226 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



Mange. — If the foul hide already described had been properly attended 

 to, and the remedies necessary for its removal applied in sufficient time, 

 this very troublesome disorder would not have supervened. Mange 

 is supposed, by most medical men, to owe its existence to the presence 

 of a minute insect, called ^^acarus scabiei,^^ or " mange-fly," a minute 

 creature, which burrows beneath the cuticle, and in its progress through 

 the skin occasions much irritation and annoyance. Others, again, do 

 not conceive the affection styled mange to be thus produced, but refer 

 it to a diseased state of the blood, which, as is usually the case, eventu- 

 ally conveys its morbid influences to the superficial tissues. Much has 

 been, and still more might be said on both sides of the question, but 

 such a discussion is scarcely suitable to the pages of a popular work. The 

 symptoms of the disease are sufficiently well known, consisting of scabs, 

 blotches, and sometimes multitudes of minute pustules, on different parts 

 of the body. If neglected, these symptoms will become aggravated ; the 

 disease will rapidly spread over the entire surface of the skin, and if 

 suffered to proceed upon its course, unchecked, it will ere long produce 

 deep-seated ulcers and malignant sores, until the whole carcass of the 

 poor affected animal becomes one mass of corruption. 



The Causes of Mange have been differently stated ; some referring 

 them to too high, and others to too low a diet. The cause is to be 

 looked for in dirt, accompanied by hot-feeding ; hot-feeding alone would, 

 perhaps be more likely to produce measles than mam/e, but dirt would 

 unquestionably produce the latter disease, even if unaided by the con- 

 comitant error of hot-feeding. 



Hogs, however well and properly kept, will occasionally become 

 affected with this, as well as with other disorders, from contagion. Few 

 diseases are more easily propagated by contact than mange. The in- 

 troduction of a single affected pig into your establishment may, in one 

 night, cause the seizure of scores, and probably furnish you with a three 

 months' hospital experience. Do not, therefore, introduce any foul- 

 skinned pigs into your piggery ; in fact, it would be a very safe proceeding 

 to wash every new purchase with a strong solution of chloride of lime. 

 This substance is very cheap, and a little trouble, when applied as a 

 preventive, is surely preferable to a great deal of both trouble and 

 disappointment when you are compelled to resort to it to cure. 



If a hog be only afflicted with a mange of moderate virulence, and 

 not oi very long standing, the best mode of treatment to be adopted is: 



1. Wash the animal from snout to tail, leaving no portion of the body 

 uncleansed, with soft soap and water. 



2. Put him into a dry and clean sty, which is so built and situated as 

 to command a constant supply of fresh air, without, at the same time, 

 being exposed to cold or draught ; let him have a bed of clean, fresh 

 straw. 



3. Reduce his food, both in quality and in quantity; let boiled or 

 steamed roots, with buttermilk or dairy wash, supply the place of half- 

 fermented brewers' grains, house-wash, or any other description of feed- 

 ing calculated to prove of a heating or inflammatory character. It is, 

 of course, scarcely necessary to add, that those who have been feeding 

 their swine on horse-flesh, or chandlers' greaves, cannot be surprised at 



