THE GRIPES OF HORSES.

The object of this small Essay is to give a more intelligible account of this
dangerous disease, and to establish the treatment of it on more certain and less
precarious measures than hitherto have been used, for very various and often
contradictory and quite incompetent have been the means resorted to by the
public on these sudden emergencies, by which a protracted suffering was
occasioned to the animal, and also but too frequently a fatal issue. One should
apprehend it must ever impart agreeable feeling to be able with tolerable
certainty to relieve a noble animal from excruciating pain, and ourselves from
the severe loss which his death is apt to occasion, and which we propose to
do by a more energetic, combined, and more consistent mode of treating the
disorder.

The medicine, also, here recommended, is, we apprehend, new as to its
application to horses, and we may also observe that it has hitherto been
employed only as a secret, and confined pretty much to those who have learned
its use under my roof, and who have carried it thence to various parts of this
kingdom, and to the continent of America, whither they have settled, and have
proved extensively its beneficial effects, which to me also have been confirmed
by a period of practical trial, more prolonged than the poet's precept * enjoins,
before I have ventured to make it known.

In making it thus public I also cheerfully relinquish the profits which the
sale of it among those who had been witnesses of its effects led to purchase it,
and also avoid the charge of an empirical practice, hoping sincerely, that now
the veil is about to be withdrawn, and the charm which mystery ever imposes is
about to be removed, it may not cease to please, for, great surprise and an
extraordinary degree of satisfaction often attended the exhibition of it whilst a
secret, and we wish that it may long remain to be a welcome resource on these
frightful occasions: I could desire also, in promulgating it, to give a caution

* Nonum prematur in annum. Hor.

against the abuse of it when its use has become familiar, first in being too
confident, and next perhaps too careless in the exhibition of it, by which it
might fall into disrepute, and disuse, and finally be lost again, as has been the
fate, I believe, of many a valuable discovery. Let me here also add, that it is
not by the medicine alone that these effects are at all times produced, but by a
conjoined and concurring mode of treating the animal in assisting its effects,
which in difficult and protracted cases is more especially necessary to ensure
success. Publishing it also affords me the opportunity of advancing some new
views and opinions respecting the causes and nature of this complaint, which are
more true, perhaps, than many found in the writers of the present day, and
which may lead to a more useful kind of knowledge even than the remedy,
that is, the measures necessary for averting the frequency of it.

I acknowledge I was often unsuccessful in the early part of my practice in
this disorder, if the attack was very severe, though using all the then known
remedies and means of treating it: embarrassed and uncertain also of what
should be the primary object in its cure, sometimes fearful by stimulants of
inflaming the bowels, and rendering the disorder more fatal, and so avoiding
the use of them : at other times attending only to the diminishing of the pain
by anodynes, at others believing that patience and mild measures were the best
to be pursued, and in this state of uncertainty what real course to take, the
patient was lost; believing at last, from noticing their effects, that the true
road to cure lay in a bolder use of stimuli, I was determined to push them
more vigorously, and to pursue them till relief or death was obtained, setting
aside and almost disregarding all other indications or apprehensions, till this
was effected. For though the same means nearly have before been often
employed by the public, yet when done feebly and not repeated, or too late,
as was often the case, it failed of success, and they were also frequently coun-
teracted by pursuing confused and contradictory measures along with it, not
consistent with or supporting the remedy ; which causing it often to fail, left
uncertain impressions on the mind as to the plan that ought to be pursued, of
which we have sufficient proof at this hour by the very dissimilar nostrums and
modes of treatment recommended in books daily published.*

* For the general views and apprehensions regarding this disease at this period I may reter
the reader to St. Bel's Treatise on this complaint, and also that of the Veterinary College seen at
the end of his treatise on the Eclipse horse, and of divers other persons whose labours have been
dispersed through the country.

To give clearness to what I have to communicate respecting this disorder,
if I rightly judge, it will be best first to state two or three unsuccessful cases,
with their treatment, as formerly practised, and the appearances after death of
the parts concerned; and afterwards a few successful cases, and the remedy
and treatment used with them, and conclude with some remarks of what
appear to be the proximate and predisponent causes of this singular disorder*
and the manner of operation of the remedy; and finally subjoin an account of
some other diseases which come near in their symptoms to this complaint, so as
to be easily mistaken for it.

In the commencement of my practice in this city I had extensive oppor-
tunity, especially among the large breweries, of witnessing this disorder; and
it was often painful to see its destructive effects, which caused my joy to
be the greater when I found I could, with so much certainty, control its
fatal progress.

The following case, among others, occurs in-my book of recorded cases
for the year 1801.

A horse was seized with the gripes at the large brewhouse of Meux,
Reid, and Co., at about half-past five in the morning, at least it was then first
discovered by the men coming to the stable, and might have been going on
all the night, and as this horse was situated not far from the door, indeed
almost opposite to it, I had reason to believe the door had been not properly
closed, and that cold air blowing upon him in the night time, had produced
the attack upon a full stomach; so that the disease had partly gone through
its natural course before it was detected. The symptoms were, frequent
lying down and getting up again, and rolling about in great agony ; he often
stretched himself out, and would turn his head and direct his eyes towards his
flanks with expression of agony, as though indicating where his pain lay; a
cold clammy sweat was upon him when I first saw him at eight o'clock, and a
farrier near at hand had given him a cordial ball with aniseed, and left him to
his fate, and about nine he died; so that the disease might be fairly said to
have pursued its natural course.

I was desirous to see him opened, and found a most extraordinary thicken-
ing and inflammation of the ccecum, as though a general rupture of the vessels
and membranes of this intestine had taken place, and the blood was lodged
between its coats; the inside lining of the intestine was almost black, the
outside comparatively but little inflamed. The intestine itself contained a

great deal of ill digested and ill masticated food of beans, oats, and ill chewed
hay, mixed with a bloody water, or red serum, which had probably been
thrown out from the distended arteries and vessels which at length were
ruptured by the inflammatory action. The small intestines were not much
affected; here and there a patch of inflamed surface.

The stomach was whiter I thought than usual, and freer from blood ;
probably the blood had been drawn away from this part to the inflamed
portion of the intestines, or had been in a state of spasm.

Whether in this case the disorder was brought on from voracious feeding,
and not sufficiently grinding his food, or in consequence of exposure to cold
from open doors or windows, or both causes combined, we are not assured.

The second case I select occurred in a stallion, taken ill at Islington, while
in the dray. He was brought home about three o'clock in the afternoon : I
was soon after sent for. Here the symptoms were the most violent, and
the pain and inflammation went on in the most rapid way I had ever yet
seen. A ball with opium was immediately administered : his sides were
rubbed with hot cloths, wrung out of hot water, and we endeavoured
to give him a clyster, but in vain, his pain and rolling about afforded
but few opportunities to introduce the pipe, and then the clyster was
rejected without passing a foot's length into the gut, a contracted state of the
intestines appeared in the most effectual manner to close all entrance or
exit to the intestines. After warm ale and spices, and other things of this
sort had been given him, he died in great agony about nine o'clock.

We immediately opened him, and found the colon and ccecum, highly
inflamed, and an immense quantity of ill chewed, undigested food within, and
a large quantity of greenish red water, and some air. Here the cause
evidently appeared to be indigestion ; and from the horse-keeper I understood
he was a very voracious feeder, and had been several times seized in this way
before, but not so violently.

July 27th, 1800, I was sent for to a case of gripes at the same brewhouse,
a brown dray horse; he w^ras not so cruelly agonized as in the preceding cases;
he stood up much, sometimes lay down, and rolled about but little.

I gave him a ball, containing two drams of spirits of turpentine; I expected
it would have induced staking, but during an hour that I stood by him it did
not operate in this way. I ordered him to be well rubbed with straw, and we
took a broom stale, and two men rubbed him under the abdomen with con-

siderable force. This not relieving him, and as he began to swell at the flanks,
I had him covered with cloths, and run up and down the yard. This, how-
ever, did not relieve him, and we next forced in copious clysters of hot water.
These however were immediately rejected in the same state they entered.
We raked his fundament, but no dung was lodged there; we clystered again,
and held down his tail, with straw placed underneath to make him retain it,
and we could in this way often get in three or four syringefuls without any
escaping; but when at last it was forced out, it gave no signs of having entered
the intestines, at least far enough to do any good, as it came out much
as it entered, bringing nothing with it.

At this period I was in uncertainty of the true cause of gripes, whether
it was spasm, strangulation, or inflammation of the bowels or stomach, or both,
and whence it proceeded. I was afraid if it proceeded from indigestion to
remove much blood, lest it should weaken the powers of the system, that should
be in full vigour to operate relief. I was afraid, also, of giving strong things
hfmuch abundance, lest they should add to the pain and inflammation, that I
was greatly at a loss how to act; but this and other cases seemed now to prove
that indigestion was certainly the primary cause of the mischief.

In the above case, finding nothing avail, I was next induced to try the old
nostrum of the farmers in the country, of gin and pepper, and whilst he was
exercising in Gray's Inn Lane, half a pint of gin mixed with half an ounce of
pepper was given him by mouth, and he was led home ; and by the suggestions
of some spectator, an onion was placed in the fundament; for I was willing to
lay aside all theorising, and try any suggestion that might be proposed, however
ignorant it might appear, as sometimes chance or accident has led to a means of
relief; but the onion had no sensible effect. Warm water clysters and salt
were next given him, but these also seemed to afford no relief. At the sug-
gestion of one of the proprietors a dose of calomel was next administered, as
this had been found serviceable in a case of some stoppage or obstruction of the
bowels of a lady. I administered it with some aloes, in the dose of half an
ounce, but without effect; he died at seven the same evening, being thirteen
hours from the time of his first being seized, and longer by seven or eight hours
than in the other cases.

I paid much attention to this case, and found it necessary to endeavour after
some more effectual system of treatment, as these nostrums were evidently
uncertain, and the losses severely felt. I observed that it usually took place an

hour or two after feeding time, or in less time than this, which seemed to indi-
cate pretty plainly, its being a suppression from some cause of the digestive act,
and that this was immediately succeeded by the commencement of a chemical
one, in this way the air was produced, which by distending the intestines, and
the food becoming dry, irritates them, and brings on the inflammation of the
bowels, fills the flanks, and produces the intolerable suffering ; for it is certain
there is present in the abdomen all the ingredients or agents necessary for a
brisk chemical action ; viz. vegetable matter, as hay, or corn, or both ; also
water, the animal secretions of the stomach and bowels, and plenty of heat.

Now as the chemical ferment begins as soon as the proper animal process
of digestion ceases, so the cure appeared to depend upon bringing on again the
suspended digestive process, which, if the stomach is still excitable, and the
intestines not actually mortified, may be generally hoped for and effected.
The earlier therefore the treatment is begun, the better chance, though I have
seen them perfectly restored after seven or eight hours, or longer, and the
attack is often more advanced than we apprehend, as the animal will not show
external indications till the pain becomes considerable, and then they may,
from various casual circumstances, not obtain immediate attention.

To effect this purpose more fully, of restoring the digestive process, I
looked for some remedy effectually stimulating, and determined to push the
use of it without intermission, till relief was obtained, or the termination of the
case in some way. The reproduction of the digestive process seemed the
indispensable object for the cure. I knew none more likely to produce these
happy effects than the pimento berry, joined with a fair share of ardent spirit,
but lowered so as not to produce a direct inflammation or caustic effect upon
the stomach, for I was quite decided that gentle means, in very many cases,
were quite inadequate to the business, and therefore the remedy should be
recommended to be kept in all large stables, ever ready and at hand, that the
moment the disorder appeared it might without loss of time be applied.

On opening the above horse we found that the inflammation was not
confined to the large guts, but that the ilium and jejunum were also sufferers ;
some balls of dung were found about the middle of the ilium that had the
appearance of having undergone a strong compression, and some of these balls
appeared externally red with blood. The commencement of the colon contained
a large portion (two hatfuls) of almost dry, undigested grain and hay. This
had probably become dry through the excessive heat and inflammation, or

it might have been that the animal had not been presented with the requisite
water or moisture for consummating the digestive process; I do not undertake
to determine which, but care in this respect seems necessary in those who feed
them. Though it be a known fact, that animals have the power of giving the
due pultaceous consistence to the mass in the stomach, before it passes into the
intestines, and this whether it has been given with or without fluid, yet the
excessive privation from watery fluids, or a peculiar febrile state of body, may
render this more difficult, and the quantity often in the horse's stomach of food
is very great. The stomach, however, was found full of hay, and of a good
healthy appearance, and by no means too dry; that this part did not par-
ticipate in the mischief, or its powers had been reinstated, but not so the
intestines. This I was the more surprized at, as I had not observed him to eat
any thing from the time he was seized. In this last case I also observed
a gangrenous patch, as large as my hand, on the colon, the only instance
I recollect to have seen it in the horse. All the internal lining of the intes-
tines was like a mass of red sponge, drenched and filled with dark grumous
blood.

This horse seemed to look about earnestly, as though desirous of something.
I offered him both hay and corn, but he would not touch either. I have since
thought it might be water he sought for, or, as I have seen in other cases
of disease, it was simply expressive of a desire after help. Water might
in these cases be administered warm with good effect, especially after the
violence of the attack had subsided; if given with the remedy there is danger
of its diluting it too much, and weakening its effect.

Such were the appearances after death in these fatal cases.

In another, a chesnut saddle gelding, where the disease had run out six
or eight hours before help was applied for, the administration of the medicine
only served to protract the death, he dying at the end of fifty hours. His
stomach, the red part of it, was highly inflamed, and in one part mortified,
which had ruptured, forming an opening as large as half a crown; one of the
small intestines was dreadfully inflamed, and one of the large intestines (the
sacculated colon), in which the contents appeared like chopped hay, mixed with
reddish chocolate grounds. This appearance was perhaps occasioned by the
vessels distending from the inflammation, and rupturing, poured out their black
contents among the food, which at first, perhaps, or previously, had been nearly
or quite dry.

In order to the pursuing my plan of a high stimulant kind, and repeating it
at short intervals, till the digestion of the food was obtained, or the disease
decided; for I began to apprehend that nothing short of the reproduction
or return of the digestive process would save the animal; I prepared therefore
in readiness the following tincture:�
Pimento, 1 lb.

Water and spirit of wine, each three pints.
These were allowed to infuse for several days, and might be strained off, or be
allowed to stand together till their use was required. At first I employed the
pimento mixed with other spices, and administered it in a ball, and poured gin
or other spirit into the stomach after it, but as the first case treated in this way
did not succeed, I had recourse to the tincture, as more immediately active,
and not creating the delay that the solution of the ball in the stomach would
demand; though in the above case it did not cure, it produced a great alleviation
of the disorder for the better, so much so as to determine me more vigorously
on the next occasion to pursue the same plan; and this I was encouraged
to do, as I found the remedies, though potently administered, had not sensibly
inflamed the stomach. The fatal symptoms of dilated nostrils, quick laborious
breathing, cold sweats, cold breath, stupor of the eyes, vultus pigrities, or the
constricted distressful countenance, and death did not in this case take place
for more than twenty hours; the suspension, therefore, and remission of the
complaint was evident. In the next case, therefore, I proposed advancing with
more boldness to these means, as to the only hope.

When indigestion from any cause takes place in the human body, it is
situated generally in the stomach itself, and the remedy immediately is applied
to the part affected : but in these animals it would appear, that as it is chiefly
in the ccecum and intestines, its influence is by a secondary process, by the
sympathy between this intestine and the stomach. Setting aside all theory,
however, it appeared evident from the suspension of the complaint during more
than four hours in the last case, that it was the right course to pursue in order
to the cure. The pimento I preferred to the other spices, as being of a warm,
stimulant, aromatic nature, and cheaper and more easily procurable every
where than the others.

It may be remarked, that too large a quantity of food at one time in
the stomach, more than can conveniently be digested, will lead to this com-
plaint, and especially in horses that have been many hours at work, and return

in a debilitated state through fatigue; for it appears that horses do best with a
little at a time and often, and of this we are instructed by observing them in a
state of nature, almost continually feeding, unlike most other animals. Hence,
perhaps, is the reason of their having no gall-bladder, the flow of bile into the
intestines being almost incessant; and for an animal destined to be fleet
to have a loaded stomach would be a great inconvenience; and an overload
of food must be also injurious with horses going to work.

Another fatal case occurs in my notes for 1801, the record of which may be
useful, in which I administered all the usually proposed remedies,�cordial
balls, sweet spirits of nitre, tincture of opium, tincture senna, tincture gentian,
which protracted, but did not save from the fatal conclusion, nor were they
administered with any method or system. He lived, however, nearly two days
and a half, that the struggles between death and the remedies was brought
to a nice poize.

It may be a matter of some curiosity also to know what the cunning Greeks
thought of this complaint, and how they treated it.

The veterinary writers of Constantinople, as Apsyrtus, Hierocles, Hippo-
crates, and Anatolius, and others, have termed this disease Si-gopsc, Strophos,
as though the gut was somehow twisted, or perhaps from the animal rolling
about. Apsyrtus recommends clothing them, raking the fundament, and the
herb Centaury to be administered with wine and oil, a glass of each warm, and
then to be exercised. If these avail not, myrrh, opopanax, and seeds of apium
to be given with the Indian Moss (to (3jvov), or the Chelidonium ; and in order
to make him stale, he is to be rubbed over with wine and oil, and the same
given as a drink. He is to be fomented with warm water, and barley meal to
be given him.*

Hierocles recommends an egg broken in the mouth, and swallowed shell
and all!

Hippocrates gives a good description of the disease, and recommends his
being kept in a warm place, with warm lotions and warm coverings, and five
drachms of myrrh in six gills of old wine to be administered through the nose
or mouth. After this drink he is to be exercised, but not vehemently, or with
long intervals. If it can be got, let him have for food plentifully of apium,
and warm water to drink. After raking him, let him be led about, so as
to induce sweating. Afterwards pounded seeds of Nasturtium to be given him

* Scriptores Graci Veterin. p. 148. Ruellius, p. 57.

through his left nostril.* Let him be covered with cloths, and the herb Medica
be given him. Also shavings or raspings from the front hoofs, let him be
drenched with, in four hemina of water, or the earth taken from the shrew-
mouse's hole is to be pounded and given him. What a wretched mockery
of assistance must these last articles have been, and what a state of folly and
superstition do they indicate!

Anatolius follows much the same line of recommendation, but without any
description of the disorder. Among other things four whole eggs with their
shells to be forced down the animal's throat! Wild rue, figs, and onions,
nitre, pigeons dung, &c. to be placed in the anus, as Collyria. How many
a wretched horse must have suffered by such treatment!

These ancients appear to describe this complaint under another name, xoiAias,
Choilia, the chapters relating to which should have been added, it appears to me,
to those of the former on Sr^oipoj, Strophos, by Ruellius, as being one and the same
disorder.

Pelagonius has given a chapter thereon which is curious, as preserving the
prescription of Celsus for it, which, as his work is lost, is the most considerable
vestige perhaps remaining. It is however singular, that though inserted in the
Latin translation, Ruellius has omitted it in the Greek text edited by him,
as is the case with some other pieces also,f " Of the Pontic root, pepper,
garlick, petroselinmn, fennel seed, black pepper, horehound, mugwort, of
each an ounce. Dill seed a scruple, libisticum, centaurcum, each an ounce.
Ajuga, half an ounce; eupatoriwm, a sixth part of an ounce; pennyroyal,
rue, apium seeds, each an ounce ; ginger half an ounce, honey two pounds ;
let them be pounded together dry, and sifted into the honey, and kept for use.
A ball, the size of a hazel nut, to be given in warm water, when the disease
requires it." How insufficient must these measures have been for cure, or even
alleviation of the disorder! Given at least in the dose here prescribed, and the
loose manner also of the exhibition, otherwise the prescription is well adapted
to the purpose, and is the best among the ancients, and better than the treat-
ment in our modern books of farriery.

In respect to the Romans, it is also matter of curiosity to observe their
proceedings and knowledge of this disease.

* There was a charm imagined in this, for it does not present so well as the right nostril
for this purpose.

f Ruellius, fol. 42.

The early writers of the Romans who treat of the management of their
villas or country seats, as Cato, Varro, Palladius, and Columella, hardly make
mention of this disorder.

Vegetius has largely treated of this complaint, but under various names
and in a very confused manner; his best account is in Book I. Chapter 42
and 43, Cura longanonis et Ilei. Causes et Curce Strophi. He mixes also,
without any notice of it, the diseases of cattle with the diseases of the horse.
He recommends warm fomentations to the loins, and putting hay wrung out of
hot water upon the loins ; rubbing them well with hair-cloths, and diligently
anointing these parts with oil, tar, and laurel oil made hot, and also their testi-
cles ; and a warm medicament to be poured into their ears : these to be continued
till he sweats and emits wind, which indicates a remission of the disorder. To
let him stand in a warm place and be covered with sacks, and receive daily the
following drink, pepper, petroselinum, Alexandrian and African cummin,
seeds of apium, myrrh, nepetam, trixaginem, mixed with half their weight
of nitre, well wrought together with warm wine, and oil, and honey. He
farther proposes what appears an excellent plan, bags filled with hot bran
to be placed upon the loins, and clysters of warm water, oil, salt, honey, and
nitre. And pastills (if there shall be no opportunity of clysters), made of
pounded salt and honey to be placed in the fundament; which he observes, will
draw away the sharpness of the humors and lead to health.

In the second, or latter chapter, Causes et Curce Strophi, he recommends
the operation of puncturing the abdomen four inches below the navel towards
the sheath, cutting through the skin, or integuments, and the peritoneum, but

to carefully avoid wounding the intestine.*------Next he orders a pipe with

small perforations to be inserted to draw off the humors !

He again notices this complaint under the term, Emphragma, Lib. I. cap.
47, and again cap. 48, De Ileo, and cap. 49, De delore ventris, and 62, De
Stropho, and also Lib. III. cap. 52, where he has given us the above quoted
prescription of Celsus, which Pelagonius had given, but it begins with Anisi
Pontici instead of Radices Pontici ; in other respects similar. Lib. III. cap. 57,
he again enters on this complaint, copying imperfectly the prescriptions of
Anatolius, to which he, or some one for him, has added hares' dung and pepper

* How the air is to escape does not appear; and this chapter seems designed for the hoven
cattle.

as a drink. Finally, cap. 59, Lib. III. he appears to be copying the description
before given of Hippocrates.

We shall now, in pursuance of our proposed arrangement, give the short
history of a few successful cases of this complaint in which the new remedy
was used.

On the 9th of the sixth month, (June) 1802, I was called up early in the
morning to a horse that appeared actually dying of the gripes, having been
seized in the night; I administered immediately about four ounces of the above
strong tincture, which I mixed with a little water; after waiting twenty
minutes no relief appeared, and he seemed in extreme agony, as much so as I
ever had recollected to have seen, stretching himself out, lying down and
kicking most violently, his skin cold, his breathing laborious ; I immediately
ordered a quarter of a pint more to be given with a little water, and for him to
be well covered with cloths from head to tail; this not giving relief in half
an hour, I ordered another quarter of a pint to be thrown down with a horn, as
the former was, and a clyster of water with a handful of salt in it. His pain,
however, increasing, or not at all abating at the expiration of three quarters of
an hour, I repeated the dose, disregarding all apprehensions about inflammation;
I then left him half an hour, desiring the assistants to keep the cloths upon him,
and to repeat the clyster. I returned after about an hour, and found him laid
stretched out on his back, cold, and apparently dying, (I had also ordered him
to be blooded,) his blood had coagulated, exhibiting much buff: * considering
him as lost, I quitted him for other business for one hour, and did not expect
on my return to see him alive, he lay in a state apparently insensible, stretched
out with his mouth open. I made him get up, and as he seemed in less pain,
that we might not lose the ground we had got, I ordered him another dose of
the tincture, with the addition of a little oil of peppermint, as being a strong
and diffusible stimulus; I next gave him two quarts of warm water, and a
hornful of warm water to be given him every hour, and I ordered him again to
be blooded, when the blood exhibited but little or no buff, which made me doubt
if the spices and spirit might not have some power in checking this formation.
I ordered again more of the stimulating tincture, with the oil of peppermint,

* I mention this circumstance as being contrary to the usual appearance of the blood in this
complaint, which is without buff, and from which I conclude some inflammatory action was going
on in this case, probably peritoneal inflammation.

though in numerous cases since, I have found it as efficacious without it. I
desired he might be again clystered, and gave him a gentle dose of aloes to
increase the action of the intestines and induce them to discharge their contents,
and left him for that night; at ten next morning I found him on his legs, and
he had dunged once during the night; his dung was hard, dry, and on the
outside bloody ; where it had been in contact with the intestines, it appeared
to have been embraced and imprinted by them very strongly; these balls of
dung when broken were highly offensive, and contained much unchewed and
badly chewed corn.

As this was as severe a case as I think I ever attended, it satisfied me that
even in the very bad cases we ought not to despair.

1802, 9th month, 20th. I was called in the evening to a horse that was
extremely ill of the gripes, pawing with his fore feet, lying down, getting up,
and continually restless ; sometimes kicking with great violence. This case, as
it resisted the medicine for three or four hours, I much despaired of; it at
length yielded to the steady and repeated administration of the medicine, but
not till after nearly three pints had been used. As soon as he got relief, he
began eating, and perfectly recovered, nor had any return of his complaint.
After that he had been ill four hours, I took two quarts of blood, which
coagulated without any buff. I had him bled again the next day from
curiosity to observe if any buff was formed, but none was found.

Without describing more of these cases in detail, as they are much of the
same complexion, and the particulars of treatment are given at the conclusion,
I may state, that during six years that I afterwards attended the horses of this
brewhouse, and other large brewers in London, out of very many cases I lost
but one, which unfortunately happened from being seized in the night, and the
complaint had pretty well gone its natural course before the remedy was
administered ; and I remember in particular one case at Calvert's brewhouse,
which I attended, and where seven hours had elapsed before the application of
the tincture, and which, after resisting it six or seven hours more, and was often
given over as dead, recovered, to the admiration of every one concerned. And
the testimonies published, with the direction at the end of this treatise for using
the tincture, will show how successful it has been at other breweries, and many
farmers, waggon owners, and others, could bear the same testimony, as also
now some of my brother veterinary surgeons.

Two stages sometimes belong to this, as to most other disorders ; the first

is the Strophous stage, or that of simple gripes�and next, the Enterital, or
inflammatory stage. In this it should be particularly noticed, that copious
bleeding, fomentations to the abdomen, and extensive blistering of the integu-
ments becomes necessary; warm water plentifully by both extremities of the
canal, and other means of subduing Enteritis, perhaps saline purgatives. It
will be obvious, however, that unless the cause, which is the undigested mass, be
previously acted upon or removed, this can nought avail.

We are now led to advert to the causes of this disorder, and rationale of the
cure, as far as we have had time to consider it, well aware how subject this part
of the Essay will be to change with every new shade of light brought upon the
physiology and pathology of animals, which each succeeding age, for a long
time at least, will view differently.

The tendency to this disorder in these animals, more than in others, we have
thought may be accounted for, in some degree, by the vastness of the intestinal
canal, which in the horse is exposing a prodigious internal surface to be acted
upon by the food, which can maintain and support its living actions upon it
with the more difficulty. The intestines we have also thought are thinner in
proportion to their magnitude in the horse than in the generality of animals;
whence from slighter causes the process of chylifaction, &c. is the more subject
to be disturbed and suspended. Also, the abdomen in these animals presents
externally to the elements a vast surface, which if wetted by showers, or chilled
by currents of air, will lead more readily to such effects as these; hence a
frequent source of this complaint with dray-horses is, the stopping in the streets
or at the doors of taverns to drink or to deliver beer, a shower of rain or a cold
wind happening at the time, will presently bring it on, and especially if the
animal is sweating, and still more easily if he has been lately fed, or has vora-
ciously fed, or without due mastication : therefore, in rough weather they
should have a cloathing for the loins when so exposed. We have also thought,
that in these animals there is comparatively a more scanty covering to the
intestines of Epiploon, less so than is given to most other animals; in the
human this part is of very considerable density, and with copious store of fat
lodged in and about it which keeps the bowels warm, and which provision
would have been perhaps incompatible, or not so suitable, to a very fleet
animal. In hogs the fat is enormous. The mischief of the disorder, we see, is
chiefly in the coecum and colon, and that it is in these large intestines next the
skin, and most exposed to the parietes of the abdomen, that it takes place.

Horses that sweat much at their work, either through impatience or debility,
will be found also very liable to it.*

This disease can also be brought on in another way. A farmer's man
brought his cart into my yard for a load of dung, he threw down before his
horses some hay, and gave a pail of cold water to each; one of them in a few
minutes after was seized with the gripes, he refused the food he was eating,
and wanted to lie down, continually shifting his posture; the man was going to
run him about, 1 however ordered him into my stable, took off a cloth from one
of the horses, covered him warm, and in less than half an hour, without any
thing else, he recovered. Here the stomach only must have been affected,
which is, perhaps, the simplest mode of the complaint.

To the measures or directions given at the end of this Essay may be added,
rubbing the abdomen briskly with the hand, if practicable, without removing
the clothing, by putting the hand underneath, and if the hand was covered with
a flannel glove, or small flannel bag tied over it, the friction and warmth would
be increased, and it might be the better, and this, though simple, is, I believe,
powerful in its effects. The tincture can be aided also by Pellitory, horse-
radish, mustard, or other stimulants, if it shall not be thought stimulant
enough, though simplicity is ever to be recommended if it answers the
purpose.

We now conclude with stating a few diseases whose symptoms so much
resemble Strophos, or gripes, that they may be mistaken for it.

Coactio, or Gorged Stomach. A case of it. A dray-horse was subject at
times to indigestion and griping pains from weakness of stomach, as it appeared,
which left him again without the assistance of medicine; one day, whilst

* In summer time this complaint more easily happens, probably from the general relaxed state
of the animal fibre, and of the intestines and stomach also at this season. This may account for
the violence and frequency of the cholera in India; where these parts have less power from its
exhausting influence. In the summer time also, I think I had more patients than in winter: is it
that the animal fibre generally is more exhausted and relaxed, and more susceptible of a remis-
sion or suspension of function owing to the violent heats, and therefore of less power to resist it ?
The cholera also in the human, invaded countries more in summer than it did in the winter, and
it commenced also with us at the decline of the summer season.

delivering beer, and exposed to a chilling north-easter, he was taken very ill,
reeling about and endeavouring to lie down; he was led by the dray-man to
a farrier near at hand, who called it the gravel, and gave him a drink, as he
said, proper for it; * instead of coming home and administering the gripe-
tincture immediately, as he ought to have done, he continued several hours
out; when he came home I was sent for, and I watched him some time, and
apprehended from the symptoms that it was a mild attack of gripes; he pawed
now and then with his fore feet, but not violently, lay down, and after a few
minutes resting got up again; his breathing was agitated but not violently,
his eyes fixed, and staring, and watery, expressive of internal suffering. He
sweated about the neck.

I ordered him warm beer with ginger in it, apprehending, as the attack was
not violent, it might suffice; the stable to be made as warm as possible, and
several cloths to be thrown over him, his stall to be well littered down; if not
relieved in an hour, the gripe tincture to be given him (which they omitted to
do), and he passed the night much in the same manner; in the morning the
gripe tincture was administered, and he was bled, which seemed to relieve him
very much; his symptoms all returned however, and his breath and saliva,
which frothed out of his mouth, became very offensive, and I then began to
suspect it was a case of gorged stomach; I ordered plentifully the gripe
tincture, a blister to the abdomen, glysters, warm water, warm clothing, and
vinegar sweetened with honey; all however availed not, and he died on the
fifth day after the attack; opened, his stomach was found unusually distended
with food, which he could not digest. Charles Clark informs me it is now
much the practice of the common farriers, and others, to give large quantities of
castor and other oil, without hardly knowing why or wherefore, and the
stomach becoming gorged and paralysed, and prodigiously distended, has
frequently caused the death of the animal.

Ckordapsus, Ruptured Stomach.�When the stomach ruptures, its contents

* Which is mercifully removed by his provident Creator from the catalogue of his sufferings,
the horse not being subject to this purely human disease. Any accidental foreign body lodging
in either urethra or bladder will generate a deposit round it resembling, in many particulars,
human calculi, as may be seen in the Journal Pratique for May, 1830, one formed being on an
oat lodged in the urethra of a gelding, the other by an almond in the bladder itself of a mare:
good figures are given of them, and an analysis. Also the fecular mucilage of the bladder forms
a coherent mass sometimes, in neglected horses, to whom, as I supposed, little or no water had
been given..

pour out from the nose and mouth ; I never saw a case of this kind, but I
record it from the report of my esteemed friend, Frederick Nash, who was
present at a case of this sort when living at Cambridge. Death immediately
follows. A stomach I once found ruptured, but whether from external violence
after death by the slaughter-house men, in carting or uncarting the carcase, or
that it took place during life, I know not; the symptoms were those of gripes,
but the skin colder, and no vomiting took place ; the intestines were in this
case inflamed : bad heated ship oats were the alleged cause of the attack.

Enterocolitis. Intestinal Balls, vulgarly called Calculi, are generally
found in the pouches of the colon after death, and have no relation whatever to
real Calculi of the bladder ; they sometimes move from their sacks or pouches
during the life-time of the animal, when Enteritis, or inflamed bowels, and
death generally follow. A case was related to me by a distinguished brewer
(Sampson Hanbury, Esq.), where two or three of these balls came away, and
the animal perfectly recovered. Though heavy and stone-like, these balls burn
to a black light friable coal, and are formed very much of animal gluten. The
rectum, also, has its peculiar balls, which are mostly very rough with rounded
nodules, and with vegetable fibre-like hairs, and often these nodules have some
foreign body, as bits of iron, mixed in their centre. The balls of the colon have
generally also some foreign body for a nucleus, as bits of stick, &c. ; those from
South America, called Bezoar Stones, have bits of the ends of the branches
of some fir or pine-tree, as I found on opening several of them. Millers' horses,
that eat much bran, mixed with grit from the mill-stones, are particularly sub-
ject to these enterocalli. I may just state also, as a rare occurrence, that
the yellow mucilage, which renders turbid the first urine of the horse, being
deposited in the bottom of the bladder, and therefore flowing out first, has been
found reduced to a solid mass ; but this is in no respect like the human
Calculus, or gravel, though by some it appears to have been urged in proof
of it.

Introsusceptio Intestinorum.�In the case of a gentleman's coach-horse at
Hampstead, which died before my arrival, I found, on opening, a piece of the
jejunum, of about a foot in length, mortified and black; ordering it to be
drawn out, I observed it had been received into a piece of the adjoining gut,
whose cavity it filled by inversion ; the intestines contained a thin bloody
humor of a deep red colour, no undigested food was seen in the large intestines..

His symptoms they stated resembled the gripes, but with unusual chillness of
the legs, and prostration of power.

Strangulatio Intestinorum.� I casually saw opened, at Baker's slaughter-
house, Cow Cross, a horse that had suddenly died, and I remarked the intestine
was twisted in two places, at about eight inches distance; at these places the
intestine was white, and free from inflammation, perhaps owing to the
pressure, but above and below of the deepest red, and the inflammation
extended through a long course of the gut, almost to the caecum.

Pleurisy especially, and Peritoneal Inflammation, are also attended with
excessive irritation and acute feeling in the horse ; kicking with the hind, but
more especially with a rapid and continued pawing of the fore feet, that might be
mistaken for the gripes, by those unaccustomed to the complaint. We are
now about to conclude this Essay on the gripes with bringing forward ample
testimonies of credible witnesses, men of veracity and understanding, and who
were deeply interested in the saving of their valuable animals from a painful death;
and also the testimonials of men eminent in the veterinary profession itself, who
have admitted how much they augmented their professional reputation by their
prominent success, and the satisfaction they gave in the treatment of this
dangerous complaint; their joy indeed, was almost unbounded as they related
their conquests in this respect. But, instead of giving these testimonials here,
we are now compelled painfully to speak of treacherous concealment, in noticing
the miserable conduct of one who has been highly paid for teaching, or pre-
tending to teach, this science of the horse, but who, though bound in honour to
assist every effort of advancement in this respect, has miserably from sordid
interest thrown back that progress he was engaged to forward, recommending
to the unsuspecting youth a different course of treatment, and the substitution
of a base article for the one fully proved, well known, and found to be a most
efficacious remedy.

Imagining no doubt, although absurdly enough, that if one stimulus would
do, so might another, as though all stimuli were the same, and therefore, that
spirits of turpentine might do as well as the gripe tincture, that was known and
fully proved to do, and the consequences, as we shall see, have been deplorable.

Not content also with this worse than folly, and the concealing of the real
remedy, he must change also and mystify the very name of the disease, sub-
stituting for it the high-sounding but foolish epithet, of spasmodic Cholic,

instead of the very simple, expressive, and unambiguous term of Gripes, which
could never err or mislead, inferring thereby that spasm was a leading cause
or character of the malady, but which may perfectly well exist without any
spasm at all, though it sometimes accompanies it, and when it does is the mere
effect, not cause, of the violent pain, distension, and suffering which the parts
undergo from the presence of the complaint. Indeed, this old-fashioned term
is to be found, like many others used by the professor, in the farriery book of
old Gibson.

We shall now refer to a case exhibiting the blessed effects of giving this
acrimonious, fiery, essential oil, as a substitute for the gripe tincture, which is
seen very innocently related in the " Veterinarian," vol. ii. September 1829,
p. 348, and which, in conversation sometimes, for pre-eminence of distinction, we
have designated, the Royal case, for it actually occurred in the King's stables.
Here this fiery substitute was poured in most confidently at both ends of the
intestinal tube, and the consequence was, entanglement of the bowels, as we
should have expected, and a most excruciating and horribly painful death;
to the great chagrin and mortification of the Royal master, who, as it was one
of the noblest animals of the Royal stud, never cordially forgave the individual
who occasioned it, but exhibited much disgust and aversion.

Now in more than fifty cases which we have known, and been present at,
and which were treated with the gripe tincture, some of them of the most
obstinate and frightful description, we never had a case of entanglement
accompany the treatment we have laid down, but if we are not to be believed,
we shall bring forward presently the testimonies of others, who, as individuals,
are no way interested in the result, farther than by the desire of the advance-
ment of science and of truth. And we should state that this horse of the
King's was also " run about" under his sufferings and treatment, as stated by
the director of it himself.

Another and very similar case occurred also at the barracks at Knights-
bridge, and with the same fatal results.* Another case so treated by another dupe

* Opium in considerable quantities was given in this case, which we mention to observe that
as being a strong sedative, it would only serve to paralyze the actions of the stomach rather than
stimulate to the return of a wholesome digestive process; and in its secondary effects upon these
animals, highly inflammatory, that it helped to the disastrous result we fully believe�merely
given probably to ease pain, which can only be duly accomplished by a return of the digestive
act, the main thing to be kept in view in the proper treatment of this disorder. Copious bleeding

of the Professor's, one Cartwright, occurs in the very same number as the first
of these cases, and also with the like fatal results, but though a mere case of
gripes, is pompously introduced to us, and without any sufficient reason as-
signed for it, as a case of Peritonitis, a name of high sound, but from the
description given, was but a mere case of indigestion and gripes, and such as
would have readily yielded to a few doses of the medicine here pointed out, at
least together with the conjoined measures recommended to be used along with
it. Indeed, at last, they got rather shy of admitting they were gripe cases;
and in this way I received, in a communication from Calcutta, an account of
no less than three cases, each having a fatal result in much the same way, but
ashamed to acknowledge they were cases of gripes, they called them cases of
rupture! and without mentioning names at all, for I can have no invidious
desires towards individuals I never knew, but who, as Vitellius, Oiho, Galba,
neque heneficiis neque injuriis mihi cogniti. I can have no desire to expose
farther than the proving of my assertions requires, and the desire of improving
our art, and of saving from intense suffering a most worthy animal by a repe-
tition of those acts. In the above periodical I think I have seen not less than
twenty, if not thirty, cases of gripes under one name or another, as seemed best
to suit the notions and ends of those who sent them, many of which were
grievously protracted by being messed with, under the name of medical treat-
ment, some terminating favourably, others ending fatally much in the same way
we have above described, but which it is clear to me and others also, might
well have been saved had they had an intelligent, straight-forward, judicious
treatment; not but what in small and trifling cases the disease will yield to
almost any treatment, indeed some as we have formerly seen, even to none at all,
farther than the covering of the animal with a rug and keeping him warm.

also at the early period of the disorder, as it would diminish the powers of the system that were
wanted in full force to reproduce the digestive act, we condemn, though on the next day if inflam-
matory symptoms appear it might be necessary, but which truly seldom occurs. " Running
about" was also pursued in this unfortunate case, which was evidently treated without any con-
sistent clue to guide him, and therefore by administering medicines, various, opposed, and con-
tradictory in their effects, as opium and spirits of turpentine, was distressing to the animal and
leading to the fatal conclusion. And so the king suffers the loss of a valuable horse, or rather
indeed the nation, whose business it will be to make good the deficiency, and this treatment, be
it observed, was in the year 1828, and twelve years after the publication of my Treatise, pointing
out, with simplicity, and without any very ostentatious claim, how this dire disease almost with
certainty might be relieved and cured.

We therefore, without pursuing further this line of remark, quit it for some
further useful suggestions, as we hope, respecting the nature of this dreadful
malady.

At its very commencement, arising from depressing causes, or the want of
power in the parts concerned, there appears to exist little else but a languor, inert-
ness, and deficiency of action in the intestinal tube and of the chylo-poietic function,
which inertness and suppression of power and action causes the food to operate
upon the parts after a new and inordinate fashion, almost indeed with some
particular food more especially, as a poison would do, and then quickly suc-
ceeds a most tumultuary, disorderly commotion in the parts in which chemical
effects are mixed, producing, in strong constitutions more especially, plenty of
gas; and next violent irritation and distension, and frequently, from the resist-
ance of the bowel to these, spasm; at length these actions, if not timely arrested,
terminate in a violent inflammation of the surfaces acted upon, and indeed which
is passing through the whole thickness of the bowel, and the death of the parts,
or mortification as it is called, quickly ensues.

Now if during this tumultuary, or disorderly action, the poor animal is
forced from his bed and warm clothing, and be "run about',' the chances are
many that there will be an interlacement, knotting, or entanglement of the
bowel, or intro-susception, and a fatal issue. In the case of intro-susception, I
related, in the early part of this Essay, I knew nothing of the treatment that
had been pursued, the horse being dead before I arrived, but believe he had
been " run about." In an evening ramble in the Regent's Park, about four
years ago, I saw a fine horse being " run about" for the gripes : I begged and
entreated of them not to persist, but all in vain ; their reply was, " the farrier
had ordered it." The next morning I found she had died in the night, for
it was a mare, and with a fine foal at her foot, which died also. Now that
warmth and stillness should be preferable to "running about" and to exposure,
will be readily inferred from what we have already stated in a former part of
this Essay, and which we shall not repeat here; and we may also see what is
to be expected from pouring this fiery fluid into their bowels on these occa-
sions.

And now, for a few^r moments, let us consider what great advantages
are promised to the practitioner himself by this abominable change, and sub-
stitution, farther than a useless endeavour for a short time to obscure and pass
over an individual on the " O no! we never mention him" system, who never,

did otherwise than wish well to the rising profession, and who has laboured
night and day to promote it. Why, that instead of employing an elegant, simple,
and efficacious pharmaceutic formula, a genuine tincture, which on these
perilous occasions ought to be supplied only by the veterinary practitioner,
for his own peculiar benefit and advantage, and the obtaining that confidence
and satisfaction of his employer which a cure in these terrible cases never fails
to insure ; the owner of the horse, put up to the trick, runs off to the first
paint shop he can find, and out of the dirty Can provides himself with the
remedy. But when in his possession, supposing it to be admissible, for want
of the knowledge of the disorder itself, and of the concomitant measures
necessary to make the remedy in difficult cases succeed, he fails in the result,
loses his horse, and the other his best practice. And surely the professor
with his thousands a-year for teaching what he never knew, need not envy me
my small rewards for making, or disclosing rather, this discovery; for though
hundreds of horses in opulent breweries, in the stables of coach proprietors, in
the army, and in the very valuable racing-studs, have been cured by it, I never
received the recompence of a sous for my lucubrations from any one of them.
The worthy professor gets his twenty guinea fee for his teachings, and that's
enough; but what is to be said for those who choose rather than open their
eyes, to be thus blinded by him, and will not inquire ?

We believe it not unfrequently happens, that no sooner has a new and
valuable machine, or medicine, been discovered, if it be made public, some
forward charlatan, eager to embrace the benefits of it, and to take the advan-
tages to himself, proposes a substitute, and declares it better than the thing
tried and proved; the public, inveigled into the use of it, and not finding
it answer, are led to reject remedy and substitute together, and thus is it
lost again. The following little anecdote may not be without its use also.
Passing one day accidentally through the abode of one of these dupes of
Professor Coleman, I observed on a shelf of his stairs, a bottle labelled
Gripe Tincture. Somewhat, pleased at the sight, and with the reflection
that all were not equally his dupes, at least to follow all his absurdities,
I was passing on, when, suddenly struck with the paleness of the fluid
contents in the bottle I stopped to examine it more attentively, and on
inquiry what it might be, not without some hesitation, was answered, that
it was spirits of turpentine and water; a precious combination certainly,
thought I, of immiscible things, and had it been administered, and a failure

had followed, it would, there is every reason to believe, have been pretended
that it was a failure of that which the label announced, that we could wish
a little care should be used in attaching a too implicit credence to reports from
the wilfully blind.

To pass my poor labours by, as only affecting an insignificant individual,
might be but a very venial offence; but why so many noble horses should
be sacrificed, and why so many inquiring young men should be misled, and
cut off from that reputation they might otherwise have acquired by an
enlightened and secure practice, does not so easily find an appropriate
excuse; and what shall we say of this veterinary periodical which, during
ten years, has never once alluded to such a publication or a remedy so
invaluable.

I had, I thought, just reason to hope for some kind of acknowledgment
from the Veterinary College, considering its professed object, if not from the
rich companies of the proprietors of horses, whose profits much depended on
the well-being and labours of these useful animals, particularly the heads of
the breweries; but being disappointed in one or two that I first tried, I dis-
dained farther application for what had been to them the saving of thousands,
two or three horses upon an average dying yearly of this complaint in these
large establishments, and their fine splendid horses, costing often from sixty to
eighty pounds a-piece. And this treatment, once known upon principle, it is
not likely ever to be lost again to all posterity.

TESTIMONIES.

Guernsey, Oct. 11, 1837.
I feel bound to bear my testimony to the unfailing efficacy of Mr. Bracy
Clark's remedy for the Gripes and treatment given in his excellent Treatise.

The principle on which he acts is so clear, that in more than thirty-five
years' practice I do not know so satisfactory a cure. I have uniformly employed
it since it was first made public by Mr. Clark, and cannot help considering it
as one of the most valuable contributions to veterinary science that this or any
age has produced. I am, Sir, with much respect,

William Mogford.

Veterinary Infirmary, Giltspur-street, Oct. 6, 1837.

From the commencement of my practice in this metropolis, or during about
ten years, I have been in the constant habit of administering the Gripe Tincture
as recommended by Mr. Bracy Clark in his " Pharmacopoeia, and Treatise on
the Gripes," and found it invariably successful, and often when, from neglect, the
case has appeared almost hopeless; and I may safely aver that I never lost a
horse under this complaint.

A remarkable case occurred to me in a valuable blood mare belonging to
Lord Dundas, which was brought two miles to my Infirmary early in the
morning of the 11th of July, 1836. She was suffering with violent gripes,
and, from the groom's account, of several hours' duration, perhaps the whole
night, for she seemed much exhausted. It was one of the very severest cases I
ever knew out of a great many. We administered, from hour to hour, no less
than six drenches of the Gripe Tincture, observing also the concomitant treat-
ment laid down, and up to the last almost she appeared getting worse, sweating
profusely, rolling about, and plunging most violently until she was nearly blind
by bruising her head, breaking her way out of the loose box, and in the opinion
of several she was in a dying state. But adhering strictly to every measure
which might conduce to the one object we had in view, I had the satisfaction,
about two o'clock in the day, to see her lie quietly for about half an hour (she
being all the while warmly clothed), and then rise to her manger hungry, and
begin feeding. She was much reduced and disfigured, and I then bled her to
avert the possibility of inflammation, and the next day she was sent home.

The pitiful conduct of the College has been to recommend, since Mr.
Clark discovered the Gripe Tincture, the spirits of turpentine for the cure of it,
but it appears rather to act as a vesicatory and caustic than as an healthy restora-
tive, inflaming the delicate membranes and linings of the oesophagus and stomach,
and in a case where I saw it had been administered, the lips swelled, and the
cuticle peeled off. Some have given camphor, laudanum, and common oil, in
large quantities, and the animal has died from an indigestible mass of this kind,
which I found on opening after death. The Gripe Tincture I have always
found safe, by itself, certain, and satisfactory, never requiring any addition, or
was attended with any difficulty. Neither has any case of strangulation
occurred in my practice, though I have seen such brought to the slaughter-
house, apparently a consequence of the ill-treatment of Gripes.

Charles Clark, Veterinary Surgeon, 17, Giltspur-street.

Also the undersigned Gentlemen have given their testimony of the Efficacy of

this Medicine for the Gripes.

Brewhouse, Shoreditch, April 30, 1814.
We can safely bear testimony of the efficacy of the Gripe Tincture for
horses, prepared by Mr. Clark, not having lost a horse with that complaint
during several years that we have kept it in the stable ready for use.

T. M. & R. Pryor.

King's Arms Brewhouse, Whitechapel, London, May 5, 1814.

Dear Sir,�We think it a justice due to you to state, that it is now about
ten years since we first used your medicine for the gripes in the way directed,
and we have not lost a single horse with it, although we have had several des-
perate cases. We remain respectfully your friends,

To Mr. B. Clark. Joseph & Samuel Tickell.

Having lived with Mr. Clark nine years, I can safely aver, that since his
discovery of this medicine and mode of treatment we have not lost above two
cases, and then only when the disease had run its course before any medicine
was administered, as may happen through neglect, or to horses seized in the
night, or very far from home, where they were not provided with the medicine;
we have seen a horse cured by it seven hours after the attack, and a very
violent one. John Payton.

April 15, 1814.

DIRECTIONS WITH THE GRIPE TINCTURE.

When a horse is seized with the gripes, he should be immediately led into
a warm stable, where no draft or air can blow upon him, and the doors and
windows be kept shut; throw down plenty of straw for him to roll upon, and
well clothe him all over with rugs, or sacks, or any other warm clothing that
can be got; and if these are not at hand, two or three trusses of straw should
be employed to constantly cover him when he lies down.

As soon as possible let him have the fourth part of a quart bottle of the
gripe medicine given him, which is sufficient for a drench ; wait twenty minutes
or half an hour, and if he is not easier, give him a second drench, though it fre-
quently happens that one is sufficient; at the end of an hour after the second
drench, if there are indications of great pain, let a third be administered, which
in some violent cases may be required, and even a repetition of it .every hour
till he shews signs of recovery, which will be the longer if he has not been
attended to soon after the being seized, or according to the degree of violence
of the attack, and the nature and quantity of the opposing obstacle to the
return of the digestive act.

Whether standing up or lying down, let him be well clothed with rugs
or any kind of covering, in this way a perspiration is often brought on, which
should on no account be checked, (though the drenches are best administered to
him standing up.) It is useful, though not absolutely necessary, to give a
glyster of half a pail of warm water, with a handful of bran and the size of a
nutmeg of soft soap rubbed together and squeezed into it, or the same of
oatmeal, or in case these are not at hand, a small handful of common salt;
raking the fundament of dung is also in some cases of use, but is better
omitted than to do it by much exposure to the cold air. He must not be
walked about, nor any rubbing be used with a stick, but if the hand covered
with flannel can be conveniently introduced under the clothes by rubbing the
abdomen, it will be very beneficial.

After all the painful symptoms have ceased, or on the following morning, if
he refuses food, or any other appearances indicate the remains of an inflammatory
action existing, two or three quarts of blood may be taken from the jugular,
or neck vein, which will subdue it. If he feeds on recovery from the attack, which
they are apt to do, warm water should be given him to drink, and a warm
bran mash, and good meadow hay only, for the next twenty-four hours, espe-
cially if the case has been violent.

Macintosh, Printer, 20, Great New-street, London.



	*�.&_r.tf*	2a



	A DESCRIPTION

	OF

	THE GRIPES OF HORSES,

	AND

	OF A BETTER MODE OF TREATING IT

	ALSO, HUMAN CHOLERA EXPLAINED; SHEWING ITS IDENTITY WITH THE ABOVE, AND A MORE SUCCESSFUL MANNER OF TREATING IT; ITS HISTORY, &c.

	BY BRACY CLARK, F.L.S.,

	MEMBER OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE, AND OF THE ECOLE DE MEDECINE OF FRANCE, AND OF THE NATURE CURIOSORUM OF BERLIN, FRANKFORT, STUTGAKD, COPENHAGEN, &c.

	gwontr Sfttttom

	LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, 7, TAUNTON PLACE, REGENT'S PARK.

	1837.



	ON THE GRIPES OF HORSES.

	The object of this small Essay is to give a more intelligible account of this dangerous disease, and to establish the treatment of it on more certain and less precarious measures than hitherto have been used, for very various and often contradictory and quite incompetent have been the means resorted to by the public on these sudden emergencies, by which a protracted suffering was occasioned to the animal, and also but too frequently a fatal issue. One should apprehend it must ever impart agreeable feeling to be able with tolerable certainty to relieve a noble animal from excruciating pain, and ourselves from the severe loss which his death is apt to occasion, and which we propose to do by a more energetic, combined, and more consistent mode of treating the disorder. The medicine, also, here recommended, is, we apprehend, new as to its application to horses, and we may also observe that it has hitherto been employed only as a secret, and confined pretty much to those who have learned its use under my roof, and who have carried it thence to various parts of this kingdom, and to the continent of America, whither they have settled, and have proved extensively its beneficial effects, which to me also have been confirmed by a period of practical trial, more prolonged than the poet's precept * enjoins, before I have ventured to make it known. In making it thus public I also cheerfully relinquish the profits which the sale of it among those who had been witnesses of its effects led to purchase it, and also avoid the charge of an empirical practice, hoping sincerely, that now the veil is about to be withdrawn, and the charm which mystery ever imposes is about to be removed, it may not cease to please, for, great surprise and an extraordinary degree of satisfaction often attended the exhibition of it whilst a secret, and we wish that it may long remain to be a welcome resource on these frightful occasions: I could desire also, in promulgating it, to give a caution * Nonum prematur in annum. Hor. a2



	23 We therefore, without pursuing further this line of remark, quit it for some further useful suggestions, as we hope, respecting the nature of this dreadful malady. At its very commencement, arising from depressing causes, or the want of power in the parts concerned, there appears to exist little else but a languor, inert- ness, and deficiency of action in the intestinal tube and of the chylo-poietic function, which inertness and suppression of power and action causes the food to operate upon the parts after a new and inordinate fashion, almost indeed with some particular food more especially, as a poison would do, and then quickly suc- ceeds a most tumultuary, disorderly commotion in the parts in which chemical effects are mixed, producing, in strong constitutions more especially, plenty of gas; and next violent irritation and distension, and frequently, from the resist- ance of the bowel to these, spasm; at length these actions, if not timely arrested, terminate in a violent inflammation of the surfaces acted upon, and indeed which is passing through the whole thickness of the bowel, and the death of the parts, or mortification as it is called, quickly ensues. Now if during this tumultuary, or disorderly action, the poor animal is forced from his bed and warm clothing, and be "run about',' the chances are many that there will be an interlacement, knotting, or entanglement of the bowel, or intro-susception, and a fatal issue. In the case of intro-susception, I related, in the early part of this Essay, I knew nothing of the treatment that had been pursued, the horse being dead before I arrived, but believe he had been " run about." In an evening ramble in the Regent's Park, about four years ago, I saw a fine horse being " run about" for the gripes : I begged and entreated of them not to persist, but all in vain ; their reply was, " the farrier had ordered it." The next morning I found she had died in the night, for it was a mare, and with a fine foal at her foot, which died also. Now that warmth and stillness should be preferable to "running about" and to exposure, will be readily inferred from what we have already stated in a former part of this Essay, and which we shall not repeat here; and we may also see what is to be expected from pouring this fiery fluid into their bowels on these occa- sions. And now, for a few^r moments, let us consider what great advantages are promised to the practitioner himself by this abominable change, and sub- stitution, farther than a useless endeavour for a short time to obscure and pass over an individual on the " O no! we never mention him" system, who never,