View the matter in another light, as an affair only of worldly prudence. Knives, formed of the hardest steel, if purchased and put away, in a short time are worthless, because of rust. A house wears faster when untenanted than when properly inhabited.
A horse cannot remain for days in the stable and retain its condition. The carriage proprietor has not only to find food, but he is equally bound to support the health of his animals, or the service for which he bargained will be rudely terminated. Too many do not think of this. Too many take out the carriage to-day, only because it accords with their convenience. All, however, complain of the uncertainty which appertains to horse-flesh. The frame of the horse is stronger than machinery; but it cannot resist the willfulness of human misrule. Let that man, whose stable troubles him, question his own conduct. Let him examine the house in which he has thrust life. Let him see to the servants he has engaged, and to the food for which he pays; and after all, let him inquire into his own behavior: the error will be found, not in the creatures over which he exercises dominion, but in those who are invested with authority.
If people will start carriages, the vehicle must be taken out every day, let the weather freeze, rain, or shine. The hard earth of sunshine is frequently more injurious to the feet than either cold or wet are to the body. The lady, when out visiting, has more than her own pleasure to consult; for all horses fed on the best and underworked, or retained standing long before the street door, are exposed to chronic hepatitis. The gentleman's delight is almost as liable as the brewer's pride. Even moderate food and too little work will engender the disease. The author, when he quitted the veterinary college, left in that establishment an Arab, which, from a year's stagnation, was obviously thus disordered.
The primary symptoms are not well marked, and do not, generally, attract attention. The animal is dull and averse to move. It appears to have imbibed a fondness for the inactivity to which it has been accustomed. The appetite is either nice, altogether lost, or unscrupulously ravenous; the bowels are constipated; the dung is black, and coated with bilious-looking mucus; it is friable, and imperfectly digested. If a white paper be pressed upon it, a greenish-yellow stain is imparted. The urine is scanty, and, commonly, highly colored; while the pulse has a heavy beat, as though treacle, instead of blood, circulated within the artery.
The signs which indicate a confirmation of the disorder are: the mouth feels cold; the nasal membranes are unnaturally pallid; the whites of the eyes are ghastly, displaying a yellow tinge; sometimes the horse looks at the right side; usually, it lies upon the left ribs, but never for any long time; tenderness may be exhibited, if the right side be pressed upon. However, the last symptom is rarely present, and lameness in either fore leg is seldom witnessed.
The disease is, for the most part, obscure, and is best recognized when medicine has become powerless. If early detected, a limited, but sufficient supply of nutritious food; plenty of, but not exhausting labor, with a long course of iodine in alterative doses, are calculated to work some beneficial change.
| Iodide of potassium | Two ounces. |
| Liquor potassæ | One quart. |
| Mix, and give two tablespoonfuls night and morning, in a pint of water. | |
Commonly, however, bleeding from the liver is the earliest recognized indication of disease. Then the horse, with depressed head, is found standing before untouched food; often it staggers; sometimes it supports itself against the partition to the stall; it always maintains the erect position with extreme difficulty; the pupil of the eyes are enlarged; if the hand be moved before the sight, the lid does not close; the vision is lost; the pupils are much dilated; the breath, denoting weakness, is short and catching; the jaw is pulseless, and the heart flutters; the visible membranes are deathly; and the bilious nature of the disorder is, in these last parts, apparent. Should the head, only for a minute, be raised, the animal threatens to fall.
The first attack is seldom fatal, and possibly might, by proper usage, be recovered from. The bleeding, then, is from the substance of the gland, and does not generally burst Glisson's capsule, or the first and fibrous covering of the liver. Glisson's capsule, however, is, by the pressure of fluid, bulged out. The hemorrhage stretches the peritoneum, which is the second or last envelope; and nature, striving to repair the injury, causes the serous investment to inflame,—to become white, opaque, considerably thicker, and altogether stronger than in its normal condition.
