Every Man His Own Doctor: The Cold Water, Tepid Water, and Friction-Cure, as Applicable to Every Disease to Which the Human Frame Is Subject, and Also to the Cure of Disease in Horses and CattleClaridge, R. T. (Richard Tappin)
Science
Every Man His Own Doctor: The Cold Water, Tepid Water, and Friction-Cure, as Applicable to Every Disease to Which the Human Frame Is Subject, and Also to the Cure of Disease in Horses and Cattle
Claridge, R. T. (Richard Tappin)
Hydrotherapy; Veterinary medicine
_July 14, 1843._["]
It is possible that the omission of any reference to the mortality under
the old treatment, as stated verbally to me, may have arisen from
motives of delicacy towards those who recommended a perseverance in that
treatment.
It would be easy to multiply instances of the effect of the application
of the cold-water cure, but as the limits to which the author intends to
confine himself, at present preclude their accumulation, he must be
content with those proofs of its efficacy already cited, and proceed to
the subject of _treatment_.
An opinion is held by many inexperienced persons that disease in a horse
is a perpetual disqualification; that the physical evil is irradicable,
destroying the animal's title to a future warranty, and rendering him
only fit for the paddock or the knacker's yard. Such notions are as
great an outrage upon the usefulness of veterinarianism as they are
contradictory to all experience. The late Sir Astley Cooper, one of the
most eminent surgeons that ever dignified the profession by his talents,
was said to have taken a peculiar pleasure in purchasing horses which
their owners had condemned, and applying himself to the cure of such
maladies as they might be afflicted with, then putting them into
condition and selling them. He never, for many years before his demise,
gave more than seven pounds for a horse, and has been known to sell them
afterwards for considerable sums. When the horse is well-bred, and his
wind is unimpaired, however reduced he may be, and suffering from
enlarged joints and tender feet, he is still susceptible of cure; and no
system is so conducive to this end as the hydropathic process. Indeed,
the writer of these pages is quite satisfied that an Establishment
devoted entirely to the invigoration of worn-down animals, and the
complete cure of the diseased, would demonstrate the utility of
hydropathy, and prove a most lucrative undertaking.
Without further preamble we proceed to details.
_Ventilation._--The introduction of fresh air, day and night, into
stables, is of primary importance. Stables should be lofty, and
ventilated from the top.
Many years ago, Mr. Horne, the coach-proprietor of Charing Cross, lost
nearly half his horses from glanders. He called in a new veterinary
surgeon, who instantly broke most of the windows in the close fœtid
stable. "If," said he, "the stable is cold, cover the horses better,
but let them have fresh air." By this means the stable was rendered
wholesome, and the horses that were afterwards put into it continued
healthy. All horses would be the better for standing in water
occasionally. All hunting establishments should have a box with a clay
floor, into which water could be introduced, so that a horse might have
a foot bath every day, especially when the feet are hard and dry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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