ECZEMA IN THE HORSE. 293 



less swollen ; the crusts were thinner, and on being removed revealed 

 a rose-coloured granulating surface. 



On the 13th improvement continued. The diseased surfaces on 

 the fore and hind limbs were almost completely dry, and in a fair way 

 to heal. Nevertheless around the flexures of the pastern and hock 

 the continued movement had resulted in formation of superficial 

 cracks. These were dressed with boric vaseline. 



On the 15th these two patches were entirely healed, and the third 

 discharged less abundantly. 



On the 20th the surface between the elbows had become dry. 



The foregoing gives an exact idea of the characters of the skin 

 lesions in our patient. Certainly they in no way resemble those of 

 granular dermatitis. Apart from the fact that this disease neither 

 appears nor returns at the present time of year, the superficial lesions 

 that you saw had not the essential characters of this parasitic der- 

 matitis : the skin was only moderately swollen, the diseased surfaces 

 were only granular at certain points in consequence of mechanical 

 irritation, and the pruritus rapidly diminished. Nor was the disease 

 like urticaria or any form of mange, which usually occupies positions 

 and shows symptoms entirely differing from those we noted. As to 

 horse-pox, the cutaneous lesions of which often simulate acute eczema, 

 we eliminated it by the negative results attending inoculation of several 

 horses. 



The disease was a simple eczematous eruption, the most striking 

 features of which were its position and the small extent of the affected 

 surfaces. 



During two of our preceding lectures I devoted considerable atten- 

 tion to the stages of development and different forms of eczema in the 

 dog. To-day I wish to speak of the same disease in the horse, in 

 which, however, it is much less common than in the dog. The forms 

 seen include acute and chronic, sometimes generalised, sometimes con- 

 fined to certain regions. 



The disease is usually more or less generalised. A discrete papular 

 eruption appears, accompanied by itching ; the points soon become 

 more numerous, the itching increases, and the papules are converted 

 into vesicles and burst spontaneously, or are ruptured by rubbing. 

 Where the skin is fine the eruption is often vesicular from the first. 

 The contents of the blisters spread over the skin, glue together the 

 hairs into little tufts, and afterwards dry, forming small yellowish or 

 greyish crusts, sometimes deeper tinted on account of the blood 



