Chopped roots, speared wheat, hay tea, and a little cut grass, should it be in season, are all proper in this disease. At the same time, walking exercise is much to be commended. Motion quickens the circulation; but in grease it seems, in a manner which is not understood, also to allay pain. A horse having grease will be led out of the stable limping lame; but after an hour's exercise it may return walking firmly and almost soundly. After cleanliness, good food and medicine, nothing is so beneficial to grease as moderate exercise.

MALLENDERS AND SALLENDERS.

These names are to be traced to no derivation, but in their arbitrary signification they denote a certain condition of the parts situated on the points of principal flexion in either limb. Mallenders appear upon the back of the knee; sallenders are located in front of the hock. Both, in the first place, are scurfy patches exhibiting a roughened state of hair and suggesting considerable irritability. Either, if neglected, will degenerate into a troublesome sore from which a foul discharge will issue. With ordinary care they neither do much harm; but are rather regarded as proofs of idleness and as eyesores, than as actual diseases, to which importance they now seldom attain. For their relief it is essential to pay scrupulous attention to cleanliness; as, when the coat suffers from neglect, it is very probable the same cause may likewise influence the constitution. Therefore, always begin the treatment with the tonic alterative drinks described on the previous page; at the same time applying with friction a little of the annexed ointment thrice daily:—

Ointment for Mallenders and Sallenders.

When the scurf, through neglect, degenerates into a sore, treat after the manner subsequently advised for cracked heels. But in every case of this kind always begin the treatment with a change of stable attendant; for where certain diseases appear, these are conclusive proof that duty is neglected. No remonstrance, no chiding, can amend the habits of the groom, who has, from drink or other indulgence, lost pride in the stable over which he should reign supreme.

CRACKED HEELS.

This is, save where very wrong-headed measures are pursued, the affection peculiar to the cold and wet months of the year. Even during the inclement weather of the summer, however, the horse may, if badly managed, exhibit this form of disease. Should the hair, which nature with kind intention placed upon the fetlock, be ruthlessly cut away, the animal is thereby rendered liable to cracked heels. The wet very rarely penetrates that designed defense. When it does, the ample covering of hair falling over the skin prevents evaporation, and the moisture rather promotes warmth than causes any excess of cold. The dirt of the road always lodges upon the surface of the hair, and if the horse-keeper exercise only ordinary care it can never soil the flesh.

The liability induced by removal of the natural covering exemplifies the folly of those practices which have lately become so very fashionable as at the present time to be almost universal. But there has always appeared to exist in the human mind a restless desire to improve the beauty of the horse. Now the tail has been docked; then the ears have been cut. A short space prior to these amendments, the skin was tampered with to produce a star, as a white spot upon the forehead was termed. At the passing hour almost every man who owns a horse must have the body clipped or singed. The length of hair is given in this climate as a necessary provision. Nature never forms anything without its use; though man in his ignorance may not always be able to comprehend her intention. Were finer coats desired, it would probably be wiser to obtain them by warming the stable, increasing the clothing, and avoiding those long stagnations during which the animal has to remain motionless before street doors. A long coat is a defense against a cold winter; and unless man provides against the consequences of our climate, it is evidently flagrantly wrong to deprive a dumb creature of the protection which nature has bestowed.

Shortening the coat, if anywhere justifiable, is certainly most pardonable among hunters. Animals used for this purpose always have, or should have, plenty of attendance; these creatures also are mostly required during the autumn and early winter. Removing the coat certainly does stimulate the body. The horse assuredly is capable of greater exertion immediately after the deprivation. At the same time, however, a greater susceptibility to disease is engendered, and often the deprived animal falls a victim to man's fancy, notwithstanding all the care and attention which the hunting-stable can command. A burst and then a check, when a piercing wind blows from the northeast, invariably produces sad effects among the horses, especially at the commencement of the season. A gentleman who prizes the animal he rides should take it to "the meet" unclipped; and, perhaps, should the run be long, the quadruped may hold a better place at the death than horses adorned after the prevailing fashion.

The folly of the custom is shown in the animals attached to London vehicles. These horses are mostly wanted for spring service. The stimulant of the autumn is purchased at the cost of debility during the spring. The coat is shed the later because of the previous deprivation. When the summer hair is growing, the creature presents a very uneven and ragged appearance in consequence of the points of the new and the roots of the old coat being of opposite colors. The gentleman who, therefore, has his nag and carriage horses shorn of their natural coverings at the time when hunters are thrown up, beholds the objects of his pride deficient in animation and beggarly in aspect, while the animal that has been allowed to wear its native garments dashes past him in all the briskness of the season and the smartness of new apparel.

The question of clipping and of singeing is simply this. Do you require your servant's services all the year round, or do you want its utmost exertions for a comparatively short space immediately subsequent to the removal of the outer hair; and, at how great a hazard are you prepared to purchase your wish?

Were the legs of horses allowed to retain that adornment which nature gave, and were the parts not shorn of their shaggy beauty—were men not inclined to confound the different breeds of horses, and, because the thorough-bred has clean legs, to imagine the cart-horse can be artificially made to display members equally fine—were masters more resolute in resisting the selfish suggestions of lazy grooms, who love to have the bushy heels clipped—were the stable-keeper not afraid of doing his duty, but would go down upon his knees and rub the fetlocks dry, instead of drenching them with water, and then leaving them to chap in moisture and in cold,—were these things attended to, there is no reason why cracked heels should not speedily become a thing which has been, but no longer is.

However, if animals are exposed throughout the wintry season, under the pretense of being placed in a straw-yard, the proprietor must expect to take the creatures up with some defect. The worst case of cracked heels the author ever looked upon, was produced after the last-mentioned method; the skin was much thickened and deeply marked by fissures. In places it had sloughed, and where the integument was absent fearfully deep ulceration was established. Fortunately, the absorbing process had reached none of those important structures which are situated about the heel of the horse; and the animal, after lengthened treatment, was cured.

For cracked heels, if bad, the animal must rest, at all events till the parts are improved. When slight, always wash them with tepid water and mild soap, upon the animal's return to the stable; dry them thoroughly with a soft leather; then damp them with the following:—

Wash for Cracked Heels.

Should sloughing and ulceration have commenced, that condition claims the first attention as being the most dangerous.

Forbear all exercise while such a state exists. Throw up the animal. Allow it to rest in the stable. Give a few bran mashes or a little cut grass to open the bowels; but do not take the horse out even for exercise while such an unhealthy action is in existence. Ulceration is too dangerous and morbid a process not to be treated with every consideration; and it is far too irritable and painful a state not to necessitate perfect inaction for its relief. Apply the following to the heels:—

Wash for Ulcerated Cracked Heels.

Upon the ulceration being arrested, the last prescription may be discarded, and the former recipe resorted to; with these, however, it is always well to attend to the constitution. A drink, each day, composed of liquor arsenicalis, half an ounce; tincture of the muriate of iron, one ounce; water, half a pint, should be given every night. This composition has been often recommended, but the author knows of none which is more beneficially tonic to the general system, and which, at the same time, acts so directly upon the skin.

Stablemen are fond of urging various excuses to hide their disinclination for exertion. Thus it is common for such people to assert that the horse's heels cracked while the animal was out on a cold, a wet, or a windy day: this is nonsense. Stablemen, of course, do not desire the creatures which they look after to be exposed to that soil which it is their duty to remove; but nature, that ordained the climate, formed the animal to endure it.

Were not the heels clipped, nothing short of extreme stable neglect could occasion those parts to crack. If the hair is removed, nothing but excessive good fortune will prevent this affection. The groom in the last case is not to blame, should the heels become sore. However, the best method of avoiding this affection, where the hair is cut short, experience has proved to be the following: Upon return to the stable, wash the feet scrupulously clean with cold water; then dry them thoroughly. Use several cloths to effect the latter purpose, and do not relinquish the object while the slightest moisture remains; nor cease to rub them until the parts are in a glow. Subsequently, smear over the heels a little glycerin; but even this will not in every instance prevent the affection. No care can render safe that which human folly has exposed.

CHAPTER XI.

Broken wind in the horse approaches very nearly to dry asthma in the human being. Man, however, can suit his work to his capabilities; but all horses have only one employment, which, to be sure, may differ in its intensity; still, the most afflicted animal always has to perform the severest kind of draught. Let any person propose that individuals having dry asthma should pull loaded trucks, to earn their bread or to purchase a right to live; the cruelty of such a proposition would be apparent to the dullest sense. Yet is it the horse's doom that, no matter with what disease it may be afflicted, the animal must work or die. Old or sick, weak or disabled, still the body's toil must earn the creature's food and the master's profit. Spasm or agony can excuse no pause; let the sufferer even slacken the space sufficiently to mitigate in some degree the pangs it endures, and the long whip, aided by the harsh voice of the driver, will urge the flagging cripple onward. The horse has no words to plead with; the signs of its distress are not understood; the law which assumes to protect it is a delusion; the animal is given up, helpless, friendless, and unpitied, to the almost unrestrained barbarity of its master. It is born doomed to live in solitude, to wear its life out under the goad, and to yield up existence in a knacker's yard.

"Broken wind" is a sad affliction; it is the more sad because no men but the very careless or the very poor will keep an animal thus diseased. The author has known it to be a frequent reason given by the better class of horse proprietors for having the life destroyed; which decision may have been quickened by the fact that the horse is generally old before this disease appears. In the knowledge of the writer there is no recorded instance of a colt having "broken wind." The malady is usually witnessed after the adult age has been attained, or during the latter period of life, whether the affection has been naturally induced or aggravated by the cruelty of man.

It is said to have been produced suddenly; thus a man has been reported to have ridden an untrained horse after the hounds, and so have provoked the disorder. Another is asserted to have galloped a nag with a stomach loaded either with food or water, and thus to have broken the wind. Doubtless the seeds of the disorder may by either process have been sown; but that the disease was fully developed after either incident, is more than doubtful.

The seat of this affliction is not confined to any one organ; its ravage is universal. No part escapes; that the entire animal economy can change all at once, like a trick in a Christmas pantomime, is a circumstance which has yet to be established. The malady is most general among the agricultural districts; the farmer's poor team, in many parts of England, seldom tastes much of that which can be taken to market. Cut grass constitutes its chief summer food; the coat is rarely groomed; the stable often left open, and only cleaned when manure is wanted. During the winter months the animals have to luxuriate in the strawyard; the body's abuse, in such horses, may readily lead to the body's degeneration. Green-meat will not support the strength, though upon it the life may be sustained. The occupiers of the soil would find it to their account, could the class be brought to bestow a little more attention upon their living property. The years of labor would be prolonged, and the activity of the laborer be quickened; fewer horses need then be kept, and the anxieties of the farmer would be lightened. Agricultural teams would not then be encountered slowly creeping along the highway, and sleeping as they journeyed. Care naturally begets pride, and worth generally resides where pride is exhibited. Increased value would reward the farmer, whose animals would not then so often present the spectacle of horses doing slow work, being touched in the wind.

Broken wind is evidently a disorder of slow and of long growth; any abuse may lay the foundation of such an affliction. Where abuse of life is possible, there folly is too often habitual; thus repetition may hasten the development of broken wind, but no one act could provoke so lamentable a consequence.

There is some dispute whether broken wind originates in the stomach or in the lungs. The mass of evidence would favor the opinion that originally it was a disease of the digestive organs; but, as the disorder proceeds, all parts of the body appear to be involved.

The symptoms of broken wind are a short, dry cough, which is described as "hacking," and which may be readily imitated by any person making a coughing noise while he withholds from enlarging the mouth, moving the lips, or employing the tongue, but at the same time endeavoring to pronounce the word "hack."

The cough arises from irritability of the larynx, the mucous membrane of which is directly continuous with that proper to the lungs, and is joined to that of the stomach, any disease of which organ is frequently accompanied by cough.

The appetite is ravenously and unscrupulously morbid; the thirst is insatiable; the flatus is most abundant; the dung is but half digested; the abdomen is pendulous; the coat is ragged, and the general aspect is dejected.

The leading symptom, or that which is looked for as indicative of broken wind, is found in the breathing. Respiration is accomplished by a triple effort: inhalation is quick and single, expiration is slow and double. The air is drawn upon the lungs as by a gasp. This being quickly accomplished, the ribs commence to expel the vapor, and move laboriously to their utmost extent without being able to effect the purpose. The movement of the chest and the inhalation are counted as two efforts. Then ensues the third. The abdomen begins to rise, with an evident desire to aid in emptying the lungs by driving forward the diaphragm, and thereby diminishing the capacity of the thorax. These two last efforts are comparatively laborious; but the double effort is only partially completed before a sense of suffocation forces the animal to gasp once more for breath.

There certainly are several circumstances which favor the opinion that broken wind is a disease of the digestive organs. In the first place, the great majority of broken-winded horses are to be found in those stables where the animals are badly fed; moreover, it is no unusual thing for a gentleman to turn his nag out to grass, or into the straw-yard, and to take it up broken winded. Then, again, low dealers, who frequent fairs and public houses, have a method of what they term "setting broken wind;" this consists in pouring into the stomach various substances which cause the indicative symptom of the disease to be for a time concealed. Grease, tar, shot, and many filths are used for this purpose—anything which seems to induce nausea appears capable of producing such an effect. These things may conceal, but they cannot destroy, the characteristic cough; a copious draught of cold water, by refreshing the stomach, will induce the restoration of all those signs natural to the disorder.

Formerly there was very generally accepted a supposed cure for broken wind. The flatus is one of the most marked and troublesome symptoms of the disease; that, when coaches had possession of the roads, rendered a broken-winded animal unsuited to run in such vehicles. To master the objection, and also, by relieving the intestines, to enable the broken-winded horse to live through the pace, a hole was bored into the rectum from without by means of a heated iron; into this hole a leaden tube was inserted, and by that the flatus found egress without the outside passenger being unpleasantly aware of its perpetual escape.

For broken wind, prevention is far more easy than cure; in fact, the utmost which science can at present accomplish is to relieve the distress. To effect this, water should be given only at stated times, and never immediately before work. Four half pails may be allowed each four and twenty hours; one the first thing in the morning, another the last thing at night, and the other two at convenient times during the day. Into every drink of water it is likewise well to mingle half an ounce of dilute phosphoric acid, or half a drachm of dilute sulphuric acid.

Besides this allow oats and beans, five feeds each day, with only five pounds of hay; two pounds in the morning, when being dressed, and the remainder in the rack at night. Crush the oats and beans; thoroughly damp all the food before it is presented to the horse, and also scald the corn.

Remove all bed by day, and muzzle when littered down for the night. Place a lump of rock-salt at one end of the manger, and at the other put a block of chalk.

Such is the little science can propose for the alleviation of an incapacitating disorder. All other recommendations rather concern the owner than the stable. A horse thus afflicted should never be pushed hard or called upon for any extraordinary exertion. Fatigue, when severe, is apt to provoke alarming spasm; a spectacle which the author once witnessed, of an animal which had journeyed far, pulling a heavy load, is represented at the head of this article. The horse had only paused while the carter took his beer, and had received nothing but hay upon the road. It had traveled all night, and it was still in the chains when the writer beheld it on the afternoon of the succeeding day.

After death, the body which has suffered from the disease declares the ravage of the malady. The lungs are larger than usual, and always pallid; small bladders containing gas are upon their surface, and when taken from their cavity the organs do not collapse as do the healthy lungs, nor can the air by compression be entirely driven forth. The hand being forced upon the surface elicits crepitation, or provokes a crackling sound, induced by the vapor passing out of one cell into another; for broken wind causes the terminations of the bronchial tubes to give way or to freely communicate one with another. Now, it is within these air-cells that the blood absorbs the oxygen from the inhaled atmosphere, and purifies itself by yielding up carbonic acid. How much must the destruction of their integrity, therefore, affect the entire body! Impure blood cannot nourish a healthy life; and the reader, after the above explanation, will easily account for the ragged and dejected aspect of the horse with broken wind.

The diaphragm is also disintegrated; the fibers of its tendinous portion are separated. The stomach is distended and thin; the bowels are enlarged and blown out with gas; the muscle of the anus is flaccid; the visible mucous membranes are of an unhealthy tint; the lining of the windpipe and the bronchial tubes is greatly thickened; the muscles are soft and deficient in color; and, where fat should have been, is only found a gelatinous fluid.

Having related the living and the morbid changes which characterize the malady, it remains now to inform the reader how so terrible a scourge may be avoided. The horse is so valuable a helpmate that it merits, for its own sake, man's greatest care. Never, for any reason, therefore, drive the animal from the shelter of the stable to the exposure of the field; never turn the steed which has thriven upon prepared food to the starvation of a "run at grass," or rankness of the "straw-yard." Never, for cheapness, buy damaged provender; never load a famishing stomach; be generous in all provision for those creatures which devote their lives to your service. Never, where such a thing is possible, permit the groom to ride or exercise the nag out of your sight. Be very attentive that the times of watering are rigidly observed. Never suffer an animal to quit the stable soon after it has drank or eaten. Be very attentive to all coughs; accustom yourself to the sound of the healthy horse's windpipe, that when the slightest change of noise indicates the smallest change of structure, you may be prepared to recognize and to meet the enemy before disease has had time to fix upon the membrane.

Having laid down the above rules, it may, to the ignorant, appear that every possible movement of the proprietor has been interfered with; that, in fact, the horse owner has been left no freedom of action. To the informed, however, it will seem that nothing more than every gentleman should observe has been proposed; and the horseman will smile when he learns that by such trivial matters can so heavy an affliction as broken wind be avoided.

MELANOSIS.

A quantity of black deposit, accumulated in large quantities upon certain parts of the frame, and contained within an increased amount of cellular tissue, constitutes this disease. At an early period swellings may be detected externally; they may be as small as a millet-seed, or as large round as a plate. These may remain dormant for years, or, if cut into before they start into activity, are almost white, and very glistening in parts, much resembling cartilage.

As time progresses, however, all the white disappears, and its place is filled by a material not unlike lamp-black when thoroughly incorporated with water. These growths increase both in number and in size. Should one be cut into after it is fully matured, an inky fluid follows the knife. The disease is not confined simply to external tumors; the coverings to nerves, the coats of arteries, and the recesses of the closest bones, are each found to bear minute evidences of a melanotic tendency. The deposit, however, seems principally to attack the internal organs. The interior of the sheath is not unfrequently clogged to that degree which forbids the passage of the natural emission; while the preceding engraving of a loaded spleen by no means represents an extreme case.

A tumor should be admirably placed for operation, and its removal should be almost imperative, before the surgeon presumes to meddle with it. As a general rule, the best treatment for melanosis is to let it alone. Our present knowledge points to no medicine which can prevent or disperse such deposits, and the tumors appear to resent the slightest interference. The integrity of one swelling being violated seems to start off the disease with enraged intensity. If let alone, melanosis may exist for years, and cause little inconvenience to the body in which it resides. The horse is, by its daily service, exposed to various accidents. The large majority of the tribe perish before their youth has passed. The animal may, therefore, cease to live by other causes than disease, or die before disease has become formidable. But irritate the system by employment of the knife, and a lamentable malady may speedily render the knacker's office an act of charity.

Above all, let the master not permit any man to blister, seton, rowel, fire, stimulate, or slough out the tumor; such deeds are cruel folly. Bleeding is worse than useless. Purging weakens the body which disease is sapping. All medicines used in ignorance are probable hazards. Let such things, therefore, be discarded; but if something must be done, let the animal have daily an eight-ounce dose of any bland vegetable oil. Some linseed may likewise be mingled with the corn, or a decoction of the whole linseed may be presented as drink before the seeds themselves are given with the oats.

It is but natural to connect melanosis with the changed aspect of the skin. A young gray horse seems to be exempt; but as the dark hairs disappear from the coat, and the animal with age turns white, a black deposit accumulates upon various parts of the body. Creatures of other colors are not liable to so terrible a scourge; and seeing that the disease is in some manner connected with a change in the skin, probably some attention to the integumental covering might be of service.

All use of the curry-comb should be forbidden. The dressing should be long continued, only with the brush; but it cannot, at the same time, be too gentle. Twice a week the body should be anointed with the following:—

A brush should be moistened with the liquid, and the hair of the body should be rendered thoroughly damp, not wet, with the fluid. The after-dressing should consist in the long employment of the brush, so as to carry the glycerin from the hair and to lodge it upon the cuticle.

Glycerin has the peculiar property of destroying scurf; therefore, if glycerin be used, the curry-comb may be dispensed with. It likewise renders soft and moist the cuticle, which invariably becomes harsh and dry with age. Acting thus, it will, in the human subject, so far restore the color to the hair as to conceal the presence of the gray or white ones common to advancing years. The effect on one animal argues favorably for its action in another direction.

A dappled gray is perhaps the most beautiful covering in which bounteous nature could invest a graceful body. Creatures so clothed are usually the favorites of their owners, as well as generally the pets of the stable. Therefore the author may assert there are more than a few horse proprietors who would not bestow a thought upon any expense which could secure to them the services of their much-prized steeds.

When melanosis threatens, a tumor no larger than an egg generally appears upon some part of the body. It may show on any locality. It has no fixed abode. It is hard to the touch, and apparently devoid of sensibility. In this state the disease may remain for one, or it may continue stationary for six, years. When the next and the more active stage commences, the tumor suddenly enlarges. It becomes soft in places, and will fluctuate under the pressure of the fingers. The horse, at the same time, grows slothful. The tumor, which previously seemed in no way to affect the animal, by its enlargement marks the departure of all spirit. This sluggishness rapidly increases till the poorest owner becomes dissatisfied with the perpetual use of the goad.

The body, when opened, generally displays a condition which, from the outward signs, was far from expected. The internal organs are covered with tumors. Numberless morbid growths, of various dimensions and in every stage of development, crowd upon every part. These readily account for that disinclination to move which characterized the latter days of existence.

There is one test for melanosis which does not invariably meet with a response, but which, when successful, seldom deceives. This is a pimple near to the root of the dock; it is very rarely of magnitude; there may only be one or there may be several, and the largest may not exceed the dimensions of half a pea. When, however, such an indication can be detected upon a gray horse which is turning white, the evidence is almost conclusive. The author does not know an instance, where it has suggested the presence of melanosis, that the post-mortem examination has contradicted the indication.

With regard to the ultimate termination of this disorder, the author has no experience. Horses thus affected are always slaughtered when the second stage interferes with their utility; but, judging from the similarity of the disease in man and in the animal, it is conjectured the last stage in each would be alike.

WATER FARCY.

Water farcy, like so many equine disorders, is the offspring of weakness. Man, having a servant willing to work and incapable of complaining, too often proportions the toil only to the master's desire or the master's convenience. Many horses—which perform slow labor—are in harness eighteen hours out of the four and twenty; their rest is while the carter drinks, eats, and sleeps. No, not even can they enjoy such brief respite as is afforded by avarice to the laboring fellow-being; often is one of the drivers seen soundly sleeping on the top of the load which the stiff and jaded animals are compelled to draw. Thus the horse's toil is almost constant; wagoners are well aware that many horses sleep while in the shafts or in the chains. Overcome by fatigue, the animals doze, but continue to walk and to pull the burden onward. Who, knowing such a fact, can wonder that a living frame thus abused should often bow beneath its yoke, and, through death, set torture at defiance?

Water farcy is a warning which nature gives to human selfishness; it is, when rightly viewed, an intimation that, if the owner does not use the life intrusted to him more gently, the common parent will speedily take the sufferer to its rest. The complaint proceeds from debility; should the cause of exhaustion be continued, the affection soon changes its character. Water farcy is dropsy of one hind leg; very rarely does the malady involve two members. Such is the form of the admonition; but the labor undiminished, or the dropsy removed by means of coarse and drastic medicines, the local affection speedily becomes a constitutional disorder; and true farcy releases an ill-used slave from custody of the tyrant who has abused his power.

Horses that are liable to water farcy are mostly of the heavy breed, or are animals which perform slow work. It is usual, on a Saturday night, for the driver to throw much provender before such creatures, and then to lock the stable door, satisfied he has discharged his duty.

Often he does not visit them on the Sunday; the creatures pass "the best of all the seven" confined in a close atmosphere, and eating food which they have contaminated by breathing upon. The man observes the day of rest himself, and takes his ease; for the "brutes" he has heaped up rack and manger—so they have to eat; what more can dumb animals require? Upon opening the door on Monday morning, he may see one horse with a swollen leg. The drudge generally, not invariably, is lame, and holds the enlarged member in the air; the coat stares; the aspect is dull; and much of the abundance which was placed before the animal remains untouched. The poor creature was too tired and in too much pain to eat; but agony has created a consuming thirst, and it will drink the foulest water.

The horse doctor is sent for. In the opinions of veterinary surgeons there are two kinds of water farcy—one springs from debility, the other is accompanied with irritable symptoms. It, however, requires no vast knowledge of physiology to recognize debility and irritability as the children of one parent; indeed, most veterinarians admit the sameness in practice, however much they may dispute it in theory. They bleed, purge, and send in half a dozen diuretic balls, when, the swelling having been removed by such coarse measures, the horse, still further weakened, is once more put to its work.

Let every man who keeps cart-horses view a case of water farcy as a caution, proceeding direct from nature, that the management of his stable requires immediate change. The work is too heavy; pecuniary loss will soon follow, if the system be not amended; true is it, the writer has known men rated "good" in the world's report, and who were very "professing Christians" in their own esteem; he has known these men never to give more than ten pounds for a horse, and, at the time of purchase, the premeditated sin was to work out the life over which money had established authority. It is the most offensive feature of what is termed modern civilization that, rarely as individuals, never as a society, do mankind entertain the slightest sympathy for the animals by which they are surrounded. Most men are only eager for the services of the horse; they do not regard its ailments with the smallest feeling; they seek a veterinary surgeon merely to restore their animal to labor, and care only for a fellow-creature's sufferings as these disable it from toiling for their profit.

Water farcy is, however, an admonition which all men should understand; the horse, when thus attacked, announces that farcy hovers over the stable. Let the work of the team be made less prolonged and less exhausting; let the provender be improved. Green food is no sufficient sustenance for a working horse; it may fill the stomach, but it brings down the belly, and it impoverishes the blood. The team may not travel fast, but they are out for many hours; generally they cover more ground than horses of a quicker pace; they also pull weights before which none but a cart-house would be harnessed. On the appearance of water farcy, therefore, let the distances be shortened and the loads lightened.

Then, for remedial measures, let the diet be nourishing, the bed cleanly, the house drained and airy. As for exercise, let the horse, so soon as it can bear the motion, be gently led out morning, noon, and night, for one hour each time. Do not turn the creature from the stable to the field. Grass may be the cheapest food; but it never yet did a domesticated animal good "to blow itself out" upon such a diet.

As for medicine, when the limb can bear friction, let it be well and often hand-rubbed; the oftener and the longer the better. Every morning saturate it with pails of cold water; wipe it dry immediately, and then set to work hand-rubbing the leg. This is all that is absolutely necessary, save that if the lameness continues longer than the first day, a few punctures may be made through the skin. These should be equally distributed, each being about three-eighths of an inch deep, and one inch long, so as to divide the skin but not to wound the muscles beneath. Through these incisions the fluid, by which the limb is distended, will escape. As for physic, the following ball should be given every morning, if the proprietor can think a sick servant merits such trouble and expense:—

This should be made as it is wanted, for, by keeping, the ingredients become hard, and are apt, when given in that state, to cause injury to the animal.

By such slight and simple means, water farcy has generally been removed; but no delay should occur in having recourse to them, as some cases will set all endeavors at defiance, and delay is always dangerous where health is concerned. A few days of neglect will often permit the limb to become organized. It ceases to pit on pressure. Fibrin has been effused under the skin. The swollen leg is even harder than is the healthy member. Then the horse, should it escape true farcy, will carry about an enlarged member for the duration of its remaining life.

PURPURA HEMORRHAGICA.

This disease formerly was unknown, though at present it appears to be rather common. What is there can shut up the sight of man like ignorance? It is but fair to conclude that purpura was as frequent in past times as it now is; yet men, having professional zeal to quicken their recognitions, could not read what was before their eyes, because they had not been tutored to know and to understand it. It was so with our forefathers, and, we may not deny, it is so with the existing generation. Science begets an infatuation. Men, because they have learned much, imagine nature has no more lessons to enforce. At all events, they act as though such were their convictions; else why is it that genius every now and then startles pedantry, by widening the sphere of human perceptions?

The cause of this terrible affliction is a mystery. The horse has worked, fed, and looked well, when locked up for the night. The next day the animal is discovered breathing with difficulty, and having several parts of the body greatly enlarged. The creature appears, by the disorder, to be rendered stupid rather than insensible. It stands erect, but seems not to be acutely conscious of its condition. Not only are several portions of the horse's frame swollen beyond all recognition, but through the skin there issues streams of serum fearfully variegated by the admixture of blood. The openings to the nostrils and the lips soon enlarge; then the tongue likewise increases in size, a portion of it hanging out of the mouth. The appetite is never entirely lost, though the affliction prevents deglutition. In this lamentable state the wretched horse may continue for several days, or the disorder may reach its termination in a few hours.

As the horse begins to recover, extensive sloughs occur, generally in those parts which have been much enlarged.

Recovery appears to restore the consciousness in some degree, and the life is prolonged at the expense of much suffering. The appetite remains. The power to eat is, nevertheless, slowly attained. The desire for fluids, however, appears to exist throughout the attack, and should be taken advantage of to nourish the patient, by presenting thin gruel in the place of water.

Purpura hemorrhagica is universal congestion. If the body of an animal which has succumbed to this disease be examined, the cellular tissue will be found distended with serum and with blood of a dark venous character. In this case, therefore, a blood-letting judiciously managed may be beneficial. No pulse can be felt, nor is any needed to guide the surgeon. So soon as the heaviness is ameliorated, the can is to be withdrawn, and the orifice is to be pinned up. The smaller the quantity taken the better, as the patient has no strength to spare. Should the congestion return, a second venesection may be imperative to relieve the vessels; such a resort, however, should be practiced only upon the conviction of its absolute necessity.

Mr. Gowing, of Camden Town, in two cases reported in "Blain's Veterinary Art," gave turpentine with success. Turpentine is, however, a potent diuretic to the horse, and therefore, the writer thinks, not the best diffusible stimulant in these cases. Preference would, by him, be given to sulphuric ether or to chloroform. Half an ounce of the last, blended with a pint of linseed oil, should be given in the earliest stage. Half an hour having elapsed, the dose may be repeated. No amendment being witnessed, discard the chloroform and administer two ounces of sulphuric ether in one pint of cold water. After a little space, as in the previous instance, more diluted ether may be administered, though it will seldom be required.

It is imperative to be speedy in adopting the measures intended to relieve purpura; for the disease rapidly attains its termination. For that reason, if the breathing is distressed, as is pretty certain to be the case, at once perform tracheotomy. Impure oxygenation of the blood is one of the most active causes of congestion; indeed, that state appears only possible during impeded respiration.

The tongue often becomes infiltrated, and, hanging out of the mouth, renders the appearance of the head most unsightly. It is, when thus enlarged, a fixture, and is in danger of being injured by the teeth. So soon, therefore, as the member is protruded, several free incisions should be made through its integument. The organ should then be manipulated, so as to cause the fluid to exude. These processes should again and again be had recourse to so often as they are required to return the tongue to the mouth.

The sloughing of the skin is a serious matter. It is treated by the solution of the chloride of zinc—one grain to the ounce of water—applied by being squeezed from a sponge on to the denuded part. This lotion will not only promote healing, but it will also destroy the fetor which results from decomposition.