Upon the subject of lameness in general, it is necessary to remark, that injuries sustained in tendons (commonly called the back sinews) are more frequently relieved, and a lasting cure obtained, than in a lameness of the joints; where, after patient and persevering medical applications, and a corresponding portion of rest, a renewal of work has almost immediately produced a relapse.
Lameness, from whatever cause arising, is unsoundness. However temporary it may be, or however obscure, it lessens the utility of the horse, and renders him unsound for the time. How far his soundness may be afterwards affected, must depend on the circumstances of the case. A lame horse is for a time an unsound one.
Lameness in Dogs.—During the hunting or shooting season, dogs are very liable to sore feet: they should be frequently washed with strong brine, pot liquor, or salt and vinegar,—a handful of the former to a pint of the latter. But as it will be found easier to prevent than cure the affection, this is best done by washing their feet every day, when returning from the field, with pot-liquor or brine.—The Horse—Brown.
Lampass, s. A lump of flesh, about the bigness of a nut, in the roof of a horse’s mouth.
Lampass.—Called also lampers, and lampards, is a spongy, elastic enlargement of the roof of a young horse’s mouth, just behind the nippers of his upper jaw, which frequently acquires such a luxuriance in growth, as to be equal with, or to exceed, the surface of the teeth, and is supposed to occasion pain to such horses in the mastication of their corn. Whenever the lampass are found so protuberant as to justify an opinion, or produce a proof that they occasion pain in mastication, it is then time enough to pass the point or edge of a sharp penknife, or lancet, transversely and longitudinally over the puffy and prominent part, so as to let it bleed in that state for a few minutes; then let it be washed with a solution of alum in water, and no further inconvenience need be apprehended.—White.
Lampblack, s. Is made by holding a torch under the bottom of a basin, and as it is furred striking it with a feather into some shell, and grinding it with gum water.
Lamprey, s. A kind of eel.
The sight of a large square slab of white marble at a trifling distance from the main road on this mountain, excited my curiosity some days ago. It contained a modern Latin inscription of great length, which for its singularity I would send you, but I wish to save postage. The traveller is desired to pause, in order to behold an ocular demonstration of the cruelty and impiety of the ancient pagans, exhibited in the fish-ponds of A. Pollio, Esq. who, says the marble, was particularly fond of lampreys fed with human blood; and who to gratify this inhuman sort of gluttony, had these ponds built at an immense expense, and caused the wretched victims of his corrupt palate to be thrown into them. Accepting the pious invitation, I entered the farm pointed out by the inscription, and actually found the farm-house to consist of some modern masonry engrafted upon a solid stock of ancient reticulated architecture. At the back of the building a small door opened into the ponds, which even now appeared to be abundantly supplied with water, rising to the height of about eight or ten feet, from the door downwards, and covered by an arched vault nearly as high from the top of the door: the sides were lined with a stucco, as hard, if not harder than stone. The whole fabric was in perfect preservation, and well worth the attention of an antiquary; but my conductor was unable to add anything to the information given by the inscription, which, I confess, appeared to me very problematical. The neat and impenetrable covering of stucco, would rather induce me to take it for a reservoir, or large cistern for water, than a pond for lampreys: and supposing it to have been the latter, where is the evidence of human bodies having supplied their food; and supposing the Roman laws to have been lax enough to allow such a diabolical practice, what stomach could relish such a dainty?—Letters from the Campagna Felice.