Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Glanders

GLANDERS, a disorder in horses, which manifests itself by a corrupt slimy matter running from the nose: according to the degree of malignity, or the continuance of the infection, the discharge is either white, yellow, green, or black, and sometimes tinged with blood.

The cause of the glanders is variously attributed, by some to an infection; by others, to a diseased state of the lungs, the spleen, or the brain. When the distemper has continued till the evacuated matter is of a blackish colour (which usually happens in the last period), it is conjectured to proceed from the spine: in this case, it is called the mourning of the chine.

Unless timely remedies be applied on its first appearance, the disorder becomes incurable. With a view, therefore, to prevent rather than to cure it, we shall briefly state the most likely methods of obviating the symptoms of this malady, on their first appearance.

If the lungs be the seat of the disease, as is the case when horses are first attacked with coughs, we cannot recommend a better treatment to be pursued than that pointed out, p. 82, in the article Cough. But, if a swelling arise beneath the ears, jaws, or about the root of the tongue, proper and immediate applications should be made to procure a discharge and suppuration of the matter. When cough, difficulty of breathing, or a great degree of inflammation, accompanies such swelling, it will be adviseable to draw a little blood from a distant vein, in order to mitigate those symptoms: and, when the swellings about the parts have acquired an evident prominence, they should be fomented twice in twenty-four hours, for two or three days, with flannels dipped in the following decoction:—Let a handful of chamomile, and a similar quantity of wormwood, marsh-mallows, and elder-flowers, be boiled in three quarts of water, for fifteen minutes, at the end of which they are to be strained. The liquor is to be used hot; and the herbs applied warm to the parts affected, by way of poultice.

In the course of two or three days, it may be ascertained whether a suppuration will follow; in which case the tumors increase in size, and feel soft in the middle, when pressed by the hand. This is a favourable symptom; but if the swellings continue hard, without fluctuation, and are accompanied with a running from the nose, every precaution ought to be taken; as otherwise the disease may become troublesome. Hence, it will be necessary to prepare a vapour-bath, consisting of rosemary, lavender-flowers, and sweet marjoram, a handful of each boiled in two or three quarts of water. This is to be put into a pail, and the animal's head held over it twice a day, as near as can be borne, and for such length of time as the vapour passing up the nostrils is supposed to operate in the manner of an internal fomentation. During the whole treatment, the horse's head ought to be kept warm, as it will greatly contribute to the discharge of the noxious humours.

In case the running from the nose continue to increase, becoming progressively more discoloured, the above stated vapour-bath should be continued, and the eighth part of a pint of the following mixture injected into one or both of the nostrils, lukewarm, three or four times in the course of 24 hours: Take an ounce of linseed, half an ounce of chamomile-flowers, the same quantity of elder-flowers, and three pints of water. The whole is to be boiled for a few minutes and strained; but, previously to its application, it ought to be properly mixed with four ounces of Mel Ægyptiacum, the recipe of which was given in the article Frush.

Should the discharge, at length, become so malignant as to afford reason to apprehend a caries of the bones, the fumigation and injection must be continued, and two or three drams of the following mercurial ointment rubbed info the glandular tumors, every evening, for a fortnight; cutting away all superfluous hair, that the mercurial particles may be more effectually absorbed, and carried into circulation: Take one ounce of crude mercury, and half an ounce of Venice turpentine; let them be mixed together in a mortar, adding a few grains of sulphur, to facilitate the union of the ingredients; then gradually mix with them two ounces of melted and lukewarm hog's-lard, and cover the vessel closely; the unguent being now fit for use.—This is the last remedy that can be applied, with any prospect of success; and, if it unfortunately fail, the most rational farriers are of opinion, that the animal should be killed, without farther delay; as the skin will then be its only valuable part.