WARTS. 870 



777. Treatment. 



If any positive cause, such as bad forage or neglect of grooming can be 

 ascertained to have existed, measures must of course be taken to rectify 

 it. Without such amendment local treatment will not be of much avail. 

 If, as is often the case, debility is also a symptom, care must be taken to 

 improve the tone of the system by good feeding and good grooming. 



As regards Local treatment, scrape each spot well with a spatula, not 

 roughly, but sufficiently to clear off the fungus, and also clean off the 

 hair for half an inch round the spot. 



When the fungus has been removed, the spot will become red and 

 moist, but not bleeding. 



Wash well with warm water and soap, and then dry it ; and then pass 

 very quickly over it a stick of nitrate of silver ; and also very lightly over 

 the hair on the margin of the spot. 



It is not necessary to keep the horse off his work, unless there are any 

 spots under some part of the harness. 



CHAPTER 53. 

 WARTS. 



778. Situation and size of Warts. 779. Causes. 780. Treatment. 



778. Situation and size of Warts. 



A WART is an extra secretion of cuticle from the papillae of the dermis. 

 Warts are of rather common occurrence in the horse. They appear on 

 the thin and more delicate portions of the skin, as for instance on the 

 sheath, the inner surfaces of the hind limbs, the abdomen, the eyelids, 

 and the sides of the nose. They seldom' appear on the back, hind quar- 

 ters, sides, or outer surfaces of the limbs. They are sometimes found on 

 the neck, where the skin has. been injured by the collar. 



They vary in size from that of a pea to that of a large potato. The 

 wart commences as a small round substance, and gradually increases. 

 As it increases, it becomes divided into clefts and fissures, from which 

 the blood occasionally exudes. 



779. Causes. 



The precise causes of these excrescences are not known ; but they pro- 

 bably arise from some peculiar derangement of the nutritive vessels, 



