It is proper to place corn and water beside the sitting hen, whenever it may appear necessary, withdrawing them as soon as she is satisfied, not only to encourage steadiness of incubation, but to support the constitutions of those in which the natural excitement is so powerful, that they will remain several successive days upon the nest, at the risk of famishing. I have had instances of hens of this description fainting outright, and appearing as dead, on their finally leaving the nest with the chickens, in a state of total emaciation, having, probably, not eaten or drank more than once in three or four days, during the term of their incubation, twenty-one days. The plan of feeding on the nest should be invariably pursued with all frequent sitters.—Montagu—Moubray.
Incurable, a. Not admitting remedy, not to be removed by medicine; irremediable, hopeless.
Indian Rubber, or Caoutchouc, s. An elastic gum procured from a South American tree, called the Syphonia Uastica. It is mostly brought into Europe in the shape of bottles, which are formed by spreading the gum over moulds of clay.
Indigo, s. A plant, by the Americans called anil, used in dyeing for a blue colour.
Infect, v. To act upon by contagion; to fill with something hurtfully contagious.
Infection, s. Contagion, mischief by communication.
Inflame, v. To kindle, to set on fire; to heat the body morbidly with obstructed matter; to fire with passion.
Inflammation, s. The act of setting on flame; the heat of any morbid part occasioned by obstruction.
Inflammation is a disorder of the blood-vessels, depending upon their having too much blood in them, or upon that blood being impure and acrimonious, or upon the blood vessels themselves being in a diseased state.
Cool air is always of service in inflammatory diseases, and cold air is sometimes still better; even turning the horse out, if the weather is dry, is perhaps the best situation of any. Inflammation may be general or local. General inflammation is fever, of which there is but one kind in the horse, and that may almost always be cured by early and copious bleeding.—White.