It is a sad proof of the stubbornness of pride, that a unity, thus enforced by suffering, should be ignored, as though it were an insult to the superior. No compact, founded by nature, can be dependent upon man's liking. The terms may be laughed at, scorned or denied, but these exist. Man is declared in affliction to be the companion of other life. When will this truth be acknowledged, and the entire family of nature live in one brotherhood?
APHTHA.
Aphtha is a human disorder as well as an equine disease. It generally appears in spring and autumn, being produced by heat of body. May not a slight attack of aphtha sometimes explain that which the groom intends by lampas? At all events, aphtha is accompanied by dullness and a refusal to feed. Both lips commonly swell as the lethargy increases; the tongue tumefies, becomes decidedly red, and generally hangs out of the mouth, partly for the sake of coolness, partly to accommodate its enlarged size. Around the mouth little lumps break forth, which at first are stony hard, and others, though of a larger size, may be felt upon the tongue. Vesicles are soon developed from these spots, and each contains a small quantity of clear gelatinous fluid. The bladders burst; crusts form; and by the time these fall off, the complaint has disappeared.
Some good thick gruel and a few boiled roots, which should be repeatedly changed, must constitute the nourishment while the disease lasts, or during the period that the mouth is sore. No medicine; a little kindness is now worth a ship load of drugs. When the pimples are about to burst, the following may be prepared:—
| Borax | Five ounces. |
| Boiling water | One gallon. |
| Honey or treacle | Two pints. |
When the mixture has cooled, hold up the horse's head and pour half a pint into the mouth. Half a minute afterward remove the hand; allow the head to fall and the fluid to run out of the lips. This mixture should be used several times during the day. Beyond this nothing is needed, excepting a cool, loose box, a good bed, body and head clothing, with flannel bandages, not too tight, about the legs. Work should on no account be sanctioned until the last vestige of the disorder has vanished, and its attendant weakness has entirely disappeared.
LACERATED TONGUE.
Men who become proprietors of animal life undertake a larger responsibility than the generality of horse owners are willing to admit. They are answerable for their own conduct toward the dumb existence over which they are legally invested with the right of property; they are also morally accountable for the conduct of those to whose charge they entrust their living possessions. The appearance of those men who congregate about the stable doors of the rich is not very prepossessing. Their looks express cunning far more than goodness. Their long narrow heads denote none of that wisdom which alone can comprehend and practice kindness for its own sake. Their eyes and actions have a quickness at sad variance with the affected repose of their manners. Their dress declares a vanity, that is much opposed to the humility in which a wise man loves to confide.
There is nothing about horses which should degrade men; yet it cannot be denied, that the vast majority of stable men are rogues. How can this be accounted for? Is it difficult to understand, when we see the unlimited trust put into a groom's hands, and the common abuse of confidence by the man who enjoys it? No slave proprietor possesses the power with which the groom is invested. It is true, the slave owner can lash the flesh he terms his property. However, there is in humanity a voice which puts some limit to the ill usage of the negro. The groom can beat and beat again, at any time or in any place. No voice can be raised in appeal to nature. The groom's charge lives beneath him, and day or night is exposed to his tyranny. He may chastise the body and steal the food, still, so no human eye detect, the horse will quietly look upon the wronger it never can accuse.