Page:Thirty-five years in the East.djvu/94

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54
THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST.

of the Maharajah, who, being of a very low stature; appeared, when on the back of the animal, like an ape on an elephant. This horse fell sick, and although I had him immediately uuder my care, and spared no trouble, he became, like other dead animals, food for the dogs, carrion birds, and Pariahs, the lowest caste in India, who eat any animal, whatever may have been the cause of its death.

The horse had several ulcers on his legs, which having been healed by internal and external remedies, caused convulsions, and in that state he perished. I afterwards had other opportunities of curing similar ulcers with a simple remedy, according to ray medium system, namely, by lamanaria saccharina (probably because it contains iodine), such ulcers being a kind of scrofula. This disease occurs very often in the Punjab, and the natives call it Zeherbadi (venomous swellings ), as it ulcerates, and secretes a serous and corroding matter. By adhering to the same system, I also cured horses affected with glanders. Arsenic and dulcamara alternately administered, in small doses, in the morning and evening, proved very effective. The French veterinary surgeons administer for this disease hydrochloric acid, which, diluted with water, they pour into the mouth of the horse, or use it as a local embrocation: this I learnt from the celebrated naturalist, Victor Jacquemont, on his visiting Lahore, en route to Cashmere, &c., and he declared glanders to be incurable. At Vienna, as in England, I believe, they kill at once horses affected with that disease.

During the congress of Rupore, on the frontier of India, I attended, at Wuzeerabad, the governor of that province, General Avitabile, who, having sprained his ankle, had called in the native surgeons, barbers and bunglers, and they had so assiduously applied irritating poultices and embrocations, that the leg became inflamed, and was approaching to mortification. Under my treatment, the patient recovered, and the leg was restored to its former functions. Subsequently, he was afflicted with a contraction of the muscles of the face, which, on account of his long, crooked nose, appeared the more striking; this disease I