Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan … > Volume 2, C-L

55° F A R R I
The diet and medicines fhould be both cooling, atte¬
nuating, relaxing, and diluting; and the horfe fhould
have warm mafhes, and plenty of water or gruel. The
following balls may be given thrice a-day.
Take of fpermaceti and nitre, of each one ounce;
oil'of annifeed, thirty drops ; honey enough to make
a ball.
A pint of barley-water, in which figs and liquorice-
root have been boiled, fhould be given after each ball; to
which the juice of lemons may be added ; and if the lungs
are greatly opprefied with a dry fhort cough, two or three
horns full of the deco&ion may be given three or four
times a-day, with four fpoonfuls of honey and linfeed
oil. A flrong decofHon of the rattle-fnake-root is alfo
much recommended in pleuritic diforders, and may be gi¬
ven to the quantity of two quarts a-day, fweetened with
honey. It remarkably attenuates the blood, and difper-
fes the inflammation, and in fome parts is deemed a fpe-
cific for this complaint.
An emollient glyfter fhould be injefled once a day, to
which may be added two ounces of nitre or. cream of
tartar.
In two or three days he will probably run at the nofe,
and begin to feed; but fhould he not, and continue hot
and fhort-breathed, you muft bleed him again, and give
the following glyfler.
Take fenna and marfhmallows, of each two ounces ;
fennel and bay-berries, each one ounce; boil in five
pints of clear water, to two quarts ; pour off the
clear, and add four ounces of purging halts, two or
three of fyrup of buckthorn, and half a pint of lin¬
feed, or any common oil.
If by thefe means he grows cooler, and his pain mode¬
rates, repeat the glyfter the next day, unlefs it worked
too much ; then intermit a day; and when he comes to
eat fcalded bran and picked hay, leave off the balls, and
continue only the decoftion, with now and then a glyfter.
But let it be obferved, that a horfe feldom gets the
better of thefe diforders, unlefs he has relief in a few
days; for if the inflammation is not checked in that time,
it ufually terminates in a gangrene, or collection of matter,
which, for want of expectoration, foon fuffocates him.
But as pleuritic diforders are apt to leave a taint on
the lungs, great care fhould be taken, of the horfe’s ex-
ercife and feeding, which fhould be light and open for
two or three weeks.
There is alfo an external pleurify, or inflammation of
the niufdes between the ribs, which, when not properly
treated, proves the foundation of that diforder called
the cbsft founder; for if the inflammation is not difper-
fed in. time, and the vifcid blood:and juices fo attenuated
by internal medicines, that a free circulation is obtained;,
fuch a ftiffnefs and inactivity will, remain on thefe parts,
as will not eafily be removed, and which is generally
known by the name of cheft-founder.
The figns of this inflammation; or external pleurify,
are a fliffnefs of the body, flioulders, and fore-legs ; at¬
tended fometimes with a fhort dry cough, and a fhrinktng.
when handled in thofe parts.
Bleeding, foft pectorals, attenuants, and gentle purges
e . r y.
are the internal remedies; and externally, the parts af-
feCted may be bathed with equal parts of fpirit of fal ar-
moniac, and ointment of marfhmallows, or oil of chamo¬
mile.
Thefe outward inflammations frequently fall into the
infide of the fore-leg, and fometimes near the fhoulder;
forming abfcefies, which terminate the diforder.
The membrane which feparates , the lungs, and more
particularly the diaphragm or midriff, is often alfo infla¬
med ; which is fcarce to be diflinguiflied from the pleuri¬
fy, only in this, that when the midriff is greatly inflamed,
the horfe will fometimes be jaw fet, and his mouth fo
much clofed that nothing can be got in; but the method
of cure is the fame.
Of a Cough, and Asthma.
The confequence often of the preceding diforders in-
judicioufly treated, are fettled habitual coughs; which
frequently degenerate into aflhmas, and broken-wind.
Nothing has more perplexed practitioners than the cure
of fettled coughs; the caufe of which, perhaps, has been
their want of attention-to the different fymptoms which
diftinguilh one cough from another ; for without ftriCl
obfervance thereof, it is impoffible to find out the true
method of cure.
Thus, if a horfe’s cough is of long (landing, attend¬
ed with lofs of appetite, wailing of fleih, and weaknefs,
it denotes a confumption ; and that the lungs are full of
knotty, hard fubftances, called tubercles, which have often
been difcovered on diffeClion..
The following figns denote when the cough proceeds
from phlegm, and flimy matter, that (lop up the veflels
of the lungs.
The horfe’s flanks have a fudden quick motion; he:
breathes thick, but not with his nodrils open, like a horfe
in a fever, or that is broken-winded; his cough is fome¬
times dry and bulky, fometimes moift, before which he
wheezes, rattles in the throat, and fometimes throws'out
of his nofe and mouth great gobs of white phlegm, efpe-
cially after drinking, or when he begins or ends his ex-
ercife, which drfcharge commonly gives great relief.
Some fuch horfes wheeze and rattle to fuch a degree,,
and are fo thick winded, that they can fcarce move on,
till they have been out fome time in the air;. though then
they will perform beyond expectation.
The above, afihmatic cafe proves often very obdinate ;
but, if it happens to a young horfe, and. the cough is not
of long danding, it is greatly relieved,, if not totally cu¬
red, by the following method.
If the horfe is full of fleih, bleed him plentifully; if
low in fleih,. more fparingly.; which may occafionally be
repeated, on very great opprelfions and difficulty of breath¬
ing, in proportionate quantities.
As mercurial medicines are found remarkably ufeful
in thefe cales, give a mercurial ball (with two drams
of calomel) over night, and a common purge next morn¬
ing : or tire following, which is recommended by Mr
Gibfon.
Take gum-galbanum, ammoniacum, and affa foetida,
of