Part 34

Feet so exceedingly different in the nature of their construction, must certainly require as different a mode of treatment, according to such circumstances as happen to exist. To preserve feet perfectly sound, and free from the ills to which they are subject, cleanliness is the leading step. After exercise or use, so soon as the body is drest, the dirt or gravel should be carefully taken from under the shoes with a picker, the feet well washed, the legs and heels rubbed dry, the bottom stopped with cow-dung, and the hoofs oiled with a brush impregnated with spermaceti oil. Horses left with wet legs and heels after a severe chase, or long journey, particularly in sharp easterly winds, or during frost and snow, constitute cracks or scratches to a certainty. So severe a rigidity is occasioned in the very texture of the integument, and it becomes partially ruptured or broken in various places, upon being brought into expeditious action; which, with the friction and irritation then occasioned by the sharp particles of gravel in dirty roads, soon produce lacerations of the most painful description.

The state of the shoes should be constantly attended to. Permitted to remain too long upon the feet, the growth of the hoof brings the shoe forward, rendering it too short at the heel, when it begins to indent, and sinking upon the foot, soon presses upon the outer sole, constituting pain or disquietude in some horses, laying the foundation of corns in others. Horses in moderate work require new shoes once a month upon an average, never varying more than two or three days from that time: indeed, it is not right that they should go longer. The penurious plan of removing shoes half worn, is truly ridiculous; they never render service adequate to the expense, and the practice only tends to a more frequent destruction of the hoof. Thrushes should be counteracted upon their first appearance, without being permitted to acquire a corroding virulence. Swelled legs are hardly ever seen in stables where a proper course of discipline and regular routine of business is observed; they proceed from a viscid, sizy state of the blood, a languor in the circulation, a want of exercise out of the stable, or a sufficiency of friction, leg-rubbing, care, and attention within.

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Pointers’ and setters’ feet, particularly the former, are frequently chafed; their feet should always, after being hunted, be thoroughly washed with salt and water, and, half an hour afterwards, be well rubbed with hog’s-lard.—_Montagu_—_Blaine_—_Taplin_—_Thornhill._

FELINE, _a._ Like a cat, pertaining to a cat.

FELL, _s._ The skin, the hide.

FELLOE, _s._ The circumference of a wheel.

FELLOW, _s._ An associate, one united in the same affair; one of the same kind or litter.

FELT, _s._ Cloth made of wool united without weaving; a hide or skin.

FEMALE, _s._ A she, one of the sex which brings young.

FEMORAL, _a._ Belonging to the thigh.

FEN, _s._ A marsh, flat and moist ground, a moor, a bog.

FENBERRY, _s._ A kind of blackberry.

FENCE, _s._ Guard, security; enclosure, mound, hedge.

FENCER, _s._ One who teaches or practises the use of weapons; a horse that leaps.

FERINE, _a._ Wild, savage.

FERMENTATION, _s._ A slow motion of the intestine particles of a mixed body, arising usually from the operation of some active acid matter.

FERN, _s._ A plant.

FERNY, _a._ Overgrown with fern.

FERRET, _s._ A quadruped of the weasel kind, used to catch rabbits.

FERRET, _v._ To drive out of lurking places; to hunt rabbits with a ferret.

FETLOCK, _s._ A tuft of hair that grows behind the pastern joint.

FETTER, _s._ Chains for the feet.

FEVER, _s._ A disease in which the body is violently heated, and the pulse quickened, or in which heat and cold prevail by turns. It is sometimes continual, sometimes intermittent.

In horses fever begins frequently with a cold or shivering fit, although this is not essential to fever. The horse is dull, unwilling to move, with a staring coat, and cold legs and feet. This is succeeded by warmth of the body; unequal distribution of warmth to the legs; one hot, and the other three cold, or some unnaturally warm, and others unusually cold, although not the deathy coldness of inflammation of the lungs; the pulse quick, soft, and often indistinct; breathing somewhat laborious; but no cough, or pawing, or looking at the flanks. The animal will scarcely eat, and is very costive. While the state of pure fever lasts, the shivering fit returns at nearly the same hour every day, and is succeeded by the warm one, and that often by a very slight sweating one; and this goes on for several days until local inflammation appears, or the fever gradually subsides. No horse ever died of pure fever; if he is not destroyed by inflammation of the lungs, or feet, or bowels succeeding to the fever, he gradually recovers.

What we have said of the treatment of local inflammation will sufficiently indicate that which we should recommend in fever. Fever is general increased action of the heart and arteries, and therefore evidently appears the necessity for bleeding, regulating the quantity of blood taken by the degree of fever, and usually continuing to take it (the finger being kept on the artery) until some impression is made upon the system. The bowels should be gently opened; but the danger of inflammation of the lungs, and the uniformly injurious consequence of purgation in that disease, will prevent the administration of an active purgative. One drachm and a half of aloes may be given morning and night with the proper fever medicine, until the bowels are slightly relaxed, after which nothing more of an aperient quality should be administered. Digitalis, emetic tartar, and nitre, should be given morning and night, in proportions regulated by the circumstances of the case, and these should give way to white hellebore in doses of half a drachm twice in the day, if symptoms of inflammation of the lungs should appear. The horse should be warmly clothed, but be placed in a cool and well-ventilated stable.

Symptomatic fever is generally increased arterial action, proceeding from some local cause. No organ of consequence can be long disordered or inflamed without the neighbouring parts being disturbed, and the whole system gradually participating in the disturbance. Inflammation of the feet or of the lungs never existed long to any material extent, without being accompanied by some degree of fever.

The treatment of symptomatic fever should resemble that of simple fever, except that particular attention should be paid to the state of the part originally diseased. If the inflammation which existed there can be subdued, the general disturbance will usually cease.—_Blaine._

FIBULA, _s._ The outer and lesser bone of the leg, smaller than the tibia.

FIELD, _s._ Ground not inhabited, not built on; cultivated tract of ground; the open country; horsemen collected at a hunt; horses collectively.

FIELDFARE, (_Turdus Pilarus_, LINN.; _La Litorne, ou Tourdelle_, BUFF.) _s._ A bird.

This is somewhat less than the missel-thrush; its length is ten inches. The bill is yellow; each corner of the mouth is furnished with a few black bristly hairs; the eye is light brown; the top of the head and back part of the neck are of a light ash-colour; the former spotted with black; the back and coverts of the wings are of a deep hoary brown; the ramp ash-coloured; the throat and breast are yellow, regularly spotted with black; the belly and thighs of a yellowish white; the tail brown, inclining to black; the legs dusky yellowish brown; in young birds yellow.

We have seen a variety of this bird, of which the head and neck were of a yellowish white; the rest of the body was nearly of the same colour, mixed with a few brown feathers; the spots on the breast were faint and indistinct: the quill feathers were perfectly white, except one or two on each side, which were brown; the tail was marked in a similar manner.

The field-fare is only a visitant in this island, making its appearance about the beginning of October, in order to avoid the rigorous winters of the north, whence it sometimes comes in great flocks, according to the severity of the season, and leaves us about the latter end of February or the beginning of March, and retires to Russia, Sweden, Norway, and as far as Siberia and Kamtschatka. Buffon observes that they do not arrive in France till the beginning of December, that they assemble in flocks of two or three thousand, and feed on ripe crevises, of which they are extremely fond; during the winter they feed on haws and other berries; they likewise eat worms, snails, and slugs.

Field-fares seem of a more sociable disposition than the throstles or the missels: they are sometimes seen singly, but in general form very numerous flocks, and fly in a body; and though they often spread themselves through the fields in search of food, they seldom lose sight of each other, but, when alarmed, fly off, and collect together upon the same tree.—_Bewick._

FIELDMOUSE, _s._ A mouse that burrows in banks.

An extraordinary instance of the rapid increase of mice, and of the injury they sometimes do, occurred a few years ago in the new plantations made by order of the crown in Dean Forest, Gloucestershire, and in the New Forest, Hampshire. Soon after the formation of these plantations, a sudden and rapid increase of mice took place in them, which threatened destruction to the whole of the young plants. Vast numbers of these were killed,—the mice having eaten through the roots of five-year-old oaks and chestnuts, generally just below the surface of the ground. Hollies also, which were five and six feet high, were barked round the bottom; and in some instances the mice had crawled up the tree, and were seen feeding on the bark of the upper branches.

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The following account will show the numbers of mice caught in the different inclosures in Dean Forest in three months, from September to January, with the number of acres, and the proportion between the long and the short-tailed mice.

Short- Long- tailed tailed Acres. Mice. Mice. Total. Haywood Inclosure 418 12,850 8 12,858 Oiley Hill ditto 41 1,161 11 1,172 Crabtree Hill do. 372 7,851 7,851 Park Hill ditto 113 2,665 2,665 Shutcastle ditto 163 484 33 517 Sallow Vallets do. 386 1,361 1,361 Barnhill ditto 50 70 70 Birchwood ditto 50 3 3 Whitemead Park do. 100 1,559 15 1,574 ———— —————— Total Acres, 1,693 Total Mice, 28,071

I should not forget to mention that, in New Forest, foxes were frequently seen hunting, after the mice, and eating them greedily.—_Jesse._

FILLY, _s._ A young mare; opposed to a colt or young horse.

FILM, _s._ A pellicle or thin skin.

FILTER, _v._ To clear by drawing off liquor by depending threads; to strain; to percolate.

FIN, _s._ The wing of a fish.

FIN-FOOTED, _a._ Having feet with membranes between the toes.

FINCH (_Fringilla_), _s._ A small bird; of which we have three kinds, the goldfinch, the chaffinch, and bullfinch.

The transition from the bunting to the finch is very easy, and the shade of difference between them, in some instances, almost imperceptible; on which account they have been frequently confounded with each other. The principal difference consists in the beak, which in the finch is conical, very thick at the base, and tapering to a sharp point: in this respect it more nearly resembles the grosbeak. Of this tribe many are distinguished as well for the liveliness of their song, as for the beauty and variety of their plumage, on which accounts they are much esteemed. They are very numerous, and assemble sometimes in immense flocks, feeding on seeds and grain of various kinds, as well as on insects and their eggs.—_Bewick._

FINGER, _s._ The flexible member of the hand by which men catch and hold; a small measure of extension.

FIR, _s._ The tree of which deal boards are made.

FIRE, _v._ To set on fire; to kindle; to inflame the passions; to discharge any fire-arms.

FIRE-ARMS, _s._ Arms which owe their efficacy to fire; guns.

FIRING, _p._ The application of a red hot iron to the skin, so as to burn without penetrating through it; to cauterise a horse.

The violent inflammation firing occasions, rouses the absorbent vessels into action, by which callous or even bony swellings are sometimes dispersed. The diseases in which it is most efficacious are spavins, ring-bones, and callous swellings about the back sinews, the consequences of strains and windgalls. Firing draws blood to the affected part, thickens and strengthens it, and makes the skin act as a permanent bandage. A blister is often applied to the part immediately after firing, or on the following day, to render it more effectual. It is necessary to observe that the milder remedies should be tried before this severe operation is had recourse to. Firing has been recommended for the purposes of strengthening the back sinews and hocks of colts, to prevent strains, and what is termed breaking-down.

It has been erroneously asserted, that when firing is employed to a callus of the back sinews, the swelling should be previously reduced by blistering; that firing would then prevent a return; whereas if the firing were performed in the first place, it would fix the swelling, and render it incurable. In inflammation, certainly firing will do harm, therefore it must be first removed by the frequent application of a cooling lotion, such as diluted vinegar, in which a little sugar of lead has been dissolved.—_Percival._

FIRELOCK, _s._ A soldier’s gun; a gun discharged by striking steel with flint.

FISH, _s._ An animal that inhabits the water.

FISH, _v._ To be employed in catching fish.

Fishes in general are male and female; the former possessing the melt and the latter the roe, although some individuals of the cod and sturgeon are said to contain both. The spawn of the greater number of fishes is deposited in the sand or gravel; and in that state, it is probable that the roe and melt are mixed together. A fish whose weight, at twenty years old, shall be thirty pounds, generates the first or second year, when perhaps it does not weigh more than half a pound; and it is certain that the male seems more attached to the eggs than the female, for when she ceases to drop them, the male instantly abandons her, and with ardour follows the eggs which are carried down by the stream, or dispersed amongst the waves by the wind, passing and repassing many times over every spot where he finds the eggs.

Summer is the usual spawning time, because at that season the water is tepified by the beams of the sun, and is therefore better adapted for quickening the eggs into life. How the eggs of fishes are impregnated is wholly unknown. All that obviously offers is, that in ponds, the sexes are often seen together among the long grass at the edge of the water; that there they seem to struggle, and are in a state of suffering, as they grow thin, lose their appetite, whilst their flesh becomes flabby, and in some, the scales grow rough and lose their lustre; on the contrary, when the time of coupling is over, their appetite returns, their natural agility is resumed, and their scales become brilliant and beautiful. The spawn continues in the state of eggs a longer or shorter period, but this is for the most part proportioned to the size of the animal. The young animal remains in the form of an egg from December until April in the salmon kind; the carp not above three weeks, and the gold fish from China is produced in a still less time. With all the advantages of minuteness and agility when excluded from the egg, there is not one, perhaps, of a thousand, that survives the dangers of its youth. Among the spinous fishes there is no trace of parental affection; they abandon their eggs to be hatched by the warmth of the season, and if they ever return to the spot where their young first received life, the parents that gave them birth, become their most formidable enemies.

By the rapacity of one another although the fishes perish by millions, yet they have other destroyers. Many of the quadrupeds and a great proportion of the sea fowls, either feed on fish, are the merciless invaders of the small fry, or devour the spawn. In a savage state, numbers of the human race wander round the lakes and rivers, whence a considerable proportion of their sustenance is derived, and among those nations whom arts and agriculture have rendered less dependent on this precarious support, superstition has usurped the place of want, and given a new edge to their avidity for this species of food; but the munificent Author of nature, notwithstanding the annual consumption of fishes is constant and immense, has made a kind provision for his creatures, in which the glory of his providence is remarkable in a twofold manner. First, by giving fishes at certain fixed seasons of the year, a particular inclination to approach the land; and this always at a time when they are the fattest, and not emaciated by breeding; as the salmon in the spring, mackerel about midsummer, herrings in the autumn, cod in the winter, &c. Secondly, by the amazing fertility which he has conferred on this class of beings. The fecundity of fishes far surpasses that of any other animals; if we should be told of a being so prolific, that it would bring forth in one season as many of its kind as there are inhabitants in England, our surprise would be deeply excited, yet upwards of 9,000,000 of ova have been found in the spawn of a single cod. 1,357,400 have been taken from the belly of a flounder; the mackerel, carp, tench, and a variety of others, are endowed with a fertility but little inferior. Such an astonishing progeny, were it allowed to arrive at maturity, would soon overstock the element allotted them; but their numbers, by the means above-mentioned, are considerably lessened, and thus two important purposes are answered in the economy of nature; by the extraordinary fruitfulness of fishes, amongst a host of foes it preserves the species, and furnishes the rest with an aliment adapted to their nature.

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Fishes are the most voracious animals in nature. Many species prey indiscriminately on everything digestible that comes in their way, and devour not only other species of fishes, but even their own. As a counter-balance to this voracity, they are amazingly prolific. Some bring forth their young alive; others produce eggs. The viviparous blenny brings forth 200 or 300 live fishes at a time. Those which produce eggs are all much more prolific, and seem to proportion their stock to the danger of consumption. Leuwenhoek affirms that the cod spawns above 9,000,000 in a season. The flounder produces above 1,000,000, and the mackerel above 500,000. Scarcely one in a hundred of these eggs, however, is supposed to come to maturity; but two wise purposes are answered by this amazing increase: it preserves the species in the midst of numberless enemies, and serves to furnish the rest with a sustenance adapted to their nature.

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How long a fish, that seems to have scarce any bounds put to its growth, continues to live, is not ascertained; the date prescribed as the age of man, would not perhaps be sufficient to measure the life of the smallest. In the royal ponds at Marli, in France, there are some fishes that have been preserved tame since the time, it is said, of Francis the First, and which have been individually known to the persons who have succeeded to the charge of them, ever since that period. These have now attained a size much beyond the common bulk of fishes of the same kind; and although there are certain peculiarities distinguishing them from younger fishes, yet they evince no symptoms of that decrepitude and disease, which inevitably accompany a life protracted much beyond the usual space, among quadrupeds.

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When any fish is hog-backed, with a small head, this is a sure sign of that fish being in season, of whatever sort it is.

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Very little is known of the habits and economy of fish from the nature of the element in which they live. When I resided in Bushy Park, I caused the sides and bottom of a place to be bricked, through which a stream of very clear water ran, and stocked it with most of the varieties of our English fresh-water fish, supplying them abundantly with food; but though I constantly watched them, and could see all they did at any time of the day, the result of my observations was far from being satisfactory. The perch were the boldest and most familiar of any of the fish, as I found no difficulty in soon getting them to come with eagerness to take a worm out of my hand. The barbel were the shyest, and seemed most impatient of observation, although in the spring, when they could not perceive any one watching them, they would roll about and rub themselves against the brickwork, and show considerable playfulness. There were some large stones in my _piscatorium_, round which they would wind their spawn in considerable quantities. The trout appeared to bear their confinement with less philosophy than any of the others, making high leaps against the grating which admitted the water, and seeming at all times out of sorts and out of condition. The chub were also very restless, being continually on the move, but they never could resist a cockchafer when thrown to them. My flounders only moved at night, and the eels always made their escape, but in what way I never could conjecture, except, indeed, they had the power of crawling up the brickwork, which was about five feet from top to bottom, and generally two feet above the edge of the water. They certainly could not get through the grating, which was sufficiently close to confine bleak and gudgeons; and some of the eels were of a large size. The pike, of which I had eight of about five pounds’ weight each, kept up their character for voracity. Out of 800 gudgeons, which were brought to me by a Thames fisherman, and which I saw counted into the reservoir, some few of which however died, there were scarcely any to be seen at the end of three weeks, though I should mention that the three large barbel I had, and six good-sized perch, probably partook of them.

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The author of the Wild Sports of the West, in speaking of the immense Loughs Masks and Corrib, says—“It would appear, that in these lakes the fish are commensurate to the waters they inhabit. It is no unusual event for pikes of thirty pounds weight to be sent to their landlords by the tenants; and fish of even fifty pounds have not unfrequently been caught with nets and night-lines. The trouts in those loughs are also immensely large. From fifteen to sixteen pounds is no unusual size, and some have been found that reached the enormous weight of thirty. The perch tribe appear the smallest in the scale of relative proportion. These seldom exceed a herring size; but they too have exceptions, and perch of three or four pounds weight have been sometimes seen. Within fifty years this latter fish has increased prodigiously, and in the lakes and rivers where they abound, trouts have been found to diminish in an equal ratio.”

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