306 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



eruption, pervading the same parts of the skin as in surfeit, 

 commencing, however, on the neck, at the root of the mane. 

 Some time after these lumps have appeared, a vesicle is 

 formed on the surface of each, which in time breaks, and 

 then the hair and cuticle fall oiF, leaving bare spots covered 

 with scurf, from beneath which a foetid fluid issues, and 

 then the scurf changes to a scab, which also soon peels off, 

 leaving a larger bare space. This in some instances is 

 followed by another scab ; but more frequently there is left 

 after the first scab peels off, a bare greasy-feeling spot, 

 which is followed by a thickening of the skin, accompanied 

 by tenderness and itchiness ; this soon becomes puckered 

 and folded to a greater or less degree. 



As above noticed, this complaint commences on the neck, 

 and its earliest stage may be observed before the eruption 

 has come out, by the horse exhibiting symptoms of itchiness 

 in the neck, and rubbing it against the different parts of the 

 stall. To ascertain if it is this disease coming on, let the 

 hairs of the mane be pulled, and it will be found that they 

 are plucked out with ease. The disease generally creeps 

 up the head, and downwards to the withers and back, and 

 not unfrequently spreads over the entire body of the 

 animal. 



Cause. — A chief cause for this complaint is a general 

 want of cleanliness in dressing the animal, as well as keep- 

 ing the stable free from noxious vapours, which being 

 inhaled into the lungs, carry contamination through the 

 system generally. It may also be brought on by poverty of 

 living, which is manifested by the complaint so often ap- 

 pearing in horses that have been half-starved, and otherwise 

 ill kept. Many breeders are so parsimonious that they 

 turn out their colts into a straw-yard, which they keep 

 scantily supplied, without considering the damage they are 



