Ball, s. Anything made in a round form; a round thing to play with, a hand-ball, a billiard-ball.
Balls (in farriery) are boluses given to horses, and should not exceed in size a hen’s egg. Though named balls, they are generally rolled up in a cylindrical form, about one inch in diameter, and two and a half in length; but the form of an egg is preferable. There is sometimes difficulty in giving balls, without using a balling iron; and there are horses that will not take a ball by any other means. In giving it, the horse’s tongue is drawn out on the off or right side, and held firmly with the left hand, while with the right the ball is passed over the tongue into the pharynx, or top of the gullet. The hand should be kept as near to the roof of the mouth as possible; there will then be much less danger of being wounded by the teeth. The moment the right hand is withdrawn from the mouth, the tongue is let loose, and the ball generally swallowed.
Balls should be made at the time they are wanted; as by keeping they become so hard as to be insoluble in the stomach, and pass through the intestines unchanged. By keeping they also lose much of their strength, particularly when the ingredients are evaporable in the common temperature of the atmosphere, which is the case with camphor, ammonia, essential oils, &c. But the most serious inconvenience which arises from giving balls that have been kept until they become very hard, is, that they are liable to stick in the throat or gullet, and thereby endanger the horse’s life.
Balls cannot be conveniently given unless wrapped up in paper: but for this purpose the softest and thinnest should be chosen.
In holding the tongue with the left hand while the ball is introduced, great care is required, as the rough and violent manner in which this is sometimes done, injures the tongue or lacerates the under part of it, named the bridle. The muscles by which swallowing is effected may also be seriously injured in this way. In violent colds, strangles, &c. there is so much soreness of the throat as to render swallowing very painful and difficult; in such cases neither balls nor drenches should be given, as they are sure to do mischief by irritating the throat, and may even suffocate the animal by getting into the wind-pipe.
When a ball is found to exceed the proper size, it should be divided and given at twice, as much injury has been done by giving balls too large, especially when they have become dry and hard, or been wrapped in thick paper. In making balls, the dry ingredients should be finely powdered and well mixed, and the liquid for forming them should be adapted to the nature of the other ingredients. When a ball contains any acrid, or very powerful ingredient, such as sublimate or arsenic, flour and paste may be employed for mixing it up, and a small bran mash should be given a little before or after it. After giving a ball, grooms sometimes press or pinch the throat for the purpose of making the horse swallow it; but this should never be done, as it is apt to excite coughing, by which swallowing is prevented. The only thing necessary after the hand is withdrawn is to keep the mouth shut, and press the nose downwards, in a moderate degree, towards the chest.—White.
Balling-Iron, s. An instrument used in administering balls to horses. It is intended to keep the mouth open while the ball is being introduced, and answers the double purpose of assisting the groom in the operation, and saving his hand from injury from the horse’s teeth. In its use, it should be carefully covered with cloth, to prevent the tongue of the animal from being lacerated.
Balm, s. The sap or juice of a shrub, remarkably odoriferous, and of healing qualities; any valuable or fragrant ointment; anything that soothes or mitigates pain.
Balsam, s. A thick fluid soluble in spirit of wine.
Balsams are a kind of resinous juice, united with some of the extractive matter of the various plants they are obtained from, in combination with an essential oil. All the balsams are occasionally in use in veterinary medicine, and were formerly in very high estimation, for their supposed salutary action in chronic diseases of the lungs. They were also considered as a sovereign vulnerary for abraded urinary passages. It is the modern doctrine to think their efficacy overrated, and which is probably in some respects true, particularly as regards their expectorant qualities: nevertheless they are far from being inert; on the contrary, they appear to act favourably in some instances, as a warm terebinthinated stimulant. The principal balsams dispensed in veterinary practice are these:—