FARRIERY.
386
eke fails, equal parts of calomel and precipitated sulphur of anti-mony may be g ven from one drachm to two every morning, madeinto a bolus, with a little conserve of roses. When the horse isfreed from his distemper, the place where he stood should be care-fully cleaned, and washed with soap suds, as well as his cioathing.
The Farcy , or Farcin, has been mistaken by many for someone of the distempers already treated of; but is properly a distem-per of the veins, aud when inveterate tnickens their coats so as tomake them appear like so many cord-. Their size always bears aproportion to the greatness or smallness of the vessels they affect.At first, one or more small swellings, or round buds, like grapesor berries, spring out over the veins, and are often exquisitelypainful to the touch; in the beginning they are hard, but soon turninto soft blisters, which when broke discharge an oily or bloodyichor, and turn into very foul and ill-disposed ulcers. In somehorses it appears on the head only ; in some on the external jugu-lar; in others on the plate vein, and runs downwards on the in-side of the fore-arm towards the knee, and very often upwards to-wards the brisket: in some the farcy shews itself on the hind parts,about the pasterns, and along the large veins on the inside of thethigh, rising upwards into the groin, and towards the shea'h ; andsometimes it makes its appearance towards the flanks, and spreadsby degrees towards the lower belly, where it often becomes verytroublesome. As to the prognostics, when the farcy begins onthose parts of the bead where the muscular flesh is thin, and theveins small, it may be cured w ith ease. But when it attacks theloose parts, such as’ the kernels under the jaws, nostrils, and eyes,and continues so long as to creep to the neck vein, and render itcorded, it is more difficult to manage. When it begins on anypart, where the veins are small and kept in constant agitation bythe motion of the horse, and always upon a stretch, such as theoutside of the shoulder, and the outside of the hips, the disease cannever take any deep root; because the action of these parts has atendency to disperse obstructions. It is a great deal worse whenit rises on the plate vein, swells and then turns corded, and themore when the glands or kernels, railed the axillary glands, whichlie under the arm-pit, become tumid with the anguish. The cureis still more difficult and tedious when the veins on the inside ofthe thigh are corded, especially when it rises upwards and affectsthe kernels of the groin, and the cavernous body of the yard.When the farcy begins on the pasterns, or lower limbs, it oftenbecomes very uncertain, unless a timely stop is put to it; for theswellings in those dependent parts grow so excessively large insome constitutions, and the limbs so much disfigured thereby withfoul sores and callous ulcerations, that such a horse is selcfom litfor anything afterwards but the meanest drudgery ; but it is alwaysa promising sign, wherever the farev happens to be situated, if itspread no further. It is usual to affect only one side at it time;but when it passes over to the other, it shews great malignancy;when it arises on the spines, it is then for the most part dangerous;and is always more so to horses that are fat and full of blood, thanto those that are in a more moderate ease. This disease is at first of theinflammatory kind, therefore it w ill require plentiful bleeding, es-pecially when the horse is fat and full of blood and humours. Butthis must be only in the beginning of the farcy, and while the dis-ease continues in the inflammatory state, for afterwards w hen it isulcerated it will do more harm than good. Likewise the bleed-ing must be moderate when the horse is low in flesh. Besides, hisItody must be kept open w ith the following cooling saline purge :Tw o ounces of Glauber’s salt-, one ounce of cream of tartar, andone our.ee of nitre, dissolved in a quantity of water, given every(lay, or every other day, for a month. T he sores at the very firstmust be anointed with the desiccative ointment, Mo. 41. TheImds sometimes by this method are dispersed, leaving only littlelaid spots which the hair soon covers again; but to confirm thecure, ami to disperse those little lumps which often remain forsome time on the skin without hair, give crude antimony for amonth; two ounces a-day for a fortnight, and then one ounce ofthe crocus for the largest dose per day for the other fortnight: hvfollowing this method, a farcy w hich affects only the small vesselsmay be stopped in a week or ten days, and soon after totally era-dicated. \\ hen it appears in the tfiigh vein, it will cause a halt-ing, or lameness, and then it will be soon discovered; as also bythe swelling of the hock. Iu this case the liniment, Mo. 28, must
be applied to the vein as soon as possible. The alternate exhibi-tion of the saline physic, and the antimonial medicines, must ac-company this treatment. When there is a disposition in theblood, to a farcy, it may begin from the pricking of a sharp spur;it may likewise arise spontaneously about the spurred part w ithoutany pricking at all; and then the’hair will stand up as a tuft allaround the buds and blisters, and the matter that runs from themewill be purulent, and of a clammy, or greasy consistence. If thisis not soon stopped, it will spread greatly. In this case use the li-niment above prescribed, made w ith equal parts of the ingredi-ent?; and to prevent the swelling of the belly, apply the volatileliniment, No. 30, all over the affected side. The alterative bulls,No. 9, II, are proper in every stage of the farcy; and when thedistemper is in its infancy, before the skin is much defaced, willoften cure it in a week or two, by giving them only once or twicea-dav: but in an old farcy they should be given for tw o or threemonths together.
OF EXTERNAL AND LOCAL DISEASES.
Of Diseases of the Eyes.
In th's very important part of farriery some considerable im-provements have been practised oflate at the Veterinary College.As the diseases of the eye, to which horses are so remarkably sub-ject, are, in general, to be attributed to too great a derivation ofblood to that organ, the experiment has been made in some cases,of taking up the carotid artery on the side of the affected rye.This has been attended with various success, yet sufficient to re-commend it to the notice of every practitioner, who is desirousof improving the art of farriery in this very material respect. Thecases that most frequently occur, requiring medical aid, or admit-ting of cure, are generally the effects either of cold, or of blow s,bites, or other external injuries. In those proceeding immediatelyfrom cold, an inflammation is perceived from the globe of the eye,and internal surrounding parts, as the edge of the eye-lids, &c.Instead of its former transparency, the eye has a thick cloudy ap-pearance upon its outer covering, and is constantly discharging anacrid serum, which in a short time almost excoriates the parts inits passage. The horse drops his cars, heroines dull aud sluggish,is frequently shaking his head as if to shake off the tears, and inevery action discovers pain and disquietude. In this rase, afterbleeding,the treatment prescribed for colds must be adopted and per-severed in; and to cool the parts, md allay the irritation occasionedby the scalding sofinn, let the eyes and surrounding parts he gentlywashed twice or thrice every clay with a sponge or tow impreg-nated with the collyrium, N“ ‘J9. If the inflammation should notseem likely to abate,- but to wear a threatening appearance, one ofthe mild diuretic balls, N° b, must be administered every morn-ing, using gentle cxgpeise with them. The effec ts arising fromblows or bites form different appearances, according to the seve-rity of the injury sustained. Should inflammation and swellingproceed from either causih bleeding will be necessary without de-lay, and may be repeated; at proper intervals till the symptomsappear to abate; and let the parts be plentifully embrocated fourtimes a-cLij with the saturnine lotion, N° 31, diluted with six oreight times the quantity of water. If a large swelling, laceration,or wound, attend, alter washing with the above, apply a warmpoultice of bread, milk, mid u little of the lotion, softened with avery small portion of lard on olive oil. Incases of less danger,or in remote situations whereTMiedicines are not easily procured,the following may lie used as a substitute, viz. one of brandy, twoof water, and four of vinegar. As to the gulta serena, cataract,film, &c. these are case's in which relief is very seldom obtained.
The Gutta Sf.iu.NA is a partial or universal loss of sight, whereno palpable defect or fault appears in the eve, except that the pu-pil is more enlarged than in the natural state. The appearancesof this blemish are various, as well as the causes and effect?, someof its subjects being totally blind, and others barely enabled todistinguish between light and darkness. The signs are a blacknessof the pupil, an alteration of the size of the pupil, ami its not con-tracting or dilating upon a sudden exposure to any degree of light.For the cure it is necessary to attend to the cause, and to applysuch remedies as tliat may indicate: though, indeed, it is a disor-der in which, from whatever cause originating, no great expecta-tion can be formed from medicine either internally or externally.
A Cataract is a defect in the crystalline humour of the eye,1 which
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