veterinary pharmacy is too

common an occurrence for the compounder to bestow much care upon the

accuracy of the weight--a scruple more or less being commonly esteemed

of no importance. Next, small thought is bestowed upon the necessity of

incorporating such fiery components with more mild ingredients before

the mass is forced down the sensitive throat of a living creature. A

ball made of linseed meal and treacle is quickly snatched from one of

the drawers of the surgery; the powerful agent is speedily reduced

to powder; the placebo is torn from its envelope; a slit is cut down

its center; from the mortar the potent material is emptied into the

cavity thus formed for its reception; and the whole, after having been

rewrapped in fresh paper, is esteemed to be ready for delivery.

When such an article has been swallowed by the creature, in whose

welfare no living being seems to take a genuine interest, the paper or

outward investment is speedily removed by the action of the stomach.

Then, the retaining cover being destroyed, the burning mass falls out

upon the fine, moist, and velvet coat lining the viscus; this fact

may very probably explain why stomachic diseases are so general with

the majority of old favorites. As such substances are caustics when

applied to the external flesh, it is only reasonable to infer that no

tissue within the body could long withstand the burning properties

of such potent destroyers. It is true that certain inhumanities,

miscalled experiments, have been practiced upon living horses. Enormous

quantities of the most destructive compounds have been poured down the

living throats of submissive quadrupeds. Some animals long survived

such disgusting brutality; but others have succumbed at the very

commencement of the trial. Veterinary therapeutics, however, take no

notice of such as yielded to the smaller dose. The men who conducted

these cruelties delight to dwell upon the fact that a certain horse

actually took so much of such a poison, and, _apparently_, suffered no

ill effects from imbibition of the deadly potion.

[Illustration: A COMPOUND BALL, AS PREPARED IN TOO MANY VETERINARY

PHARMACIES.]

However, supposing such an experiment were made on human beings.

Let a certain number of cripples be procured from the workhouses;

aged creatures whose span of existence was almost run, and on whose

countenances years of suffering had impressed the lines of prolonged

misery. Let such poor mortals be deprived of speech, and let all the

signs of suffering in them be disregarded. Then force these wretched

beings to swallow large quantities of the various poisons. Would all

perish simultaneously? By no means. Affliction often acts as a defense

to those whom it envelops. Men in different stages of distress have

endured strange things, as during every hour the record of calamity

makes known.

The poor animals which served for the subjects of the so-called

veterinary experiments were procured from the knackers; they were in

the last stages of disease, and the poison, which would kill healthy

horses, acting upon frames exhausted by every possible accumulation

of agony, probably may have stimulated the exhaustion of excessive

debility. That which would destroy an ordinary life, acting upon an

existence sinking to its last sleep, may, to the blindness of mortal

recognitions, appear to work without sensible result, or may seem to

recall the fleeting spirit back to earth. At all events, no sound

deduction can be drawn, as to the action of any medicinal substances

upon the healthy body, from the apparent influence exerted by such

agents upon decrepitude and upon senility.

The so-called experiments, which are here alluded to only to reprobate

them as horrible cruelties, very probably have induced the carelessness

that prevails throughout veterinary practice as to the use of caustic

bodies among its customary medicines. Such salts should, on no account,

be exhibited in substance, if, indeed, their supposititious virtues

should recommend them at all to the prescriber. During the years

which the author was in practice he scrupulously abjured all these

abominations, and the results which were obtained by gentler agents

were such as did no discredit to the adoption of milder measures.

Humanity should prevail consistently throughout all acts forced

upon the life which Providence has intrusted to our mercy. If the

recognition of this duty, as an actuating motive, be a weakness, in

its adoption is carried its own defense. If charity does no good, it

cannot possibly work harm to the dumb life upon which its offices are

expended; whereas, when administering balls to horses, the cruelty

often indulged causes many of these gentle animals to acquire those

habits of resistance which are at first no more than the wild efforts

of conscious helplessness aiming at self-defense. Such timid creatures,

influenced by fear, will instinctively rear, kick, and vigorously

attack whoever may approach them.

He who will have the patience and the courage to encounter what is in

stable language denominated “a savage horse,” may do so with every

confidence. Let him approach the quadruped alone, when the groom is

absent and silence reigns around. Nothing must be done quickly. When

the horse moves, the man must remain stationary. Every symptom of alarm

must be assuaged by kind looks and gentle words. When the horse is

convinced that no injury is designed--and it is astonishing how quickly

a generous spirit will comprehend the intentions of benevolence--in

proportion as ferocity was previously displayed will gratitude gush

forth and submit the huge body to man’s pleasure.

If, however, the person has neither time nor inclination to undertake

such a trial, then, with an animal having a tendency to become

excited, he must adopt one of those mechanical restraints known as

=balling-irons=. These things are not altogether safe for their

employer, while they are decidedly not beneficial in their operation

upon the quadruped. A balling-iron is simply a piece of metal, so

shaped that when thrust violently between the creature’s jaws it

forcibly holds the mouth open. Therefore, it will certainly prevent

biting; but an irritable or a fearful horse can rear up and strike

with its forefeet. Such an animal is not entirely subdued when the

iron is adjusted. Moreover, these instruments occasion pain, and the

horse, instructed by repeated agony, soon grows very cunning, and

equally resolute in its efforts to oppose the insertion of the dreaded

instrument which causes its suffering.

The man using a balling-iron has, therefore, to guard himself from

blows rapidly dealt with the forehoofs of a desperate animal.

[Illustration: THE COMMONEST FORM OF BALLING-IRON.

A A. The ring of iron which, being forced into the animal’s

mouth, keeps the jaws asunder.

B B, B B. That portion of the metal which steadies the ring by

remaining against the jaws.

C. The handle.

]

[Illustration:

THE IMPROVED FORM OF THE COMMON BALLING-IRON, WHICH AFFORDS A

PROBABILITY OF ESCAPE FOR THE OPERATOR’S ARM.

A A. The part forced into the mouth.

B B, B B. The parts which remain against the jaws.

C. The handle.

]

He has also to be ready at the slightest intimation of an intention to

rear, so that he may withdraw his arm on the instant, otherwise the

operator is dragged upward with the elevated crest, and, hanging by the

inserted member, he is very lucky if a broken limb does not reward his

tardiness. The use of the balling-iron, consequently, is not free from

danger; and in practice it will be found safer to subdue by kindness

than to partially conquer by the employment of mechanical restraints.

The most common form of balling-iron is constructed according to the

model indicated in the preceding illustration. The circular piece of

metal is inserted into the mouth of the animal. A straight bar is

attached to either side of the metallic ring, the design of these last

being to steady the instrument after it has been forced into its proper

position. Through the circle the operator’s arm is thrust, and the iron

ring affords security so far as it disables the jaws from closing upon

the member. But, though safe in one direction, such a protection also

creates its particular peril; for, should the horse rear, the arm,

being surrounded by a metallic rim, could not be withdrawn with the

speed requisite to insure the operator’s safety. The suspension of the

man’s body is almost certain to provoke the fracture of his imprisoned

limb; consequently, to remedy that evil, the improvement indicated by

the right-hand illustration was introduced.

The circle in the foregoing is left free on one side; thus, the

inexpert have a little more time allowed for their movements. The

arm could be retracted with greater ease, and the former danger

was, in a great measure, removed. Still, this new shape was not

wholly satisfactory. The form was fixed: horses are not all of one

height, one breadth, or of one capacity. There are small creatures

designated ponies; while horses are not rarely encountered of enormous

proportions. As the iron has no power of being adapted, the form that

should prove not large enough for one may be altogether disproportioned

to another quadruped.

[Illustration:

A NEW BALLING-IRON, INVENTED BY PROFESSOR VARNELL, OF THE ROYAL

VETERINARY COLLEGE, LONDON.

A A. India-rubber tubing, to protect the mouth from the harshness

of the metal bars.

B B B. Side pieces to keep the iron in its situation.

C. The handle.

D. The lower bar, attached to the handle.

E. The side piece, which can be raised or depressed.

F. The screw, at the extremity of the side piece.

G. The nut which, fastened to the handle, acts upon the screw and

fixes its position.

]

The weight of metal necessarily employed to assure the requisite

strength, also rendered it inconvenient for a veterinary surgeon to

carry more than one of these bulky articles; and though small was the

amount of ingenuity which had hitherto been lavished on the improvement

of the thing, for years it continued of the last character. Mr.

Varnell, assistant professor at the Royal Veterinary College, however,

appears to have entirely removed all former objections, and to have

invented a balling-iron which seems to possess all the qualities that

such an instrument is capable of exhibiting. The restraining bars of

this last amendment are formed of polished steel, and are covered with

a stout piece of India-rubber tubing, thus in some measure protecting

the mouth of the creature from injury by what hitherto was the exposed

metal. The lower bar, moreover, is attached to the handle, and the

handle can be readily raised or depressed by turning the nut situated

at its base. It can, therefore, be quickly adapted to any possible

capacity of jaw.

[Illustration: THE USUAL MANNER OF GIVING A BALL.]

Such a form of immunity is, however, seldom sought, save by the very

inexperienced in the veterinary practice. A few years of active

employment enables any person to discard this defense. A sufficient

security is in all ordinary cases afforded by the horse’s tongue,

which, when a ball is about to be administered, is grasped by the left

hand, and withdrawn to the right side of the mouth. The hand thus

employed is fixed, being lightly pressed against the inferior margin

of the lower jaw; for, when retained in such a position, the tongue

is pressed upon the foremost of the huge molar teeth. Of course, the

animal, thus held, cannot approximate its jaws so as seriously to

harm the operator without biting its own flesh; by that circumstance

is safety supposed to be rendered certain. But should violence be

exerted, animal fear is apt to be superior to bodily pain; the tongue

and arm may be simultaneously bitten through. The practiced veterinary

surgeon, however, takes advantage of the first emotion of surprise

which the creature experiences at the liberties taken with, and the

indignities offered to, its person. Having the ball ready in the right

hand, he, standing on the left side, quickly introduces the bolus into

the wondering quadruped’s mouth.

The medicine is lodged at the back portion of the tongue, whence,

as the horse does not expectorate, the creature has no ability

of expelling it, save only by coughing. During the spasm, which

accompanies this act, the soft palate is raised and the ball is carried

outward with the volume of violently-expired breath. Some horses

acquire a habit of thus returning all forms of physic, and will cough

up a ball twenty times. Such a circumstance illustrates the necessity

of distracting the attention of the quadruped the instant the hand

is retracted; for in the confusion of the moment the most inveterate

“dodger” may be surprised into swallowing any abhorrent morsel.

[Illustration: THE CUSTOMARY MODE OF DISTRACTING THE HORSE’S ATTENTION,

AFTER IT HAS RECEIVED A BALL.]

The hand, during the delivery of the ball, being rapidly thrust into

the mouth, is frequently cut by the sharp edges of the molar teeth.

No knowledge, which has hitherto been attained by veterinary science,

can point out the animal possessed of grinders of this dangerous

description, and the only protection as yet suggested is to cover the

hand with a glove. But a glove cannot be washed and dried so readily

as the hand; it, moreover, is highly objectionable to introduce the

saliva of one animal into the mouth of another, as disease may be thus

conveyed from horse to horse; also, it being impossible to provide a

new glove with every fresh patient, the protection is not universally

adopted.

The medicine being delivered, the hand is quickly withdrawn, and the

jaws of the animal are clapped together. The nose is then rubbed

somewhat roughly, for--the upper lip being the organ of prehension, as

well as the seat of feeling, in the horse--this part is excited with

the design of preventing the quadruped from dwelling too intently on

the unpleasant nature of the substance which has just been forced into

its mouth.

[Illustration: A BALL BEING ADMINISTERED ACCORDING TO MR. GOWING’S

DIRECTION.]

Mr. Gowing, the excellent veterinary surgeon, of Camden Town, has,

with his usual ingenuity, endeavored to remove those objections to

which the previous manner of delivering a ball is obviously liable.

This gentleman grasps the tongue rather higher up than is customary;

and, having done so, does not retract the member, but fixes the hand

upon the gums which cover the upper margin of the lower jaw. The point

of the tongue protrudes between the thumb and fingers, and it is then

plain that the animal cannot close the mouth without biting upon its

own flesh.

Yet candor obliges the author to state that he does not view this

method of grasping the tongue as an improvement on the old practice.

The tongue, not being drawn out of the mouth, is not so decidedly

fixed upon the molar teeth; while the hand appears to be placed in a

somewhat dangerous position. For if, under excitement, the horse can

become so oblivious as actually to bite through its own flesh, how

would the hand of the operator fare when the closing of the jaws should

lacerate the lingual body? The only advantage which can attend upon Mr.

Gowing’s proposed plan must result from the smaller outrage it offers,

thus leaving the amiable disposition of the animal the better chance of

controlling its emotions.

It is, therefore, demonstrated the tongue can afford the operator no

decided protection; the question, consequently, resolves itself into

which of the methods affords the hand the greatest immunity, should

the animal become alarmed. The author cannot but think the outside of

the jaw is, under such circumstances preferable to the interior of the

mouth.

[Illustration: MR. GOWING’S EXCELLENT MANNER OF DELIVERING A BALL.]

However, the method proposed by Mr. Gowing for holding and delivering

the ball is unobjectionable. According to the plan adopted by that

gentleman, the knuckles are not elevated; but the hand is extended, the

thumb and fingers being all brought upon one level and all held close

together. The ball is placed between the fore and middle fingers, on

the same level as the hand generally, being retained simply by slight

lateral pressure. In this position it is introduced, and evidently

demands less space for its entrance than was required according to

the former system. When the ball has been advanced to the desired

situation, a separation of the fingers allows the morsel to drop into

its place.

Some stress, however, is laid upon the manner of clasping the head

after the ball has been lodged. Mr. Gowing claps-to the jaws and

evidently contemplates holding them in apposition. This is a mistake;

for the muscles of the horse are not to be controlled by the utmost

power of the strongest human being. The old custom, which applied

friction on the most sensitive portion of the horse’s body, the writer

esteems as better calculated to distract the attention of the quadruped.

The delivery of a horse ball is, however, rendered difficult in

proportion to the number of persons who surround the animal, and to the

noise made on the occasion. For the above reason, all the pupils at

public schools have to learn this portion of their profession under

heavy difficulties. The fuss which accompanies this simple operation in

such institutions alarms the horse. It is turned round in its stall;

the twitch is put upon the upper lip; a futile attempt is made to hold

the jaws apart; while the nervousness of the young student who is

about to perform,--all are likely to exercise an evil influence upon a

sensitive and a timid creature.

[Illustration: MR. GOWING’S METHOD OF GRASPING THE JAWS AFTER THE

DELIVERY OF A BALL.]

Veterinary surgeons, however, soon learn to give a ball with greater

speed and with less ceremony. They go alone up to the head, and

play for a time with the quadruped’s face. Confidence being thus

established, the practitioner gently withdraws the creature’s tongue.

This being accomplished, of course the jaws are sundered; when,

without any sign of flurry, the hand is introduced into the cavity

and the medicine properly lodged. After such a manner, the practiced

veterinarian gives many balls in the course of the day, and is hardly

ever known to fail. Indeed, were the practitioner, when going his

rounds, to wait till four or five assistants could be collected ere he

administered the requisite medicine, the duties of the day could never

be discharged.

[Illustration: THE QUIET METHOD OF GIVING A BALL.]

The physic being introduced into the mouth, the person who has

undertaken to deliver it should on no account esteem his business

finished, and thereon leave the stable. He should proceed to the left

side of the horse and watch the neck. In that position, when the

animal swallows, any substance can be seen to travel down the gullet;

this proof having been witnessed, the building may be quitted with

a safe conscience. The illustration of this fact was drawn on the

wood correctly; but the artist did not make proper allowance for the

transfer of his sketch by the engraver. The last process has made that

which was originally on the left side of the neck appear as on the

right side of the body.

=Drinks= or =draughts= are not in favor with the majority of veterinary

surgeons. Most practitioners urge, in justification of their dislike to

such a form of medicine, that solutions are attended with danger--being

apt, when administered, to pass into the trachea, and thus to flow upon

the lungs. Admitting this objection, it does not decide the question;

for the advocates of solid physic can possess small experience if they

are to be told that balls have proved injurious by also entering the

forbidden channel. Likewise, that when the popular form of physic has

grown hard, much harm has been occasioned by the mass becoming impacted

within the gullet. Evil can, therefore, be caused by physic in either

form, if given without the necessary caution; and the balance of fact

can incline the judgment to neither one side nor the other.

[Illustration: A BALL PASSING DOWN THE HORSE’S GULLET.]

But it is curious to read of serious dislike being entertained against

drinks, and at the same time know that several practitioners are

accustomed to administer this kind of medicine after a particular

method, which evinces a desire to illustrate the very circumstance

which constitutes the objection to every solid. Many country

veterinarians are accustomed to pour all the liquids which they exhibit

down the nostril of the animal. Now, the nostrils terminate immediately

over the larynx--the direct channel is from one chamber into the other

cavity--thus, any fluid administered after so unnatural a method will

probably find its way on to the lungs.

Such an abuse of nature’s designs being largely practiced upon a

powerful quadruped, is proof of the perfect submission with which the

creature has accepted its appointed master. Such an absolute negation

of self, deserved considerate recognition from the reasoning and

superior being. Veterinary medicines are too generally composed of

pungent and of caustic materials, while the nostrils are lined with a

highly sensitive and delicately moist mucous membrane. It was created

to come in contact with the air, to which the nostrils in the horse

afford the only legitimate passage. The notion of disregarding the

mouth and selecting so tender a channel, down which to pour acrid and

burning solutions, appears to be such a refinement upon ordinary

barbarity as must puzzle the reader to discover a motive to excuse.

[Illustration: THE NATURAL CONSEQUENCE WHICH IS TO BE EXPECTED WHENEVER

THE FILTHY CUSTOM OF POURING DRINKS INTO THE NASAL CHAMBER OF A HORSE

IS ADOPTED.

_a a._ The windpipe.

_b b._ The gullet.

_c c._ The soft palate.

_d._ The tongue.

]

The fact appears the more monstrous when we consider the practice

is adopted by the veterinary surgeon, and that it is exhibited upon

the sick horse whose welfare he is especially bound to conserve. The

irritation consequent upon so abhorrent an abuse cannot but be most

prejudicial to that quietude which is, upon every form of existence,

healing in its effect. The motive which prompts so outrageous a

proceeding is the love of display, acting upon an ignorant or

unscrupulous individual; joined to this, is the knowledge that

medicine can be administered with greater speed than when delivered

according to the natural method. The horse has no power to check the

course of any liquid emptied into the nostril of the elevated head;

whereas the animal will frequently occupy a considerable time before

a fluid, delivered by the mouth, is swallowed. By one canal, the will

is powerless; by the other channel, volition is operative. To save his

time, as well as to excite surprise, are the only motives which can

prompt a careless man to tamper with that welfare it is his duty to

tenderly protect.

To render this subject the more intelligible to the reader, the

natural process which enables the horse to imbibe liquids shall here

be detailed. The mouth of this animal is peculiar for having at its

backward extremity a fleshy screen, which hangs pendulous from the

bony roof. This soft palate explains why the quadruped, under ordinary

circumstances, breathes only through the nose; and why, when it vomits,

the regurgitated matter is ejected by the nostrils. That specialty

is of service, however, during the act of imbibition. The posterior

entrance to the nasal chamber being open and the head in a pendulous

position, were there no special provision to the contrary, the water,

after having passed the mouth, would, from the mere force of gravity,

have a tendency to return by the nostrils. This actually occurs

whenever cold, strangles, influenza, sore throat, etc. interferes with

the activity or the health of these parts now under consideration.

Disease renders the organ sensitive, and tenderness makes the animal

exert its volition to prevent the employment of the inflamed structure.

In consequence of this cause, the nasal chambers are imperfectly

closed, and a great portion of the fluid imbibed by the mouth flows

forth again through the nostrils. Such a tendency to gravitate is,

during health, effectually prevented by the soft palate. Before any

substance can pass from the mouth toward the throat, that appendage

must be raised, and its rising closes the posterior entrance to the

nasal chambers.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.

DIAGRAM, (FIG. 1,) EXPLANATORY OF THE COMPOUND ACT OF DRINKING IN THE

HORSE.

_a a._ The water drawn into the mouth and forced into the fauces by

the compression of the forward part of the tongue and the

enlargement of the backward portion of the organ.

_b b._ The fluid passing down the œsophagus or gullet.

_c._ The larynx, lowered to admit the passage of the liquid.

_d d._ The tongue, dilated at one place and contracted at another.

_e._ The soft palate, floated upward and effectually closing the

nasal passages.

]

[Illustration: FIG. 2.

DIAGRAM, (FIG. 2,) EXPLANATORY OF THE COMPOUND ACT OF DRINKING.

_a a._ The water driven backward by the forward dilatation of the

tongue and the upward movement of the larynx.

_b b._ The full current forced down the gullet.

_c._ The larynx propelled against the soft palate.

_d d._ The tongue, dilated anteriorly and compressed posteriorly.

_e._ The soft palate.

]

The tongue is the primary agent employed when the animal slakes its

thirst. The backward portion of the organ is contracted, and the

forward part compressed by muscular volition, (_d d_, fig. 1.) A vacuum

would thereby be created, were not the water propelled by atmospheric

pressure into the void thus formed, (_a_, fig. 1.) The posterior of

the tongue is then relaxed, while the anterior division of the organ

is pressed against the roof of the mouth, (_d d_, fig. 2.) The fluid

is thereby driven to the backward part of the cavity, (_a_, fig. 2.)

The tongue, during the act, continues to alternate the states of

contraction and relaxation, each motion of the lingual agent serving to

pump the water into the fauces, (_a_, fig. 1.) But, before that can be

accomplished, the soft palate must be elevated. The soft palate (_e_,

fig. 2) then closes the nostrils, (_e_, fig. 1;) and also in its course

to take this position sets in motion the cartilages of the larynx. The

last cover over and effectually protecting the windpipe, (_c_, fig. 1,)

the fluid is forced onward by the contraction of the tongue, passes

into a secure chamber, the roof and floor of which are but of temporary

formation, (_a_, fig. 1.) Here it remains only during the inactivity of

the larynx. The upward motion of the latter body (_c_, fig. 2) propels

the fluid into the pharynx, whence involuntary contractility sends it

into the gullet, the muscular action of which tube conveys it onward to

the stomach, (_a b b_, fig. 2.)

From the foregoing explanation, the reader is in a position to judge

whether the nasal chamber is a fit passage for acrimonious mixtures,

since he now understands the evident pains the _All-wise_ has bestowed

to prevent the temperate fluid, of which the animal customarily

partakes, from intruding upon the elaborate, delicate, and highly

sensitive membrane that lines the air-passages. All veterinary students

are not educated men, neither are all attentive to their studies while

at college; but it should require an extraordinary amount of ignorance

and conceit to thus grossly misconceive the _intentions_ which are so

plainly impressed upon the body of the quadruped.

The author, however, doubts if those objections generally advanced to

drinks are in any degree derived from the results of actual experience.

Balls can be manufactured by the score, and then stored away for

subsequent use. Drinks would decompose if thus mixed and kept ready in

the surgery. Drinks must be separately compounded, as required. Balls

occupy little space, and being solid can be safely carried or forwarded

to any distance. Drinks being contained in bottles, are less convenient

for transport, and the vessels are liable to fracture. Balls, moreover,

are to be quickly thrust down an animal’s throat; require no assistance

for their administration; and being wrapped in paper are not exposed to

inquisitive discussion as to their ingredients. Drinks being inclosed

in glass, protected only by a cork, are open to investigation, and

likely to provoke remarks which are not always soothing to the pride of

a pretender; liquids likewise necessitate more time should be devoted

to their exhibition, and generally require the assistance which is not

invariably at hand to aid the veterinary surgeon.

The above reasons and objections are not without influence upon

practitioners, whose earnings are greatly dependent upon the speed of

their movements; who generally give the medicines to those animals they

treat, and habitually carry with them, ready compounded, the drugs

which they administer. Drinks, moreover, demand several bulky articles

for their proper administration, and are apt to soil the person who

delivers them. Balls, as a rule, call for no other apparatus than

the hand. Moreover, it causes delay at starting, if there are twenty

or thirty drinks to be previously mixed, bottled, labeled, incased

in paper and so packed as to be in no peril of breakage; whereas any

number of balls can be almost instantaneously transferred from the

drawer in the surgery into the gig at the door.

The usual mode of giving a drink is, moreover, a complex business. A

twitch is mostly kept in regularly appointed stables, and the string

or loop is fixed over the animal’s upper jaw, prior to other measures

being proceeded with. The groom then grasps the stick and takes his

place by the shoulder of the horse. At a previously arranged signal,

he raises the pole; the string, paining the gums under which it is

fixed, causes the head of the quadruped to be elevated. Supposing the

horn having the larger mouth to be employed, the drink is then emptied

into the hollow of this rude appliance until the liquid nearly fills

the interior. The fluid is next carried upward, two fingers of the

operator’s left hand being fastened on to the gums, so as to further

expand the jaws and enable the veterinary surgeon to steady his body

while straining to administer the medicine. The large end is pushed

into the quadruped’s mouth, and, by a sudden movement of the wrist, the

contents of the horn are meant to be splashed upon the animal’s tongue.

[Illustration: THE COMMON FORM OF THE HORN EMPLOYED TO ADMINISTER

DRINKS.]

[Illustration: AN IMPROVED FORM OF HORN.]

This, which is the more common method of administering a drink, is open

to several objections. The horn, being of a limited capacity, can hold

but a small quantity; and the lengthened time required for frequent

replenishing, necessitates that the animal should be long held in an

attitude of unnatural constraint. In the next place, the fluid is, by

the action of the wrist, rather rudely thrown, than gently emptied,

into the mouth, much of the medicine is generally lost, and no little

of it, guided by the inserted fingers of the operator, is apt to find

its way down the sleeve of his left arm.

To remedy these obvious defects, the tip of the horn was sawn off;

while a piece of wood supplied a bottom to the larger extremity. A rude

bottle was thus formed that would hold a larger amount of fluid, and

from which the medicine could flow more gradually. The smaller opening

afforded greater facilities for inserting that end between the horse’s

extended jaws, and was less likely to pain, when introduced into the

animal’s mouth. Still, drinks usually consisted of much more than

the horn of an ox would contain, and as the smaller opening demanded

greater care, when the article was being replenished, little time was

saved by the last improvement.

[Illustration: A TIN BOTTLE TO HOLD THREE PINTS.]

[Illustration: THE MANNER OF USING THE TIN BOTTLE.]

A large tin bottle was next employed. It is of dimensions sufficiently

capacious to require no replenishing; this was an advantage in one

direction, an objection in the other; for in proportion to size it

became inconvenient to transport. It rather aggravated than ameliorated

the fault urged against drinks, because of their bulk. The mode of its

employment is made plain in the right-hand illustration, where a loop

of string is depicted as hung upon the prong of a pitchfork, and is

made to do duty for a twitch--such a substitute being far from unusual,

even in well-appointed stables.

Should the operator, having much fluid at command, fill the mouth too

full, or the animal cough during the time of its administration, the

administrator is saturated with the medicine. Any irritation of the

larynx is invariably productive of this effect; the result of which

a reader will the better understand, after the relative situation of

those who are engaged in delivering a drench is fully comprehended.

The misfortunes which the delivery of drinks almost necessarily

involve, will very readily account for any amount of dislike to

the fluid form of medicine, more especially when it is stated that

veterinary surgeons are somewhat slow in adopting new ideas, but seem,

with the fervor and tenacity ignorance displays toward a favorite

superstition, to love and cling to the practices in which they have

been educated.

[Illustration: GENERAL METHOD OF ADMINISTERING A DRINK TO A HORSE.]

Else, it must have occurred to some member of a large profession that

to violently oppose the instincts of an animal was hardly commendable

in people who professed an observance and a worship of nature’s

teaching. Most animals, however, and the horse among the number, lower

the mouth during the act of drinking. The veterinary surgeon, when

proceeding in his professional capacity, employs a twitch, with which

the head is to be violently upheld while a fluid is being deglutated.

To illustrate the consequence of such conduct, the reader will pardon

the author if he state the results of such opposite proceedings upon a

dog in his possession. A saucer of milk being placed upon the floor,

the head is lowered and the liquid lapped, without the act being

characterized by any unusual circumstance. But should the vessel be

held on the ordinary level of the mouth, the draught is certain to

be interrupted by repeated fits of coughing. Now, the danger that

exists of the horse coughing and spasmodically drawing the fluid

upon the lungs, constitutes the strongest argument urged against the

administration of drinks; but such an objection sounds oddly if he who

listens to it is aware that, during the administration of fluids, the

horse’s mouth is fixed according to the manner which will certainly

provoke the obnoxious act in another quadruped.

[Illustration: GIVING A DRINK, ACCORDING TO THE QUIET METHOD.]

All this is very sad and may readily be corrected. Let men endeavor to

rightfully interpret the disposition of the horse. The creature is a

most pleasant study; it is so timid, so loving and so confiding, that

it immediately responds to the kindness which is intelligible to its

understanding. Should it hang back, the fault rather lies with its

limited comprehension than with the promptings of its inclination.

Let the person who intends to deliver a drink fearlessly approach

the animal: allow the huge nostrils to smell their new acquaintance,

and not till the process is concluded, proceed to such trivial

familiarities as may establish perfect trustfulness between the man

and his dependent. So soon as the steed’s confidence is gained, the

animal is all submission to the pleasure of its superior. Then let the

practitioner uncork the bottle, and, putting the left hand gently under

the quadruped’s jaw, empty with the other the contents, gradually,

through the interspace which divides the incisors from the molar teeth.

But when adopting the above plan, the operator must be alone. No

noisy or officious assistant must be near at hand to excite alarm or

to create distrust. No pain must be inflicted; no angry words should

be employed; no violent or hasty action ought to be used to frighten

native susceptibility. All must be quiet. Should the animal be slow

to swallow a nauseous draught, the creature must not be scolded for

a natural dislike; but it should be encouraged by kind and cheerful

accents, spoken as softly as though the words were addressed to a

sick child. So alive is the equine heart to the seductiveness of

benevolence, so unsuspecting is the full confidence of its species,

and so happy is its spirit made by the praises of its superior, that

rather than not deserve his commendation it will gulp down the most

distasteful solution.

=Blistering.=--It is not praiseworthy to the human race that the animal

given to man, with a mind thus impressible and yearning for kindness,

should be treated with severity, and regarded as a brute, to be beaten

and to be subdued. Such, however, is the case, and upon the poor body

of this amiable life all kinds of cruelties are practiced. There is no

barbarity more common than to blister the legs of the quadruped. Only

of late years has the blistering application been somewhat reduced

in strength; but it is still far more potent than is necessary. Our

fathers, however, added all kinds of fiery and irritating drugs to

Spanish fly, and never used to filter the extract; whereby particles

got into the sores and cracks induced by the blister, and it was common

for large pieces of skin to be removed by the sloughing process. A

blemish was thus created.

Horses have perished under the agony attendant upon the blistering of

all four feet. It is, however, still a recognized custom for horse

doctors to score a leg or sometimes two legs with the red-hot iron,

and over the lines thus created on a living frame to apply a liquid

blister. To fully appreciate the abhorrent barbarity or the inutility

of such a custom, the reader must recognize that animals suffer awfully

from the wounds occasioned by fire, and understand that the sores

are newly made, when the irritating liquid is placed upon the tender

parts. A blister necessitates that the oil which contains the extract

of the fly should be thoroughly rubbed in. Therefore the horse, when

blistered, after having been fired, has to endure the friction of a

rough hand, applied with all the coarse energy of an uneducated man,

made upon a member smarting under the agony produced by the agent of

which the creature has an instinctive dread.

Blisters, as at present used, are far too powerful. Were they diluted

with three times their bulk of bland oil, or of solution of soap, they

would be equally effective and far less dangerous. But, unfortunately,

there is a prejudice among the partially educated, to which class

nearly all veterinary surgeons belong, in favor of potency in their

applications. Such persons seem to reckon the benefit to be produced

according to the strength of the agent employed. By what other reason

is it possible to explain the foolish perversity which still clings to

the abuse of the heated iron? By what other motive can we account for

the prejudice which tempts the use of the fearful blistering oil, as

now commonly exhibited?

The parts of the horse most generally blistered are the legs, and the

explanation commonly given to excuse the folly is a desire “to freshen

the old animal on the pins,” or “to brighten up the manner of going.”

The legs are parts of the living frame, and one part can hardly fail

without the general system sympathizing. The author was once as tired

as the horse commonly may be supposed to be; but, on that occasion, his

feet were restored long before his body recovered from its exhaustion.

Such a personal testimony seems to witness that fatigue affects the

system generally. Indeed, the legs may be the means of progression; but

it is the life which puts them in action, and it is the nerves which

transmit energy to the muscles; none less ignorant than the generality

of veterinary surgeons and the lower order of horse proprietors, would

have conceived the possibility of restoring animation to a debilitated

system by torturing the parts in which the symptoms of decay are most

prominently testified.

Moreover, there is a maxim, first made known by John Hunter, and

subsequently recognized by the profession of which he was the ornament.

This maxim declares that “two great inflammations cannot exist in the

same body at the same time.” Upon the truth of this discovery, the

practice of counter-irritation is based. Then to fire and to blister

simultaneously may increase the torture of the poor existence thus

barbarously treated; but, according to the doctrine largely accepted by

the medical profession of this country, the double process accomplishes

nothing surgical or curative, since the blister must destroy the action

of the fire; and the man who is greedy to obtain the benefits of both

operations, secures the advantages of neither measure.

To blister, however, is a very antique custom; so, also, is the

application of fire, which was first performed upon the human body.

Old medicine does not bear a very good character, and only exemplifies

the much which suffering can endure, or the little which cruelty can

accomplish. So far as horses are concerned, little would be sacrificed

were the entire list of vesicatories lost to the knowledge of mankind.

The blister is, according to present veterinary practice, employed more

often to gratify the passing whim of some wayward proprietor than with

any medical intention or with the remotest regard for the quadruped.

A man, while lounging through the stable of an evening, a prey to

lassitude and the victim of idle thoughts, but without the slightest

pretense to medical knowledge, may conceive he will have the entire

stable blistered “right through,” and few veterinary surgeons will

presume to expostulate with so wild a notion.

The compliance of the professional attendant is, however, in strict

keeping with opinions implied by the expressions commonly employed by

“horsemen.” Thus, it is very general to hear these persons speak of--“a

good horse with battered legs”--“a beautiful animal, but with legs that

have done their work”--“an excellent frame, but not having a leg to

stand upon,” etc. Such phrases are sheer nonsense! But they serve to

countenance the equine superstition which regards the legs as distinct

from the body. The stable-man cannot conceive a want of liveliness in

the motions to be one of the indications of failing health. Yet this

symptom pervades all nature. It is exhibited by beasts, by birds, by

fishes, and by insects; nay, the very vegetables, when disease attacks

them, no longer spread their branches to the breeze, but droop their

heads and incline their bodies earthward.

To propagate such opinions, however, must destroy much of the power

so dearly loved by the vulgar horse owner, and abolish much of the

pleasure such a person experiences when surveying his long rows of

miserable dependents! These men are always corrupt! It is astonishing

how unfitted human frailty is to possess absolute authority in any

shape! The men who live and think in stables are never so happy as when

exercising their despotic power. The next illustration is an example of

this fact. An omnibus proprietor has entered to speak with a veterinary

surgeon, who is witnessing the man’s orders fulfilled on the forelegs

of a wretched stud. Let the reader contemplate this engraving, and he

will soon perceive the animals stand in need of something far less

costly than any mixture which can proceed from the cheapest pharmacy.

It will be remarked that the creatures represented are separated by

“bales,” or long poles, suspended by chains from the ceiling. This

kind of arrangement permits more horses to be packed into a limited

apartment, and is, therefore, adopted whenever the expense of lodging

becomes a primary consideration. It will also have occurred to the

spectator that the roof is depicted as very low, and the gangway or

free thoroughfare behind the animals is exhibited as exceedingly narrow.

Now, creatures imprisoned in such a building are actually perishing

of starvation! The food, the water, and the medical attendance may

each of its kind be unexceptionable; but the animals housed in such

a locality soon droop from positive inanition. To breathe, is the

primary necessity of existence. There is no living thing that can

thrive where air is excluded. The quadrupeds represented below have to

pass twenty-two out of every twenty-four hours in a locality barely

lofty enough for each to stand upright in. Let the reader, knowing the

duration of captivity, conjecture how long it will be ere the huge

lungs of a horse have inhaled and contaminated the limited amount

of atmosphere which the place can contain, even were such an abode

contemplated as the dwelling of a single subject.

[Illustration: BLISTERING A STABLEFUL OF OMNIBUS HORSES.]

It is true, such sheds are seldom air tight. Were all draughts

excluded, the prisoners would speedily be released from their

captivity; but the wind holes, though large enough to prolong misery,

are too small to render such places the abodes of health. The wretched

inmates cannot be tortured into a show of activity. When will the

legislature, in its wisdom, notice these hot-beds of contagion? When

will it empower the police officer to enter any stable and authorize

him to destroy the animals therein, hopelessly diseased and purposely

concealed? Who can, viewing the stables where the hardest worked of the

equine race are stowed away, wonder that glanders is rarely absent from

such nurseries for contamination?

Horses have thus been housed, and have been physicked, fired, and

blistered, for ages. The folly of such practices is continued even

to the present hour. However, let the gentleman who keeps his stable

filled take warning from the errors of his inferiors; and when the

groom informs him that “Blossom” is getting stale upon her legs, refuse

to have the creature tortured. A blister incapacitates a horse for six

weeks. The cessation of toil for such a period may do good; but let

the man who pretends to judge in this matter grant the holiday which

the measures, if adopted, would occupy, and employ the time in looking

jealously around his premises to ascertain wherefore his dumb servant

flags!

Let no man blister a horse’s legs. There is no motor agent situated in

or near to those parts. The shin, foot, and pastern are almost without

muscles. There is nothing, therefore, which could be freshened or

rendered more brisk. But these parts are susceptible of the acutest

agony. They are largely supplied with purely sensitive nerves.

Consequently, let all gentlemen discharge the veterinary surgeon who

proposes to blister the legs of their horses. He does so merely to

gain time: the professional man is totally unworthy of confidence who

can play with his employers’ ignorance and tamper with his patients’

sensations, merely from reasons of policy or the chance of pecuniary

benefit to himself! The author has beheld hundreds of blisters applied

to the legs, but he cannot remember the instance in which such

applications were productive of the slightest good.

Blisters are seldom required, and are only beneficial as

counter-irritants. Equine medicines are generally too coarse, and

much too powerful. Some practitioners mingle euphorbium, corrosive

sublimate, aqua fortis, etc. with the blistering agent, to increase

its potency. Therefore, never procure the oil of cantharides from a

veterinarian. Never use blistering ointment of any description. Stuffs

of this last kind are, for the most part, made of the refuse flies,

exhausted by having been used to form the oil of cantharides. Buy the

oil of some respectable chemist. Add to this four times its bulk of

olive oil; should it not blister after it has been once used, it may

be rubbed in a second or a third time. Counter-irritation is certain

to be thus secured, and vesication is only a sign which pleases the

uneducated eye rather than benefits the animal.

Never employ any oil that is not perfectly clear. It should be filtered

after it is made, and the slightest opacity is proof that some impurity

is present. This direction is imperative; for, though the ingredients

which compose the oil are not expensive, there is scarcely an article

in the pharmacopœia more liable to adulteration. Let, therefore,

the liquid seem as transparent as that which is represented in the

accompanying illustration.

It is a common custom with most veterinarians to purge the horse

before they blister its legs. The intention is to remove any lurking

irritability out of the animal’s system; but such irritability will

most probably be provoked by their coarse and potent blistering agents;

therefore, a purgative, by increasing the debility, is only likely to

render the quadruped more sensitive to outward impressions. A nice

“freshener” is embodied, to the eye of reason, in a drastic purgative,

followed by an active irritant applied to a most sensitive part of the

body!

[Illustration: A BOTTLE CONTAINING OIL OF CANTHARIDES.]

Whenever a blister is adopted, rather too little than too much oil

should be used. Enough to permeate the hair and reach the skin is

imperative; but the action rather depends on the amount of friction

which accompanies the agent than on the quantity of the vesicatory that

may be employed. The friction should be regulated by the condition

of the surface on which the oil has to act, and all adjacent tender

places, as the points of flexion in joints, parts where the skin is

thin or is thrown into crevices, should be previously covered with a

layer of simple cerate, after the method exemplified in the left-hand

illustration on the next page, wherein the back of the pastern is

exhibited as thus protected.

After the part has been rubbed for ten minutes in summer, and a quarter

of an hour during winter, all oil may be wiped off the hair. Its

presence there can do no good; but as oil becomes more liquid with the

continuance of warmth, the heat of the body may cause the blistering

agent to run on to parts which it is not desirable to subject to its

action.

After the horse has been blistered, it is customary to tie up the head

and put around the animal’s neck a kind of rude apparatus denominated,

but wherefore the author cannot tell, “a cradle.” This last instrument

is designed to prevent the creature from gnawing the blistered surface.

No such act will, however, be indulged where the agent employed is

proportioned to the sensitiveness of the quadruped; but it is the agony

produced by the effect of undue stimulation which generates the madness

that induces the wretched creature to use its formidable teeth in

tearing its own flesh.

[Illustration: THE BACK OF THE PASTERN AND THE HEEL PROTECTED BY BEING

COATED WITH A THICK LAYER OF SIMPLE CERATE.]

[Illustration: A HORSE’S LEG AFTER THE APPLICATION OF A BLISTER.]

About three days after the application of the blister, the surface will

have become dry and incrusted with a solid exudation. It is well, at

this period, to soften the part with some emollient liquid, and one can

hardly be found better suited to this purpose than that known as =lead

liniment=. It is made by mingling together one part of Goulard’s lotion

and two parts of olive oil, whereby is formed a thick creamy compound.

The oil soothes the harshness of the exudation, while the lead serves

to mitigate any pain which may reside in the part. This mixture, being

well shaken, is applied to the surface by means of what cooks call “a

paste brush.”

[Illustration: A BRUSH FOR APPLYING LEAD LINIMENT TO THE LEG OF A HORSE

WHICH HAS RECENTLY BEEN BLISTERED.]

The liniment usually causes the “crusts” to fall off; but the hair

generally comes off at the same time, testifying the severe irritation

to which the skin has been subjected.

The most pliant medical individual--the pedantic man who always

acknowledges everything emanating from the schools to be

correct--would, the author imagines, be puzzled to discover any

necessary connection between the processes of =balling=, =blistering=,

=firing=, and =bleeding=; yet somehow the four operations are

associated in veterinary practice. A ball reduces the bodily activity;

a bleeding lowers the action of vitality; irritants are thought to

stimulate organs to which they are applied, but to lessen the general

tonicity. An animal subjected to the first action appears fitted to

dispense with the second; while the last two seem somewhat similar

to the first. But there is no accounting for incongruities when men,

deserting reason, consent to adopt routine as a guide in the treatment

of so capricious a development as disease.

=Bleeding.=--To lose blood was once deemed a healthful custom by the

human race. Then, horses were regularly depleted every rise and fall.

An old practitioner can remember the period when, on a Sunday morning,

he beheld long sheds full of agricultural quadrupeds waiting to be

bled. The fleam used to be struck into the first horse; then the entire

row were, in succession, similarly treated. The operator afterward

returned, and, pinning up the wound which had been made in the neck of

the first animal, again moved down the line, pinning as he went. No

account was taken of the amount lost by each patient, nor was any pains

thought needful to control the current that flowed upon the ground;

but the creatures did not all suffer an equal depletion. The fleam was

soon struck; to pin up, however, took a comparatively long time for its

performance. The first horse of the group, therefore, lost but little

blood; while the last of the line bled for a considerable period before

its turn to be attended to arrived.

The foregoing anecdote will show how nice our fathers were in their

operations; but it is sad when we reflect that all this carnage was

a sacrifice made to a mistaken idea. Human medicine has abandoned

the antiquated custom. Veterinary physic, however, is not quite so

versatile; still many quiet spots in the country may be found where

old physic is in force, both with the employers and the practitioner.

Dogs, even in the metropolis, are sometimes bled; and there still

exist persons who esteem the use of the lancet upon these animals to

be a laudatory accomplishment. Cats were, formerly, operated upon;

and the author knows an aged lady whose medical practice was confined

to depleting grimalkins. There exist, even at the present enlightened

period, few of the equine species which do not bear several scars,

each testifying to a separate operation. Raise the jugular vein in the

neck of any animal, by simply stopping the downward current that flows

through the vessel; it is ten to one but numerous circular prominences

will bulge forth, to denote the medical activity which has been

lavished on the quadruped.

No matter what may be the age, the condition, or the occupation of

the horse, certain practitioners always discover that the mute drudge

requires depletion; thus, an unscrupulous man may at most times earn a

ready shilling by performing an easy operation. Every kind of animal is

liable to be so treated or so abused; and there are very few stables

throughout this kingdom in which the sight of the fleam, blood stick,

and can do not create the groom’s delight. The strangest fact is,

that most rural proprietors love to see the purple life drained from

the necks of their possessions; and bitter are the reproaches usually

lavished on the veterinarian should a horse perish of any disease

without the fatal termination having been hastened by the favorite

measure. Indeed so fully are several country practitioners aware of

this probability, that it is customary with them, when alone, to strike

the vein and to pin up the orifice immediately. The necessary sign

can then be adduced, should death end the case; and a professional

reputation be thereby saved from the assaults of aggravated stupidity.

[Illustration: RAISING THE JUGULAR VEIN.]

To show the necessity of venesection in most forms of disease, the

author must be pardoned if he intrudes upon the reader a portion of

his own experience. Some years ago a medical man, then residing in

Westbourne Terrace, kept a well-stocked stable. The family going out of

town during the autumn, some of the animals, much against the author’s

opinion, were allowed a few weeks’ “run at grass.”

When the horses were taken up, none were found to have been benefited;

but one was discovered to be much worse for its period of liberty. It

was very weak, and its constitution evidently was shaken, for nothing

seemed capable of invigorating it. If put into harness and driven

merely round to the street door, the body was sure to be white with

perspiration, and the poor quadruped exhibited signs of exhaustion.

If permitted to remain in the stable, the creature would generally

be found with the head depressed, the corn untouched, the breathing

audible, and the body leaning for support against the trevise.

The animal was in this state when the family again left London for

a few weeks; the horse was taken with them by railroad. Before they

quitted town, the author found occasion to speak with the proprietor.

The writer said that, during the sojourn of the family in the country,

it was probable the urgency of the symptoms would necessitate the

calling in of a local veterinary surgeon; therefore the proprietor was

warned that the ailing quadruped was on no account to be bled; for to

deplete a life in so exhausted a condition was positive slaughter.

As the author had conjectured, so events literally happened. The

symptoms suddenly became alarming. The attendance of the nearest

veterinarian was requested. To him the warning given to the proprietor

was repeated. The gentleman replied that the author had not seen the

animal in its then serious state, or he could not have tendered such

advice. Medical etiquette forbade positive injunctions. The operation

was performed, and the family returned to town leaving a carcass behind

them!

It is very seldom that the system of a horse, when doing full work,

can endure depletion. The labor =is= exhausting, and the toil is

sufficiently severe to employ it all had the animal twice its normal

energy. Many observant stable-men are of opinion that, nurture as they

may, the provender consumed cannot be equal to the work. There are,

however, too many persons who study to underfeed, and who nevertheless

are morally convinced that every quadruped in their keeping not only

possesses a sufficiency of vigor, but can part with a gallon or two of

blood, twice in every year, with positive advantage.

Here are two opposite convictions; and the cost of horse flesh to each

party, could we inspect the private accounts, would certainly best

settle the dispute. But as men mostly object to laying open their books

to public investigation, we must, therefore, endeavor to decide this

point by drawing inferences, after having submitted the lives of most

quadrupeds to review. None, except the wealthy, keep horses, save for

use. The feelings of men are seldom gratified by feeding idle animals.

Two horses very commonly have to perform extra duty, while the master

is looking about him and in no haste to purchase a third laborer.

Rarely do we find three animals are kept where the owner has full

employment only for two of his slaves.

The horse, therefore, is generally worked to the limits of its

strength. That there may be no doubt upon this matter, the person

who has to judge of its capabilities is he who has an interest in

the amount of an animal’s exertions. The fact is, however, proved by

the wonder excited when a quadruped is recorded to have reached the

natural period of its existence. The great majority of horses in this

country perish of exhaustion before their maturity has been attained.

The sad reality, that of the numbers reared in England the great

majority of humanity’s humble, obedient, and willing slaves are goaded

to early graves, before all their second teeth are up, and before the

consolidation of their bones fits them to endure the strain of fatigue,

too fearfully establishes the fate which beauty and submission receives

at the hands of avarice.

Man is a hard task-master! He was so when the pyramids were raised; he

is so still in the Southern States of America. There is something wrong

in the creature who can thus abuse all that serve him. Had the horse

twenty times its present strength, it would still be below the point

of human requirement. It is a very painful occupation to look into a

London street, and, having an understanding which can interpret equine

significances, to observe the lame, the deformed, the starved, the

overloaded, and the weary animals staggering along the thoroughfare,

but to perceive none without the goad, to enforce exertion, flourished

by its side. Yet the creatures thus used, unconscious of a holiday

and worked through sickness or through suffering, are thought by some

persons to possess such a redundancy of health that they can support or

be benefited by the life’s blood being drained, at stated periods, out

of their wretched bodies!

[Illustration:

A BLOOD CAN, WHICH IS MARKED TO INDICATE WHEN A QUART OF FLUID HAS

BEEN EXTRACTED.

]

Nevertheless it is possible a timely depletion may, upon certain

occasions, save life. Neither the present reader nor the writer may

witness so rare an occurrence; yet because of the possibility, every

horseman should be equal to such an emergency. For the performance of

so trivial an operation certain tools are imperatively necessary. The

first among these is a =blood can= or a tin pail, which is generally

divided, by indented lines, into eight equal sections. The receptacle

being made to contain two gallons, each compartment, when filled,

indicates a quart to have been withdrawn. Wretched horses have been

drained to a greater extent even than two gallons; but should the

reader possess a blood can, it is hoped that it will be indeed an

extreme case in which he would behold the vessel once filled.

One or two quarts should be the limits of an ordinary venesection;

but even that quantity may be of much more service, when aiding the

circulation, than when withdrawn and permitted to coagulate apart from

the body. Many practitioners, however, deplete without either excuse

or justification. Having opened a vessel, they will allow the stream

to flow until the poor horse staggers. Some are proud not to possess

a blood can; but they hold up the stable-pail to catch the vital

current, and are quite content that the most ample drain of the system,

conducted under their supervision, cannot be otherwise than restorative.

[Illustration: FLEAMS, OF THE NEWEST FORM, OPEN AND SHUT.]

The next instrument requisite is a =fleam=. This article is much

preferable to the lancet, though there exists a species of foppery

among veterinary surgeons which tempts them to employ human implements.

For that reason they flourish a lancet as the more scientific

indicator. A lancet is, certainly, necessary to puncture the eye

vein, which is visible upon the cheek of the horse; but as regards a

vessel which is as large as a cart rope, for such is the dimensions

of the animal’s jugular, this last cannot demand the exhibition of

vast scientific attainment to pierce it, or admit of the display of

nice manipulation in him who operates on such a structure. For this

reason the old-fashioned fleam is very much to be preferred. Assuredly

it does not appear so pretty as the lancet; but it always cuts with

certainty and leaves a limited orifice; whereas the more genteel blade

has inflicted awkward gashes upon living flesh when the creature proved

restless under its infliction.

The instrument with which the veterinarian extracts blood has been

represented having the blade bared and having it closed. It is readily

admitted not to be of an inviting aspect; but it is not in reality

quite so barbarous as it appears to the beholder. The point which

projects from one side of the blade marks the extent of its cutting

surface, and indicates the size of that puncture which the fleam can

leave behind. It is more safe than the lancet, which, though of a more

innocent aspect, has inflicted wounds of awful dimensions. For the last

reason, the employment of the lancet by veterinary surgeons is not to

be commended.

Above the cutting point of the fleam, and upon the opposite side of

the blade, is seen what is intended to represent a bulging piece of

metal. That indicates the place which the operator occasionally strikes

with the side of his hand; its intention is to afford a blunt surface

for delivery of the blow. It is advantageous to possess a fleam of the

above form, because, under rare circumstances, the possibility for

which it provides may be encountered; but for general use a blood stick

is more instantaneous, and is more certain in its result; wherefore it

is to be preferred to the human hand, as giving the smarter impetus to

the blade.

[Illustration: A BLOOD STICK, WHICH IS LOADED AT THE LARGER END.]

A =blood stick= is merely a hard piece of wood, six or eight inches

long, and turned in a lathe till it has assumed the above form. The

larger end is then hollowed; the cavity is loaded with lead. Such a

tool, though very diminutive, can be made to deal a heavy blow, and

it is quite powerful enough to send the point of the fleam through

the skin and thin layer of muscular fiber which externally cover the

jugular vein.

However, before any attempt is made to bleed the horse, the animal’s

eyes should be bandaged. This should invariably be done before the

fleam or blood stick are produced; as some quadrupeds show their

intelligence by dreading the operation which most veterinary surgeons

regard with complacency. Many persons doubt whether beasts are gifted

with imagination; but it is not rare to encounter a steed which will

stagger at the sight of a fleam, and when the blood stick and can

are produced, will give every indication of approaching syncope.

Consequently, if the reader is determined to have his horse depleted,

let the eyes be disabled before any instrument is produced, more

especially before the stick is attempted to be employed. Most animals,

from natural timidity, shrink if they can discern when the blow is

about to be delivered, and the point of the fleam is thereby frequently

displaced.

The sight should first be obscured; then the vessel raised; afterward

the fleam arranged upon the huge pipe thus brought into view; when a

sudden blow being dealt with the blood stick will cause the current to

spurt forth. Should any accident prevent the first attempt from being

successful, the operator should not strike twice in the same place.

Repeated blows upon the same spot are likely to bruise the part, or to

cause a ragged wound; neither of which circumstances are favorable to

the healing process. Leave the slight incision to nature, for it very

rarely requires any treatment, and choosing a fresh mark, repeat the

process with better success.

[Illustration: BLEEDING.]

Blood being obtained by the operator, the groom approaches bearing

the blood can. This the man presses against the horse’s neck, thereby

impeding the downward stream within the vessel and causing the vital

current to gush forth.

Whatever may be the urgency of the business which may demand your

presence elsewhere, never quit at this stage of the proceeding. However

experienced or meritorious the servant may be, always remain until the

operation is concluded. These poor men invariably possess opinions of

their own that are stronger because of the ignorance upon which such

notions repose. The groom may have seen a gallon, or even two gallons

extracted, when in his last situation. Such people delight in strong

measures; and he will sneer at the one or two quarts you may desire

should be withdrawn. Be absent only for a brief space, and you may be

certain your directions have been violated, although on your return the

most solemn of faces should protest to the contrary.

[Illustration: PRESSING THE BLOOD CAN AGAINST THE NECK, TO ARREST THE

DOWNWARD CURRENT, AND TO CAUSE THE BLOOD TO FLOW FORTH.]

[Illustration: TWISTED SUTURE.]

When the quantity has been extracted, remove the pressure below the

orifice and the outward stream will cease. Then proceed to pin up.

Having rendered the point of a pin somewhat angular, by cutting off the

tip, the wire will pierce the integument the more readily. Drive it

through each side of the wound, and, being in this situation, twist,

after the fashion of a figure of ∞, some tow or thread, or a hair

pulled from the horse’s tail, round its either extremity. Subsequently

remove so much of the pin as may protrude, and the orifice will be

closed by what surgeons denominate a =twisted suture=.

When performing this, a few precautions are imperative. In the first

instance, the surfaces should not be brought immediately together. The

wound should be left open until the lips become sticky, as when in that

condition they unite the more readily. Next, when closing the orifice,

all hairs should be removed, which is sometimes difficult should the

integument have been torn asunder with a blunt fleam. The skin then

is twisted and forced from its integrity; but if a sharp or proper

instrument has been used, the presence of hair is never annoying;

indeed it seldom requires attention.

The sides of the incision should be adjusted with all nicety, because,

subsequently to bleeding, healing by the first intention, or by the

speediest natural process, is desirable. Hairs, when present, prevent

that union from being perfected. They irritate the part and act as

minute setons, which provoke suppuration. The advent of the last action

is always to be feared after a vein has been opened. The pus gravitates

into the vessel and the blood becomes vitiated. The consequences

frequently are fatal, and are always much to be lamented.

[Illustration: A HORSE, AFTER BEING BLED, HAS THE HEAD TIED TO THE

MANGER FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.]

When the wound has been properly secured, all has not been

accomplished. The rack and manger must be cleared. Food or drink must

be withheld for twenty-four hours. The halter must be fastened up to

the bars of the hay rack; for the animal which has just been rendered

faint by having its blood extracted must, for the tedious space of one

entire day and night, neither feed, allay its thirst, nor repose its

tottering limbs. Some certain benefit, substantiated by very potent

proofs, are necessary to justify the measure which must be followed

by such deprivation; for if lack of nutriment and want of rest can

generate debility, what must be the effect of enforced abstinence, when

ensuing upon a sickening depletion?

[Illustration]