ERYTHEMA. 741 



Erythema intertrigo is the congestive blush and condition 

 of irritation imparted to the skin from the friction caused by 

 the rubbing of one portion upon another. This is often 

 largely aggravated by the trickling over the parts at the same 

 time of some irritating fluid, as the urine. This condition is a 

 frequent occurrence with animals in a plethoric condition, per- 

 spiring much in warm, dusty weather, and when cleanliness 

 and good stable management are not prominent features. 



Erythema exmlativum is the form most frequently found 

 attendant upon exposure to wet and cold, or the contact of 

 irritating materials with dermal tissues under vascidar excite- 

 ment, seen particularly afi'ecting the legs of horses of our 

 lisrhter breeds used for active exertion during the winter 

 season, and when these parts have been denuded of hair by 

 closely clipping, and the skin softened and irritated by much 

 washing. These conditions seem extremely liable to induce in 

 the skin so acted upon an erythematous inflammation with 

 excess of exudation. 



Although not entirely due to aught specific in the clay or 

 mud through which horses may be required to move, seeing 

 it may originate without this direct application of mud, and is 

 often very intimately associated with disturbed functional 

 activities of internal organs, there is no doubt that particular 

 soils and mud impregnated with certain materials have a more 

 actively determining influence in producing this exudative 

 erythema than others. From what I have seen of this affection 

 I am disposed to regard it as owing more to the altered state 

 of the skin from the removal of the hair than to the effects 

 of washing with cold water, or even contact with such for 

 lengthened and irregular periods. 



It chiefly occurs over the skin covering the metacarpal and 

 metatarsal bones, and is in numerous instances attended with 

 general disturbance and more or less pyrexia, as well before its 

 appearance as when fully developed. At first the skin over the 

 parts — which are rarely in small patches, being nearly evenly dif- 

 fused over the cannon-bones, or even higher — becomes slightly 

 rough, warmer than natural, with probably a trifling amount 

 of swelling ; no exudation, however, or anything approaching to 

 it for some days, when the scales of the epidermis becoming 

 elevated, and at several points detached, roughness is per- 



