=Abdominal injuries= are probably the sources of the greatest agony horse-flesh can endure. To account for the generality of such lesions, it is merely necessary to regard the places in which horses are housed and the manner in which they are fed. In the owner's estimation a horse seems to be a horse, in the same sense as a table is a table. Both objects are necessary to his comfort, to his pride, or to his profit. Neither have higher claims. Both are to be used and to be flung aside. The one is to be cleaned and repaired at the cheapest rate; the other is to be lodged and supported at the lowest cost. When either grow old in his service, each is equally to be discarded. The two things apparently rank in man's estimation as simple chattels subject to his will and made to please his fancy. That there is a huge life, a breathing sensibility attached to one of these articles; that it delights in its master's pleasure, and, if properly trained, it is capable of sharing its master's emotions, is so preposterous a sentimentality as to be "with scorn rejected." Nobody speaks of the horse as a creature enjoying man's highest gift--as a _living_ animal. Everybody talks about his or her constitution; but no one imagines the horse has a constitution which can be destroyed. All horses are expected to thrive equally. They are regarded as things to be used, and to be sold or packed away when not required. They are obliged to live by man's direction, and are expected to display the highest spirit whenever they are taken abroad. Should it be astonishing if the framework nature has so exquisitely balanced occasionally becomes deranged under man's barbarous and selfish sway? Is it cause for legitimate wonder if, under so coarse a rule, disease sometimes assumes strange forms, or attacks parts which are beyond the reach of human science? WORMS. =Worms= are of various kinds; but all, according to the notions of ignorance, announce their presence by particular symptoms. The parasites, when really present, can, however, cause no more than intestinal irritation, the continuance of which may give rise to several disorders. Chronic indigestion is by the groom always recognized as a "wormy condition." The only certain proof of the existence of such annoyances is visible evidence. Upon suspicion, careful horse proprietors may administer certain medicine, because some physics only cool the body and cleanse the system. The generality of worm-powders are, however, too potent to be safe. Like all drugs sold as "certain cures," they are so powerful that they frequently do more than remove the disorder which they pretend to eradicate--for they also destroy the animals to which they are administered. Having premised thus much, the author will now commence to describe the usual form of irritation to which worms of different kinds give rise. [Illustration: THE TÆNIA OR TAPE-WORM.]