A ligature of waxed thread bound tightly round these tumours, will cause them to drop off after some time.

Swellings, which sometimes rise on the cap of the hock, or on the point of the elbow, may be said to rank under this head.

EPILEPSY, OR FITS.

LUCKILY this disease is not frequent among horses; but from a difficulty in discovering the precise origin of it, the animal ought, if valuable, to be placed under the care of an able and experienced professor, for if care be not taken, the habit of fits will soon be formed, often returning, at no very distant periods.

Causes. These are various. Fulness of blood; overfeeding and want of exercise, may produce it. On the other hand, too violent exertion and surfeits tend to bring it on; care should be taken likewise that the collar has not too great a pressure when in draught, which prevents a free circulation of the blood, and obstructs its passage from the head.

Symptoms. When first attacked, if in exercise, the animal stops suddenly, trembles, looks vacantly and irresolutely around, and presently proceeds; or otherwise staggers round, and falls insensible; where, after lying sometimes stretched out as dead, sometimes violently convulsed, he rises, and generally dungs and urines.

Treatment. To prevent Epilepsy is no easy matter

when the horse is aged; but the following might be efficaciously used in ordinary cases, as a cure:

mixed with as much liquorice-powder and honey as will make a ball of a convenient size. Administer one every night and morning, provided the bowels have been previously opened by a clyster; not unfrequently the following drink is preferred:

This is administered once every twelve hours, in a pint of warm gruel. Bleeding a full plethoric horse, followed by mercurial alteratives, with an occasional purgative, and then turned to grass for three months, is recommended by Blaine as a successful method of destroying habitual Epilepsy.

PARALYSIS.

THIS is generally confined to the hinder parts of a horse, and is called Paraplegia. Palsy, or Hemiplegia, is very rare; on this occasion the brain is affeectd, the muscular powers are relaxed, and one side of the animal being paralysed, he falls, and all efforts to raise him are

vain.

Causes. Numerous causes might be assigned. A sudden slip, a heavy blow on the spine, being confined in a narrow stall and turning round too hastily, all

tend to weaken the vertebræ. Too much exercise, and when purging is checked too rapidly, will produce paralysis.

Symptoms.—The part affected becomes powerless, attended sometimes with an unusual shaking motion, most frequently of the hinder limbs. In extreme cases, the animal has been affected inwardly.

Treatment.-Old horses can rarely be cured; especially if over-worked when young. Should the disease appear in the younger animal, more hopes may be entertained of a cure. The treatment must, however, depend greatly upon the cause or the extent of the injury. The following purge may be tried successfully:

made into a ball. The spine may be rubbed with

warm terebinthinated embrocation.

will be found a useful embrocation, from its stimulating nature; this were best applied till the horse feels sensible of the parts affected. Internal remedies are not in general use, although strychnos nux vomica, (vulg., crow-fig), has been used with some success; commencing with about eight grains, and gradually increasing it, taking care not to give the animal so much as will depress the action of the pulse, and create torpor.

N

APOPLEXY.

THIS disease seldom prevails among horses; in most cases it is incurable, as the animal drops down and soon expires, being somewhat similar to apoplexy in the human being.

Causes. These are different in many cases. Generally, over-exertion, producing congestion in the chest, terminates in the brain.

Symptoms. Some time before apoplexy comes on, the animal gives warning of its approach by bearing the head very low, the eyes appearing sleepy, with an occasional superabundance of saliva; the hearing is also affected, and a general weakness of the limbs. After remaining in this state any period from two to ten hours, the crisis arrives, and he falls, sometimes dying immediately; at other times, exhibiting symptoms of violent convulsions.

Treatment.-Bleeding should take place immediately,. and that copiously. The jugular, or common neckvein, is the best for the operation, as that will sooner relieve the brain, from the impossibility of getting near any artery which supplies the brain with blood: this may be followed by gentle purges.

DYSPEPSIA, OR LOSS OF APPETITE.

Causes. Loss of appetite is usually the forerunner of all diseases; and when other symptoms show themselves, should be treated accordingly. When it comes

alone, it arises from the irregularities to which the horse is subject when changing its hair; or from the use of indigestible food, fatigue, too sudden exposure to cold, and various other causes. Worms invariably produce loss of appetite, and should be treated accordingly.

Symptoms. This disease is usually accompanied with a rough and shaggy state of the hair, the appetite very irregular, and the food passes away undigested,

Cure. This must be effected according to the symptoms: when solely arising from the improper use of food, and causes such as would naturally lead to loss of appetite, and unattended with fever, a gentle stimulant would be found efficacious: at the same time, care should be taken that the complaint does not arise again from similar circumstances.

a dozen balls, will strengthen the stomach. Some persons employ the following Carraway Seeds

Grains of Paradise

Ginger

Oil of Mint

:

4 drachms,

3 drachms,

made into a ball with syrup or honey.

During the process of either of these medicines, gentle exercise is recommended daily. This disease is commonly called Chronic Indigestion.