FAUKIEIIY.
those large guts, the body could not be sufficiently supplied withnourishment. The first of these colons is about n rant and u halfin length, the second about a yard, and the third, or that partwhich joins the rectum, near six yards in length ; so that the colonof a horse 1 4 hands high, may be said to be nearly 8-y yards long;and, from it, along the rectum to the anus, where the excrementsare discharged, is not above half a yard ; so that it is plain, clystersoperate mostly in the colon; though l must say (hey are given intoo small quantities; for what signifies two quarts of liquor in agut nine yards long, and four or five inches diameter, in a naturalstate; but in the colic, it is so distended with flatulencies, that itsdiameter exceeds seven or eight inches, as I have frequently ob-served in those dying of that distemper,” T he most proper in-strument for giving clysters, is a simple ox’s bladder, which willhold two or three quarts, tied to the end of a wooden pipe about14 or 13 inches long, one inch and a half diameter when; the bagis tied, and of a gradual taper to the extremity, where the thick-ness should suddenly increase, and be rounded oil' at the'point,and made as smooth as possible; the perforation or bole throughthe pipe may be. made stifiicienily large, so as to admit the end ofa common tunnel, for pouring in the liquor into the bag. By theflexibility of the bladder at the end of this instrument, no dangercan happen to the horse; the clyster is conveyed so far up intothe intestines that it will be retained ; it causes no surprise (pro-viding the liquor lie neither too hot nor too cold, but milk warnOas no other force is required to throw it up than the holding thebag a little higher than the level of the pipe; by which means theliquorllows gently into the gut, without any surprise to the horse.After using the bag, it mny be blown full of wind, a cork put intothe pipe, and hung up in some dry place to prevent it Irum rot-ting; by which means it will last a considerable time,
Of Hovels and Setoks.
Rowclling is an artificial vent made between the skin and theflesh, designed to carry oft the humours, which are the cause otvarious diseases, by revulsion and derivation; and serves the samepurposes as setons and issues in men. The method of introducingthem is by making an incision through the skin, about three-eighths ot an inch long, and then separating the skin from the fleshwith the finger, or with a blunt horn, all round the orifice, as faras the finger w ill easily reach; then introducing a piece of lea(her, very thin, shaped round, about the size of a crown-piece,having a large round bole in the middle of it. Previous to intro-ducing the leather, it should be covered with lint or tow, and dip-ped into some digestive ointment; a pledget of tow, dipped in thesame ointments, should likewise be put into the orifice, to keepout the cold air: the puts around it soon swell, which is followedw ith a plentiful discharge, from the orifice, of yellow serum orlymph; and in two or three days at most, the disc harge turns intothick gross white matter; the rowel is then said to suppurate.Rowels should be placed (especially in some particular cases) asnear the affected part as possible; and, at all limes, they ought tohave a depending orifice, in order to admit a free discharge ofmatter. '1 he parts where they are inserted to the greatest advan-tage, are the belly, inside ot the thighs, the breast, and outside ofthe shoulders and" hips. Rowels are ot great use in many cases, asthey empty the surrounding vessels by a regular slow discharge ottheir contents, and me even of great servic e when there is a re-dundancy or fulness of humours in general, which mav require agradual discharge, in preference to greater evacuations i,v purgingmedicines, &c. But though they are frequently beneficial, yet,. c a number of other operations common to horses, they some-unes, by the improper use ot them, become hurtful to the consti-"tion; and, in some diseases, they often, instead of suppurating,uui gangrenous. r l bus, in violent fevers, where they are fre-
quently very injudiciously applied, they never suppurate pro-perly : whether this proceeds trom the quickness of the pulse, to-getnerwith the violent rapidity with which the fluids in general? r< * then carried through the vessels, or from the violent agitationnto which the whole system is thrown, it is difficult to determine;" < ‘*perience confirms the observation. In such cases, the sttr-"unding parts, wlie.ethe rowel is placed, seldom or never swellUl , tru ’ 01 'dmary course, when they suppurate properly,) hut ap-t:i' lr t ( /’ - or m " c h Ane same state as when they were first putlh-'t l' ntt K or no di-eharge from the orifice; and the littlea oes come is thin, ichorous, and bloody, in such cases, they
ought to be taken out immediately, and the parts well tomer.tedwith a strong infusion of camomile, or an emollient poultice ap-’ plied, Scions arc cords, introduced by long, thin, shat e-punned,instmments, or needle?, shaped like a dart at the point, and havingat the other extieinity an eye to receive the end ot the cord, w inchis to be left in the tuimir, 'Hie size of the instrument may be de-termined by that of the tumor, and the thickness ot the coni winchis to follow’it, and which ought always to be smaller than the per-foration made by the point ot the needle. Every prai thinner infarriery should always have a number ot these needles by him, ofdifferent sizes, that is, from (1 to 14 or 15 i|« lies long, a 1 ttie b< tid-ed on the (lat, or under side. r I tic following is the method of ap-plying setons in cases of tumours, &,c. Win n the matter fluctu-ates in the tumour, the pecdle, armed w ith a cord at the other end,is to be introduced at the upper putt ot it, and the sharp poii l cfthe instrument diucted to, and brought out at ti e under or low it-mo l pait of the tumour, ini lulling the wide length ol it; or, ifneedful, through the sound ii iM iil. r fie-h untie unci r pa t, inorder to make a depriving orir.ee ter the matter l>> u u tieety cit;the cord should be dipped in some ri gi stive oiniu cri, and ificiitied together at both ends w itii a tbread, to prevent itssiipi ii g out.But it, Irian the lenp'h ol the pi r.oration, die cord should rut ad-mit of being tied t.n fiber ; t (lie emit., a small i utti n of wot d, orsome such substance, may In fixed at < acli end: i nly, ti. niduscircumstance, the cord wall nquiie, yvi.en shifted, occcsi i id \ tobe drawn upwards and downwards; v.linv.s, when the ei • s ot itare tied (• aether, it forms a tin le. ami may always be stinteddownwards lo tiie lower orifice. When the needle tor introduc-ing the scion is to pass near any large blood-vessels or nerves, toprevent their being wounded, it may i e concealed in a case, openat both ends; and after an opening is made at flic tipper p it ofthe tumour sufficient to admit the needle witli its case, it may hedirected with safely to pass the blood-vessels, &c. it may' then bepushed forward through the canula and the opposite side of thetumour, and, having only the common teguments to perforate, alldanger will he avoided. When the matter in the tumour appearsio be wholly discharged or dried up, and no thickness appears butwhere the cord is, it may then be cut out, and the orifices slitheredto heal up. Setons are of great use in carrying oft matter fromdeep seated tumours or abscesses in different parts of the body,
• They ought alway s to be preferred to making deep incisions intothe muscular part’s, which not only disfigure horses, but are verydiflicult to heal up.
Of Alterative MF.DtciNES.
By alteratives are to be understood such medicines as, having noimmediate sensible operation, gradually gain upon the constitution,by changing the humours or juices from a state of distempemtureto health. Many have but an indifferent opinion of a medicinethat does net operate externally, and gratify their senses with aquantity ot imagined humours ejected from the body; but thoughthe different secretions may be more or less increased, accordingto the nature and quantity of the stimulus applied to the secretingvessels, and the evacuations by sweat, urine, dung, &c, in somemea-ure regulated thereby, yet no evacuating medicine has apower of se'lecling or separating the bad from the good ; and con-sequently they are thrown out only in a proportionate quantity.Where a continued use of evacuants is necessary, none are so pro-per as alteratives, and what we have said respecting a too frequentrepetition of purges, may be sufficient to convince the judiciousreader, of the great advantages arising from tli;s class of medicines ;and the preference due to them in most cases over purgatives. Weshall therelore recommend ssme alterative medicines which are ofgeneral use, and which possess peculiar advantages, as is tound bya proper experience ol ti'cir good elii-cts in repeated trials. Thelirst is nitre, or purified salt-petre; which lias long been in greatesteem, and perhaps is more to be depended on in all inflamma-tory fevers than any other medicine whatever: but besides this ex-tensive pow er of allaying inflammatory di -orders, it is now otteredas an alterative remedy, taken in proper quantities for surfeits,molten-grease, hide-bounrine>s, grease-heels, &c. And as it hasbeen known to succeed even in the cure of the farcy, what otherdistempers in horses, arising trom vitiated fluids, may it not betried on, with a strong probability of success? This great advan-tage will arise from the tee of this medicine over most others, that,as its operation is chiefly by urine, it requires uo confinement or
cloathing;