urinary, and the spermatic, all which are invested by a membrane called the peritoneum, which, after covering each of these organs separately, is reflected over the cavity of the belly itself. It is very strong, and very elastic, as we perceive by the effects of dropsy, great fatness, and likewise by the increase in pregnancy. The omentum or cawl (c) is the fatty apron which first presents itself on opening an animal's body, extending in some, as

the dog, pig, &c., into the pelvis; but in the horse it is less considerable, by which he is not subjected to epislocele as they are. Its uses are unknown.

5727. The stomach and its di

gestive functions. The horse has one stomach only, and that a very small one, drawing a very wide line of separation by this means between his family and the ruminants. In fact the stomach of the horse may be regarded as intermediate be tween the triturating muscular one of fowls, and the membranous one of the graminivoræ. It is peculiarly constructed to keep up this intermediate character, being partly membranous, partly muscular, and partly cuticular; in which latter formation much of its peculi. arity consists, and which it shares in common with asses, rats, and mice; whose habits of living on grain give them a like claim to this wise provision In a state of rest, or only moderately distended, its direction is across the abdomen, with its two orifices directed upwards; but the cardiac or recipient orifice, to which the oesophagus is attached, the most so; while the pyloric or expellent orifice is rather lower, and more inclined backward. The situation of the stomach is immediately contiguous to the diaphragm or great breathing muscle (fig. 618 k k), from which we are at no loss to understand why a very full meal obstructs respiration; and why it is so imprudent to gallop a horse very hard after drinking or eating fully. Smail as the stomach is in a natural state, it is yet capable of great

distention, as has been witnessed in stomach staggers, when upwards of half a hundred weight of undigested food has been extracted from it. The membranous portion of the stomach is gained from the peritoneum; within this is situated its muscular part, principally composed of longitudinal and transverse layers, by which its motions in digestion are regulated. Around the cardiac or recipient orifice, a strong band of circular fibres is very evident, which effectually constringes this part, and prevents regurgitation or vomiting in the horse, except under extraordinary circumstances of muscular relaxation and sympathy. It has been already shown that the anterior part of the alimentary canal, as the mouth, throat, and gullet, are lined with cuticle or skin. This cuticle is continued into the stomach, and lines nearly a half of its internal surface, whose office seems to be a more perfect comminution of the food, which the horse has no opportunity of remasticating like the ox, sheep, &c. The villous or sensible portion of the stomach is thrown into folds, so as greatly to increase its surface: here the comminuted food in its passage becomes saturated with the solvent gastric juice, and is then passed forward into the intestines.

5728. The derangements of the stomach may be explained from its anatomy. Though small, and its sensible parts still smaller, yet it is subject to more diseases, and to more frequent derangement than is generally supposed. It has been proved to be muscular, and that its digestive functions are performed by means of its muscularity. It has also been shown that the contractile energy of the muscular fibre, is mainly gained from the oxygen derived from the blood; whatever tends to interrupt this separation, as an unhealthy state of the lungs, too quick action of them, &c. must derange the action of the stomach also. The perfection of its digestive powers is also derived from its secreting healthy gastric juice, consequently whatever interrupts this process, must likewise interfere with stomachic health, and that such health is more often impaired than is generally supposed, and that many ailments, attributed to other causes, are really dependent on an affection of this organ, experience and observation will fully evince. Out of condition is a most frequent complaint among horsemen; their horses are out of condition, and unfit for work: the appearances are various, but are all well known; yet it is seldom considered, that it is owing in every seven cases out of ten, to the stomach being morbidly affected. (5756.) It is evident that too full feeding must derange it, not only by keeping it constantly distended, and thus weakening its capacity; but by entrenching too much on its secreting office, and requiring an inordinate quantity of gastric fluid to saturate an undue quantity of farinaceous matter. The bots, that are frequently found on its cuticular coat, and are there probably harmless, sometimes displace themselves, and settle on the villous part, where they must occasion uneasiness and probable inflammation.

5729. The intestines (fig. 616 k, in the horse may be considered not merely as secerning organs alone, as in man and many animals, but as really digestive organs, and continuations of the stomachic viscera. This is more particularly the case with the small intestines, and may therefore entitle them to the term of alimentary canal, and the large to that of the excremental; the former measure from twenty-one to twenty-three yards in length, and the latter from seven and a half to eight yards and a half, according to the size of the animal. The duodenum is the first of the small intestines, commencing at the pyloric orifice of the stomach; the jejunum, which is the next and larger portion, and the ilium (fig. 616 e), which is still longer, form the remainder. The alimentary

canal in its structure does not differ from the sensible part of the stomach, having like that two plans of muscular fibres, a circular and a longitudinal, by which its peristaltic motions are regulated; the longitu dinal shortening the canal, and the circular diminishing its size. The alimentary part of the intestinal canal ends with this small gut, which itself terminates abruptly in the cœcum or first of the large intestines (fig. 619 a), and which intestine commences what has been termed 619 the excrementitious canal. This entrance is effected in such a manner as to leave, by a protrusion of its surface inwards, a kind of valvular apparatus, which prevents the return of the contents.

5730. The large intestines (fig. 616 k k), in the horse are really deserving of that name, being very capacious; while in man and carnivorous animals they are little different from the small. They occupy and completely fill up the lower portion of the abdomen: the cœcum occupies

the right side, and carries its blind end towards the diaphragm, which is not furnished with an appendix as the human. A careful inspection of this intestine will show that the appellation of excrementitious canal does not wholly apply to it; but that on the contrary, it performs some of the offices attributed to the smaller intestines. The colon commences small from the side of the base of the cæcum, but soon enlarging, it makes a turn around the abdomen, when contracting it ends in the rectum, and passes backwards to the anus. Along the course of the large intestines are muscular bands, which throw their surfaces into folds, and also form them into a continuation of cells (fig. 616 m). By these means, the matters are detained to be acted on more fully, and finally they are expelled in dry hardened balls. 5731. The digestive process in the horse is one of the most curious as well as one of the most important which goes on in the body. The various actions of an animal body produce relaxation and waste, which are indicated by fatigue and hunger. To restore the one, rest is required, and to restore the other, food becomes necessary. For the herbivorous tribes, vegetable matter is sought for, which being collected, is masticated by the grinders and mixed with saliva, until it becomes a softened mass, when it is passed backwards by the tongue and molar muscles, through the arch of the palate in the form of a bolus. Received into the pharynx, which rises to receive it, and the action of which forces down the epiglottis, all impediment is removed to its falling in the open funnel of the œsophagus; which having received it, the spiral fibres of the esophagus force it inwards into the stomach. While the food remains within the cuticular part, it is acted on by pressure, but being further removed, it meets the action of the gastric fluid, by which it is reduced to a pultaceous mass called chyme. In this state it is passed into the small intestines: for in the horse, as before observed, the process of digestion is by no means completed in the stomach, as in man and many animals. The exertions of the horse require that he should eat largely and nutritiously; but the bulky viscera of the ox would have ill suited with his necessities; for he is not only strong, but his motions are designed to be quick also: it was therefore necessary that some speciality should occur to meet these seeming discordances. This consists in the mode of digestion, which being but partially completed in the stomach, requires a less bulk in that organ, the intestines participating in the labor. A horse will cat two or three pecks of corn or ten pounds of hay at a meal, and yet in a natural state his stomach will not hold half of either. He will also drink two pails of water, when the same organ cannot hold one. What is taken into the stomach is therefore quickly passed through it, and more is required. A horse cannot fast long without injury and pain; his food does not produce a lasting effect in the constitution as animal food does on the carnivora. A dog fed once a day will thrive, and when fed every other day only, will not suffer materially; but no horse fed once a day would support himself: even oxen and sheep, as having a slower digestion and more intestinal room, can bear fasting better than the horse. As an animal destined for quick as well as great exertions, his wants prompt him to take in a moderate portion of food only at a time, which his digestive powers peculiarly fit him to convert into nutriment quickly and efficaciously, by distributing the task through a long tract of canal; instead of confining it, as in man and the carnivora, to one simple organ, the

stomach.

5732. The chyme passes into the duodenum from the stomach, where it receives the addition of the pan. creatic and biliary fluids, whose ducts open into that part of the intestinal tracts. Conducted onwards by the creeping peristaltic motion it passes through this long alimentary tract rather rapidly in the horse; but it remains sufficiently long to receive further additions from the secreting surfaces of the smaller in testines, and probably to have its work of division and absorption begun in it. Arrived at the larger part of the intestinal tract, it is purposely delayed to be fully strained and separated, the open mouths of the lacteals spread over the villous surface, receiving the nutritious part under the name of chyle, and the residue being carried backward, and thrown out as dung. The chylous orifices belong to minute tubes termed lacteals, which pass onwards enveloped in membranous folds termed mesentery, until uniting in one trunk called thoracic duct, their contents are poured into the heart, whereby they become mixed with and converted into blood, producing an increase to its quantity; as the alteration it receives in the lungs is an amelioration of its quality, which it has been shown is equally necessary.

5738. The liver may also be considered as a digestive organ (fig. 618 bb), inasmuch as it secretes a fluid whose office appears to be to quicken the action of the intestines; at the same time that perhaps the very matter separated tends to purify that blood which has been already distributed to the chylopoetic viscera. All other animals, except the horse, ass, and deer, are furnished with a receptacle for the bile, where it may be retained and rendered more acrid: but the horse has no gall bladder, and in his fœtal state, another speciality presents itself in this organ, which is, that he is deprived of a canalis venosus, and thus the whole of the abdominal blood flows through the liver. From this simplicity of structure in the horse he is seldom affected with obstructed, or concrete bile; but the organ itself is liable, to inflammation, and also to a chronic disease of it through the medium of the stomach.

5734. The pancreas is an assistant to digestion also, as we have reason to conclude by its pouring its contents into the duodenum with the bile. It is situated behind the liver, between the stomach and left

kidney.

5735. The spleen or milt, (fig. 618 d), is a spongy body situated at the greater extremity of the stomach, whose use is likewise not clearly ascertained; but has been supposed to be that of a reservoir of blood for the use of the stomach.

5736. The kidneys are two excremental glands (e e) situated in the lumbar region, the right more anterior than the left. In many brutes, as the ox, sheep, and hog, they are embedded in fat; but in the horse, dog, and the predatory tribes, they are seldom so. The structure of the kidneys exhibits an external reddish part, an internal whitish part, and a cavity called the pelvis. From this cavity passes out the duct called the ureter, and brings with it the urine which is secreted within the kidney. The ureters convey the urine to the bladder.

5737. The urine appears to be a fæcal separation from the blood, and is in some measure connected with the skin in its office. Thus, when the perspiration is great, the urine is less; and on the contrary in winter, when the perspiration is small, the urine is more considerable. The kidneys of the horse are more easily stimulated into increased action by diuretics than the human or those of most other animals; and substances which would not appear potent, act with violence on his urinary organs. Thus mow-burnt hay, kiln-dried oats, &c., will produce diabetes.

5738. The bladder of the horse (fig. 618 i), is a membranous sac for the reception of the urine, It rests on the pubis, and is immediatly under the rectum. It is in part muscular, by which it can expel its contents almost to the last drop. At its neck is a kind of sphincter to prevent the involuntary escape of urine, and at its posterior part it is pierced by the ureters. To the bladder is attached a membranous pipe called the urethra, which passes through the penis, and by that means ejects the urine.

SUBSECT. 14. The Organs of Generation.

5739. The male generative organs are most of them external, on the contrary in man they are mostly internal; but in both the one and the other they are connected with the urinary organs, so that one general formation is made to answer a double purpose.

5740. The male organs of generation consist of the testes or testicles, which are two in number, that in case one should suffer injury, one may remain to carry on the great work of reproduction. In the foetal colt they are lodged within the belly, but after birth they descend into a bag prepared for them. The scrotum is this bag, whose situation is between the hinder extremities. It contains the testicles in two sacs, one appropriate to each. Each testicle is enveloped by two tunics, called vaginalis and albuginea, obtained from the peritoneum. To cach testicle is attached an appendage called the epididymis. The vasa deferentia are the united trunks of the secretory vessels of the testicle continued from the epididymis. Each vas deferens proceeds to join the vesicula seminales of that side to run parallel with it and to terminate near it in the urethra. The prostate glands are in the horse two, whose use, like the hollow bodies called seminal receptacles, is not obvious, but probably they dilute the semen.

5741. The penis or yard is a long body, in one part nearly prismatic, and in another cylindrical. In the usual state the penis is hidden within the sheath, which is a prolongation of the skin of the abdomen. The body of the yard is composed of two cavernous flattened portions closely connected, a spongy canal, which is the urethra before mentioned as the continuation of the bladder, and the glans or head, which appears in the horse a distinct part. The penis is capable of being distended by means of its blood vessels, which fill its cells to turgidity, particularly under the excitement of lust.

5742. The generating use of the male organs is principally derived from the vivifying principle contained in the semen secreted within the testicles, and which the horse is impelled by lust to plant in such a situation as shall produce its effect in the formation of a foetus. In the act of copulation therefore, it appears that the nervous influence acts on the muscular system of the penis, whereby the arteries carry more blood, while the veins are rendered unable from some cause to effect its removal; by which the cavernous cells of the penis become filled, and the member thereby erected; when, from the friction produced by the female vagina, the penis becomes stimulated into a more exquisite sensation, with which the vasa deferentia and vesiculæ seminales participate, then by the assistance of the cremaster muscles, the semen and diluting fluids become pressed out, and by a convulsive effort are injected into the generative organs of the mare. The stimulus of the retained semen being now removed, the appetite becomes satisfied, the nervous influence is removed from the vessels, and the penis returns to its ordinary size. 5743. The female generative organs are first the bag or mammæ. In the multiparous animals, as the hog, the dog, and rabbit, these bags are numerous, and distinctly placed along the line of the abdomen; but in the uniparous, as the mare, cow, sheep, &c., one bag, situated between the hind legs, contains the secretary of the whole. In the mare there are two nipples or teats, which form excretory ducts to the milk secreted within. In ordinary cases, the milk is prevented from flowing out by valves, which open on pressure upwards: the colt, sensible of this, is observed to push up the teat with its nose; pigs and puppies with their feet, &c. The milk in different animals has different proportions of certain component parts, but in each it has those best adapted to the animal it is intended to nourish. The volva or sheath is the long oval opening immediately below the anus, at the inferior commissure of which is situated the clitoris, whose structure is not unlike the male penis. Above this, and rather more internally, is situated the urethra, which in the mare is a short membranous canal. The vagina is a long membranous canal above the last described parts, capable of great distention; but in its natural state about 9 or 10 inches long and 2 in diameter. It is placed horizontally between the bladder and rectum, and terminates in the neck of the womb. The uterus (fig. 618 p) of the mare is very dissimilar to the human, being not an uniform bag; but having a body and two branching horns, in which, in the multiparous animals, the young are lodged. The extre mity of each cornua has a small concealed tube attached to it called the fallopian tube, and a little beyond are seen the oval oblong bodies called ovaria, (fig. 618 g g).

5744. Conception, pregnancy, and evolution of the foetus. Estrum, heat, or horsing is in animals not constant, but returns at such periods that the evolution of the feetus consequent on it shall take place at the most convenient season of the year. The horsing of the mare produces an inflammation in the vagina and vulva, from whence are ejected what are termed the heats. In this disposition all the parts unite, and when by the injected semen pregnancy has been produced, a vesicle from the ovaria enters the fallopian tubes; and by this means becomes deposited in the womb to be nourished into maturity. In its residence within the womb, it is covered with expansions from the neighboring parts; and it derives its nourishment from a communication with the mother by a fleshy tube called the umbilical cord, and thus situated, it swims within a fluid called the liquor amnii: so circumstanced, the foetus continues to grow, until the distention it occasions, becomes too great for the capacity, when the muscular fibres of the uterus, powerfully assisted by the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, contract, and thus force both the foal and the membranes into the world.

5745. The new born foal, on its entrance into active life, finds its organs of immediate necessity in a full state of capacity. Unlike the infant, it is far from indigent, but can run and perform the common phenomena of an animal with dexterity and ease. Its powers are however not sufficiently developed to enable it to live independent; it has therefore a necessity for seeking support from the mother, from whose person it derives its food in the form of milk; and it may therefore be now considered in some measure as carnivorous. Gradually it becomes fitted to perform all the more matured functions, and when fully able to counteract its own wants, it sympathises only with itself; when the parent's care being no longer ne cessary, lactiferous secretion ceases, her generative organs prepare anew for the same great work, and she again feels cestrum or heat.

5746. The period of gestation varies in different mares, one hundred and two mares were observed by Tessier, of which 3 foaled on the 311th day, 1on the 314th, 1 on the 325th, 1 on the 326th, 2 on the 333th, 47 from the 340th to the 350th, 25 from the 350th to the 360th, 21 from the 360th to the 377th, and I on the 394th day which gives a latitude of 83 days in the time of gestation.

SUBSECT. 15. The Foot.

5747. The feet of the horse present in their united functions a series of springs with great complexity of structure. An unreflecting observer considers only the horny. box, and perhaps attaches as little merit to its mechanism, as he would to a well turned wooden leg of a man. But a little examination will convince him that all the complexity, all the admirable mechanism displayed in the assemblage of four fingers and a thumb, are here concentrated within this horny box and its appendages. As the parts which compose the hind and the fore feet do not materially differ, a description of one foot will serve for the whole.

5748. On examining a perpendicular section of the foot and pastern (fig. 620.), there appears the coffin bone (a), the navicular or nut bone (b), the coronary or little pastern bone (c), the larger pastern

bone (d), the back sinew or great flexor tendon of the foot (e), the same tendon sliding over the navicular bone (f), its termination or insertion into the bottom of the coffin bone (g), the elastic matter of the sensible frog (h), the insensible or horny frog (, the horny sole (k), which includes the parts of the sensible foot; the outer wall of the hoof (), the elastic processes (m), the attachment of the extensor tendon to the coffin bone (n), anu its attachment to the coronary bope (o), which completes the section.

6.

620
d

5749. The coffin bone (fig. 620 a) adapts itself to the form of the hoof, or rather is adapted by nature to this eligible form. The eminence in front receives the insertion of the tendon of the great extensor muscle of the foot, whose upper attachment is to the humerus or arm bone where it is fleshy, but as it passes onwards, it becomes tendinous, expanding over every joint, both to prevent friction, and to embrace and give attachments to each bone, by which a simultaneous movement of the whole limb is made. In the hinder limb, this extensor and its two lesser adjuncts arise from the tibia and in part from the femur. To the sides of the coffin bone are attached the lateral cartilages, and around its surface are marks of the attachment of the laminated substance. 5750. The coronary or small pastern bone (c), articulates with the coffin at its posterior part, and articulating also with both these is the navicular or nut bone (f), whose attachments to them are effected by ligaments.

a a

m

n

a

5751. The hoof is conical, or rather, as Clark observes, slightly truncated, and is a secretion as well from the vascular parts of the foot as from the skin, as our nails are from the portion of skin called the quick. The structure of the hoof is firm and fibrous; externally plane and convex, but internally concave and laminated. The quarters are the lateral parts. As the horn approaches the heels it becomes soft, and is reflected inwards. The heels are parted by the horny frog (fig. 621 b), and without the frog on each side, the hoof inflects its fibres to form the bars which are seen on the under surface (fig. 621 c). 621 In a healthy foot (fig.621.) the heels are round, 622 wide and smooth (aa), the frog fully expanded (b), the bars or binders distinct (c), no corns in the usual angle (d), the sole broad, and concave (d). In a diseased foot (fig. 622.), the a heels are high and drawn together by contraction (a a), the frog narrow and filled with d fissures from contraction and thrush (b), and the sole greatly shortened in its transverse diameter which is morbidly counterbalanced by the increased heights in the truncated form (c). When the hoof is removed, the sensible or fleshy sole(fig. 620 k), above which it immediately lies, presents

d

....e

itself, covering the whole of the horny sole, except so much as is taken up by the sensible frog (h). This part is exquisitely sensible and vascular, and thus we learn why injuries to it from punctures, produce such serious effects; and why very slight pressure from contraction of the hoof gives so much pain. The sensible frog and the sensible sole form the insensible frog and sole; but when from pressure, too much moisture, or other causes, the sensible frog, instead of forming horn, secretes pus or matter as in thrush, the structure of the whole becomes injured, and the horny frog, thus losing its support, gradually wastes and decays. It is therefore evident that no thrush can be entirely harmless, as is erroneously supposed. Above the sensible frog and sole, is the great flexor tendon, or back sinew, inserting itself into the vaulted arch of the coffin, (fig. 620 e.) This important tendon arising from its parent muscle above the knee, whose origin is taken from the humerus and ulna, in its passage unites with an assistant flexor, but which latter is principally distributed to the pastern bones; while the perforans, so called because it is perforated by the assistant flexor tendon, is inserted into the vault of the coffin. In the posterior extremities the attachments of these two leading flexors, and a smaller lateral one, are from the femur and tibia.

5752. The sensible lamina. Around the surface of the coffin bone, it has been noticed that there are linear indentations to which about five hundred semicartilaginous leaves are attached. Each of these is received between two of the horny lamella which line the interior of the horny hoof: and when it is considered what a vast surface of attachment is formed by these means, the strength of the union will not be wondered at. No violence can separate these parts, and their use, as so many springs to support the actions of an animal, at once weighty, strong, and extremely agile, must be apparent. The vessels and nerves of the foot are derived from the metacarpal arteries, veins, and nerves, which pass behind the pastern, when the main trunks divide to proceed to each side of the foot, and are ramified from thence throughout. It is a division of the metacarpal nerve on each side of the lesser pastern, or of the larger, as occasion suits, which forms the nerve operation, now in vogue as a remedy for founder.

SECT. V. Of the Diseases of the Horse.

5753. The diseases of the horse are as numerous and as important as his complicated structure and the artificial state of his present mode of life would lead one to expect. Until of late the treatment of these diseases was confined to the hands of ignorant farriers, presumptive grooms, or shoeing smiths; and the fate of the animals was commensurate with the wretched treatment they were subjected to. The establishment of a school for the veterinary art, has disseminated an improved practice, and spread improved practitioners throughout the country; and we would earnestly recommend an application to one of established reputation in all cases of difficulty and danger. But as it is not always that such a one is within reach, to enable the agriculturist to have in his own hands the means of informing himself, or of being a check on others, we submit a concise view of the diseases of the head, neck, trunk, and extremities, preceded by some general observations.

SUBSECT. 1. General Remarks on the healthy and diseased State of the Horse. 5754. Condition of horses. Being in condition, in stable language, signifies not only perfect health in. ternally, but such an appearance externally, as the philosopher would call unnatural, or at least artifi cial: while the amateur considers it as an essential requisite to the other qualities of the horse. This external condition is denoted by a sleek, short, shining coat, with a degree of flesh neither bordering on fatness, nor emaciation. Even in this sense of the term, condition must be varied according to the uses

of the animal, In the cart horse, provided there be sleekness of coat, looseness of hide, sound wind, freedom from grease or swelled legs, with good digestion; a fulness and rotundity of bulk, instead of detracting from his beauty or impeding his exertions, will add to the one and assist the other. In the coach horse, the hackney, the hunter, and the racer, a different condition is expected, varying in different degrees from that of the cart horse. In both cart horse and racer, it is equally necessary that the various internal organs should be in a state to act uninterruptedly for the benefit of the whole": but in addition to this, it is necessary to the racer, that the greatest possible quantity of animal fibre should be condensed into the smallest possible buik; and that the absorption of all useless fat and other interstitial matter should be promoted by every possible means, as essentially necessary to unite lightness of body, with full strength and elasticity. It is in the attempts to produce such a state in its full perfection, that all the secrets of training consist: but whether a total departure from natural rules, by unnatural heat, deprivation of light, stimulating food, restraint from water, and excessive clothing, are best calculated to promote it, admits of much doubt; and it is to be observed that the dawn of reason and science appears to be shining through the crevices of these darkened casements; for even at Newinarket the system has lately much relaxed from its artificial rigor.

In

5755. To bring a horse into condition, not only should the purposes he is intended for be taken into account, but also his previous state. If he be taken up from grass with much flesh on him, it is evident that what is required is to remove the soft interstitial matter it may be supposed he has gained by green food, and to replace it by hard flesh; and also to produce a sleeknes of coat and beauty of appearance. To accomplish these ends, the horse should be accustomed to clothing and the full heat of the stable by degrees only; and also by degrees only to the meditated change of food; which is best done by mashes. two or three days a mild dose of physic may be given, during all which moderate exercise only should be allowed, as walking, but which may be continued two hours at a time. After the physic has set, begin to dress his coat, increase his exercise and his food, and accustom him to an increase of warmth. In four or five days time again mash him for two days, and give a second dose of physic, a very little stronger than the first. (5875) After this, still further increase his warmth, his exercise, and his food, by which his belly will be taken up, his flesh will harden, and his coat will begin to fall, A third dose of physic, or urine balls, &c. are only necessary in the training of hunters, &c., and even in these, a gradual increase of exercise, rather long continued than violent, with proper food, will effect the end, if not so quickly, more beneficially to the animal. To bring a lean horse into condition, a somewhat different plan should be pursued. If from grass, still mash him for a day or two, by no means stint himi in his water, and with his mash let corn be also soaked. If corn be speared or malted, it will produce flesh sooner. But even here, give the horse moderate walking exercise, and if he be not too much reduced, add a mild dose of physic to prevent his heels flying, or his getting hide bound by the increased food; but if great emaciation forbid the physic, give him nightly an alterative. (Vet. Pharm, 5881. No. 1.) As his appearance improves, gradually harden his food and increase his exercise.

66

5756. Diseased condition of horses. What has been already said relates to that alteration from one state to another, neither being an unhealthy one, which custom has rendered necessary; thus a man in train. ing for running or fighting, and a man out of training, are both considered equally healthy. But there are circumstances that produce a morbid state of condition, different from all these. It is common to hear persons say my horse is sadly out of condition, and I cannot tell either what is the matter with him, or how to get him into better case." Various are the causes that may produce this: a sudden alteration of the food, or temperature, or of habits altogether, may become a cause. Removing a horse from grass to a heated stable, full feeding, and hard exercise will often do it: therefore these changes should always be gradual. Bad food, as mow-burnt hay, musty oats, beans, &c., likewise mineral waters, foul air, &c., are frequent causes. Diabetes, or profuse staling, is often brought on by these means, and the condition of the horse becomes greatly reduced. It is requisite, therefore, to enquire whether any of these errors are in existence, and to immediately remove thein: but it often happens that the stomach has become relaxed and the hide become bound; neither of which readily remove, even though the original evil may be amended. When the relaxed stomach has produced lampas, treat the mouth as described under that disease (5777.), but the stomach itself must be principally attended to. First mash and give a dose of physic; after it has set, commence the treatment, if the horse be of a full habit, by a moderate bleeding and a nightly alterative (Vet. Pharm, 5881. No. 1. or 2.) But if he be not in full, but in low flesh, commence by a daily tonic, (Vet. Pharm. 5882, No. 1, or 2,) which will gradually remove the swelling within the mouth, and loosen the hide. A sudden cold applied to the skin often brings on a want of condition with surfeit. In which cases bleeding, nightly alteratives (Vet. Pharm. 5881. No. 1, or 2.) with or without an assistant dose of physic, as the habit of the horse may require, constitute the proper treatment. Worms form another cause of morbid condition which are to be removed as described (5809.). Excessive fatigue is also productive of a bad state of condition,which often proves very obstinate. Turning out to very good grass is the quickest cure, and when that is impracticable, soiling in the stable, or feeding with carrots, parsneps, beet root, &c. will be food restoratives; as medicines give tonics daily. (Vet. Pharm. 5882. No. 1, or 2.) It will be only necessary to add, that in considering the state of a horse's condition, the effect is apt to be mistaken for the cause, and the symptoms for the disease. Hide bound and lampas are not in themselves any thing more than effects, or symptoms; the former being commonly, and the latter being always dependent on a deranged state of the stomach: both are therefore to be treated accordingly. Exactly the same will apply to all the other symptoms of morbid condition.

SUBSECT. 2. Inflammatory Diseases of the Horse.

5757. The inflammatory diseases of the horse are numerous, but his fevers are few; a febrile state being generally brought on by the inflammation of some important organ. Inflammation may be considered as general or diffused, and local or confined, and both seem to arise from an affection of the blood vessels, and perhaps from a peculiar state of the blood itself.

5758. General or diffused inflammation constitutes fever or extensive inflammatory affection, and appears to consist in an increased action of the heart and arteries, accompanied with an increase of heat. In some instances where the fever is purely symptomatic, and dependent on the inflammation of some important organ, as of the lungs, or the intestines, the circulation appears retarded rather than increased, from interruption arising to its passage through the heart.

5759. Local or confined inflammation is also dependent on an affection of the blood vessels, but confined principally to the blood vessels of the part affected. It is betokened by redness in the skin, tumor or swelling, heat and tenderness, with pain. Inflammations, both diffused and local, are brought on by excitements, such as overfeeding, excessive heat, the reaction produced after cold, and the reaction produced by inordinate exertion. Those more exterior, arise from injuries, the application of im