THE EXPRESSION CHARACTERISTIC OF REPEATED ATTACKS OF MEGRIMS.
Then come convulsions, followed by insensibility. If such a scene occur in a city, of course a crowd collects. Opinions are noisy and various; but a majority incline toward bleeding from the mouth. It is only to cut the palate, and a dozen knives, already opened, are proffered for the purpose. However, let the person in charge attend to no street suggestion. Let him at once seat himself upon the horse's head, and remain there till consciousness returns; then speak kindly to the sufferer, loosen the harness, and take care that the animal is perfectly recovered before it is permitted to rise.
Dealers pretend that a horse subject to megrims is to be readily told. A horse, after repeated fits, is easily singled out; but the animal which has experienced only a single attack, no man could challenge. One attack, however severe may be its character, will not necessarily leave its impress upon the countenance. But the creature subject to such visitations soon assumes a heavy, flaccid, and stupid expression. The disease distorts no feature, but it leaves its mark behind; and any man, acquainted with the subject, would have no difficulty in picking from a drove the horse which has endured repeated fits of this disorder.
Another class of knowing ones pretend they can drive a megrimed horse any distance, by simply keeping a wet cloth over the brain. This last experiment is, however, not inviting; and the author has yet to be assured by science that a wet rag over the brain would repose upon the primary seat of the disease.
When a horse has the first fit of megrims, at once throw the animal up. Do not strive to sell the diseased creature, as such a sale is illegal. The law presumes everything sold to be fit for its uses. Thus, a person buying rotten eggs can recover at law, because eggs are sold for human food, and no man can eat a tainted egg. So a megrimed horse is unfit for employment. Recovery in this disease is always doubtful. A chance is best secured by throwing the horse up on the first attack. Do not turn a sick animal out to grass. Keep in a loose box, covered with plenty of straw. Feed liberally, and with the best food. Have the body regularly dressed, and the animal led to, not ridden to, exercise. Allow a quart of stout every morning and half a pint of oil every night. Above all things, attend to the stabling. Let the box be large and well ventilated. Food is eaten but occasionally during the day. Air is as essential as more substantial nutriment to life, and is consumed night and day. Food has to undergo a complicated change, and to travel far, before it joins the blood. Air is no sooner inhaled than it is immediately absorbed by the blood. After such a statement, it is left to the reader's reason to decide upon the importance of pure air toward sustaining health. Probably, were stables erected with a little less regard to the proprietor's expense and the builder's convenience; probably, were they made in some degree proportioned to the magnitude of their future inhabitants, and were the comfort of the captive a very little considered in their construction,—the health of a horse might not be so very telling a proverb; while megrims, under a better treatment, if it did not disappear, might not be so very common.
HYDROPHOBIA.
This is always the fruit of contagion, received from some stable-pet, in the shape of a dog or cat. It is essentially a nervous disorder. From the first, it influences the brain to a degree which no other malady seems capable of exercising. The animal constantly licks some portion of the body. The place appears to itch violently, and the tongue is applied with an energy and a perseverance highly characteristic of an over-wrought nervous distemper. The appetite always is affected; sometimes it is ravenous. The rack is not only emptied with unusual speed, but the bed, however soiled, is also consumed with more than apparent relish. Generally, however, the desire for provender is destroyed. Sometimes, the longing for fluids is morbidly increased. The horse plunges his head to the bottom of the pail, will bite at the groom who endeavors to interrupt the draught, or seize the wood between its teeth and crush it with a powerful gripe. More frequently, water will cause spasm, and be avoided with horror. The animal's likings may be morbidly changed: it will occasionally devour its own excrement, and lick up its emissions.
