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Many of the techniques and recipes in this chapter of the book are dangerous! They were written in a time before most of the advances of modern science. When this book was published, heavy metals and their compounds, such as sugar of lead and raw mercury, were the only effective treatment for a variety of parasites. We have much better options now than to expose our animals to cumulative poisons, or indeed to most of the other treatments described here. |
At five years of age the horse has forty teeth - twentyfour molar or jaw teeth, twelve incisor or front teeth and four tusks or canine teeth between the molars and incisors, but usually wanting in the mare.
At birth only the two nippers or middle incisors appear.
At one year old the incisors are all visible of the first or milk set.
Before three years the permanent nippers have come through.
At four years old the permanent dividers next to the nippers are out.
At five the mouth is perfect, the second set of teeth having been completed.
At six the hollow under the nippers, called the mark, has disappeared from the nippers, and diminished in the dividers.
At seven the mark has disappeared from the dividers, and the next teeth, or corners, are level, though showing the mark.
At eight the mark has gone from the corners and the horse is said to be aged. After this time, indeed good authorities say after five years, the age of a horse can only be conjectured. But the teeth gradually change their form, the incisors becoming round, oval, and then triangular. Dealers sometimes bishop the teeth of old horses, that is scoop them out, to imitate the mark: but this can be known by the absence of the white edge of enamel which always surrounds the real mark, by the shape of the teeth, and other marks of age bout the animal.
Any of the following defects constitute unsoundness in a horse:
Lameness, of all kinds and degrees. Diseases of any of the internal organs. Cough of all kinds, as long as it exists. Colds or catarrhs, while they last. Roaring; broken wind; thick wind; grease; mange; farcy and glanders; megrims or staggers; founder; convex feet; contracted feet; spavins and ringbones; enlargements of the sinews or ligaments; Cataracts and other defects of the eyes, impairing sight.
The following may or may not occasion unsoundness, according to the state or degree in which they exist: Corns, splints, thrushes, bogspavins, throughpins, wind-galls, cribbiting. Curbs are unsoundness unless the horse has worked with them for some months without inconvenience.
Cutting, particularly speedy cutting, constitutes unsoundness when it cannot be remedied by care and skill. Quidding, when a confirmed habit, injures the soundness of a horse.
Defects, called blemishes, are: Scars, from broken knees, capped hocks, splints, bog-spavins and throughpins; loss of hair, from blisters or scars, enlargements from blows or cutting; specks or streaks on the corner of the eye.
Vices are: Restiveness, shying, bolting, running away, kicking, rearing, weaving or moving the head from side to side, stringhalt, quidding, slipping the halter.
When horses, cattle, or any of our domestic animals are wounded, the treatment may be very simple, and much the same as in the human race. It is extremely improper to follow a practice that is common in many parts of the country among farriers, cow-doctors, and even shepherds - that of applying to the wound, or putting into the sore part, sommon salts, powder of blue vitriol, or tar, or cloths dipped in spirits, as brandy, rum, etc., or turpentine, or any other stimulant articles; for all such very much increase the pain, and, by irritating the sore, may increase the inflammation, even to the length of inducing mortification. Though the treatment may be varied recording to circumstances, yet, in most cases, it may be sufficient to take notice of the following particulars: It will be proper to wash away any foulness or dirt about the part, and to examine particularly its condition.
Should any large bloodvessel be cut, and discharging copiously, it will be right to stop it, by some lint or sponge, with moderate compression or bandaging, at the same time, and not taking it off for two or three days. Should the pressure fail of effect, caustic applications, such as the lunar caustic, or even the actual cautery, the point of a thick wire, sufficiently heated, may be tried; or, if a surgeon be at hand, the vessel may be taken up by the crooked needle, with waxed thread, and then tied.
Where there is no danger of excessive bleeding, and a mere division of the parts, or a deep gash or cut, it will be right to adjust the parts, and keep them together by a strip of any common adhesive plaster; or, when this will not do by itself; the lips of the wound, especially if it be a clean cut, may be closed by one or more stitches, with a moderately coarse needle and thread, which in each stitch may be tied, and the ends left of a proper length, so that they can be afterwards removed, when the parts adhere. It is advised to tie the threads, because sometimes the wounded part swells so mush that it is difficult to get them cut and drawn out, without giving pain and doing some mischief.
If the part will allow a roller or bandage to be used, to keep the lips of it together, this may likewise be employed; for, by supporting the sides of the wound, it would lessen any pain which the stitches occasion. With this treatment the wound heals often in a short time, or in a few days, rarely exceeding five or six, and sooner in the young and healthy than in the old and relaxed, and sooner in the quiet and motionless than in the restless and active.
Should the wound be large and inflammation, with the discharge of matter, likely to take place, it may still be proper, by gentle means, to bring the divided parts near to each other, and to retain them in their natural situation by means of a bandage. This should not be made too tight, but merely to support the part. In this way, and by avoiding stimulant applications, the wound will heal more readily than otherwise, and the chance of any blemishes following will be diminished. Washes of spirits, brandy, and the like, Friar's balsam, spirit of wine and camphor, turpentine, or any other such irritating applications, are highly improper, and sometimes makes a fresh clean wound (that would readily heal almost of itself) inflame and perhaps mortify, or become a bad sore.
Over the whole sore, or where the part is bruised or where there is a tendency to suppuration, a poultice should be applied and kept on by suitable bandages. The poultice may be made of any kind of meal, fine bran, bruised linseed, or of mashed turnips, carrots, etc. The following has been found useful as a common poultice: "Fine bran 1 quart; pour on a sufficient quantity of boiling water to make a thin paste; to this add of linseed powder enough to give it a proper consistence." The poultice may be kept on for a week or ten days, or even longer, if necessary, changing it once or twice a day, and cleaning the wound, when the poultice is removed, by washing it by means of a soft rag or linen cloth, with water not more than blood warm (some sponges are too rough for this purpose); or, where the wound is deep, the water may be injected into it by a syringe, in order to clean it from the bottom.
In the course of a few days, when the wound, by care and proper management with the poultices, begins by put on a healthy appearance, and seems to be clean and of a reddish color, not black or bloody, then there may be applied an ointment made of tallow, linseed oil, beeswax, and hogs' lard, in such proportions as to make it of a consistence somewhat firmer than butter. The ointment should be spread on some soft clean tow, and when applied to the sore it ought never to be tied hard upon it (which is done too frequently and very improperly), but only fixed by a bandage of a proper length and breadth (for a mere cord is often improper), so close and securely as to keep it from slipping off. This application may be changed once a day, or, when nearly well and discharging but little, once in two days.
Put into a well-glazed earthen vessel 2 ounces of beeswax; melt it over a clear fire, and add 2 ounces of resin, when that is melted, put in half a pound of hogs, lard; to this put 4 ounces of turpentine; keep stirring all the time with a clean stick or wooden spatula. When all is well mixed stir in 1 ounce of finely powdered verdigris. Be careful it does not boil over. Strain it through a coarse cloth, and preserve it in a gallipot. This ointment is very good for old and recent wounds whether in flesh or hoof; also galled backs, cracked heels, mallenders, sallenders, bites, broken knees, etc.
When the wounded part begins to discharge a whitish, thick matter, and is observed to fill up, the general treatment and dressings to the sore now mentioned should be continued, and in the course of the cure the animal, when free of fever may be allowed better provision, and may take gentle exercise. If the animal be feeble from the loss of blood originally, or from the long continuance of a feverish state, produced by the inflammation attending the wound, or from weakness arising from confinement, or connected with its constitution naturally, and if the wound appear to be in a stationary state, very pale and flabby on its edges, with a thin discharge, then better food may be given to it; and if still no change should be observed, along with the better food, the wound may be treated somewhat differently from what has been already advised. The ointment may be made more stimulant, by adding to it some resin and less beeswax, or, what would be more stimulant still, some common turpentine; for it is only in very rare eases that oil of turpentine can be requisite. The effects of an alteration in the mode of treatment should be particularly remarked, and stimulants should be laid aside, continued, or increased, according as may be judged proper. Before changing the dressings applied to the wound or before rendering them more stimulant and active by using heating applications, the effect of closer bandaging may be tried; for sometimes, by keeping the parts a little more firmly together, the cure is promoted.
In case of severe wounds attention should be paid to the condition of the animal in other respects. There being always when such happen a tendency to violent inflammation and fever, that may end fatally, means should be employed to moderate both. The apartment should be cool and airy, and so quiet, that the animal should not be disturbed; the drink should not be warm, but rather cold, and given freely, though not in too large quantities at a time; the food should be sparingly given, and of a lighter quality than usual, and should be rather succulent and laxative, than dry or apt to produce costiveness. Bleeding may be employed, either generally from a vein, or in some eases, when it can be done, by supping from the hurt part, as in the ease of a bruise (though this last will seldom be requisite or found convenient). Laxative medicines also ought to be given and repeated, as there may be occasion.
These are swellings containing matter, that make their appearance in different parts of the body. The remedies are, to wash the swollen part with a quart of vinegar, in which are dissolved two ounces of sal ammoniac and half an ounce of sugar of lead. If the swelling does not abate in two or three days, apply the suppurating poultice.
When the tumor becomes soft and points, open it with a lancet, and let out the matter. Then dress it with basilicon ointment.
Tie a strong silk, or two or three horse-hairs, round the neck of the wart, tightening it gradually till it falls away. Then dip a piece of tow in alumwater and bind it on the spot for a whole day. Heal the sore with the green ointment.
These should always be made fresh for using, lest they become too hard. They should be about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and from two and a half to four inches long.
Make the animal drink largely of flaxseed tea, barley or rice water, or any mucilaginous liquid and inject a portion of the same frequently. Bleeding is sometimes useful, and a dose of castor oil is never to be omitted. After the oil has operated, give the following ball every sixth hour: Powdered nitre, half an ounce; camphor 1 drachm; liquorice powder, 3 drachms; honey sufficient to form the ball. Should these means not relieve the animal, omit the half, and give 1 drachm of opium twice a day.
This is an enlargement of the hock-joint, with fluid, common in young horses, from violent exercise.
Clip off the hair from the swelling, and rub all round outside of the swelling with a piece of hard brown soup, then apply to the swelling a blister made of the following:
Hogs' lard, half an ounce, beeswax, 3 drachms; Spanish flies, 2 drachms. Mix them all well, and spread it on white leather, and apply it to the spavin.
Oil of cantharides, with four times its weight of olive oil, may be used, instead of the ointment. The blistered surface should be dressed with simple cerate.
This maybe treated like the former, it is, however, generally incurable. The operation of firing (which should be done by a professed farmer), and turning to grass, afford the only reasonable chances of relief.
The lameness in this disease of the hock is peculiar; the limb being drawn with great celerity.
Several kinds of worms infest the bowels of horses. The bot infests the stomach and intestine; it is a small, reddish worm, with a large head, and may be frequently observed in the dung.
The truncheon is short and thick, with a blackish head, and is found in the maw, where, if suffered to remain, it sometimes pierces through, and thus is many a fine horse destroyed.
The maw-worm is of a pale red color, resembling an earthworm, from two to three inches long, occupying, also, the maw.
Stamping forcibly on the ground with either of his fore-feet, and frequently striking at his belly with his hind ones. Belly projecting and hard - looking frequently behind him, and groaning as if in great pain.
Keep the horse from all kinds of food for one day; at night give him a small quantity of warm bran mash, made as usual, and directly after, a ball made of 1 scruple of calomel, 1 scruple of turpeth mineral, and as much crumb of bread and honey as will form the mass. Next evening give him a pint of castor, and half a pint of linseed oil. The animal is then to be fed as usual for two or three days, and the same plan again to be employed.
In the fall, when the horses are first taken from grass, bots may often be expelled by giving them brine (four or five ounces of salt to one quart of water) following a drench of sweetened milk. Oil of turpentine is also a powerful vermifuge; four ounces may be given in a pint of gruel, fasting previously. An almost certain cure for bots is the nux vomica, called vulgarly dog-buttons. Rasp the whole of one of the nuts, and pour upon it a pint of boiling water. Let it cool to bloodheat, and then drench the horse with it; having, about half an hour before, bled him in the mouth, so that he would swallow the blood, which draws the worms into the stomach from the mucous membrane, into which they fasten themselves.
This not very common, but when it does occur dangerous, disorder is of two kinds. The first or peritoneal inflammation begins with an appearance of dullness and uneasiness in the animal; appetite diminished or totally gone; constant pawing with the fore feet; he lies down, rises suddenly, looks round to his flanks - countenance strongly expressive of pain; urine small, high colored, and voided with great pain; pulse quick and small; legs and ears cold; profuse sweats; mortification and death.
The second species of the disorder is when the inflammation attacks the internal coat of the intestines, and is generally accompanied by a violent purging and some fever - the symptoms of the latter, however, are much less violent, nor does the animal appear to be in so much pain.
In the first or peritoneal inflammation, the only dependence is on early and large bleeding. In addition to this rub the whole belly well with the mustard embrocation, clothe the animal warmly (with fresh sheep-skins if possible), insert several rowels about the chest and belly, putting into them the blistering ointment. As the horse is generally costive give him a pint of castor oil, and inject clysters of warm flaxseed tea, give him warm water or thin gruel or flaxseed tea to drink, rub his legs with the hands well, and see that he has plenty of clean fresh litter. If in six hours the disease is not relieved, bleed him again, and should the costiveness continue, repeat the oil and clysters. If, after giving all these remedies a faithful and continued trial, the pain should continue, recourse may be had to the anodyne clyster.
In the second species of this disorder, bleeding need not be resorted to unless the febrile symptoms run high. Clothe the horse warmly, use the mustard embrocation freely, and omit the oil. Give him frequently, by means of a bottle (if he will not drink it), quantities of very thin gruel or flaxseed tea. If, in spite of this, the disease continues, use the anodyne clyster; if that fail, the astringent draught. The pain occasioned by physicking, is to be relieved by large clysters of thin gruel or flaxseed, which produce copious evacuations and relief.
This is an incurable disease; all that can be done is to relieve the animal for a time so as to enable him to perform a day's work. To do this make the following:
Assafoetida, 2 ounces; powdered squills, 2 drachms; linseed powder, 1 ounce; honey, as much as will make the mass. Divide it into four balls, and give one, morning and evening. Much benefit may result from bleeding in this disorder at an early period of the complaint. His food should be carrots or turnips. The hay, oats, or whatever is given, should be in smell quantities at a time, and always sprinkled with clean, soft water.
Apply a poultice of bread and milk or bread and warm water to reduce the inflammation, then dress the wound with basilicon.
If slight, apply cold lead water; if extensive, a liniment made of equal parts of linseed oil and lime water. If there is much fever, bleed.
Cut away freely all the diseased parts, and if necessary draw the frogs, then apply the:
Warm 6 ounces of tar, mix with it drop by drop 1 oz. by measure of oil of vitriol, then add 1 oz. of oil of turpentine. Bind this firmly on the part, destroying all the diseased protruberances with lunar caustic. When the wound looks healthy, dress it with the green ointment.
If the swelling proceed from a bruise or a blow, bathe it three or four times a day with salt and vinegar made warm. If it threaten abscess, apply the suppurating poultice; and when matter is formed let it out, then use the green ointment.
Take a quart of blood from the neck, then give warm mashes with a scruple of nitre in them. Purge with castor and linseed oil, and keep the stable warm.
Symptoms. - The horse raises his head higher than usual and pricks up or thrusts back his ears - neck stiff and immovable, skin tight. He stands in a straddling posture, pants and breathes with difficulty.
Cure. - Bleed him if his strength will permit it, and his pulse is high, eye red, etc., otherwise not. If you observe bots or any other kind of worms, pursue the treatment recommended for them.
Take a quart of blood from the neck, and give the following:
Half an ounce of Venice soap, half an ounce of nitre, ten grains of tartar emetic, and ten grains of opium. Make these into a ball with honey, and give one every other night. Keep the horse warm and remedy costiveness by castor oil.
Let the farrier cut them out with a sharp knife. Should they show a disposition to grow again, touch them with oil of vitriol or caustic and dress them with green ointment. Be careful in shoeing not to let the shoe press on the corn.
This is a swelling, from sprain, in the back and lower part of the hock. Cauterize the curb in a line down its middle or apply the blistering ointment; or iodine ointment.
Poultice the parts with carrots or turnips boiled soft, three or four times, then anoint with yellow basilicon mixed with a little green ointment.
As soon as the disease is observed, give the draught below, and a clyster composed of 8 oz. common salt in six quarts of water gruel or warm water. If there is great pain with quick pulse, take away three quarts of blood. The belly should be well rubbed with the mustard or other stimulating embrocation. If no relief is obtained in two hours repeat the draught and embrocation and should even this fail give him a pint of castor oil with one and a half ounces of laudanum. If castor oil cannot be had a pint and a quarter of linseed oil may be used.
Balsam copaiva 1 ounce, oil of juniper 1 drachm, spirit of nitrous ether half an ounce, mint water 1 pint. Mix for one dose.
Another. - Allspice, bruised, 1/2 pound; brandy, 2 quarts. Dose, 2 to 4 ounces, in water, ale, or mint tea.
This disorder, which consists in an involuntary discharge of the urine, which is pale and thin, frequently proves fatal. To treat it, give the following:
Peruvian bark 4 drachms, ginger 1 drachm, if costive after it, give a pint of castor oil. Repeat it necessary.
Inflammation of the eye is often cured by scarifying with a lancet the inside of the upper and lower brow, and the distended vessels of the eye itself. It is to be remembered that in treating an inflammation of this important organ, we should proceed precisely as if treating a human being laboring under the same complaint and keep the animal on short allowance, prevent costiveness, keep the stable cool and dark.
Soreness or weakness of the eye is cured by bleeding from the neck and using the following:
To 1 quart of water put 3 drachms of the sugar of lead or two drachms of white vitriol. When dissolved let it settle and pour off the clear liquor for use. A drop may be put into each eye three times a day with a feather.
There is no remedy for this but an operation by a surgeon. There is a variety of washes, etc., recommended by various authors, but they are useless.
This disease commences in small hard knots, which soon become soft and ulcerous, generally situated on the lymphatic vessels and extending upwards. It not unfrequently ends in the glanders.
Open the ulcers and touch the inside of the edges slightly with powdered verdigris, by means of a camel's hair pencil. At the same time give the following ball: White arsenic 8 grains, or corrosive sublimate 6 grains, powdered and mixed with flour or bread or any other vehicle that will form a ball with molasses. Keep the animal warm, mix chopped carrots with his mashes. Intermit one day and give a similar ball - if it purge add 10 grains of opium to it. Attend constantly to the ulcers; wash them with warm soap-suds, and keep the animal by himself - if the disease gains the nostrils and head, and becomes glanders there is no remedy.
This is a white offensive discharge from the skin of the heels. Wash the part well with warm soap-suds twice a day, and if the swelling be great apply a poultice to it, when the sores are cleansed touch them with a rag or feather dipped in a solution of chloride of zinc, 1 grain to the ounce of water.
This is known by the contraction of the hoof which will appear considerably smaller than the sound one. The horse just touches the ground with the toe of the foundered foot on account of pain, and stands in such a tottering way that you may shove him over with your hand.
Cure. - Take off the shoe, bleed freely from the thigh vein. and purge two or three times. Keep the hair close trimmed and the parts clean.
Cut down several lines from the coronet to the toe all round the hoof and fill the cuts with tallow and soap mixed. Take off the shoes and (if you can spare him) turn the animal into a wet meadow, where his feet will be kept moist. Never remove the sole nor burn the lines down, as this increases the evil.
This consists in a swelling of the first bar of the upper palate. It is cured by rubbing the swelling two or three times a day with half an ounce of alum and the same quantity of double refined sugar mixed with a little honey. In young horses it hardly amounts to a disease.
Never attempt to stop the discharge too suddenly or too soon; this common but erroneous practice has killed many fine horses. To begin the cure give him the following:
Rhubarb in powder 1 ounce; magnesia half an ounce; calomel 1 scruple; oil of aniseed 1 drachm. Mix up a ball with honey and liquorice powder. Next day give the horse 1 fluid ounce of laudanum in a pint of water. On the third day repeat the drench until the animal is well.
Bleed the animal copiously as soon as the complaint is perceived, and repeat it in six hours if the fever, quickness of breathing etc., do not abate. Blister his sides, rowel the chest, and give the following ball, which is to be taken morning and evening until the staling is considerably increased, one a day will then be sufficient. Grass or bran mashes should be the food.
Powdered nitre 6 drachms, camphor 1 drachm; as much syrup and linseed oil as will form the ball; or, a drachm of tartar emetic, 3 drachms of nitre and 1 drachm of digitalis.
This is a scabby eruption in the bend of the kneejoint, causing lameness. Wash the cracks well with warm soapsuds and a sponge, and then with the vulnerary water twice every day, wipe the parts dry and apply the citrine ointment, or white lead cerate.
This is a kind of itch. Wash with soap-suds and purge with castor oil, and then apply strong sulphur ointment freely and repeatedly. Feed the horse well, and work him moderately.
Bleed and purge moderately, feed regularly on a diminished allowance, and use back-raking and large injections.
This is a swelling of the back of the head from a bruise. Bring the swelling to a head, as any other tumor, by the suppurating poultice, which is made as follows:
Take four handsful of bran and three middling sized turnips, boil them till soft, beat them well together; then boil them again in milk to a thick poultice, adding to it 2 ounces of linseed and half a pound of hog's lard.
Quittor is a severe bruise of the coronet by the other foot, followed after by suppurution. Make an opening for the matter to descend from all the neighboring sinuses. Keep the parts well cleaned with warm soap-suds, then inject alum water into the sinuses. If there be a core, touch it with caustic; when this is discharged dress with the green ointment.
If recent, blister the part; if an old affection, recourse must be had to firing.
Remove the shoe and ascertain carefully the extent of the injury, if the crack be superficial, fill it with the composition below, and keep the foot cool and moist. If the crack has extended to the sensible parts, and you can see any fungous flesh, with a small drawing knife remove the edges of the cracked horn that press upon it. Touch the fungus with caustic, dip a roll of tow or linen in tar and bind it firmly over it. The whole foot is to be inept in a bran poultice for a few days, or until the lameness is removed. A shoe may then be put on, so as not to press on the diseased part. The pledget of tow may now be removed, the crack filled with the composition, and the animal turned into some soft meadow.
Beeswax 4 ounces, yellow rosin 2 ounces; common turpentine 1 ounce; tallow or suet 1/2 ounce. To be melted together.
Are horny substances on the back, under the saddle. Take hold of them with a pair of pincers and cut them out radically; leave no part behind, or they will grow again. Dress the wound with the green ointment.
Require the same treatment as mallenders, which see. They differ only in being at the bend of the hock-joint.
Three disorders often receive this name: mad staggers, or inflammation of the brain; megrims, or epilepsy, and stomach staggers, or palsy of the stomach. In the first the animal is very violent; young horses are most frequently affected. Bleeding is the usual treatment. Megrims is attended by the signs of vertigo and confusion, lasting for a few minutes at a time. Moderate feeding and gentle purgation are recommended for it. Stomach staggers generally proceeds from distension of the stomach with indigestible food, especially when the horse is otherwise in a bad condition. The great object of treatment must be to empty the alimentary canal by the use of cordial purgatives and clysters, as of salt and water, used repeatedly.
Barbadoes aloes 6 drachms; calomol 2 drachms; oil of peppermint 20 drops; warm water 1 pint; tincture of cardamons 2 ounces. Mix for one dose.
Common salt 4 ounces; ginger 2 drachms; carbonate of soda 1 ounce; water 1 quart.
In whatever part of the body this accident occurs, the treatment should be perfect rest, moderate bleeding and purging till the inflammation is reduced, when any stimulating embrocation may be used.
Take away a quart of blood and throw up a laxative clyster: then give one ounce of saltpetre and one fluid ounce of sweet spirits of nitre in a pint of water.
This is known by a swelling between the jawbone and the root of the tongue. If a large tumor appear under the jaw, apply the suppurating poultice. When it is ripe open it, squeeze out the matter and apply a warm poultice. In a few days it will run off. Give warm bran mashes and gentle exercise.
Remove the shoe and pare off all the ragged parts so as to expose the diseased parts; after cleaning the frog nicely apply a solution of blue vitriol, and shortly after pour some melted tar ointment into the cleft of the frog, and cover its whole surface with tow soaked in the same, and on the tow a flat piece of wood about the width of the frog, one of its ends passing under the toe of the shoe, the other extending to the back part of the frog and bound down by cross pieces of wood, the ends of which are placed under the shoe. Repeat the dressing every day.
This is a disease most common to young horses, and consists in a long swelling of the parotid gland, beginning at the root of the ears and descending downwards. If it is painful and inflamed, apply the poultice; if it suppurates, open the lump, let out the matter and dress with the green ointment. If it is hard and indolent apply strong mercurial ointment to disperse it and bleed moderately.
These swellings appear on each side of the back sinew, above the fetlock. It is dangerous to puncture them as is sometimes done, as it may produce an incurable lameness. Tight bandages and moistening the parts frequently with a strong solution of sal ammoniac in vinegar may do some good.
All the rules laid down in this book for the treatment of wounds in the human subject, apply strictly to horses. As in simple cuts, however, sticking plaster cannot be used, the edged of the wound should be neatly stitched together. Much can be done also by the judicious application of bandages. Farriers, generally, are in the habit of pursuing such absurd, cruel, and fatal practices in these cases, either by cutting off a part that appears to be partly torn from its connection, or by using stimulating applications, that it becomes necessary to repeat again that all the rules laid down for the treatment of wounds in this work as applicable to man are equally so to the noble animal of which we are speaking. Read over these rules. Substitute the word "horse" for "patient" and you will be at no loss how to proceed.
Bleeding is often the most useful and efficacious means of curing diseases in horses, etc. In inflammatory affections it is generally the first remedy resorted to, and its immediate salutary effects are often surprising. But it is often abused by being practised where it is not required, or where the animal is too weak to bear it, or by being done too largely or too often in the same case. It is a great error to suppose that all diseases or cases of diseases require bleeding.
When it is necessary to lessen the whole quantity of blood in the system, open the jugular or neck vein. If the inflammation is local, bleed where it can be conveniently done, either from the part affected, or in its vicinity, as by opening the plate vein, superficial vein of the thigh, or temporal arteries.
In fevers of all kinds in the horse, and when inflammation attacks any important organ, as the brain, eyes, lungs, stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys, bladder, etc., bleeding is of the greatest use. It diminishes the quantity of blood in the body and by this means prevents the bad consequences of inflammation. The quantity of blood to be taken varies according to the age, size, condition, and constitution of the horse, and urgency of the symptoms.
From a large strong horse, four or six quarts will generally be requisite, and this may be repented in smaller quantities if symptoms demand it. The blood, in these diseases, must flow from a large orifice made in the vein. A horse should never be suffered to bleed upon the ground, but into a measure in order that the proper quantity may be taken. Young horses, also, while shedding their teeth, have sometimes much constitutional irritation, which bleeding relieves. But in these affections it is very rarely necessary to bleed to the same extent as in fevers, etc.: two or three quarts generally suffice to be taken away.
Moderate bleeding, as from two to three or four quarts, is also used to remove fullness of habit, or plethora, attended with slight inflammatory symptoms. In this case the eyes appear heavy, dull red or inflamed, frequently closed as if asleep; the pulse small and oppressed; the heat of the body somewhat increased; the legs swell; the hair also rubs off. Horses that are removed from grass to a warm stable, and full fed on hay and corn, and not sufficiently exercised, are very subject to one or more of those symptoms. Regulating the quantity of food given to him, proper exercise, and occassional laxatives, as the following powder, will be commonly found sufficient after the first bleeding, and operation of an aloetic purge. In slight affectations of this kind, a brisk purge will often alone be sufficient.
Take of nitre, cream of tartar, and flower of sulphur, of each, 4 ounces.
Powder and mix them well together for use.
One tablespoonful of this mixture may be given every night and morning, in as much scalded bran, or a feed of corn moistened with water, that the powders may adhere thereto.
This powder will be found excellent for such horses as are kept on dry food, whether they be in the stable, or travel on the road; also for stallions in the spring of the year, as they not only keep the body cool and open, but cause him to cast his coat, and make his skin appear as bright as silk.
In obstinate grease and swellings of the legs, accompanied with lameness of the joints, dry coughs, worms, diseases of the skin. farey, apoplexy, or staggers, affections of the liver, and several other diseases treated of in this book, mercurial purges are of the greatest service. They purge; destroy worms; generally increase the flow of urine; operate upon the skin, liver, and other viscera in a peculiar manner; cause a healthful action in these parts; and remove many chronic complaints incident to the horse. Great caution is necessary during their operation, lest the horse take cold. The water given him must be warm and when exercised he should be properly clothed.
Horses that are kept on dry food, and are full fed, with little or no exercise, require regular purging every six months.
Previously to administering a purge, the body should be prepared.
The proper method of preparing a horse for physic is to give him two or three mashes of the scalded bran and oats and warm water, for three or four days together. This will soften the feces and promote the operation of the medicine. But if a strong purge be given to a horse of costive habit, without preperation, it will probably occasion a violent inflammation.
Often the bran mashes will move the bowels sufficiently, without other physic. The mash is made by pouring boiling water on fresh sweet bran in a pail, so that the mixture, when stirred, may be of about the consistence of a soft poultice.
Take of Barbadoes aloes, 7 1/2 ounces; Castile soap, 1 1/2 ounces; powder ginger, 1 1/2 ounces; oil of aniseed, 5 drachms; syrup, a sufficient quantity to make 6 balls, each of which is a dose.
Take of prepared chalk, ginger, and aniseeds, in powder, each 1 ounce; essential oil of peppermint, 15 drops; rectified spirit of wine, 1/2 an ounce.
Mix the whole in a pint and a half of warm linseed gruel, and give it.
Another. - Take of prepared chalk, 2 ounces; aniseeds and caraway seeds, in powder each, 1 ounce; opium, 1/2 a drachm. Mix, and give it in a pint of linseed gruel.
If the looseness continue, after the above drink has been administered for two or three days, the following astringent drink may be given:-
Take of pomegranate shell, in powder, and prepared testaceous powder, each, 1 ounce; Dover's powders, and ginger powdered, each 2 drachms. Mix, and give in a pint of warm gruel, and repeat twice a day.
Take of Barbadoes tar and gum ammoniac, each, 1 ounce. Incorporate them with the yolk of an egg, then add nitre, 1 ounce; ginger, half an ounce; tincture of opium, 1 ounce. Mix them together.
Let this drink be gradually mixed in a pint of warm ale or linseed tea, and give it in the morning fasting; let the horse stand without food for two hours after, then give him a mash of scalded bran and oats and warm water. Repeat every other morning, for three or four times.
Take of antimonial powder, tartarized antimony, and camphor, each 1 drachm; nitre and Castile soap, each 2 drachms; Barbadoes aloes, 2 drachms. Mix, and beat them into a ball with syrup of buckthorn.
Let this ball be given to the horse about two hours after bleeding; and in six hours after giving him the ball, let him have the following:
Take of Epsom salts, 4 ounces; nitre, 1/2 an ounce; coarse sugar, two tablespoonsful. Dissolve them in a quart of gruel; then add 10 ounces of castor oil. Mix, and give it while new-milk warm.
After the first ball is given the aloes may be left out, and then the ball and drink may be given once a day (one in the morning and the other in the evening), until a proper passage be obtained.
If the fever still continue to increase it will be proper to take a little more blood from him, and then to have recourse to the following fever powder:
Take of tartar emetic, 1 ounce; calcined hartshorn, 1 ounce. Mix, and grind them in a mortar to a fine powder; then put them in a bottle for use; two drachms of these powders are a proper dose for a horse.
A dose of this powder, with one ounce of nitre, may be given twice or three times a day in a pint of warm gruel, or be made into a ball with conserve of roses. If the fever be violent, and the horse in a raging state, 1/2 an ounce of tincture of opium may be added to each dose of powders.
Take of tartar emetic, 1 drachm; camphor, 1 drachm, rubbed into powder, with a few drops of spirit of wine.
This drink is excellent for all kinds of inflammatory fevers, especially such as are attended with imminent danger. It may be given every four hours, or three times a day, in a pint of water-gruel.
Take of Barbadoes aloes, from 4 to 5 drachms; white antimonial powder and Castile soap, each 2 dracbms; calomel, 1 drachm. Mix, and beat them into a ball with a sufficient quantity of syrup of buckthorn.
The horse should have a couple of mashes the day before this ball is given, by way of preparation, and the ball should be given fasting the morning following; let him fast for two hours after, then give him a mash of scalded bran and oats with warm water, and treat him in the same manner as for other physic.
Take of gentian and caraway seeds, in powder, of each 8 ounces; powdered ginger, 6 drachms; Castile soap, 1 1/2 ounces; and honey sufficient to form into 6 balls.
One of these balls should be given every other day for some time.
Take of Barbadoes tar, Venioe turpentine, and Castile soap, each 2 ounces; squills, in powder, 1 ounce. Beat them well together; then add nitre, 2 ounces; aniseeds and caraway seeds, fresh powdered, each 1 ounce. Beat them into a mass with honey and liquorice powder, and divide into ten balls.
Take of precipitated sulphur of antimony, gentian root, and socotrine aloes, each 1 ounce in fine powder; nitre, 2 ounces; calomel, in powder, 2 drachms. Mix, and make them into a mass for balls with honey or treacle. Each ball to weigh 1 ounce and a half.
These bulls will be found sometimes useful in many diseases; such as surfeit, hidebound, mange, grease or swelled legs, lameness of the joints, molten-grease, inflammation of the eyes; and, indeed, in all lingering and obstinate diseases. One ball may be given every other morning for a week together.
Take of galls, in fine powder, 2 drachms; Peruvian bark, 1/2 ounce. Make into a ball with honey or treacle.
It will be proper to repeat this ball every morning, and, if the disease is obstinate, every night and morning, and continue until the urine is diminished to about its natural quantity.
Take of gentian root, in powder, 1/2 an ounce; ginger, powdered, 2 drachms; alum, 1 drachm; treacle, sufficient to make into a ball.
Take of calomel and Castile soap, each 1 drachm; wormseed, in powder, 1/2 an ounce. Beat them into a ball with syrup of buckthorn.
This ball should be given at night, and the following drink, or purging ball, the next morning:
Take of Barbadoes aloes, from 3 to 6 drachms (according to their size and strength); wormseed and gentian, in powder, each 1/2 an ounce; caraway seeds, in powder, l ounce. Mix, and give in a pint of strong decoction of wormwood, and repeat in about four or five days; but emit giving the mercurial ball after the first time.
Take of Barbadoes aloes, 8 drachms; ginger, Castile soap, and oil of savin, each 2 drachms; syrup of buckthorn, sufficient to make them into a ball.
This purge is calculated for a strong horse; but it may be made weaker by lessening the quantity of aloes to 6 or 7 drachms, which are, in general, sufficient after a mercurial ball. The horse should have mashes, warm water, and proper exercise.
Take of aromatic spirit of ammonia and sweet spirit of nitre, each 1 ounce; gentian root, in powder, 1 1/2 ounces; Peruvian bark and biera picra, in powder, each 1/2 an ounce; horse-spice, 2 ounces. Mix the whole in three pints of ale, and divide into three parts, and give one every morning fasting.
Two hours after give him a mash and warm water. The virtues of this drink deserve the highest commendation in restoring those horses which have been much reduced by some long-continued disease; as in lowness of spirits, debility and relaxation of the solids, a loss of appetite, and for such also us are over-ridden, either in the field or on the road.
Take of linseed and valerian root, each 4 ounces; boil them in 3 quarts of water to 4 pints; add Epsom salts, 4 ounces, assafoetida, 1/2 ounce; opium, 2 drachms. Dissolve the whole in the above while hot, and apply it new milk-warm.
This is a most powerful clyster in all disorders of the intestines, that are attended with pain and convulsions or spasms in those parts, such as a violent attack of the colic, proceeding from an obstruction in the urinary passage.
This disorder goes by different names in different districts of the country; as fret, from the uneasiness attending it; bots, from its being thought to arise from these animals or worms, etc. The animal looks dull and rejects his food; becomes restless and uneasy, frequently pawing; voids his excrements in small quantities, and often tries to stale; looks round, as if towards his own flank or the seat of complaint; soon appears to get worse, often lying down, and sometimes suddenly rising up, or at times trying to roll, even in the stable, etc. As the disorder goes on the pain becomes more violent, he appears more restless still, kicks at his belly, groans, rolls often, or tumbles about, with other marks of great agitation; becomes feverish, and has a cold moisture at the roots of his ears and about his flanks, and when he lies at rest a little space begins to perspire strongly, and to get covered with sweet more or less profuse.
In most eases of ordinary gripes signs of flatulence, or of the presence of air confined in the bowels, occur and constitute a part of the disease, or increase it. The removal of it is, therefore, an object to which the attention of most grooms has been in a chief degree directed; and as it can frequently be got rid of, and the disease cured, by exciting the powerful action of the intestines, cordial and stimulating medicines are had recourse to, and, no doubt, in many have afforded relief. Some farriers, indeed, without much care in distinguishing cases, almost exclusively rely upon such, and employ them too freely. This, however, should not be done for it sometimes happens that disorders not unlike flatulent colic or gripes do occur, when there is neither pent-up air present nor any relaxation or want of energy and action in the intestines themselves, and stimulating medicines might then do no good, but often much mischief.
When the disorder is early discovered, or has newly come on, it will be proper to lose no time to get ready a clyster, and likewise a medicinal draught for removing the wind and abating the pain. After removing with the hand any excrement in the great gut that can be reached by it, a clyster, made of five or six quarts of water, or water-gruel, blood warm, and six or eight ounces of common salt, may be injected; and one or other of the following draughts may be given before or about the same time.
Take of table-beer, a little warmed, 1 1/2 pints (English); common pepper or powdered ginger, 1 teaspoonful; gin, whiskey, or rum, from 2 to 4 ounces, or from 1 to 2 glassesful. These mixed together for one dose.
Another. - Oil of turpentine, 1 ounce, and watergruel, 1 1/2 pints (English). Mixed for a dose.
Another. - Take of opium, 1 ounce; cloves, bruised, 2 ounces; ginger, 3 ounces; brandy, rum, or gin, 1 quart. Digest these in a corked bottle, shaking it every day, for 3 weeks; then strain through blotting paper. Dose, 2 ounces.
These and the like preperations may be given either out of a bottle or drench-horn, one or two persons raising and keeping properly up the horse's head; while another, who administers the medicine, pulls out and a little aside the tongue, with his left hand, and with the other pours in the draught.
Cordial drenches of the kinds recommended, with the clyster, will have the effect in ordinary cases to relieve the disorder; but should this not be the case, after waiting an hour or two (longer or shorter, according to the severity of the ailment or the period since its commencement), then the medicine should be repeated, but in a less dose than at first - perhaps one-half or two-thirds of the former quantity. The horse should be occasionally walked out, properly covered with clothes, lest the chill air bring on shivering, and give rise to feverishness, and his belly should be now and then rubbed a considerable time at once - five or ten minutes - but with intervals of rest, so that he may have time to stale or dung. If the disorder does not yield to these remedies, then others must be employed of a more active nature. Some persons recommend castor oil, in the proportion of half a pint to a pint, with an ounce or two of laudanum, or tincture of opium, mixed with water-gruel, in the quantity of a pint or rather less. In ease the horse has lain down, and continued so for some time, and is covered with sweat when he rises, two or more persons should be employed to rub him dry, and he should also be kept well clothed. The stable should be airy, moderately cool, and his place in it roomy and well littered, to keep him from hurting himself should he roll about.
Draughts of liquid medicine operate more speedily than any other form; but as the disorder may attack a horse during a journey, where such cannot readily be procured, Mr. White has given a receipt for a ball for the convenience of those who travel; and if it be wrapped up closely in a piece of bladder it may be kept a considerable time without losing its power. The ball is composed of the following ingredients, viz., Castile soap, 3 drachms; camphor 2 drachms; ginger, 1 drachm and a half; and Venice turpentine, 6 drachms. To be made into a ball for one dose.
Laudanum may be used in eases of urgency, especially in the wet or lax gripes. Take a quart of beer, and make it a very little warmer than blood heat; then put a tablespoonful of powdered ginger into it, and a small wineglassful of laudanum, just before it is given to the horse. This, in most cases, will give ease in a short time; but if the complaint is exceedingly violent, give about half the above quantity in fifteen or twenty minutes. As soon as the pain seems to be abated, if the belly is costive, give the horse a purgative. In case of looseness no purgative must be given; the laudanum, which is of a binding nature, will correct it.
When pain is occasioned by inflammation, it is seldom proper to employ opium or any medicine of that kind; but when it depends upon spasm or irritation, no medicines are so beneficial.. In inflammation of the bowels, for example, opium might do injury, but in flatulent or spasmodic colic, or gripes, it seldom fails of success.
When horses are affected with colic, or where the use of anodynes is requisite, the following preperation may be given, namely: opium, 1 drachm, or 60 grains; Castile soap, 2 drachms; and powdered aniseed, 1/2 ounce, or 4 drachms. To be made into a ball with syrup, for one dose.
In speaking of the medecines for gripes, or the flatulent colic, sometimes termed fret, Mr. White mentions, domestic remedies may be employed when proper medicines cannot be procured in time. For this purpose a draught may be readily made up of a pint of strong peppermint water, with about four ounces of gin, and any kind of spice.
Another. - A pint of port wine, with spice or giner.
Another. - Half a pint of gin diluted with 4 ounces of water and a little ginger.
Another. - Take of Epsom salt, 6 ounces; Castile soap, sliced, 2 ounces. Dissolve them in 1 1/2 pints of warm gruel; then add tincture of opium, 1/2 ounce, oil of juniper, 2 drachms. Mix, and give them new-milk warm.
This drink may be repeated every four or five hours till the symptoms begin to abate.
Take of tincture of opium and oil of juniper, each, 2 drachms; sweet spirit of nitre, tincture of benzoin, and aromatic spirit of ammonia, each 1/2 ounce. Mix them together in a bottle for one drink, and give it in a pint of warm gruel.
For the colic, flatulency, and colicky pains of the intestines this drink will be found a valuable cordial. It may be repeated every two hours until the symptoms abate.
Another. - The complaint may be removed by warm beer and ginger, or a cordial ball, mixed with warm beer.
It is necessary to repeat the caution given repeatedly, the necessity of distinguishing the flatulent, or windy, or spasmodic colic from the inflammatory one, and from that which depends on costiveness. It is always necessary to empty the bowels by means of clysters, and should the horse have appeared dull and heavy previous to the attack, it will be advisable to bleed. If costiveness attends it, give a laxative drench after the paroxysm, which will prevent its return.
Mix together 1 ounce of oil of juniper; 1 ounce of balsam of sulphur; 2 ounces of Venice turpentine; 4 ounces of sal prunella; 1 pound of black resin.
Melt all together gently over a slow fire, in an iron pot, and make up into balls of the size of a nutmeg.
Another. - Take of nitre, 3 pounds; resin, 3 pounds; soap, 1 1/2 pounds; juniper berries, 1 pound; oil of juniper 1 1/2 ounces.
To be made up into balls of the common size, with spirits of turpentine.
Every person may see, upon turning up the bottom of a horse's foot, an angular projection pointing towards the toe, termed the frog and its bars, the remainder or hollow part being technically termed the sole, though the entire bottom of the foot might better receive this name. It is certain, however, that "the frog and sole" require pressure - a congenial kind of pressure without concussion - that shall cause the sensible, inside, or quick-sole to perform its functions of absorbing the serous particles secreted or deposited therein by the blood vessels. If the frog and its bars are permitted to remain in such a state as to reach the ground, wherever the sod happens to be soft or yielding the hollow part of the sole receives its due proportion of pressure laterally, and the whole sole or surface of the foot is thereby kept in health.
Every veterinarian of sense will perceive the necessity of keeping the heels apart, yet although the immediate cause of their contracting is so universally known and recognized, the injudicious method (to call it by no harsher name) of paring away the frog and sole, which prevents the bars from ever touching the ground, is still continued to an alarming extent.
So much for prevention. When disease comes on, which may be accelerated by two other species of mismanagement, another course is usually followed not less injudicious than the first mentioned original cause of all the mischief.
Horses' hoofs are of two distinct kinds or shape, the one being oval, hard, dark-colored and thick, the other round, palish, and thin in the wall or crust of the hoof. The first has a different kind of frog from the latter, this being broad, thick and soft, whilst the oval hoof has a frog that is long, acute and hard. The rags, which hard work and frequent shoeing occasion on the horny hoof of the round foot, produce ragged frogs also, both being thus pared away to make a fair bottom to receive the shoe (burning hot!), the whole support is so far reduced, and the sensible sole coming much nearer the ground, becomes tender and liable to those painful concussions which bring on lameness - principally of the fore feet. Contraction of those kinds of heels which belong to the cart-horse, and pommice-foot, are the consequences.
The oval foot pertains to the saddle-horse, the hunter, and bit of blood-kind whose bold projecting frogs the farriers remove, and these being compelled to perform long and painful journeys ever starting or going off with the same leading leg, and continuing the same throughout, lameness is contracted in that foot, which none can account for, nor even find out whereabout it may be seated. Applications of "the oyals" (that egrerious compound of folly, ignorance and brutality), follow the first appearance of lameness, and are made alike to the shoulder, the leg and the sole, under the various pretences of rheumatism, strain in the shoulder, and founder. The real cause, however, is not thought of, much less removed, but, on the contrary, the evil is usually augmented by removing the shoe and drawing the sole to the quick nearly in search of suppositious corns, surbatings, etc. - pretended remedies that were never known to cure, but which might have been all prevented by the simplest precautions imaginable. These are:
1st. Let the frog and sole acquire their natural thickness
2d. Lead off sometimes with one leg, sometimes with the other.
3d. Stuff the hollow of the hoofs (all four of them) with cow-dung, or tar ointment, changing it entirely once a day. In every case it is advisable that he be worked moderately, for it is useless to talk to the owners of horses about giving the afflicted animal an entire holiday at grass.
Should the proprietor of the beast be a sordid customer; the farrier can expect no fee for such simple advice as is here given, so he must procure a phialful of water, and putting therein a little saltpetre and a little coloring matter, to be either mixed with the stuffing, or to wash the sole clean daily, though the remedy will do as well (nearly) without such addition. A more efficacious auxiliary will he found in procuring a patch of clay, to be kneaded on the ground, on which the animal (which is worth so much trouble) may be allowed to stand, and if a small patch be made for each foot, the horse himself will prove their value (in most cases) by feeling for them as it were, and showing by his manner how gratified he is at the coldness they afford to his heated toes. Herein it must be observed that stuffing with clay is not recommended, this being one of the numerous blunders of those farriers who, having found the benefit of any application or remedy, push it to a ridiculous extremity.
Mr. Sewell, of the Veterinary College, stated his having discovered a method of curing horses which are lame in the fore-feet. It occurred to him that this lameness might originate in the nerves of the foot, near the hoof, and in consequence he immediately amputated about an inch of the diseased nerve, taking the usual precaution of guarding the arteries and passing ligatures, etc. By this means the animal was instantly relieved from pain, and the lameness perfectly cured.
Simmer over the fire till it turns brown equal parts of honey, vinegar, and verdigris, and apply it with a leather or brush occasionally to the feet. The horse at the same time should stand hard, and all soft dung and straw be removed.
In Canada, where the winter is never of a less duration than five months, they shoe their horses in the following manner, which serves for the whole winter: The smith fixes a small piece of steel on the fore part of each shoe, not tempered too hard, which turns up about a quarter of an inch, in the shape of a horse's lancet; the same to the hinder part of the shoe, turned up a little higher than the fore part, tempered in the same manner. In going up a hill the fore part gives a purchase that assists the horse, and in going down prevents him sliding forwards.
Shoes having a number of downward points are still better, though more expensive.
If the frog in the hoofs of horses and the fetlock be cleaned, and well rubbed with soft soap, previously to their going out in snowy weather, it will effectually prevent their falling from what is termed balling with snow. A number of accidents might be prevented by this simple precaution.
Take of common turpentine 1 pound; quicksilver, 4 ounces; hog's lard, 1/2 a pound; flour of sulphur, 4 ounces; train-oil, 1/2 a pint.
Grind the silver with the turpentine, in a marble mortar, for five or six hours, until it completely disappears, and add a little oil of turpentine to make it rub easier; then add the remainder, and work them all well together till united.
This ointment must be well rubbed on every part affected, in the open air, if the sunshine and the weather be warm: but if it be winter, take the horse to a blacksmith shop, where a large bar of iron must be heated, and held at a proper distance over him, to warm the ointment.
Take of white precipitate, 2 ounces, strong mercurial ointment, 2 ounces; flowers of sulphur, 1/2 a pound; rapeoil, 2 quarts.
First grind the white precipitate in a little oil; afterwards add the remainder, taking care that they are well mixed.
This liniment must be well rubbed in with a hard brush, in the open air, provided the day be fine and the weather warm. If the horse draw in a team the inside of the collar must be washed or the inside of the saddle, if a saddle-horse, for the disease is highly contagious.
Take of camphor, 2 drachms, dissolved in 2 ounces of rectified spirit of wine; Goulard's extract, 1 ounce; rosewater, 1 quart.
Shake all together in a bottle for use.
Let the eye and the eyelids be well bathed three or four times a day, with a clean linen rag dipped in the eyewater.
Take of white antimonial powder, 2 drachms; nitre, 1/2 an ounce; Castile soap, 2 drachms; aromatic confection, 1/2 an ounce.
Beat them into a ball.
This ball must be given to the horse as soon as it can be prepared, after he has been bled; and continue it two or three times a day as long as the inflammation continues. About six hours after give him a purging drink, and repeat it every night and morning until a passage is obtained, or the bowels are sufficiently opened.
Take of soap liniment and camphorated spirit of wine, of each, 8 ounces; oil of turpentine, 1/2 an ounce.
Mix and shake when used.
This evaporating and discutient embrocation is well calculated to remove pain and inflammation, which is generally effected in the course of a fortnight or three weeks. During that time the horse should not be allowed to go out of the stable or farm-yard.
After the above embrocation the following bracing mixture must be rubbed on the part once a day:
Take of Egyptiacum (liniment of verdigris), 2 ounces; oil of turpentine, 1 ounce.
Shake well together, then add camphorated spirit of wine and compound tincture of bonzoin, each 2 ounces; vinegar, 11 ounces.
Mix, and shake well together every time they are used.
Take of fresh nettles 1 handful; bruise them in a mortar; add blue vitriol, in powder, 4 ounces; wheaten flour, 2 ounces; wine vinegar, 1 ounce; oil of vitriol, 1/2 ounce.
Beat them all together into a paste.
Let the wound be filled up with this paste, and a proper pledget of tow laid over the mouth, in order to prevent it from falling out, and then bandage it on with a strong roller. This dressing must remain in the wound ten or twelve hours.
Take of hog's lard, 1 pound; white lead, 4 ounces; white vitriol, 1 ounce; sugar of lead, 1/2 ounce; olive oil, 3 ounces.
Grind all the powders in a marble mortar with the oil, or on a marble slab, then add the lard, and work the whole together till united.
This is a neat composition, and very proper to keep in the stable during the winter. It will not only be found useful for greasy and scratched heels, but also for stubs and treads of every description. A small quantity must be rubbed on the part affected every night and morning, in slight cases; but in treads, or wounds upon the heels, it will be best to spread the ointment on pledgets of tow, and secure them with bandages
Take of white ointment, 1 pound, white vitriol, blue vitriol, and sugar of lead, in powder, each, 1/2 ounce.
Mix well together.
This ointment, when used, must be spread on strong brown paper, and applied over the part that greases, and bandaged on with listing. The horse may, after dressing, be turned into a drystraw yard, and a few diuretic balls given to him; one may be given every third day. One dressing is, in general, sufficient to perform a cure; if not, it may be repeated in a week after.
Take of camphor 2 drachms, dissolved in 1/2 an ounce of strong rectified spirit of wine; nitre, 1 ounce, dissolved in 1/2 a pint of wine vinegar; spirits of turpentine, 4 ounces; white lead or armenian bole, in powder, 1/2 an ounce; aqua fortis, 1 ounce.
Mix, and shake them all together in a bottle for use.
Take of wine vinegar, 1/2 a pint, burnt alum and common salt, each 1 ounce; armenian bole, 1/2 an ounce.
Mix, and shake them together in a bottle for use.
It will be proper to dress the horse's mouth with this mixture, every morning and evening, in the following manner: Take a small cane, or a piece of whalebone, half a yard long, and tie a linen rag, or a little tow round one end; then dip it into the mixture and pass it up his mouth, and gently remove it to all the affected parts; let him champ it well about in his mouth: after which let him fast an hour, then give him food as usual.
This disease is contigious, destructive, and seldom cured. It is known by a discharge from one or both nostrils, and a swelling of the gland under the jaw; coming on rather slowly, and followed after a time by ulceration. Catarrh or influenza may be mistaken for it; but this is a much more rapid disorder. Ozoena is a disease attended with an offensive discharge; in glanders the discharge is not offensive unless at an advanced stage. In doubtful cases, sometimes, the inoculation of a donkey with the matter is used as a test. Glanders may he communicated to a human being; and is then also fatal and seldom cured. Every horse suspected of glanders should he kept carefully apart from all others. If the disorder is slow in its progress, and the animal can be prevented from giving it to others, he may be kept for moderate work upon good feeding. In some instances, for several years. If hard worked, ill-fed or exposed, a glandered horse will run down very fast.
This may follow puncture wounds of the foot, as in shoeing, or docking, nicking, or gelding; occurring two or three weeks after the accident or operation. Sometimes it has followed violent exertion, and it is not 'unfrequently produced by cold. If the stiffness of the muscles be confined to the head or neck, it is much more curable than when general. Two or three out of five out of all the cases are said to get well under good treatment. Mild purgatives, sheepskin clothing, clysters containing from a quarter to half an ounce of opium, repeated according to the symptoms, and nourishing injections, if the jaws cannot be opened so as to swallow, constitute the best means of management.
Rupture or hernia is the protrusion of a bowel or some other part from its proper cavity. It is sometimes congenital, and may then be reduced at the same time that castration is performed. At other times rupture may be produced by blows, kicks, or falls. A hernia is dangerous to life when it becomes strangulated or compressed by a structure at the orifice of protrusion. Skilful surgical aid should always be obtained in any such case at once. But, sometimes, in the absence of a veterinarian, any one may restore the gut by introducing the hand into the bowel and drawing it up; the other hand, at the same time, making gentle pressure upon the swelling in the abdomen. No violence should ever be used in attempting this: and the bowels should first be emptied by a clyster, to which, sometimes, to relax the parts, half an ounce or an ounce of tobacco is added. Too large a quantity of the latter would be dangerously prostrating.
Take of jalap, in powder, 1 scruple; Barbadoes aloes, 1 drachm; ginger, in powder, 10 grains: conserve of hips, or syrup, enough to form a ball.
Take of flowers of sulphur, 4 ounces, white precipitate, 1 ounce; strong mercurial ointment, 1 ounce; Cape aloes, in powder, 1/2 ounce; neat's-foot oil, 1 1/2 pints.
First rub the powders together in a mortar; then put in the ointment, and gradually add the oil; it must be stirred when used. The affected part must be well anointed with this liniment, every third day, for three or four times.
Take of mild mercurial ointment, 4 ounces; oil of turpentine, 3 ounces; Cape aloes, in powder, 1/2 ounce.
Mix well together, and anoint the parts every third day for three or four times. Many sportsmen have their dogs regularly dressed with this liniment two or three weeks before the hunting season commences; it is supposed to improve their scent, and make them more fit for the chase.
Take of oil of vitriol, 1/2 an ounce; hog's lard, 8 ounces. Mix, and anoint the dog every day for three or four times, or oftener if required.
This ointment is used in surfeit, and slight cases of mange.
Take of white hellebore root, bruised, 2 ounces; water, 3 pints, boil down to 2 pints and strain; sal ammoniac, 2 drachms; sublimate, 1 drachm; Cape aloes, half an ounce.
Dissolve the sal ammoniac and other ingredients in the decoction.
This lotion is sometimes used to cure the mange, when greasy applications are objected to.
The following prescriptions are each about a dose for a full-grown pointer. They must, of course, be increased or diminished in proportion to the size and strength of the dog.
Take of opium, 3 grains; tartar emetic, 5 grains. To be given at night.
Repeat the dose every third night, till the dog is recovered; taking care to keep him in a warm place, and always feed with a warm liquid diet, such as broth, gruel, etc.
If the nostrils should discharge, have them washed or syringed twice a day, with a lotion of alum or sugar of lead; putting about half an ounce of either to a pint of water.
Take of jalap powder, 25 grains; calomel, 5 grains. Made into a pill with a little gum-water.
Take of jalap powder, 30 grains; calomel, 8 grains. Mixed as above.
One of these doses, mixed with butter, or in a small piece of meat, should be given to the dog, every morning, on an empty stomach. The food should be light, and easy to digest; and the lotion, if required for the nostrils, should be observed here, as before mentioned.
Examine your cow's mouth, though she appears very well; and if you find any pimple in it, or on the tongue, or if you perceive any within the skin ready to come out, immediately house her, keep her warm, and give her warm tarwater. To a large beast give a gallon; to a small one three quarts. Give it four times every day; but not every time the quantity you first gave. Lessen the dose by degrees; but never give less than two quarts to a large beast, nor less than three pints to a small one; and house her every night for some time, and give her warm gruel and malt mash.
Take one quart of tar, put to it 4 quarts of water, and stir it well ten or twelve minutes; let it stand a little while, and then pour it off for use. You must not put water to the same tar more than twice. Let the first dose be made of fresh tar. Continue to give it till the beast is well. Don't let her go too soon abroad.
This disorder is very frequent in cows after ceasing to be milked; it affects the glands of the udder with hard swellings, and often arises from the animal not being clean milked. It may be removed by anointing the part three times a day with a little ointment, composed of camphor and blue ointment. Half a drachm or more of calomel may be given in warm beer, from a horn or bottle, for three or four mornings, if the disorder is violent.
Take 1 ounce of armenian bole, half an ounce of dragon's blood, 2 ounces of Castile soap, and 1 drachm of alum. Dissolve these in a quart of hot ale or beer, and let it stand until it is blood-warm; give this as one dose, and if it should have the desired effect, give the same quantity in about twelve hours after. This is an excellent medicine for changing the water, and acts as a purgative; every farmer that keeps any number of cattle, should always have doses of it by him.
The following composition has been found to succeed in many cases which were apparently drawing to a fatal termination.
Take of powdered rhubarb, 2 drachms; castor oil, 1 ounce; prepared chalk, 1 teaspoonful.
Mix well together in a pint of warm milk. If the first dose does not answer, repeat it in thirty-six or forty-eight hours. If the calf will suck, it will be proper to allow him to do it.
When any of your cattle happen to get swelled with an over-feed of clover, frosty turnips, or such like, instead of the usual method of stabbing in the side, apply a dose of train oil, which, after repeated trials, has been found completely successful. The quantity of oil must vary according to the age or size of the animal. For a grown-up beast, of an ordinary size, the quantity recommended is about a pint, which must be administered to the animal with a bottle, taking care, at the same time, to rub the stomach well, in order to make it go down. After receiving this medicine, it must be made to walk about until such time as the swelling begins to subside.
This affection is epidemic among horses as well as cattle; airy stables and great cleanliness are important. There is no specific remedy. The same may be said of typhoid fever: known by great uneasiness, scouring, and nervous twitchings, with fever.
The experiment has often been tried of the benefit derived to horses from being well combed and kept clean. It has been found that a horse neglected as to cleanliness will not be so well conditioned, either for fatness or strength, though he gets abundance of corn; at least, it is certain that it would be worth trying. This everybody knows, that the most neglected of the horse race are kept cleaner than the cleanest of the horned cattle, particularly those shut up in houses.
"I have two hints to give," says a contemporary writer, "as the expense can be nothing and the advantage may be great; I read in a description of Norway, that when the cows drink at the hot springs they give more milk than those that drink cold water. Cows drink so much at a time that there is no doubt, when the water is nearly at freezing, they must feel sensibly cooled all over, which will naturally affect their produce of milk. I would therefore propose the experiment of warming the water for milch cows in cold weather."
The next proposal is that the corn given to fowls should be crushed and soaked in water; this helps the digestion, and hens will lay in winter when so fed that they would not otherwise.
In a time of scarcity, and when the food of man is dear, such experiments as proposed are well worth making; and the practice proposed with the fowls ought to become general, as it costs nothing.
It sometimes happens, though seldom, that swine have the measles; while they are in this state their flesh is very unwholesome food, having been ascertained to produce tapeworm in those who feed upon it, especially if not well cooked. This disorder is not easily discovered while the animal is alive, and can only be known by its not thriving or fattening as the others. After the animal is killed and cut up its fat is full of little kernels about the size of the roe or eggs of a salmon. When this is the case, put into the food of each hog, once or twice a week, as much crude pounded antimony as will lie on a shilling. A small quantity of the flour of brimstone, also, may be given with their food when they are not thriving, which will be found of great service to them. But the best method of preventing disorders in swine is to keep their sties perfectly clean and dry, and to allow them air, exercise and plenty of clean straw.
The sign of this is dragging of the hind legs; which, in the hog, never occurs otherwise unless from an injury. An experienced farmer asserts that arsenic will always cure it. Give as much as a dime will hold, in dough or any other vehicle. If once is not sufficient, the dose may be repeated.
Where a number of swine are bred, it will frequently happen that some of the pigs will have what is called a "rupture", i.e. a hole broken in the rim of the belly, where part of the guts comes out and lodges betwixt the rim of the belly and the skin, having an appearance similar to a swelling in the testicles. The male pigs are more liable to this disorder than the females. It is cured by the following means:
Geld the pig affected, and cause it to be held up with its head downwards; flay back the skin from the swollen place, and from the situation in which the pig is held the guts will naturally return to their proper place. Sew up the hole with a needle which must have a square point, and also a bend in it, as the disease often happens between the hinder legs, where a straight needle cannot be used. After this is done, replace the skin that was flayed back and sew it up when the operation is finished. The pig should not have much food for a few days after the operation, until the wound begins to heal.
This is a swelling of the glands of the throat attended by wheezing, and general weakness of the animal. Indigo is useful for it; a piece as large as a hickory nut mashed up in water and poured down. Once is generally enough.
Though usually incurable when it occurs it may nearly always be prevented by putting ashes in the trough with the food once a week.
Take a piece of alum, a piece of green vitriol and some white mercury - the alum must be in the largest proportion; dissolve them in water, and after the hoof is pared anoint it with a feather and bind on a rag over all the foot.
Another. - Pound some green vitriol fine, and apply a little of it to the part of the foot affected, binding a rag over the foot as above. Let the sheep be kept in the house a few hours after this is done, and then turn them out to a dry pasture. This is the most common way of curing the footrot in Middlesex.
Another. - Others anoint the part with a feather dipped in aqua fortis or weak nitrous acid, which dries in at once. many drovers that take sheep to market-towns, carry a little bottle of this about with them, which, by applying to the foot with a feather, helps a lame-sheep by hardening its hoof and enabling it to travel better. Some may think aqua fortis is of too hot a nature, but such a desperate disorder requires an active cure, which, no doubt, is ever to be used cautiously.
Another. - Spread some slaked quick-lime over a house floor pretty thick, pare the sheep's feet well, and turn them into this house, where they may remain for a few hours, after which turn them into a dry pasture. This treatment may be repeated two or three times, always observing to keep the house clean, and adding a little more quick-lime before putting them in.
The foot must be often dressed, and the sheep kept as much as possible upon dry land. Those animals that are diseased should be kept separate from the flock, as the disorder is very infectious.
On suspected grounds, constant and careful examination ought to take place, and when any fissures or cracks, attended with heat, make their appearance, apply oil of turpentine and common brandy. This, in general, produces a very beneficial effect, but where the disease has been long seated, and becomes, in a manner, confirmed - after cleaning the foot, and paring away the infected parts, recourse is kind to caustics, of which the best seem to be sulphuric acid and the nitrate of mercury. After this pledgets are applied, the foot bound up, and the animal kept in a clean, dry situation, until its recovery is effected.
But it often happens, where the malady is inveterate, that the disease refuses to yield to any or all of the above prescriptions.
The following mode of treatment, however, if carefully attended to, may be depended upon as a certain cure. Whenever the disease makes its appearance, let the foot be carefully examined, and the diseased part well washed, and pared as close as possible, not to make it bleed; and let the floor of the house, where the sheep are confined, be strewn three or four inches thick with quick-lime hot from the kiln; and let the sheep, after having their feet dressed in the manner above described, stand in it during the space of six or seven hours.
In all cases, it is of great importance that the animal be afterwards exposed only to a moderate temperature - be invigorated with proper food - and kept in clean, easy, dry pasture, and the disease will be effectually remedied in the course of a few days.
Sheep are sometimes exposed to cold winds and rains immediately after shearing, which exposure frequently hurts them. Those farmers who have access to the sea should plunge them into the salt water; those who have not that opportunity, and whose flocks are not very large, may mix salt with water and rub them all over, which will in a great measure prevent any mishap befalling the animal after having been stripped of its goat.
It is very common in the months of June and July, for some kinds of sheep, especially the fine Leicester breed, which are commonly thin-skinned about the head, to be struck with a kind of fly and by scratching the place with their feet, they make it sore and raw. To prevent this, take tar, train oil, and salt, boil them together, and when cold, put a little of it on the part affected. This application keeps off the flies, and likewise heals the sore. The salt should be in very small quantity, or powdered sulphur may be used instead of it.
Separating the wool, lay the before-mentioned ointment in a strip, from the neck down the back to the rump; another strip down each shoulder and one down each hip; it may not be unnecessary to put one along each side. Put very little of the ointment on, as too much of it may be attended with danger.
Mix with 1 quart of spring water, a table spoonful of the spirits of turpentine, and as much of the sublimate powder as will lie upon a dime. Shake them well together, and cork it up in a bottle, with a quill through the cork, so that the liquid may come out of the bottle in small quantities at once. The bottle must always be well shaken when it is to be used. When the spot is observed where the maggots are, do not disturb them, but pour a little of the mixture upon the spot, as much as will wet the wool and the maggots. In a few minutes after the liquor is applied the maggots will all creep to the top of the wool, and in a short time drop off dead. The sheep must, however, be inspected next day, and if any of the maggots remain undestroyed, shake them off, or touch them with a little more of the mixture.
A little train oil may be applied after the maggots are removed, as sometimes the skin will be hard by applying too much of the liquid. Besides, the fly is not so apt to strike when it finds the smell of train oil, which may prevent a second attack.
This method of destroying maggots is superior to any other, and it prevents the animal from being disfigured by clipping off the wool, which is a common practice in some countries.
The simplest and most efficacious remedy for this disease, was communicated to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, etc., by the late Sir Joseph Banks; and is as follows:
Take 1 pound of quicksilver, 1/2 a pound of Venice turpentine, 1/2 a pint of oil of turpentine, 4 pounds of hog's lard.
Let them be rubbed in a mortar till the quicksilver is thoroughly incorporated with the other ingredients. For the proper mode of doing which, it may be right to take the advice or even the assistance of some apothecary, or other person used to make such mixtures.
The method of using the ointment is this: Beginning at the head of the sheep, and proceeding from between the ears, along the back, to the end of the tail, the wool is to be divided in a furrow, till the skin can be touched, and as the furrow is made, the finger, slightly dipped in the ointment, is to be drawn along the bottom of it, where it will leave a blue stain on the skin and adjoining wool.
From this furrow, similar ones must be drawn down the shoulders and thighs to the legs, as far as they are woolly; and if the animal is much infected, two more should be drawn along each side, parallel to that on the back, and one down each side, between the fore and hind legs.
Immediately after being dressed, it is usual to turn the sheep among other stock, without any fear of the infection being communicated; and there is scarcely an instance of a sheep suffering any injury from the application. In a few days the blotches dry up, the itching ceases, and the animal is completely cured. It is generally, however, thought proper not to delay the operation beyond Michaelmas.
The hippobosca ovina, called in Lincolnshire Sheepfagg, an animal well known to all shepherds, which lives among the wool and is hurtful to the thriving of sheep, both by the pain its bite occasions, and the blood it sucks, is destroyed by this application, and the wool is not at all injured. Our wool-buyers purchase the fleeces on which the stain of the ointment is visible, rather in preference to others, from an opinion, that the use of it having preserved the animal from being vexed, either with the scab or faggs, the wool is less liable to the defects of joints or knots; a fault observed to proceed from very sudden stop in the thriving of the animal, either from want of food, or from disease.
"Of all the various operations by which this distemper may be eradicated, I must, from experience, give the preference to one which will, perhaps, astonish such readers as form their opinions more from theory than practice. A number of medical men have already controverted the fact, and, with the utmost presumption, disputed my veracity to my face after I had witnessed its efficiency in a thousand instances. It is no other than that of putting a sharpened wire up the nostril quite through the middle of the brain, and by that means perforating the bag which contains the fluid causing the disease. This is, of all other methods, the most certain to succeed; but it has this unpleasant appendage annexed to it, if it do not cure, it is certain to kill.
This method of cure is not only the most expedient, but it is in every shepherd's power, and one which he can scarcely perform amiss, if he attend to the following plain directions:
The operation must be performed with a stiff steel wire, such as is used for knitting the coarsest stockings. It must be kept clean, and free of rust, oiled, and sharpened at the point. Care must be taken, however, that its point he only one eighth of an inch in length, for if it is tapered like a needle, it is apt to take a wrong direction in going up the nostrils, fix in the gristle below the brain, and torment the animal to no purpose. If blunt in the point, it often fails to penetrate the bladder, which is of considerable toughness, shoving it only a little to one side; the safest way, of course, is to have the point of the wire sharp and short.
The shepherd must first feel with his thumbs for the soft part in the skull, which invariably marks the seat of this disease. If that is near the middle of the head above, where, in two cases out of three at least, it is sure to be, let him then fix the animal firm betwixt his knees, hold the head with one hand, laying his thumb upon the soft or diseased part, and with the other hand insert the, wire through the nostril, on a parallel with the seat of the distemper, aiming directly at the point where his thumb is placed. The operation is performed in one second, for if he feels the point of the wire come in contact with his thumb, let him instantly set the animal to its feet and if the weather is at all cold, let it stand in the house overnight.
If the disease is seated exactly in that part where the divisions of the skull meet, and consequently in a right line with the top of the nose, he must probe both nostrils, when, should he miss the bulb on the one side, he will he sure to hit it on the other. If the seat of the disease cannot at all be found, and if the animal have all the symptoms of the malady, the water is then enclosed among the ventricles in the middle of the brain, and must be treated as above. Nothing can he done in the last case save with the wire, but it is hard to cure when so affected. I have found, on dissection, the fluid contained in many little cells in the centre of the brain, and though the wire had penetrated some of these cells, it had missed others.
By this simple operation alone I have cured hundreds, and though I never kept an exact register, I think I have not known it to fail above once in four times as an average in all the instances which have come under my observation, and some of these I knew to be injudiciously performed, the disease not being seated in a point which the wire could reach. I have at times cured a dozen, and ten, in regular succession, without failing once, and I have again in some cold seasons of the year, killed three or four successively.
Sir George M'Kenzie has insinuated in his book on sheep that I was the inventor of this mode of cure, but it is by no means the case. The practice, I understand, has been in use among shepherds for ages past, but they were often obliged to perform it privately; their masters, like the professors about Edinburgh, always arguing that the piercing of the brain must necessarily prove fatal. Sir George has, however, misunderstood my account in the Highland Society's Transactions; I did not mean to insinuate that it was with pleasure I discovered the art of curing them in this way, but only my success in that art. I mentioned in these Transactions that when I was a shepherd boy, for a number of years I probed the skull of every sturdied sheep that I could lay my hands on, without any regard to whom they belonged, and likewise took every opportunity of visiting my patients as often as possible; and, as the country around me swarmed with them every spring and summer, my practice, of course, was of prodigious extent. It was several years before I was sensible of failing in one instance, which, however, it was often impossible to ascertain, they having left the spot sometimes before I could again go that way; but many a valuable young sheep I cured for different owners without ever acknowledging it, having no authority to try such experiments.
The following symptoms, after the operation, may be depended on: If the animal becomes considerably sick, it is a good sign that it will recover. If it continues to grow sicker and abstains from feeding for the space of two days, it is likely to die, and if in a condition to be fit for family use ought to be killed forthwith. The flesh of the animal is nothing the worse for this disease, on the contrary, it is universally supposed by the country people that their flesh is sweeter, more delicate and palatable than any other. This, I suppose, must be owing to their tender age, it being unusual to kill any sheep so young, save lambs.
The first symptom of recovery is their bleating. If once they begin to bleat occasionally, they are sure to recover, however stupid they may appear at that time. It seems that they are then becoming sensible of the want of society, the only thing which causes sheep to bleat, and which, for a long time previous to that they had totally disregarded.
I must mention here that the most successful curer of this distemper I ever knew, performed the operation in a different manner from the one practiced by me, and above recommended. Instead of a wire he carried always a large corking-pin in his bonnet, and like me, tapped every sturdied sheep he found, but always above, putting the point of the pin through the skull at the place where it was most soft, in the same manner as the trocar is used. As this does not at all endanger the sheep's life, I frequently tried this plan previous to that of probing with the wire; but, as far as I can recollect, I never cured one by that means. I remember once conversing with him on the subject, when he told me that he seldom or never failed in curing them upon their own farms, but that in sundry neighboring farms he rarely cured any. From this it would appear that on different soils the animals are differently affected. I am now convinced that he must generally have inserted the pin so far as to penetrate the bottom of the sac, which I never had the sense to try, and which, if we reason from analogy must prove as effective and less hazardous than the other, for it appears to me that in order to insure a recovery it is necessary that the bottom or lowest part of the sac be penetrated.
Undoubtedly the best mode of curing this disease would be to extract the sac and all that it contains entirely. There is little doubt but that if this were performed by gentle and skilful hands, it would prove the most effectual cure; but as it is I can attest that it seldom proves successful. The shepherds have not skill and ingenuity sufficient to close the skull properly up again, or in such a manner as is requisite to defend it from external injury; of course I would rather recommend the mode in which they cannot easily go wrong, and which I have seen prove most beneficial, when performed by men of like acquirements themselves." - Farmer's Magazine.
With regard to the causes inducing water in the head of sheep, there is but one opinion entertained among shepherds, which is that it is accasioned by a chilliness in the back of the animal, on account of its being exposed to the winds, and the sleety showers of winter. These cause it to acquire a kind of numbness and torpidity, which, if often repeated, are apt to terminate in an affection to giddiness, and finally in a water in the head.
That the disease is occasioned solely by a chilliness in the back, appears from the following facts:
1. It is always most general after a windy sod sleety winter.
2. It is always most destructive on farms that are ill sheltered, and on which the sheep are most exposed to those blasts and showers.
3. It preys only on sheep rising their first year, the wool of whom separates above, leaving the back quite exposed to the wet and to the cold.
4. If a piece of cloth or hide is sewed to the wool, so as to cover the back, such a sheep will not be affected with the disease. The experiment is a safe, a cheap, and an easy one; and, exclusive of its good effects in preventing the fatal disease under consideration, it is more beneficial to a young sheep that is not over-high in condition, and administers more to its comfort during the winter than any other that I know of. It keeps the wool from opening, and the sheep always dry and warm on the back; which, exposed to cold, either in man or beast, it is well knows, affects the vitals materially. When thus shielded, the young sheep will feed straight in the wind on the worst days, without injury, and, indeed, without much regarding the weather. This covering keeps them from the rain, prevents them from being shelled and loaded with frozen snow, and from destruction by cold, by leanness, and the water in the head. The expense attending it is so trifling, that it is scarcely worth mentioning. One pair of old blankets will furnish coats for forty sheep, and if these are carefully taken off on the return of spring, and laid aside, they will serve the same purpose for two or three successive years.
The first care of the shepherd on coming to the spot where his sheep are to spend the summer, is to give to his ewes as much salt as they will eat. For this purpose he is provided with twenty-five quintals of salt for every thousand head, which is consumed in less than five months; but they eat none on their journey or in winter. The method of giving it to them is as follows: The shepherd places fifty or sixty flat stones about five steps distance from each other. He strews salt upon each stone, then leads his flock slowly through the stones, and every sheep eats at pleasure. This is frequently repeated, observing not to let them eat on those days in any spot where there is limestone. When they have eaten the salt they are led to some argillaceous spots, where, from the craving they have acquired, they devour everything they meet with, and return again to the salt with redoubled ardor.
"This kind of dropsy is announced by a dull look, paleness of the head, loss of appetite, and aversion to food. The birds allow themselves to be approached and seized with facility, and they are without strength. Very soon a slight swelling of the crop is added to these symptoms, which in ten days becomes very considerable. I have taken nearly a pint of water from one. By pressing upon the crops of some of them a certain quantity of matter is discharged by the bill, but never enough entirely to ease the crop. All these symptoms increase, and the bird dies at the end of fifteen or eighteen days' illness.
I sought after the cause of this disorder, and it was easy to find that it was occasioned by the stagnant water of which these animals had drunk; in the course of the year the heat had been great, and there was little rain. The heat had hatched a vast swarm of small red worms, resembling ascarides. It is quite certain that these insects must have been swallowed by the turkeys, and from this cause, and the bad quality of the water which they had drunk a great degree of inflammation in the crop would ensue, with a stoppage of the passage which conducts to the gizzard. I divided the turkeys into two classes; for those who were still sound I ordered grain and good water; with all that were diseased I practised the operation of tapping with a lancet, in the lower part of the crop. I injected at the opening, by means of a small syringe, a slight decoction of Jesuit's bark, mixed with a little brandy: which was repeated twice in the course of the day. Next day the wound was better marked. I made again the same injection, and two hours after, I forced them to eat a little of the yolk of an egg, mixed with some crumbs of bread. At the end of three days the wound in the crop was closed, which I might have prevented, but findin~ a natural opening in the bill, I made them take, during eight days, in their drink the same substance which had been injected; and they were, by degrees, put on their usual diet. I need not add that clear water was given them, instead of that of the standing pools. Ten of these animals had died before my arrival; two perished during the treatment, and the rest of the flock, which might be about forty, either escaped the disease or were cured." M. Ligneau.
The first attempt should be to remove the cause by giving to the animal a warm cordial drink; which, acting as a stimulant on the stomach and intestines, will give fresh motion to these parts, and enable nature to resume her former course.
Take of sweet fennel-seeds and cummin-seeds, each 2 ounces, in powder; long pepper, turmeric, ginger each 1 ounce, in powder. Mix for one drink.
The method of giving this drink is as follows: Put it into a pitcher with 2 ounces of fresh butter and 2 tablespoonsful of treacle or coarse sugar; then pour one quart of boiling ale upon the whole, cover them down till new-milk warm, and then give the drink to the beast.
In two hours after giving the drink let the animal have a good mash made of scalded bran, or ground malt, with a handful or two of ground oats or barley meal added to it, and warm water that day. In slight colds, during the summer, these drinks may be given to cattle while in their pasture; and, where it can be made convenient, let them fast two hours after, and then graze as usual. It is also necessary to examine the sick animals every day, to watch them while they both dung and stale, and to see whether the body be of a proper heat and the nose or muzzle of a natural breeze.
If these be regular there is not much danger. If, however, feverish symptoms should appear (which frequently happens), the animal will become costive. In such cases give one of the following:
Take of Glauber salts, 1 pound; ginger, in powder, 2 ounces; treacle, 4 ounces.
Put all the ingredients into a pitcher and pour 3 pints of boiling water upon then. When new-milk warm give the whole for one dose.
Take of Epsom salts, 1 pound; anise-seeds and ginger, in powder, each 2 ounces; treacle, 4 ounces.
Let this be given in the same manner as the preceding.
In most oases these drinks will be sufficient to purge a full-grown animal of this kind. By strict attention to the above method of application, a fever may be prevented, and the animal speedily restored.
If the fever continue, after the intestines have been evacuated (which is seldom the case), it will be proper to take some blood from the animal, and the quantity must be regulated according to the disease and habit of body.
As soon as the disease makes its first appearance, it may, for the most part, be removed by administering the following drink:
Reduce to powder cummin-seeds, anise-seeds, and turmeric root, each 2 ounces; grains of paradise, and salt of tartar, each 1 ounce.
Now slice 1 ounce of Castile soap, and mix it with 2 ounces of treacle; put the whole into a pitcher, then pour a quart of boiling ale upon the ingredients, and cover them down till new-milk warm, then give the drink. It will often be proper to repeat this, two or three times, every other day, or oftener if required. If the beast be in good condition, take away from two to three quarts of blood; but the animal should not be turned out after bleeding that day, nor at night, but the morning following it may go to its pasture as usual. After this has had the desired effect, let the following be given:
Take of balsam copaiva, 1 ounce; salt of tartar, 1 ounce; Castile soap, 2 ounces. Beat them together in a marble mortar, and add of valerian root, in powder, 2 ounces; ginger root and Peruvian bark, in powder, each 1 ounce; treacle, 2 ounces.
Let this drink be given in a quart of warm gruel, and repeated if necessary every other day. It will be proper to keep the body sufficiently open through every stage of the disease; for if costiveness be permitted, the fever will increase, and if not timely removed, the disorder will terminate fatally.
Is sometimes occasioned by wounds or contusions in the head, that are attended with violent inflammations of the vessels, and if not speedily relieved, may terminate in a gangrene or a mortification, which is very often the case, and that in a few days.
In the cure of this disease, the following method must be attended to: - First lessen the quantity of blood by bleeding, which may be repeated if required, and by which the great efflux of blood upon the temporal arteries will be lessened and much retarded. The following purgative drink will be found suitable for this disease, and likewise for most fevers of an inflammatory nature.
Take of Glauber salts, 1 pound; tartarized antimony, 1 drachm; camphor, 2 drachms; treacle, 4 ounces.
Mix, and put the whole into a pitcher, and pour 3 pints of boiling water upon them.
When new-milk warm add laudanum, half an ounce, and give it all for one dose.
This drink will in general operate briskly in the space of 20 or 24 hours; if not, let one half of the quantity be given to the beast every night and morning, until the desired effect be obtained.
This complaint is in general occasioned by the animal feeding for a considerable time upon rich succulent food, so that the stomach becomes overcharged, and they, through their greediness to eat, forget to lie down to ruminate or chew their cud. Thus the paunch or first stomach is rendered incapable of expelling its contents; a concoction and fermentation take place in the stomach, by which a large quantity of confined air is formed in the part that extends nearly to the anus, and for want of vent at that part, causes the animal to swell even to a state of suffocation,, or a rupture of some part of the stomach or intestines ensues. As sudden death is the consequence of this; the greatest caution is necessary in turning cattle into a fresh pasture, if the bite of grass be considerable; nor should they be suffered to stop too long at a time in such pastures before they are removed into a fold yard, or some close where there is but little to eat, in order that the organs of rumination and digestion may have time to discharge their functions.
If this be attended to several times, it will take away that greediness of disposition, and prevent this distressing complaint.
As soon as the beast is discovered to be either hoven or blown, by eating too great a quantity of succulent grasses, let a purging drink be given; this will, for the most part, cheek fermentation in the stomach, and in a very short time force a passage through the intestines.
This is a method frequently resorted to in dangerous cases. The operation is performed in the following manner: - Take a sharp penknife and gently introduce it into the paunch between the haunch bone and the last rib on the left side. This will instantly give vent to a large quantity of fetid air; a small tube of a sufficient length may then be introduced into the wound, and remain until the air is sufficiently evacuated; afterwards, take out the tube, and lay a pitch plaster over the orifice. Wounds of this kind are seldom attended with danger, where it has arisen, it has been occasioned by the injudicious operator introducing his knife into a wrong part. After the wind is expelled, and the body has been reduced to its natural state, give an opiate drink.
This disease mostly attacks animals that have been kept in a state of poverty and starvation during the winter season, and which have in the spring of the year been admitted into a fertile pasture; hence is produced a redundancy of blood and other fluids, pressing upon the contracted vessels, while the animal economy, on the other hand, is using its utmost endeavor to restore reduced nature to its original state. If it be not checked in its infancy by bleeding, evacuating, etc., inflammation in all probability must take place; in which case the beast is attended with all the symptoms of one that is raving mad.
The cure must first be attempted by taking from two to three or four quarts of blood from the animal, according to size and strength; two or three hours after, give a purging drink.
Purging is generally necessary in this disease.
The age of the ox or cow is told chiefly by the teeth, and less perfectly by the horns. The temporary teeth are in part through at birth, and all the incisors are through in twenty days; the first, second and third pairs of temporary molars are through in thirty days; the teeth have grown large enough to touch each other by the sixth month; they gradually wear and fall in eighteen months; the fourth permanent molars are through at the fourth month; the fifth at the fifteenth; the sixth at two years. The temporary teeth begin to fall at twenty-one months, and are entirely replaced by the thirtyninth to the forty-fifth month. The development is quite complete at from five to six years. At that time the border of the incisors has been worn away a little below the level of the grinders. At six years, the first grinders are beginning to wear, and are on a level with the incisors. At eight years, the wear of the first grinders is very apparent. At ten or eleven years, used surfaces of the teeth begin to bear a square mark surrounded by a white line, and this is pronounced on all the teeth by the twelfth year; between the twelfth and the fourteenth year this mark takes a round form. The rings on the horns are less useful as guides. At ten or twelve months the first ring appears; at twenty months to two years the second; at thirty to thirty-two months the third ring, at forty to forty-six months the fourth ring, at fifty four to sixty months the fifth ring, and so on. But, at the fifth year, the three first rings are indistinguishable, and at the eighth year all the rings. Besides, the dealers file the horns.
In the sheep, the temporary teeth begin to appear in the first week, and fill the mouth at three months, they are gradually worn, and fall at about fifteen or eighteen months. The fourth permanent grinders appear at three months, and the fifth pair at twenty to twenty-seven months. A common rule is, "two broad teeth every year." The wear of the teeth begins to be marked about six years.
The age of the pig is known up to three years by the teeth; after that there is no certainty. The temporary teeth are complete in three or four months, about the sixth month the premolars between the tusks and the first pair of molars appear; in six to ten months the tusks and posterior incisors are replaced, in twelve months to two years the other incisors; the fourth permanent molars appear at sixth months; the fifth pair at ten months; and the sixth and last at eighteen months.
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