DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND HAIRS. 115 



" Therefore in essential nature, erythema, lichen, eczema, 

 impetigo, and psoriasis are simply modified manifestations of 

 inflammation of the skin, corresponding with recognised 

 stages of common inflammation; the modifications resulting 

 from intensity, cause, and idiosyncrasy, in other words, from 

 accidental conditions." 



A few remarks on the practical management of cases of 

 skin disease may not be unimportant. 



There is, perhaps, no class of affections which demonstrate 

 more the importance of correct diagnosis. Both the parti- 

 cular constitutional state, and the characteristic local mani- 

 festation, must be duly appreciated by the practitioner, and 

 I have had numerous instances to prove that r a purely local 

 skin disease has baffled the skill of veterinary surgeons who 

 for months have groped in the dark in attempting to combat 

 the affection, whereas, in other cases, the simplest internal 

 remedies have speedily cured inveterate and reputed incurable 

 cutaneous disorders. 



The practitioner must distinguish between cause and 

 effect, and this is by no means an easy distinction in some 

 cases. He has to judge whether a special general distur- 

 bance is the cause of a skin disease, or whether the latter is 

 the cause of constitutional symptoms. When the nature of 

 the eruption is recognised, it is, as a rule, comparatively easy 

 to determine what relation the general symptoms hold to the 

 local, but it is in the recognition of the nature of this erup- 

 tion that failure is of every-day occurrence. 



Skin diseases are not always difficult to cure in proportion 

 to their length of standing. I make this remark, because it 

 is a common notion amongst dog fanciers, keepers, and 

 sportsmen, that after a certain time a disease gets into the 

 blood and cannot be cured, and this is believed of parasitic 

 affections, that are eradicated with one good dressing. 



