Cathartic, s. A medicine to purge downwards.
Cathartics are a most important class of medicines, and of all cathartics Barbadoes aloes is the best. Cathartics improve digestion and chylification, by cleansing the intestines and unloading the liver, and if the animal is afterwards properly fed, will improve his strength and condition in a remarkable degree. Cathartics are always useful when the appetite and digestion are bad, and this is known by a voracious or depraved appetite, both for food and for water; rumbling of the bowels, and a frequent discharge of wind from the anus. This is the case in a remarkable degree with broken-winded horses, and generally in such as have chronic cough, or are crib-biters. They should not be given too strong or too frequently, as they might thereby weaken instead of strengthening the digestive organs, and produce the effect they were intended to remove. Cathartics should always be made with soap, in the following manner, and then, if given upon an empty stomach, they will be carried off, and will not be dissolved until they get into the large bowels, where their effect is intended to be produced: that is carrying off all the excrementitious matter that may be lodged in them. When given in this way they never produce sickness or pain in the stomach, but always operate without pain or danger.
| CATHARTIC BALL. | |
| Barbadoes aloes powdered, from | 5 dr. to 1 oz. |
| Hard soap | 3 to 4 dr. |
| Ginger | 1 dr. |
| Water | 1 dr. |
| Oil of cloves | 10 drops. |
Beat the soap, oil of cloves, and water together in a mortar, so as to form a paste; if necessary use more water. Add the powdered aloes and ginger, and beat the whole into a ball.—White.
Cattle, s. Beasts of pasture, not wild or domestic.
Cauf, s. A chest with holes, to keep fish alive in the water.
Cavisson, s. A head-stall provided with a nose-band and ring, to which a long cord is attached. The cavisson is used in the earlier stages of horse-breaking.
Caustics, s. Medicaments which, by their violent activity, and heat, destroy the texture of the part to which they are applied.
The most powerful is the actual, or hot iron; but there are many other caustics possessed of great strength, which speedily destroy the parts to which they are applied. If a solid caustic is wanted, nothing is more convenient than the lunar caustic (nitrate of silver). Milder caustics are more frequently used; such as sulphate of copper, red precipitate, (nitric oxide of mercury,) burnt alum, &c.
Strong caustics are employed to destroy unhealthy or diseased parts; and for cleansing foul ulcers, so as to produce a healthy state, and render them curable by more simple applications. Caustics, divided into liquid and solid, are strong and mild. The mild are often called escharotics.