216 POULTEY LOUSINESS IN THE HORSE. 



matic, consequent on the violent action occasioned by the 

 bodies against which the animal rubs himself. These epi- 

 dermic excoriations appear either in series of lines or in broad 

 patches, or in places irregularly circumscribed, according to 

 the regions in which they are found, and the nature of the 

 bodies against which the friction has taken place. They are 

 principally remarkable upon the lateral parts of the head and 

 neck, upon the back and croup, upon the sides and flanks, 

 and upon the internal parts of the limbs. They look either 

 very angry or bloody when observed immediately after the 

 rubbing, or they are covered with red incrustations more or 

 less adherent, according to the length of time they have 

 existed ; or else they appear in a state of granulation and 

 suppuration, whenever the skin has become sufficiently 

 deeply injured. But these superficial lesions of the skin do 

 not by right belong more properly to poultry lousiness than 

 to any other pruriginous disease ; and, so far from being con- 

 sidered as one of their peculiar features, we ought to look 

 upon them as simulating those affections to which they in 

 truth belong, and which they stand in the place of. 



" This disease in no way interferes with the integrity of 

 the general functions. Apart from the violent excitement 

 the animal may experience, and the consecutive irregularity 

 of his respiration and circulation it may occasion, he presents 

 all the aspect of the most perfect health. When, however, 

 the disease becomes of long duration, the subject of it will be 

 apt to fall off his appetite, to grow thin, and to lose his con- 

 dition for work from the gradual wasting of his powers. In- 

 deed, there occur cases in which this privation of rest (from 

 continual excitement) brings on complete marasm, and such 

 inability for work, that the proprietor feels himself compelled 

 to get rid of his horse at any price/' 



The late Mr Henderson, of Park Lane, London, addressed a 



