The boiling water ought to be renewed every twenty minutes, as the bag should be retained upon the head for an hour each time. Should not yellow deal saw-dust be obtainable, procure some of common deal, upon which last pour one ounce of spirits of turpentine. Mix well and thoroughly before you apply the bag to the head; but should not a proper apparatus be in the stable, then it is better to forego the steaming, as the common nose-bag is far too short and too tight for safety. The cloth moreover is apt to swell and not to allow the free passage of the water. Sad accidents have ensued upon the incautious employment of the ordinary nose-bag for steaming purposes.
STEAMING THE NOSE OF A HORSE
WITH COLD.
If the horse appear to be weak, and there is the slightest suspicion that the weight of the appliance for the time directed may tax the strength, let some substance, as a stool, a form or chair, be placed beneath the bag. The animal will require no teaching to understand the use of the intended resting-place. As the weight begins to drag, the head will be lowered, and after a very brief space the steaming apparatus will be found reposing upon its intended support.
While the membrane is dry, use the steaming-bag six times daily. When a copious stream of pus flows from the nose, its application thrice daily will be sufficient. At the same time let the food consist of grass with mashes, to regulate the bowels and subdue the attendant fever. Give no medicine; but the discharge being established, three daily feeds of crushed and scalded oats, with a few broken beans added to them, will do no harm. Likewise, should the weakness be great, a couple of pots of stout, one pot at night and the other at morning, will be beneficial. Good nursing, a loose box, fresh air, warmth, and not even exercise till the disorder abates, are also to be commended. Afterward take to full work with caution, as much debility is apt to ensue upon severe cold. It will also sometimes lead to other diseases, as those of the larynx, air-passages, and lungs. Should the symptoms deepen, the treatment must be changed; the lesser affection (cold) being swallowed up by the greater disorder, which is superadded; consequently, disregard the original ailment, taking those measures requisite to relieve the new and more important affliction.
Animals with chronic cold, or with a constant running from the nose, soon exhibit excessive weakness. Nothing taxes the strength so much as the prolonged disorder of any mucous surface.
All that ignorant people know of glanders is, that the disease is accompanied with a nasal defluxion. The more cunning in horse flesh, likewise, are aware that glanders causes the lymphatic gland within the jaw to swell, or that a glandered horse is always, as such people assert, jugged.
HEAD OF A HORSE WITH "A JUG," OR WITH ONE OF THE LYMPHATIC GLANDS OF THE THROAT SWOLLEN.