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Of the Failing-evil.
THis is a kinde of Convulsion or Cramp, called of the Latines by the Greek name Epilepsia; in Ita∣lian, * 1.1 Il morbo caduco, depriving the Beast at certain times, and for a certain space of the use of feeling, hearing, and seeing, and of all the other senses. And although it be a disease hath been seldom seen to chance unto Horses of this Countrey, yet it appeareth by Absyrtus, and also by Vege∣tius, and divers others, that Horses he subject thereunto. For Absyrtus writing to his friend Tibe∣rius Claudius saith, that unto Horses chanceth many times the Falling-sickness. The signs whereof are these; The Horse will fall down suddenly, partly through the resolution of his members, and part∣ly through distension of his sinews, and all his body will quiver and quake, and sometime he will some at the mouth. Vegetius again writeth in this sort; By a certain course of the Moon Horses and other beasts many times do fall, and dy for a time as well as men. The signes whereof are these: Being fallen, their bodies will quiver and quake, and their mouths will some, and when a man would think that they would dy out of hand, they rise suddenly up and fall to their meat. And by feeling the gristle of their nostrils with your finger, you shall know whether they will fall often or not; for the more cold the gristle be, the oftner, and the less cold it be, the seldomer they will fall. The cure:
Let him bloud abundantly in the neck veins, and within five days after, let him bloud again in the temple veins, and let him stand in a warm and dark stable, and anoint all his body with comfor∣table Ointments, and his head and ears with Oyl of Bay, and liquid Pitch or Tar, mingled together. And also put some thereof into his ears, and then make a Biggen for him of some sort warm skin, as of a Sheeps skin, or else of Canvas stuffed underneath with Wool, and make him this purging drink. Take of Radish roots two ounces, of the root of the herb called in Latine, Panex or Panaces, and of Scammony, of each one ounce; beat all these things together, and boyl them in a quart of Honey, and at sundry times as you shall see it needful, give him a good spoonful or two of this in a quart of Ale luke-warm, whereunto would be put three or four spoonfuls of Oyl. It is good also to blow the powder of Motherwort, or of Pyrethrum, up into his nostrils; and if the disease do con∣tinue still for all this, then it shall be needful to pierce the skin of his fore-head in divers places with a hot iron, and to let out the humors oppressing his brain.