The parfait mareschal, or Compleat farrier. Which teacheth, I. To know the shapes and goodness, as well as faults and imperfections of horses. II. The signs and causes of their diseases, the means to prevent them, their cure, and the good or bad use of purging and bleeding. III. The way to order and preserve them, when upon travel, to feed, and to dress them. IV. The art of shoeing, according to a new design of shoes, which will recover bad feet, and preserve the good. Together with a treatise, how to raise and bring up a true and beautiful race of horses: as also instructions, whereby to fit all kinds of horses with proper bits, whereof the chief draughts are represented in copper-plates. / Written originally in French by the Sieur de Solleysel Escuyer, sometime one of the overseers of the French Kings Royal Academy of Riding, near to the Hostel de Conde in Paris. And translated from the last Paris impression, by Sir William Hope of Kirkliston Kt. Lieutenat Governour of the Castle of Edinburgh. By whom is also added as a supplement to the first part, a most compendious and excellent collection of horsemanship, taken from the best and most modern writers upon that subject, such as Mr. De la Brow, Pluvinel, and the Great Duke of Newcastle. Part I.

CHAP. XLVI. An excellent Purging Oil.

THE administring of purging Medicines to a Horse, is one of the hardest parts of a Farrier's Task, and therefore I thought my self oblig'd to use the utmost Diligence and Application to find out a safe and successful Method of Purgation: but notwithstanding all my Endeavours to prevent the Inconveniencies that attend the Use of those Medicines, I observ'd an extreme Repugnancy in the Nature of Horses to yield to their Operation, and I found by Experience, that purgative Remedies are suc∣ceeded by such an universal Disorder in the Oeconomy of Nature, that the Horse cannot be restor'd to his wonted Temper for a considerable time afterwards. I will not trouble my Reader witha particular Account of those Inconveniencies, but content my self with assuring him that I have seen more Horses than one kill'd by purging Remedies that had been successfully administer'd to others, for want of a due Preparation of their Bodies, according to that Maxim of Hippocrates, Concocta medicamentis aggredi opor∣tet & movere, non cruda. I shall treat of this Preparation in a more convenient place, and now proceed to acquaint you, that I have seen some Horses founder'd by the Use of Purgatives, and others continue to purge ten Days and as many Nights, during which time they were in perpetual danger; and those who tended 'em (and I my self some∣times) were forc'd to pour down their Nourishment with a Horn. So many unsucces∣ful Trials have taught me Circumspection, and I never purge a Horse without fear, tho' Necessity often obliges us to make use of those Remedies, and a due observance of the true Method of administring 'em may prevent their fatal Consequences. I have consi∣der'd these things with the utmost Attention, and after a careful Examination of all Circumstances, I find Van Helmont's Opinion to be very reasonable, and I'm persuaded that his Arguments are infinitely more convincing than all that had been urg'd by others before him. But since I am not Master of a sufficient Stock of Learning to explain his Maxims, and reduce 'em to Practice, and cannot attempt to overturn the receiv'd Method of Practising Physic, without invading a Province that does not belong to me; I must even content my self with following the Multitude, till some Person of greater Judgment and Authority shall undertake the Reformation of Medicine, by extirpating all Purgatives, and substituting some powerful Diaphoretic in their stead, which may pro∣duce the same Effects we expect from the others, and destroy that preternatural Heat which is the Root of all these Disorders. However I thought my self indispensably ob∣lig'd to enquire into the safest Methods of Purging Horses; and I'm convinc'd that the following Oil is one of the most proper Remedies hitherto known, to move a Horse's Belly without Disturbance.

Take Oil-Olive three Pounds, Claret-Wine a Pint, Pulp of Coloquintida five Ounces, Flower of Lin-seed an Ounce and a half, three Lilly-Roots cut into round slices, Missleto of the Apple-Tree beaten, an Ounce, Cammomil-flowers a handful. Put all the Ingredients into a Pot cover'd exactly with another somewhat less, and lute the Junctures of the Vessels with Clay temper'd with a little Hair or Wool: after the Clay is dry'd, boil the whole Composition gently till the Wine be consum'd, that is eight or ten hours; then

remove it from the Fire, and when 'tis half cold strain it thro' a Linnen Cloth, and give one half luke-warm to the Horse, for the whole quantity is sufficient to purge two Horses; but if he be naturally hard to be wrought upon by purging Medicines, give him more of it afterwards, proportionably to his Strength; for 'tis better to divide the Dose than to endanger the Horse's Life by Superpurgation. This Oil may be kept Ten Years, without the least Alteration or Diminution of its Virtue; and therefore you may prepare a sufficient quantity at one time to serve four or six Horses, and you may also use it in Clysters, if need require.

Keep the Horse bridl'd six hours before, and five hours after the taking of the Medi∣cine, which must be given in a Pint of Broth, made with Tripes, Sheep's-Head, or some other kind of Flesh, but without any mixture of Fat, and then walk him about an hour. Those who keep many Horses, and even profess'd Farriers, may prepare large quantities of this Oil; and keep it by 'em till they have occasion to use it.

Tho' Coloquintida be an Enemy to the Guts, and therefore may seem suspicious in a Disease that is seated in those Parts; yet its sharp and venomous Quality being tem∣per'd by the Oil, it may be very safely given especially in Broth made with Tripes, or Sheeps-Heads.

This Oil may also serve to purge those Horses that remain lean and meagre after hard Labour, without any manifest Distemper.