EXCRESCENCE
.—Any preternatural enlargement is so called; but it is principally, and most properly, applied to those of a spongy nature, as WARTS and WENS, as well as a polypus upon any particular part. In all wounds of HORSES, if they are of considerable magnitude, fungous flesh increases very rapidly, and frequently disconcerts the young or injudicious VETERINARIAN; who, erroneously adopting caustics and escharotics, too often renders the remedy more destructive than the disease. Fungous formation of this kind passes also under the technical denomination of EXCRESCENCE, and is best reduced by superficial scarification in lines transverse and longitudinal; the dressings then consisting of strong red precipitate digestive ointment with lint, &c. Excrescences of the warty kind will always submit to repeated and persevering applications of BUTTER OF ANTIMONY, OIL OF VITRIOL, or any other escharotic, but they are not to be laid on with too liberal a hand. Wenny deep-seated substances (erroneously called excrescences) require very warm stimulants, and powerful spirituous applications, for a great length of time, before any expectation of repulsion or obliteration can be entertained.
EXERCISE
.—The great advantages resulting from EXERCISE, to both man and beast, are now so universally understood, both in theory and practice, that animadversion here must be considered matter of superfluity: those, however, who wish for a more enlarged or scientific disquisition, will find fifty pages in the second volume of the Gentleman's Stable Directory appropriated to this particular head.
EXPEDIATE
—is a term transmitted from one book to another by former writers, but is at present little used in either THEORY or PRACTICE. It implies the cutting out the centrical ball of the foot of a dog, or such claws as shall totally prevent his pursuit of game. In earlier times, when the FOREST LAWS were more rigidly enforced, the owner of any dog not expediated, living within the district, was liable to a fine for non-obedience.
EXTRAVASATION
—applies only to such fluids as may, from any accidental cause, or injury sustained, escape from the tubes or vessels in which they were confined; when they from such extravasation become stagnant, laying the foundation of an obstruction terminating in an enlargement, probably disagreeable to the eye, and some impediment to action. Extravasated lymph, oozing from ruptured fibres, lay most invariably the foundation of almost every tumefaction to which we can advert; and evidently demonstrates the necessity for reflection before we proceed to blows, when it is recollected what serious and lasting injuries by blows may be sustained.
EYES
.—The state of the EYES in every horse constitutes so much of the value and excellence in respect to their good or bad formation, that proper, nay extreme, circumspection ought to be used in the examination previous to purchase. The best and most experienced judges of horses are sometimes seriously disappointed, and not unfrequently deceived, in a superficial survey, and too hasty decision: in fact, there is no point of the ANIMAL upon the merits of which (in a variety of instances) it is so difficult to form an accurate, at least an infallible, opinion as upon the parts before us. If at first sight you are attracted by their bright, bold, prominent appearance, and observe they are sufficiently clear and transparent to reflect your own figure in the eye as you stand before it, and the horse neither winks, blinks, or rolls the orbs of the eyes about, as if feeling for the light when brought out of the stable, there is then every well-founded reason to believe they are not only safe, but PERFECTLY GOOD. On the contrary, when the EYE appears flat, as if sunk in its orbit, with a palpable vacuum round the orb, between it and the eye-lid, it is a very unfavourable indication; particularly if there should be no defluxion (or inflammatory discharge) from the eye, to justify the idea of a temporary injury having been sustained by a BLOW, BITE, or some such accident, neither to be foreseen or guarded against. If there is a palpable indentation above the orbs, and a wrinkled contraction of the eye-lids towards the forehead, they are invariable symptoms, or certain signs, of impending danger, and the subject cannot be ventured upon without a very great probability of certain loss when he is again offered for sale.
A small pig-eye should be likewise carefully avoided, as they are seldom to be depended upon; the subject is frequently addicted to starting, and the future state of the eye in general doubtful. A cloudy muddiness within the outer humour of the eye, (giving it an opaque appearance,) or a milky thickening of the surface, denote present defect, and great probability of approaching blindness. It becomes, therefore, in all cases of doubt, a matter of self-preservation, to have in memory this admonition, that it will be more advantageous (evidently more prudent) to reject an object of impurity and partial attraction, than to purchase in haste, and "repent at leisure."
F.
FALLOW DEER
—are the species of Deer bred in parks for the production of venison, as well for the private use of the great and opulent, as for sale. The male is called A BUCK; the female, a DOE; the offspring of both, A FAWN; and they vary some degrees in colour, but consist principally of a dark dingy brown, inclining to black, or a mottled sandy dun. The BUCK is furnished with horns, which he sheds yearly: the DOE has no such weapons for self-defence.
The BUCK sheds his horns from the middle of April through the first weeks of May, which are in part regenerated by the month of September. The DOE generally produces her young in the last week of May, or during the two first of June. The season for BUCK VENISON commences in July, and goes out about Michaelmas; when DOE VENISON comes in, and continues till January. The time in which the act of procreation is carried on (called rutting time) commences at the latter end of August, and continues during the greater part of September.
The skins of both buck and doe are manufactured into the article of leather for breeches, so superior to every other kind for the purpose of riding, the produce of the whole kingdom is not equal to the demand, many thousand skins being annually imported from different parts of the world. For the LAWS relating to DEER, see Deer Stealers.
Buck hunting was formerly a much more frequent sport than at present; and a dwarf kind of stag-hound (called buck-hounds) were kept for the purpose. The uncertainty and short duration of the chase, has, however, at length, nearly obliterated the practice, as there is hardly such a thing in the kingdom as a pack kept solely for the purpose of hunting FALLOW DEER.
FALLOW LAND
—is land so called when under no immediate cultivation, but ploughed up, and laid at rest, to acquire, from its exposure to the elements, additional strength for the production of future crops. Of these there are both summer and winter fallows; upon the last of which, if dry, HARES may generally be found in the months of January, February, and March, if there are any to be seen in the country.
FALCONER
.—A FALCONER, whose province it was to tame, manage, and look after FALCONS, and other hawks, was formerly as great and conspicuous a character as the most celebrated HUNTSMAN of the present day. The influence of fashion, and the changes wrought by time, have, however, so obscured both SPORT and SPORTSMAN in this way, that neither hawk, falcon, or falconer, are to be seen or heard of, unless in the northern parts of the kingdom, where it is also nearly buried in oblivion.
FALSE QUARTER
—is a defect in the hoof of a horse, originally sustained by some injury, producing a destruction of parts; as quittor, canker, wounds, treads, bruises, or such formation of matter, by which a part of the hoof has been unavoidably destroyed, or necessarily taken away. In the regeneration of parts, the incarnation (from the rigid and horny nature of the hoof) is irregular and imperfect, forming a sort of cleft (or artificial union) with the sound part upon the surface, productive of a sensible weakness underneath. This imperfect and defective junction renders such quarter, as is it called, inadequate to the weight it is destined to bear; in which case, much judgment is required, and may be exerted, in the palliation, as perfect cure is not to be expected. Care must be taken in forming the shoe to relieve the tender part from pressure, by hollowing it at that particular spot, and letting the bearing be fixed entirely upon the sound parts. By constant attention in reducing the prominent edges of the irregular projection with the fine side of the RASP, and a few occasional impregnations with fine spermacæti oil, the hoof may be sometimes restored to its original formation.
FAMILY
.—See Black Legs and Betting.
FARCY
,—except the GLANDERS, is the most unfortunate and destructive disease to which the horse is subject. It is infectious, and may be communicated from one horse to another, or to the whole stable, where many stand together. As it frequently attacks different subjects in a different way, (according to the state and condition of the horse at the time of attack,) so it has afforded opportunity to the fertile and ingenious to extend and define it to various kinds of FARCY, though they are but different shades and gradations of the same disease.
The very first traits of this disorder are too distinguishing to be mistaken; although the attack may be made either one way or the other. The subject is, in general, dull, heavy, sluggish, and seemingly oppressed with lassitude and debility, for some days previous to any external symptoms of disease; in a short time after which, small purulent pustules appear, with a sort of seeming eschar upon the apex of each, running along the veins in a kind of continuity, bearing no ill affinity or resemblance to a bunch of grapes a little diversified in size. Upon any of these eschars, or scabs, being removed, they are followed by a thin bloody ichor in some; but in others, by a fœtid, viscid, corrupted matter, not unlike a mixture of honey and oil, when brought into all possible incorporation.
As the disorder advances to a more inveterate malignity, these pustules burst, the scab or eschar exfoliates, and each becomes a virulent, ill-conditioned ulcer. In many instances the progress is extended with incredible rapidity; and the larger vessels, with their inferior ramifications, are soon universally affected; holding forth a very unpromising prediction of early extrication. A tolerable opinion may be formed of the mildness or threatened severity of the disease by the nature of the attack: if appearances are partial, (that is, attached to any particular spot,) without a speedy extension to different parts of the body, or its extremities, the case may be considered in its then infantine state favourable; and the proper means should not be delayed to counteract its farther contamination of the blood and juices: on the contrary, should a daily increase of the eruption be observed, spreading itself in various directions along the plate-vein, and down the inside of the fore-arm, under the belly, proceeding on both sides the sheath, and down the inside of each thigh, a cure may be considered very distant and uncertain; involving a doubt for prudent deliberation, whether the alternative of DEATH may not be preferable to the chance of cure, at an expence (if effected) very, very far exceeding the value of THE HORSE.
Experience, and attentive observation, tend to justify an opinion, that when the FARCY makes its first appearance, in the way described, it is then of the species received by infection, and that it has lain dormant some time in the circulation. When it makes its attack upon one particular part, in a previous tumefaction, and subsequent suppuration, (extending no farther than the quarter in which it originates,) it may then be considered a degree of the same disorder, retaining within itself much less virulence than the former, and to have been produced by the morbid state of the blood, and predominant tendency to disease; holding forth a well-founded prospect of CURE, if the case happens to fall into the hands of a judicious and scientific practitioner, who well knows the peculiar property of medicine, upon which alone the success depends.
Those writers who have industriously divided and sub-divided the FARCY into so many different diseases, have not noticed a disorder (or rather a complication) partaking of the joint symptoms of both GLANDERS and FARCY; from which circumstance it has, by the best and most experienced practitioners, been denominated, FARCY GLANDERS, and is, in its attack, progress, and termination, precisely as follows. One or more swellings appear upon some part or parts of the body, where, after attaining a certain size, they become indurated, making no farther progress toward maturation. Here NATURE seems counteracted in her own efforts, and, by some inexplicable revulsion, the head is almost immediately and severely affected; TUMEFACTIONS appear under the jaws; the SWELLINGS increase in various parts and degrees about the eyes and mouth; a most incredible discharge comes on from the nostrils, discoloured and offensive beyond description; in which state, bidding defiance to every interposition of ART, or administration of MEDICINE, the animal lingers a few days, and, if not previously dispatched, (as in fact it ought to be,) DIES a mass of complete putrefaction.
FARRIER
—is the appellation by which a person is known, whose occupation it has hitherto been considered to execute the joint office of furnishing shoes for the PROTECTION of the FEET, and the BODY with MEDICINE for the cure of disease. It has been, from its original formation as a business, the most dangerous, laborious, and least compensated, trade (or profession) of any in the kingdom; consequently none but the most indigent or illiterate (from the eaves of a cottage, or the walls of a workhouse) could be prevailed upon to undertake it. In proof of which, it is a well known fact, that, for a century past, not more than one in TWENTY of its practitioners, in either town or country, has ever been enabled to leave a clear twenty pounds to his family at the time of their decease. Recent circumstances have, however, occurred, to give the PRACTICE of FARRIERY a new complexion; but, unluckily, in the extreme; for the appearance of "The Gentleman's Stable Directory" a few years since, and the success of its author in his indefatigable endeavours, and energetic exertions, to promote a reformation in the shamefully neglected, erroneous, and cruel system of FARRIERY, constituted such a blaze of national emulation, that the institution, erection, and establishment, of a PUBLIC SCHOOL, has rendered practitioners in FARRIERY (newly ycleped "Veterinary Surgeons") as numerous as the necessitous medical adventurers in almost every town and village of the kingdom. See Veterinary College.
FARRIERY
.—The ART of FARRIERY consists in the peculiar mode of discovering one disorder from another, by a discrimination of predominant symptoms, and the administration of medicine particularly applicable to that peculiar species of disease. It also comprehends and includes the operations of BLEEDING, CROPPING, DOCKING, NICKING, BLISTERING, FIRING, &c. as well as the cure of wounds, and the long train of ills and accidents to which the horse is incident. This ART (or more properly science) now struggling to become respectable, has hitherto continued in a state of the most wretched sterility for the reasons so clearly explained under the last head; to which may be added, the very impressive consideration, that its PROFESSORS have not been permitted to retain the least personal weight in the scale of society; on the contrary, have been generally held in the most trifling estimation, and consequently destined to associate only with the lowest and least polished classes of every description.
The degrading, dirty, and inferior offices to which the manual or operative FARRIER must incessantly become liable in the course of his PRACTICE, renders it readily to be believed, that those whose EDUCATION have been sufficiently liberal to qualify them for a scientific initiation in the STUDY of PHYSIC and ANATOMY, as well as a perfect knowledge of the PROPERTY of MEDICINE, cannot be expected to descend to the rough and laborious business of the FORGE, making, fitting and setting the SHOES, as well as many other equally difficult and hazardous operations to which the subordinate must perpetually become subject in the course of his practice. Hence it is fair to infer, that the liberal education, and acquired polish, of the VETERINARY SURGEON, will so ill accord with the sensations of the SHOEING or black smith, that they will be found incompatible with each other; and, until a more extended idea, and generous compensation, is adopted by the public, to render the MEDICAL MONITOR, (or veterinary surgeon,) and common shoeing-smith and operative farrier, two distinct and separate branches, the practice of FARRIERY and VETERINARY MEDICINE will never attain the improvement of which it is so clearly capable.
FAWN
—is the young of the BUCK and DOE, called a fawn during the first year. A fawn is secreted by the dam in the fern, or long grass, with great care, during the first weeks, and seldom accompanies the mother but by night. In royal PARKS and CHACES, a certain number are annually killed when fawns of about three months old, to prevent the district from being overstocked; this is generally done by COURSING with GREYHOUNDS, which is most excellent sport, the greyhounds being frequently beat.
FEATHER
.—The centrical division, and different directions, of the surrounding hair in a horse's forehead is so called: they are also frequently seen upon the neck on one or both sides the mane, and sometimes upon the hind quarters, and are considered natural ornaments: their similitude to a feather of the first plumage has given them this appellation.
FEATHER WEIGHT
,—in the SPORTING WORLD, signifies the lightest weight that can be put upon the back of a HORSE, in whatever MATCH he may be engaged, and totally depends upon the will of the owner; who is not under the necessity of bringing his RIDER to the scale either before or after the race, in an engagement where "feather weight" is particularly expressed. On the contrary, when a horse runs for any PLATE, MATCH, SWEEPSTAKES, or SUBSCRIPTION, at a fixed weight, according to his AGE, HEIGHTH, or QUALIFICATION, his RIDER must be publicly weighed upon the course previous to starting; and at the termination of every heat, if the rider dismounts before his horse is led up to the SCALES, (generally affixed to the starting-post,) or when there, not weighing his proper weight, the HORSE is deemed distanced, and can start no more for the prize in question.
FEEDER
—is one essential part of a HUNTING ESTABLISHMENT, bearing no ill affinity to the bellows-blower of an ORGANIST; for if the hounds are not well and properly fed, they can never be adequate to the fatigues and difficulties they have to go through. To the FEEDER is submitted the management of the HOUNDS in kennel; but he is always subject to the occasional directions of the HUNTSMAN, whose immediate subordinate he is, and whose dictation he must implicitly obey. He should not only be young, indefatigable, and alert, but fond of his employment; as well as humane and good tempered, for the comfort of the poor animals entrusted to his care, who have not the power to expostulate when ill used, or to remonstrate if their grievances stand in need of redress.
The department of the FEEDER is of more magnitude than may at first sight be believed. It is his particular business to keep THE KENNEL sweet and clean, and to execute this part of his trust at stated and invariable periods. To boil, prepare, and mix the different kinds of provision for the HOUNDS, according to the regulations of the establishment to which he belongs. When disengaged from the concerns of the kennel, he is expected to assist in the stables; as well as to exercise and dress the spare horses of the HUNTSMAN and WHIPPER-IN, on hunting days when they are absent. In extensive concerns, and large packs, two are required to FEED, in which case the HUNTSMAN (as is most proper) always renders assistance.
FEET
.—The FEET of HORSES being the very basis of support upon which the safety and expedition of the frame entirely depend, they are entitled to every possible degree of CARE and ATTENTION; more particularly in the WINTER SEASON, when, from neglect, so many ills and inconveniencies are known to arise. The injuries, accidents, and diseases, to which the FEET are constantly liable, consist of CRACKS in the heels, SCRATCHES or lacerations, STUBS and bruises of the outer sole, or upon the verge of the coronet, between hair and hoof, CORNS, SANDCRACKS, THRUSHES, CANKER, QUITTOR, RINGBONE, and FOOT-FOUNDER; exclusive of the frequent injuries sustained in SHOEING, by the ignorance, indolence, or obstinacy of those SMITHS who, having no professional reputation to support, are too innately confident in their own ability to bear instruction.
As the DEFECTS thus enumerated will be found individually enlarged upon under distinct and separate heads, it becomes only necessary here to lay down such general rules for the regular management of the FEET, as may (properly attended to) prove the means of prudent prevention; not more in respect to the trouble and expence of DISEASE, than of the most mortifying and repentant anxiety. These defects and disquietudes are seldom found but in the stables where the MASTER rarely or ever condescends to obtrude his PERSON and commands upon the tenacious dignity of a self-important groom; the persevering industry of whose careful endeavours, and the pliability and elasticity of whose joints, if properly exerted, would prove the truest and most infallible preventives to SWELLED LEGS and CRACKED HEELS, in preference to all the nostrums ever yet brought into private practice or public use. And those who unfortunately encounter these ills, may generally, and with justice, attribute them much more to the constitutional tardiness of the professed groom (or occasional strapper) than any defect in the constitution of the horse.
The FEET of different HORSES vary exceedingly in what may be termed the texture or property of the hoof; and this is, in general, regulated by the colour of the LEGS and FEET. There are few horses with white heels, but what have white hoofs also, and these are always more liable to, and susceptible of, DEFECTS and WEAKNESS, than those of an opposite description. The sound, firm, dark-coloured hoof, of the BAY, BROWN, or BLACK horse, is seldom found defective; but those of other coloured horses are the most subject to weak, thin soles, displaying a prominence on each side the frog, occasioned by a too feeble and inadequate resistance to the force of the membranous mass within; feet of which description are also frequently found to have the corresponding concomitant of a brittle hoof, the edges of which are incessantly splitting, and throwing out a constant threatening of SANDCRACKS, with the additional mortification of being subject to inveterate THRUSHES, or an almost constantly diseased or putrefied state of the frog.
Feet, so exceedingly different in the nature of their construction, must certainly require as different a mode of treatment, according to such circumstances as happen to exist. To preserve feet perfectly sound, and free from the ills to which they are subject, cleanliness is the leading step. After exercise or use, so soon as the body is drest, the dirt or gravel should be carefully taken from under the shoes with a PICKER, the feet well washed, the legs and heels rubbed dry, the bottom stopped with cow dung, and the hoofs oiled with a brush impregnated with SPERMA CÆTI OIL. Horses left with wet legs and heels, after a severe chace, or long journey, particularly in sharp easterly winds, or during FROST and SNOW, constitute cracks or scratches to a certainty. So severe a rigidity is occasioned in the very texture of the integument, that it becomes partially ruptured or broken in various places, upon being brought into expeditious action; which, with the friction and irritation then occasioned by the sharp particles of gravel in dirty roads, soon produce lacerations of the most painful description.
The state of the SHOES should be constantly attended to. Permitted to continue too long upon the FEET, the growth of the hoof brings the shoe forward, rendering it too short at the heel, when it begins to indent, and sinking upon the foot, soon presses upon the outer sole, constituting pain or disquietude in some horses, and laying the foundation of CORNS in others. Horses, in moderate work, require NEW SHOES once a month upon an average, never varying more than two or three days from that time: indeed, it is not right they should go longer. The penurious plan of removing shoes half worn is truly ridiculous; they never render service adequate to the expence, and the practice only tends to a more frequent destruction of the hoof. Thrushes should be counteracted upon their first appearance, without being permitted to acquire a corroding virulence. Swelled Legs are hardly ever seen in stables where a proper course of discipline, and regular routine of business, is observed; they proceed from a visced, sizey state of the blood, a languor in the circulation, a want of exercise out of the stable, or a sufficiency of friction, leg-rubbing, care, and attention within. See Grease.
FERN
—is a plant abounding plentifully in CHACES, BEECHEN WOODS, and COMMONS, and is a seeming diminutive resemblance of our native bulwark the hardy oak, not more in the similitude of its growth, than its appropriation to various purposes of utility. It not only constitutes excellent bedding for cattle in the winter, but has been considered so instrumental to the PRESERVATION of GAME, that laws have been framed to prevent its being wantonly destroyed, or unseasonably perverted, to the interested purposes of private individuals.
"Any person who shall unlawfully set fire to, burn, or destroy, or assist in so doing, any goss, furze, or fern, upon any FOREST or CHASE within England, he shall, on the oath of one witness before a JUSTICE of the peace, forfeit a sum not exceeding 5l. nor less than 40s. one moiety to the informer, the other to the poor of the parish. The same to be levied by distress; in want of which, the offender to be committed to the house of correction, or county gaol, for a time not longer than three months, nor less than one." In addition to which act, there are other MANORIAL rights and local customs, respecting FERN upon wastes and commons, restraining those who have right of common (or other privileges) from cutting fern before HOLYROOD DAY in every year.
FERRET
—is a useful little animal, well known to WARRENERS and RAT-CATCHERS, by whom they are principally bred, as necessary to their own occupations. The ferret is of great spirit, strength, and courage, for its size; is an inveterate enemy to rabbits, rats, and poultry; in the pursuit of which, it will encounter any difficulty or danger, when once put upon the scent. The body is longer in proportion to its height, than almost any other animal, the weazel and stoat excepted. The colour frequently varies, even in the young of the same dam and the same litter; some being black, with white under the belly; some are of a faint straw-colour yellow, and others of a light sandy red. The head is, in its formation, not unlike the mouse; the eyes are small, fiery, having the appearance of red-hot iron, and can consequently distinguish objects in the dark. It has a natural and instinctive propensity to burrowing, and where-ever the head can enter, the rest of the body can easily follow. Whenever the FERRET has secured the prey he is in pursuit of, he extracts the blood with extreme pleasure by suction, but is totally indifferent to the flesh; with the exception of the head of either RABBIT or RAT, the skull of which he directly destroys with his teeth, the better to enjoy an instantaneous and luxurious feast upon the brains.
The FERRET usually produces five or six young at each litter, after a gestation of forty days: the offspring continue blind for thirty days, and copulate in six weeks after they can see. They are not ravenous, (except in pursuit of their prey, after having been long fasted;) are easily supported upon bread, milk, and similar trifles, enabled by nature to exist a long time without food, which is in some degree compensated for by their great enjoyment of sleep. When used in WARRENS, they are hunted with muzzles, that they may alarm the RABBITS, and drive them from their burrows to the nets, without having the power to injure them; for if they were enabled to seize them under ground, they could never be prevailed upon to leave the earths.
FETLOCK
.—The part so called is the next joint below the knee, and is formed by the union of the shank-bone, at its bottom, with the upper part of the small bone passing from this junction to the coronary bone at its top. The TENDONS (commonly called the back sinews) have their lower seat of insertion at this joint, which is constantly liable to, and frequently susceptible of, the most serious LAMENESS. As injuries of this joint are sometimes incurable, particularly when occasioned by a twist or ligamentary distortion, one precaution may be prudently retained in memory; that more horses are lamed by short, sudden, and unnatural turns in the narrow stalls of an ill-constructed STABLE, (particularly in the Metropolis,) than by any straitforward means whatever. Tendinous lameness has a much greater chance of early relief, and permanent cure, than an injury sustained at the junction of the bones; for the relaxed tendons being restored to their original elasticity by CORROBORATIVE STIMULANTS, BLISTERING, or FIRING, frequently continue sound during the existence of the horse: on the contrary, a LIGAMENTARY LAMENESS, however it may be relieved, or apparently restored, is always more subject to a relapse or repetition.
FEVER
,—HORSES are subject to, and frequently attacked with, originating in various causes, and acting upon different constitutions in a different way. Judicious discrimination should be made between what is (ab origne) a FEVER within itself, and symptomatic fever, dependent upon, and arising from, another cause. Extreme pain may produce FEVER, as in large formations of matter, where tumours approach gradually to suppuration. Fever may become attendant upon inflammatory cholic, or upon a severe fit of the strangury, or spasmodic affection of the kidnies. In all INFLAMMATIONS of the LUNGS, the fever exceeds description; but these fevers are called SYMPTOMATIC, as being a concomitant, or distinguishing trait, of the DISEASE upon which it is founded, rather than a disease within itself.
The predominant symptoms of FEVER are, an agitated lassitude and debility of the whole frame, with evident disquietude in every position; quick and strong pulsation; mouth parched and dry, with a burning heat to the fingers, when placed under the tongue; breath of a fleshy offensive smell; the eyes red, inflamed and prominent, as if propelled by internal inflammation; heaving more or less in the flanks, according to the mildness or severity of the case. Frequent attempts are made to STALE; the urine is very red in colour, and comes away in small quantities: the dung is generally hard, voided in single or double globules, to each of which adheres a viscid slime, indicative of much internal foulness amidst the interstices of the intestinal canal. Loss of appetite, difficulty of respiration, a refusal of food, and impatient thirst for water, are amongst the most invariable diagnostics of fever; and as these symptoms are more or less violent, may be estimated the severity and DANGER of DISEASE.
FIDGET
,—the name of a horse of much celebrity, who won as many capital stakes as most horses of his time. He was bred by Mr. Vernon; was got by Florizel; dam by Matchem, out of an own sister to Sweetbriar. In the possession of the Duke of Bedford, he became a stallion at Wooburn, and was the sire of Augusta, Cub, Victor, Frisky, Hamadryad, Nestler, Fantail, Zemise, Granadilla, Lady Sarah, St. Vitus; all winners; as well as a great number of colts and fillies, who won large stakes at three and four years old, but ran without a name.
FIGGING
—is the sublime art of insinuating a profusion of false spirit, and artificial fire, into a horse, when offering him for sale. This is done by privately introducing a piece of ginger (previously bitten) within the sphincter of the anus, where, by its painful stimulus, it so irritates the animal, that he seems, by the cocking of his tail, the instantaneous erection of his ears, and the deceptive spirit he displays in action, to be a horse of very superior appearance and value to what he turns out when the stimulus of this deception has subsided.
FILLETS
—are, in more intelligible language, the LOINS of a HORSE, and seated above the flank, beyond the last rib, and in a transverse line with the hip-bone. A horse long in the back, narrow across the loins, and tucked up (greyhound like) in the carcase, is said to be badly made in the FILLETS, or, in other words, weak in the loins.
FILLY
,—the female produce of a HORSE and MARE: she is called a FILLY FOAL the first year; a YEARLING the second; and a FILLY till four years old.
FILM
—appertains to a certain DEFECT, and properly used, applies only to a thickening of the outer coat or humour of THE EYE; in which case relief from external applications may very frequently be obtained: but where any of the internal coverings are become opaque, (and sometimes erroneously called films,) success from topical experiments must not be expected.
FIRETAIL
—was a name given to three famous running horses in succession; the first got by Childers, the second by Squirrel, and the third by Eclipse.
FIRING
—is an operation performed upon different parts of A HORSE for the promotion of any particular purpose, (according to the degree of injury sustained,) and in the following way. The horse being safely secured by twitches and cords, according to the methods in general use, the OPERATOR having his irons in the fire properly heated, and his attendant ready to supply him with another, as often as the fire of the previous iron is exhausted, he proceeds with the edge of the red-hot iron to make longitudinal and transverse strokes in succession, over the whole part where injury has been sustained, and to such extent as circumstances may have rendered necessary; the depth and magnitude of the operation depending upon the severity of the injury, and the length of time since it was sustained. Firing is frequently adopted in strains of the back sinews, where the subject is said to have broken down; likewise for BONE and BLOOD SPAVINS, CURBS, SPLENTS, and partially to prevent a renewal or repetition of SAND-CRACKS, as well as for RINGBONES, and LAMENESS in the round-bone; in the two last, however, it has hardly ever been known of the least utility.