Chapter XLIX: Part 49

A smaller, darker coloured worm, called the needle worm, or _ascaris_, inhabits the large intestines. Hundreds of them sometimes descend into the rectum, and immense quantities have been found in the cœcum. These are a more serious nuisance than the former, for they cause a very troublesome irritation about the fundament, which sometimes sadly annoys the horse. Their existence can generally be discovered by a small portion of mucus, which hardening, is converted into a powder, and is found about the anus. Physic will sometimes bring away great numbers of these worms; but when there is much irritation about the tail, and much of this mucus, indicating that they have descended into the rectum, an injection of a quart of linseed oil, or of an ounce of aloes dissolved in warm water, will be a more effectual remedy.

The tape worm is seldom found in the horse.

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Worms are most commonly found in the bowels and stomach; but they are sometimes met with also in almost every part of the body. The worms commonly found in the stomach are named botts. They are generally attached to the cuticular or insensible coat of the stomach; but sometimes clusters of them are found at the pylorus, and even in the beginning of the first intestine, named duodenum. In one case they were so numerous in this last situation as to obstruct the passage completely, and cause the animal’s death. Botts are short thick reddish worms, surrounded with short prickles, which are arranged in circular bands all over the body. They attach themselves firmly by two hooks, which they appear to have the power of straightening and retracting, of projecting and curvating. They are extremely tenacious of life, and difficult to be expelled from the stomach, except about the month of September, or when a horse is taken up from grass. At this period they may generally be got rid of by brine, or a solution of common salt in water, in a dose of from four to five ounces of salt to a quart of water. The horse should be kept fasting the night before it is given; and about five minutes before the drench with salt is given, let the horse be drenched with about a pint of warm milk, sweetened with honey or treacle.

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Mercurial physic seems to be generally considered the most effectual, especially when a little calomel is given for two or three successive nights, and followed up by a dose of physic. I have seen small doses of aloes given daily, about two drachms, with good effect. Oil of turpentine is a powerful vermifuge, if given after some hours’ fasting, and when the bowels have been brought into a lax state by giving bran mashes for two or three days, or a small dose (about three drachms) of aloes the day before.

This previous fasting, as well as keeping the horse without food two hours after, is necessary to the success of this remedy. In a few instances, oil of turpentine has produced alarming symptoms; and in one case, where a horse had taken a mild dose of physic the day before, it brought on almost immediately a fatal inflammation of the stomach and bowels. On the other hand, a great number of cases have been reported to me in which it has been given with the best effect. I should be inclined, however, to try the mercurial purgative first; but even this, in the horse, is attended with some danger, unless he is managed judiciously before, and during its operation. The third remedy is of a milder nature, but often, I believe, inert; that is, bitter vegetables, such as rue, box, savine, &c., which are chopped up and given with the horse’s corn. Ethiop’s mineral, levigated antimony, emetic tartar, very small doses of arsenic and calomel, have each of them sometimes succeeded. But, whatever worm medicine is given, the horse should be kept without food for several hours, or the whole night before, and two hours after. Chopped horse-hair has been given with success, and brine, or a solution of common salt. In one case, a great number of worms were discharged by fasting the horse during the night, and giving him a malt mash in the morning. Another method is to keep the horse without food during the night, and give him in the morning a quart of new milk sweetened with honey, and about ten minutes after, four, five, or six ounces of salt in a quart of water. A run at grass in the spring is, perhaps, the best remedy of all, for it is the most effectual means of invigorating the digestive organs, and purifying the blood. When it is not convenient to turn the horse out, he should be soiled in the stable with vetches. The most certain indication of worms, except that of their being discharged with the horse’s dung, is a yellowish or brimstone-coloured stain under the fundament. Sometimes worms produce symptoms of an unusual kind, as in the following case:—A horse was observed for some time to fall off in flesh and become weak, and, upon attempting to mount him, he shrunk and gave way in the back, as if he had received some severe injury in that part; they gave him, however, a dose of mercurial physic, which brought off a lump of worms and viscid mucus as large as a man’s fist. After this the horse was perfectly free from pain in the back, and quickly recovered his flesh and strength. I have heard of a horse being cured of worms, when reduced by them to such a degree of weakness that he was thought incurable, by being turned into a field of young vetches. Powdered tin has been recommended for worms, and may be given without danger in a dose of three or four drachms made into a ball with flour and honey. With regard to the short red worms, named botts, so often found in the horse’s stomach, adhering in large clusters, most commonly to the insensible coat, but sometimes to the pylorus, the most likely means of expelling them is to give a drench of salt and water in the manner before prescribed; that is, to keep the horse without food during the night, and in the morning to give him a quart of new milk sweetened with honey; about ten minutes after this drench is down, the drench of salt and water is to be given. This remedy should be employed in September, or soon after a horse is taken from grass. Botts are so often found in the horse’s stomach, that they have been supposed to do no harm; it is certain, however, that they sometimes produce the most serious diseases. They sometimes cause ulceration and sloughing of the stomach, inflammation of the lungs and heart, and frenzy or mad staggers. According to Gibson they sometimes cause locked-jaw. Botts appear to be the larvæ of a fly, and are probably eaten with grass or hay. According to Mr. Bracy Clark, the fly deposits its eggs on the horse’s coat; and, when they are about to be hatched, the horse licks them off, so that they are hatched by the warmth of the mouth and the moisture of the saliva, and then swallowed. Mr. Feron says he has paid particular attention to this subject, and has found that, when in large quantities, they are very destructive to horses; that he has seen several horses whose stomachs had been pierced quite through by them, the botts making their way into the abdomen. He thinks they are taken in with the horse’s forage, whether dry or green, as they are found in horses that have not been at grass for several years, but that they may also be licked in from the horse’s coat. He is of opinion that botts, when once attached to the stomach, may remain there during the horse’s life, and it is only when they become too numerous that they are forced off and discharged by the bowels. Mr. James Clarke relates a case of a horse’s stomach being perforated by botts. I have seen several horses destroyed by botts. In some of them, they caused inflammation of the lungs; in one frenzy, or mad staggers. In one horse the pylorus was completely plugged up with them. There is a remarkable sympathy or consent between the stomach and the lungs, and it is owing to this that they sometimes cause inflammation of the lungs. In the cases which have occurred in my practice, the most remarkable circumstance was the great depression they occasioned, and the inefficacy of copious bleeding. Castor oil seemed to do more good than anything, and Mr. Feron remarks that common oil, given in large quantities, has sometimes succeeded in detaching botts from the stomach; and he adds, it is the only medicine that seems to have any effect in making them lose their hold from the stomach. There is a kind of worm I have often met with since I have practised in Somersetshire, especially at Oakhill, which appears to do a great deal of mischief. When drawn out, they are from one to three or four inches in length, from one to two eighths of an inch in breadth, and scarcely of any thickness; they have numerous transverse lines close to each other, like those of the leach, and adhere firmly to the bowels by one of their extremities. When viewed through a microscope, the transverse lines appear as upright scales applied very near to each other, and inclining, I think, a little forwards; the extremity, by which they adhere to the gut, appears as a bulb with holes in it; the other extremity is square, as if it had been cut off transversely. These worms are generally of a white colour, and sometimes drawn up or contracted so as to appear as a flake of mucus, or fat, of about half an inch in length. I have seen them of a darker colour in horses that were in a state of great poverty, and sometimes reddish, as if containing blood. In many dogs and cats that have been opened at Oakhill, they have been almost invariably found; and they have been discharged, in this village, from the bowels of men and children. They are found both in the small and large bowels, most commonly in the former, and near the part where the ilium terminates in the cœcum. At Easton, near Wells, this worm has been seen swimming in a small stream that runs through the village, from which it is probable that their natural habitation is water, and that they are swallowed while the animal is drinking, and are capable of living in the bowels.

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_Method of worming dogs._—Secure a large dog on his back on a table, bench, or form; one of a middling size may be held in the lap of an assistant; a small one may be conveniently taken into that of the operator. The mouth being held open by means of two pieces of tape—one embracing the part immediately behind the _upper_, and the other that _posterior_ to the lower canine teeth—draw the tongue from the mouth, when, exposing its under surface, a cuticular fold or eminence will present itself, occupying its median line from the point to the base: open this with a lancet through its whole extent, which will expose a minute fibrous cord. Pass a blunt-pointed probe under it, and, carrying the instrument from one end to the other, detach the cord from its adhesions; which done, divide it at one extremity, and carefully drawing it forwards with a tenaculum, divide the other also. The uninitiated in sporting mysteries may smile at all this minuteness of detail, and recommendation of caution, in the _division_ of a _line_ of _skin_, and the _extraction_ of a _thread_ of ligament; but all this is actually necessary to satisfy the prejudices of those who put faith in the operation. For with them it is essential to the prospective benefits of it, not only that the whole of the _worm_ (for which read frænum) should be extracted, but that, if possible, it should be done in one continuous mass.

In the removal of this cord by huntsmen, game-keepers, &c., the violence used in stripping it off, puts its fibrous substance so much on the stretch, that when extracted, its elasticity making it recoil, gives it somewhat the character of the contraction of a dying _worm_; and we may yet read of this appearance, and its general form, being adduced as proofs of its vermicular identity. And although now no informed person gives credence to its being other than a portion of the canine tongue; yet there are many sporting characters of education and ability, who still lend themselves to an opinion that there is some enigmatical property inherent in this part, which renders its retention dangerous, by making the unwormed dog the subject of acute rabies, but the wormed one the subject of the dumb variety. Of a piece with this palpable error was that of Marochetti’s vesicles in the same vicinage; which being also with him the hiding-place of the rabid virus, it became as necessary, according to his doctrine, to destroy them as it was with the ancients (and yet remains with some of the moderns) to remove the _worm_.

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Of these worms which appear indigenous to the intestines of the dog, the _tænia_, or tape worm, from its flat figure, is the most prejudicial, and the most difficult to remove. I have known four or five hundred joints (each a distinct animal) passed by a dog, whose united length would encircle his body many times. Sometimes they become coiled up into a ball, which thus forms an impenetrable obstruction within the intestines, and destroys the dog.

The _teres_, or long cylindrical worms, resembling earthworms in figure, but of a whitish colour, are the most common to dogs; and, when existing in great numbers, particularly in puppies and young ones, sometimes prove fatal by the convulsions they occasion. In distemper they greatly aggravate the symptoms; so much so, that to destroy them frequently cures the dog. The natural situation of these worms is within the intestines, but they sometimes crawl from them into the stomach, and are then brought up by the sickness they occasion.

The _ascarides_, or small thread-worms, likewise occasionally infest dogs, residing principally within the rectum. They produce an intolerable itching behind, to relieve which those troubled with them are seen continually drawing the fundament along the ground. Except by the irritation occasioned, which may weaken when it is excessive, they do not appear to do much internal injury. The constitution of some dogs appears particularly favourable to the generation of worms; for, destroy them as often as you will, they soon return again. Puppies, during every stage of their growth, are very liable to them; in many, the increase of the body appears checked by their ravages.

The _presence of worms_, when they exist in considerable numbers, is easily detected; for such a dog has usually a slight cough, his coat stares, he eats voraciously, yet seldom fattens: his evacuations prove also a most unequivocal symptom, for they are, in such cases, peculiarly irregular, being at one time loose and slimy, and at another more hard and dry than natural. The belly likewise is often tense and enlarged. When very young dogs have worms, the first that pass are seldom noticed, for they seem to affect the health but little; but gradually, as they increase, purging becomes more frequent; and the animal, though lively, becomes emaciated; his appetite is often irregular, his nose hot and dry, and his breath fœtid. The growth likewise appears stationary, and in this way it is very common for him to continue till a fit or two carries him off, or he dies tabid. In adult dogs worms are less fatal, though, from the obstructions they form, they sometimes kill them likewise; and they always occasion a rough unhealthy coat, with a hot nose and fœtid breath; and in both the young and the full grown, they occasionally produce epileptic fits. It does not follow, because no worms are seen to pass away, that one who exhibits the other symptoms of them has none; neither, when they are not seen, does it follow even that none pass; for, if they remain long in the intestines after they are dead, they become digested like other animal matter.

The _treatment_ of worm cases in dogs has been like that of the human, and the remedies employed have been intended either to destroy the worms within the body, or otherwise to drive them mechanically, as it were, out of the bowels by active purgatives; but, as these latter means were violent (for, without the very mucus of the bowels, as well as the fæces, were expelled, no benefit was derived from them), so the remedy, in many instances, became worse than the disease. Many substances have, therefore, been tried in hopes of destroying these animals within the body; and it is evident that any thing that could certainly do this would be most important, as it would obviate the necessity of having recourse to the violent purgative means heretofore employed.

For this purpose, substances which present small spiculi, or points, have been found the best adapted for the destruction of worms, by abrading their external or internal surfaces, and that without in the slightest degree injuring the patient. Among huntsmen and gamekeepers glass, very finely powdered, is a very favourite remedy. An old man of this description, in Buckinghamshire, was famed for worm-killing in dogs, and his only means used was glass finely powdered, and given as a ball. Mr. Youatt also recommends the same. If this should be objected to, from what I believe to be a groundless fear, that it is dangerous, try the following:—

Cowhage (_dolichos
pruriens_, LINN.) half a drachm.
Tin filings or iron, made
with a very fine file 4 drachms.

Form into four, six, or eight balls, and give one every morning; after which, a mercurial purgative will be proper. I have occasionally succeeded, in very obstinate worm cases, by moderate daily doses of Epsom salts. Ascarides are best destroyed by soap or aloetic clysters. The tape-worm is not unfrequently removed by mercurial purges; but a still more certain remedy for this noxious guest is such doses of the oil of turpentine as a dog could safely take, remembering that dogs bear very little of it: to some, however, it proves much less hurtful than to others. A small dog might be tried with half a drachm, given night and morning, mixed with the yolk of an egg, for a few days: a larger two scruples, and the largest a drachm, beginning always with a very small dose, and increasing it, if it produce no disturbance.—_Daniel_—_The Horse_—_White_—_Blaine._

WORMEATEN, _a._ Gnawed by worms, worthless.

WORMWOOD, _s._ A plant.

WORMY, _a._ Full of worms.

WOUND, _s._ A hurt given by violence.

Wounds, bruises, and other injuries, may happen in various ways, by kicks, by bites, in leaping over hedges or gates, by kicking against stalls, and many other ways. Various names have been applied to such injuries, according to the manner in which they are inflicted; but there is no occasion for such distinctions: they are all bruises or contused wounds, and all require to be poulticed or fomented. It is to be observed, that, in all injuries of this kind, whether wounds or bruises, or both, the horse should be immediately bled freely, and have his bowels opened by a dose of physic. The diet also should be attended to, allowing only a very moderate quantity at first of grass, or bran mashes. In all those cases poultices are by far the best remedy, until the inflammation is completely subdued; and when the situation of the part will not admit of a poultice, which is seldom the case, then fomentations of warm water only, almost constantly applied, are the best substitute. When inflammation has quite ceased, which may be known by an abatement of the pain and swelling, and by the appearance of white matter, the poultice may be discontinued, and then the wound should be carefully dressed to the bottom with a tent of tow, dipped in melted digestive ointment. The cavity is not to be filled with the tent, but it must be introduced to the bottom, and then the wound will heal as it ought; whereas, if it is dressed superficially, or only syringed, it will often close over at the surface, and the wound appear healed, while the matter is spreading and doing mischief at the bottom. There are four obstacles to the complete healing of wounds which sometimes occur, and these are, when the wound has been complicated with an injury of a bone, a ligament, a cartilage, or a tendon. In either of these cases the fleshy parts and skin will generally heal readily, and the wound will appear nearly or quite healed, except a small or minute orifice, from which a little matter oozes; and this orifice is not perceptible, being covered with spongy flesh, until a probe is introduced; it will then be found that there is a sinus running down to the bottom of the original wound, and there the probe will be resisted by the diseased bone, ligament, cartilage, or tendon. The bone may be easily distinguished by the sensation conveyed to the hand through the probe; and when this is felt a free opening should be made, if the situation of the wound will admit of it, and the diseased surface scraped off. A tent of friar’s balsam should then be introduced, and continued until it is cured. If the first scraping has not been freely performed, a second may be necessary. Sometimes sinuses, or pipes, as they are termed, remain after the inflammation of wounds has subsided. If these are superficial, running under the surface, or nearly horizontally, they require to be laid open, and then they heal readily. Sometimes they run obliquely inward, or perpendicularly, and then require to be dressed at first with stimulating or even caustic tents, of solution of blue vitriol; and these must be repeated until the sides of the sinus have sloughed off, and the very bottom of the wound can be distinctly felt. In all complicated ulcers of this kind, where the sinus runs in a winding or crooked direction, or where there are two or more sinuses, the caustic tents must be repeated until they are brought to the state of one simple sore, the bottom of which can be distinctly felt; and if the bottom happen to be bone, it must be scraped freely and dressed with friar’s balsam. A good method of destroying such sinuses is to take some corrosive sublimate, or finely pulverised blue vitriol, and fold it up in a long narrow slip of thin whity-brown paper; this being neatly folded may be twisted at each end, and may thus be conveniently introduced into the sinuses, and forced to the very bottom with a long probe. Several small particles of this kind may be made and forced in one after another, until all the sinuses are completely filled. By these means a large core or slough will be brought out in four or five days; and if the sinuses are not then so destroyed that the bottom can be ascertained, the same dressing must be repeated.

There is a class of punctured wounds that will not admit of the treatment I have described; these are punctured wounds of the sheath of tendons, and the capsular ligament of joints. Such wounds often happen about the fetlock and hock joint, or in the sheath of the flexor tendon, or back sinew; and these are often attended with considerable inflammation and swelling. It will not be proper to introduce tents into such wounds, or to irritate them by probing: emollient poultices are considered the remedies for such wounds; but they do not always succeed; I have in several cases found it necessary to touch the wound with lunar caustic, before I could procure any abatement of the inflammation and swelling, and I am inclined to believe that this had better be done on the first occurrence of such wounds. The caustic should be scraped off to a point, and introduced within the wound about the eighth of an inch or a little more; it should then be moved round a little, and withdrawn. I have seen a punctured wound in the fore leg, near the fetlock joint, get well rapidly after this had been done; though emollient poultices and fomentations had been carefully employed for several days before without doing the least good; on the contrary they were doing harm, for the inflammation, pain, and swelling, certainly increased while they were employed. But the caustic seemed to operate almost as a charm; for the leg got well in two or three days after it was applied. I have seen a similar good effect from it in a punctured wound of the hock joint.

In lacerated wounds, as they are termed, the skin is often much torn, and so are the muscles or flesh. Now the muscles must never be stitched up, on any account whatever; the skin only is to be stitched or sewed up, and that will rarely be of any use in the horse, as union by the first intension, I believe I may venture to say, can never be accomplished in the horse, except in one situation, and that is in the forehead, when the skin has been torn neatly down or up and not bruised. When the skin of a lacerated wound has been stitched up, the stitches always give way, and the wound is completely open again by the fifth day, and then the flap of skin may as well be removed, for it never will unite. The scar will then be much less than a person would imagine, for the skin and hair will be in a great measure regenerated, and scarcely any blemish will be left.

Bruises always require to be poulticed, and there is scarcely any situation where this cannot be done, if a person will but take a little trouble about it. If, however, it cannot be done, a fomentation is the best substitute. For bruises on the back the old farriers employed a greasy dish-clout, and this, next to a poultice, is perhaps the best remedy; for the cloth has been so softened by almost constant maceration in water, and is so completely imbued with grease, that it really becomes a good emollient application, and only requires to be kept wet. By this treatment bruises will be generally brought to suppuration, and if they are capable of being dispersed, poultices are the best means of effecting it. When a bruise has been brought to suppuration, or has thrown off a slough, it may then be considered as a wound or rather ulcer, for such wounds do become when they have suppurated, and must be treated according to the directions I have given under that head. These are all the instructions necessary to be given for the treatment of wounds and bruises. I think there is no occasion here for the classification and distinctions that are employed in human surgery; and it will be found, I trust, that what has been said on the subject, will be sufficient for every accident that may happen.

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When a horse becomes suddenly lame, after the legs have been carefully examined and no cause of lameness appears in them, the shoe should be taken off. In many cases the offending substance will be immediately detected, or the additional heat felt in some part of the foot will point out the seat of injury; or, if the crust be rapped with the hammer all round, the flinching of the horse will discover it; or pressure with the pincers will render it evident.

When the shoe is removed for this examination the smith should never be permitted to wrench it off, but each nail should be drawn separately, and examined as it is drawn, when some moisture appearing upon it will not unfrequently reveal the spot at which matter has been thrown out. In the fore-foot the injury will generally be found on the inner quarter, and on the hind foot near the toe, these being the thinnest parts of the fore and hind-feet.

Sudden lameness occurring within two or three days after the horse has been shod will lead us to suspect that the smith has been in fault; yet no one who considers the thinness of the crust, and the difficulty of shoeing many feet, will blame him for sometimes pricking the horse. His fault will consist in concealing or denying that of which he will almost always be aware at the time of shoeing, from the flinching of the horse, or the dead sound, or the peculiar resistance that may be noticed in the driving of the nail.

When the seat of mischief is ascertained, the sole should be thinned round it, and, especially at the nail-hole or the puncture, it should be pared to the quick. The escape of some matter will now probably tell the nature of the injury, and remove its consequences. If it be puncture of the sole by some nail, or any similar body, picked up on the road, all that will be necessary is a little to enlarge the opening, and then to place on it a pledget of tow dipped in friar’s balsam, and over that a little common stopping; or, if there be much heat and lameness, a poultice should be applied.

The part of the sole wounded and the depth of the wound will be taken into consideration. It will be seen that a deep puncture towards the back part of the sole, and penetrating even into the sensible frog, may not be productive of serious consequence. There is no great motion in the part, and there are no tendons or bones in danger. A puncture near the toe may not be followed by much injury. There is little motion in that part of the foot, and the internal sole covering the coffin-bone will soon heal; but a puncture about the centre of the sole may wound the flexor tendon where it is inserted into the coffin-bone, or may even penetrate the joint which unites the navicular bone with the coffin-bone, or pierce through the tendon into the joint which it forms with the navicular-bone, and a degree of inflammation may ensue, which, if neglected, may be fatal. Many horses have been lost by the smallest puncture of the sole in these dangerous points. All the anatomical skill of the veterinarian should be called into requisition, when he is examining the most trifling wound of the foot.

If the foot has been wounded by the wrong direction of a nail in shoeing, and the sole be well pared out over the part on the first appearance of lameness, little more will be necessary to be done. The opening must be somewhat enlarged, the friar’s balsam applied, and the shoe tacked on, with or without a poultice, according to the degree of lameness or heat, and on the following day all will often be well. It may, however, be prudent to keep the foot stopped for a few days. If the accident has been neglected, and matter begins to be formed, and to be pent up and to press on the neighbouring parts, and the horse evidently suffers extreme pain, and is sometimes scarcely able to put his foot to the ground, and much matter is poured out when the opening is enlarged, further precautions must be adopted. The fact must be recollected that the living and dead horn will never unite, and every portion of the horny sole that has separated from the fleshy sole above must be removed. The separation must be followed as far as it reaches. Much of the success of the treatment depends on this. No small strip or edge of separated horn must be suffered to press upon any part of the wound. The exposed fleshy sole must then be touched, but not too severely, with the butyr (chloride) of antimony, some soft and dry tow placed over the part, and the foot stopped, and a poultice placed over all, if the inflammation seems to require it. On the following day a thin pellicle of horn will frequently be found over a part or the whole of the wound. This should be, yet very lightly, touched again with the caustic; but if there be an appearance of fungus sprouting from the exposed surface, the application of the butyr must be more severe, and the tow again placed over it, so as to afford considerable yet uniform pressure. Many days do not often elapse before the new horn covers the whole of the wound. In these extensive openings the friar’s balsam will not often be successful, but the cure must be effected by the judicious and never too severe use of the caustic. Bleeding at the toe and physic will be resorted to as useful auxiliaries when much inflammation arises.

In searching the foot to ascertain the existence of prick, there is often something very censurable in the carelessness with which the horn is cut away between the bottom of the crust and the sole, so as to leave little or no hold for the nails, while some months must elapse before the horn will grow down sufficiently far for the shoe to be securely fastened.

When a free opening has been made below, and matter has not broken out at the coronet, it will rarely be necessary to remove any portion of the horn at the quarters, although we may be able to ascertain by the use of the probe that the separation of the crust extends for a considerable space above the sole.

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Dogs are liable to become wounded in various ways, and their wounds, however bad, are not, generally much attended to, from an opinion that the animal’s tongue is the best dressing. This is very questionable: in some instances, I am certain, no application can be worse to a wounded dog than his own tongue. Whenever dogs are at all inclined to foulness, as a tendency to cuticular complaints is called, a sore, so licked, is sure to become mangy, and to be aggravated by the licking.

Wounds in the chest or belly should be closed up as soon as possible, to prevent the external air from penetrating: a stitch or two made in the integuments is proper; over which some adhesive plaster, and a bandage over that, may be applied. If the intestines protrude in a wounded belly, and the bowels are themselves wounded; first, neatly stitch up the intestinal opening, and return the gut; then close the wound in the integuments, leaving the thread which united the gut, if long enough, hanging without the external wound.

In wounds of arteries or veins, the hæmorrhage should be stopped by pressure: should that not succeed, take up the vessel with needle and thread. Wounds into joints occur from cuts, and often from stabs: great inflammation is apt to follow, and the dog is often lamed for life. If the synovia escapes by a very minute puncture, and the inflammation is not yet very extensive, treat exactly as in horse practice, by firing with the budding iron. If the wound be a lacerated one, and not already much inflamed, place over it a pledget of lint, and over that a thick paste of linseed meal; after which bandage the whole up moderately tight. Should the inflammation be great, reduce that by a common poultice, and then endeavour to close the joint as above.

In all extensive and lacerated wounds, a stitch or two should be made with a large needle and thread, as it will reduce both the sore and the scar; but as such stitches soon ulcerate out in the dog, so the edges should be still further secured by slips of sticking-plaster. A recent wound should be cleansed from the dirt, and then covered up; when it begins to suppurate, dress with any mild ointment. In thorn wounds, or others made with splinters, carefully examine that nothing is left within them; otherwise no attempts to produce healing will prove successful. The most common wounds in dogs arise from the bites of others; and, under any such circumstance, should any suspicion arise that the dog was mad by which the wounded one was bitten, proceed as directed under Rabies. The wounds arising from common bites, in general soon heal of themselves. If, however, they are very extensive, wash them with friar’s balsam, to prevent their becoming gangrenous.

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_For a wound from shot._—Oil of turpentine, oil of camomile, and aqua vitæ, of each two ounces, and half a pint of linseed oil, well mixed together. A second is goose grease, melted and strained through a sieve, and an equal quantity of best spirits of wine and spirits of turpentine: of the three articles put rather most of the goose grease, which must be fresh, and strained quite clear and fine.—_White_—_The Horse_—_Blaine_—_Daniel._

WREN, _s._ A small bird.

WRENCH, _s._ A violent pull or twist; a sprain.

WRESTLE, _v._ To contend who shall throw the other down; to
struggle; to contend.

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YACHT, _s._ A small ship anciently used for carrying passengers; a
private vessel of pleasure.

The Royal Yacht Club, at the present time, has about five hundred and eighty-eight persons on its lists, of which one hundred and thirty-six are members, and four hundred and fifty-two are honorary members. Of the former number about one fifth are peers, twelve baronets, four knights, three generals, three colonels, eight captains, two clergymen, and seventy-nine private gentlemen. Among the latter (honorary members) we find nineteen admirals, twenty-nine vice-admirals, thirty-one rear-admirals, and three hundred and sixty-two captains, independently of eleven eminent civilians, who head the list. The number of yachts is one hundred and nine—of which eighty-seven are cutters, ten schooners, three brigs, four yawls, two ships, two ketches, and one lugger. The greater part of these vessels belong to Cowes and to Southampton, the rest being distributed among the different ports of the three kingdoms. The shipping belonging to the club amounts to 7250 tons. Now, at a moderate computation, each vessel carries ten men on an average; this gives us the total number employed by the club, one thousand and sixty. During the summer months, then, while regattas are celebrated, we may say that the Royal Yacht Club alone supports more than eleven hundred men. These, with some few exceptions, are discharged on the approach of winter, and the yachts are laid up for the season, retaining the master and one man in pay. The crews thus discharged obtain employment in merchant vessels or otherwise during the winter, and in the middle of spring are generally re-shipped in the yachts in which they have previously served. Active and industrious men of good character are always sure of constant employment in the club on these conditions; and many members justly pride themselves on the high discipline, manly bearing, and crack appearance of their crew. The situation of master is one of much responsibility, and is on all accounts respectably filled. In some of the largest craft, junior officers of the navy are found to accept this office. The Flower of Yarrow, the property of the Duke of Buccleuch, is commanded by one of the oldest lieutenants in the service, to say nothing of others, respecting which we cannot enter into particulars.

It has been already remarked, that the shipping of the club amounts to 7250 tons. Now, a vessel of one hundred tons seldom, we believe, stands the owner in less than from five to six thousand pounds, varying, of course, from that to ten, according to the ornamental parts, the internal fittings, and other contingencies. At this rate, the shipping of the club would have cost more than three millions and a half of money: but it is impossible to speak decisively on this point; for the first cost of the yachts vary so much, and the numerous styles of _rig_ are attended with expenses so widely different, that it is idle to attempt a conclusive opinion on the subject.

Among the most active members of this club we may mention the following—but we make the selection from past remembrances, and not from any invidious distinction. Lord Yarborough is well known to the world as the commodore, and his beautiful ship, the Falcon, is admired no less for her model than the fine seamanship of her “companie.” Mr. Weld, of Lulworth, and his brother James, have been indefatigable in their exertions; and who has not heard of the Arrow, the Lulworth, and the Alarm, of the former, and the Paul Pry of the latter? Lord Belfast too, Lord Anglesea, Lord Darnley, Lord Vernon, the Rev. Denis George, Lord Clonbrook, Mr. Symonds, Lord Errol, Mr. Corbett, Lord Donegal, Lord Chesterfield, Mr. Brett, Lord Ilchester, Mr. Gibson, the Duke of Buccleuch, and many others whom we have not room to mention, are known to take a high personal interest in aquatics. Mr. Assheton Smith, a name so familiar at Melton Mowbray, seemed to love his yacht as much as he did the chace; and who is ignorant of the nautical achievements of Sir Godfrey Webster? Nor can I omit to mention the arduous attention, the unremitting exertions (to say nothing of his generous disposition), of a gentleman to whom the Yacht Club is deeply indebted for his assistance—Richard Stephens, Esq. the secretary. His indefatigable zeal and valuable aid on all occasions, and at all seasons, is beyond any praise.

The Northern Yacht Club is a highly interesting society, although its plan is not so extensive as that of the Royal Club. It contains about three hundred and fifty members. The documents for 1830, with which the commodore, J. E. Matthews, Esq. has favoured us, comprise ninety-two in the Scottish and ninety in the Irish division, with fifty-two honorary members, in addition to ninety-three members of the Cork Yacht Club, who are also entered on the honorary lists. It had, in 1830, sixty yachts, not equal in proportion to the tonnage of the Cowes club, as smaller vessels are admitted. Many R. Y. C. men are found in the Northern Club; among others, the Marquis of Donegal, Earl Belfast, the Duke of Portland, the Rev. Denis George, and Captain Kean. The commodore of the Irish division is John E. Matthews, Esq. who hoists his flag in the Water Witch, a three-masted schooner of seventy-three tons; and the Duke of Portland, in his Clown, ketch, one hundred and fifty-six, still, we believe, presides over the Scottish division. There are many fine vessels in this club. Cutters, as usual, excel in number, but there are many _clippers_ in the shape of schooners; and what is more in a “ladye’s eye,” their names are equally pretty and well chosen.

We have now to notice the Cork Harbour Club, one of highest descent, independently of its regatta being considered the oldest in the United Kingdom. We are deficient in particulars respecting this association; but we know that it is supported by some of the first men in Ireland, and has many handsome yachts in its fleet. The Emerald Isle is highly favoured by having two powerful clubs, equally respected and respectable; and it is pleasing to see the honourable men of the north blending the names of Scotland and Ireland under the bright emblem of friendship.

We must not omit to mention the share Dublin takes in these festivals, nor pass by in silence Plymouth, with her excellent Regatta Club and Yacht Society.

At the lowest computation, the number of vessels at present employed for pleasure in this kingdom cannot be less than from three to four hundred, ranging in bulk from ten to three hundred and fifty tons. These craft are variously distributed along our shores, carrying their opulence into every port and harbour in the sister islands. But there is another advantage arising from yacht clubs, which as yet has been slightly touched upon; I mean, that national principle which to a maritime people is above all choice. The bulwarks of England are her wooden walls; and if our ships are hearts of oak, let it not be forgotten that “hearts of oak are our men” also; and we must never allow the proud feeling of naval supremacy to wither or decay. The yacht clubs, by keeping alive this feeling, feed the flame of patriotism, and uphold, with just ambition, our hopes, our honour, and our fame.

_Sailing regulations of the Royal Yacht Club._—First—Members entering their yachts must send the names of them to the Secretary one week previous to the day of sailing, and pay two guineas entrance at the same time.

Second—All vessels starting or entering must be the _bonâ fide_ property of Members, as well as spars, sails, boats, &c. &c.

Third—Each Member to be allowed to enter one vessel only for all prizes given by the Club.

Fourth—Cutters to carry four sails only, viz. mainsail, foresail, jib, and gaff-topsail:—yawls, luggers, schooners, and all other vessels in like proportion. No booming out allowed.

Fifth—No trimming with ballast, or shifting of ballast allowed; and all vessels to keep their platform down, and bulk-heads standing.

Sixth—That vessels on the larboard tack must invariably give way for those on the starboard tack; and in all cases where a doubt of the possibility of the vessel’s on the larboard tack weathering the one on the starboard tack shall exist, the vessel on the larboard tack shall give way; or if the other vessel keep her course and run in to her, the owner of the vessel on the larboard tack shall be compelled to pay all damages, and forfeit his claim to the prize.

Seventh—Vessels running on shore shall be allowed to use their own anchors and boats actually on board to get them off, afterwards weighing anchor and hoisting the boat in; but upon receiving assistance from any other vessel or vessels, boats, or anchors, shall forfeit all claim to the prize.

Eighth—That nothing but the hand-line be used for sounding.

Ninth—That any deviation from these rules shall subject the aggressor to forfeit all claim to the prize.

Tenth—That if any objection be made with regard to the sailing of any other vessel in the race, such objection must be made to the stewards within one hour after the vessel making the objection shall arrive at the starting post.

Eleventh—That no vessel be allowed to take in ballast, or take out, for twenty-four hours previous to starting, and that no ballast be thrown overboard.

Twelfth—Vessels to start from moorings laid down at a cable-length distance, with their sails set; and that every vessel not exceeding one hundred tons shall carry a boat not less than ten feet long; and vessels exceeding one hundred tons, to carry a boat not less than fourteen feet long.

Thirteenth—That there shall be a member, or honorary member, on board each vessel.

Fourteenth—The time of starting may be altered by the stewards, and all disputes that may arise are to be decided by them, or such persons as they shall appoint.—_Sporting Magazine._

YARD, _s._ Enclosed ground adjoining to a house; a measure of three
feet; the supports of the sails of a ship.

YARWHIP, _s._

This species is generally rather larger than the common godwit; weight about twelve ounces; length eighteen inches; the bill is full three inches and a half long, a trifle reflected; slender; dusky towards the point; the base yellowish flesh-colour; irides hazel; the head, neck, breast, back, and the top of the head, are streaked with dusky; the back and scapulars marked with large black spots or bars; from the bill to the eye a light coloured streak; the belly and under tail-coverts white; the sides under the wings barred with dusky; the smaller coverts of the wings, on the ridge, dusky; the next inclining to ferruginous; the larger ones cinereous-brown, light at the tips; greater quill-feathers black; shafts white; the outer webs slightly edged with white half way down; inner webs white at the base; the secondary quills dusky from their points half way; base white; those next the body ferruginous, like the scapulars, barred with black; the rump and upper tail-coverts white; the two middle feathers of the tail dusky black; the rest white half way from the base; ends black; legs near four inches long, and black; the thighs bare of feathers full an inch above the knee. In some, the breast is streaked with black; others mottled rufous and white; and the upper tail-coverts barred with rufous and brown.—_Montagu._

YAWL, _s._ A little vessel belonging to a ship for convenience of
passing to and from it; a small yacht.

YEAR, _s._ Twelve months; it is often used plurally, without a
plural termination; in the plural, old age.

YEARLING, _s._ Being a year old.

YELK, _s._ The yellow part of the egg.

YELL, _v._ To cry out with horror and agony; to cry like a beaten
dog.

YELLOW, _a._ Being of a bright glaring colour, as gold.

_To dye fine rich bright Yellows._—These are the best yellows for salmon colours, as they are very strong. The gold colours, as before directed, are better for some flies. You are to get two pounds of strawall, and six ounces of turmeric: boil these in eight quarts of water; put down one pound of fur along with your dye stuff; give it an hour’s boiling, and you have a fine shade: boil on an hour longer and draw again: boil for an hour and a half, and draw again. Finish your last with two hours’ boiling, and you have four as fine high yellows as can be dyed, and fast colours.

_Mr. Peter Woulfe’s Recipe for the Yellow Dye._—Take half an ounce of powdered indigo, and mix it in a high glass vessel, with two ounces of strong spirit of nitre, which should be previously diluted with eight ounces of water, for preventing the indigo being set on fire by the spirit; because two ounces and a half of strong spirit of nitre will set fire to half an ounce of indigo. Let the mixture stand for a week, and then digest it in a sand heat for an hour or more, and add four ounces more of water to it; filter the solution, which will be of a fine yellow colour. If the indigo be digested twenty-four hours after the spirit of nitre is poured upon it, it will froth and boil over, but after standing about a week it has not that property. One part of the solution of indigo in the acid of nitre, mixed with four or five parts of the water, will dye silk cloth of the palest yellow colour, or of any shade to the deepest, and that by letting them boil more or less in the colour. The addition of alum is useful, as it makes the colour more lasting; according as the solution boils away, more water must be added—cochineal, Dutch litmus, orchil, cudbear, and many other colouring substances, treated in this manner, will dye silk and wool a yellow colour. The indigo which remains undissolved in making Saxon blue, and collected by filtration, if digested with spirit of nitre, dyes silk and wool of all shades of brown inclining to yellow.

Mr. Boyle tells us a most beautiful yellow may be procured, by taking good quicksilver, and three or four times its weight of oil of vitriol. Drawing off in a glass retort the saline menstruum from the metalline liquor, till there remains a dry snow-white calx at the bottom. On pouring a large quantity of fair water on this, the colour changes to an excellent light yellow.

_Lighter Yellows._—Take three or four sprigs of eld, and two chips of young fustic, about the size of half a crown; boil them in six quarts of water for two hours; put down all your stuff together. You may then put in half a thimbleful of the best madder, and the same of turmeric; let them boil smartly for five minutes, and then draw a part for the first shade. It must be divided into four parts; let it boil ten minutes; lift out and draw; follow on by adding a whole thimbleful of each for the second, and one and a half thimbleful for the third, and two of each for the last. This is the only bright yellow I could get to stand, and is the best for foxes. You may dye hog’s fur in this if it be very white.