All this should be well understood beforehand; while it is being accomplished not a word should be spoken; nothing is more soothing to an agitated system than perfect silence. Wet swabs should then be placed upon the feet, a pail of gruel suspended from the manger, and a man left to warn off all noisy strangers from the exterior of the building; for during spasm from overexertion perfect quietude is quite as essential as medicine. Spasm of the diaphragm, if taken in time, is not generally fatal; and no man, however determined a "Nimrod" he may be, is justified in proceeding after having recognized so mysterious a warning. The sound before alluded to must emphatically inform him all is not right with the animal on which he is seated. It is folly to urge that the horse enjoys the chase as much as the rider; no life would, for its own pleasure, run itself to a spasmodic exhaustion. Old hunters may have left the field to follow the hounds; the animals, however, obey only the impulse of education, and did what they imagined would gratify their superiors. The horse is given as a servant to man; the creature is obedient to its destiny; to serve is its lot, to please is its reward. Body and soul it devotes to the heartless being who is assigned its appointed lord; it will spend its last breath in the gratification of its master; such affection surely merits better treatment than the quadruped generally receives. When spasm of the diaphragm terminates fatally, approaching dissolution is announced by easily recognized signs. The pulse cannot be felt at the jaw; the heart only flutters; the feet are icy cold; a yellow discharge drains from the nostrils; the breath becomes fetid; the pupil of the eye enlarges; the horse wanders round and round its box; it soon sinks and perishes. ACUTE GASTRITIS. [Illustration: A HORSE SUFFERING FROM ACUTE GASTRITIS.]