FAKUIEKY.
578
Joss of appetite, in such a manner, that the horse only nibbles hishay, as if he did not like it; and he is so restless as to be continu-ally ranging from one encV of the rack to the other: he has a beat-ing of his flanks, a redness of his eyes, and dryness of his tongue,which is somewhat parched ; and ins ears and feet arc not cold, asin complicated fevers, but are almost as warm as the rest of his bo-dy. He is not costive, but his dung by internal heat is dried intosmall balls, and is seldom or never greasy: his urine is of a highcolour, and is sometimes voided v itn difficulty. lie seems to befond of water, yet drinks but little at a time, and often. His pulseheats full and hard, to 50 strokes and upwards in a minute. Theindications of cure are, to free the vital parts from the congestedblood; to abate the brat of the blood and humours; to allay theinordinate motion of the solids; to discuss the stagnant and cor-rupted humours; and procure a free circulation, by recalling theblood to the external parts. Therefore we must begin the cure bytaking away a sufficient quantity of blood, The longer this isneglected, the more viscid and acrimonious is the blood rendered,by dissipating its more thin part, condensing the globules, andbeating the serum to such a degree, as to turn it into a kind ofjelly. The acrimony of the oleous and saline parts of the bloodwill be increased more and more, insomuch that the Mood will heut length highly contaminated, and so far depraved as to he unlitfor the purposes of life. The quantity of blood to he taken away.■must be in proportion to the stiength of the horse, the intensenessof the fever, the heat, and tiie violence of the symptoms. In ge-neral, three pints or two quarts mav he sufficient; and if the symp-toms are not abated by Hie tirst bleeding, it shews a necessity ofrepeating the operation, especially if he refuse to feed. Howeverit is safer to take away too little than too much. When the horse5s disposed to drink, it will be always proper to let him have a suf-ficient quantity to keep his blood well diluted; otherwise, as thepreternatural heat dissipates the thinner part, without a sufficientquantity of fluid, the serum of tiie blood will be concreted into ajelly, 'i his should be made with warm milk and water, mixedwith a little oatmeal. He may likewise have the drink, No. 16.His diet should be scalded bran to keep his body open, and hemay be allow ed half a quartern three or four times a-day, if he willcat it. But if he reiuse it, let him have raw bran sprinkled withwater. He should never get much hay at a time, but a smallquantity of good hay may be given to him frequently. Ilis waterneeds not be much warmed, but should be given often and insmall quantities: hiscloathing should be moderate; too much heatand weight on a horse being improper in a fever, which scarceever goes off in critical sweats (as those in the human body termi-nate,) but by strong perspiration. Besides bleeding and the ni-trous cooling drink, it will he proper to inject cooling, emollient,and laxative clysters, even at the very beginning, to bring awaythe hardened frees that are pent up in the intestines, and to dis-charge any bilious acrid matter, w hich might enter into the bloodthrough the lacteal,. Saline purges are also proper, being coolingand gentle in their operation and preferable to aloetic purges infevers. The drink, No. 14, is as good a general formula as canhe contrived, in almost all cases where such medicines are indicat-ed. The signs of recovery are, the horse eating scalded bran, andpicking a little hay, which, when lie does, he needs only to betaken care of and well nursed, without troubling him wifli any-more medicines. For though a horse continue to heave at theflanks, this is no bad sign, especially if he be cool all over, and hasa return o r appetite. He should now be taken out in the air everyday, and lea about by the hand. lie should also have plenty ofclean straw to lie down on.
II. Low, putrid, and malignant fever. This is of a morecomplicated and irregular nature than the former, ami if not pro-perly treated often proves fatal. It seldom rises to that degree ofieat, that attends inflammatory fevers, but creeps on gradually,while nature endeavours to get rid of her enemy, sometimes by-one outlet, and sometimes by another: insomuch that we are notable to determine which of the secretions to promote, and thisrenders the method of cure very precarious and uncertain. Thesesorts of leveix have been often mistaken for severe colds, whichhas produced fatal error. And indeed it requires the highest skillin farriery, to treat these diseases in a proper manner, and preventthem from ending in a consumption. All kinds of irregularities,whether in dief, rest, exercise, or labour, when long continued,
may produce these fevers; as they all tend to generate bad hu-mours, deprave the blood, and depress the spirits. The onlyway, therefore, to prevent them, is to keep the horse from ex-cesses of all kinds: for what tends to preserve his clue tempera-ment, is the best means to preserve him from diseases in general,and this kind of fever in particular. When this fever begins toappear, the horse feeds but little, eating a mouthful or two, andthen leaving off; lie has a constant moisture in his mouth, moveshis jaws in a feeble manner, and has a disagreeable grating ot bisteeth. The fever is attended with a depression of spirits, which isat some times more remarkable than at others. Ilis heat is varia-ble ; sometimes none appears outwardly, but rather a remarkablecoldness: at other times he is hot all over, but not to a great de-gree. His eyes are generally moist and languid ; his bodv isopen ; his dung soft and moist, but seldom greasy. His stalingis irregular; sometimes very profuse, and at other times very lit-tle. Ilis urine is generally pale, without a sediment, and vervseldom high coloured. With regard to prognostics, if the feversensibly abate, and his mouth grow more dry, the grating of histeeth ceasing at the same time ; if his appetite mend by degrees ;if he begin to lie down, (which at first lie seldom does,) for aweek, or a fortnight, or longer, these are promising signs. Ahorse in these fevers always runs at the nose, but not the kimllvwhite discharge, as in the breaking of a cold, hut of a reddish orgreenish dusky colour, and of a consistence like glue, that stickslike turpentine to the hair on the inside of the nostrils: if this turnto a gleet of clear thin water, the horse’s hide keep open, and hemend in his appetite, there is no doubt of Ills recovery, unlessthrough bad management. W hile the disease is in a moderateslate, he will feed, though hut poorly ; lus urine will be pale andthin without any sediment; his dung will be sometimes loose, andsometimes hard ; his mouth will continue moist, with a rednessand sponginess about the roots of his teeth ; his skin will some-times feel dry, and sometimes moist and damp, with a roughnessof his coat. While the horse remains in this state, proper medi-cines will in all probability work a cure. But if his appetite beconstantly upon the decline, and go off gradually, till at last lieforsakes every kind of food, while his fever continues or increases:if the horse he old, with poor vapid blood, or have lately metwith any severe accident, little good is to be expected, unless hvthe consummate skill of the person who lakes care of him. Thevarious and irregular symptoms, that attend this slow fever, re-quire great skill to direct the cure, and more knowledge of thesymptoms of the diseases of horses, than tiie generality of gentle-men are acquainted with. The experienced farrier should there-fore be consulted and attended to, in regard to the symptoms;but very seldom as to the application of the remedy, which is ge-nerally above his comprehension ; though it may be readily se-lected, by duly attending to the observations iiere inculcated.The cure of this disease may be begun by bleeding; but thequantity of blood to be taken away must be regulated accordingto the symptoms. When the horse is plethoric, and there is a re-dundancy of blood and humours, two quarts at least may betaken, and that as soon as possible ; if the horse be in a moderatecondition, a quart or three pints will be sufficient; but if he lieold, poor and low, it will be dangerous to take awav any at all.
In general, when there is any symptom of inflammation, it is ne-cessary that the horse should lose blood, let bis condition be whatit may. The greatest danger in this distemper arises from sup-posing the horse to have little or no ailment, till be is too far gonefor a cure, because lie will keep picking and eating his liav, dur-ing the first stage of his disease. Afterwards, if lie be allowedoats, he will eat nothing else, till his appetite quite forsakes him.Therefore, if his disease be discovered in due time, instead of oatshe should have scalded bran ; and if lie refuse this, he should geta little raw bran sprinkled with clean water, and some good hayput into his rack by handfuls. But if lie be neither willing norable to lift bis head to the rack, it may be given by the hand, totempt him to eat. As drinking is absolutely necessary to dilutethe blood, if the horse refuse to drink freely of warm’ water orgruel, he must be indulged with having the chill only taken offby standing in the stable : nor will any inconvenience ensue, butoffencr an advantage; for the nauseous warmth of water, torcedinto horses for a time, palls their stomachs, and takes awav theirappetites, which -the cold water generally restores. Should the *
fever